His mother clearly loved and cherished Eunha very much. She had consistently looked after Eunha for many years, even though his father wouldn’t so much as glance at him again, and she had bequeathed assets in her own name to Eunha, who had been kicked out after surrendering all his inherited assets. Her eyes always held overflowing affection when she looked at him.
However, at the same time, she was a devout Christian along with his father. She was the very person who once made Eunha regularly visit a psychiatric clinic, and when that didn’t work, even forced him into involuntary hospitalization. Although she did come running back after less than a week, saying it wouldn’t do and having him discharged.
It’s all for you. You’ll get better. Just bear with it a little, son. How did our good Eunha end up like this…… Eunha sometimes felt more suffocated by his mother like this than by his father who openly treated him with contempt as a stranger. Because he couldn’t live up to her expectations. Because it wasn’t something that could be controlled by willpower.
Aside from that one issue, their relationship was fine, so whenever this topic came up, it really made him feel uncomfortable and upset.
“……Yeah. I know too. Mom knows that doing this only worsens things between you and me.”
“……”
“I know, but I keep feeling, I keep feeling so frustrated inside. Like there’s a boulder sitting here…… You know?”
“……”
“What should I do. What should I do, Eunha-ya. What more should Mom do, how should I do it.”
“……”
“Or at least go on some blind dates, please. Son. You can at least make that much effort, can’t you. For Mom’s sake. Hm? And while doing that, you might even meet a woman you like……”
“I’m seeing someone right now.”
Yeojin froze. Did she hear that correctly. Was it okay to be happy about this. She looked up at Eunha with an uncertain smile hanging on her lips, like someone who was confused.
“……Is that really true?”
“Yes.”
“…Oh my goodness. My. Really? What’s the occasion. Eunha-ya, you……”
“It’s a man, of course.”
Yeojin, who had been happily flustered, stiffened. Toward her face that was slowly losing expression, Eunha continued impassively.
“And it’ll continue to be men in the future.”
“…I’m really going to……”
“I’m going to date men until I die. Only men.”
“…Oh my goodness… Heavenly Father……”
Yeojin, who had placed her hand against the building’s exterior wall, staggered. Eunha said without batting an eye.
“So stop it already. If you keep doing this, I’ll never see Mom’s face again. I won’t come to places like this either. The only reason I came today in the first place was because of Gu Haebin. Because you keep bothering him. I was worried he’d be the only one in a difficult position again if I didn’t show up.”
“That’s because you won’t listen to Mom at all…! And what? You won’t see my face? You won’t see your mother’s face? How can you say such a thing!”
“Because you keep saying these things to me first, Mom.”
“Am I doing this to torment you? Am I doing this because I hate you? It’s all so you’ll do well…!”
They were in the middle of continuing their bickering back and forth. A phone ringtone cut through the sharpening atmosphere. It was Yeojin’s. After checking the caller, Yeojin cleared her throat and answered the phone with both hands.
“Yes, Vice President-nim. Yes. Where am I? I stepped outside for a moment. I’m having a conversation with my son. Yes. Ah. That matter? I know, Vice President-nim. I checked on that last time……”
Her voice, raised about two tones higher than usual, was extremely polite. While making the call, Eunha briefly confirmed Yeojin heading toward the pergola visible in the distance, then turned in the opposite direction without hesitation. If he was going to escape, now was the right time. He immediately started walking. He left the shaded smoking area.
And he stopped short right away. Because there was a person standing right next to the corner, in a spot where the sun reached.
The first thing he saw was a delicate jawline. He glanced at the Adam’s apple that bobbed once, then raised his gaze. Their eyes met.
They were clean black pupils. Wavering finely as if disturbed.
Eunha slowly looked the other person over. Downturned eyes, long eyelashes, white skin, an appearance with a stark black and white contrast.
“……”
It was that man. The stamp card. Why was this person here.
A conscious silence descended. Eunha just blinked blankly for a moment while receiving the sunlight. It was because his sense of reality momentarily floated away upon encountering in an unexpected place a man he had continuously met only in the same space for the past month.
The man he faced was close to a cold expressionless look, but he could easily read that ripples were forming within. It was a face filled with the awkwardness of not knowing how to react.
It was a face that had heard everything. Words like how he’d only date men until he died.
“…Um. So, I was going to smoke……”
Soon his handsome face became disheveled with confusion. He held up a cigarette pack as if explaining. For a moment, Eunha, who had been looking at that face where the characteristically sharp atmosphere suddenly faded, soon lost interest and turned his gaze forward.
So what. After giving a curt nod with indifference, he walked away briskly.
***
He had been quietly appreciating the artwork alone. While moving slowly with his gaze on the artwork, he stopped. There was a person standing in the way.
He casually raised his gaze and their eyes met precisely.
It was a man.
The man who had been standing ahead of where Eunha had arrived lowered his eyes downward, then naturally looked at the artwork in front. Eunha also blinked a couple of times before turning his gaze toward the canvas. <The Crying City>. He silently read through the artwork caption. Silence flowed.
Somehow, his intuition came first that the man would strike up a conversation. Though they were strangers on the surface, that was merely superficial, and in reality they were extremely familiar with each other internally.
No sooner had he thought this than he felt a glancing gaze turning toward him.
“Do you like exhibitions?”
A light question. Eunha found it bothersome to draw out a detailed explanation that ‘he generally went to see decent exhibitions when they were held but wasn’t particularly enthusiastically fond of them,’ so he answered roughly. While keeping his eyes fixed on the artwork.
“Yes.”
“You’re the cafe owner, right.”
“Yes.”
“……I didn’t think we’d meet in a place like this.”
His characteristically low bass tone was subtly excited. Only then did Eunha look to the side. His eyes met the man’s directly.
When had he been staring intently at someone—the man who momentarily rolled his pupils as if wandering looked straight ahead. Eunha examined him with narrow eyes. A familiar dissatisfaction bristled up like a burr.
Really…… was he naive, or was he pretending to be naive.
The latter had to be the correct answer, of course. After all, people always lived up to their face value.
At least every person Eunha had experienced so far was like that. Here, “person” meant someone with whom there had been sexual interaction of some kind. Whether someone he’d spent just one night with, or a relationship that had continued longer as partners.
The more striking their appearance, the more uniformly arrogant and insufferable they were. They knew how great they were and acted pompous. It couldn’t be helped. Because they easily gained favor without doing anything special. Because they received more enthusiastic responses even when saying the same things. How easy, comfortable, and laughable human relationships must be for them.
The fact that he attended this event also meant he was a well-off person.
Judging from the database Eunha had accumulated over 28 years—the aspects the man showed that were rather gentle, calm, and meek were bound to appear quite incongruous. That was because they felt like aspects solely meant to be “shown” to others.
The point that they only looked like pretending to be good, pretending to be naive.
“You’re right. All sorts of things happen.”
“……Do you remember who I am?”
Like right now, for instance.
