“Yeah.”
Heewoon sat on a sofa a little far away from Kangwoo, staring dazedly at the table. He looked carefully at Kangwoo who was looking at his tablet PC, and picked up a spoon. After taking a bite of the abalone porridge, Heewoon suddenly felt hungry and proceeded to eat quite enthusiastically.
Occasionally, Kangwoo glanced at Heewoon. Kangwoo sighed softly, then eventually put down his tablet PC and reached out to Heewoon. With a croissant in his hand, Heewoon was pulled over to sit next to Kangwoo.
“You’re eating food all over your mouth.”
“Ah…”
After Kangwoo removed bread crumbs from the corner of Heewoon’s mouth, his hand lingered on Heewoon’s cheek. Kangwoo looked at Heewoon’s tightly awkward closed lips.
“You were quite talkative yesterday.”
“That…”
The mouth that had briefly opened closed again. With slightly swollen eyes, Heewoon tried to read Kangwoo’s reaction. Kangwoo chuckled softly and said.
“I guess your stomach is fine since you’re eating well.”
“Yeah, my stomach is fine.”
“You didn’t lose memory of last night, did you?”
“No.”
Good then. Kangwoo withdrew his hand on Heewoon’s cheek and leaned back on the sofa.
After finishing their meal and drinking some water, Kangwoo suddenly extended something towards Heewoon, who took it in surprise.
“This is my business card.”
Heewoon’s eyes widened. It was a business card from a well-known company, easily recognizable by the name. Finance Department. It was clearly written, ‘Employee Seo Kangwoo’. Heewoon asked.
“You’ve got a job?”
“It’s not really a job… I’m just going to pretend to work there for a while and then quit.”
“In this company?”
When Heewoon raised his head abruptly, Kangwoo raised an eyebrow.
“This is a really good company…”
“Ah, so you like this kind of thing, Sunbae.”
Kangwoo looked as if he were deep in thought and gazed into space. His eyes blinked slowly.
“…”
Heewoon bit his lips because Kangwoo would always say something scary after being deep in thought. Suddenly, Kangwoo turned to look at Heewoon.
“Then, should I take over this company?”
Kangwoo had a casual tone and a hint of amusement in his eyes. This left Heewoon unsure of how to respond. He struggled to find the right words and ended up blurting out a question.
“Then, what do you actually do….”
Heewoon was surprised by his unintentional question. He hadn’t really wanted to know what Seo Kangwoo did. He’d always kept quiet whenever such topics came up.
“I’m learning to work under my grandfather.”
Kangwoo replied casually.
The ordinary answer relieved Heewoon. Thus, the dark curiosity that had grown bigger than his fear, which was soon forgotten.
Heewoon idly traced the sharp edge of the business card while contemplating. Seo Kangwoo had mentioned earlier that he would eventually learn his father’s trade.
Looking at Seo Kangwoo’s mansion, his everyday expenses, and the money he handed over without hesitation, it was easy to deduce that his family was quite well-off. Being a corporate’s heir wouldn’t be all that surprising. Heewoon now had more detailed information of Kangwoo.
“I have two older brothers, so it might be a bit of a hassle…”
So you have two older brothers.
Kangwoo noticed that Heewoon was staring at him and raised an eyebrow, laughing. Then, he playfully said.
“Should I just kill all of them?”
Heewoon’s eyes widened. Kangwoo laughed at Heewoon’s reaction and ruffled his hair playfully.
“I was just kidding.”
Kangwoo spoke softly with a mischievous tone. Heewoon shivered all over. How could he say he would kill his siblings so casually?
Heewoon suddenly realized who was sitting beside him while having breakfast. He wondered how one could make omelets next to someone so terrifying.
Watching Heewoon’s slightly white face, Kangwoo whispered gently.
“I’m giving my business card for the first time to you, Sunbae.”
“…The first time?”
Heewoon’s gaze was fixed on the business card. He blinked once. Simultaneously, the fear that had scattered throughout his body slowly faded.
“About this place being your father’s company… Does anyone else know?”
Heewoon’s gaze was fixated on the business card. Kangwoo lifted his chin slightly.
“Who are you talking about? People in the mass communications department don’t know.”
“…Then everyone in the university doesn’t know.”
Heewoon said in a small voice. Kangwoo looked at Heewoon’s unblinking eyes and his fingers clutching the business card tightly. The corner of Kangwoo’s mouth lifted, and he said sweetly.
“Right. No one other than Sunbae knows.”
Kangwoo pulled Heewoon into an embrace and kissed him.
***
“I’ll be leaving-.”
“Yeah, have a safe trip.”
Heewoon glanced at his mother in front of the TV. The doctor had told her that she needed to walk around a lot to recover, so she went outside often in the early days after she was discharged from the hospital. It had been over a month, so her body should have recovered.
But for some reason, his mother seemed more restless.
Heewoon looked at his mother for a moment longer. When their eyes met, his mother smiled, so Heewoon smiled back and quietly closed the sliding door.
Sometimes, Heewoon felt a twinge in his chest. When he pretended to go to tutoring so casually, when he said goodbye to his mother, when he said good job, when the balance in his bank account piled up and he couldn’t tell his mother.
But still, there was nothing he could do about it.
Heewoon took a deep breath and put on his scarf. It was very cold at night. He walked through the alley to the bookstore across the street. He planned to study a little before his TOEIC class started.
At the bookstore, Heewoon carefully examined the study guides. If he wanted to finish it in a week, he thought a thin guide would be better, so he chose a suitable one and paid for it.
“Ah, it’s cold….”
Heewoon pulled up his scarf and covered his frozen ears. He thought about going to a cafe to kill time. When he took out his phone to check the time, he saw a message from Seo Kangwoo. It was from five minutes ago.
[Where are you?]
Hommmeee…
In frontttt of homee.
His hands had only been out of his pockets for a bit, but they were already freezing and he kept making typos. Heewoon decided to just call Kangwoo.
“Kangwoo.”
His breath produced white smoke in front of his eyes. After a moment of silence, a voice came through.
–…Yes, Sunbae.
He sounded very sweet.
“I’m going to the cafe in front of my home.”
–I’m almost there now, can you stay there for a while?
“Uh-huh.”
–And don’t hang up.
“…Yeah.”
His hands were so cold. It would have been nice if Seo Kangwoo just asked him when he got here, but he asked him a bunch of boring things again. What were you doing, have you had dinner, what did you do yesterday.
–I can see you, Sunbae.
At those words, Heewoon was rejoiced.
“Yeah, I’ll get in!”
The moment Kangwoo’s car pulled up in front of the house, Heewoon quickly got in, sighing at the warm air. He finally felt like he could live again.
“Did you miss me that much?”
Kangwoo had a smile on his face. Heewoon tried not to frown and just blurted out, I guess.
“You can call me when you miss me.”
“…Yeah.”
Kangwoo reached out his hand and cupped Heewoon’s cheek. You’re so freezing. While muttering that, he wrapped both hands around his cheeks and rubbed them gently. He also wrapped his hands around Heewoon’s red ears and rubbed them. Kangwoo suddenly let out an ah, as if he suddenly remembered something.
“Stand up for a second.”
“Like this?”
Heewoon craned his neck and scrambled to his feet, and Kangwoo wrapped his arms around his waist. A hand slipped into the padding covering the top of his ass and, without warning, burrowed into his pants.
“Ah!”
Heewoon gasped and grabbed Kangwoo’s shoulders. Kangwoo casually rubbed Heewoon’s ass. Hmmm…. Kangwoo groaned and pulled his hand away from Heewoon’s panties. Heewoon quickly sat back in his chair. He braced his ass against the chair, afraid Kangwoo’s hand would dig in again.
“You’re quite cold. Are you still upset today?”
Kangwoo tilted his head and asked.
Heewoon thought for a moment, then remembered what he had said before and blushed. Heewoon shook his head, and Kangwoo let out a small laugh.
“Tell me if you get upset.”
I’ll warm it up for you. Looking at the eyes that were bending wildly, Heewoon nodded and tightly fastened his seatbelt. It was to avoid further eye contact.
“You don’t have to fasten your seatbelt. I just came to see your face for a moment.”
“Oh.”
Heewoon was about to undo his seatbelt again, but Kangwoo’s hand slid in from below and gently lifted his chin. Kangwoo gazed at Heewoon’s face for a moment longer.
Heewoon also examined Kangwoo’s face. He seemed a bit tired, maybe due to his busy office job. Since Seo Kangwoo’s colleagues would probably not know who he really was, they might be giving him all kinds of tasks as a new employee.
Not long ago, through his group chat with his classmates, he heard that Hyukjin was going abroad with his family. The sudden news prompted his classmates to make all sorts of speculations, from suggesting that he must have left due to a large debt to speculating that he might need surgery in the United States because of a more severe injury than they thought. Someone said they heard that immigrating had always been part of Hyukjin’s plans. All kinds of unfounded rumors were blowing up.
Heewoon suspected that Kangwoo had something to do with Hyukjin’s immigration, and he felt that his guess would be closest to the truth.
That’s why, Kangwoo’s colleagues, who were currently unaware of who Seo Kangwoo was and ordered him around, might be sent away to another country one day.
When Kangwoo slowly stroked Heewoon’s cheek and they locked eyes, Kangwoo smiled lightly and teased.
“Why aren’t you stalking me these days?”
To Heewoon, it was a rather confusing statement. Heewoon was somewhat worried that he might be told to follow Kangwoo around. Heewoon’s thoughts were clearly visible on his face, and Kangwoo spoke as if he meant well.
“If you want to stalk me later on, you can do that.”
“…Okay.”
Will that ever happen? Heewoon thought to himself. The likelihood of such a thing ever happening was close to zero.
…Probably
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