It was a story he could open up about sufficiently according to the flow of conversation. But why did he inwardly feel awkward about all this? Young deliberately made a pleasant smile to hide that fact.
But what was this? It was a smile that a hundred out of a hundred would call pretty, yet Kyung-heon rather hardened his complexion.
He didn’t think it was a mistaken impression or over-interpretation. The following words backed up that fact.
“I must be, making you uncomfortable.”
At the words that pierced straight through without beating around the bush, the corners of Young’s mouth twitched slightly. Above his arc-shaped lips, his pupils rolled round and round inside his wide-open eyes. It was because he hadn’t expected to be pointed out so directly like this.
Who was Lee Young? He wasn’t someone who easily lost his spirit anywhere, and he talked well to everyone regardless of gender or age, and laughed well too, so he had a reputation as a nice person as long as you didn’t mention gangsters. But to have his discomfort detected.
It was even more flustering because it was true. He’d adapted to the previous Kyung-heon who, though a bit slow and clumsy, had an upright and kind taste, but hadn’t the person changed overnight?
Of course, Kyung-heon was now skillfully managing his pheromones and doing well, faithfully attending to the work given to him. Meaning he’d perfectly adapted to an alpha’s life.
But Young’s situation was different. He felt like he would have accepted it better if someone had said, “From now on, your husband isn’t Joo Kyung-heon but Joo Seong-jin.” But seeing the same person show a completely changed appearance with no trace of his previous self made him endlessly awkward.
“Does it show that much?”
Young quickly half-closed his eyes that had been wide open. This was a quite natural eye-smile, and an expression that others accepted favorably.
“When I see a manufactured smile, I suppose so?”
But the awakened Joo Kyung-heon caught even that. He’d thought he could live comfortably for 3 years because he was gentle and kind, but even that seemed to have been a pipe dream.
Young habitually rubbed his cheek. While he fell into brief contemplation, Kyung-heon added a word.
“By any chance, did you prefer my previous appearance?”
In such cases, the typical answer would be to say, at least outwardly, that it wasn’t so. But if it was the current Kyung-heon, it seemed he would notice everything even if one was extremely naturally polite. In the end, Young decided to answer honestly.
“Rather than that, we didn’t have time to get to know each other.”
“……”
“Before the marriage, we greeted both families, looked at the newlywed home interior, did dress fittings, and talked often while doing that, but after the ceremony… you’ve been continuously busy, so when we passed each other, greeting was all we did. Even sitting face to face like this now is the first time since that day.”
Here, “that day” meant the meal they’d had after coming out of the main house right after Kyung-heon’s manifestation. In other words, there had been no time to adapt to his changed appearance.
Kyung-heon also seemed convinced as he slowly nodded. The speed at which he provided an answer to the problem he’d raised himself was fast.
“If I make time, that would solve it. One hour a day, whether eating, drinking tea, or doing whatever. Is that okay?”
Young’s eyelids quickly closed and opened. Well, he had plenty of time, so taking out an hour a day wasn’t really a big deal….
“But why are you trying to go this far?”
He was puzzled, wondering what the intention behind this was.
Kyung-heon opened his mouth immediately without any sign of contemplation.
“As I said before, I want to maintain this marriage. To do that, we also need a strong connection between ourselves, and it seems like it’s only possible if we’re at least not uncomfortable.”
Honestly, he didn’t completely agree. He thought that for the purpose of just maintaining married life, even now was sufficient.
If they told him to contact them first, he said yes. If they told him to come to the main house, yes. If they said let’s eat, yes again. Young was very faithful to his role. He’d accepted everything without complaints, thinking it was all his duty.
Moreover, Young was the one who more desperately wanted this marriage. Then there was no particular need for Kyung-heon to worry, so why would he give such an uncharacteristically flimsy reason?
But he didn’t question even this. Anyway, Kyung-heon’s judgment might need that closeness.
‘By any chance, did you prefer my previous appearance?’
Perhaps Kyung-heon’s face asking that,
‘You must have known that your partner was… me.’
Was like that time, so he just wanted to accept it.
Was it because he recalled their first meeting when he’d seemed like a kind and innocent younger brother? Young felt the uncomfortable feeling in his heart subside a bit. He might have been inwardly relieved by the fact that Joo Kyung-heon, who had seemed like a stranger after changing 180 degrees overnight, was indeed “that” Joo Kyung-heon to whom he’d given affection, even if shallowly.
Right, if he wants it, why not do it? Having made up his mind, he decided to readily accept the proposal.
“Alright. Let’s do that, then.”
***
“Wow. Today was really busy.”
Young, who’d returned home, jumped straight onto the sofa. When he laid his head against the armrest and lay down long, his eyes closed out of habit.
Having run through two rounds of meals, his fatigue was considerable. He’d even thoroughly cleaned his plate of risotto at the Italian restaurant he went to with Kyung-heon, so his blood sugar shot up. It felt like if he just closed his eyes for 10 seconds like this, he’d fall straight into sleep.
Actually, it didn’t matter if he took a long nap. As long as there were no external appointments, Young’s entire schedule was just staying holed up at home.
It was reality. Until before the marriage, he’d planned to frequently meet his (few) friends once he left this detestable house, go out at all hours to enjoy all kinds of cultural activities, and spend nights drinking until dawn outside, living it up. But once he actually left the house, that desire disappeared.
It seemed he’d only desperately wanted to escape because they didn’t let him, because they monitored everything. Once he actually gained freedom, his interest in going out dropped.
‘One hour a day, whether eating, drinking tea, or doing whatever.’
Kyung-heon’s voice swirled in Young’s mind with his eyes closed.
Come to think of it, since he played alone at home all day, it wouldn’t be bad if Kyung-heon would at least be a conversation partner for an hour.
‘It’s like having an appointment scheduled every day.’
Young’s consciousness, who had been having idle thoughts, gradually blurred. Since he’d kept his eyes closed, it seemed the time to drift off to sleep had come.
However, sweet sleep in broad daylight didn’t seem to be permitted. A loud vibration rang out from the jacket pocket Young hadn’t yet taken off.
‘Who is it….’
Young diligently searched through his pocket with an already hazy mind. When he took out the device that fit snugly in his hand and looked at the screen with deeply squinted eyes, a familiar name entered his sight.
It was Seong-jae. He was sleepy to answer the phone, but curious why he was calling for once if he was just going to sleep. After a brief conflict, his choice was,
“Yeah, what?”
Curiosity resolution. Seong-jae, forgetting to greet at the slightly hoarse voice, suddenly said, “Were you sleeping?”
“I almost fell asleep. Why. What is it?”
From the fact that he was calling instead of messaging, it probably wasn’t an ordinary matter. Sure enough, Seong-jae’s voice was strangely more excited than usual.
— Hey, did you hear about Kwak Du-jin?
He hadn’t heard the news, but he definitely knew the name.
That bastard who’d fought often by dividing classes and ostracizing Young throughout middle and high school, who’d laughed the loudest in the bar when Ahn Chae-seung mocked him for being left alone at the airport, yet who’d fawned over Kyung-heon with a proper face at the wedding after-party despite that.
He was a person whose name alone put him in a bad mood. Young spoke in a very displeased tone.
“No, why? What happened to him?”
Seong-jae spoke in a tone of suppressed laughter.
— Hey, that bastard contacted me asking to borrow money?
“Suddenly?”
His rough temperament aside, Kwak Du-jin was actually a corpse without money. He liked to show off with money more than kids from actually wealthy families, and was a bastard who committed all kinds of shameless acts relying on money alone. But he asked Seong-jae to lend him money?
Sleep completely fled. Young threw out questions in succession, “Why? What does he need it for? Did he cause a big accident?” Seong-jae also answered as if he’d been waiting.
— I didn’t ask directly, but when I looked around, I heard their family is shaky right now? They properly got caught for forging and reporting some safety management or something document before.
“What, can’t they smooth it over with a wheelchair show or something?”
— It seems like it’s a scale that won’t work? This hasn’t broken as an article yet, but usually if you get caught with this, bidding restrictions are immediately imposed. Restrictions aside, bank agreements are also terminated? So it seems like they’re reaching out here and there trying to somehow block it.
Young’s lips, saying “Wow” in admiration, curved into an arc.
