When he pressed the bell, Yujeong opened the door after a moment. He was neatly wearing an apron. When he first saw Yujeong opening the front door while preparing dinner with an apron on, it had been both intriguing and surprising, but after two weeks, he’d gotten used to it.
Sometimes Yujeong’s characteristically neat ivory-colored apron even felt a bit cute. Not today, though.
As he stepped his foot through the doorway, Seongjo said a word.
“Why don’t you like eating out?”
His tone was deliberately disgruntled. Of course, it wasn’t simply because he was upset about not being able to eat out. It was because when he’d gone to the trouble of asking, the answer that came back was a curt “No.”
Yujeong pulled Seongjo slightly inside, then said as he closed the front door.
“Lee Seongjo-ssi needs home-cooked meals. Not outside food.”
It sounded like something a veteran housewife confident in her home cooking would say. Certainly, Yujeong’s words when they met in person sounded less cold than messages that unconditionally stated only the main point briefly. To Seongjo, who quickly stopped pretending to be sulky, Yujeong added a word.
“If you want to go out, look for something other than eating out.”
Did that mean he’d go out with him if there was another reason? It probably didn’t mean to go out alone. Should he consider it admirable that he’d at least do that much, or should he be angry at the tone that seemed like he was doing him a favor? If he had to choose, it seemed closer to the former.
“What, like a walk after dinner or something?”
“Yes, something like that.”
Since they’d always only eaten meals together until now, even just taking a post-dinner walk together could be considered a big change. Seongjo, as Yujeong often did, indicated affirmation by not answering separately, then changed the subject.
“What’s today’s menu?”
However, before Yujeong could answer directly, Seongjo had already arrived in front of the dining table. Yujeong stood next to him like someone waiting for an evaluation, waiting for Seongjo to say something.
Braised julienned potatoes and stir-fried spicy pork. Various small vegetable side dishes and kimchi, and pan-fried tofu. The soup was bean sprout soup. Every time he got a meal from him, it was fascinating. Clearly Yujeong must have taken time after getting off work to prepare the table, but how did he prepare so many different side dishes every time? There hadn’t even been a single instance of the same type of soup appearing for more than two days.
They only ate meals together and didn’t have anything resembling real conversation, so it was strange to feel this way, but…
Wasn’t this exactly like the sense of fulfillment that newlywed men commonly feel?
If he ever said something like this out loud, Yujeong might make a serious face and say, ‘I’m closer to a nutritionist than a wife.’ Seongjo smiled lightly and pulled out a chair to sit down.
“It’s delicious. The seasoning is just right…”
Seongjo wasn’t originally the type to be proactive about evaluating taste. However, if he had any conscience, he had to do his best to give feedback to Yujeong, who was making this much time for him.
So he did his best to elaborate on evaluations that originally never went beyond ‘the taste is good’ or ‘it’s not good.’
“I used store-bought sauce.”
Yujeong always acted like someone who didn’t particularly need praise, but… still.
A quiet mealtime continued as usual. Seongjo wasn’t one to talk much while eating either.
What broke the silence was the vibration sound from Seongjo’s phone.
Seongjo, who glanced down at his phone, frowned slightly at the unexpected name that appeared on the screen. He was curious about what the business might be, but it wasn’t a call he absolutely had to answer right away. He pressed reject and flipped the phone over, but the phone, which had been quiet for a moment, soon started ringing again.
“Answer it and eat.”
Unable to watch any longer, Yujeong said it first. Seongjo smiled awkwardly, then answered the phone. It was the same number he’d just rejected.
“Oh, hello? Why, I’m eating. …Yeah, just getting by… Ah, it’s already come to that?”
His face, which had been a bit indifferent when he first answered, soon took on quite a serious expression.
“No, I should go. Send me the details by message and I’ll confirm.”
He hung up just like that and put down his phone. In the meantime, Yujeong just continued eating serenely, as if he had no interest whatsoever in Seongjo’s phone call.
Seongjo observed his mood for a moment. Answering a phone call wasn’t something to be anxious about, and it wasn’t something he needed to mention in advance. But somehow he wanted to mention it now.
“I might not be able to have dinner together this weekend. Something came up.”
Yujeong raised his head.
“Is that so?”
“If it ends early, I might come back early…”
It wasn’t like Yujeong couldn’t eat alone, and it wasn’t like he’d nagged Seongjo insisting that he couldn’t miss even a single day of home-cooked meals. He unnecessarily left an opening like that. In fact, wouldn’t he be more comfortable without Seongjo?
“You don’t need to do that.”
As expected, Yujeong answered with an unaffected face that there was no need for that.
Because of the awkward atmosphere that followed, the idea of going for a walk after dinner fizzled out and passed by as if it had never been mentioned.
* * *
The person who called Seongjo was Minwoo. He was the grandson of Chairman Park of Ikim Heavy Industries, and a friend of Seongjo’s… and Yeongbeom’s. Originally he was Yeongbeom’s connection, but thanks to him bridging the gap, he’d become acquainted with Seongjo as well.
However, the reason Minwoo had been close to Yeongbeom, who was an illegitimate child who couldn’t even gain recognition, was probably because of the connection to Seongjo from the start. Now that Yeongbeom and Seongjo had parted ways, it wasn’t strange that he’d stuck with Seongjo along with other friends.
He informed him that the 20th anniversary of Ikim Heavy Industries’ founding was approaching. The 20th anniversary commemorative event was planned for the weekend, could he attend? The invitation had probably already been delivered through his secretary. It was news Seongjo hadn’t managed to check because he’d been so busy these days. Informing him once more with this phone call was probably to maintain his friendship with Seongjo.
Minwoo said, ‘If it’s difficult, you don’t have to come.’ It would probably help him much more if Seongjo went.
Probably a lot of familiar faces would gather at the event venue. It would become a meeting place for business figures. Unlike those who somehow had to make their presence known in such places, Seongjo didn’t need to, but that didn’t mean it would be good to skip it. It was obvious that Chairman Park, as well as Seongjo’s grandfather and father, would be disappointed if Seongjo didn’t attend.
Yet the reason he’d gone out of his way to say such a thing was… probably because of the person he was likely to meet there.
‘There’s no way I’d avoid him.’
He wouldn’t go out of his way to seek him out, but he wouldn’t deliberately avoid him either. The moment you avoid someone, doesn’t it feel like you’re losing?
Even after that day, Yujeong’s messages didn’t stop. They repeated the conversation consisting of “Have a meal” and “I’m coming now” about three more times, but nothing changed. They were just routine meals.
And so the day of the event arrived.
Seongjo got out of the car driven by his accompanying secretary, impeccably set from head to toe. Ikim Heavy Industries’ 20th anniversary commemorative event was held by renting out a banquet hall at a domestic five-star hotel. As soon as he entered the hotel entrance, he already saw a few familiar faces.
As soon as he entered the banquet hall, he looked for Minwoo who had invited him, but he looked frantically busy. Postponing greeting him for later, Seongjo exchanged greetings with other people he ran into. Among them were some whose faces he couldn’t even remember. Still, he had to exchange pleasantries with everyone about how they’d been doing.
The sequence of events to follow was obvious even without watching. Chairman Park, approaching eighty, would come out and read a speech, there’d be a cake-cutting ceremony as if it were a wedding with a gigantic cake, and discourse that pretended to be constructive on topics like the future of Korean heavy industry would follow.
None of it interested Seongjo. However, Seongjo was sincere with everyone he encountered without showing any sign of boredom.
“Have you been well? I heard your son returned to the country this time as well.”
“Now that he’s grown up, I should try giving him something to do. It would be nice if that kid could follow even half of Executive Director Lee.”
In the middle of exchanging words of modesty with each other, Director Choi, who was Seongjo’s conversation partner, suddenly said “Oh,” and looked behind Seongjo.
Seongjo had good instincts. He had a feeling about who the person Director Choi had discovered, whom Seongjo would now face, was. Since he’d already expected to meet an unpleasant person, he could turn his head nonchalantly, but.
“Oh my, hello!”
When he turned his eyes, standing there was Oh Seyeong.
His ex-lover’s marriage partner.
