Seo-an pulled Ji-yu’s hand slightly to make her stand beside him. The child was still looking at him with disappointed eyes, but he didn’t respond to that.
“Fine.”
Just as Seo-an was inwardly swallowing a sigh of relief at the belated answer that fell—
“At least give me your phone number, hyung. It seems like your number changed.”
“No, I just said let’s live not knowing each other—”
“Yes, we’ll live not knowing each other. Just give me your number.”
“If we’re exchanging numbers, what kind of not knowing each other is that?”
“I’ll pretend. Does it make sense to not know each other when we already know?”
What is this?
It felt like talking to a brick wall. Seo-an tilted his head at an angle and looked at Hae-won. A face where he couldn’t tell what he was thinking. He was looking down at him with exactly that expression.
He tried to say words of refusal, but—
“Ji-yu knows. Zero-one-zero, three-two-five—”
“No, no. Ji-yu-ya, no.”
Who knew the kid being smart would be a problem at times like this?
Seo-an pressed his forehead. Since Ji-yu had already completely opened her heart to Hae-won, he couldn’t hold out any longer. Reluctantly receiving Hae-won’s phone, Seo-an hesitated for a moment before entering a number.
When he handed it back in a “let’s get this over with” manner, Hae-won immediately called the entered number as if it were absurd.
Naturally, Seo-an’s phone didn’t ring.
“……”
“You think I don’t know you, hyung?”
Hae-won handed the phone back again.
Seo-an received it with a somewhat defeated expression. He really didn’t feel like readily giving his number to Hae-won.
After reprimanding with his eyes the child who had been chattering away reciting her number, Seo-an rolled his fingers over the keypad. Actually, if not for their entangled past, exchanging numbers wouldn’t have been such a difficult thing.
But the other person was Yeon Hae-won. That was the reason why he’d roughly entered a non-existent number…
It was when Seo-an was hesitating while recalling things with him that flashed through his mind.
“Don’t know your number? Then give me your phone, hyung. I’ll enter my number.”
The sound of urging came once more.
“Ha…”
Eventually, Seo-an, who entered the proper number with a sigh, hid his phone screen so Hae-won couldn’t see it during Hae-won’s subsequent action of calling to confirm.
[Hae-won]
It was because the contact name he’d saved when he was younger remained as is. It was the reason why he had to block Hae-won from asking for his phone and enter his own number directly.
“You never know how life will turn out, so don’t live drawing too many lines. How do you know if you might need me right away? If you don’t like the senior-junior relationship we had when we were young, think of me as the guy next door.”
“……”
“I don’t know what kind of trick made us live next door to each other either… But at least to me, it seems like an opportunity.”
What opportunity?
Even though he thought that in his head, Seo-an just silently fiddled with his phone.
“So, ahjussi. Let’s try to get along well again.”
In the end, he couldn’t say anything else to Hae-won, who even called him ‘ahjussi.’
1.
“Ji-yu-ya, how long are you going to sleep? You have to go to daycare.”
“Huuuung…”
A young child’s whining about sleep was always simply adorable no matter when you heard it. Seo-an, who had been waking her up by patting Ji-yu’s bottom as morning came, let out a low laugh.
But now wasn’t the time to be leisurely.
Seo-an caught Ji-yu as she slid down from the bed in her underwear and pressed his lips to her round forehead.
“Ji-yu-ya, you said you wanted to see your friends at daycare.”
“Mm-hm… What about dad? Going to work…?”
“Yeah, dad has to go to work.”
Drop-off aside, work hours were approaching.
No matter how leisurely the season was, there was no helping that work was busy. On top of that, because he’d taken annual leave on Friday, there was a lot he needed to check at work today.
Since he couldn’t be any later, he coaxed the child’s bottom and urged her once more.
“Will Ji-yu wash her face alone, or should dad wash you?”
“Dad will.”
“Then go pee, dad will gather clothes to change Ji-yu into and come.”
“Mm-hm.”
“You have to shake three times.”
“I know.”
Ji-yu answered in a spirited voice. The child, who stuck out her lower belly and acted cute, didn’t seem too cranky even though she wasn’t fully awake yet.
After watching Ji-yu enter the bathroom with short quick steps, Seo-an hurried to prepare for work for now. After fastening his shirt buttons and even selecting a tie to place on the sofa armrest, he rolled up his sleeves and headed to the bathroom.
The child, who had just closed the toilet lid, flushed the water refreshingly. The child, who stuck out her lower belly saying she shook three times, was hoping for praise.
“Good job. Let’s wash up.”
Seo-an easily lifted the child up with one arm. Though it became a posture like lifting luggage, the child made a giggling laugh as if she was enjoying it.
He deliberately rubbed such a child’s face roughly to wash her. The child’s face, which made cute eopu eopu sounds along with it, bloomed with smiles.
“Dad wash, dad wash.”
It was the child’s cute expression of distinguishing gentle face-washing as Ji-yu wash and rough face-washing as dad wash. If he rubbed the towel roughly on top of that, the child’s laughter would burst out even bigger.
After pleasantly washing the child, Seo-an dressed her firmly so she wouldn’t be cold. The child, who wore cute jeans, a hoodie, and even a padded vest, went “ta-da” and placed her hands on her waist.
“Is Ji-yu cool?”
“Very cool.”
“Will the friends, um, like Ji-yu?”
It was a question asking if the new friends she’d make would like her. Seo-an nodded brightly with a smile.
“Of course. Ji-yu, aren’t you scared of meeting new friends?”
“Why?”
It was a question asking why that would be scary. Ji-yu blinked her round eyes while entrusting her body to Seo-an, who was touching her hair. Instead of answering, Seo-an just smiled.
Because he had such a quiet personality, making new friends was always difficult for him. On days when he had to transfer schools while moving around following his older brother, he was so scared from the night before that he couldn’t even sleep.
But Ji-yu was different. Because she was so cheerful and had a good personality, Ji-yu, who made friends quickly, seemed to be at the center of the group wherever she went.
Thinking it was fortunate she didn’t resemble him, Seo-an patted the child’s bottom pang pang a couple more times.
“All done.”
“Let’s go!”
It was already eight-thirty.
Usually it was a daycare that accepted children from around seven-thirty, but he deliberately chose a time when children had already attended to some degree. Since it was the first day of attendance, he thought it would be better if she could immediately mingle with friends rather than being awkwardly alone. If he dropped her off then, making it to work by nine o’clock was barely possible.
Having finished calculating in his head, Seo-an held the child’s hand and opened the front door. Ji-yu took a big breath as if she was looking forward to it. Just as they were about to get on the elevator like that…
“It’s the ahjussi from next door.”
A thick male voice was heard first. Seo-an, who had been about to step into the elevator while tending to the child, stopped abruptly. Hae-won was there, wearing a tight-fitting t-shirt and tracksuit, as if he’d been exercising since morning.
“Huh? Hae-won… samchon!”
The child bounced her body greatly for a moment to express her delight.
“Hello, Ji-yu. Ahjussi, you’re taking the kid to daycare now? And going to work?”
“…Don’t call me ahjussi, what ahjussi?”
“If you’re raising a kid, you’re all ahjussi. Ji-yu, are you going to kindergarten?”
“No, daycare.”
“You’re going to daycare.”
Hae-won smiled pleasantly and roughly stroked the child’s small head.
“You’re teasing me, calling me ahjussi.”
“Hyung said to live as strangers, right? All strangers in their late twenties are ahjussi, what’s different?”
There was no time to argue with Hae-won, who found fault with everything. Moreover, it seemed like no matter how much he conversed with Hae-won, who seemed to be acting especially prickly, it would never end.
“…Ji-yu-ya, get on.”
Seo-an pulled Ji-yu’s back and entered the elevator. Did he understand that it meant he didn’t want to continue the conversation? This time, Hae-won also stepped out of the elevator without saying anything particular.
“Ji-yu-ya, have a good time at daycare.”
And then he always greeted only Ji-yu like that.
It wasn’t like he intended to greet him first either, but being blatantly ignored made him feel strange.
