After watching Hyowoo sit silently for a while, Lee Seohee asked.
“What did Royoon say to you?”
Should he say it was nothing? That he was just thinking about something else?
However, he was someone quick-witted who could read the atmosphere well.
‘Even if I say that, he probably won’t believe me……’
He didn’t know how to lie or make up excuses anyway.
Rather than creating misunderstandings with half-hearted words, he decided to speak honestly.
“Royoon-ssi said he really likes you, Seohee-ssi. So please take good care of you.”
Even hearing this, Lee Seohee wasn’t surprised. Rather, his face looked like he had already expected what he’d heard.
He looked ahead for a moment, then spoke quietly.
“When Royoon entered university, he confessed that he liked me.”
Hyowoo raised his head and stared blankly at Lee Seohee. He had a gentle but troubled expression.
“But that was the end of it. He said he didn’t want to date.”
“What… do you mean by that?”
Curiosity showed in Hyowoo’s round eyes. He laughed briefly like a sigh.
“I guess you could say that kid is a bit unique, he has a lot of circumstances.”
He asked for understanding, saying he couldn’t talk about the details as they were Royoon’s personal matters.
“Anyway, it’s all in the past now. Royoon is just a younger sibling I cherish like Taeseo, and I’ve never had any feelings beyond that, not even once.”
“Yes.”
It was a curt response. His sunken voice contained his honest feelings as they were.
“He’s a peculiar kid, right? He might feel a bit flippant too.”
He nodded at the question without denying it. Lee Seohee smiled slightly again at the honesty that didn’t even bother to hide his true feelings.
“Speaking without a filter is his flaw, but he means no harm. He’s a kind and good kid.”
He already knew that. Although Royoon had spoken recklessly, there wasn’t the slightest malice in his tone.
“On the outside, he’s overconfident and excessively bright. But in reality, he’s timid and gets very lonely. He also has trouble enduring awkward atmospheres or gaps in conversation. When that happens, he deliberately talks even more. While pretending to be cheerful.”
That’s why he’s a younger sibling he worries about a lot, he added calmly.
It wasn’t an excuse, nor was he trying to take Royoon’s side. It just felt like he wanted Hyowoo to understand the situation accurately.
‘Like Taeseo, just a close younger sibling……’
While one part of his heart was relieved by those words, a strange sadness seeped in.
Lee Seohee was someone with nothing to hide or conceal. That’s why he could speak about everything so honestly like this.
But Hyowoo was different. He tried hard not to let even small fragments of his past be discovered.
‘He’s really a good person. Someone who will shine brilliantly in the future. I can’t… hold back the ankles of such a person……’
As the reality that they would soon have to part ways came to mind, a thick fog settled over his heart. Seohee, who had been silently watching Hyowoo’s expression grow darker, spoke.
“For the record, the person I like and want to date is you, Hyowoo-ssi. Isn’t it about time you recognized that?”
Hyowoo jerked his head up and looked at him with surprised rabbit eyes.
The dark clouds that had filled his head cleared all at once.
“Don’t tell me you still can’t believe it? Shall I tell you again the reasons why I like you, Hyowoo-ssi?”
“No! It’s okay!”
At his momentum that seemed like he would pour out the embarrassing words he’d said at the airport in March right then and there, Hyowoo hurriedly shook his head.
“Please, don’t. I’m begging you.”
Facing his grinning handsome face, Hyowoo’s face quickly heated up. He hurriedly turned his face toward the window.
“A-aren’t you going to start driving?”
Lee Seohee burst into laughter at his appearance trying hard to hide his embarrassment.
Only then did Hyowoo realize he had once again been caught up in his pace.
“Then, shall we get going?”
Having barely stopped laughing, he started driving the car.
Hyowoo glanced at his face that looked relaxed and happy.
‘I guess he’s decided to tease me whenever he gets the chance, this person……’
He actually knew.
That he had deliberately said those things to ease his depressed mood.
Yet his smiling appearance was annoying for no reason.
Instead of answering, Hyowoo just looked out the window without saying anything.
* * *
It had already been 10 minutes of driving on the road.
Only calm music flowed from the speakers, and there wasn’t a single word between the two.
Hyowoo rested his chin and looked out the window.
Lee Seohee also hadn’t opened his mouth since leaving the hotel.
Normally he would have already started a conversation, but he was strangely quiet.
‘Does he think I’m very angry?’
Maybe he was deliberately waiting, worried that Hyowoo might get more upset if he bothered him for no reason.
As that thought crossed his mind, Hyowoo became even more uncomfortable.
‘It’s true I was a bit angry… but it’s not something to be that cautious about.’
When he thought about it, it wasn’t even something to be angry about.
The teasing was just at the level of light jokes, and wasn’t it rather meant to cheer him up?
He was embarrassed at himself for sulking over such a trivial thing.
‘Should I start talking first?’
But what should he say? He couldn’t very well talk about the weather at this point.
He wasn’t good with words either, should he just wait?
‘Yeah, let’s do that. If I speak first, it somehow feels like I’m losing……’
As he was diligently having a monologue in his head, he suddenly felt absurd.
‘What am I saying right now? Losing, what……?’
He felt unfamiliar with himself for maintaining such childish pride.
Hyowoo was the type who didn’t reveal his inner thoughts well. He was quiet to begin with, but after going through that terrible incident, he isolated himself.
Yet when he was with him, he would be surprised more than necessary and his face would turn red immediately.
He would be stubborn over trivial things and sulk right away. Like a child throwing a tantrum freely in front of an adult they believed would accept everything, he showed an immature side.
No, strictly speaking, Hyowoo had become honest with his emotions only in front of Lee Seohee.
‘When I’m with this person, it doesn’t feel like me… it’s awkward.’
In the end, he couldn’t bring up anything and kept his mouth shut. However, a few minutes later, Hyowoo blinked at the familiar scenery outside the window.
“Um, is the place we’re going by any chance……”
“Did you notice?”
The corners of Lee Seohee’s mouth, who had been concentrating on driving without taking his eyes off the road, rose slightly.
“You said you liked going to the baseball stadium to watch games directly, Hyowoo-ssi.”
The first emotion he felt when he realized the destination was ‘joy.’
Hyowoo would never go to movie theaters or concert halls where he had to sit in one place continuously surrounded by strangers on all sides, but the baseball stadium was an exception.
For their two sons who were particularly fond of baseball, his parents often took them to the baseball stadium from a young age.
The last time he went was summer of his second year of high school. They promised with Gyeonwoo that they would come back after the college entrance exam, since they would be busy preparing for it once they became third years.
But the following year, Hyowoo neither took the college entrance exam nor returned to the baseball stadium.
A place full of memories with his family, a place he had forgotten for over 7 years. His heart couldn’t help but flutter at the thought of heading to that place.
However, that joy was only momentary. Soon, ‘anxiety’ began to settle in.
Today was Saturday. The day when the most people came to watch games. Moreover, if Hyowoo’s memory was correct, today’s ceremonial first pitch was supposed to be thrown by the leader of a popular idol group that had made a splendid comeback recently.
‘Baseball fans plus idol fans will flood in, and there will be lots of reporters too……’
That wasn’t all.
One of the teams playing today was a professional baseball team operated by L Group. The team owner was Chairman Lee Jinhyuk, Lee Seohee’s father. Moreover, the baseball stadium they were heading to was the home stadium of the team playing today.
To summarize……
A Premier League soccer player who set historical records.
On a weekend when the most people gather.
At the home stadium of a baseball team whose owner is the father of Korea’s top conglomerate.
Was going to watch a game where the leader of an idol group at the peak of their current popularity would even throw the ceremonial first pitch.
It was a situation where the worst possible conditions that the figure of Lee Seohee could have were prepared.
Hyowoo’s mind instantly became chaos.
‘What on earth was this person thinking, coming here today?’
Was he bold, or just simply thoughtless?
There was no way he didn’t know he was a celebrity, but when he looked at times like this, he seemed like someone who had lost touch with reality.
While confused thoughts continued one after another, the car quietly entered the baseball stadium parking lot.
