Chapter 84
“I hate you, teacher! You’re always lying!”
Soon after, waaaah, a loud crying sound filled the room.
The children’s demands, who had been counting down the days waiting for Yuwon to come, grew worse by the day. He’ll come tomorrow. He really said he’d come tomorrow. As the same story was repeated, the children no longer believed what Minhyeon said.
Minhyeon sighed and pressed his forehead.
“Teacher is sorry. Teacher Yuwon is very sick, so that’s why he can’t come.”
“That’s also a lie. You’re a liar.”
The child grumbled while shedding tears like chicken droppings.
“He’s not coming because he hates us. Because he dislikes us…”
“What are you talking about? That’s absolutely not true.”
The red, swollen eyes were pitiful. Minhyeon began to comfort the child by holding them in his arms. The child buried their face completely in Minhyeon’s shoulder and continued to mumble Yuwon’s name.
“Hah…”
Minhyeon felt like crying too. He had been waiting for contact from Yuwon for four days now, but there was no news.
He wanted to contact him first, but every time he thought about it, Jeonghyeok came to mind. His cold warning kept bothering him. He was worried that his hasty actions might make Yuwon’s situation difficult, so he couldn’t easily make a move.
“Today is free time. Those who want to read books can read, and if you want to play with blocks, I’ll take them out for you, so just tell me. Got it?”
Except for one girl who was still sniffling in Minhyeon’s arms, everyone answered “yes” and scattered. The children seemed to be bustling around finding their own activities, but if you looked closely, they were all dejected.
Minhyeon spent an hour comforting the children one by one. He knew better than anyone how difficult it was for them when an adult they had poured their affection into disappeared overnight.
He was frantically coaxing and comforting the children while building blocks when Hyojin opened the door and came in to tell him it was time for lunch.
“You’re having a hard time all alone without Yuwon.”
“It’s okay. I was originally going to do this alone, but I asked hyung to do it together.”
Minhyeon smiled warmly at Hyojin, who had a very worried expression, then exchanged caring farewells with the children, saying he’d see them tomorrow.
As he left the room and headed to the second-floor cafeteria, he had no appetite at all. He felt like he wouldn’t be able to digest anything he ate. Planning to skip lunch today, Minhyeon passed the second floor and went down to the first floor.
Just as he reached the villa’s entrance, it seemed noisy outside.
“What? Won’t meet me? He said that? He doesn’t want to see me?”
When he opened the glass door and went out, a woman he had seen once before was having an argument with Misook.
“What a ridiculous kid. I mean, his parents want to meet him, so what reason is there not to meet? Does this make sense, huh?”
“Ma’am. As I told you, the child’s opinion must be respected first and foremost.”
“Opinion, what opinion. He’s my child that I carried in my womb and gave birth to!”
The woman’s booming voice filled the small parking lot. Misook made a troubled expression and kept gesturing for the woman to calm down, but it didn’t seem to be of much use.
Even from the brief conversation, he could quickly grasp the situation. To the woman who was supposedly Yuwon’s birth mother, Misook seemed to have conveyed that Yuwon had no intention of meeting his birth parents. The woman seemed quite angry about this news.
“Director-nim.”
“Oh, Minhyeon.”
When Minhyeon, who had reached the parking lot in an instant, approached Misook’s side, the woman’s sharp gaze turned toward Minhyeon.
Minhyeon spoke to the woman with a deliberately stern face.
“Please go back now, ma’am.”
“What are you supposed to be?”
“I’m the younger brother who lived with Yuwon hyung.”
At Minhyeon’s words, the woman’s eyebrows twitched once. Minhyeon didn’t miss that moment and politely continued.
“I’ll try to persuade hyung, so please go back today. If you speak this loudly here, all the children inside can hear you.”
“You’ll try to persuade him?”
“Yes. I’ll talk to him well, telling him to meet with you just once, ma’am.”
The woman silently glared at Minhyeon as if trying to gauge whether his words were true. When he met her gaze without backing down, the woman soon turned her head away with a huff.
“Anyway, resolve this quickly and contact me. The kid’s father is also waiting desperately. Do you understand?”
Fortunately, her voice seemed slightly softer than before. Misook quietly nodded, and the woman made a “hmph” sound before walking away.
Only after her slow, waddling steps had completely passed the orphanage entrance did Minhyeon ask Misook.
“Did hyung come and go? When?”
He definitely hadn’t received any contact, but to hear that he had visited the orphanage in the meantime made him feel puzzled. How long have I been waiting? It also felt a bit resentful that he had only seen the director without saying anything.
“Ah… he didn’t come directly.”
Misook paused for a moment. She was wondering how much she should explain to Minhyeon.
No matter how much Yuwon and Minhyeon were like brothers, the two were strictly speaking strangers to each other. Unless Yuwon had directly explained to Minhyeon himself, she felt it wasn’t right for her to inform him of Yuwon’s situation first.
“He just contacted me. Said he has no desire to meet them. He’s going to be busy with work for a while, so he can’t come to the orphanage either.”
“…Is that so?”
“It seems like you still haven’t been able to contact Yuwon? Did you two really have some kind of problem? Did you fight that day when you were drinking?”
To Misook’s question, he couldn’t give either a yes or no answer.
Minhyeon shook his head with a bitter expression. Looking at Minhyeon, who couldn’t give a clear answer, Misook concluded that the two had definitely fought.
She was troubled about speaking about Yuwon’s situation without permission, but it didn’t seem right for them to part ways without making up, so Misook sighed deeply and said,
“Minhyeon. Don’t be stubborn and apologize to hyung first.”
This much should be okay to tell him. She patted Minhyeon’s shoulders as he hung his head low and casually added,
“Yuwon is leaving Seoul soon.”
“What?”
Minhyeon’s expression, as he suddenly raised his head, was colored with shock.
***
No matter how much he tried to sleep, his mind only became clearer.
Yuwon, who had opened his eyes, just breathed quietly in the pitch-black darkness. Next to him, Jeonghyeok was sleeping like he was dead. One hand was holding his wrist.
The position of lying down with his hand being held was quite uncomfortable. He tried subtly pulling his hand away and even openly shaking it off, but Jeonghyeok didn’t give up.
Since he had already decided to comply with everything, what was the big deal about sleeping while holding hands? In the end, it was Yuwon who gave up.
After seeing Jeonghyeok’s tears, Yuwon hadn’t demanded anything. He didn’t say he wanted to go outside, nor did he ask for his phone back. He just spent time alone with Jeonghyeok in the house from morning to night.
Am I too soft? Because I’m too starved for love, am I foolishly clinging to a relationship I should cut off? He had agonized several times over whether his actions were right, but one thing was certain.
It was painful to see ajeossi cry, and when he heard his tearful confession, his heart trembled. Of course, it was true that he had been hurt a lot, but it was hard to deny that he still had feelings for ajeossi.
In the end, Yuwon decided to act according to his heart. Whether that feeling was affection or pity, he would follow it for now.
Then someday an answer would come. Even if the end of this relationship came someday, he wanted to stay by Jeonghyeok’s side until his feelings were completely exhausted.
As the night deepened, his thoughts also deepened.
After lying there like a faithful wife waiting for her husband’s return for a long time, he suddenly felt thirsty. Yuwon, who glanced at the space next to him, sat up. He moved as carefully as possible so as not to wake Jeonghyeok.
Just then, Jeonghyeok’s eyes flew open and he gripped Yuwon’s wrist tightly.
“Where are you going?”
Though he slightly furrowed his brow at the rough force he felt momentarily, Yuwon answered as if nothing was wrong.
“To drink water.”
“I’ll get it for you.”
“It’s okay. Don’t wake up because of me and sleep well.”
He tried twisting his wrist slightly, but Jeonghyeok didn’t budge. Instead, he opened his mouth while staring at Yuwon.
“Yuwon.”
“Yes?”
“Can’t you speak more casually to me?”
“Don’t wake up because of me and sleep well”—even though there was an age difference, when he heard such formal language, it felt like the distance he had worked hard to close was suddenly widening again.
His extremely anxious mind couldn’t tolerate even small irritations. Things that had been natural before couldn’t just be overlooked anymore.
“I hate it when you use honorifics. It feels like I’m just some uncle next door that you don’t know.”
Hearing his serious tone, Yuwon unconsciously let out a small laugh. Then Jeonghyeok’s eyebrows twitched.
“What’s funny?”
“Just, I can’t imagine ajeossi being the uncle next door.”
Looking at Yuwon, who was smiling with his eyes gently downcast, Jeonghyeok felt like his breath stopped.
Even though he was annoyed to death that Yuwon was treating his serious words as a joke, he was happy to see his smiling face after such a long time. It wasn’t just good—it was so good that his heart felt like it would burst.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
