114
Since that day, Taein found Yoon Donghwan awkward. It was natural. Not because he disliked Yoon Donghwan, but because he had never even thought about this kind of thing in his life. In Taein’s life where every day was a struggle, there was no way such tickling emotions could sprout. He had often heard confessions from Dog Alley thugs, but naturally had never seriously considered them. They were guys who approached him to make fuck buddies, so responding would have just been a waste of time.
Was he someone who should be hearing such words? Setting aside his own feelings, it seemed like someone like Yoon Donghwan would like someone better than him. That’s why he had believed what Yoon Donghwan said at face value. If it had been someone else, he would have suspected ‘Does this bastard have ulterior motives?’ and avoided them, but Yoon Donghwan absolutely didn’t seem like he would have such thoughts. These days, no matter how well people get along, if the conditions don’t match, they don’t even start. Especially from businessman Yoon Donghwan’s perspective, he probably couldn’t be more than a beggar kid.
So there were times when he unnecessarily put his pride first and distanced himself from him.
Yoon Donghwan was just as clumsy with emotions as he was. He could tell that much. That’s probably why he had been good to him while making up all sorts of reasons. How brilliantly he had acted – he felt stupid for only realizing it now.
Whenever Taein thought about the day he received the confession, his face would turn red and he wouldn’t know what to do. There were many times when he would be lost in thought even when Eundo was calling him.
“Hyung.”
“……”
“Hyung!”
“Ah, yeah.”
“Do I do it like this?”
“Yeah, that’s right. You’re doing well.”
In one corner of the hotel where they had decided to stay for a while, Eundo’s expensive clothes were piled up. They were all things that Yoon Donghwan had his younger brothers buy and bring. Eundo also found dressing up fun and would always try on suspender pants or small hoodies with drawings of his favorite animals. Right now the child was also dressed in suspender pants. Black-blue suspender pants were clumsily put on right over his pajamas.
“Put your arms this way.”
“Like this?”
“Yeah. You’re doing well. Are you a genius?”
“Heh.”
Eundo, embarrassed by being called a genius, also brought the suspender straps to the front and hooked them to the loops. While he only knew brands like Nike or Adidas, he had never even heard of the maker that Eundo was wearing in his life. He thought it might be a reasonably priced casual brand, but it wasn’t. The tag had a price that easily exceeded one million won.
When Jang Ihwan had destroyed their home to that state, he hadn’t left a single thing intact. He too had wanted to quickly dress Eundo, who was wearing old clothes, in matching Nike top and bottom, but Yoon Donghwan had gotten his younger brothers to beat him to it first.
“……”
The reason Taein often fell into thought wasn’t anything special.
He had become awkward with that Yoon Donghwan and wasn’t talking with him much.
He had said he liked him, that he couldn’t stand it anymore, but nothing had changed since then.
He was secretly relieved, but when he took care of him from behind like this, he couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable.
What was he thinking?
The job that the boss was supposed to introduce also never got any separate contact to him. The only thing was following Yoon Donghwan, who had silently brought him for just one day, to the front of an unfamiliar office. That day, Yoon Donghwan had only come down from the second floor of a crude office that looked like it had container boxes stacked on it and said ‘They say there’s no position.’ Since then, he had just been staying at the hotel with Eundo.
He had been told to wait for now, so it seemed he had to wait until Yoon Donghwan brought him news.
“Hyung. Let’s go play with uncle.”
He meant going to play with Daejeong-ssi, who was staying at the same hotel. Eundo called Daejeong uncle and followed him well. One day, after playing for about an hour with Daejeong, whom he had met at the indoor kids cafe on the first floor of the hotel, he had started calling him uncle, uncle. Of course, Yoon Donghwan had been beside them then too. He had just stood at the entrance of the kids cafe without saying anything, looking at him, Eundo, and Daejeong with cold eyes.
What could he do even if he didn’t know what was inside?
Taein roughly took off the suspender pants and just put on a t-shirt instead of the child’s pajamas.
Eundo had woken up early in the morning and cleanly washed his face, hands, and feet. He didn’t know how much he had hurried, saying he had made plans with uncle Daejeong from the morning. Taein touched the pretty face that was soft like a cotton doll for a long time. Then when he pulled the child’s face forward, Eundo, whose mouth stuck out, burst into laughter just like that. He also tried hard to call him with poor pronunciation, saying “Hyunga.”
Taein, who had arrived at the door before he knew it, skillfully pulled the handle.
“Ah, hyung-nim. Did you receive contact from Donghwan hyung-nim?”
Perhaps having just arrived, Daejeong’s hair was wet. Next to him was also one more familiar big guy. After Taein confirmed that much, he rummaged through his back pocket.
“Just a moment.”
There were no traces on his phone. Taein even went into his message box, which had no notifications, to check.
Not only today, but there had been no contact from Yoon Donghwan for several days.
“Oh, I heard he was going to take hyung-nim to work today.”
“Ah… yes. He’ll probably contact me.”
“Uncle. Let’s go together with our hyung.”
“Hey, Eundo. Let’s just go by ourselves. Hyung-nim and big hyung-nim have plans.”
At some point, Daejeong had started calling him hyung-nim and Donghwan big hyung-nim separately. It was because he had gotten involved somehow and they needed titles to distinguish the two.
“No, it doesn’t seem like contact will come now, so let’s go together.”
Although Daejeong was comfortable, he felt sorry to just leave Eundo with him alone. Taein opened the door and went out, pushing Eundo forward first. Eundo was so happy with life here that he spent every day as excited as if he had come to an amusement park, not even mentioning daycare. There was a kids playground on the first floor that he could go to with his hyung, and room service was delivered twice a day. At first he had been wary because they were strangers, but gradually he recognized them as ajusshis who brought delicious food and became quite friendly with the staff.
A child who absorbed as much as the world expanded for him. Taein hoped that the experiences he was having for the first time would become good memories for Eundo. Having to get a job later and show gratitude to Yoon Donghwan was entirely his own problem. Eundo just needed to play well and eat well here.
When he gripped Eundo’s hand tightly with a heart that had become inexplicably emotional, Eundo looked up and smiled, saying “Hyung.” It seemed he was happy and excited just from making eye contact.
Security guards were always stationed on the royal floor. In addition, there were often cases where privately employed staff stood in front of doors. Although the cases were different, people who were said to be Yoon Donghwan’s younger brothers coming and going in the corridor was the same context. When four people stood in front of the elevator, Daejeong stepped aside while taking a phone call. The elevator that arrived while he went to the corner corridor to take the call closed quickly.
It was a special room-only elevator that regular guests didn’t ride. After standing still without moving for a while, it went down to the first floor when another guest got on the elevator. That was also when Daejeong finished his call.
“Hyung-nim, big hyung-nim is here.”
“Ah.”
“I’ll play with Eundo and send him up. Please call.”
“Where is hyung going?”
“Yeah, I’ll take care of some business and come down.”
“Hmm, then I go with uncle?”
“Yeah, uncle says he wants to play more with Eundo.”
“Okay, I understand. Uncle, Eundo will play with you.”
At those words, Daejeong burst out first, saying “Eundo, you were going to play with me? Kang Eundo,” teasing the child. Taein looked wistfully at Eundo’s smiling figure in front of the elevator that had arrived before he knew it. Soon the door closed and the elevator headed to the first floor.
Then Taein, who had turned around, only gave his attention to his phone.
It seemed Yoon Donghwan was talking about him to Daejeong.
Taein, who had naturally approached the door, touched the card key to the sensor. Then the door automatically opened halfway with a soft sound. When he pushed and entered, he heard the door closing by itself from behind. Taein walked all the way and pressed his body against the back of the sofa, looking at the soft cushion surface.
Yoon Donghwan had sat around here and spoken, and he had listened to those words from the seat right next to him. Thinking about it, although he had left the room angry by himself, a few hours later, in the morning, he had seemed to be in a good mood again. When he briefly stopped by the hotel room and encountered him, he had even said while laughing, “Hey, hey. Just forget it. It was bullshit. Forget it, forget it.” But after that, not a single hair of his head was visible until night, and the next morning when he accidentally encountered Yoon Donghwan in the corridor, he had only looked at him with cold eyes.
As time passed, had he really regretted it?
After speaking, did he think their levels didn’t match and get hurt in his pride?
He had all sorts of thoughts but couldn’t bring himself to ask, so he was just spending each day frustratingly.
The hotel costs, room service, and the price of Eundo’s clothes were also on his mind, and he kept thinking about the things he had done for him while making up reasons that didn’t even work. And especially what bothered him was that he hadn’t been able to say anything to Yoon Donghwan, who had exploded by himself that day saying he liked him. Yoon Donghwan was just as clumsy with emotions as he was. He probably had never said such things to anyone. Taein kept recalling the image of Yoon Donghwan, who had said he liked him without any inflection, and then spoke the words after that while angry.
What should he have said to him?
Suddenly, an unfamiliar vibration rang from his back pocket, startling his body. The people who would call were either Daejeong or Donghwan. Since it was a phone he had received from Yoon Donghwan, not many people knew the number itself. Taein took out his phone and checked the screen.
It was Yoon Donghwan. Feeling somehow nervous, Taein took a breath and pressed the call button. Then small noise entered his ears first. It seemed like he was driving with the window open.
– Are you at the hotel?
“Yes.”
– Come out. To the first floor, not the parking garage.
“…Yes.”
The call was cut off abruptly before he could even answer. The atmosphere had been like this when they visited the container office that day too. Feeling awkward for just a moment, Taein turned on his message box and started writing a message to Daejeong. No. Since he said to come to the first floor, he could talk face to face. He had prepared early, so he just needed to go outside.
Taein, who took the elevator down, passed the first-floor restaurant and headed to the kids’ play area.
Daejeong and Eundo were swimming in a pool full of balls. Another big man was also chasing them from behind. Worried about dampening the spirits of Eundo, who was laughing with such a bright face, Taein turned around again and opened his phone’s message box. Then he left a message for Daejeong.
[Going out now Daejeong-ssi you don’t have to spoil Eundo too much then I’ll go out and come back quickly thank you]
On the way, he thought he should buy some sandwiches or handmade burgers. He had 200,000 won left out of the 300,000 won he had borrowed from Yoon Donghwan. Even though there wasn’t much to spend money on, he had bought ice cream for Eundo and a large walnut pie for Daejeong. He had given it to him saying please share it and thank you for playing well with Eundo, but he hadn’t heard how it tasted. Maybe it didn’t taste very good. He could only guess like that.
Outside, Yoon Donghwan’s luxury sedan was parked.
Even in busy districts, it was rare to see people driving such expensive cars.
Anyway, since it was a small provincial city, you could hardly even see foreign cars unless it was around Dog Alley.
Taein walked almost running and threw open the passenger door of the sedan.
Then he saw Yoon Donghwan just gripping the steering wheel and looking ahead. He was acting as if he wouldn’t even give him a glance and would just do his own business. Since this attitude had been repeated for several days and he was used to it, Taein silently got in the car. Soon the car started and crossed the road.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
