Chapter 82
“Yuwon? Are you still living with Yuwon?”
Misook asked, tilting her head.
When he had started volunteering at the orphanage, Yuwon had definitely said he was taking a break from work. Though she hadn’t made a big deal of it, she had thought his relationship with Moon Jeonghyeok had ended as well.
But they were still living together. Could it be that he had quit his job and was just depending on the man’s household?
Misook’s brow furrowed deeply with worry.
“I thought he had quit his job, so I’m not sure what it means that he’s still at your place…”
“He didn’t quit his job, he’s just taking a temporary break.”
Jeonghyeok continued with a gentle smile as if to reassure her.
“I’m leaving Seoul soon. I’m planning to restart the work I’m doing now in a new place, and Yuwon has agreed to help me there.”
“A new place? Are you going somewhere far?”
“Not too far. About an hour by car.”
She wanted to ask exactly where he was going, but Misook didn’t press further. Strictly speaking, Yuwon had already left the orphanage, and his new home was Jeonghyeok’s private space.
Looking at Misook’s slightly stiffened expression, Jeonghyeok slowly brought up what he had prepared to say.
“Before leaving, Yuwon wanted to greet the director, but unfortunately he caught a severe cold and has been bedridden for the past few days. That’s why I came in his place.”
The news that Yuwon was sick had come from Minhyeon. The reason he suddenly didn’t come to the orphanage yesterday, and why they couldn’t reach him, was because he was severely ill. He had conveyed the news about his birth parents looking for him, and said that once Yuwon made up his mind, he would come to the orphanage himself.
Though Minhyeon’s expression hadn’t looked very good when he said this, Misook had simply been waiting for Yuwon’s answer.
And the answer she had been waiting for flowed from the mouth of an unexpected person.
“Yuwon doesn’t want to meet his birth parents.”
“Ah…”
“I came here specifically to tell you this.”
Misook hesitated for a moment before finally managing to speak.
“What’s the… reason?”
“Does the reason matter? If that’s what Yuwon wants, shouldn’t that be the end of it?”
“…”
“They abandoned him because they wanted to, and now they’re coming to see him because they want to—isn’t that too selfish and cruel? Don’t you think?”
Misook frowned slightly. The man sitting in front of her felt like a complete stranger.
The strange wariness she had felt when they first met came back to life. But she calmly blinked and calmed her emotions. It was a skill she had acquired from dealing with people for a long time.
“Of course. If Yuwon doesn’t want to meet them, I have no intention of forcing him either.”
“I trust that you’ll convey this message well to his parents.”
“Don’t worry about that part.”
With the conversation flowing as naturally as water, Jeonghyeok nodded with satisfaction and said,
“I’ve said everything I needed to say, and I have another appointment, so I should probably get going now.”
“Yes, please do.”
Like wearing a mask, Misook smiled cleanly with a face free of any suspicion. Instead, she casually spoke to Jeonghyeok as he stood up.
“But, sir.”
“Yes.”
“I didn’t tell Yuwon about your visit last time. You asked me not to.”
“That’s right.”
It definitely had been that way. Misook wanted to ask how he had come to know Yuwon’s circumstances in such detail, and how he had come to convey such messages on the boy’s behalf.
Even though he couldn’t have been unaware of the question she couldn’t bring herself to voice, Jeonghyeok simply stared at Misook silently.
“You seem to have grown much closer to Yuwon. Much more than last time.”
“Well, we are living together.”
He smiled, pulling up the corners of his mouth as if it were obvious, but that expression was unsettling unlike before. Misook quietly closed her mouth. She felt she shouldn’t pry any further.
“For the time being, until we adjust to our new place, both Yuwon and I will be quite busy. Once things settle down, I’ll contact you then.”
“Yes. I understand.”
Jeonghyeok played the perfect guardian role until the end. With suspicion harbored deep in her heart, Misook saw Jeonghyeok off as he left the director’s office.
***
He had definitely said he was very sick. But no matter how Taeju looked at him, Yuwon seemed perfectly fine.
His under-eyes were a bit hollow, but he didn’t particularly seem to lack energy, nor did he appear to have a fever. The way he flipped through channels with a bored expression was exactly like an immature boy his age.
Had he really just sprained his ankle? If so, what was hyung’s reason for bringing him into this house?
“What? Is there something on my face?”
“Oh, no.”
Taeju flinched when Yuwon suddenly turned his head. As he stiffly looked ahead, a beverage commercial was playing on the TV.
“If you’re curious about something, you can ask me.”
“There’s nothing like that.”
“It seems like there is.”
Yuwon looked at Taeju intently with sleepy eyes.
“Then can I ask you something?”
“Of course.”
“How did you get to know ajeossi?”
It was a completely unexpected question, so Taeju briefly searched through his memories.
“About ten years ago, we met by chance. Hyung took me in when I had nowhere to go. Back then, I was even thinking about dying, but working under hyung allowed me to become a proper person.”
A proper person. Now that he had said it out loud, it really was true. Taeju’s life before meeting Jeonghyeok had been a complete mess. He had lived depending on his only younger sibling without parents, and after even his sibling died from a chronic illness, he had just lived day by day however he could.
“Why did you want to die… can I ask?”
“I lost my only family. When I had no one to depend on, I wandered a bit with my young heart.”
“Ah, family.”
Yuwon nodded as if he understood. It seemed like having nothing from the beginning was better than having something and then losing it. Even at the orphanage, children who had lived with their parents before coming in had a much harder time than those like him who had no parents from the start.
“Then hyung can never betray ajeossi.”
“Of course I…”
He was about to say he couldn’t, but Yuwon’s gaze sitting beside him felt piercing.
“Not even once?”
“…”
“I’m not asking for anything huge, just please find my phone, or no, just tell me where it is.”
“You don’t have your phone?”
“Ajeossi has it.”
“Hyung has it?”
Taeju tilted his head greatly and frowned. He couldn’t understand what Yuwon was saying at all.
If his lover had his phone, he should just ask for it back—why was he asking him to find it?
Suddenly, a realization flashed through his mind. Yuwon’s request to find his phone and Jeonghyeok’s words about absolutely not letting him outside the house mixed together in his head. Not only that, until recently, Jeonghyeok had assigned people to Yuwon to monitor his every move.
As past events fit together like puzzle pieces, Taeju looked incredulous.
“Don’t tell me you can’t leave the house right now because of hyung?”
After thinking for a moment, Yuwon nodded while glancing around for Jeonghyeok, who wasn’t even home.
“But why on earth…”
Just then, the sound of the door lock being released was heard. The two people closed their mouths as if they had made an agreement. The front door opened, and familiar footsteps approached.
Jeonghyeok’s expression hardened immediately upon discovering the two people sitting side by side on the sofa. Taeju instinctively sensed danger.
“You’re back, hyung.”
He stood up abruptly to greet him, but Jeonghyeok’s expression showed no sign of softening.
“Kim Yuwon. Go to your room.”
At the deliberately harsh voice, Yuwon glanced at Taeju. Then he got up and went into his room.
Once they were alone, Jeonghyeok approached Taeju and spoke in a low voice.
“What are you doing right now?”
“Ah, well… he came out saying he wanted water, and then said he wanted to watch TV, so I told him to go ahead…”
“What did you talk about?”
He was carefully continuing his words, worried he might make a mistake, when Jeonghyeok cut him off.
“What?”
“What did you two talk about?”
It was a voice that squeezed his breath. The look in his eyes was also unusual. It was an unfamiliar side he had never seen in ten years of being with him.
Kim Yuwon wanted to go outside right now and had asked him to find his phone. But if he told him this straightforwardly, he couldn’t know what would happen to Yuwon’s safety.
Then there was only one way.
“He was curious about how you and I became close.”
“And?”
“I told him honestly.”
Taeju smiled slightly and continued.
“That ten years ago, hyung willingly took me in when I couldn’t even function as a human being. Somehow I ended up telling him about that time too.”
“That’s all?”
“Yes. That’s everything.”
Looking at Jeonghyeok, who was glaring at him as if he would see right through him, Taeju tried his best not to show that he was tense.
If it had been a complete lie, he would have been caught immediately. So he deliberately mixed truth into his words. He had only hidden the fact that Yuwon had asked for help—everything else was true.
As he met Jeonghyeok’s gaze with unwavering eyes, Jeonghyeok’s fierce look seemed to gradually subside.
“Taeju.”
“Yes.”
“Do you think I’d go easy on you just because you’re you?”
But that was a complete miscalculation.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
