Ch 4. Rewind
Did Hongdan’s declaration have an effect?
Throughout the entire ride home, Seonha was quiet. It was to the point where Hongdan glanced over several times to check if he was breathing properly.
However, Hongdan didn’t think his words had been particularly excessive. He had to tell off at least once this guy who kept trying to cross the line he’d firmly drawn. There was no pathetic emotion like guilt. Rather, he felt relieved, one could say.
Click—
The thick entrance door, characteristic of old villas that seemed to have killer security features, opened, and Hongdan called out to Seonha while lifting his heels to take off his tightly laced sneakers.
“What about food? I said let’s eat out, but I just came in without thinking. Should we order delivery?”
“If you’re hungry, Hongdan, order something. I don’t really feel like it right now.”
But Seonha went straight into his room without looking back at Hongdan. He didn’t do anything childish like slamming the door like a pubescent boy, but his conspicuously drooping shoulders clearly revealed his mood.
Hongdan let out a rough empty breath.
“Geez. Is he sulking or what?”
Well, Yeon Seonha had always been one who couldn’t live up to his face. Unlike his cold appearance, he was narrower-minded than he looked, and once he got upset, he tended to sulk for quite a while. Hongdan pointlessly knew that temperament well.
He wondered whether to lift his silent protest enough to improve his mood for the sake of peaceful cohabitation, but soon Hongdan shook his head. Rather than showing kindness and hearing things like “I like you” again, it seemed better to be uncomfortable for a few days. He didn’t want to feel that same displeasure as before ever again. Though he couldn’t say he’d received many confessions, nothing was as disgusting as the belated sincerity he’d heard from Seonha.
So Hongdan just went into his room too. Even though there was still a long time before the sun would set, the house was filled only with silence, devoid of any liveliness.
***
Throughout the remaining weekend, Hongdan and Seonha didn’t run into each other. It wasn’t that one of them had gone out for a long time. It was that one side was unilaterally avoiding the other.
Of course, even without counting how many times each of their doors opened, it was obvious who was avoiding whom right now.
Naturally, the left side—Seonha’s room.
That stubbornly closed door didn’t open even three times until Monday, when Hongdan was preparing for work. Hongdan seriously wondered if the guy was going to the bathroom on time.
But that was an unnecessary worry.
Seonha, acting like he hadn’t been sulking the whole time, got up ghostly in sync with Hongdan’s wake-up time and shoved a bowl of cereal at him. It was truly ridiculous.
“But I want to eat the chocolate flavor instead of this.”
Hongdan muttered while stirring the cereal that had gotten soggy with milk. Though he’d eaten it up quite diligently, touched by the sincerity of someone who’d come out after untangling his twisted mood alone, he’d piled it up like a mountain so there was still half left. At this rate, he’d hit 70kg again within the month.
“Yeah. I’ll buy some today. But stuff that’s too sweet in the morning isn’t good, so mix it with what we have now and eat it.”
Seonha brought over another spoon and fed it directly into Hongdan’s mouth. Just like before, he still couldn’t stand to see Hongdan’s spoon work slow down.
It seemed he was determined to make Hongdan eat all of this large amount. On an already depressing Monday morning, Hongdan, who didn’t want to bicker unnecessarily, obediently ate it. But he didn’t stop chattering.
“There’s also this kind. Like with sweet cream inside the cereal.”
“I’ll look for it. Is there anything else you want to eat?”
“Mm… yeah. Not particularly right now.”
“Got it. Say ah—”
“…Can’t you scoop it up in smaller amounts?”
Hongdan glared at the cereal that had formed a small hill on the spoon. However, Seonha’s wrist remained firm.
Could this be his way of holding a grudge?
A faint suspicion arose, but Hongdan didn’t bother voicing it.
It was Yeon Seonha’s Choi Hongdan husbandry project, resumed for the first time in a year. There were rarely moments when he was as persistent as this, so it would be beneficial for his future in various ways to cooperate as much as possible.
Hongdan put on his wool coat while holding his full upper belly. It was something he’d purchased with so-called “fuck-it money” while leaving the courthouse around this time last year. He’d spent big and made the biggest purchase of his life, and especially in recently cold weather like this, he was getting his money’s worth. Thanks to it, he’d spent that early winter well without feeling cold in his sides.
After making all those preparations and habitually trying to put his hands in his pockets.
“Huh?”
He felt a warmth at his fingertips that absolutely couldn’t be ignored. Now that he looked, the pocket that definitely had nothing in it seemed a bit heavy too.
Hongdan immediately pulled out his hand to check the contents. And what was pulled out was exactly as expected.
“What. Did you put this in?”
Hongdan, who had approached the shoe cabinet, just stuck out his face and waved the hand warmer toward the kitchen. He’d seemed to be doing dishes, but now Seonha was sitting at the dining table absorbed in looking at his phone. He seemed to be looking for the cereal Hongdan had mentioned.
He lightly raised his head at Hongdan’s call.
“Yeah. Did it warm up?”
As expected, it was something Seonha had prepared.
Even though he’d asked knowing it could only be Seonha, Hongdan was a bit flustered.
“Uh, yeah… But how did you know I’d wear this today?”
“Hongdan, you don’t wear padding until December. Going on about pride and whatnot. So when you were showering earlier, I put it in the thickest one among your remaining coats.”
“Oh…”
Had he perhaps cursed Seonha out on Saturday telling him to just diligently play servant from now on? Hongdan carefully retraced his memory. But he hadn’t brought up even a similar word, let alone “fuck.”
Then was all of this some effort to change his mind?
“…It’s unnecessary.”
“Hm?”
Seonha tilted his head at the words he’d let slip without realizing. Seeing his round eyes, it seemed he hadn’t heard what Hongdan had muttered due to the distance. Hongdan waved his hand to mean it was nothing.
“Never mind. Just guard the house well.”
“Yeah— Have a good day at work!”
“Sure.”
Thud—
As with all old villas, the sound of the entrance door closing resonated throughout the entire building.
With each of the eleven or so steps he climbed, the early winter wind struck Hongdan more and more fiercely. He habitually stuck his hands in his pockets. Then the warmth Seonha had secretly prepared heated Hongdan up. Whatever amazing thing he’d bought, by the time he arrived at the subway station, his palms were stinging. In the end, as soon as Hongdan arrived at the company, he had to throw away one of the two hand warmers. There wasn’t much hesitation in throwing away that thoughtfulness.
***
Knock knock—
Around 8:10 AM, after Hongdan left for work. It was a house that should be quiet for at least the next eleven hours. A dull knocking sound broke that silence. Seonha’s brow naturally narrowed as he was organizing the groceries he’d bought in the kitchen.
“Young Master.”
He seemed to know who the protagonist was without checking. Though the entrance door had only been knocked on a couple of times, the motion was concise yet polite. As far as Seonha knew, there was only one person whose dependable personality showed even in trivial gestures.
After glaring at the entrance for a moment, Seonha soon resumed rummaging through the volume-based trash bag. Issuing an order to leave through silence rather than ten declarations was his long-standing rule. The person standing in front of the door right now couldn’t not know that.
However, today of all days, the other party seemed to want to stubbornly insist, unlike himself. Knock—knock— The knocking became more persistent. His characteristically emotionless voice was the same.
“My being here continuously would be a loss for you, Young Master. When Madam gets off work…”
Click—
The firmly closed door immediately opened at the word referring to Hongdan. Seonha, who finally appeared, didn’t hide his murderous intent.
“Director Do, you’ve really learned a lot of manners since we last met. Now you even know how to threaten your master.”
Seonha ground his teeth. If this weren’t Hongdan’s house, something sharp would have probably flown at Director Do—that is, Do Jaehyuk’s—face. It was fortunate at least that Seonha didn’t want to damage the space he stayed in with Hongdan as much as possible.
Jaehyuk glanced down at the fist Seonha had half-hidden behind him and stepped forward. But at that moment, Seonha struck the wall with his fist. Thanks to that, Jaehyuk’s toes didn’t even reach the entrance.
“Just try coming in.”
The murderous intent that had been leaking out bit by bit seemed to have burst open due to that complacent movement. Seonha’s eyes shone fiercely. Well, even during his married life with Hongdan, it was Seonha who had reduced the number of employees, hating that Hongdan might make close friends other than himself. There was no way he’d easily let an outsider into Hongdan’s house. Jaehyuk immediately realized his mistake and pulled back.
He hadn’t expected to be able to persuade Seonha today and escort him back obediently anyway. So he conveyed only the necessary words while slightly lowering his gaze as usual.
“President Han says she’ll be returning to Korea at the end of next month.”
