Even though Yi-hyeon’s words couldn’t possibly be understood, it seemed their hearts connected anyway. Han Jun lightly pinched the mantis at the tip of his fingers—the one clinging to Yi-hyeon’s nape and wagging its tail side to side.
“Louis’s beauty really doesn’t discriminate by species. Even a mantis is clinging on, trying to mate.”
If you don’t want to die, stop wiggling your ass. When Han Jun murmured lowly, the mantis struggled harder. Still holding onto it, Han Jun looked at Yi-hyeon’s large eyes, brimming with tears, and smack—pressed a kiss to his cheek.
“Let’s go inside. I’ll give you lunch.”
Lunch is lunch, but why are you bringing that inside with us?!
Yi-hyeon glanced at the mantis still flapping phududuk in Han Jun’s grasp, then burrowed back into his arms.
After entering the house, Han Jun placed a small “gift” on the back of Mi-jin’s hand as she slept in the massage chair.
The moment he returned to the room, a shriek that sounded like something tearing apart echoed through the house. Immediately after, Mi-jin came charging up the stairs as if she were about to break them, her face flushed bright red as she screamed at Han Jun.
“You crazy bastard!”
Yi-hyeon fully understood why Mi-jin was so furious.
“Exactly. I told you not to take your eyes off Louis. If I hadn’t shown up at just the right time, our Louis would’ve ended up mating with a mantis.”
“Are you actually insane?”
“You were the only one I trusted in this house, Auntie. Now I can’t trust anyone.”
“I can’t trust you. I don’t even know if you’re a human or an animal.”
“I’m your sister’s son. Can I count that as a parental insult?”
“Shut up before I beat you.”
“Oh… who would’ve thought such words would come out of the mouth of Red Look Apparel’s elegant, noble CEO Joo Mi-jin? Reporters would love this.”
Grinning, Han Jun gently tickled Yi-hyeon’s chin.
Feeling drowsy without meaning to, Yi-hyeon watched Mi-jin, who was still panting with anger, through half-lidded eyes. Just when he thought Han Jun might get hit again, Mi-jin, for once, decided there was no point arguing with someone who couldn’t be reasoned with. With a bang, she left the room without laying a hand on him.
Then, three seconds later, she flung the door open again and shouted,
“Why are you even home at this hour?!”
Mi-jin’s voice was loud enough to make the walls vibrate, but Han Jun remained utterly relaxed. As if it were nothing worth shouting about, he answered calmly.
“It’s lunchtime. I came back to feed Louis.”
“Are you really not going to keep the promise you made with your sister? Is a high school diploma really that hard?”
Not even a college degree—just a high school diploma. Hearing Mi-jin say she hadn’t understood why her sister’s wish for her son had been something so modest, but was now starting to think it might’ve been an impossible dream, Han Jun replied absentmindedly.
“Ah, that promise, that promise. Honestly, what’s so important about a diploma? What matters is what kind of person you are.”
“And since you’re a complete mess as a person, she’s telling you to at least have academic credentials. Didn’t you get expelled from your previous school for assault?”
“I was the one who got assaulted.”
At Han Jun’s words, Yi-hyeon’s ears drooped limply.
Han Jun… got beaten up? Could it be because of that rumor?
“Beaten up, my ass. You smashed that kid’s face so badly that man shut him up with money.”
That man clearly referred to Assemblyman Han Cheol-woo.
When Mi-jin demanded to know why he’d sent a friend to the hospital for four weeks, Han Jun lazily twisted Yi-hyeon’s tail fur around his finger and smiled with a languid eye-smile.
“Nothing much. The kid was just being fucking annoying.”
“What did he do?”
“Ah, I don’t know. I need to feed Louis and go back to school. So get out.”
Frowning at Mi-jin, Han Jun then relaxed his expression when he looked at Yi-hyeon. With a faint smile dangling at the corner of his lips, he asked,
“But if Louis tells me not to go, I could skip, you know. What should I do? Should hyung not go to school? Should I stay here with Louis instead?”
“…You’re insane. I’m not even going to ask anymore. You’re just insane.”
Saying she’d develop illnesses she didn’t even have from talking to such a hopeless human, Mi-jin slammed the door shut. Once she was gone, Han Jun let out a sigh and his face immediately hardened. He placed Yi-hyeon on the bed, then flopped down beside him.
“What son could just sit there calmly while someone badmouths his own mom?”
A shadow slowly crept over Han Jun’s face, which was usually playful and full of easy smiles.
So it really was because of that rumor.
If the gossip from his old school had driven a wedge between him and his classmates—and if similar rumors were spreading at this new school too, and Han Jun had noticed…
Yeah. If it were me, I would’ve drawn a line from the start too.
So he wouldn’t get hurt again. No—because he was afraid of being hurt by friends again. Only now did Yi-hyeon feel like he understood why Han Jun hadn’t even tried to blend into his class.
Yi-hyeon had experienced something similar in the past.
On his birthday, he’d invited friends over to his house. His mother had said she’d make fried chicken and delicious tteokbokki, and told him to bring the friend he was closest to in class.
Always the one visiting other kids’ homes, Yi-hyeon invited them over with excitement. His mother’s tteokbokki was irresistible—surely they’d all line up wanting to come again.
But that was just Yi-hyeon’s misunderstanding.
After seeing his house, the friends ran away, frightened by its run-down exterior that looked like it might collapse at any moment. After that, they didn’t even talk to him at school.
Then one kid asked if he really lived mooching off in a beggar’s house, and only then did Yi-hyeon understand why kids suddenly pinched their noses and avoided him, saying it smelled whenever he passed by. The shock he’d received at such a young age had been severe, and it lingered as trauma for a long time.
If I hadn’t invited them in the first place.
Would he not have become a loner? Or if he’d never made friends to begin with, would he have been spared this loneliness now?
After that, Yi-hyeon began to fear making friends. Whenever he ran into kids from the same school near his house, he fled immediately, hiding away until they disappeared before crawling back out.
It was only after transferring to middle school that he managed to escape the nickname Beggar Yi-hyeon. Even then, he never brought the friends he made there to his house. He believed that was the only way to maintain friendships.
Looking back now, it was such a foolish way of thinking—but at the time, he truly believed it was the best he could do.
Quietly, Yi-hyeon pressed his little butt against Han Jun’s side. Han Jun shot him a glance, then brushed away the darkness on his face and curved his lips into a gentle smile.
“Are you comforting hyung? I thought our Louis had started to hate me, but I guess not. Then… will you show me your belly again?”
Watching Han Jun speak softly while stroking his pink belly, Yi-hyeon decided to set aside his embarrassment, just for a moment. Maybe he simply wanted to keep seeing the calm smile resting on Han Jun’s face a little longer.
After hesitating briefly, Yi-hyeon squeezed his eyes shut and flop—exposed his belly. Perhaps because he was a puppy, sparse fur still dotted the area, revealing his pink belly as his tail swayed gently.
Gazing lovingly at him, Han Jun lowered his face and brrr—blew air against Yi-hyeon’s stomach. The feel of Han Jun’s lips against his skin was still embarrassing and overwhelming, but just for today, Yi-hyeon decided he’d endure it.
