Chapter 17
Be patient, I must be patient. It’s difficult enough to educate a normal person to become better, so of course it’s going to be challenging to teach crazy people to become proper human beings.
I embraced Hahyun’s shoulder with patience. With my eyes, I kept giving Hajin understanding glances. Hajin nodded as if resigned and sat on the sofa.
“Hahyun-ssi, that’s not it. I’m asking you to wait because I need time to heal.”
“…I don’t care about any of that, I just want to do whatever I want. If it’s going to be like this, I might as well tie—”
Tired of hearing the same thing repeated, I glared at him with wide eyes, and he seemed frightened, swallowing his words and hiccuping instead.
Judging by Hahyun’s expression, it felt like I’d become a bad adult trying to take candy from a child.
“Don’t look at me with those eyes. I’m scared you’ll hate me. Do you know how much I worry? I can’t eat or sleep because I’m afraid you two might run away without me.”
Right, he’s not normal. I’m the normal one here, so I need to be understanding…
I held Hahyun and stroked his back. I couldn’t push him away when he was clinging to me so desperately, as if he couldn’t breathe.
“I’m not going anywhere. I won’t go. So please, Hahyun-ssi, trust me a little.”
“Yes.”
Now that I’d answered, I hoped he would let go of me, but Hahyun burrowed deeper into my arms as if he had no intention of leaving.
“Seo Hahyun.”
Hajin’s expression, visible over Hahyun’s shoulder, didn’t look good. It seemed like he’d been tolerating it until now, but he couldn’t anymore. Afraid that a serious fight between the brothers would create an even more unmanageable situation, I forcibly detached Hahyun and smiled at Hajin.
“Fuck, nothing ever works out because of hyung…”
Hahyun turned to check Hajin’s face and abruptly stopped speaking. Though Hahyun closed his mouth after seeing that Hajin’s expression wasn’t good, his sharp glare suggested he had no intention of yielding.
While I was pondering how to ease the tension, I looked at the clock. It was approaching noon. While we’d been arguing, it had suddenly become lunchtime.
“Um…”
When my cracked voice cut through the silence, they both looked at me simultaneously.
“Aren’t you hungry? I’m hungry. You know I can’t eat much at once, so I need to eat frequently.”
Hajin twisted his expression as if blaming himself for missing mealtime, and Hahyun looked surprised, alternating his gaze between my face and the clock.
What’s the big deal about eating a little late?… I forcibly swallowed a sigh that was about to escape while watching the brothers who reacted too sensitively to my every action, then walked to the sofa and sat down. Their eyes followed my movement.
“I’m sorry. I should have taken care of it.”
Hajin stroked my hair with a gentle hand. The unique musk scent wafted from his wrist. At first, I used to be surprised whenever he made such affectionate gestures, but now, perhaps because we’d kissed, it didn’t bother me at all.
“It’s fine. Will I die from waiting a little?”
The corners of Hajin’s eyes, which had been looking at me, curved beautifully. If I were a woman, it would be a charming smile that could make me fall for him instantly.
“Right, just wait a little.”
Hajin, who’d been smiling like something out of a painting, turned his head. I couldn’t take my eyes off him as he walked toward the kitchen, continuing to watch until he disappeared. Noticing my gaze, Hahyun approached from the side and whimpered.
“Hyung, Juwon hyung.”
“Yes, Hahyun-ssi.”
“It’s not even been long since you kissed me, how could you look at another man with that face?”
I gently stroked Hahyun’s hair, just as Hajin had done to me. Hahyun glared at me with a cold expression.
“Take your hand off.”
Sensing the immense anger in his words, I quickly removed my hand from Hahyun’s head.
“Uh… Did I offend you? I was just trying to be friendly…”
Hahyun’s expression froze coldly.
“Do you think I’m a child too? Fuck. Why are all the guys with dicks in this house so desperate to treat me like a kid? If you enjoy hierarchy battles so much, you should have been born as animals.”
I couldn’t say anything, my mouth hanging open. The reason I’d stroked Hahyun’s hair was because I wanted to imitate Hajin’s action, which was cool even from a man’s perspective, and Hahyun was the only available target. So even my initial thought that Hajin was cool wasn’t as a potential partner, but more like admiration from one man to another. Like a young boy admiring his father and getting hurt while trying to shave his smooth chin with a razor—that kind of feeling.
I calmed myself down and then spoke.
“Hahyun-ssi, aren’t you overreacting?”
“You know what’s really funny, hyung? Not only were you staring at Hajin hyung in front of me, but you treated me like a child and then tell me I’m overreacting?”
“…That’s quite an exaggeration. I said I was hungry. I wasn’t looking at Hajin-ssi, I was looking in that direction to see if there was any food left in the kitchen.”
I’d only said this much, but Hahyun’s expression had already returned to that of a child who didn’t know what to do. I don’t understand why he got angry in the first place if he was going to calm down with just one word.
“And if you didn’t like me stroking your hair, I won’t do it anymore. It wasn’t because I saw you as young, I just wanted to be friendly. We need to become close quickly to do anything. If I’d known you would get this angry, I wouldn’t have done it.”
When I spoke firmly, Hahyun clung to my arm, not knowing what to do. I pushed Hahyun away from my arm, being careful not to be too harsh.
“S-sorry. I didn’t know… No, that’s not it… Ah, really, that’s not…”
“If you’re really sorry, don’t do it again in the future.”
“Ah, alright. I really won’t do it again. Oh right! You said you were hungry. I’ll go help too.”
Hahyun stood up abruptly and walked to the kitchen. Watching his back, I swept my hand over my chest in relief. I thought that walking on thin ice would be easier than this, but I comforted myself that it was fine since I’d managed to get through it.
Shortly after, delicious aromas began to waft through the air. Smelling them made me truly hungry.
***
I don’t know how they prepared so much in such a short time, but the table was full of food. Braised ribs glistening with sauce, large grilled steaks, beautifully plated salmon, and chicken salad. I swallowed hard as my eyes scanned the food.
“Thank you for the meal.”
As I picked up my chopsticks and spoke, Hajin and Hahyun simultaneously offered me food. Plump salmon and perfectly cooked steak were placed on my plate. After admiring the sight first, I ate the salmon and then chewed and swallowed the steak. It was so delicious it melted in my mouth immediately.
“Did Hajin-ssi make this?”
“I made it!”
“I made it.”
Quickly understanding the situation, I smiled and said:
“It seems Hajin-ssi made the salmon and Hahyun-ssi made the steak.”
They both nodded simultaneously. People are truly fickle; just a moment ago, I felt like I was going to die, but now that delicious food had entered my mouth, life seemed worth living again.
Being so focused on eating, I didn’t even realize that the two men in front of me weren’t eating but were just watching me eat.
“Oh… Are you okay? Is your stomach not upset?”
With my mouth full of food, I could only nod. At that, the brothers became animated.
“It was salmon and beef on the first day too, right? I guess… this was the answer all along.”
“Yeah, he liked it so much when he was modeling, and even after losing his memory, his taste hasn’t changed.”
I was too busy putting food in my mouth to pay much attention to the brothers’ excited chatter. Once my stomach was somewhat full, I heard Hahyun whimpering.
“Hyung… What should we do? It’s the first time I’ve seen Juwon hyung eating so well.”
“We’ll have to stock up on salmon.”
“Yeah, and contract a vegetable garden and butcher a cow.”
Listening to their conversation, I found it ridiculous. Even one menu gets boring if you eat it continuously, so who would want to eat like that? They were people who didn’t know moderation.
I finished chewing and swallowing the food in my mouth, put down my utensils, and quietly looked at them. When I stopped moving, questions poured out again, asking if something didn’t taste good or if my stomach was suddenly upset.
“Stop!”
Both of their gazes landed on me.
“Stop and give me a chance to speak too. Why do you ask if you’re not going to listen to the answer?”
“Huh? That’s true.”
“We can’t help it. Until now, whenever Yoon Juwon opened his mouth, he would only curse.”
“Right. When he wasn’t cursing, he wouldn’t speak at all.”
I forgot what I was going to say and pondered their words. Understanding how difficult it must have been for them when the object of their obsession—to the point of kidnapping—either cursed or refused to communicate.
Isn’t Stockholm syndrome when victims develop delusions to resolve psychological dissonance while hating their captors but having to cooperate with them to survive?
My current cooperation with them, occasionally feeling sorry for them, or my heart skipping a beat when they look at me, must all be symptoms of this psychological condition. After sorting it out this way, I could be more confident in pretending to be interested in them. Even if it’s Stockholm syndrome, interest is still interest.
