It was the fifth day since Lorenz had been spending thirty minutes in this room every day, and it was also the fifth day since this game had begun.
All three had finished their respective meals, and since it would soon be time to go to bed, Lucas was in his pajamas. The child, who had his rabbit doll sitting on his lap as usual, carefully selected a card. He brought his hand toward the rainy sky full of dark clouds, then quickly withdrew it and cupped his chin with his small hand, pondering for a long while.
“It’s okay to take as much time as you need, so choose slowly.”
A warm voice with a pleasant resonance.
Completely different from how he treats me.
Thinking that to himself, Lorenz briefly scoffed inwardly.
Finally, the child chose a card. Elian received it.
“Mm… Lucas’s day today was like a cloud.”
It wasn’t the rainy sky he had initially tried to choose. It was just a card with a single cloud floating leisurely.
But that wasn’t all. The child soon picked up one more card.
“A cloud and… cake?”
Like someone trying to decode a letter full of codes, Elian Bellotti fell into thought with a serious expression.
His bright and soft-looking hair flowed down gently, lightly covering his forehead and temples.
“Perhaps, you wanted to eat cake but couldn’t, so you were a little sulky?”
At Elian’s interpretation, the child shook his head.
“Then… there was a somewhat heavy feeling, but there was also something good like eating cake?”
This time he nodded vigorously.
From where Lorenz was sitting, he could only see the child’s profile at an angle, but he could tell the child was smiling enough for his cheeks to rise roundly.
He felt that the child’s situation had improved to some extent during this time.
About two weeks ago, when he had observed the counseling session with Margaret, the child had been extremely passive except for minimal expressions of intent like nodding or shaking his head.
But now his expressions and gestures had become larger and clearer.
Five days ago, when Lorenz first came to this room, the child looked confused, his face showing he didn’t understand why Lorenz was there. As expected, his face glancing at Lorenz sitting near the door looked anxious.
However, the next day, and the day after that, he didn’t refuse Lorenz coming to the room or show any signs of discomfort.
Elian leaned forward a bit more to make eye contact with the child.
“I see. I’m so happy too that Lucas had something good happen like eating cake.”
Lorenz admired Elian’s gaze, which seemed to have not a shred of forced acting. He was amazed that Elian could treat a child who was neither his younger brother nor his cousin, whom he had met only two weeks ago, with such consistent devotion. Did most child psychologists have such abilities?
Even searching thoroughly through his memories, there was no one who had shown him such a smile during his growth. In very distant, hazy memories, it seemed like his mother might have, but nothing remained clearly. He trusted and relied on Margaret, but given her position, she couldn’t be entirely affectionate with young Lorenz.
Elian, who had returned the cards to their place, said in an expectant voice.
“Now, shall we try the next question?”
At that moment, Lucas turned to look at Lorenz.
Whether it was because he wanted him to continue being there, or because he wanted him to leave quickly. Lorenz still couldn’t figure that out.
In any case, this time the child’s gaze lingered a little longer.
Elian, who noticed this, also looked this way.
Not knowing what reaction to give, Lorenz just looked back and forth between the two.
Elian spoke first.
“Would you like to join us?”
“…Are you talking to me?”
“Who else is there besides you, Mr. Lockhart?”
It was an unexpected suggestion, so Lorenz couldn’t answer readily. Wasn’t my role just to sit here for the time being?
Isn’t this different from what we agreed? He sent Elian a look filled with resentment, but seeing the smile lingering on his lips, he was undoubtedly enjoying this situation.
“Ah, I’m… in the middle of reading a book…”
“You’ve been looking at the same page for a long time though.”
“……”
No more plausible excuses came to mind. Moreover, the child’s eyes were sparkling with anticipation.
Having no choice, he closed the book, set it down on the chair, and approached the sofa where the two were sitting. Lucas’s gaze continued to follow Lorenz.
“Will you sit here?”
“…I suppose.”
Hesitating, Lorenz sat down in the seat Elian had stood up and vacated. The child sitting across from him looked up at Lorenz with a gaze close to admiration, as if looking at something fascinating.
Elian sat diagonally behind Lucas.
“Lucas, shall we ask your hyung a question too?”
Nod.
“Mr. Lockhart, how was your day today?”
Lorenz examined the spread-out cards.
A flowing stream, green forest, rough waves, rainy sky filled with dark clouds, sunlight shining through thick clouds in multiple rays, an empty chair, an open door and a closed door, a crossroads, stars and moon, a rock, cake, warm soup, a lollipop…
How was he supposed to explain his day with these cards?
He stroked his lower jaw broadly, looking troubled.
“My intellectual ability is fairly decent, but my artistic sense isn’t. Expressing things metaphorically like this is a bit…”
“There’s no right answer in this game. If Mr. Lockhart says so, then that’s how it is. So just choose comfortably. Right, Lucas?”
The child nodded vigorously. As if he were an expert at this game. Large brown eyes full of anticipation looked up at Lorenz without hesitation.
Lorenz scanned the cards again.
No right answer…
Business is the same, and so is life.
However, even with problems that had no right answer, there was always a best answer. Being able to discern that made one an excellent person, and failing to do so meant remaining just an ordinary person. ⎯ The words his father had always emphasized still dominated Lorenz’s inner self.
That’s not it.
Do it again.
Is that all you can do?
Is that the extent of your best?
The Lockhart Group and the family will collapse before long.
His father’s cold gaze and harsh verbal abuse were more vivid than any other memory.
Lorenz couldn’t choose a card easily.
To think he would freeze in front of merely expressing his day with a few measly cards. He had never been like this about business, so even he was flustered.
To think that somewhere inside, he was still stuck in that time, influenced by his father. Even though he was no longer in this world, he had to dance to the specter’s tune.
“Mr. Lockhart?”
At the voice calling him with concern, he raised his gaze.
Elian Belloti’s two eyes were directed at him.
“Are you alright?”
How could blue eyes look so warm?
His eyes, composed of multiple layers, were like a clear sea holding light and swaying.
It was the same affectionately concerned gaze he gave Lucas. That made Lorenz even more flustered. It was as if his weakness had been exposed to him.
Lucas was also looking up at him.
Lorenz checked his wristwatch as if escaping. The promised thirty minutes had already passed a little.
“Now… it’s time for Lucas to sleep. Lucas, you should go to your bedroom, right?”
Though the child made an expression of wanting to play more, he got down from the sofa holding his doll and kissed Elian on the cheek. Elian also returned a kiss with a smacking sound on the child’s chubby cheek. An attitude of finding him unbearably adorable. Then good night greetings followed. The childcare worker who took care of Lucas’s overall daily life entered the reception room and took the child to the bedroom.
With the spread-out cards between them, only Lorenz and Elian sat facing each other on the long sofa. Elian didn’t ask anything. He didn’t tease him, asking if he couldn’t even choose a few cards when even Lucas could play this game. His expression wasn’t one urging him to say anything with silence either.
Simply comfortably, he was just there.
An unbelievably beautiful face.
Adonis, as if sculpted from ivory and rose petals.
Would he still be beautiful in bed… whether angry, sneering, or crying…
The impulse to coldly turn away from the wordless comfort the man before him was sending, and the impulse to embrace and kiss him with all his might, collided strongly within Lorenz. However, that was merely a momentary agitation, an error caused by sensation.
■
