‘And yet to look at someone with those eyes…’
Seongjo turned his head with his forehead lightly pressed. If he kept watching any longer, his expression might fall apart. Perhaps even at this gathering, there might be people mixed in who were interested in the rumors surrounding Yeongbeom, Seongjo, and Seyeong. Whether he got angry or felt wistful looking at Yeongbeom’s back, the moment he showed even the slightest crack, it would be feeding them.
Fortunately, Seongjo wasn’t bad at managing his expression. When he removed the hand that had been covering his face while pressing his forehead, he could make an expression without even a hint of discomfort mixed in.
Just then, perhaps finally having found time, Minwoo approached Seongjo.
“Seongjo-ya! You came.”
“Of course I had to come.”
When he patted his shoulder as if encouraging him, Minwoo handed Seongjo one of the wine glasses he was holding. While Seongjo received the glass and drank without refusing it, Minwoo’s gaze busily moved again. Soon, Minwoo’s face crumpled upon discovering the backs of Seyeong and Yeongbeom at a distance not too far from them.
“No, that bastard…!”
“Everyone here has ears, Minwoo-ya.”
With an ‘oops’ expression, Minwoo controlled his voice that was about to rise. He began reading Seongjo’s mood.
“Seongjo, you saw it too, right?”
“Yeah, I even greeted the wife side.”
“No…! I deliberately didn’t even send an invitation to that bastard. I didn’t know he’d come clinging on holding the woman’s hand so cowardly.”
Minwoo, who spoke as if making an excuse, read Seongjo’s mood. Is that so, he didn’t even send an invitation. If it had been the Yeongbeom of before, there wouldn’t have been a problem just because he didn’t invite him. Since he was an illegitimate child who wasn’t even recognized as a member of the family.
But now it was different. Having become Oh Seyeong’s fiancé, he was evaluated as having a bright future ahead, and his father also now showed movements that seemed to want to give Yeongbeom strength. So ignoring Yeongbeom entirely was certainly an action for Seongjo’s sake.
‘He picks sides well.’
As a result, since he’d run into both Yeongbeom’s fiancée and Yeongbeom without exception, his consideration hadn’t seen the light, but still, Seongjo said with a smile.
“Really? Thanks for thinking of me. I’m fine with it, though.”
“Well, what would you have to regret anyway, Seongjo.”
Minwoo, who nodded at Seongjo’s nonchalant voice, added a word. Still, you must have been pissed off, but as expected, you’re amazing, dude.
Seongjo just smiled again without a word.
Nothing to regret… huh. Objectively, it was the right thing to say. As Seongjo himself knew, Seongjo had made sacrifices while meeting Yeongbeom if anything, but never benefited from it. Since he’d quickly regained his composure on the outside, that’s how it would look to Minwoo. As someone cool enough not to care because it didn’t even itch him that much, even though his lover had a change of heart and betrayed him after he’d supported him through hard times. But the truth wasn’t like that.
Though it’s unimaginable now, Yeongbeom was originally a truly sincere lover.
One thing Yeongbeom didn’t do while they were together was show Seongjo his back. Of course, that didn’t mean he absolutely never physically showed his back. To do that, he would have had to frequently put on the bizarre performance of deliberately walking backwards in front of Seongjo.
He just said it like that. That he didn’t want to make him feel like he’d turned his back on him. So he didn’t want to show him his back.
Those words were kept quite faithfully. Yeongbeom always walked in step with Seongjo. He would keep to the same spot or half a step behind. If something happened during their time together that unavoidably required him to leave, he would report in detail to Seongjo about the reason, who he was meeting, the destination, and so on. Even though it wasn’t like Seongjo would be anxious if he didn’t do that.
He’d never demanded such behavior, but he didn’t dislike it. Because he liked seeing Yeongbeom keep his word to the point of seeming obsessive.
Now that Yeongbeom had a change of heart and showed Seongjo his back without a care, looking at Seongjo with unbearably irritating eyes, he ended up recalling things like that of all things.
“If it were me, I don’t think I could have come here… That bastard is really something too.”
He could hear Minwoo muttering as if to himself.
Yeongbeom wasn’t the only person who had shown Seongjo that much sincerity in his life. Rather, there were so many people trying to please him somehow that they were a dime a dozen. Among them were many who approached with some purpose, but there were also those who purely wanted to win Seongjo’s favor. It was just because Yeongbeom was special to Seongjo at that time that even his actions felt special.
Also… at the time, he thought he could certainly distinguish between people who approached for the crumbs and people who were sincere.
That Yeongbeom was the latter. Honestly, he couldn’t be sure now. Whether Yeongbeom’s heart had suddenly changed, or whether Seongjo himself had stupidly been deceived all that time.
He still thought that couldn’t be it. Seongjo’s instincts weren’t clumsy enough to be fooled by the eyes of someone who didn’t love him at all.
But such things didn’t matter anymore. Because even if he’d been sincere back then, the current result wouldn’t change. Even being lost in these thoughts felt like losing. That’s why Seongjo stopped thinking any further.
Yeongbeom, who had taken Seyeong away as if he had something to say to her, seemed to be breaking out in a cold sweat trying to pretend he really had some business. Seongjo, who glanced at that appearance one last time, soon turned his head away from them completely.
In the meantime, the event progressed steadily. Not unlike Seongjo’s expectations, a cake-cutting ceremony followed. Despite being nearly eighty, Minwoo’s grandfather, Chairman Park, who was still healthy, spoke passionately about the future of Ikim Heavy Industries.
He’d shown his face, and he’d made his presence known to the people he needed to greet. Couldn’t he leave soon now?
Seongjo suddenly felt fatigue. He was used to occasions like this, but today he really felt exhausted and just wanted to go back. The biggest reason was probably running into Yeongbeom and Seyeong after all.
Perhaps his mind had been too comfortable for the past two weeks or so. The dinner meals with Yujeong that had settled in like a stable routine.
‘Come to think of it, it’s almost dinner time.’
If things went well, maybe he wouldn’t miss it.
Seongjo was lost in thought. And at that moment, the man and woman he’d tried not to care about approached Seongjo of their own accord.
“Excuse me, Minwoo-ssi!”
To be precise, it seemed Oh Seyeong had dragged Jo Yeongbeom back. Probably having run out of things to say that he’d forced himself to create, he could no longer hold Seyeong back. Seyeong seemed to want to greet Minwoo as well, who was Yeongbeom’s friend and close to being the star of this event.
“Oh, Seyeong-ssi.”
Though he seemed to have been part of the conversation at the last gathering about ‘Seyeong recently returned to the country and doesn’t know many people well,’ Minwoo greeted Seyeong in return as if they were well-acquainted, good-naturedly enough. After brief small talk continued, Minwoo glanced at Yeongbeom standing behind Seyeong. Yeongbeom looked a bit troubled, but didn’t avoid his gaze. Minwoo said.
“But, you came together, right? I think the invitation probably only went to Seyeong-ssi.”
“Oh my, was that not okay? But since he’s my fiancé, I thought it was naturally fine. Since we’re going to get married anyway, I thought it meant to come together.”
At those words, Minwoo scratched the back of his head saying “Hmm,” as if troubled. Seyeong looked troubled as well. A strange doubt mixed into her face.
It was a situation where she couldn’t help but notice something was off. Seongjo himself hadn’t completely hidden the awkwardness in his relationship with Yeongbeom, and hadn’t Yeongbeom unnecessarily separated her from Seongjo? Moreover, with even Minwoo showing a subtle reaction, even if she didn’t know exactly, she would think something like ‘Is there something I don’t know?’
Seongjo hadn’t expected Minwoo to come out like this either. Though he’d made an appeal about sending the invitation only to Seyeong, pointing this out in Seyeong’s presence was a completely different story.
Seongjo stopped Minwoo from saying anything more. This was an appropriate line. Since he’d shown enough loyalty toward himself, there was no need for Minwoo to make an enemy of Seyeong.
“Why are you playing around like that again, making her flustered.”
He smiled nonchalantly and touched Minwoo’s shoulder. When their eyes met, Seongjo made an expression saying ‘It’s okay.’ Since it would probably be difficult for Minwoo to openly rebuke Seyeong any further than this. He couldn’t completely hide his relieved expression.
“I think I need to leave around now. I won’t be able to stay for the after-party because of work.”
After reassuring Minwoo, who tried to hold him back, that he was really busy with work, Seongjo also lightly bowed to Seyeong and Yeongbeom and immediately turned his back.
He thought that would be it. Until Yeongbeom followed behind Seongjo.
