Chapter 194
*
When Tae-geon regained consciousness, an unfamiliar ceiling came into view. Rolling his eyes to look around, he realized he was in Hyeon-woo’s room.
Frowning in confusion, fragments of last night’s memories flooded back to Tae-geon’s mind. But from a certain point on, he couldn’t remember anything. Recalling that he had lost his reason and been completely overtaken by instinct, Tae-geon hastily sat up and examined Hyeon-woo lying next to him.
Though his skin was covered in red congestion and bite marks, there didn’t seem to be any other injuries. Tae-geon carefully checked between Hyeon-woo’s legs as well, but it was the same. It was a bit swollen, but otherwise fine without any traces of blood or tears.
Breathing a sigh of relief, Tae-geon lay back down. He stared blankly at Hyeon-woo. Tae-geon’s gaze roamed over every inch of Hyeon-woo’s peacefully sleeping face.
Though he knew Hyeon-woo was just exhausted from last night’s ordeal, seeing him resting so peacefully by his side filled Tae-geon with an overwhelming feeling he couldn’t suppress. He suddenly pulled Hyeon-woo into an embrace.
Thump-thump. Through their touching chests, Hyeon-woo’s heart transmitted a soft resonance. Unlike Tae-geon, who was immersed in an intensely fulfilled feeling, Hyeon-woo seemed uncomfortable with the rough hug and woke up, squirming.
Blink blink. With each opening and closing of his eyelids, the focus in Hyeon-woo’s sleepy eyes gradually sharpened. Even this was cute and endearing to Tae-geon.
Hyeon-woo’s eyes widened as he belatedly noticed Tae-geon watching him. After carefully examining Tae-geon’s face, Hyeon-woo cautiously opened his mouth.
“…Are you okay now?”
“What?”
When Tae-geon asked back, not grasping the point, Hyeon-woo added:
“You collapsed in the middle.”
“…I did?”
Hyeon-woo looked worriedly at Tae-geon, who seemed to remember nothing. Like someone who had suffered a severe trauma, his whole body had suddenly stiffened and he had started hyperventilating. It was such a strong seizure that Hyeon-woo had feared Tae-geon might die, yet he didn’t remember it at all.
Biting his lip as he looked at Tae-geon, Hyeon-woo hesitantly asked:
“Do you have any aftereffects from an accident or something? Like panic disorder?”
“No, I don’t.”
Tae-geon replied nonchalantly as he stretched and got up from the bed.
“It must have been amazing, huh? To make me faint like that.”
Hyeon-woo frowned deeply at that.
…It didn’t seem to be for that reason…
Putting aside his uneasiness, Hyeon-woo followed Tae-geon in getting up. It would soon be time for the employees to start their morning.
While Tae-geon picked up his robe from the floor, Hyeon-woo got out of bed and secretly swallowed a groan of “ugh” as he clutched his waist.
Though better than last time, it was still an enormous aftereffect. When would he get used to this pain and foreign sensation? If he did get used to it, that would probably be unpleasant in its own way. No, before that, would it even be possible to get used to that atrocious size?
As Hyeon-woo was caught up in these strange worries, Tae-geon’s voice reached his ears.
“Is there anything you want to eat? For breakfast.”
As Hyeon-woo pondered deeply, Tae-geon’s voice continued:
“Omurice?”
“…Hmm.”
Hyeon-woo swallowed a small sigh, not seeming very enthusiastic.
“Then, dim sum?”
Hyeon-woo’s eyes widened at those words. He was tempted by Tae-geon’s suggestion of dim sum, but more than that, he was surprised anew that Tae-geon remembered in such detail the menu items K used to order for room service at the Aiden Hotel.
Seeing Hyeon-woo nod slightly, Tae-geon’s lips curved attractively as he couldn’t hold back a smile. Watching this blankly, Hyeon-woo’s cheeks turned red. Feeling the heat rising to his face, Hyeon-woo hastily turned around and flung open the closet door for no reason.
“You can go now. I need to get ready.”
After chasing Tae-geon out with an intentionally harsh rebuke, Hyeon-woo was finally alone in the room. His legs gave out and he collapsed to the floor.
His heart was pounding wildly of its own accord.
*
In the deep of night when everyone was asleep, the butler, after reporting on the mansion’s repair status, suddenly turned back and stood before Tae-geon again.
The butler’s gaze, which had been skimming over the pile of documents on the table, shifted to the cell phone and broken navigation device next to them. They were items recovered from Tae-geon’s wrecked car.
“If you’re going to do this, why not set up a separate office?”
The butler carefully suggested. Ever since regaining his sight, the young master had been intensely engaged in secret work every night. Anyone could tell without being told that the reason for doing this only late at night, as if leading a double life, was to avoid Ian’s eyes.
Recently, management and supervision of the mansion had been included in the young master’s routine. It had started after bringing Jerome into the mansion.
“Giving reports at the dining table every time looks quite strange, and it must be uncomfortable for you to have outsiders constantly coming in and out of your bedroom. Shall I prepare an office in the next room?”
“No, don’t waste effort on unnecessary things.”
Tae-geon replied without hesitation, to which the butler expressed disapproval.
“Unnecessary…? Why do you say that…?”
“I can’t gauge how long my eyes will stay fine.”
“What?! I thought the surgery results were very good?”
Tae-geon smiled bitterly at the startled butler.
“Well…”
“……”
“Let’s just say I couldn’t get a quality guarantee. There are some defects that might burst open. More importantly.”
Tae-geon pointed to the butler’s chest, who was tilting his head in confusion, not understanding.
“What’s that? The shiny thing.”
“Ah…”
The butler looked down at his chest pocket once, then cast a wary glance at Tae-geon.
“It’s mine.”
“I know. What is it?”
“……”
The butler reluctantly pulled out the object from his welt pocket with a hesitant hand. Something crude was hanging from a shiny silver dog tag chain. It was clearly Jerome’s possession at a glance. Tae-geon reached out his hand towards the object that piqued his curiosity.
“You must return it.”
“I know, I’ll just take a look.”
Finally, a flattened laminated four-leaf clover – no, upon closer inspection, a three-leaf clover disguised as four leaves by adding an extra leaf – keychain fell onto Tae-geon’s hand.
“Isn’t it cute?”
The butler said with a smile.
“I thought he was just good at chattering, but even his actions are so clever and adorable. How did he manage to make something like this?”
Tae-geon snorted, looking at the butler incredulously, feeling like he had turned into a neighborhood grandfather bragging about his grandchild, so different from his usual solemn demeanor.
“Ian must have made it. How could Jerome do the lamination and dog tag chain?”
The butler cleared his throat with a “ahem, ahem,” seeming embarrassed.
It seemed Jerome was going around doing quite pretty things. Even the formerly rigid butler was melting like this.
The image of Jerome curling up his tail like a frightened puppy and carefully watching for reactions seemed to only happen when he was with Tae-geon.
There’s a saying that the pure eyes of an uncorrupted child sometimes see through to the essence better than adults. Was that why? Had Jerome’s eyes seen through all of Tae-geon’s dark inner thoughts?
“He gave this to me, saying four-leaf clovers bring luck.”
The butler, who had quickly taken back the keychain from Tae-geon, looked at it proudly as he continued speaking.
“But actually, I liked the fact that it’s three leaves, not four, even more.”
“Why?”
The butler met Tae-geon’s eyes as he asked out of curiosity.
“Many people don’t know, but three-leaf clovers also have a flower meaning. It means ‘happiness.'”
“……”
“There’s nothing more unfortunate than failing to properly see the happiness already abundant around you while greedily craving luck that may never come. But a four-leaf clover made from a three-leaf clover?”
The butler smiled contentedly.
“I was overjoyed, feeling like I had both happiness and luck.”
Even after the butler left, Tae-geon sat there motionless, pondering his words.
And then he remembered. That there was a time when he too had both happiness and luck together.
A memory from the past, when he had thoroughly ignored and scorned the consistently warm gaze on his back, painfully scratched across Tae-geon’s heart.
*
“Wow, Jerome. What’s this?”
“It’s a cabin in the mountains! And this is the fireplace!”
“It’s so cool~”
As the teacher admired the cabin Jerome had drawn earnestly with crayons, Jerome shrugged his shoulders and added excitedly:
“This is a stocking. Uncle said Santa Claus comes down the chimney and puts presents in here, so we hang stockings.”
“Wow, have you really been to a place like this?”
“Do places like this really exist?”
The children gathered around Jerome’s drawing. The cabin seemed impressive to his friends too.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
