“Because his business is finished.”
Jae-young, who had been continuously moving his Adam’s apple as if to empty the entire bottle, opened his eyes suspiciously.
“He doesn’t seem like the type to leave you alone just because one job is finished. You know Jeremy takes extremely good care of you, right?”
“…”
“Did something happen?”
He removed the bottle from his mouth and wiped the liquid dripping down his chin. Despite this, Sa Gong-hyun rubbed his still-glistening chin with his thumb.
“What do you mean ‘something’?”
Jae-young blankly looked up at Sa Gong-hyun, who was persistently rubbing his chin. His eyes narrowed.
“Drinking and swimming in the middle of the ocean is dangerous.”
He wondered if they had fought. If they were brothers, they would often have conflicts of opinion.
Jeremy followed Sa Gong-hyun around as if he had a brother complex. It was strange that someone like that was nowhere to be seen at this point when Sa Gong-hyun didn’t have much time left in America. It seemed like he would want to be together unless something significant had happened.
“What about returning to the business after handing it over to the guy below?”
Suddenly that phrase came to mind.
Could it be because of that? Because Sa Gong-hyun had no intention of returning?
His touch now brushed against Jae-young’s lower lip. Jae-young pouted his lower lip to add cushioning.
“They say siblings grow up fighting.”
Sa Gong-hyun’s pupils moved upward, following Jae-young’s eyes.
“They say even if brothers fight bloodily as if they’ll never see each other again, they’ll be eating face to face the next day.”
“…”
“You probably don’t know these things.”
Jae-young raised the corners of his mouth toward him. After finishing the remaining beer, he handed the empty bottle to Sa Gong-hyun.
“Since I’ve been drinking, swimming is probably too much, right?”
He sat down on the sun bed sofa placed in the center of the deck. When he leaned back, the vast sky filled his view.
The sunshine was moderately warm, and the breeze was pleasantly cool. It was perfect weather for sunbathing.
“Actually.”
Jae-young opened his mouth while looking at the clouds scattered in the blue sky.
“I wish Hyun-ssi would do a safer job.”
He lay on his side, resting on his arm.
“I’ve been anxious all along. Worried that something might happen to you. Whether you might get shot somewhere, or be attacked by assailants.”
“That’s a useless worry.”
“There’s no such thing as a useless worry in this world.”
Sa Gong-hyun, who had been standing still looking at Jae-young, came closer. When he sat beside him, Jae-young placed his head on Sa Gong-hyun’s thigh.
“So what I want to say is…”
Jae-young was silent for a moment, as if hesitating. Finally, his lips parted.
“No matter how much they ask you to return to America, I’d like you to stay in the safer Korea. Instead, try to persuade Jeremy by saying you’ll come to visit often. Well, Jeremy probably won’t listen to me at all. And also.”
“…”
“Since swimming is out of the question now, I think I’ll have more to drink.”
The way he smiled with the corners of his eyes curved up and naturally changed the subject was incredibly cunning.
“You’ll bring it for me, right?”
Despite the brazen request, Sa Gong-hyun couldn’t reprimand him. How could he scold someone for being cheeky when they were smiling so lovingly at him?
***
The short 7-day journey had ended.
Jae-young deeply regretted drinking excessively and sprawling out on the sun bed during the last part of the schedule.
His sun-sensitive skin had turned red and showed no signs of calming down. It was unbearably itchy and painful. He couldn’t bring himself to touch it, so all he could do was endure the itchiness by scrunching his facial muscles.
Even after taking medicine, his face continued to itch, causing him to toss and turn all night. He eventually slept in until the afternoon before heading to the airport.
With a tired face, Jae-young got out of the car and spotted Jeremy standing in front of the airport.
He truly hadn’t shown himself at all during the rest of the schedule. Partly because they had been floating on the Atlantic Ocean.
Jeremy scanned Sa Gong-hyun and Jae-young with a sullen face.
“Were you really going to leave like this?”
Jeremy shot at Sa Gong-hyun as if feeling wronged. Jae-young cautiously observed the mood between them.
“I’ll go in first. See you next time, Jeremy.”
It seemed better to vacate the space to allow the estranged brothers to reconcile after their apparent quarrel. He said his final goodbye to Jeremy in English. Jeremy was staring only at Sa Gong-hyun as if he didn’t care about Jae-young at all.
Jae-young began walking with the person helping with the luggage.
Jeremy looked like he had a lot to say but was stubbornly keeping his mouth shut. Sa Gong-hyun had nothing appropriate to tell such a Jeremy. He was blankly watching Jae-young’s retreating figure before he started to walk.
“Logi!”
Jeremy’s desperate call stopped his steps before they could even extend fully. Sa Gong-hyun moved his lips while keeping his back to Jeremy.
“I quit drugs.”
“…”
Jeremy’s flushed face hardened. It was truly a statement out of context. The idea that he had quit drugs.
Facing Jeremy, who was just opening and closing his lips in disbelief, Sa Gong-hyun opened his mouth again.
“I’ve even opened a window in the bedroom, and I can sleep if that kid is beside me.”
At that moment, even Jeremy couldn’t help but widen his eyes. Logan didn’t sleep in spaces with open windows.
His severe obsessive-compulsive disorder and insomnia had always troubled him. There had been dozens of times when doctors were assigned to him to try to cure this.
Those efforts had always been in vain because he fundamentally didn’t trust people. Even the newly remodeled apartment had left the bedroom untouched.
Jeremy blankly stared at his brother, who was walking away without further explanation.
Logan, who had been walking ahead, suddenly stopped in his tracks. He turned around and met Jeremy’s gaze.
“And we’ll adjust the payment issue later.”
At those words, Jeremy couldn’t help but burst into a hollow laugh.
He belatedly realized that Jae-young, who had said he would go in first, had been watching them from inside the airport. It was frustrating. He had wondered what these out-of-the-blue statements meant, but they were all his brother’s way of persuading—reasons why he needed to keep Jae-young by his side.
By the time Jeremy, who had been standing dazedly, came to his senses, his brother and his lover, walking harmoniously together, had disappeared from sight.
Jeremy raised his hand to stroke his forehead and opened his mouth a moment later.
“…Damn Logi.”
His stubborn brother wouldn’t bend his will so quickly.
“Arrogant Tiny…”
That small one was incredibly cunning. Truly, they were a pair he didn’t approve of.
<Swindler> The End
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
