104.
“Something’s strange.”
Lee Han-seo, staring blankly into space, muttered with displeasure. This was just after returning home from a long trip abroad and enjoying a nice dinner visit to his family home.
Park Woo-jun, who was sitting beside him slicing fruit, involuntarily flinched from a guilty conscience. Had he done something wrong recently? No. There was nothing that could be discovered. He had slightly, very slightly teased an Esper who had been hovering around Lee Han-seo wanting guiding, but…
“Huh? What, what’s strange, honey?”
After swallowing hard and asking, the small head quickly turned toward him. Park Woo-jun again slightly lifted the corners of his mouth. It was the same radiantly innocent expression that always made Lee Han-seo forgive most of his mistakes.
But perhaps Park Woo-jun’s charm had lost its effect, as Lee Han-seo continued to frown without answering. When Park Woo-jun kept tilting his head cutely out of anxiety, Lee Han-seo finally scolded him.
“Can’t you just stay still? You’re making me dizzy.”
“What… did you just say…? Making you dizzy…? How, how can your love change so quickly…”
After knocking out his nearly 190-centimeter-tall boyfriend with just a few words, Lee Han-seo habitually grabbed some fruit to eat, completely ignoring Park Woo-jun’s whimpering voice.
The square-cut mango had a fantastically soft, mushy texture in his mouth. It must have been well-ripened. As he smacked his lips with satisfaction and opened his mouth again, Park Woo-jun, while pretending to sob, quickly picked up another piece and popped it into Lee Han-seo’s mouth.
Until just yesterday morning, Lee Han-seo and Park Woo-jun had been enjoying a luxurious vacation at a sunny, scenic resort in the Mediterranean. Naturally, they had no thoughts or worries then. Just the idea that it might be nice to bring their parents along next winter?
After returning home and unpacking, they immediately went to the family home for an extravagant dinner. They spent a pleasant time chatting with Lee Han-seo’s parents and even his maternal grandfather, who had recently become quite free with his time.
The early part of the meal was filled with light topics—how everyone was doing, how wonderful the resort had been, and plans for the rest of the year. But as time passed and drinks were served, as usual, the wrinkles on Grandfather’s aged face gradually deepened. As deep as his flowing sighs.
‘That Jae-won… it’s hard to see his face these days. He’s not even coming to the company now. Just holed up on that island he bought earlier… Aish, tsk tsk.’
Choi Jae-won, once the family’s future and everyone’s hope, had now become the biggest worry for Grandfather and other family elders. This was separate from how the world celebrated him as the former pair of Ryu Ho-yeon who saved the world, which kept the group’s image and stock prices soaring daily.
Lee Han-seo tactfully lightened the mood and comforted his dejected grandfather, then later separately asked his parents about his cousin’s recent situation. Of course, Park Woo-jun, who stayed close by Lee Han-seo’s side throughout, seemed unconcerned. Naturally, since whatever happened with Choi Jae-won was nothing to do with him.
Since coming home, things had been like this. Park Woo-jun was the only one deflated, having set out fruit, cheese, and wine in advance, hoping to create a romantic atmosphere once they got home. Neither his best aegyo nor his usually effective fake crying succeeded in stealing Lee Han-seo’s attention.
Ignoring Park Woo-jun who was gulping down wine like water, Lee Han-seo sighed again.
“Hmm… strange, it’s so strange…”
So what was so strange?
First, Choi Jae-won was being too well-behaved.
Of course, throughout college and his time working at the company, Choi Jae-won had generally seemed subdued. In fact, the problem was that he lacked vitality, like a walking corpse. But he had never stayed quietly holed up in one place for this long.
Whether searching domestically or internationally, Choi Jae-won would, at least once a month, receive some tip and charter a plane to scour remote mountains as if they were his own living room.
But after returning from somewhere in South America a couple of months ago, he simply wasn’t going anywhere, literally staying quietly secluded.
He wasn’t even going to work, they said. This was the strangest part. Given that attending work was a condition for utilizing the company’s overseas personnel, he was someone who would somehow make it to work even while burning with fever from a cold.
Well, up to that point, one could understand that maybe he was tired and needed some rest. But the even stranger part was what came next.
Second, the place where this well-behaved Choi Jae-won was holed up was suspiciously the very island where he had shared his last memories with Ryu Ho-yeon.
Since purchasing that island as private property, Choi Jae-won had diligently overseen its management but never dared to go near it. His attitude had been that just thinking about it was unbearably painful.
But now he had gone there on his own and had been there for almost two months.
The Choi Jae-won that Lee Han-seo knew simply couldn’t do that. No matter how he thought about it, it was strange.
“Maybe it’s time for him to move on?”
Park Woo-jun, unable to bear Lee Han-seo’s serious expression any longer, blurted out in a half-sulky voice. Being close enough to read each other’s minds without words, he had known all along what was going through Lee Han-seo’s head. He had just pretended not to know, annoyed that his attention was elsewhere.
“What did you say?”
Lee Han-seo’s gaze, finally meeting his, was quite sharp. Park Woo-jun answered grumpily.
“Well, the situation looks exactly like that. If he’s specifically holed up there, it makes sense if he’s finally trying to move on.”
Almost ten years had passed—a full nine years and approaching the tenth. Park Woo-jun’s words weren’t entirely unreasonable. As he said, the living must go on, and as Choi Jae-won’s cousin, this would be welcome news for Lee Han-seo.
But when dealing with those two, Lee Han-seo tended to empathize more as Ryu Ho-yeon’s friend than as Choi Jae-won’s cousin. It wasn’t that he didn’t pity Choi Jae-won. It’s just that his heart naturally leaned that way, and he himself couldn’t control it.
“Don’t be ridiculous. It hasn’t even been ten years since Ho-yeon left.”
Because of this, his words naturally came out sharp. This was only because it was Park Woo-jun; with anyone else, he would have already lost his temper completely.
Park Woo-jun, suppressing the urge to argue that it was practically almost ten years, barely managed to say:
“Ba-barely isn’t quite right…?”
Certainly. Whether 9 or 10 years, it’s not too short a time to forget someone.
“What did you just say?”
Lee Han-seo swallowed the fruit in his mouth and suddenly narrowed his eyes fiercely. This time, Park Woo-jun was genuinely surprised because Lee Han-seo looked truly angry.
“Hon, honey… Why are you looking at me like that…? What did I do wrong now…?”
“How dare you talk like that? What? ‘Barely isn’t quite right?’ So if I die before you, you’ll remarry before ten years have passed? Huh? Is that it?”
“Gasp…! Why, why say such harsh things? Of course not!”
Park Woo-jun’s eyes immediately dampened. He was genuinely hurt and wronged. Seeing that he was actually crying, not just pretending to cry for attention, Lee Han-seo softened a bit. Lee Han-seo patted Park Woo-jun’s shoulder arrogantly, as if saying he’d let it slide just this once, and spoke.
“So, you see? Do you understand why I think something’s strange?”
Park Woo-jun, who believed that the only true love in this vast world was between himself and Lee Han-seo and couldn’t care less about others, honestly wanted to snap back, “How can you compare me to Choi Jae-won?” But sensing he would get nothing good from that, he just nodded silently.
“Hmm… Grandfather doesn’t seem to know much either. I should go check with my own eyes.”
Lee Han-seo clenched his fists, determined to personally drag Choi Jae-won out of his hiding place soon. Next to him, Park Woo-jun sniffled while calming his startled heart, thinking, “Han-seo’s fists are so small, so cute…” while being ridiculous.
Meanwhile…
“One, twoo…, ugh, threee…”
“Just a little more effort. One more set, just one more set, okay?”
“Urgh, you’re in the way…, go away for a bit…, no, I mean, please step aside…”
Choi Jae-won’s day, completely unaware of the storm clouds about to gather over his peaceful life, was blissfully happy as always.
“Hm? Hyung, are you saying I should go away because I’m in the way?”
“…Honestly, yes.”
“Okay, okay. I shouldn’t be in the way. I’ll come back when your rehabilitation is over.”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
