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#London, A New Beginning
As they disembarked at London International Airport, it felt cooler than Seoul. It was just the beginning of September, but Seoul was still close to summer weather. While a short-sleeved shirt had been enough there, it was noticeably chilly in London. As if he had anticipated this, Hayun handed Dawoon a light cardigan. Dawoon wondered when he had prepared such a thing. He was always amazed at Hayun’s level of preparation.
As they exited the airport, a car was waiting as expected, and Director Park naturally went to the driver’s seat and took the wheel.
“Is it far?” Dawoon asked as soon as he sat in the back seat.
Hayun looked at Director Park through the rearview mirror.
“It’s about 40 minutes by car,” Director Park answered.
“It won’t take long to get to the university. About 15 minutes?” Hayun seemed to know the distance to the university more accurately than the distance from the airport.
“You mean 15 minutes by car? What about public transportation?”
Again, Hayun looked at Director Park. It was natural that he wouldn’t know, as he had likely never used public transportation.
“It takes just under 30 minutes. There’s Hampstead station near the residence.”
Dawoon thought 30 minutes wasn’t bad. It was a manageable distance for commuting to school.
“I’ll get you a driver, so use the car,” Hayun immediately cut in, seeming to have guessed Dawoon’s thoughts.
“What do you mean, a driver? That’s too much.”
“Then get a driver’s license.”
“I didn’t get one in Korea, and you want me to get one here?”
“It’s different from Korea. Having a car will make it easier to get around.”
He wasn’t wrong, but getting a license in a foreign country seemed troublesome. If he had known this would happen, he should have gotten his license earlier. It was a regret he had had several times already, but for some reason, it always remained just a thought and never turned into action. He wondered if he might never get a license at this rate.
“I’ll figure it out.”
It wasn’t like there was no public transportation, and there was a subway, so was there a reason to drive around? London was said to be the most congested place in the world, and he didn’t want to struggle with driving, so he made an excuse.
“Hasn’t the graduate school semester already started?”
“It probably has. It’s likely been about a week.”
At Hayun’s answer, Dawoon made a short “hmm” sound and turned his gaze to the window. Even though Dawoon had disappeared, Hayun had completed the enrollment process for the London graduate school. It was as if he was certain Dawoon would return. Or maybe it was because of his personality that never gave up until it was truly over.
Thanks to this, Dawoon could start attending graduate school classes right away upon arriving in London. Although he was about a week late, it didn’t seem like it would be too difficult to catch up with the classes. He was so proficient in English that he didn’t need a separate language course. Everything was prepared for life in London, so there would be no problem even if he had to start attending classes tomorrow.
The scenery passing by outside the window near the airport wasn’t too unfamiliar. Hayun had frequently traveled to London for work, and a few of those times coincided with school breaks, so Dawoon and Haram had come along. Until now, the trips had usually been for about a week, but this time, it was unclear how long they would stay. Since he had decided to attend graduate school, they would be staying in London at least until graduation.
A minimum of 2 years, and if he went on to a doctoral program, it could be as long as 10 years. Ten years… He didn’t plan on doing a doctoral program, but the thought that he could endure here for that long if he wanted to gave him a strange feeling. How often would he go to Korea during that time? Hayun would be going back and forth due to headquarters work, but Dawoon had no intention of following. If possible, him not returning to Korea would be best for everyone’s peace.
“We’ve arrived.”
It seemed that about 40 minutes had passed while he was lost in thought. When he looked outside at the announcement of their arrival, he saw a large building. As it didn’t look like a house, he turned to Hayun, who answered that it was an apartment. It looked very different from Korean-style apartments. The long, connected building looked almost like a large castle.
“This is quite a famous luxury apartment in this area. It has all the amenities including a swimming pool, jacuzzi, and 24-hour concierge service, so you shouldn’t have any inconveniences living here,” Director Park explained.
Dawoon nodded at the explanation and then turned to Hayun.
“So there’s no household staff?”
When he asked if there was no one to do the housework, Hayun confirmed that was the case.
“We could hire someone if needed, but you don’t like having other people around, right?”
“Ah…”
Dawoon couldn’t say anything to that, realizing it was because of him. He wasn’t confident in his ability to do housework, but he was actually a bit relieved to hear that there would be no one else in the house he shared with Hayun.
“With the concierge service, you won’t even need to change light bulbs yourselves. There’s also a laundry room, so laundry shouldn’t be difficult either,” Director Park added. He also didn’t seem to expect Hayun or Dawoon to be familiar with household chores.
“You’ll have to cook for yourselves, though.”
Director Park added with a complicated expression, as if that was what worried him the most. He seemed concerned that Hayun and Dawoon might not be able to prepare proper meals. Unlike him, Dawoon wasn’t too worried. With both Hayun and himself going to work and graduate school, they would probably only eat at home once a day at most. They could order in or eat out, and if they really needed to, learning to cook a bit during this time didn’t seem like a bad idea. It seemed easier to learn cooking than to get a driver’s license.
The interior of the apartment was naturally smaller than the mansion they lived in in Korea, but it was excessively large for just the two of them. Moreover, only the essential furniture was placed inside, making it look even emptier.
“I think we have all the basics, but if you need anything, just let me know,” Hayun said.
Looking around at Hayun’s words, Dawoon saw that the living room only had a wall-mounted TV and a sofa. If everything was like this, with just the bare essentials, he could imagine what the bedroom and study might be like. That didn’t seem bad either. Since they would have to clean themselves now, it was better not to have too many household items.
“The dressing room is that way, and your study is across from it.”
Hayun pointed to the end of a hallway. Following his directions to the dressing room, Dawoon saw that the entire front was filled with closets made of semi-transparent black glass. One side was full of suits, and in the middle of the room was a storage unit for ties and watches. Opposite the closet with suits were clothes that didn’t look like Hayun’s style. Opening the closet and checking the size of the clothes, Dawoon confirmed they were indeed his. They seemed to have been newly bought and filled in, not brought from Korea.
Really, this is too much.
A groan circled in his throat. What would Hayun have done if he hadn’t come back? What if he had run away forever…
Hayun’s obsession with living together, taking it for granted, even felt pitiable in a way.
When Dawoon returned to the living room, Director Park had already left.
“Where’s the bedroom?”
When Dawoon asked where the bedroom was, Hayun grabbed his shoulder and gently pushed him. Following the push, Dawoon opened the door in front and saw a bright bedroom with two walls made of windows, flooding the room with light. The room only had a large bed standing alone, which felt somewhat embarrassing.
“Is this the only one?”
“Do we need more?”
Dawoon had asked just in case, but it was a pointless question. Hayun didn’t seem to have even considered having another bedroom.
“Absolutely don’t bring anyone else here.”
What would people think if they saw this?
“I wouldn’t bring anyone anyway, but I don’t care if someone sees.”
Hayun turned Dawoon around, lifted his chin to meet his eyes. His gaze, devoid of any hint of a smile, seemed to be saying that this wasn’t Korea, and therefore Dawoon wasn’t his brother but his lover.
It was truly ironic. On paper, he was still Hayun’s brother, and Hayun had no intention of changing that. Yet he was insisting that Dawoon wasn’t a brother but a lover.
“Don’t look at me like you’re going to devour me. It’s overwhelming.”
It wasn’t just empty words; he really felt like he was going to be devoured by Hayun’s gaze. Fearing that the mood might turn suggestive in broad daylight, Dawoon deliberately pushed away Hayun’s hand and turned around.
“I was going to contact… the author.”
Dawoon hesitated for a moment, unsure how to refer to Choi Seon-gyeom. Perhaps because he had used the term “author,” Hayun didn’t immediately understand and seemed to be thinking of someone else.
“Choi Seon-gyeom?”
Dawoon nodded at the confirming question. Immediately, Hayun’s face turned cold, making Dawoon want to sigh.
“Don’t look so serious. I’m not saying I’m going to him.”
He added, but Hayun’s stern expression showed no signs of softening.
“He helped me a lot over the past two months. I can’t just ignore that.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll repay everything.”
It seemed that no matter what, Hayun wasn’t pleased. He looked ready to say that if it could be repaid with money, then pay it and never meet again.
“You don’t need to be on edge. We won’t meet often. We’ve lived separate lives until now, and that won’t change easily. However…”
Dawoon wondered how to explain it in a way that Hayun would understand. He still couldn’t accept Choi Seon-gyeom as his father. When Dawoon thought of ‘father,’ Jeong Seo-hoo still came to mind.
“It’s about blood ties.”
He didn’t mean to say something like ‘blood is thicker than water.’ Still, he couldn’t completely turn his back on it.
“We probably won’t see each other often. You’ve investigated, so you know he’s not the type to settle in one place. And I’m not at an age where I need to search for my parents.”
So it would probably be a distant relationship where they occasionally check in on each other. Too much time had passed for Choi Seon-gyeom and Dawoon to become a close father-son relationship.
“Is there a need to maintain an unnecessary relationship?”
Hayun bluntly defined it as an unnecessary relationship, even though Choi Seon-gyeom was Dawoon’s biological father. Dawoon looked at him, unable to smile or frown.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
