“Oh my, the guest has already arrived.”
Taeju, who had been looking at his checkered cotton shirt, turned toward the sound.
This time it was a middle-aged woman. Wearing a white apron, she hurried over carrying vegetables that appeared to be freshly picked from the garden in a basket.
“Go park the car. I’ll show him around.”
The woman pointed at Taeju’s car with her chin. Then she picked up the trunk standing quietly next to Taeju and entered the house.
“Young master, please follow me. I’ll show you around.”
Young master. Taeju smiled faintly at that unfamiliar address and stepped into the house.
Taeju wasn’t a child from a poor family. But he hadn’t lived being called “young master” either. It meant he was infinitely lowly in rank compared to SL Global.
As soon as he entered the house, he let out a weak sigh. One entire wall inside the house was made of glass. Facing the ocean, no less.
It was a tremendous spectacle. The reason for building the house on top of a hill and for making the exterior an unattractive rectangular shape became clear.
The bright blue sky and sea met at a horizon that crossed the center of the glass window. This was luxury. Taeju thought this as he looked at that window.
He was left speechless by the sense of openness created by making one wall of the house into a window overlooking the ocean. The window was almost the height of three floors of a typical house.
“If you see it at sunset, it’ll be even more spectacular. Wait here for a moment. I’ll just put this in the kitchen and come back.”
That made sense. When the sunset came, this entire house would be dyed red. Taeju approached the window, at a loss for words.
“Ah…”
And at the voice heard from behind, Taeju’s body slowly turned in the opposite direction.
Taeju’s thoughts stopped briefly. Who is this? According to his aunt whom he’d met just the other day, there was no one Seok Iseo’s age at this house. That’s why he was so lonely.
The man let out a quiet gasp while halfway down the metal stairs. He stared intently down at Taeju. Taeju also met his gaze and stared at him.
White skin and a thin body, long limbs. Up to this point, once the information input was complete, a strange sense of déjà vu arose.
“Yeon Taeju.”
The voice with a slightly raspy end called his name. Taeju hummed lowly.
“Iseo hyung.”
Taeju focused on managing his expression, feeling like the corners of his mouth might twist. Was this the Seok Iseo he knew? Even while harboring such doubts, Taeju approached Iseo in one stride, pretending to be pleased.
Seok Iseo stared at him piercingly. His feet fumbling down the stairs made even the observer anxious. Conscious of his persistent gaze, Taeju still wore a smiling face. His mouth smiled. Only the sharp gaze searching Seok Iseo was hard to soften.
Had Seok Iseo looked like this? No, wait, how long has it been since I last saw him? There were no memories at all except for encountering him when visiting the main house as a child.
Which meant there was no need to doubt whether Seok Iseo looked like this. He had never seen Seok Iseo since becoming an adult.
He had toured various places across the country with good air and clean water for convalescence. It had been over 10 years since he left Seoul like that.
Thinking about it that way, it was more amazing that Seok Iseo recognized him immediately. He too would have never seen Taeju since becoming an adult.
“How long has it been, hyung?”
While suddenly pulling Seok Iseo’s body into an embrace, Taeju realized the identity of the subtly circulating sense of déjà vu. Seok Iseo, who was supposed to be suffering from an incurable disease, looked too healthy.
All the way driving to Sokcho, he had even anticipated—though it wasn’t quite anticipation—just how bad his condition would be.
This was his aunt who had ascended from a complete outsider to the number one power holder within the company. She was raising her biological son preciously without ever letting him out, treating him like a treasure. He had been genuinely curious about his appearance.
The thin body in his arms squirmed. Taeju patted around Iseo’s back, both as a gesture to stay still and to check if his body was sound.
“I know…”
He could feel the deeply indented spine line through the thin fabric. Taeju slightly furrowed his brow and then relaxed it.
Then he grasped both of Iseo’s upper arms and faced him.
“I almost didn’t recognize you. You’re still so pale, hyung.”
Yeon Taeju’s eyes curved prettily as he imitated a younger cousin who missed his older brother. Gauging the upper arm that fit entirely in one hand, Taeju brought his face close.
Just where exactly is he sick? Incurable disease? It’s all well and good to call it an incurable disease, but isn’t he just socially maladjusted? Or maybe antisocial personality disorder, something like that?
“Let go.”
The lips, the only part with color on his white face, moved slightly as he twisted his shoulder.
His skin glowed and his eyes were clear. Though thin, nowhere did he seem particularly unwell. Taeju examined Seok Iseo’s face meticulously as if inspecting goods. Only then did he let him go.
“I was so happy to see you, I held on without realizing. How long has it been for us?”
“9 years.”
To what was phrased as an exclamation, Seok Iseo answered immediately. Taeju let out a quiet laugh at that instant answer.
“Only that long?”
He naturally thought it had been over 10 years. The Seok Iseo he remembered was only from when he was a little kid. Actually, what did he remember about Seok Iseo anyway? He didn’t even know how old he was now.
If it weren’t for the story of the stepson with an incurable disease that never failed to come up at family events, he would have forgotten long ago.
“In the past, hyung used to grab onto my sleeve and whine to play together. I used to say that one sleeve would always get stretched out whenever I came back from visiting the maternal family.”
When he dredged up one of the few past events shared with the Seok Iseo he remembered, the lowered gaze shot up in surprise. His eyes widened as he swept his cheek once. The fingers rubbing his cheek were long and slender.
Taeju laughed out loud at that reaction, which could be called either shy or awkward.
“Because I was young.”
Seok Iseo, who had been rubbing his cheek, let out a small sigh. As if he’d heard something unpleasant.
What, did you just sigh because I teased you?
“When I said I was leaving, hyung would cry and beg me not to go, so Aunt was really troubled. Remember?”
This time, Seok Iseo not only sighed but also bit his lower lip slightly.
That reaction was amusing, so Taeju’s eye corners curved even more thinly. Really, how old is this hyung? I think the age gap wasn’t that big. Looking at him now, he seems younger than me.
“I don’t really remember.”
“Really? That’s too bad.”
“I’ll show you the room.”
As if hurriedly trying to change the subject, Seok Iseo lightly grasped Taeju’s sleeve.
Taeju laughed loudly at his arm being dragged along. Somehow, what he did now was exactly the same as when he was a kid.
“Ah.”
Seok Iseo must have realized that what he’d just done was exactly the same as when he was young, because he hastily let go.
“Why are you letting go again, hyung?”
Taeju giggled as he thrust his own wrist toward Iseo. His pale cheeks twitched. Seok Iseo quickly turned his body toward the stairs.
Taeju twisted his lips into a smile at the reaction that felt both cool and simultaneously oversensitive.
“This way, your room.”
It didn’t look bad. Taeju smiled brightly as he looked at the white sleeve of the man walking ahead.
The knuckles where his wrist bones protruded were pink. The heels wearing indoor slippers also seemed shy, a pink color.
The bone joints covered with thin skin were unnecessarily delicate. He was following Seok Iseo’s pink skin with his eyes when the man quietly climbed back up the stairs he’d come down from.
“Hyung.”
“Hm?”
This time it was his earlobes. Flesh that seemed like it would smell of powder. Seok Iseo turned his head slightly to look down at him.
“Do you live here alone?”
At those words, starting from his earlobes to his entire ear including the rim, everything suddenly flushed red. Yeon Taeju narrowed his eyes and smiled at that strange change, though he also furrowed his brow.
Why is he blushing at hearing such a thing? There’s absolutely no reason to blush. It was a reaction that was beyond puzzling, almost absurd.
If he was older than himself, he must certainly be older than twenty-four, but he couldn’t gauge his age at all. He should probably call his mother later and ask.
Iseo slowly withdrew the gaze that had been looking back at him. Unlike his flushed complexion, his expression was dry.
“Yeah.”
An equally dry answer followed. He climbed the stairs again. Taeju looked at his slender back and completely wiped away his mournful expression. Unexpectedly, things might work out easily. He might not even need to stay the entire summer.
Looking at the back of his head that reached his chin, looking at his youthful face, getting him to suck as he pleased seemed easier than taking candy from a baby. Rather than having him suck, he even wanted to tease him. That was the problem.
“Here it is.”
