131.
#How can I make it stop?
Although he came out with the excuse of feeling stifled, he was equally at a loss about what to do. It was already September, so they couldn’t go into the sea.
Aimlessly driving along the coast, they entered a café that caught their eye and drank coffee while looking at the ocean. Since neither of them were talkative, it was just as quiet in the café as it was at home. Only the space had changed; not much else was different.
“Shall we eat sashimi for lunch?”
As they sat on the beach staring blankly at the sea for a while after leaving the café with their coffee, Hayun asked. Dawoon nodded meaninglessly. He didn’t care much about what to eat. The reason he was eating well every meal as suggested was because he was concerned about how much weight Hayun had lost.
“We can go there.”
Hayun gestured towards a place. Right next to the café they had just left, there was a large sign that read ‘Sashimi Restaurant’. It was a small restaurant that looked like it could only fit a few tables. Somehow, the thought that it didn’t suit Hayun at all made Dawoon chuckle. Hayun looked at him with an expression that couldn’t understand why he was laughing, but Dawoon waved his hand saying it was nothing and started walking. He thought that the feeling Jeff had while watching him in Africa might be similar to what he was feeling now looking at Hayun.
“Excuse me.”
They pushed open the old, rattling door and looked for the owner.
“Welcome.”
An older woman who had been preparing vegetables at one of the tables stood up to greet them.
“Are you here to eat?”
To her question, Hayun answered yes and asked for a menu. The woman gestured towards a menu board hanging above what appeared to be the kitchen area. It seemed there were no individual menus apart from that one on the wall. Slightly flustered, Hayun smiled and said they would decide and let her know.
“What do you want to eat?”
Although it was a small restaurant, they had a good variety of sashimi.
“Just order whatever you think is good.”
Dawoon couldn’t tell the different types of sashimi apart anyway. After some deliberation, Hayun ordered two types of sashimi and added a separate order of mulhoe (cold raw fish soup).
“How are we going to eat all that?”
When Dawoon worried that it might be too much, Hayun replied that if it’s too much, they could just leave what they couldn’t finish. Having done volunteer work in Africa where they often couldn’t even have one full meal, Dawoon didn’t like the idea of wasting food. So when he suggested they should get it packed if there were leftovers, Hayun nodded in agreement.
After placing the order, Dawoon felt a stare fixed on him.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Just because. I like it.”
With an expression that seemed to say he was overjoyed just looking at Dawoon, it made Dawoon lose the will to tell him to stop staring. Still, the intense gaze made him feel embarrassed, so he turned his head to avoid eye contact.
There was a fairly large TV turned on in one corner of the restaurant. The owner seemed to have been watching a drama while there were no customers. After the drama ended, a few commercials played, and then the news started. As Dawoon was watching without much thought, he paused when he saw the Haedo Group logo appear behind the news anchor.
[As we reported earlier about the engagement news of the Haedo Group’s vice chairman, that day is today. At 6 PM this evening, the engagement ceremony between Jeong Hayun, vice chairman of Haedo Group, and the granddaughter of former ruling party floor leader Congressman Choi Min-guk will take place. This engagement ceremony is causing a stir as many famous figures from political and business circles have been invited…]
This evening? Dawoon’s gaze naturally turned to Hayun.
Why was Hayun sitting here when there was an engagement ceremony this evening? Wasn’t the engagement canceled when he returned? He had clearly shown Choi Yu-na the plane ticket he sent her to go abroad. So how could the engagement ceremony still be proceeding this evening?
“What’s going on with that?”
When Dawoon pointed at the news screen with his finger, Hayun turned to check and then turned back to face Dawoon with an “Ah” sound.
“Looks like it’s proceeding well.”
Despite saying this, he showed no signs of hurrying to attend the engagement ceremony. Dawoon couldn’t figure out what he was thinking at all.
“Don’t tell me you lied? You said you weren’t going to have the engagement ceremony.”
“I’m not going to.”
“Then what’s that about?”
“The engagement ceremony is just proceeding as planned.”
“Whose engagement ceremony is it?”
“Mine?”
His answer made Dawoon let out an exasperated sigh. This wasn’t just wordplay; he wondered what on earth Hayun was trying to do.
“Did you really invite all those famous people from political and business circles?”
“It’s the engagement ceremony of the Haedo Group’s vice chairman, so we have to keep up appearances.”
“I thought you said you weren’t going.”
“I’m not going, but…”
Hayun smiled mischievously. Dawoon closed his mouth and stared at him, almost glaring. What had happened in the past two months? It seemed Hayun had become an even more puzzling person than Dawoon had known.
As he frowned and pondered, a sudden thought made him groan internally. No way… It can’t be. Surely he wouldn’t go that far. He shook his head, trying hard to deny his own thoughts.
“Let’s eat the sashimi and go to Seoul.”
“Seoul?”
Hayun asked back, as if he couldn’t understand why Dawoon suddenly wanted to go to Seoul.
“Go there and either have the engagement ceremony or call it off properly. You’ve made such a big deal out of it, so you need to resolve it.”
With even the news making a fuss and drawing public attention, there would be severe backlash if the person in question didn’t show up. It wasn’t a problem that could be resolved by simply saying the engagement was called off.
“I don’t intend to resolve it.”
The casual reply brought back the assumption Dawoon had been trying to ignore.
“Are you doing this on purpose?”
When Dawoon asked hopefully, Hayun just grinned. Another exasperated sigh escaped Dawoon’s lips.
“Why on earth?”
“This much is necessary for Grandfather to give up.”
“Hyung!”
Was he really inviting all those political and business figures and even mobilizing the media to broadcast news for such a simple reason? It wasn’t such a simple matter. It could potentially affect the company’s stock prices, and if it led to damage to Haedo Group’s image, there could be backlash from consumers.
That’s not all. If the board of directors held him responsible for the entire situation, he could even be ousted from his position as vice chairman. It was too reckless an act just to avoid one marriage.
“What about the company?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
The reply came without even a second of hesitation.
‘From now on, I’ll be by your side every moment, not leaving for even a second.’
‘At least I’ll end my life with you.’
‘I don’t need anything else. Just having you is enough.’
‘I’m going to live here from now on.’
‘I told you, didn’t I? That I’ll be by your side from now on.’
All the things Hayun had said since the airport flashed through Dawoon’s mind like a panorama. So this was why Hayun had been deflecting whenever Dawoon mentioned company work or going to the office.
‘Heart. It was the heart. I realized it this time. So I don’t need anything else. Just having you is enough.’
All those words had been sincere. Jeong Hayun really thought that even if he gave up everything, having Jeong Dawoon alone was enough.
That heavy realization made Dawoon’s heart ache. It truly hit him that because of him alone, Jeong Hayun was willing to give up everything.
During the past two months, while Dawoon had been trying desperately to erase Hayun, Hayun had come to realize even more deeply that he needed nothing but Dawoon. The two months that Dawoon needed to sort out his feelings had the worst effect on Hayun.
“Get up.”
Dawoon stood up and pulled on Hayun’s arm. But Hayun didn’t budge and just looked up at Dawoon.
“We ordered food.”
“Is that important right now? Go to Seoul immediately. I’ll go with you, so go and try to resolve this somehow.”
In contrast to Dawoon’s anxiety, Hayun smiled and shook his head.
“It’s already too late. You saw it too. The plane ticket I sent to Choi Yu-na. She’s already left the country.”
“I’m not saying to proceed with the engagement. Even if you’re canceling it, this isn’t the way. You need to go and explain properly, make them understand.”
“Explain? What explanation would work? That I love you? That I can’t have an engagement or marriage because of that? Is it okay to say that?”
At his words, Dawoon’s eyes widened and he froze. It wasn’t just talk. The current Hayun seemed like he would really do that. If he did, it wouldn’t resolve anything; it would only make things more complicated. Moreover, Hayun had no intention of revealing that he and Dawoon weren’t actually brothers.
A forbidden relationship between brothers.
The media would be thrilled to write articles about it, and they couldn’t avoid ethical condemnation for brothers doing such an immoral act. No matter how he thought about it, only the worst-case scenarios came to mind.
Was his grandfather right that Dawoon’s very existence was the problem? If he hadn’t appeared in front of Hayun, if he hadn’t lived as his brother, would Hayun have made such an extreme choice?
Was it really Jeong Dawoon who was ruining Jeong Hayun?
“What… should I do?”
His voice was choked as he asked.
“How can I make it stop?”
“Nothing.”
A bitter smile appeared on Hayun’s face as he looked at Dawoon.
“You just stay as you are. That’s enough.”
Seeing his own face reflected in Hayun’s eyes, the ache that started in Dawoon’s heart spread throughout his body.
It was already too late to stop. There was no way to stop Jeong Hayun’s feelings.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
