“If you need a driver anytime, just say so. He’s on 24-hour standby.”
“……Why does it seem like you’re enjoying this?”
“Isn’t that obvious? How could I not enjoy it when the time I can be with the person I like has increased?”
Kkotmoa shut his mouth tightly again. The nape of his neck was flushed red. When was it that he would readily grab my hand while talking nonsense about the God of Study, making my heart flutter wildly? Time had turned him into a bashful flower. It was more enjoyable than when he always pretended otherwise and put me on a rollercoaster.
“Hey……”
Gripping the steering wheel with my left hand, I stretched out my right hand and grasped his hand that was on his thigh. When he glanced at the back seat and tried to pull away, I quickly put strength into my hand.
“Let me receive some of the calm God’s energy. Since you’re sitting next to me, my heart is pounding and I can’t concentrate on driving.”
“Are you going to keep saying ridiculous things?”
“I’m doing this because we might get in an accident. Calling this dark intentions is a bit much, so you could say it contains about ulterior motives worth.”
“……Since when did you become this shameless? You were really cute before.”
“I’m cute now too. Being cute isn’t really my thing, but if that works as a merit for you, I’m willing to be cute anytime. How about it, should I act aegyo?”
An absurd gaze pierced into me. Even so, I was just purely happy. Next to me sat the person I like, in my hand was held the hand of the person I like, and even though I don’t like the bonus appendix, anyway in the back seat was my reliable support partner who became my ally and the only family of the person I like. Could it be better than this? I’m getting greedy wanting to become a member of this family too.
“You’re not cute at all anymore, you know? Let go of my hand. What if Jae-a wakes up?”
“What about it, I already told you I like you. If you’re that concerned, you can say I’m receiving the calm God’s energy to avoid an accident.”
“……”
“Don’t tell me you received all the God of Study energy for each subject, but you’re not going to share even one bit of the God’s energy you have? The person I like isn’t such a conscienceless human.”
“Wow, I really didn’t know you were such a shameless person. How can you not change your expression at all……”
“When I have interest, ulterior motives, and even dark intentions, being shameless is nothing. So now, won’t you share some of the calm God’s energy?”
Honestly, I didn’t know I was this shameless either. But I had no choice since I had to show this much shamelessness for the noble flower to show even a faint reaction of slightly trembling one petal. As expected, Kkotmoa, who let out an empty laugh, clasped my hand back as if he couldn’t win.
The heart that beat in my hand at nineteen still beat in my hand at twenty-four. I had the illusion that my heart was moving to every place that touched him. The clasped hand was warm, warming my heart too, and the smile didn’t leave to the point of causing cramps in the corners of my mouth. If Samyukshippal hadn’t been there, I might have pulled over to the shoulder and pressed my lips forward. Would I have gotten slapped then……. But what to do, I think I’d just be happy even if I got slapped.
The destination on the navigation was in front of a quiet restaurant. Hearing the machine voice saying it was ending guidance, I smoothly parked the car and unlocked it. But I didn’t want to let go of the hand we were holding.
“I’ll be nearby, so take your time and call me when you’re done.”
“What are you going to do while waiting? Go to Seoul first.”
“What I do while waiting is my business to figure out, and I need the calm God’s energy when going back too, so don’t feel burdened.”
“……”
“To be more honest, it feels like driving with the person I like, so I can’t give up. So I’ll wait.”
“……You’ve become stubborn too. Really not cute at all.”
Kkotmoa, who muttered in a grumbling tone, pulled out his hand and got out of the car. I wondered if I should take a lecture on how to look cute to Kkotmoa.
“Jae-a, we’re here. Wake up, we have to go see Daddy and Dad.”
Kkotmoa, who opened the back seat door and put half his body in, skillfully coaxed and woke up Samyukshippal. The kid who whined briefly soon got out of the car embraced in Kkotmoa’s arms. I thought about getting out too, but that seemed like it would really be burdensome, so I stayed still. Kkotmoa stood Samyukshippal, who was rubbing his eyes to wake up, and tidied his clothes.
A moment later, the tidied-up Samyukshippal tapped on the driver’s side window. When I rolled down the window with a whirring sound, an innocent voice hit my eardrums.
“Invincible hyung, come eat with us too! Our dad will buy meat!”
“It’s fine, Samyukshippal, eat a lot for my portion too.”
“Aw, I wanted to brag about Invincible hyung to Daddy and Dad……”
I really chose my alliance support well. The heart wanting to brag about someone is hard to have unless you like them quite a bit or are quite proud of them. As an example, even I had no one around me I wanted to brag about except Kkotmoa. I didn’t particularly want to brag about my father who was D Group’s chairman because I didn’t want to be told I was showing off, nor did I want to brag about our house lady who was still harsh with nagging and would smash my back first when things went wrong, and although he was a twenty-year friend, even searching with washed eyes, Kang Junwoo had no corner worth bragging about. So to Samyukshippal, I was probably quite an impressive existence.
“Act cute a lot to Dad and Daddy, listen well to hyung, and eat lots of delicious food.”
“Huh? You’re going to wait?”
“Of course. Did you already forget our promise? We agreed to eat dinner together and I’d buy you a gift.”
“Yes! Invincible hyung is really the best in the world! Ah, after my hyung though. Then I’ll be going.”
Samyukshippal did a bow that didn’t suit him. Even though he was a bit playful, from the occasionally shown polite behavior, I could tell that Kkotmoa had properly given him home education. I waved my hand back to the kid who was fluttering and waving his hand while slicing through the air. To Kkotmoa, I made a phone shape with my hand and held it to my ear in a gesture to call, but he just made a somewhat awkward expression and didn’t show any particular reaction. Still, I knew he would call me.
Thinking back, when I wasn’t proactive in childhood, it seemed Kkotmoa expressed his feelings more knowingly or unknowingly, but when I actually became proactive, Kkotmoa showed a lot of shyness. He seemed to show a personality that was proactive toward passive partners and passive toward proactive partners. If not that, maybe it was because he didn’t have conviction about me yet and was observing. After Kkotmoa accepted my heart, I wanted to draw out his proactiveness with restrained expressions like before.
After watching until Kkotmoa and Samyukshippal disappeared into the restaurant, I reversed the car. I planned to avoid staying here because if I waited here, Kkotmoa wouldn’t be able to concentrate on his time there. Come to think of it, since it was lunchtime, I was a bit hungry too.
I drove around and entered any restaurant I saw nearby. When I ordered kimchi-jjigae, a table was set up quickly. It was kimchi-jjigae loaded with pork. I tasted a spoonful, and although the seasoning flavor was strong, it was quite savory and appetizing.
But I suddenly wanted to eat Kkotmoa’s bland kimchi-jjigae with nothing but kimchi in it.
After finishing a meal that was hard to say I was very satisfied with, I returned to the car and called Secretary Park. Since I’d decided to openly waste money anyway, I didn’t want to pretend not to know while knowing. If Kkotmoa was happy, that was my happiness.
“It’s me. There are some things you need to look into additionally.”
I hoped it was a problem that could be solved within my scope. I wanted to find Kkotmoa’s family for him. However, if it was difficult to solve within my scope, the problem would become a bit complicated. But first, I was planning to try as much as I could.
“Report as soon as it’s confirmed, and please attach some people to them. Skilled bodyguards who can protect them from getting hurt in preparation for any contingency.”
Living in hiding conflicted with the meaning of being exposed to that much danger. I finished the call saying to look into it as quickly as possible and contact me.
After closing my eyes for about two hours in the car, the phone rang. It was Kkotmoa. I went to the restaurant where I’d dropped them off and picked up Kkotmoa and Samyukshippal. Samyukshippal was busy bragging to me about what stories he told Dad and Daddy and where they walked. Then, perhaps exhausted, he lay down in the back seat with his tadpole-like protruding belly exposed and fell asleep. Thinking once again that he was a carefree kid, I drove more safely and carefully.
“Are your fathers healthy?”
“Yeah. They looked much better than I worried about.”
“Don’t you want to live together again?”
“I do want to, but knowing it’s a difficult situation, nagging about it feels a bit much, and I think it would make Dad and Daddy harder, so just meeting occasionally like this is okay. We talk on the phone often too.”
“……What did they say they’re doing?”
“They don’t really tell me about that. But it seems like they’re earning money. They put in living expenses every month without fail, and sometimes when we meet like this, they give me separate allowance. Even though I say it’s okay because I work part-time, they don’t listen and keep taking care of me.”
As someone who had never struggled because of money, it was honestly difficult for me to deeply empathize. But I understood Kkotmoa’s dads’ hearts. No matter how bad the situation was and how hard it was that they had to give up custody, they wanted to do at least the minimum duty to these kids. I could only hope that Secretary Park would bring good news that could be solved within my scope.
Samyukshippal must have fallen asleep too, so I boldly extended my right hand to Kkotmoa. I didn’t expect him to readily hold it, but I didn’t know he would look at me with such an absurd and dumbfounded face. Still, since he said I was his first love, I thought he might have at least a little bit of feelings left for me, but seeing his reaction now, maybe not.
“What?”
“Don’t you know I waited to receive the calm God’s energy?”
“……Please pull your tricks in moderation, Do Hyeondo sunbae-nim.”
“Did it show, hubae-nim? But what can I do, I want to hold hands with you even if I have to pull tricks. Well, since I have dark intentions, I want to do other things too, but I can endure that until you trust me and answer, so don’t worry.”
“Ha, that’s so comforting.”
At the slightly sulky reaction, I just laughed. Instead of holding my hand, Kkotmoa played with my fingers with both his hands. The fidgeting movement was unfamiliar yet familiar. Even when he said he wanted to go to the same university as me, he had played with my hand like this, fiddling with it.
