Ian’s upper body gradually leaned toward Soyeon. Because Soyeon was reducing her voice more subtly as she went on. Ian swallowed dry saliva at relationship advice he couldn’t hear anywhere else.
Soyeon grinned while resting her chin on one hand. Actually, half of it was a guess, but since Ian so transparently let her know it was all correct, it was amusing yet a bit pitiful.
Ganghyuk was clearly not an easy target just by looking. As an executive director of Taehyun Construction, he’d have a lot of money and high social status. With that kind of spec for an alpha, the women and omegas around him wouldn’t leave him alone.
There might even be beta males eyeing him. Because a male who was like a leader approached even other males attractively.
“As for your strengths, Ian…”
Soyeon’s eyes carefully examined Ian’s face. Ganghyuk had a striking appearance too, but this side wasn’t lacking either.
Even considering that his gambling addict father had debts, with looks like these, there would be more than just one or two bastards who’d covet him.
When the old man was alive, Okjeong and Soyeon had also made many efforts to prevent bad guys from latching onto Ian.
Not only did they prevent Ian from carelessly posting photos on SNS and the like, but they were extremely on guard whenever suspicious guys appeared in the neighborhood.
Thanks to that, they’d managed well without any major incidents until now, but not long ago, Sangmin had been kidnapped by the loan shark he owed money to and Ian had gone through something terrible.
If Ganghyuk hadn’t helped, even now Soyeon wouldn’t even be able to dream of sitting face-to-face with Ian having this kind of conversation.
In that regard, Soyeon secretly hoped that things would work out between Ian and Ganghyuk. Because there was no fence as sturdy as Ganghyuk around them. Moreover, Ian seemed to have feelings for Ganghyuk too, so it was a good thing.
“What are my strong points?”
When Soyeon stopped talking mid-sentence, Ian asked. He was curious what strong points other people saw in him.
“Being young. You know what people commonly say. Youth is the ace card.”
“But noona, you said just a moment ago. That some people actually dislike it when the gap is too big.”
The Executive Director seems like that too. Though he swallowed the rest of his words, Soyeon understood what Ian was trying to say.
“And you’re pretty. Out of all the people I’ve seen in my life, you’re the prettiest. Across all genders.”
Soyeon continued, shrugging her shoulders. It wasn’t a lie but the truth. He was pretty now, but he was even more so when he was young. It wasn’t for nothing that the old man was constantly anxious that Ian might get kidnapped somewhere.
Back then, she really thought he was a walking doll. His complexion was pale because he was often sick, which made it even more so.
“You’re also a dominant omega. I’m a beta, but I know well how rare dominants are. Ian, with your looks, your age, and being a dominant omega, you wouldn’t have anything to be inferior about no matter who your partner is.”
Unless Ganghyuk’s aesthetic sense was different from ordinary people. If that person also had eyes properly attached to his face, there was no way he wouldn’t find Ian pretty.
It probably wasn’t that he was helping because of Ian’s looks, but if he kept looking, wasn’t his face the kind that could make feelings develop even where there were none?
“Come to think of it…”
At that moment, a certain memory surfaced in Soyeon’s mind. It was quite a long time ago. When Ian was still a small child. When all the neighborhood adults would clap and delight even if he just blinked his eyes.
In this neighborhood, there had been a boy with shaggy hair who was skinny as a rail but peculiarly tall. A child whose family circumstances were so difficult that he couldn’t even properly attend school.
He hadn’t stayed in this neighborhood for long, but furniture would break in that house every day and screams loud enough to kill a person would burst out, so he was quite famous.
All the neighborhood people pitied that family’s only son, but their parents’ personalities were so fierce that they could only click their tongues. It was obvious that troublesome matters would arise if they got involved for no reason.
At that time, the only person who showed kindness was the old man. To the boy who was thin enough that his neck bones protruded, the old man would serve warm soup with rice mixed in without missing a single day.
Sometimes, on days when he came with scabs on his lips, he would even offer a corner of his room to let him sleep the night at his house.
“It can’t be, right?”
“Yes?”
But once that boy came to mind, she felt like she understood why Ganghyuk, who had suddenly appeared at the old man’s funeral, was helping Ian. Soyeon, who had been tapping the tin table with her index finger, lowered her voice.
“Ian, do you by any chance remember?”
“What?”
“You know, that thing. When you were really young. About five years old. No, was it four? I think it might have been three. Ah, anyway, there was that tall boy the old man gave free soup to every day.”
Ian’s head tilted in puzzlement. Not only did Soyeon’s story sound too out of the blue, but there were too many people his grandfather had given free meals to for him to know who she was talking about.
His grandfather had a soft heart for elderly people his own age, but he was endlessly generous to young children.
“I don’t really understand what you’re talking about. But why are you suddenly bringing up that boy?”
Weren’t we doing relationship counseling just now? Of course, Ian hadn’t confessed that he had a one-sided crush on Ganghyuk, but looking at the atmosphere, that’s what it was.
“I’m talking about Executive Director Tae Ganghyuk. I’m wondering if he might be that boy who used to get meals from the old man back then.”
At Soyeon’s following words, Ian’s eyes widened. The person most curious about the relationship between his grandfather and Ganghyuk was Ian.
He had even made up his mind to definitely ask Ganghyuk about it in detail someday. His grandfather had never once talked about Ganghyuk while alive.
When he asked how they knew each other, Ganghyuk had dismissed it as ‘just acquaintances.’ But if it had been a light connection, he wouldn’t be helping Ian in earnest like this.
If Soyeon’s speculation was correct and he had gotten lots of meals from his grandfather in the past, it made sense.
At that time, the children his grandfather showed compassion to were all placed in unfortunate family environments. To the point where they couldn’t even properly have their meals.
“Of course, with that face, it’s strange that I don’t remember him, but back then that kid had such shaggy bangs that all you could see was below his nose. I even offered to cut his hair for free once, but he refused. He only took the old man’s meals.”
“…I don’t remember.”
Ganghyuk’s childhood. If the boy Soyeon remembered really was Ganghyuk, Ian wanted to remember too. But no matter how much he strained, no memories surfaced.
“That makes sense. Now that I think about it, I think you were really young, Ian. Sometimes that boy would sit you on his lap and play with you.”
Soyeon smiled warmly looking at Ian. Even though she had no intention of having children whatsoever, back then she thought she’d want to raise a child if they were like Ian.
Not only did he look like an angel, but he was also incredibly gentle. Back then, Hoho Soup Restaurant was practically Hyoseong-dong’s senior center. The elderly people residing in Hyoseong-dong would stop by the soup restaurant every day to see Ian and bloom with laughter watching his antics.
“Anyway, ask him. Past connections are extremely important. It’s probably because of that that he’s helping you now. If one side is passive, the other side needs to be proactive. Even with clapping, sound only comes when palms meet, and magnets only stick when they’re opposite.”
Soyeon stretched out her arm and patted Ian’s shoulder. Ian fell into deep thought and unconsciously just nodded.
That night. After closing the store and going up to his home, Ian rummaged through the box where his grandfather’s belongings were organized.
From inside, he pulled out a photo album with very worn outer leather. His grandfather wasn’t the type who liked taking photos, but he had kept photos containing memories quite preciously.
Sometimes when he peeked into his grandfather’s room where the lights didn’t turn off until late at night, his grandfather would be turning the album page by page making expressions containing joy, anger, sorrow, and pleasure.
