“…….”
Though he had tried to speak first to hide his awkwardness, no answer came back. Leo approached with steady steps, but Hyedam couldn’t step back. It would be more accurate to say he couldn’t move an inch, like a bug caught in a spider’s web.
The moment Hyedam realized Leo’s gaze was slowly sweeping over his body from head to toe, he couldn’t even breathe.
Leo’s body dropped down at a distance close enough to reach with an outstretched hand.
Looking down at him, whom he always had to look up at, Hyedam bit down hard on his lower lip. He pulled up the shawl he was wearing to cover his body as much as possible.
“I’m sorry.”
Even at Leo’s words as he knelt before him, Hyedam couldn’t easily respond. What are you sorry for? What do you have to be sorry to me about? Could it be… do you remember that you’re Ondal?
“It’s all my fault.”
“…….”
Leo’s hand carefully touched Hyedam’s hand that was holding the end of the shawl. Not knowing what he was thinking, Hyedam, who couldn’t rashly push away his hand, only bit his lips harder at the warmth his large hand brought.
He was the person who possessed the warmth he had longed for.
He was the person who held the greatest meaning to him.
He was the person who had created a family for him when he was alone in this world. Even if he hadn’t wanted that to happen. He was the person who stayed by his side when he was struggling, who made him smile.
Even while telling himself it was nothing and erasing the memories they shared together, telling himself he could just live like that with the baby, he couldn’t help but think of him from time to time.
“Hyung, marry me.”
At the word “hyung” that he was hearing for the first time from Leo’s mouth, his heart dropped.
“I brought a ring instead of a four-leaf clover. I’ll make you happy. Hyung, I’ll make sure you don’t cry. So marry me.”
His vision blurred with the emotions surging up from his chest. He could see something shining in Leo’s other hand that was holding up his fingertips, but because of the tears that kept welling up, Hyedam couldn’t see exactly what it was.
The moment he felt something touch the tip of his left ring finger, Hyedam hastily pulled out his left hand that had been caught by him. Then he pushed away Leo who was kneeling in front of him and walked quickly along the deck. As his heart beat madly and he couldn’t see well ahead because of tears, he roughly rubbed his eyes with his sleeve.
“Lee Hyedam!”
At Leo’s voice calling him, Hyedam shouted without realizing it.
“Don’t come in! Don’t take even one step in without my permission!”
Then he slammed shut the door that had been wide open. He bit down on his trembling thumb and swallowed the saliva pooled in his mouth.
No way.
What he just said…
He had heard it before.
It was something from so long ago that he had completely forgotten, but the moment he called him “hyung,” the forgotten memory came back.
That day was the day they held a tree burial for his deceased parents. Contrary to his sad heart, the weather was too clear, and grandmother seemed to be very busy. At grandmother’s words to stay under the tree on top of the hill, he sat there alone in a daze.
He couldn’t believe that mom and dad had passed away in a car accident.
He couldn’t understand that he would never see them again.
When he was sitting there blankly, a little kid appeared along with a coffee scent.
He didn’t properly remember what they talked about, but the little kid had hugged him. It seemed he had cried for a long time while holding the little kid who fit snugly in his arms.
That child had patted his back with small hands to let him cry as much as he wanted, and offered that small chest until his crying stopped.
He couldn’t remember what that child looked like or what color hair he had, but he couldn’t forget those sparkling, mysterious green eyes that looked at him. How could he forget those eyes? That coffee scent too…
When a sound calling for the child could be heard from afar, the child gave him a four-leaf clover. And the place where he kept that four-leaf clover was… Ah! The watch box. That day, grandmother took a picture of him under the tree. And to remember that day, he attached the four-leaf clover behind that photo. The place where he kept that meaningful photo was…
Staggering inside, Hyedam sat down as if collapsing onto the soft sofa.
The person who had protected him whenever he was struggling was Leo. When his parents passed away, when his grandmother passed away. During the hardest moments due to sudden separations from family, he had always been there with him.
He struck his stuffy chest with his fisted hand. The tears gathered around his eyes dropped onto the back of his hand. He couldn’t tell whether his complicated emotions were joy, sadness, difficulty, or pain. It might have been relief at meeting Leo again.
With his lower lip bitten tight, Hyedam, who had been rubbing his eyes again with the end of his sleeve, picked up the mobile phone on the table.
He didn’t know exactly what Leo knew or how much he knew, but it seemed both of them clearly remembered what happened in their childhood. That’s why he goes on about the four-leaf clover. And it didn’t make sense that Luna didn’t know about this. Since he didn’t know how far she was involved either, first…
— Hello, Hyedam-ssi.
After a few rings, Hyedam’s lips curved crookedly as he detected a slight tremor in Luna’s voice.
“Luna-ssi, you know why I’m calling, right?”
— No. I absolutely wasn’t going to say anything, but you know. Leo is really a client that’s hard to let go.
“Leo. How much does he know? Luna-ssi, you know I have a child.”
Although he had never revealed it with his own mouth until now, it was a fact that the quick-witted Luna couldn’t possibly not know. They just both hadn’t brought it up.
— …He doesn’t know, right? If he knew, would he have made things like this? But, are you alone right now? No, you’re not. You called me because Leo arrived, didn’t you?
“Leo is outside.”
— What? There’s a storm there right now…
“It’s mostly stopped, and I told him not to come in. He’s actually not coming in.”
Having barely calmed down her wildly raging emotions while talking with Luna, Hyedam finally looked toward the window with a long sigh. He’s not a tree frog, and until now he’s been doing whatever he wanted, but is he really not coming in just because I told him not to? Time-wise, he should have come in long ago even if he was going to come in.
— Did Leo apologize properly? I’m not really being nosy but that guy Leo is a lifelong single so even if he’s that stupid, Hyedam-ssi must be frustrated too.
“He did… apologize.”
He did kneel and apologize as soon as he came close. And then the problem is that bastard tried to put a ring on my hand next.
“That ring, Leo designed it and made it with real difficulty. He said he’d make it with a meteorite, so it took a long time to get the meteorite.”
“…Ring.”
Come to think of it, I suddenly pulled my hand away so something sparkly seemed to fly through the air.
Jumping up from his seat, Hyedam went to the window and looked outside. A large bear wandering near the rest area quite far from here caught his eye. Did I just throw away that ring??? I didn’t even see it properly.
— Ah. Do you not know about the ring yet?
“…I think I lost it.”
— What?
In the suddenly difficult situation, Hyedam tapped the window with his fingertips. So the reason Leo didn’t follow inside was partly because I told him not to come in, but also because he’s looking for the ring?
“The ring fell on the sandy beach.”
As soon as he explained what had happened from when Leo appeared until now, Luna’s hearty laughter rang out loudly from beyond the mobile phone.
— Ring… Ah. Crazy… Leo… Looking for that… Haa. Ah. My stomach hurts. Ah but why do I feel so satisfied? Haa. Phew. Let me breathe. Hyedam-ssi. Sorry. Sorry for laughing so much. You didn’t hang up, right?
“No.”
— Then don’t open the door unless he finds that ring. He deserves to suffer like that.
“…But it’s raining a bit outside.”
When I went out briefly it was drizzling, but in the meantime the sky seemed to have changed its mind, as raindrops thicker than before were falling.
— So what?
“It’s dark outside and… what if he catches a cold?”
Finding a ring on a sandy beach at night would be a miracle. Even if dawn breaks, it didn’t seem like he’d be able to find it, but anyway Leo was clearly challenging the impossible right now. And what if he really gets rained on a lot and catches a cold—that worry came flooding in.
— Ah. Really! Hyedam-ssi, your problem is being too kind. He’s an alpha. I just don’t say it, but at minimum he’s a dominant alpha. No, if he takes after his dad, he’s a golden alpha, and you think he’ll catch a cold? That’s something a passing dog would laugh at. Besides, how much has he made Hyedam-ssi suffer until now? That bastard needs to struggle a bit too.
“…Is… is that so?”
— Hyedam-ssi. Ah. No. Hyedam oppa. I’ll just call you oppa. That’s okay, right?
Unlike him who was hesitating, Luna was organizing the situation quite cleanly. At her words asking if she could call him oppa, he answered “go ahead” without realizing it, and at the same time Luna’s rapid words poured into Hyedam’s ears like a machine gun.
Right. Following Luna’s instructions, Hyedam went into the kitchen and made a cup of hot chocolate. Then he returned to the living room, sat in the rocking chair by the window, and wrapped his body in a warm blanket.
— But oppa. Don’t you think he won’t find the ring?
Hyedam nodded instead of answering while watching Leo still examining the floor centered around the deck.
— Still, humanely speaking, shall we wait until sunrise? No wait, oppa must be tired and needs to sleep. You’re sleepy, right?
“Hm? Ah. No.”
— Then. Let’s just chat for exactly 30 minutes. Let’s open the door after 30 minutes.
Hyedam kept his gaze on Leo while listening to the episodes from Leo’s school days that Luna told him.
