“Right. Who could stop you.”
Kim Jaeho, who eventually let out a long sigh, brought a long blanket from the office downstairs.
“I can’t leave you here, so I guess I’ll have to stay here too. Wake me up if you want to go home. Got it?”
Kim Jaeho said as he placed the blanket next to Haeseong, but the boy still had no answer. He just opened his closed eyes and glared at the innocent ceiling with an emotionless gaze.
Kim Jaeho, who shook his head, carefully lay down on the sofa located opposite Haeseong.
There was even a separate night duty room, but why on earth was he causing all this fuss saying he’d wait in the CEO’s office? Since he never dreamed he’d spend a night in this clean and modern executive office, his movements were very cautious.
“I’m having all kinds of experiences thanks to you. Haha, really.”
Kim Jaeho, who let out a small laugh as if this situation was absurd, briefly pondered whether to go to the night duty room and bring a blanket, but eventually couldn’t overcome his fatigue and closed his eyes. Because the fatigue accumulated from being tormented by Haeseong all day was considerable, he fell asleep in an instant.
Time passed, and the hour hand that had been pointing to 12 o’clock gradually tilted further to the right. The pale moonlight entering through the large window overlooking the night view at a glance made the atmosphere inside, which was wide and quiet, even more eerie. Only the intermittent snoring sounds from Kim Jaeho filled the interior.
“……”
Haeseong, who had been sitting in one position without moving, slowly raised his head. He stared blankly at the snoring Kim Jaeho with indifferent eyes.
Normally, Haeseong would have woken him up and gotten angry, telling him not to make noise, but he was quiet. It seemed like he was looking at Kim Jaeho, but looking closely, his gaze wasn’t directed anywhere. It was just empty.
Haeseong, who quietly got up from his seat, approached the window. Standing there for a long while, he looked down at the distant ground below indifferently, then for some reason roughly bit his lower lip.
His lip, crushed by his pure white teeth, eventually couldn’t withstand the pressure and burst. Bright red blood began to flow from the edge of his wounded lip.
‘What’s the reason?’
Because the ending had been bad, Haeseong had no choice but to think bad thoughts.
Jeju Island filming. At that time, Haeseong had witnessed Euiju’s naked body and was quite confused, so he had avoided him like crazy. He ignored him even when he spoke to him, and cruelly rejected him even when he said he’d massage his legs at night.
“Ah, fuck!”
Was it because he had avoided his hand in front of everyone that day? Was he angry because he cursed openly and embarrassed him? Was he in a bad mood because he ignored him when he kept trying to talk? Was it because he told him to go away every time he asked why he was angry?
Or had he endured and endured, but like other people, couldn’t overcome his personality and was trying to give up?
‘But he said he’d stay by my side.’
He wasn’t someone who would break a promise this easily. He was a person with a very strong sense of responsibility. Because he absolutely wasn’t someone who would quit work in such an irresponsible way, Haeseong couldn’t help but be utterly confused.
“Fuck……”
Haeseong, who roughly wiped away the blood flowing from his mouth, spewed curses nervously. Then he struck the window with his fist with a thud.
Bang, bang, bang—!
When this was repeated several times, scratches began to appear on his pure white knuckles too.
Even though quite a loud sound spread inside, Kim Jaeho, immersed in sleep, floated through dreamland oblivious to the world. Kim Jaeho, who had fallen into a deep sleep, twisted his body here and there comfortably as if he were at his own home.
While one person slept so peacefully, one teenager who couldn’t sleep leaned quietly against the window, relying only on the moonlight, glaring at the cars that became part of the night view. His white clothes became stained bright red with the blood flowing from his lips.
I’m sorry.
If he were in front of him, he wanted to apologize and cling to him like this. He wanted to make all the wrongdoings he had committed as if they had never happened. He wanted to kneel before his manager and beg that he wouldn’t do it again, that he wouldn’t upset him anymore, that he would listen well. He wanted to apologize for everything—for insulting his noona, for using his friends to torment him.
Maybe he didn’t like that he was jealous of his family, so if he disliked it, he could hide it well from now on. Even if he was jealous, even if he was envious, he could endure it. So please appear before him again. Please return to daily life as if nothing had happened. Please come back and hold him.
Haeseong, who had been grinding his lips, approached Kim Jaeho’s charging phone instead of his own dead phone. Since there was no password, it wasn’t difficult to enter the contacts. He went into the recent call list and called Euiju.
Only the sound of the ringtone echoed in the quiet interior.
[The phone is turned off and you will be connected to voicemail. After the beep……]
When the mechanical woman’s voice was heard, Haeseong’s hand holding the phone dropped powerlessly. Soon, a low crying sound began to leak from him.
“Huu……”
After Euiju disappeared, the tears that leaked out for the first time flowed down his skin at a rapid speed and fell to the floor. Because they burst after holding back and holding back, the speed was extremely fast, and the amount flowing also gradually increased. Haeseong’s sobbing quietly filled the interior.
He felt like he would die of loneliness. In case he really wouldn’t appear like this. It was difficult to breathe as if someone were strangling his neck.
“Uuu……”
At Haeseong’s prolonged sobbing, Kim Jaeho’s eyes, which had been sleeping soundly, finally opened. Seeing Haeseong crying alone while stifling his breath in the dark place, he immediately stiffened.
Even though he had been scouted here and worked for several years, he had only witnessed Haeseong shedding tears exactly twice.
The first time was a few months ago when injured Haeseong was held by Euiju, and the second time was right now.
Kim Jaeho, who had been awkwardly watching, not knowing what to say, turned his body pretending to be asleep and turned his back to Haeseong. Consoling himself that turning away was probably right since he wouldn’t want to be caught crying.
Kim Jaeho, who was inwardly surprised, wondering if the existence called Lee Euiju had become such a big existence to that child, was conscious of Haeseong but before long fell back into sleep.
It was the same behavior as the adults who had been by Haeseong’s side, the same as other people who pretended to pay attention but neglected him when it was important.
Dawn broke, and Haeseong cried like that until morning came. He was anxious and scared but had no one to talk to, and the only person he could tell his pain to was on the verge of leaving him. It felt like something was stuck from his throat to his chest instead of going down. His heart hurt as if it were being torn apart, and he wanted to be freed from this pain right away.
Like that, the boy couldn’t sleep until the day brightened. Only the sound of him sobbing continued to fill the interior.
***
Light double eyelids, gentle eye shape, long eyelashes for a man, a prominent nose, and relatively plump lips made Euiju’s appearance distinctive.
However.
Sunken eyes, dark circles that came down heavily, lips that were dry and turned white—these transformed his appearance 180 degrees. As if all the vitality that had existed had completely gone missing. It was a very different appearance from a few days ago.
Such an Euiju endlessly gazed at the sleeping Roun.
“…Roun-ah.”
Euiju called his younger sibling in a very small voice that couldn’t be heard even up close. He raised his hand and carefully stroked the child’s cheek.
The cheek of his sibling sleeping quietly was still soft and plump. The two cheeks that pressed softly as his hand touched them were cute. It was a moment when he could truly feel the saying that it wouldn’t hurt even if you put them in your eyes, wondering how they could be so pretty.
Euiju turned his head and looked at the twins sleeping closely attached to each other. Looking at the faces of the children sleeping obliviously in the narrow cot, even in this moment when his heart was dizzy, the corners of his mouth naturally rose.
‘I think I’d know even without giving birth.’
Even without having children, he felt like he understood a parent’s heart.
Suddenly, Euiju wondered how his parents had closed their eyes.
How did they close their eyes leaving behind such pretty and lovely children? In their eyes, like these children, both he and noona must have been worrying and pitiful, Euiju thought.
He sat blankly for a long while watching his siblings. As if that was the only thing to do, like a person who had half lost their mind.
After a while, Euiyeon quietly opened the door and came in. Euiju’s head, which had been sitting without moving, slowly turned.
“The money?”
Euiju asked.
“……”
“…You couldn’t get it?”
Shake shake.
Euiyeon, who had bowed her head deeply, shook her head powerlessly.
“There’s no one who will help. Haha… I guess I lived my life in vain, Euiju-ya.”
Euiyeon weakly waved her left hand that was empty without fingers. Euiju, who had been watching it without focus, got up from his seat.
“It’s okay, noona. I’ll go out today.”
“No. I have one last place to go today. Noona will somehow get it, so Euiju you……”
Euiju took the bag Euiyeon was holding as if snatching it. Then he began to rummage through her bag here and there.
“……?”
Euiyeon looked at him questioningly as if asking what he was doing now, but Euiju was preoccupied with searching.
Because there were many things brought from home, it wasn’t easy to find. Finally, after taking out several pieces of clothing, Euiju was able to find what he wanted.
“Euiju-ya. That thing you……!”
What he took out from Euiyeon’s bag was none other than a business card. Euiju spoke casually.
“Get some sleep. And.”
Euiju smiled brightly at Euiyeon, who was looking at him with trembling pupils.
“Let me be the one to make a pitiful plea to that bastard.”
“……”
“I have to go to the company today and wrap things up too. …I’ll be back soon.”
Euiju, who gathered his phone and wallet, left the hospital room without lingering.
