Late at night, close to dawn. Richard and Margaret had fallen asleep at their usual early hour.
After confirming the bedroom had quieted down, Veronica called Henry out, and the siblings stealthily walked out of the house together.
Setting aside his earlier concerns, Henry’s lips kept twitching at the thought of meeting Samuel after so long.
Following Veronica, they arrived at a place where Samuel was waiting, along with his lover and a child Henry was meeting for the first time.
She was a woman he’d only seen once in passing a few years ago. It was perfectly natural that he couldn’t even properly remember her face. Henry quietly observed the woman.
She had a gentle impression. She possessed a calm demeanor tinged with fatigue, yet even so, she wore a kind smile.
Just like Samuel.
Henry knew well. How much exhaustion maintaining kindness brought, how it wore a person down.
The moment he recalled his own experience, a premonition that Richard’s judgment of her must have been wrong intensely penetrated Henry’s subconscious.
“She’s Samuel’s daughter. Don’t be surprised.”
Veronica explained to Henry, who was looking at Samuel and his family. It was a consideration given in case Henry, who had been excluded from the entire situation, might be confused seeing the child.
Henry’s vague speculation that the child must have been born between her and her ex-husband became fact.
Samuel was sitting in an uncomfortable position, matching the child’s eye level as they conversed. Perhaps tired from the long outing, the sound of the child whining could be faintly heard.
Veronica glanced sideways to confirm Henry’s expression wasn’t too bad. Though she couldn’t be certain right away, she could tell it wasn’t as negative an emotion as Richard’s.
“Samuel!”
Veronica immediately called out to Samuel in a strong voice. Samuel turned his face, discovered his siblings standing in the darkness, and showed them a bright smile.
“I brought Henry!”
“Thanks, you did well.”
Samuel stood up from his awkward crouching position and transferred the child’s hand to his lover. After patting the child’s head once, he immediately approached Henry.
His expression was bright. Even though not much time had passed since he’d heard harsh words from his parents, no shadow could be found on his face.
“Henry! Wow, you’ve really grown so much.”
Samuel looked Henry over once with his eyes, then let out an exclamation of admiration at his younger brother who had grown so tall. Embraced in the arms of his hyung who was now shorter than him, Henry opened his mouth with a slightly awkward face.
“…Samuel.”
“Wow, when did you get this big? I knew from seeing your article photo that you’d grown a lot, but it’s even more surprising to see you in person.”
“Well… it’s been 5 years.”
The playful tone and actions, unchanged from childhood.
Thanks to those things, Henry could slowly relax his heart and grumble a little. Like when he was young.
After that day 5 years ago, Samuel was no longer the exemplary son their parents cherished.
Of course I’d be worried. Whether he, rejected by his parents, could still be the Samuel Lowell he knew. If he had been in the same situation, he would surely have become a different person than before.
Fortunately, enough to put Henry at ease, he hadn’t changed. He was the same Samuel he knew.
“I know. Sorry, sorry. I’ve been a bit busy. But I’ve been hearing about you. No, I couldn’t not know. The little kid who clumsily held a ball trying to follow me became a high school prospect in the blink of an eye.”
Samuel gave an affectionate response to Henry’s petulant words. He was making a show of wiping away tears with a proud face.
It was all too clear which version of himself Samuel was recalling and comparing with the current Henry.
Henry’s face flushed as he was reminded of his own immature and clumsy past.
“…If you know that, come watch this year’s games. It’s my last high school season.”
Samuel readily nodded.
“Of course. I’ll definitely go.”
He looked at Henry warmly, then continued with a face as if he’d realized something.
“Oh, Henry hasn’t been introduced, right?”
With an excited face, he led Henry to his lover.
“Jay. You recognize him, right? This is my youngest brother, Henry Lowell.”
“Hello. I’ve heard a lot about you. I’m Yujay.”
Within the unchanging kind smile, Henry glimpsed tension. The corners of her mouth, which seemed forcibly pulled up, were trembling slightly.
Henry secretly watched Samuel reach out his hand to pat her back.
The fear that she might hear harsh words from him was vivid. It was also puzzling that she was afraid of him, Samuel’s younger brother. Since this was their first meeting.
“Hello. I’m Henry Lowell.”
Offering a brief greeting, Henry smiled as kindly as she did and was the first to offer a handshake. Jay looked at Henry’s large sun-tanned hand, then cautiously took it.
He could feel the tension draining from her face.
He didn’t dislike it. The way she was afraid of him, tensed up, then soon became okay—strangely, that moved Henry’s heart.
It was a belated realization, but Henry came to know that he had never hated her as much as Richard or Margaret did.
From the beginning, Henry had been deprived of the opportunity to meet Jay directly and judge for himself. Because Richard and Margaret disliked her.
Henry had thought he understood his parents, but apparently that wasn’t the case.
To be told to hate someone he’d never even properly greeted, without any plausible reason—that wasn’t something Henry Lowell could do. It didn’t suit him either.
After such a long time of 5 years had passed, he finally had the opportunity to have a conversation. Henry was glad for the opportunity that had finally come to him, and treasured it.
In fact, even if he had felt she wasn’t okay, there would have been nothing he could do about it.
How could he speak harsh words to someone trembling in fear of being hated by him? That was something Henry couldn’t even imagine.
“And this is…”
At the continued voice, Henry, who had been shaking their clasped hands a couple of times, let go of her hand.
Samuel looked at his lover and young brother with affectionate eyes. Relieved at Jay finding stability, he picked up the young girl beside them into his arms.
“Harper. Should we say hello to Uncle Henry?”
At the word uncle, the child’s eyes widened as she looked at Henry.
Except during the school term, Henry lived a life spending every weekend at church during breaks. That was the duty given to Henry as the son of someone who ran a large church.
Therefore, children were quite a familiar existence to Henry.
However, other people’s children and a niece are a bit different, aren’t they? Because she’s new family.
Seeing the child give him an innocent smile, Henry malfunctioned.
“Harper Morgan. I’m 6 years old.”
“…Hi.”
Forgetting all his experience dealing with children at church, Henry answered the child’s greeting completely stiff.
Veronica, who had been quietly watching the situation from the side, burst into laughter.
“Henry, why are you so tense? Like you’re seeing a little kid for the first time.”
“…They were strangers. Harper is… not.”
While Henry looked at Harper not knowing what to do, silent words quietly passed between the eyes of the other three people.
Jay smiled gently and suggested to Henry.
“Would you like to hold her? Though she’s actually past the age to be carried around.”
Henry shook his head.
“I feel like I’ll drop her.”
At Henry’s words, Jay’s already large eyes opened even wider. Soon she laughed aloud and explained.
“Harper is tall for her age. She is heavy.”
“…It wasn’t because I was worried she’d be heavy.”
Is she big? Henry didn’t really know, but he tried to make an excuse anyway.
“Jay, I don’t think Henry was worried Harper would be heavy. He was just scared at the thought of meeting his niece for the first time.”
Samuel spoke on Henry’s behalf while holding back laughter.
It was frustrating but not wrong, so Henry shut his mouth tight. Finding his younger brother’s manner of dealing with his daughter quite cute, Samuel chuckled.
“Henry. When you were 7, you were smaller than Harper is now.”
The age difference between Samuel and Henry was a full 14 years.
This meant Samuel remembered all of Henry’s childhood. To Henry, it was too distant a time to feel real.
“…I don’t know. How am I supposed to remember that? Anyway, Harper is smaller than me now.”
“I think even when Harper’s all grown up, she’ll still be smaller than you.”
Henry’s gaze fixed on Harper. It was fascinating. The existence of a young niece.
Samuel, who had been quietly watching such a Henry for a long while, quietly opened his mouth.
“Henry.”
“Yeah?”
“Thank you.”
Henry’s head quietly lifted. He quietly looked at Samuel.
Samuel put Harper down, and Jay naturally took Harper’s hand and moved away to give them space.
“…For what?”
Henry asked while watching Jay and Harper move away.
“Since I deviated from our parents’ expectations like this, you must be bearing my share too.”
“I’m just doing what I’ve always been doing.”
At Henry’s awkward answer, Samuel smiled.
“Still. Aren’t there times when you feel suffocated? I did too.”
Henry didn’t particularly deny his words. There was no need to falsely say he was okay.
Especially recently, there had been many moments when he particularly wasn’t okay.
“Hyung.”
“Yeah?”
Henry unconsciously called out to him then closed his mouth. Seeing Henry with his mouth firmly shut, Samuel asked again with a small smile.
“What is it? Tell me.”
“…Did you think our parents would like Jay?”
What if she or Harper hears my question? Henry whispered with his voice lowered as much as possible.
At Henry’s consideration that came out naturally and matter-of-factly, Samuel smiled slightly.
“Mm. I didn’t think they would like her, but I didn’t think they’d treat her so coldly either. Still, they’re people with social reputations.”
“Even knowing they disliked her, why did you think you should marry Jay?”
Henry, who had asked without thinking, became even more flustered and hurriedly added an explanation.
“Oh, it’s not that I’m asking because I don’t like Jay or anything! Just…”
“I know. I know what you mean.”
Samuel quietly turned his head. Even embraced in Jay’s arms, Harper was passionately staring at her new stepfather who was in conversation with Henry.
A smile naturally bloomed on Samuel’s lips as he looked at such a mother and daughter. Henry could watch that scene from right beside him.
“She’s lovely, isn’t she?”
Henry’s expression became blank.
