37.
#Do You Know How to Embrace?
Dawoon sat on the windowsill, staring blankly outside. It was already past 10 o’clock, but the street lamps lining the road made it not dark at all. He saw a car coming in from the distance. Even without checking the license plate, there was only one car that would enter the mansion at this hour.
Hayun, who had visited Dawoon’s school for lunch, hadn’t been able to leave work on time. Dawoon wondered if he had pushed himself to make time for lunch earlier.
Watching Hayun get out of the car in front of the mansion, Dawoon recalled what he had said earlier that day. What could he have meant?
‘What do you mean by…?’
‘Dinner is ready, sir.’
Just then, a servant entered with a tray of prepared food, causing Dawoon to miss the timing to ask. As the food was set on the table, Hayun started eating as if nothing had happened. The atmosphere wasn’t right to bring up that topic again.
Even after returning to school, Dawoon had mulled over the intention behind those words, but he still couldn’t understand. If Hayun had only mentioned the adult video, Dawoon might have thought of it simply, but Hayun had also mentioned Choi Yu-na. So he couldn’t understand what Hayun meant by saying he needed to teach him properly.
He considered going to ask even now, but then sighed. He didn’t want to bother someone who had just gotten home after working all day.
No, even before that, it was an awkward topic to bring up again. Wouldn’t it be better to just let it go? Sometimes it was better to pretend not to know even if you did. Up until now, that had been the case for Dawoon with everything related to his grandfather. He had lived keeping his head down and staying quiet, trying not to catch his eye and cause trouble.
The fact that it was now Hayun he had to treat this way was quite bitter. He had no complaints about Hayun himself, but his grandfather’s intentions that Hayun had mentioned earlier still bothered him. Trying to avoid that made him not want to discuss the same topic with Hayun either.
If grandfather really had some intention, just avoiding it wouldn’t solve the problem… Hayun had said not to be swayed by grandfather’s wishes, that he wouldn’t let it happen, but that wasn’t as easy as it sounded. Maybe Hayun would have to sacrifice something to protect him.
I’m still just a burden to my brother.
He had thought he was an adult now, but it seemed there was nothing he could do. When would he reach the point where Hayun wouldn’t need to protect him? It might be impossible unless he completely cut ties with grandfather and Haedo Group.
Knock knock. He turned his head towards the door at the sound. When he didn’t answer, the knocking repeated. If it were the butler or a servant, they would probably think he was asleep and just leave.
“Dawoon.”
He heard a soft voice calling his name. There was only one person in this house who called his name like that. Although he realized it was Hayun at the door, he still didn’t answer. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to see him, but rather that he was hesitant about what to say if they faced each other.
After a moment, he heard the doorknob turn with a click, and the door opened. Hayun, stepping inside, paused when he saw the empty bed, then spotted Dawoon sitting on the windowsill.
“Why are you sitting there like that?”
He asked as he approached.
“Just felt stuffy.”
A cool breeze was blowing through the wide-open window.
“It’s still chilly. You’ll catch a cold.”
Hayun, now right in front of him, reached out to close the window. With even the gentle sound of the breeze blocked, the room felt even more silent.
Dawoon quietly looked up at Hayun. He thought Hayun must have something to say if he came to his room right after getting home. While feeling Dawoon’s gaze, Hayun leisurely took off his suit jacket and hung it on a chair by the table near the window. Dawoon’s eyes naturally followed Hayun’s suit jacket.
It seems this won’t be a short conversation. Seeing him take off his clothes, it didn’t look like he would leave soon. Hayun sat in another chair and took out a small USB from his pants pocket, placing it on the table.
“What’s that?”
Dawoon asked, pointing at the USB. One corner of Hayun’s mouth curved up crookedly.
“Something I carefully selected for you.”
Dawoon tilted his head at Hayun’s answer. He still had no idea what was on the USB.
“I thought it would be better than you encountering inappropriate videos randomly.”
The word ‘videos’ in his additional explanation caught Dawoon’s attention.
“You don’t mean…”
Dawoon couldn’t finish his sentence and just frowned.
Is that adult content?
He couldn’t bring himself to ask directly out of embarrassment. He had heard Ui-hyeon talk about stealing adult videos from his brother’s computer, but he hadn’t expected his own brother to openly select and give them to him. Even if Ui-hyeon’s brothers did that, it didn’t suit Hayun. Jeong Hayun selecting adult videos… It was unimaginable. Unless he had ordered a subordinate to do it.
That thought made him frown too. What on earth would he have said to have adult videos selected? Which subordinate would do such a thing? The only possibility was Director Park, but if he had really chosen them, Dawoon felt he would never be able to look him in the face again.
“Aren’t you going to watch?”
“I don’t need it.”
“It’s probably better than what your friends would get you.”
Dawoon wasn’t sure what Hayun meant by ‘better’, but he wasn’t interested anyway. The whole situation was just too embarrassing and burdensome.
Hayun gazed steadily at Dawoon. Uncomfortable even with his gaze, Dawoon turned his head away abruptly. As he frowned, facing the window again, he heard the sound of Hayun moving.
If his only purpose was to hand over the adult videos, was he leaving now? Thinking about sending him off like this, Dawoon worried that his attitude might have been too curt. Come to think of it, there was no reason to be sulky towards Hayun…
“Brother!”
Suddenly, a video started playing with people’s voices, startling Dawoon. Hayun, whom he thought was leaving, had connected the USB to the tablet PC and started a video. Dawoon quickly got up and went to the table to turn off the video.
“I said I don’t need it.”
His voice was tinged with annoyance. By now, he was really angry. Although it might have been his fault for watching such videos in the first place, hadn’t that incident ended with the scolding that day? He hadn’t shown any interest in that area since then. He couldn’t understand why Hayun was bringing up a past issue like this.
“Really?”
Hayun’s voice asking back was calm. He didn’t seem displeased by Dawoon’s prickly reaction. Rather, there was even a faint smile on his lips. Smiling? Why? Wondering if he had seen wrong, Dawoon squinted and looked again, but Hayun was indeed smiling.
“That’s a relief.”
Hayun muttered as if to himself. Dawoon frowned even more at those words.
“What are you thinking? Why would you…”
“I wonder if you’re interested in dating, even if not to this extent.”
What did he mean by that?
“Well, even if you have no thoughts at first, that level of physical contact can stir things up for a man. How was it? When you embraced her.”
Dawoon’s eyes widened at Hayun’s question. Embrace? Me? Who? The question marks in his head only grew.
“Are you talking about when I caught Senior Choi Yu-na on the stairs earlier?”
“Caught her… It seemed too close for that.”
Hayun’s tone was still casual, and a smile lingered on his lips, but his eyes looking at Dawoon were cold. The moment their eyes met, Dawoon felt his hair stand on end. Something’s wrong. His instincts detected it and sounded an alarm, but he still couldn’t understand what he had done wrong, why Hayun was angry, or even if Hayun was really angry at all.
Hayun felt unfamiliar and scary. This was the first time… No, there had been one time when Hayun’s cold gaze had been directed at him. The day he was caught watching adult videos, when Hayun had asked if he wanted to try it for real and closed the distance as if about to kiss him, he had looked at Dawoon with the same eyes as now.
“I don’t know what misunderstanding you have, but I just caught her because she was about to fall after misstepping.”
“Is that so?”
Hayun responded lightly and stood up from his seat. This caused Dawoon’s gaze to follow his face upward. Standing right in front of him, Hayun chuckled and raised one hand to gently lift Dawoon’s chin.
“This is why I worry that I’ve raised you too naively.”
His tone was affectionate, but the content of his words wasn’t quite convincing.
“You don’t think she did it on purpose, do you?”
“…”
“Or did you accept it knowingly?”
At these words, Dawoon swatted away Hayun’s hand holding his chin.
“What are you trying to say? Stop beating around the bush and say it properly. Do you know how strange you’re being right now?”
Strange. He couldn’t find any other expression besides that word. It was strange. It was strange, but he couldn’t specifically explain how or where it was strange.
“Do you know how to date?”
Hayun changed the subject. Was dating something you could do if you knew how and couldn’t if you didn’t? Wasn’t dating just something that happened when you liked someone and your feelings matched?
“No, let me change the question. Do you know how to embrace a woman?”
At the more explicit question, Dawoon stared at Hayun with a hardened expression.
