77.
#What Are You Suspecting?
“You’ll collapse if you keep raising your blood pressure like that. You should be careful at your age,” Hayun said as he walked right up to Chairman Jeong and the butler.
“Hyung…” Haram, caught between the adults, greeted Hayun cautiously.
“It’s okay, go inside. I’ll call you for dinner,” Hayun smiled at Haram and gestured for him to go in. The child looked back at his grandfather and the butler but, judging it wasn’t his place to intervene, silently returned to his room.
“I thought you went out on business?” the Chairman asked, implying how Hayun, who had ignored his call and left, was already back home.
Hayun smiled faintly. “I finished my business and came back. It’s past working hours, isn’t it?”
The Chairman’s brow furrowed at the nonchalant response.
“Don’t tell me you came all the way here because of Mrs. Kim’s matter?” Hayun’s tone suggested it was trivial for the Chairman to come in person for such a thing.
“I’ve already answered you. I refuse everything.”
Hayun’s indifferent and calm expression, as if dealing with someone else’s affairs, further upset the Chairman.
“Just how are you conducting yourself to make people gossip!” the Chairman said angrily.
Hayun remained composed. “I don’t know what you’ve heard, but let’s talk inside. People can hear us.”
It seemed that if they kept shouting in the corridor like this, even those who didn’t know what was going on would find out. The butler asked if they should go to the reception room on the first floor, but Hayun shook his head.
“Since you’ve come up here, let’s go to the study.”
At the end of the second-floor corridor was the study Hayun used as his office. It was secluded, with no one passing by, and could completely block out external noise. Sensing Hayun’s intention, the Chairman moved towards it first.
The butler watched the Chairman’s back and then turned to Hayun with a worried expression. He seemed concerned that something serious had happened, given how loudly the Chairman had shouted.
“Don’t worry. It’s nothing. Is Dawoon coming home late today?”
“No, we haven’t received any specific communication. I think he’ll be home soon.”
“Call him and tell him to eat dinner before coming home. It’s better if he doesn’t run into his grandfather.”
Hayun smiled, telling the butler not to worry, and followed the Chairman into the study. The Chairman was already sitting deeply in the study’s sofa, his furrowed brow clearly showing his displeasure.
“Choose one of the people Mrs. Kim sent,” the Chairman said, getting straight to the point.
Hayun chuckled and sat across from him. “I refuse.”
The Chairman slammed his hand on the table at the unhesitating answer. “What have you been doing to make the employees gossip unnecessarily! Get engaged immediately to stop such talk!”
Hayun narrowed his eyes and looked at the Chairman. He couldn’t understand what the Chairman had heard to make him so furious.
“What exactly did you hear?”
The Chairman’s face contorted further at Hayun’s question. He looked visibly upset even thinking about it. Hayun wondered if he should call in the people who had been rushing down from the second floor earlier to ask them about the issue.
“Why is Dawoon going in and out of your room at dawn?”
Unexpected words came out of the Chairman’s mouth. Hayun, who had been quietly staring at the Chairman, soon burst into laughter. Now he understood. He knew what the servants had been gossiping about and why the Chairman was so furious.
If only Dawoon had just stayed and slept, there wouldn’t have been such talk. Hayun didn’t understand why Dawoon insisted on going back to his own room every time, even though he couldn’t sleep well there anyway.
Dawoon probably thought there would be no one to see him at dawn, so he always struggled to return to his own room, but there were eyes and ears everywhere. There was a reason for the saying that daytime words are heard by birds and nighttime words by mice.
“Is it strange for Dawoon to come in and out of my room?” Hayun retorted calmly.
The Chairman’s brow furrowed deeply. “The time is the problem, the time!”
“What’s wrong with that?” Hayun answered as if it really wasn’t a big deal.
“When we were younger, we often slept together. You know how Dawoon wasn’t right for a while after our parents passed away. He could only calm down when I was beside him.”
“That was when you were young. If he still can’t handle himself at that age, there’s a problem.”
Hayun raised one corner of his mouth crookedly at the subtle belittling of Dawoon.
“Haram often sleeps in Dawoon’s room too. Even though he’s already ten years old.”
“Are you comparing a ten-year-old to someone over twenty?”
Of course, they weren’t the same. He would never do such things to a ten-year-old.
“I don’t understand why you’re being so sensitive about this.”
In fact, he had a pretty good guess. It wasn’t simply the issue of Dawoon “entering and leaving” his room at “dawn.” Hayun knew best what state Dawoon was in when he left his room. If someone had seen that, and if they were perceptive about such things, it would be reasonable to be suspicious. Most people wouldn’t imagine such things between brothers, but still.
Whoever it was, they must have had good intuition. Or maybe they were just overly curious. Either way, it wouldn’t be wise to keep them in the mansion any longer. The rumors that had already spread didn’t matter. Hayun didn’t care much about what others thought. But if they kept someone who couldn’t keep their mouth shut, the talk would eventually reach Dawoon’s ears.
Hayun knew that even though Dawoon acted calm and composed, he would go to the bathroom and vomit everything after being intimate with him. Jeong Dawoon was more sensitive and delicate than others thought. Hayun couldn’t tolerate anyone other than himself adding unnecessary stress to someone who was barely maintaining their balance.
The Chairman kept his mouth firmly shut, not adding any explanation. Whatever he had heard, he seemed determined not to say it out loud. Well, no matter how suspicious he was, could he dare to speak it? To ask if it was true that Jeong Dawoon was being intimate with Jeong Hayun?
“If you’re not getting married right away, make Dawoon live independently,” the Chairman said after maintaining a frown and silence for a while, seeming to have reached his own conclusion.
“There’s no problem at all for him to commute to school from here. If necessary, I’ll get him a car instead.”
Hayun answered as if wondering why Dawoon needed to live independently when there was no issue with commuting. Of course, he knew well that the Chairman’s intention wasn’t about commuting. Knowing this but pretending not to, Hayun acted shamelessly, causing the Chairman to glare at him with clenched jaw muscles prominent.
“He’s about to graduate university soon, so there’s no reason for him to live here anymore. He’s old enough to take care of himself.”
Take care of himself. Hayun almost laughed out loud, knowing that wasn’t the real reason at all.
“If Dawoon leaves, Haram will make a fuss about following him.”
At the mention of Haram, the Chairman’s eyebrows, which were strangely weak towards his young grandson, contorted.
“Why would Haram follow Dawoon!”
“No matter how much you don’t want to admit it, Dawoon raised Haram. Unlike me, they have the same mother and father. That’s why Haram follows him more closely. You know that.”
Because half of what came out of Haram’s mouth was about Dawoon, the Chairman couldn’t deny this point.
“Besides, would you really be okay with that?” Hayun asked.
The Chairman looked at him with an expression that said, “What do you mean?”
“If what you’re suspecting is true, don’t you think I’d visit even more blatantly if he’s living outside?”
The Chairman’s eyes widened at Hayun’s calm continuation.
“You… you, what are you…!”
His blood pressure seemed to rise, and he couldn’t even finish his sentence. Hayun remained calm even as he watched the Chairman clutch the back of his neck.
“I wonder what you’re suspecting to react like that.”
The Chairman slammed his fist on the table at Hayun’s light tone, as if he was joking. Hayun just lowered his gaze to look at the Chairman’s trembling fist.
“It’s unlike you to be swayed by others’ words. Or is it just that you needed an excuse to drive Dawoon out?”
The smile disappeared from Hayun’s face. His tone also turned cold.
“Whether it’s a misunderstanding or not, unnecessary talk is not good. You represent Haedo Group. I can’t tolerate any damage to your reputation!”
“Damage…” Hayun muttered lowly.
“You seem to have forgotten our promise. Well, it has been a while.”
“What…?”
“You said you wouldn’t drive Dawoon out.”
Hayun mentioned the deal they had made at their parents’ funeral.
“That was ages ago! I’ve looked after him enough. How long do you plan to keep that boy around!”
The Chairman shouted confidently. Hayun almost laughed cynically, feeling the Chairman’s determination to drive Dawoon out over this incident.
“Until I die,” Hayun answered without a hint of hesitation.
The Chairman stared at Hayun, unable to even blink.
“What are you…!”
“It’s exactly as I said. I won’t let go of Dawoon. I will never give him to anyone else or put him outside my boundaries.”
“Jeong Hayun!”
An angry voice filled the study.
“Do you even know what you’re saying!”
Hayun quietly stared at the Chairman’s outburst, then gently raised the corners of his mouth.
“Of course.”
The Chairman’s eyes began to waver at the calm response. This guy is serious. A chill ran down his spine, making it hard to breathe.
“Don’t touch him. Don’t do anything,” Hayun warned him.
The positions of the two had completely changed from seven years ago, the day of the funeral. Jeong Hayun no longer needed Chairman Jeong’s help.
