“Pardon?”
“You don’t go to church on Sundays, do you?”
Seo Baek-han, clutching the exhibition Illustrated Book he’d been looking at a moment ago, strode towards Joo Tae-hyun.
“Do you go to church?”
“Uh, uhm… I don’t really have a religion… Um, if you’re looking for someone who goes to church, I could study the Bible a bit—”
“Don’t jump ahead.”
Unlike before, he closed the distance with Joo Tae-hyun from an angle where he could look down on him, with a clear intention, and something new caught his eye.
A faint mole, similar in size to one on the lower lip, under Joo Tae-hyun’s right eyebrow.
That his eyelashes were quite long and straight.
That his skin was so pale it looked almost blue, without a single blemish, and other such trivial things.
“You might already know, but a special exhibition was pushed through by my mother’s side of the family. At the National Museum.”
As he held out the rolled-up Illustrated Book, Joo Tae-hyun accepted it without asking why. Even with such docility, the fact that he felt more gloomy and dark than docile was a talent in itself.
“Even though they pushed it through, my family didn’t really do much. It was already Prince Yi Hwang’s personal collection, and we were only in charge of minor things like foreign language audio commentary and translation booklets… But the reaction behind the scenes was considerable.”
The Crown Prince’s side, who had been trying to curry favor with Seo Baek-han’s other family members as if to show Prince Yi Hwang, arguing that Seo Baek-han’s personal and family tendencies should be viewed separately from Prince Yi Hwang’s people, ended up looking foolish.
It wasn’t as if the exhibition was grand in scale either. It would have been better if it had been a theme related to the history of Yeonhwa Palace or an exhibition of ancient art collected by Prince Yi Hwang, but this special exhibition was merely a propaganda tool to promote Prince Yi Hwang and Princess Yi Hwang.
Parts of love letters exchanged between the couple, photos taken together, the diary Prince Yi Hwang had been writing diligently since he first picked up a brush…
It was a collection of such trivial items, and the amount of the donation from his mother’s side wasn’t that significant either, so the Crown Prince’s side reportedly took it even more humiliatingly.
“Ah, yes.”
Even though the explanation was long, Joo Tae-hyun listened to Seo Baek-han willingly. However, he still couldn’t guess why he had suddenly been stopped and told such irrelevant things, and he just blinked his big eyes blankly.
“Since you don’t go to church, this Sunday would be good. Around two in the afternoon. Is that okay for your schedule?”
“…Pardon?”
“The special exhibition is until then.”
“Ah… Uh, uhm, that’s…”
“Then let’s meet again that day. In front of the exhibition hall.”
Joo Tae-hyun blinked slowly. Even in the midst of that, it was fascinating how quickly his pupils darted around as he tried to guess Seo Baek-han’s intentions.
“Um, but, hyung. Why… Why are you asking me to meet you on Sunday? May I ask?”
“You said you wanted to marry me, didn’t you?”
“Yes? Well, that’s tr—… it is, but…”
“So, I’m saying let’s properly re-examine the conditions that day.”
Joo Tae-hyun’s dry lips slowly parted. It was as slow as his blinking. He looked like some gloomy classical painting, but his actions were so sluggish.
“Of course, but, an exhibition… That’s.”
The next words weren’t a proper voice, but closer to a breath.
“Isn’t that usually a date… course?”
Seo Baek-han didn’t have the talent to infer the meaning of words just from lip movements. He vaguely heard “date,” so he probably mumbled something about a date.
Well, it wasn’t as if he had no idea what part of his proposal Joo Tae-hyun was questioning, embarrassed about, and starting to expect, so he could fully guess the words he had swallowed.
“Why? Is it a place you can’t go?”
“No? Ah, no, it’s not that.”
“Or do you dislike it?”
“No, I don’t!”
At Joo Tae-hyun’s overly immediate answer, Seo Baek-han barely managed to suppress the laughter that almost burst out.
“Or did DH support the Crown Prince?”
“No, even before I manifested, we weren’t particularly on good terms with them. After I manifested, there was no exchange at all.”
“I’m glad it’s as I knew. The outward appearance and the inside story can be different… Anyway, it seems like there’s nothing bad for you to show your face at this exhibition. Right?”
First of all, Joo Tae-hyun is a regular member of 〈Haechi〉.
Not just any member, but a veteran member who has been with them since the beginning.
And like Seo Baek-han and Prince Yi Hwang, he’s an Alpha.
Until Joo Tae-hyun left for the United States, he was often involved with Seo Baek-han, so even if the two of them showed their faces together at the special exhibition, it wouldn’t be a big deal in itself. Nothing has been decided, and they’re only testing the waters, so if rumors start spreading, it will only become troublesome.
“Yes, um. I understand that there’s nothing bad for me to see the exhibition… I just don’t really understand why hyung is asking me to meet, I mean, why you’re specifically asking me to see the exhibition together…”
“Why? Does there have to be a clear reason?”
“Ah, it’s not that… I’m just, just curious.”
A slight light flickered in Joo Tae-hyun’s dazed eyes. He seemed both curious about the intentions of the hyung who had been acting scary until just now, and flustered with happiness.
“If you open this and have any questions, you’ll have to answer them for me, right?”
“Ah…”
“You must have more to say to me too. Or not?”
Joo Tae-hyun blinked a little faster. It was like a slow afterimage when the shooting button is pressed in a dark place. Each cut that passed was captured on Seo Baek-han’s retina, showing how his eyes were changing.
“I think it would be good to continue the conversation in a place where there’s nothing to lose just by us being together.”
If he was expecting something, he was sorry, but he was really just making a casual suggestion that didn’t seem bad. He wasn’t in such dire straits that he would use a child’s crush to put on a pathetic show. Marriage with Joo Tae-hyun was still not attractive, but he felt less repulsion and disgust than before. He was willing to listen to Joo Tae-hyun’s nonsense a few more times.
“Uhm. I’m really sorry, but are you only available next week?”
But Joo Tae-hyun’s reaction was somehow lukewarm, unlike before.
Seo Baek-han unknowingly raised one eyebrow. He didn’t expect Joo Tae-hyun to react lukewarmly to the suggestion of meeting again.
“If you’re busy, it can’t be helped.”
If he was planning on playing hard to get, he had no intention of accepting any of that. Even if he ended up being just an acquaintance in the future, let alone a spouse. He shouldn’t be lenient with such arrogant behavior just because he’s young. The younger they are, the better they need to be taught manners.
“No, hyung, it’s not that…”
“Just a moment,” Joo Tae-hyun exclaimed urgently.
It was the most dramatic change in expression Seo Baek-han had seen in Joo Tae-hyun today, or ever, so Seo Baek-han, who had turned halfway, stopped walking in silence.
“It’ll be really quick, just a moment.”
Joo Tae-hyun hurriedly took out his phone and started typing something diligently. He crumpled his large frame as much as possible and brought his phone close to his face, seemingly trying not to let me see what he was doing.
But unfortunately, Seo Baek-han was taller than Joo Tae-hyun, the distance between them was close enough to easily eavesdrop on his personal business, and Joo Tae-hyun’s phone didn’t have a privacy screen.
Secretary I’m gonna postpone my departure
ㅠㅠ
He didn’t look like it, but he was quite clumsy, and messages full of typos popped up on the cracked screen.