“What are you making?”
Inho, who had come out of Haon’s room, asked in a bright voice. Haon, who was just taking out the frozen chicken, hesitated and stammered.
“Well… I was going to boil the chicken…”
There was chicken he had bought beforehand, and he thought he could boil it and eat it, but it turned out to be frozen. He was just about to search online for how to boil frozen chicken.
“Or should I make something else? It’ll take time to thaw anyway.”
“I don’t mind eating late. I’m not hungry right now.”
Inho, approaching the kitchen, asked how Haon was doing.
“Are you hungry?”
“Hmm….”
Haon, who pondered his answer carefully, said that he thought he could bear it. He seemed to be hungry.
“Shall I cut some fruit for you? While Haon prepares dinner.”
“Yes, please.”
The two, who shared a brief kiss, went about their own tasks. Haon soaked the frozen chicken in water as he had seen on the internet, and then prepared the other ingredients. Inho took a melon out of the refrigerator and placed it on the fruit cutting board.
He gripped the handle of the small, sharp paring knife and held the cold melon firmly. Behind him, Haon was slicing carrots and onions. Thock, thock, thock, the sound of vegetables being cut slowly but evenly echoed.
Inho just held the paring knife for a moment. The coldness of the melon transferred to the hand holding it. Inho, who ran his thumb over the rough skin, slowly closed and opened his eyes.
“Haon-ssi.”
Just as he called out to Haon, the sound of the front door buzzer interrupted their conversation.
Surprised by the sudden mechanical sound, Haon put down the knife with a start. Then, he calmly turned his gaze to the intercom.
“I’ll go out. Inho-ssi, please stay here.”
Haon said in a rather reliable voice. He ran to the intercom before Inho could even speak. Inho naturally followed him, though he kept his distance because Haon had told him not to come.
Haon approached the small screen with a determined look in his eyes. Inho hadn’t had a chance to say anything, but he was holding a half-cut carrot in one hand. He looked very nervous due to the sudden visitor.
“Uh….”
Haon, who looked at the intercom as if he would chase away whoever it was, tilted his head. Not knowing how to use it, he touched the machine without pressing any buttons and then turned back to Inho.
“It’s a student…?”
“A student?”
Inho, who was slowly following behind, tilted his head along with Haon. He trudged towards Haon and checked the small intercom screen. His usually relaxed eyes narrowed as if he recognized the face.
His expression sharpened slightly.
Haon glanced at Inho and then looked back at the young student on the intercom screen. The student was short with a boyish face. He wasn’t wearing a school uniform, but he looked to be around middle school age.
“I’ll finish cooking. I’ll go see for a moment.”
“Who is it?”
Inho, who was about to head towards the hallway, stopped and replied without looking at Haon.
“My younger brother.”
Haon stared at Inho’s retreating figure with wide eyes. It was natural for him to be surprised. He had never heard Inho mention having a younger brother before.
Inho quickly walked down the long hallway. It was a noticeably different pace from when he walked alongside Haon.
The doorbell didn’t ring again after the first time. But that one ring was enough to irritate Inho’s nerves.
He roughly opened the door, and Seo Joo-han, standing blankly and touching the bell, came into view. He wasn’t pressing the button, just resting his hand on it. He flinched and took a step back, startled by the sudden opening of the door.
“Hyung….”
“Why are you here.”
Inho stared at Joo-han’s face with a hardened gaze. His face looked even more gaunt and he had more injuries than when they had seen each other at the meal. Today, his lip was split and scabbed over. It looked like a recent injury.
“I asked why you’re here.”
However, Inho didn’t mention his younger brother’s increased injuries. His gaze was fixed on the torn lip and bruised cheek, but he didn’t reveal his concern.
“I heard… you were hospitalized, Hyung…”
“So what.”
Inho, lifting his chin, urged him to speak as Joo-han mumbled. The more he did so, the more Joo-han shrank back and couldn’t open his mouth properly. Inho glared at him and tried to close the door mercilessly.
“Let’s talk inside.”
Before he could, Haon interjected in their conversation. He hadn’t even realized Haon had approached because he was completely hidden by Inho’s large frame. Haon, who stood behind Inho without a sound, peeked out and looked at Joo-han.
“It’s cold outside… please talk inside.”
Haon paused for a moment as he looked at Joo-han’s face. His surprised gaze landed on the dark red scab and the blue bruise. That wasn’t an injury from falling or bumping into something. It was clearly from being hit by someone.
“Yes? Inho-ssi. Let’s go in together.”
Haon carefully wrapped his arm around Inho’s and pulled him inside. Fortunately, Inho followed Haon’s suggestion.
Inho looked at Joo-han and gestured with his chin towards the inside of the entrance. Joo-han, who had been standing there blankly, stared at Haon for a moment before quickly nodding his head.
Inho put his arm around Haon’s shoulders as they crossed the inner doorway. He smiled, curving his eyes gently, as if sensing Haon was watching his expression. It was to show that he wasn’t angry.
“I’ll go talk in the room for a bit. Haon-ssi, please relax. Don’t worry about it.”
“Yes.”
Haon glanced back and forth between Inho and Joo-han before returning to the kitchen. He subtly turned around midway and made eye contact with Joo-han, who was watching him. Haon bowed his head slightly first, and Joo-han followed suit, tilting his head a little.
“Follow me.”
Inho’s voice, spoken softly as if brushing against the air, was curt. Joo-han, who closely followed behind him, seemed accustomed to such a tone.
Inho entered the study across from the dressing room. It was a neglected space that he had rarely stepped into since Haon had come.
Inho, who sat down at the desk, gestured with his eyes to the small two-seater sofa. Then, he first sat down in the chair in front of the desk, leaned back deeply, and gazed out the window. It was the time when the sun was setting, so it wasn’t dark yet.
Joo-han, who sat on the sofa Inho had indicated, quietly looked around his older brother’s house, which he was visiting for the first time.
“Who told you to come?”
“What…?”
Inho asked again, his gaze still fixed outside the window.
“I’m asking who told you to come here.”
The moment he saw Joo-han on the intercom screen, the faces of Jang Eun-young and Seo Taewan flashed through his mind. They were the only two who would send Joo-han here. Seo Seung-won was the type to avoid doing anything that would provoke Inho if possible.
“It’s not like that, Hyung. I wanted to come on my own.”
Joo-han, fidgeting, perched on the edge of the sofa and waved his hands.
“Really. Mom doesn’t even know I came here.”
“Then why did you come?”
A sharp edge appeared in Inho’s sensitive eyes. He was already overwhelmed with so many things bothering him. Now that Seo Joo-han had even come to annoy him, a curse word welled up inside him.
After rubbing his throbbing eyes, Inho let out a sigh. His nerves were fixated on Haon’s bag in the closet.
“Mom….”
Joo-han, sensing Inho’s mood, lowered his head deeply. Seeing with his own eyes that he was not even on his older brother’s mind made his shoulders slump even more. Even though it was something he already knew.
“Keeps hitting me.”
He confessed the truth as it was. The tips of Joo-han’s ears turned red as he mumbled softly. Even in this terrible situation, he felt more shame than sadness.
“This time… I thought I was going to get beaten to death.”
He trailed off, implying that was why he had run away.
Jang Eun-young, who had been drunk since midday, had taken out her anger on Joo-han. Today, she had even come into his room and thrown a liquor bottle, which had startled him into running away.
Inho didn’t ask why he had been hit. Jang Eun-young’s reasons for using violence were different every time.
Whenever she smelled another woman’s perfume on her husband’s clothes or felt ignored by someone, she would raise her hand to her powerless child.
“Go to a friend’s house.”
Joo-han scratched the back of his hand, which was marked with small scars, at Inho’s unfailingly cold response.
“I don’t have any friends.”
He quickly added, thinking his brother would tell him to go to a hotel.
“And, and I have something to ask you, Hyung….”
Inho, who had closed his mouth, continued to stare only at the window. The way he pressed his temples with his fist looked weary. Joo-han frowned, remembering that his brother hadn’t been discharged from the hospital long ago.
“Are you okay? Are you still not feeling well?”
“Just tell me what you need.”
Inho was only trying to end the conversation quickly. He glanced at Joo-han, who was just opening and closing his mouth, and then asked with a dry laugh.
“Don’t tell me you came all the way here to ask me that?”
Joo-han quickly shook his head. He bit his split lip and pondered his words. He had a very desperate look on his face, as if he thought this was his only chance.
“How can I… become like you, Hyung?”
At the following question, Inho snorted even louder. The short, cut-off laughter was closer to a dry sigh.
