Even though I was the one who made him like that, I sometimes missed how we used to be. My second brother who used to smile at his younger brother.
“Never mind. It’s nothing.”
You have no right to question him, yet you’re so presumptuous, Yoo Seonjae.
“I’ll go to the hospital. Thanks.”
“Did you happen to go see Yeonwoo?”
My second brother asked as I was about to get up. I sat back down and asked.
“I went recently. Why?”
“Because of Yeoul?”
“Yeah.”
My second brother still wore a stiff expression and silently tilted his mug without saying anything. Professor Yeonwoo was Yeoul’s and my attending physician. So seeing Professor Yeonwoo wasn’t particularly special, but why was he suddenly asking about that?
“Was there anything strange when you met him?”
“Strange?”
“Different from usual…”
Even after thinking carefully, nothing in particular came to mind. Professor Yeonwoo was as kind and warm as always. Why is he asking this?
“What’s wrong? Did something happen to Professor Yeonwoo?”
“…He’s taking a leave of absence.”
“What?”
I didn’t hear right. If my attending physician changed, I’d get a notification, but I hadn’t received any separate contact from the hospital yet.
“Why suddenly?”
“Well. I don’t know that well either.”
My second brother smiled bitterly. I thought that even after breaking up, Professor Yeonwoo and my second brother were getting along well, maintaining a comfortable relationship as colleagues without any issues, but was that not the case?
“Didn’t he talk to you about it?”
My second brother looked at me with an indiscernible expression.
“We’re not in a relationship to discuss those things anymore.”
Not in a relationship to discuss those things? Why can’t you discuss that? Can’t you have that conversation as colleagues, as friends who support each other’s futures? Must you be lovers, must you have promised marriage to have that conversation?
The words I wanted to say spun round and round in my mouth, but I couldn’t bring myself to say them and got up from my seat. I didn’t want to see my second brother’s face full of worry.
I was about to return home but turned my steps and headed to the second floor.
If the pheromone scent was as terrible as Kim Yeonghyo and hyung said, I shouldn’t go home. I should spend tonight in my room at the main house.
I was glad I’d brought Yeoul’s handkerchief. A night in a place with no traces of Yeoul would surely be lonely.
Early in the morning, I stopped by the hospital and got a prescription. As my second brother said, there was a problem with my pheromone glands due to imprinting aftereffects, and I was in a state where I couldn’t perceive my own pheromone scent.
“I haven’t received notification that my attending physician is changing.”
“Ah, the notification probably hasn’t gone out yet. There were no outpatient appointments this week. It happened suddenly.”
Suddenly…
Why did Professor Yeonwoo suddenly submit a leave of absence? He was someone who returned to work immediately after recovering when he had an accident before. For Professor Yeonwoo to take time off from work must mean something happened in his personal life.
“Hah…”
My heart is in turmoil. Both Yeoul and Professor Yeonwoo. What are they all hiding in their hearts that makes it so difficult? It would be better if they took it out and showed it.
[Professor Yeonwoo]
The ringtone rang for a long time. Professor Yeonwoo, who used to answer before it rang three times when I called, isn’t answering the phone.
Really… what’s going on?
[We’re not in a relationship to discuss those things anymore.]
My second brother’s words kept spinning round and round in my head. Is that what an ended relationship is? I keep feeling scared that my second brother’s words might become words that describe Yeoul and me.
“No. Don’t think like that, Yoo Seonjae. Pull yourself together.”
I dumped all the prescribed medicine in at once and took a deep breath. Right. Now I really can’t be without Yeoul. Yeoul might be hurting because of me too. So I have to find him. I don’t have time to be doing this. I called Uncle Irang.
[Yeah, Seonjae.]
After a few rings, Uncle answered the phone.
“Did you find out, Uncle?”
[Yeah, I found out. But, Seonjae.]
“Yes?”
[No, never mind. Let’s meet first. Let’s meet and talk.]
“Why? What is it?”
[It’s not something to talk about over the phone. Let’s meet first.]
Uncle Irang urgently hung up the phone. Before meeting Kim Yeonghyo, Uncle Irang had a place he urgently needed to stop by and asked if it would be okay to delay going to Hyohyo Bakery by a day, but I was in a hurry and said I’d go alone.
Even while worrying that I might mess things up after getting excited seeing Kim Yeonghyo’s name, Uncle Irang said it was such an urgent matter that it couldn’t be helped and left me with the single word “I trust you” before we parted. Well, after hearing that I parted ways without gaining anything, he did say he’d look into the driver separately.
“Is there something…”
I hoped any clue would be positive. Whatever it was, as long as it could get me one step closer to Yeoul, anything was good.
I thought it would be good…
“Uncle.”
“Yeah, Seonjae. Over here.”
The place Uncle Irang called me to was an unmanned café in a neighborhood with few people. It wasn’t a familiar neighborhood, nor was it a place with high foot traffic—literally a quiet residential area.
“Why did you want to meet in a place like this?”
“Well…”
Uncle Irang stroked his chin with a troubled face, then got up from his seat.
“Have something to drink first. What do you want? Coffee?”
“I don’t really care.”
“Drink. Just drink. I’m going to drink too.”
“Okay, then.”
“I’ll get something cold.”
Uncle Irang got iced Americanos from the machine with clumsy hand movements. Even in that short time getting coffee, Uncle was uncharacteristically nervous, bouncing his leg.
Why is he acting like that?
I looked at Uncle like that, then scanned the neighborhood visible through the window with my eyes. An unfamiliar neighborhood. A place I’d never been to.
This neighborhood lined with apartments had a commercial district centered around the apartments, but it wasn’t downtown so the scale wasn’t large. Moreover, since it was a complete residential area, most people walking the streets at this weekday daytime were children moving between academies and housewives returning from grocery shopping.
“Here.”
Uncle Irang placed the coffee he’d gotten on the table. I wasn’t particularly thirsty, so I just glanced at the coffee once. Uncle also didn’t drink his coffee, just holding it in his hand and fidgeting with it.
“What is it?”
“Huh?”
“Why are you acting like this?”
“What do you mean?”
“You’ve been restless like a dog that needs to shit since earlier. Why are you acting like this?”
“Haha. When did I, uh, ever.”
“See. This is strange, really.”
When I brought my face close to Uncle Irang, Uncle avoided my eyes. Couldn’t be more suspicious. After saying he has something to tell me, why does he keep avoiding my eyes like that, and what’s the reason for bringing me to an unfamiliar neighborhood?
“Uncle.”
“……”
“Uncle!”
“Hoo—”
Uncle Irang let out a deep sigh. Uncle kept stalling, rubbing his face dry, and it was frustrating.
“What is it, why are you doing this? Why won’t you talk and just keep sighing? Did you call me all the way here for this? In this time, I should be hurrying to find Yeoul—”
“Seonjae.”
Uncle Irang looked me straight in the eye. Uncle, who had been sighing deeply just moments ago, looked at me with determined eyes as if he’d made up his mind about something and said:
“Do you remember yesterday when I said I had urgent business?”
“Yes. That’s why I went alone. To Kim Yeonghyo.”
“Right. You did. Uncle has a nephew.”
Why is he suddenly talking about his nephew? I know. That he has a nephew around my age. That he dotes on that nephew terribly.
“So?”
“My nephew is pregnant. The kid is healthy, but the toxemia is severe.”
“Toxemia?”
“Yeah. You guys are trait carriers, so you probably don’t understand the difficulties we betas go through. But there’s such a thing.”
“…Yes, it must be worrying.”
I don’t really know what it is, but I don’t like Uncle having a hard time. Is he on edge like that because of that? Then he should just say he’s taking a few days off.
“No. That’s not the story.”
Uncle picked up his cup and gulped down his coffee, then crunched on the ice.
“Suddenly my insides are burning up.”
“Uncle?”
“Hoo—”
Uncle let out another sigh.
“Anyway, this is the neighborhood where my nephew lives.”
“Really? Ah, should we go visit together then?”
If that’s it, he should have said so from the start. Even though I always thought Uncle Irang and I were like family, I’d never met Uncle’s family even once. We were only like family in words, and I felt my heart suddenly grow heavy because I hadn’t been able to become family to Uncle’s family.
