Clap, clap, clap. Clap…
In the middle of this chaotic mayhem, clear applause suddenly rang out. Right after that, the mother-in-law’s face, who had been causing a disturbance, stiffened and she slowly withdrew her hands from my head.
“Hyeo… Hyeol…?”
Hyeol…?
Then… that child is…
I put the mother-in-law down on the floor and turned my head. On the stairs leading to the second floor stood a boy about the same height as Kkotsu.
Black hair, black eyes. The child in what looked like a school uniform with a black tie matched exactly with the child I had seen in the photo.
[I love you. My son. Gwak Hyeol.]
Gwak Hyeol. I had finally come face to face with the protagonist of the original novel.
“Hyeol? Did… did grandmother make too much noise…?”
In the meantime, the mother-in-law approached Hyeol without even properly straightening her torn clothes and disheveled hair. She was completely different from when she had been yelling at me like crazy and acting viciously.
“No, it was fun.”
Hyeol answered his grandmother expressionlessly, then grinned at me.
It was fun…?
“Well… right? Hahaha…”
The mother-in-law also seemed flustered by Hyeol’s answer like me and stammered.
“Is that blood?”
Hyeol paid no attention to his grandmother and pointed at my face with his finger, asking.
“Oh…”
I was surprised and rubbed the corners of my mouth with the back of my hand. Perhaps because I had been slapped repeatedly on the cheeks earlier, there was blood around my mouth.
“Ah… oh my! Your father said he wanted to eat ketchup so badly. Goodness, you’re not even a child anymore, why are you eating ketchup like this when you’re all grown up…”
“……”
The mother-in-law said nonsensical things while roughly wiping the corners of my mouth with her sleeve. It was so rough that the corners of my mouth stung. When I made an “ah!” sound, she did ventriloquism saying “don’t make a fuss in front of the child.” Along with a venomous glare.
“Nanny?”
The mother-in-law, who was pretending to wipe the blood from the corners of my mouth, called someone while in that position. The answer came from a middle-aged woman in a maid outfit standing behind Hyeol. She had been at a loss since appearing with Hyeol.
“Strange? Why is Hyeol… at home instead of being at kindergarten at this time?”
The mother-in-law’s criticism was directed at the nanny this time, not at me.
“Well… Hyeol said he didn’t want to go to kindergarten this morning…”
“What? Why didn’t you tell me that!”
“I did tell you…”
“How dare you talk back…!”
“Grandmother.”
Just as the mother-in-law’s voice was getting louder, perhaps displeased with the nanny’s answer, Hyeol called her while coming down the stairs.
“Hmm? Hyeol, did you call grandmother?”
The mother-in-law bent her waist deeply like a bent-over grandmother to match the child’s eye level.
“If I don’t want to go to kindergarten, I don’t have to go, right?”
“Of course, our Hyeol can rest anytime if you’re not feeling well!”
Ohohohoho. The mother-in-law let out a long laugh that could come from a cartoon.
“Grandmother.”
“Yes? Our Hyeol, what is it?”
It seemed Hyeol’s business wasn’t finished yet.
“Give me a snack.”
“Oh my, it’s time for our Hyeol to be hungry! What shall we eat? Cake? Cookies? Grandmother will bring you anything you want!”
“The chocolate muffins grandmother made.”
“Uh, huh? The ones I made? Right now…?”
“Yes, right now.”
“……”
“Right now.”
The grandson spoke firmly as if it absolutely had to be now and no other time. The mother-in-law hesitated for a moment, then adjusted her torn clothes and looked at me.
“Hahaha… Yes, the chocolate muffins our grandson likes… Grandmother will make them right away then. Everyone here must stay put and not move, okay?”
The mother-in-law used staccato speech again and nodded while signaling to hyung-nim and the thug. It was a blatant instruction to keep watch properly.
Soon, the mother-in-law headed to the kitchen with the nanny, making clicking footstep sounds. Even on the way, she kept scolding the nanny about something.
What a temper…
“Who are they?”
Then Hyeol somehow approached me and asked while looking at hyung-nim and the thug sitting on the sofa.
“Uh… well, grandmother’s… friends, I guess…?”
When I explained with my own euphemisms, Hyeol tilted his head.
“Friends? Grandmother doesn’t have any friends.”
“……”
Hyeol, who spoke with an indifferent face, turned to look at me and asked again with eyes that seemed to ask if it was really true.
“Are they really friends?”
“Well, that… very distant neighbor-like friends…”
I spoke as roundabout as possible and smiled. At my smile, Hyeol still maintained his expressionless face and made his own judgment.
“If they’re neighbors then they’re neighbors, if they’re friends then they’re friends – what a strange relationship.”
“R-right…”
As expected of someone who would become an obsessive maniac in the future. He was no ordinary kid.
“What happened to father’s clothes that you wore at dawn?”
“…Huh?”
That’s when it was. Completely unexpected words came out of the child’s mouth.
Father’s clothes…?
I quickly glanced over my outfit and thought “oh no.” Come to think of it, on the bridge, Chae Seungyeon was wearing a shirt much larger than his build. I wondered why he was wearing clothes of the wrong size… it was his dead husband’s clothes…
I suddenly felt sorry for Chae Seungyeon.
But how should I explain this… I racked my brains as much as possible.
“…I changed at a friend’s house.”
“Friend?”
At my words, Hyeol looked at me with strange eyes again. I thought I had been careful with my words, but wondered if I had said something wrong again. As I was rolling my eyes this way and that, worrying… suddenly I realized something as if I’d been hit on the back of the head.
How did Hyeol know… that I went out wearing husband’s clothes at dawn…
I was stunned.
In other words, Hyeol knew that Chae Seungyeon had left the house alone at that dawn. Could it be that’s why he didn’t go to kindergarten because he was worried about his father? Not knowing when he would return…?
Then did Chae Seungyeon know this fact… No, he probably didn’t know. If he had known, he wouldn’t have…
“Why?”
Then Hyeol looked up at me and asked. His jet-black eyes were completely unreadable.
“…Huh?”
At some point, I was gripping Hyeol’s shoulders.
“Why are you grabbing my shoulders?”
“Uh… well…”
What was I trying to do to Chae Seungyeon’s son…
But if nothing else, this much was certain. I wanted to hold Hyeol tightly.
“Hyeol, could teacher… no, could daddy hug you just once?”
“……”
When I asked carefully, Hyeol didn’t answer at all. He just stared at me as if boring through me. I took that as permission and pulled Hyeol into my arms. He was heavier than I thought, but I liked feeling the child’s warm body heat clearly in my embrace.
“So you were at a friend’s house until now?”
“…Yes.”
It seemed he didn’t dislike it as Hyeol whispered in my ear asking. I answered him and gently pressed my cheek against Hyeol’s cheek. The warm, soft touch, and from his neck I could smell that sunshine-like scent unique to children.
“Then I want to go too.”
“…Huh?”
Go where…?
“To daddy’s friend’s house. As daddy’s son, I need to check it out myself.”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
