At her gentle comfort, Junghyun quietly looked down at the water bottle.
What was already known was burdensome enough, but it would have been fine if it had stopped there. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the end.
He felt sorry for Jaehyuk, but there was something even worse still remaining.
In a way, it might be nothing much, but because he had missed the timing, depending on the situation, that could be the biggest problem.
“I don’t know what the story is, but have a serious conversation with the director once. It’s not because I raised him, but he’s someone you can communicate with. If you tell him the truth, he’ll listen to anything. Especially if it’s Junghyun-ssi’s story.”
Junghyun knew that too.
If it were Jaehyuk, no matter what story he told, he would somehow try to listen and understand.
Actually, that’s what made it even harder to speak.
If such a person couldn’t understand, what came after would be too scary.
“……I understand what you mean, but…… once a trust relationship is broken, it’s hard to restore it again.”
“Why do you think that?”
At the continued questions and answers, Junghyun shook the water bottle and suddenly stopped.
And after organizing his thoughts for a moment, he shook the water bottle again and continued his answer to her question.
“Because that’s the truth. Once trust is broken, it’s hard to piece it back together. Even if you pretend it’s not broken and glue it with bond, smooth the surface, and paint over it to hide it, in the end, that part is the first to break even from the smallest shock. And after that, it can’t be recovered. It’ll shatter completely.”
So he thought it was better to stop before it got to that point.
Then they could end it without getting hurt more, just moderately resentful.
If it were someone else, he wouldn’t care what happened, but he wanted only that person to remember him just to that extent.
Not as a disgusting bastard.
Just thinking about it strangely made his heart anxious, so this time he was tapping the water bottle with his fingertips when she, who had been taking meat out of the refrigerator, continued with the next question.
“It seems you’ve had your trust in people broken before. Quite severely too.”
“No. I basically don’t trust people. I have low expectations for humans. If you don’t trust, you won’t be betrayed.”
“Since when?”
At her casual words after finishing preparing the vegetables, Junghyun stopped tapping the bottle with his finger.
Somehow it had become a family counseling session.
Normally, he would smile at this point and appropriately deflect and escape, but right now he didn’t want to stop here.
He just felt that way.
But not knowing how to answer that, he hesitated, then soon finding it bothersome to think, he went straight to the main point.
“When I was young, my mother sent me to my father. Suddenly, without any explanation. She even sent me to my father’s house with only a cell phone, without any of my belongings, and had me go inside. Then contact was cut off, and when I went to find the house we had lived in together much later, the entire neighborhood had completely disappeared due to redevelopment.”
For a moment, the emptiness and despair of that time came back, and he paused.
Probably all of his habits started from that day.
Yes, it seemed like that.
Now he understood.
“So I don’t have anything left from my childhood. No photos, no books, not even favorite toys or dolls. The only thing left was the cell phone my mother gave me, but after my half-brother smashed that phone that had my mother’s contact and photos, there’s really nothing left. Of my past.”
“……So you decided not to trust people?”
“It probably had an influence. The fact that I don’t make possessions, don’t take photos, and try not to leave anything for others.”
Thinking about it that way, it seemed childhood memories had a bigger impact on humans than expected.
Feeling like he had discovered the source of habits he had thought were just innate, as he spun the water bottle around again, she took out a bat and continued the conversation matter-of-factly.
“It was strange from the beginning. Someone who says they like baseball doesn’t have baseball slogans or even a baseball. Even if they have few possessions, someone who likes baseball can’t be like that. Then it’s one of two things. Either saying you like baseball is a lie, or the more you like something, the more you don’t leave memories of it.”
At her sharp guess, Junghyun smiled bitterly.
“If you set up shop, you could make some money, you know?”
“When you reach this age, you see a lot even if you don’t want to. That’s why I thought it was strange. Junghyun-ssi’s luggage was similar to the amount I pack when going on domestic trips. I thought maybe you weren’t planning to stay here long, but to think it’s a habit…… That’s more dangerous. It means you have no intention of staying anywhere.”
“……Now that you mention it, that’s true.”
“I like how straightforward your answers are. Looking at it that way, in the end, leaving like that was also because you didn’t want to be hated by the director……”
Slowly continuing the conversation, she took seaweed from the shelf and soaked it in water, then spoke in the same calm tone.
“The director I know isn’t someone who would hate people. Rather, he would be thoroughly consistent with indifference. He hates unnecessary emotional waste. He especially wouldn’t hate Junghyun-ssi. Though he might resent you.”
After saying that, she placed the bowl with seaweed on the counter and turned her gaze to stare at Junghyun.
Then she seriously delivered her final words.
“From what I see, the person who hates Junghyun-ssi the most seems to be Junghyun-ssi himself.”
At those words that hit a more painful spot than anything he had heard so far, Junghyun smiled bitterly.
So that’s why he had felt uncomfortable from the first time he saw her.
This kind of person was burdensome to deal with.
He hated that she could see through his shallow inner thoughts.
“As I thought, you’re sharp. This is why I didn’t want to talk with the director.”
“On the contrary, I really wanted to have this kind of conversation with Junghyun-ssi. It was difficult because you dodged so well in every direction.”
“My avoidance skills are top-notch.”
After finishing the conversation, Junghyun downed the remaining water in one gulp and put the empty bottle in the trash. Then he immediately wrapped up the conversation.
“Well then, I’ll go take a shower.”
“I’ll call you when the meal is ready. And your phone should be in the bedroom. Please ask the director what time he’ll be getting off work today.”
“Yes, that much……”
He didn’t have the courage to call him first, but he could probably send a message.
Anyway, he couldn’t avoid conversation, and he had already acted shamelessly enough.
Deciding to shower first and then contact him, as he was about to leave the kitchen, she spoke again as if something had occurred to her.
“And just to be safe, it would be better if you don’t go outside the middle gate.”
“……The middle gate?”
“There are security guards at the middle gate and the living room near the entrance. If you want to go out, you’ll need to get confirmation from the director first. Either go with me or with the security guards.”
“……Yes, I’ll be careful……”
Having a rough idea of what he was thinking, after answering like that, Junghyun left the kitchen and glanced toward the entrance.
But there was no one visible.
Judging by how they weren’t immediately visible from the corridor, they seemed to be waiting on the sofa in the inner hall.
It was the most useless waste of manpower in the world.
It seemed they hadn’t heard yet about how he had escaped from where he had been standing.
But if that made him feel at ease, then it was fine.
Anything beyond that was something he couldn’t do anything about, so ignoring it, he dragged his legs and entered the bathroom inside the bedroom, taking off his clothes.
And just as he was about to enter the shower booth, he saw his upper body reflected in the mirror and stopped in surprise.
Unable to believe what he saw with his own eyes, he went close to the mirror to check his nape, and under the transparent hydrocolloid bandage, there were plenty of blotchy marks.
No, it wasn’t just his nape.
On his shoulders, chest, and even his forearms, vivid bloody bite marks were clearly imprinted.
“Ah……”
Only then did he remember being bitten on the neck by him.
With all his strength, hard enough to draw blood.
To bite so earnestly and then treat it while he was asleep.
It seemed his instincts as an Alpha and his reason had fought to a draw.
That was so absurd that he just laughed.
Then he immediately moved and went to the shower booth, turning on the hot water with familiar motions.
Every single action was natural and comfortable.
Even though it was a house he had only lived in for 4 months, everything from the doors, shower booth, to the mirror positions was familiar.
Ironically, it felt like he had really come home.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
