MW 8

“Hand.”

Yijae, blinking rapidly as if puzzled, held out his hand. Jaeha, curious to see what his reaction would be this time, piled a mountain of chocolate on his palm once more.

“Heek……!”

Yijae’s eyes, wider than before, had his cheeks turning slightly red. A faint, surprised gasp tickled Jaeha’s ear. The corner of his torn lip had lifted slightly; it seemed this simple chocolate had managed to improve his mood.

While he was admiring the colorful chocolates filling his palm with sparkling eyes, a vibration went off on Jaeha’s thigh.

Rrrr…….

It was a call from Driver Kim. Jaeha rested his hand on top of Yijae’s head and stood up, saying he would be back after taking the call.

Yijae stole a glance at Jaeha, and when their eyes met, he quickly bowed his head. What if he’s offended that I was secretly watching him? Worried that Jaeha might come to dislike him, Yijae fidgeted with the callus next to his fingernail. Not long after, Jaeha, having finished his call, approached him.

“It’s too cold here, so let’s go home now. I’ll take you.”

Just as I thought. He was indeed offended by my actions. Yijae’s eyes twitched, and he hurriedly placed the chocolates he was holding so preciously on the floor and reached out.

Tears fell from Yijae’s eyes as he tightly gripped Jaeha’s arm, looking terrified. He quickly took Jaeha’s hand and began to write on it.

‘I can’t go home.’

The hastily written script was hard to read due to his panic, but the message Yijae was conveying was clearly that he couldn’t go home.

“Are those bastards waiting for you outside?”

Jaeha asked, frowning without realizing it. It seemed that was why he had been anxiously glancing at the entrance from before.

“……”

Seeing Yijae press his lips together without an answer, Jaeha slowly lowered his gaze and took in the wounds all over his body once more. As if sensing his gaze, Yijae, unaware of the larger wound on the back of his hand, rushed to cover it up.

The sun was already setting, so it would only get colder. The temperature, which was dropping far below zero, was too much to bear with just this one coat. Besides, he didn’t like the way he had been clutching his chest and coughing.

Jaeha kicked away the chocolates spilled on the floor and put his hands under Yijae’s armpits. Yijae’s lips, which had been firmly closed, parted, as if he were deeply shocked that he had kicked the chocolates. Jaeha, easily lifting him into his arms, poked Yijae’s frozen cheek and said.

“Then, let’s go to my house.”

⁺₊❆₊⋆

Jaeha’s house became busy to welcome a guest for the first time in a long while. Jaeha, who had presented early, never brought friends home after his middle school entrance ceremony, and even after becoming an adult and leaving the mansion, he had never brought anyone over.

The employees moved about busily, continuously wiping the already gleaming floors and windows, then calmed their excited hearts at the news from Driver Kim that the guest would soon arrive with Jaeha.

“Welcome back, young master.”

“Yes.”

“And this person is……?”

Jaeha, seeing the butler’s eyes sparkle with noticeable interest in Yijae, narrowed his brow and said.

“He’s a younger acquaintance. First, he needs to wash up and get treated, so please prepare a bath.”

“Yes, I understand.”

A smile was evident between the wrinkles of his face as he tried to maintain a neutral expression. He seemed pleased by the fact that this was the first time he had ever personally brought someone home since he was born.

Jaeha let out a small sigh, already imagining the exhaustion to come. Then, feeling a gaze on his face, he turned his head and met Yijae’s eyes. He was pulling at his sleeve and biting his lip, as if he had something to say.

‘What.’

Jaeha reached out and brushed Yijae’s lip, from which blood had begun to seep, and mouthed the word. Yijae, buried in a coat much too big for him like a child who had stolen his father’s clothes, seemed to have made up his mind and reached out to Jaeha.

Seeing Yijae’s tense face, a desire to play a prank on him welled up from deep within Jaeha’s heart.

Even though he knew Yijae was trying to write on his palm, Jaeha deliberately stuck his hands in his pants pockets.

It would surely look ridiculous to anyone who saw it, as his hands were much larger than the pockets, but he was more curious about Yijae’s reaction.

Sure enough, Yijae, who had been trying to grab Jaeha’s hand, looked flustered like a lost child at the hand that had hidden inside the pants, and his eyes reddened. He tried to pull Jaeha’s hand out with all his might, but Yijae’s strength was no match.

‘Should I tease him a little more.’

Jaeha looked down at Yijae’s head, which looked like it was about to let out a whimper, and stuck out his ring finger. At that, his face brightened noticeably, and he grabbed Jaeha’s ring finger and shook it gently, smiling with dimples.

‘Ah. Cute.’

At the sight of Yijae’s pale face, which he had met by chance, Jaeha cleared his throat unnecessarily and turned his head in the opposite direction. The moment he pulled his hand out of his pocket to hide his flushed face, Yijae grabbed his hand. And at the small letters he felt on his palm, written with great speed, Jaeha’s face hardened again.

I’ll go now.

Had he teased him too much from their first meeting? At Yijae’s words that he would leave right away, even though it hadn’t been long since they arrived, Jaeha’s heart became anxious.

‘Anxious?’

Jaeha felt something strange about the emotion that had suddenly entered his mind, but he forced a calm expression and looked at Yijae. When he asked Yijae why he wanted to leave, he looked around and then started to write something on his hand again.

It’s just……. I think I’m making everyone uncomfortable…….

At those words, Jaeha looked around. He saw the staff, who must have been watching them all along, clustered at the door, staring at Yijae.

Perhaps frightened by their gazes, which were fixed on him, Yijae curled up even more, looking as if he would cry at any moment. Jaeha, displeased by this sight, narrowed his brow and said to them.

“Close the door and go down to the first floor. I’ll call if I need anything, so don’t worry about what’s happening here.”

At Jaeha’s firm words, they all turned their gazes away, as if disappointed, and dispersed. As they disappeared, Yijae looked extremely flustered, as if asking if it was okay to do that. Jaeha grabbed his arm, which was standing stiffly, and led him to the bathroom.

Entering the bathroom, he took off the coat that covered him down to his knees, and the tattered clothes appeared again. Upon closer inspection in the bright light, the wounds and bruises revealed through the clothes seemed quite severe.

Tsk.

Was it because he had suddenly clicked his tongue? Seeing him flinch again, Jaeha wiped the expression from his face and stood up.

“First, wash up, change into this, and come out.”

Yijae quickly covered his wounded body and nodded.

The sound of rushing water could be heard, and Jaeha, who had gone out to the terrace connected to the room, made a call. Not long after, with a click, the other person answered the phone.

—Yes, this is Secretary Choi. Young master.

“Secretary Choi, please find out if Chairman Gu of Sejin Group has any other children besides Gu Dohyeong and Gu Dohae. It’s fine even if they are not on the family register. Please also check if Gu Dohae has a twin or a cousin who looks like him.”

—Yes, I understand.

The Gu Dohae he knew was definitely a different person from Yijae. One who used his status as a dominant omega to look down on others and took it for granted that he could rule over people with his wealth and family background. That was the Gu Dohae he remembered.

He was also someone he would have no reason to meet if he weren’t the omega of Sejin Group, who had been designated as his fiancé since birth.

Jaeha, belatedly recalling Dohae, unknowingly scrunched up his face.

When he first found Yijae, he had really thought Gu Dohae was acting. But as he spent time with Yijae, he came to realize for sure that he was not Gu Dohae. Jaeha decided to consider other possibilities. A half-brother, or a cousin.

“Then, what on earth are those wounds?”

Being tied up and locked in a warehouse, and the wounds on Yijae’s body were not something that could have been made in a single day. As a child of Chairman Gu, he should have lived an easy life, but judging from the clothes and appearance Yijae had, it was not like that at all. Jaeha let out a long sigh at the situation full of questions.

As he was deep in thought, with a click, Yijae opened the bathroom door and cautiously poked his head out. At the sound, Jaeha turned his head, and when their eyes met, Yijae, flustered, reached his hand out of the door and flailed.

‘Ah, hand.’

Seeing the white hand gradually turn red, Jaeha let out a small laugh. When he held out his hand to Yijae, he slowly wrote on Jaeha’s palm.

To……wel.

It was cute how he tried to cover his body as much as possible while looking for a towel. Jaeha’s gaze lingered for quite a long time on his face, flushed red and moist with water.

“Ah.”

Is it because I don’t have any younger siblings around? Yijae, filled with untainted innocence, was cute. Jaeha, letting out a chuckle, slowly and carefully approached and reached out to ruffle Yijae’s wet hair. He told the flustered boy, who was rolling his big eyes and at a loss, where the towels were, then turned his head away again.

With a click, the door opened, and Yijae, having changed his clothes, came out of the bathroom.

‘Fuck.’

The good mood was short-lived. Jaeha, confirming Yijae’s condition with his own eyes, gritted his teeth.

The short-sleeved t-shirt and shorts he had given him were ridiculously large for Yijae. The baggy clothes kept slipping off his body. Because of that, his exposed body was covered in wounds of various colors.

Yijae, embarrassed by the way Jaeha was staring at his body, avoided his gaze. Jaeha, who was watching him fidget with his hands, felt that something was wrong with his increasingly rough breathing and opened his mouth.

“Yijae.”

“Euh…….”

At that moment, Yijae’s body swayed forward. Startled, Jaeha reflexively reached out. Yijae’s body, which his hand touched, was a ball of fire. He quickly placed his hand on his forehead; he was panting with hot breaths and couldn’t open his eyes properly.

Jaeha lightly lifted Yijae, who was losing his balance and falling, and laid him on the bed, shouting.

“Contact Dr. Lee, now!”