“I’ve been waiting for a while.”
“You don’t look like it with your hands so full.”
He looked over the shopping bags hanging from Jae-young’s wrist.
“Give me your phone.”
Instead of responding to Sa Gong-hyun’s sarcasm, Jae-young fumbled in his pockets. His touch continuously circled around the pants pocket, the back pocket touching his firm buttocks, and his chest. Jae-young, who was feeling Sa Gong-hyun’s body like a molester, finally found the phone in the inner pocket of his jacket.
“Did you check it?”
At that moment, Jeremy, who had approached from behind, suddenly asked a question. Jae-young put a couple phone case, which he had taken out from the shopping bag, on Sa Gong-hyun’s phone. He glanced at both of them trying not to be noticed.
Sa Gong-hyun gave a small nod toward Jeremy.
“How is it?”
“I’ve made some more adjustments. The item is under the car mat.”
“As expected of Logi. What about returning to the business after handing it over to the guy below? Are you still thinking about it?”
“I still don’t have any thoughts on it.”
The gaze that had been scanning both their complexions fell back into the shopping bag.
It was about drugs. The hand rummaging through the shopping bag unnecessarily became rough.
“Well, think about it more. Then, this body, which has been struggling to clean up all day, is now going off duty.”
Jeremy, who didn’t take the rejection as a rejection, shrugged his shoulders. Jae-young could see him waving his right hand side to side and walking away with a loose gait.
“What’s that?”
Sa Gong-hyun woke up Jae-young, who was watching Jeremy’s back. Jae-young returned the phone he was holding to him.
“It’s a couple phone case. I saw it while looking around and thought of you, so I bought one. For your information, these are all gifts for you.”
He shook the heavy shopping bag held high, then brought it close to Sa Gong-hyun’s chest. Sa Gong-hyun burst into a short laugh and accepted the shopping bag.
“I didn’t assign Jeremy to you to pick out gifts for me.”
“Do you have a problem with me using my time as I please? If you do, I’ll waste time tomorrow picking out gifts for you too.”
Jae-young gave him a slight, not-so-resentful glance and continued.
“You haven’t eaten, right? There’s a restaurant I noticed earlier, shall we go there? I see there’s going to be a parade here soon. Let’s have a beer and watch it. Earlier, while waiting briefly, I saw a performance…”
“Why did you change your clothes?”
Jae-young, who had been chattering incessantly while leading Sa Gong-hyun to the restaurant that Jeremy had recommended earlier in the day, suddenly paused.
“I bought new ones. How do I look? Do they suit me well?”
Jae-young responded glibly and while he was at it, stood in front of him and struck a pose as if showing off his clothes.
“What about the ones you were wearing?”
“I threw them away. I accidentally spilled beer while having lunch.”
“How careless.”
“Is that important right now?”
“Then what is important? That Do Jae-young relieved himself the day before yesterday?”
“Ah!”
The face that had been smiling and responding cheerfully suddenly contorted. As if not wanting to think about it, he clenched his teeth tightly and shook his head vigorously.
“Mention that one more time.”
“If you do.”
If you do, what are you going to do about it? That’s exactly what the emotion mixed in Sa Gong-hyun’s eyes conveyed. Jae-young looked him up and down as if annoyed.
“There won’t be any sex or anything for a week.”
Hmph, he snorted and turned around. Jae-young, who had turned around primly, grabbed Sa Gong-hyun’s hand and led him.
“You shouldn’t make promises you can’t keep.”
“I told you to be quiet.”
“If I’m quiet, how are we supposed to have a conversation?”
“Ah, are you going to keep talking back?!”
Though they weren’t biological brothers, Sa Gong-hyun and Jeremy definitely had similarities.
The fact that every time they opened their mouths, they made him angry!
***
A matte black Aventador cruised effortlessly across the northeastern roads of New Jersey. In contrast to the loud exhaust sound, a serene silence floated inside the car.
“About that day.”
Jeremy broke the silence without restraint.
“Was Tiny the reason you had to leave in the middle of the funeral and urgently return to Korea?”
Jeremy frowned as if he had just said something absurd. Even as he rubbed his narrowed brow and expressed his displeasure, Sa Gong-hyun made no response.
“Logi, Tiny doesn’t suit you.”
“What suits me or not is for me to decide.”
Only when the main point was brought up did his words finally come out. Jeremy exhaled through his nose while stroking his chin.
“He requires too much attention.”
“If anything, I’m the one who requires more attention.”
“He’s stubborn and cunning.”
“If looking after one’s interests is the issue, you’re the last person who should be talking.”
Sa Gong-hyun responded without a hint of tension, even as he stepped on the full accelerator.
“Logi! Think about it seriously. He will become a weakness for you. You need to consider what will happen when you break up later.”
“Break up? Who?”
“…”
When a moment of silence was created, Jeremy finally realized that his advice was of no use.
“You’ve completely lost your mind.”
“I didn’t bring him here to get your permission. So stop meddling.”
“This is just a brother’s natural…”
“Jeremy, we are not brothers. We’re business partners.”
“This is really getting tiresome. Will you keep hurting my feelings like this? No matter how much you deny it, the fact that you’re our father’s son remains unchanged.”
“Remember that then and now, Winston has only one son, and that’s you.”
“If he didn’t think of you as a son, he wouldn’t have taken you in for all those years.”
“I acknowledge that Winston helped me until I established myself. But I’ve done my share of work, and made sacrifices. I still work with you because I have a debt yet to be fully repaid.”
“Damn it! I told you to break that habit of being calculating about everything!”
“Don’t be so emotional. You know the reason why Winston sent me away from the family under the pretext of business expansion.”
“…”
It seemed like a never-ending dispute. Jeremy raised his hand and wiped his face.
The reason why his father had sent him away from the family and to Korea. He knew it. When alive, his father had wanted to entrust the family to his son. To his biological son, not his adopted son.
He had brought Logan in saying he would be a good competitor, but to Jeremy, Logan was just his only brother. Of course, in his childish mind, there were times when he was consumed by a sense of superiority comparing himself to him.
That was it. It was merely a fit of temper, and he wouldn’t have minded giving away half of what he had to him.
He suited being the person responsible for the family more than Jeremy did. He was rational, calculating, and unafraid of death and sacrifice. Unlike Jeremy, who was emotional about everything and easily excited.
When his health, which he had always thought would remain robust throughout his life, deteriorated, Winston sent Logan back to his homeland.
Winston cherished Logan, but that was all. Even if it meant giving away half of his fortune, Jeremy was his only successor.
“If you’ve become the head, live up to it. Don’t tarnish the name.”
But Logan never felt resentful about this. He was so indifferent to life that he wouldn’t regret it even if being alive was his only asset.
Jeremy couldn’t bear it. Logan, whom he thought would return, had no intention of coming back.
“Logi.”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
