“I have to go on a matchmaking meeting next month, but it became difficult because of me? What should I do? I have no intention of obediently giving up our hyung. So what does that family want to do?”
Very few people knew the fact that Raon was going on a matchmaking meeting next month. At the fact that Jaehwi knew something even Raon, the person in question, didn’t know, Jay couldn’t readily open his mouth.
No one was as difficult as ability users, and even if he died and came back to life several times, his odds of beating him were zero.
“You’ll start by confirming whether it’s true or not.”
“So what do you… Wait a moment.”
Even while watching Jaehwi, who stopped talking midway and left him there to slip into the bedroom, Jay still had to stand as if nailed to that spot.
Jaehwi, who entered the bedroom, smiled seeing the hand sticking out from outside the bed. Only after seeing the white, slender hand groping through the air and touching the mobile phone on the table did he approach closer and sit on the edge of the bed.
He recalled his words saying that no matter how tired he was, he always woke up once around commute time, checked the time, and slept more. He’d grumbled that it was uncomfortable even during holidays or vacations, and even though he’d fallen asleep around sunrise, seeing his hand come out from under the blanket seemed to prove those words were right.
“Why are you trying to get up already? Sleep more.”
He moved the mobile phone slightly to a place Raon’s hand couldn’t reach, stroked the head poking out above the blanket, then kissed his forehead.
“…. …. ……”
Though the words were small and muffled enough that others wouldn’t hear, the corners of Jaehwi’s mouth rose slightly, having heard all of Raon’s words.
“So, diligent Team Leader Kang. Are you going to work?”
“Yeah.”
“But there’s somewhere you need to go before work.”
“Jay?”
Seeing Raon’s face revealed as the blanket came down a bit, Jaehwi couldn’t hold back and kissed here and there on his face. Though he said “Go away” as if complaining and turned his head this way and that, he lightly bit the tip of Raon’s nose, who didn’t push him away.
“Where?”
“Home.”
“What home?”
Though he wanted to burrow back into Raon’s side, since something he hadn’t expected at all had happened, he embraced Raon who was stretching both arms toward him and helped him sit up.
“What home are you going to?”
When he didn’t answer, at Raon’s hoarse voice checking once more and the stimulation from the marks visible above the T-shirt he’d put on him at dawn, Jaehwi let out a small sigh.
“Huh? What? What happened?”
“Yesterday, us eating at the restaurant and kissing in the parking lot came out as an article.”
Before Raon could urge him more, Jaehwi summarized the situation plainly.
“…Pfft.”
Raon’s reaction, whose eyes widened as if flustered and who blinked rapidly for a moment, was laughter.
“Ah… My stomach hurts. Ah, it hurts but it’s funny.”
Whatever was so funny, while his whole body shook with laughter and he grimaced as if cramping here and there, Raon laughed for quite a while. Eventually, Raon, who wiped his eyes pooling with tears with his hand and stopped laughing, had an extremely excited expression.
“Is it fun?”
Raon had a predetermined life. There were things he’d heard through Jay, and there was that doctor or whatever guy he’d met last time. But for there to be a scandal with him—Raon was laughing like this, but to his family, it would be no different from a bomb dropping.
“Yeah. It’s so funny. Seeing this, my mom went crazy, Jay was shocked and came to catch me, so now I have to be dragged home.”
“That would be the case.”
“Our Hwi. Why so serious?”
“I don’t care what happens to me, but it’s an awkward situation for hyung.”
“Awkward what… We had a scandal, you and me, so I should be happy. If it even came out in photos that we hugged and kissed in the parking lot, there’s no way out. Now my mom will finally be quiet. Rather, it worked out well.”
Jaehwi didn’t avoid the baby kisses Raon poured onto his lips while grabbing his cheeks as he talked.
“Those photos all went up too.”
“Wow. I don’t know who that person is, but I should call them and treat them to a meal. I thought there would be many variables, but instead of being dragged into a dungeon, a scandal—isn’t that thrilling?”
“What are you going to do now?”
“What do you mean what? What you saw is true. Our Hwi is mine. I have to make it clear that no one should covet him. Then people will make a fuss about Espers and Guides again, right? Well. I’m a Guide, so what? If I do it like this, it’s over!”
After moving Raon, who had summarized simply what could be endlessly complicated if thought about complexly, to the bathroom and coming back out to the living room, Jaehwi looked at Jay, who was on a call with a serious expression. Even though they hadn’t declared they would form a deep bond, just from the fact that their dating appearance came out, he could clearly hear talk about the legal team doing this and the original distributor doing that.
“The young master is…”
“He’ll come out soon.”
Jaehwi, who wore what Raon had prepared for him, saw Raon coming out of the bedroom and raised his hand to sweep his hair back. No matter how much he didn’t know about fashion, he wasn’t unaware of what pants in the same color, an upper garment in the same color with a definitely different design, and a jacket in a similar color meant. Since he really didn’t know about style, he’d figured Raon took care of it himself, but it seemed like he’d made it too obviously noticeable…
“…Young master.”
“I’m done getting ready, so to the center.”
“You’re to come to the main house.”
“Why would I? If I go, I’ll only have to hear things I don’t want to hear. If they want to take down the article that’s already up, they’ll take care of it themselves. Jaehwi. Bend your head down.”
Passing by Jay, who was trying to explain the situation at Raon’s words, at his words coming in front of him, Jaehwi obediently lowered his head.
“Your pretty hair got messed up. Just going in front of the center, people will make a fuss trying to take photos of each other. You have to look prettier.”
At Raon’s touch reorganizing the hair he’d hastily swept back in his fluster, Jaehwi ended up smiling softly. Really, how can I beat Kang Raon? As if considering him in his own way, he’d given Jay a T-shirt while wearing a shirt himself.
Instead of a neat shirt, he’d unbuttoned two buttons near the neck and worn a flashy muffler inside though. And even that flashy muffler couldn’t hide the marks he’d made above the neck and behind the ears.
“Young master. The madam…”
“Jay. Is the person working with you me? Or is it my mom? I manage my own schedule. From now on, if mom says anything, tell her to tell me directly.”
Raon, as soon as he made eye contact with him, urgently ended the call and cut off his words as he continued trying to say something with a single stroke. Though he was by his side helping with his work, Jay was also a family member. The longer the time spent together with him, the more he seemed to distance himself from the family, but seeing him swayed by the family’s influence at an important moment like this was not very pleasant.
“This is better. Right? I’m going to the center and work as usual. I’ll contact home separately, so until I allow it, don’t turn on your phone.”
Raon snatched Jay’s mobile phone as if stealing it from him, who could do neither this nor that, turned off the power, and returned it to him. As soon as he turned off Jay’s mobile phone, Raon checked the screen of his own mobile phone that started ringing, smiled brightly and turned off even his own, then looked at Jaehwi next.
“You haven’t bought one yet.”
Showing his empty hands and shrugging his shoulders, at Jaehwi’s appearance, Raon ended up laughing again. Why does he feel so good, exhilarated, and excited? It was because he didn’t know the power struggle between the family and himself about marriage, which he’d put aside as secondary while dealing with the urgent matters right before his eyes, would unfold like this.
He’d always been dragged around by his mom, but to think he’d end up holding the reins this way.
Still cleanly ignoring Jay, who was driving while reading the mood, Raon, sitting side by side with Jaehwi in the back seat, intertwined his fingers with Jaehwi’s large hand.
“But how did they take something like this? You didn’t know?”
Raon, who had been checking the articles continuously appearing on his mobile phone, looked at Jaehwi at a thought that suddenly occurred. He was someone more sensitive to energy than anyone, yet the fact that he didn’t know photos were taken like this didn’t make sense in itself.
At the appearance of Jaehwi, who would answer “Yes,” “No,” “Yeah” to what he said but didn’t completely avoid it, slightly turning his head toward the window, Raon leaned his body a bit more toward him.
“Min Jaehwi. You have to answer. Did you know? Didn’t you know?”
“What?”
“Could Nox not have known photos were being taken of us hugging and kissing?”
“…They didn’t take a video.”
At Jaehwi’s words that came out after hesitating, Raon, who laughed again, looked forward instead of at Jaehwi as the speed gradually decreased as they approached the company and let out a “Whoa.”
It wasn’t particularly a time for traffic jams, so why would they reduce speed… Seeing the cars and people gathered around the center, and what they were holding, he shook his head. Before he could say what to do, the family would take down the articles on their own, and gossip was literally gossip. The kind that makes noise for a bit then disappears.
“This is more than expected…”
But it didn’t seem like it would end as just passing gossip.
