By Zephyria Extranumeral 3
Hae-jin was gone when Ryle suddenly opened his eyes.
His heart, of course, dropped to the floor and shattered into pieces, but his body, as if used to it, jumped up and ran outside.
Following the faint trace of pheromone that only Ryle could track, he went outside and saw Hae-jin blankly standing in front of the drawing room door. It seemed he couldn’t go any further because the door was blocked with something heavy, just in case.
“…….”
Just having him in sight calmed his mind rapidly. Ryle, careful not to startle him, approached slowly and carefully pulled him into his arms.
“Hae-jin.”
“……Yeah.”
When he whispered his name, a dazed reply came back. That was why Ryle was even more surprised at first, thinking Hae-jin was conscious. He occasionally showed these sleepwalking symptoms. The frequency increased when he was stressed about something.
There was a suspected cause. Christmas, the first since Hae-jin decided to stay by Ryle’s side, was approaching. He said he missed his family especially at Christmas. Perhaps because of that, Hae-jin had been wandering in his dreams more often lately.
At first, Ryle almost wandered the Abyss along with him in this endlessly falling pain. Until he found a solution.
He quietly gathered the affection within him and began to release it as pheromones.
Hae-jin, who had been staring blankly at the door even when he was hugged, finally began to react. As if instinctively seeking a warm stove in the middle of winter, Hae-jin turned around and buried his face quietly in his arms.
Not stopping there, Ryle lifted him up in his arms. He carried Hae-jin, who was nestled quietly in his arms like a child, back the way they had come.
After laying him back on the bed, he let go of all restraint and poured out his pheromones as much as he could. So much so that Hae-jin felt as if he was suffocating in the midst of so much warmth.
“Sleep well.”
No answer came back. But Hae-jin, who had been searching for something even in his dreams, finally closed his eyes with a comfortable expression. He always regretted the disappearing dark pupils. But seeing that infinitely peaceful expression, the ice frozen in his heart shattered with a clanging sound.
So that he could sleep even more deeply, without dreams, Ryle enveloped Hae-jin in his thick pheromones all night long.
Their mornings were always quiet. It wasn’t that they didn’t talk, but thanks to their upbringing, neither of them had the habit of talking while eating.
Ryle slowly put down his spoon and waited patiently for Hae-jin to eat his fill. He had been avoiding it, but today he said he wanted to eat star soup for the first time in a while.
After a long time, Hae-jin put down his spoon with a satisfied expression. The sadness of wandering in his dreams the night before was nowhere to be found.
“Hae-jin.”
“Yes.”
“I want to give you a Christmas present again this year.”
The blue scarf he had given him before had become an item Hae-jin used frequently. Every time Ryle saw the scarf he had chosen himself adorning his neck, he felt his soul melt warmly. So it was an unavoidable desire to want to give him such a gift again this year.
However, Hae-jin, who had been pondering with his eyes rolling for a while, said something unexpected.
“Don’t give me one this year.”
It was a very strange thing to say. He thought it was more likely that he would say he didn’t need one. If he didn’t give him one this year, did that mean he would allow it next year?
“……Okay.”
Whatever his intention was, Ryle had no choice but to answer like this. Because whatever it was, it was what Hae-jin wanted.
He missed his family. As the Christmas atmosphere became more and more ripe, he couldn’t help it. However, unlike last year when he avoided it unconditionally, Hae-jin decided to miss them in a slightly different way this time.
“Can I put up the stars?”
“Oh my! Of course! What kind of star would you like?”
Like last year, the mansion began to stir little by little. Complying with that pleasant resonance, Hae-jin did one by one the things he had wanted to do back then.
First, he carefully chose the tree ornaments that Mark offered. In particular, Hae-jin hung so many Angel ornaments that the tree was heavy. This gave the feeling that his family was staying here with him.
Before Mark handed him strange headbands like reindeer antlers, he put on a Santa hat first. As he began to show interest in these decorations, things poured in to a degree that was on a different level from last year. Knowing well that it was Ryle’s interest, Hae-jin wandered around the items with peace of mind and tried to actively enjoy this atmosphere. Just like when he decorated the house with his family.
The same was true of the new Bright Family house he had received as a gift. He went with Ryle with a lot of light bulbs and decorated the house so that it looked warm even when it snowed. After doing it, it looked similar to when his father had struggled for days to put up the light bulbs.
“I’ll do it with a white star.”
At his request, the servants chose and brought him a row of white stars. Hae-jin, who was carefully measuring the size of the tree, picked up the largest star and stood on the chair. It was a little embarrassing that everyone around him was restless and staring at him when he stood on a chair that was only a few spans tall.
“Ah.”
The tree with the star was very pretty. Hae-jin stared blankly at the completed tree and fell into longing again.
It had only been a year since he had sent his parents away. He still couldn’t believe that there was so much time left to count. He didn’t know he would miss them for so long.
Christmas morning dawned.
At Hae-jin’s request, the doors of the main dining room were opened for the first time in a long time. It was because he had cautiously suggested that they all have a morning banquet together. He was worried that he might have unnecessarily increased the workload, but unexpectedly, the servants welcomed the idea of being together.
They would also be leaving work around noon for their own families. Many people had taken vacations, but Hae-jin persistently urged them, grateful that they were still working until morning. Ryle, who had never done anything like this, could have been reluctant, but he told him to do as he pleased and stroked Hae-jin’s cheek.
He told him not to prepare any gifts, and he occasionally looked at Hae-jin with an uneasy look. Ryle, who was by his side, seemed to know that he still had bad dreams from time to time.
However, Hae-jin managed his expression calmly because he had something prepared. Only Mark, who knew what he had prepared, winked and joked.
The banquet was a success. The more abundant food than usual was quickly emptied because there were many people who enjoyed it. Hae-jin smiled without realizing it as he watched the chef rejoice that there would be no leftovers to clean up.
Seeing them sitting at the table together in comfortable clothes, it felt like a large family meal, which was amazing.
“I’m going now, so you must call me if anything happens. Do you understand?”
“Don’t worry, Mark.”
With an anxious face, Mark left with repeated requests. Around noon, Ryle left those who volunteered and sent everyone else home. Unlike last year, Hae-jin, who had found some peace of mind, worried that they might have families waiting for them.
Mark tried not to leave until the end, but Ryle took the initiative to send him away. He knew that he hadn’t been able to spend time with his grandson last year either. Of course, the reason for that was Hae-jin, who was staying in this mansion with great anxiety at the time.
Knowing that, Hae-jin kept nodding as if he was okay and saw Mark off.
A quietness descended on the mansion for the first time in a while. The carol ‘Silent Night’ was playing softly, so the feeling was strange. A strange loneliness, like the night after a party, lingered.
Still, Hae-jin thought this mansion was warm. Because Ryle had been by his side all along.
“Come in now. I even lent him a car, so Mark will be able to get there safely.”
“Yes.”
He must have thought he was worried about Mark because he kept staring blankly outside. The hand that naturally wrapped a blanket around him was familiar. He thought he would never get used to it, but the future was really unpredictable.
“Shall we have something warm to drink?”
“It’s okay.”
Today, he was planning to spend some time under the dimly lit tree and go to bed early. It would be nice to lie on the sofa in the game room and watch a movie together.
Of course, he had to hand over what he had prepared before that.
“Ryle, I have something to say.”
“……Yeah.”
Hae-jin calmly parted his lips. However, he became nervous as soon as he saw Ryle’s pheromones tensing up. He felt embarrassed because it was nothing special, but he felt like he had said something unnecessarily meaningful.
“This is it.”
So he quickly took out a gift that had been hidden under the tree. It looked even more crude when he lifted it out of the perfectly wrapped gift decorations, which was a big problem. He had deliberately left only the tree lights on and made it dark, but it was useless.
“……This is…….”
Ryle looked at Hae-jin, who was suddenly handing him a package a little bigger than his palm, with a puzzled expression.
“It’s a gift.”
“…….”
He felt strangely faint at the word gift. He remembered Hae-jin’s appearance last year when he said he hadn’t prepared a gift.
His heart was pounding as if it would jump out. He didn’t want to be caught with this chaotic feeling, but his pheromones didn’t listen and fluttered busily.
It was the first gift Hae-jin had ever given him.
“I only received last time, so…… this time, Ryle only receives.”
“……Ah.”
Now he understood what he meant when he said not to give him a gift this year. He had swallowed so much worry for days with that one word, but surprisingly, he didn’t remember any of it at this moment.
Just that everything was okay.
A black scarf appeared in Ryle’s trembling hand as he unwrapped the gift. It was an item from the same brand as the one he had given Hae-jin. There were several hanging in Hae-jin’s closet right now, but even if he had picked up one of them, it didn’t matter.
Because he could now wear this around his neck, which resembled his eyes.
“And let’s give and receive from next year.”
“Yeah.”
Ryle’s voice was slightly wet as he answered. Hae-jin, who noticed that, felt embarrassed for no reason and turned his gaze to the tree. But it was useless. He kept throwing his gaze at Ryle’s face along the sparkling lights.
Warm Christmases visited them every year after that.