The daycare at pickup time was indescribably bustling. The line of parents coming to pick up their children didn’t cease, and the commotion of children spotting their mom or dad from afar and running over didn’t stop either.
In the midst of all that, Ji-yu just stood still and smiled brightly. It was like that every time. She waited for everyone’s commotion to end, then took advantage of the quiet moment to call out “Samchon” prettily.
That appearance was exactly Kwon Seo-an.
Quietly keeping to one’s own place, but with a charm that captures attention at once. Knowing how to put weighty resonance into even small words—a mere four-year-old kid was already like this.
“Ji-yu.”
This time, he crouched down first and spread his arms. As if she had been waiting for that, Ji-yu smiled brightly, ran over, and nestled deeply into Hae-won’s arms.
“Samchon came today?”
“Did you want Daddy to come? Should samchon leave?”
“No. Actually, you know, samchon. Ji-yu—.”
Ji-yu covered her mouth with her small fern-like hand and whispered softly into Hae-won’s ear.
“I told Daddy to make up with samchon.”
“Really? Then, did you also tell him what samchon said to Ji-yu?”
“I didn’t. A man doesn’t say things like that!”
Ji-yu stuck out her chubby belly and proudly retorted.
What he had said was only “Ji-yu, samchon wants to get along with Daddy but doesn’t know how. But don’t tell Daddy. Samchon is embarrassed,” but her triumphant look, as if she had kept some great secret, was very pleasing to see.
Still, thanks to conveying that he had been going in and out of the daycare for several days, he had broken the ice, so he had properly served as a stepping stone. Then… since she did well. Hae-won smiled while holding out the candy he had brought in front of the child.
“Here, candy. It’s a secret from Daddy.”
“Mm-hm, secret! Yay.”
The child took the candy placed on Hae-won’s palm with her small hand. The child, who peeled off the plastic wrapper while wiggling her fingertips, put the candy in her mouth capably and grinned broadly.
As he was about to take the child’s bag and clothes and leave, Ji-yu’s homeroom teacher approached.
“Samchon-nim, this is Ji-yu’s lunchbox. Ji-yu left a lot of carrots today.”
“Ah, yes.”
The teacher held out the empty lunchbox to Hae-won. Opening the lid while receiving it, Hae-won nodded while looking at the cleanly washed lunchbox. It must be hard dealing with kids’ messes, but do they wash everything and send it back? Not having raised a child himself, he didn’t know, but he was thinking it must be difficult when—
An unexpected sound burrowed into Hae-won’s ears.
“I told samchon before that Ji-yu leaves a lot of carrots, so if you pack a little less, we’ll try to have her eat everything that’s packed—.”
Samchon?
“…Did you say that to me?”
Hae-won asked, blinking his eyes.
No matter how much he searched his head, nothing appropriate came to mind. Carrots… did she have picky eating habits? Because it was information he didn’t know, he widened his eyes, but instead the other person laughed and responded as if to say “What are you talking about?”
“No, no. Not Hae-won samchon, Seo-an samchon.”
“…Samchon?”
Not Daddy? For a moment, Hae-won paused.
“Yes, samchon. …Oh my, aren’t you samchon? When you filled out the admission application before, you wrote samchon in the relationship section… so I thought you were samchon.”
“Ah, no. No… it’s probably right.”
What on earth is this about?
For now, he responded as if nothing was wrong, wondering if the other person would regard Seo-an as a suspicious person, or regard him as suspicious, but his head was spinning rapidly trying to accept this situation.
Kwon Ji-yu calls Kwon Seo-an “Daddy.” Not even once, not even by mistake, has she called him “samchon.”
But Kwon Seo-an, when sending Ji-yu to daycare, introduced himself as “samchon.”
…What’s going on?
Hae-won’s eyes naturally went to the child. He carefully observed the face of the child who had already gone outside and was waiting for him. She was clearly a spitting image of Kwon Seo-an at first glance, but isn’t she his daughter? Is she his niece…?
He wanted to grab her and ask, but he was confused whether this was an appropriate subject to ask a child. In the end, Hae-won didn’t properly listen to what the teacher was saying, gave a rough answer, and took the child’s hand.
Hae-won walked with a blank expression. Every time the child chattered and asked questions, he gave appropriate answers, but all his attention was focused on whether Seo-an was married or not.
Was he married but just doesn’t have a child?
But she calls him Daddy, right…? And Kwon Seo-an didn’t particularly deny that…
Maybe he’s not married?
“…Wait, then what did Gong Se-hyeok say?”
When Hae-won, who had been walking looking straight ahead, suddenly stopped in his tracks, the child who had been matching her steps while holding Hae-won’s hand asked in a nasal voice.
“Gongseyeok?”
“Ah, no. Ji-yu. Let’s go home after going down the slide five times.”
“Mm-hm!”
Hae-won, who took off and received the child’s bag, sat on the bench in front of the slide and immediately took out his phone.
—What.
The voice heard immediately was Gong Se-hyeok, with whom he had been exchanging messages earlier. Hae-won lowered his voice as much as possible, wondering if the child might hear.
“Hey, Kwon Seo-an got married, right?”
—What are you talking about?
“What do you mean, you said Seo-an sunbae got married.”
—Yeah. Kang Seo-an! You know, that sunbae who took really good care of you.
“…You crazy bastard, when you talk from now on, attach the surname to distinguish them!”
Hae-won unknowingly yelled and jumped up from his seat.
He smiled brightly at Ji-yu, who seemed startled and immediately clung to him, saying it was nothing. Meanwhile, Gong Se-hyeok’s voice, full of bewilderment, could be heard from the other end of the phone.
—Hey, I’m more flustered. When I say Seo-an sunbae, I think of Kang Seo-an, who thinks of Kwon Seo-an? That sunbae wasn’t even that close to me in the first place. Only you were close, only you. When I say Seo-an sunbae, it’s naturally Kang Seo-an, would news about Kwon Seo-an come from me or from you?
…Fuck, he’s right.
Although Seo-an, who captured everyone’s attention, was definitely popular, he was taciturn and had a tendency to put up walls, so there was no one who could say they were “close” to him. It just happened to be only him.
Hae-won frowned.
“Did I and Kang Seo-an sunbae look that affectionate to you?”
—You two were damn close, weren’t you? Stuck together for every assignment.
“That’s because that sunbae gave good past exams…!”
—Ah what is it, why are you yelling? Why, is there something between the Seo-ans? Don’t tell me you really thought it was Kwon Seo-an? Hey, are you crazy? Would I call you out to drinks by bringing up that sunbae? That would be a really insane bastard.
…True. Hae-won himself had been thinking that he wasn’t such a senseless guy in the first place. That’s why he had let Gong Se-hyeok’s jokes pass without any other annoyance.
…Right, why didn’t I think of Kang Seo-an?
“Whatever, I’m hanging up.”
Hae-won hung up the phone and let out a deep sigh.
Even so. If you were to count the people close to Yeon Hae-won within the department, it was naturally “Kwon Seo-an,” so how could Kang Seo-an even compare?
No, in the first place, how could the conversation continue like that while thinking of completely different people?
Even as he thought about it himself, it was absurd, but looking back carefully, it seemed like they hadn’t exchanged such specific stories, which was ridiculous. Rather, if he had asked “Kwon Seo-an?” from when Gong Se-hyeok sent a message saying “Seo-an sunbae is getting married,” there wouldn’t have been this misunderstanding. He should have at least received a wedding invitation.
As he said, the one close to their classmates was Kang Seo-an, not Kwon Seo-an, so for Gong Se-hyeok, there was no particular need to distinguish between “Kang” and “Kwon.”
Ugh, you idiot…
Anyway, when it came to Kwon Seo-an, he couldn’t tell front from back. Hae-won belatedly reflected on himself, who had been stuck on the two-syllable name “Seo-an” and resented him for a whole four years without even thinking of Kang Seo-an.
From Kwon Seo-an’s perspective, it must look like I suddenly cut off contact…
Then why didn’t he explain?
Every time he got drunk and said “What’s the big deal about divorce,” that he didn’t care about being divorced, Seo-an had just kept his mouth shut. If he had said “That’s not it” back then…
Hae-won, who had been thinking that far, shook his head.
“With that hyung’s personality, there’s no way he’d say anything.”
In the first place, even during school days, Seo-an had kept his mouth shut knowing the countless rumors surrounding him.
That’s when it was. At the thought that flashed through his mind, a gleam began to appear in Hae-won’s eyes.
…But then, that means he didn’t get divorced either?
For whatever reason, he understood that he didn’t want to reveal the truth to him. If he was going to hide it to the end, pretending not to know and hiding it with him was nothing to Hae-won.
He had kicked his blanket every night envying the person who monopolized Kwon Seo-an’s love, but if that person didn’t exist.
Then what reason do I have not to make a move?
