Did it work? Gong Pyeonghwa nodded excitedly with a somehow good feeling.
“Yes!”
“Did you drink with my son and have an accident while drunk?”
The frosty voice made him feel he’d made a mistake.
“Hehe…”
Pyeonghwa smiled with a face that looked kind, innocent, and somewhat cute.
‘Am I having bad luck today? Everything’s going wrong.’
He hadn’t calculated for this situation. It seemed like his points would be drastically cut. But still, just this once, he didn’t want to slither his way out of it.
“Why do you call Iseul an accident? She’s love.”
They clearly had sex with mutual consent, and they used protection. If she was born despite those odds, isn’t that fate? Besides, she’s already born. He didn’t want anyone calling her an accident.
“Our Iseul takes after Saebyeok and is very smart. Even though she can’t speak fluently yet, she understands what people are saying and what they mean. She’s sleeping now so she didn’t hear, but I’d still like you to be careful. You may not approve of me, but I think it’s right not to tell Iseul she was born as an accident.”
Sigh… My likability score is ruined.
Pyeonghwa smiled and replied to his father-in-law who was silently glaring at him, but inside he was weeping tears of blood.
“Alright. Go rest now.”
When the door closed, Pyeonghwa sprawled on the bed and wept silently.
***
Chairman Shin’s mouth corners slightly turned up before quickly falling back down.
He had thought the Gong boy was a good-for-nothing who took after his father, a shameless man who dared to seduce his son and get him pregnant, a frivolous guy. But he seemed not to be as bad a person as he looked.
He had thought him to be light-hearted about everything, but he did have some sharp edges.
‘And if those edges stand out when protecting his family, that’s good. Yes. A man should have some weight to him.’
***
“Sob!”
I’m ruined! Ruined! Pyeonghwa lay face down on the bed, sniffling. Iseul tried to climb onto the bed but kept slipping because it was higher than she expected. Both Iseul and Pyeonghwa were crying.
Pyeonghwa picked up Iseul and lay down with her resting on his stomach like a sea otter.
He couldn’t face Iseul or Saebyeok.
“Aba, appa.”
“Iseul, stop swimming.”
Iseul, who had been doing the frog stroke on the bed trying to escape her father’s arms, tilted her head at Pyeonghwa’s voice. Her body tilted with her head.
“Appa, appa. Abahmama. Where? Where?”
“Saebyeok’s papa…? Well… What could our Saebyeok be doing now… Sob.”
Oh Saebyeok. I just…
“Hah…”
Why does nothing go right? Can’t even go on a date today, and lost points with my father-in-law…
Depressed Pyeonghwa mumbled to himself absentmindedly.
“The reason you add sesame oil at the end is because sesame oil has a high smoke point…”
Even he didn’t know what he was saying.
“Iseul, tell grandpa you want to see Saebyeok’s daddy and cry. Protest that this kind of separation is prohibited by international law and demand they reunite our family. This is unbelievable. This is the collapse of a home!”
The cowardly father Pyeonghwa mumbled while weakly shaking a toy.
Iseul reached for the toy. But angry at the toy that was just out of reach, she hit Pyeonghwa’s forearm with her cotton-soft fists.
“Give!”
“Ah-huhuhu.”
“Please give!”
“Yes… Here you go.”
Pyeonghwa had his toy taken by his daughter, his husband taken by his parents, and his freedom and love taken by his father-in-law.
Wavering between reason—that he shouldn’t cry in front of his child—and emotion—that he still wanted to cry—Pyeonghwa had a visitor.
“Brother-in-law. Brother-in-law. Can I come in?”
“Yes, yes. Come in, miss…”
Pyeonghwa looked at Noeul with a gloomy face. Noeul indirectly experienced the exhaustion of parenting as she watched the half-dead Pyeonghwa and Iseul playing with a toy on top of him.
“You asked me to look after Iseul earlier, but I’m sorry I came late. The alarm suddenly went off…”
That was because of me. I’m sorry.
“I can look after her now.”
“No… It’s fine today…”
I’ve already canceled our date, so I should at least look after my child. What kind of pathetic person am I to dump childcare on someone who’ll be a college entrance exam taker next year…
In full self-deprecation mode, Pyeonghwa played peekaboo with Iseul, laughing like a madman.
It was clearly not like his usual self and somewhat concerning, so Noeul watched with pity and told her mother.
“Mom, brother-in-law is a bit… weird…”
“Right? His condition is…”
Poor thing. Mother and daughter spoke simultaneously, unable to hide their sympathy.
Noeul, who had become quite close to Pyeonghwa, couldn’t speak directly to her father, so she spoke loudly enough for her father to hear while pretending to talk to her mother.
“Can’t we just let him meet with my brother? He’s going to break at this rate.”
“If he breaks from something like that, then that’s all he amounts to.”
It had no effect whatsoever.
How cold. So cold. How can someone be so… He’s not human. He’s a machine. Blue blood flows in him. Noeul and Mrs. Lee, who had already taken Pyeonghwa’s side, found Chairman Shin, smirking at his newspaper, terribly harsh.
“…I see.”
What a harsh person. To think I married someone like that—he probably wouldn’t even be sad if we broke up. Because if he were sad, that’s all he’d amount to, right?
“…Right.”
So that’s how Father is. Heartless. So heartless…
Noeul and Mrs. Lee wore smiles on their faces, but inside they drastically cut down Chairman Shin’s personality score.
***
Saebyeok, wondering how to spend his floating time, went to the highest-rated bakery nearby.
The problem was meeting Pyeonghwa, not the other family members, right? Today he’d have some money too, so he wanted to buy something for Noeul.
That’s because he sensed a slight depression in Gong Pyeonghwa’s text messages. He felt a sadness in them, as if he was smiling but not really smiling.
“Welcome.”
Saebyeok picked up a fig tart, fresh strawberry tart, and peach tart. As he was looking around for other things Pyeonghwa might like, someone approached him.
“Intern Shin.”
It was Team Manager Dok. Saebyeok calmly nodded in greeting.
“You must really like sweets.”
If he had to choose, he’d say he disliked them, but these weren’t for him. But he didn’t particularly want to share his preferences, so he vaguely agreed.
“You’re quite the big eater despite appearances. That’s why you swiped your card like that yesterday too.”
Hmm. Chocolate and cherry, that’s a combination Pyeonghwa likes.
Saebyeok picked out a few slices of cake as well.
Is that too much just for Pyeonghwa? He also chose a cheesecake and an egg tart for Noeul to eat while studying.
“Please package the cheesecake and egg tart separately.”
“I’ll process your payment first. That’s 62,000 won.”
After coolly paying in cash, Team Manager Dok spoke to Saebyeok whose hands were full with heavy packages.
“You’re going to get diabetes.”
“It’s just a few tarts and cake slices, what do you mean.”
My Pyeonghwa has a sturdy pancreas, so he’ll be fine, you know? Don’t talk about things you don’t understand.
“Then I’ll see you at the company tomorrow.”
Saebyeok bowed and tried to catch a taxi. After missing a few taxis right in front of him and starting to get a little annoyed, a car stopped in front of Saebyeok.
“Where do you live?”
It was Team Manager Dok again. His infiltration skills were no joke.
“I can take a taxi.”
“I have something to tell you anyway, so just get in.”
I don’t want to ride?
No, I should make things clear too. Since we’re not at the company, I should speak clearly.
“Excuse me.”
As soon as Saebyeok sat in the passenger seat, he opened the window. It’s unlikely anything would happen with a strong, healthy Korean man, but there’s no harm in being careful.
“Where’s your house?”
“Seongbuk-dong.”
Team Manager Dok, who was fiddling with the navigation, told him to fasten his seatbelt.
He knew how to drive quite smoothly, though not as smoothly as Pyeonghwa.
“How’s the new employee presentation coming along? I had a hard time with that when I first joined too.”
“It’s still lacking. I’m planning to finish it over the weekend.”
“Don’t try too hard. Just enough not to get marked down. There’s nothing to gain by doing well except being taken to overseas seminars, and if Intern Shin is gone, only our team suffers.”
Is that something a superior should say?
“I’ll do my best.”
I have no intention of going to overseas seminars. Dates with Pyeonghwa and outings with Iseul were Saebyeok’s only sources of dopamine.
“Let’s end the official talk here and move on to some personal matters.”
Which part of that was official talk?
“Well, objectively speaking, I’m handsome. I’m tall, what they call an alpha male.”
Not particularly.
He couldn’t even compare to my husband.
Sure, he seems a bit taller than average, but so what? My Pyeonghwa is tall too. And my Pyeonghwa isn’t just big in height, you know? He’s broad, thick, and massive.
And his face? He clearly doesn’t know what true handsomeness is. He must never have lived with someone whose face, seen in bed every morning upon waking, makes you want to support them for life… Sigh, I can’t even explain this.
“I am an appealing type, that’s true, but that’s all there is to it.”
If I had to say whether you’re appealing or not, I’d lean towards not appealing.
“Even though you haven’t been here long, I know that Intern Shin’s gaze is particularly fixed on me.”
Oh. You’ve completely misunderstood.
“I’m very quick to pick up on things.”
That’s not something that should come from someone who still doesn’t know I’m a parachute hire…
“Despite having just joined, the reason you’re excessively nice to me.”
No matter how much I think about it, I don’t remember ever being nice to him. Is this heading towards a confession attack?
“Perhaps.”
“Um, Team Manager…”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
