#129

Without being able to ask for any details, he ended up returning to Lucas’s house.

In a sparse room on the second floor of Lucas’s house, consisting of nothing more than a mattress and a clothes rack, Ho-jae lay staring blankly. Outside, the sound of raindrops tapping against the window sounded refreshing, and his long ankles and large feet protruded past the edge of the mattress. After lying there in a daze for some time, he heard the sound of the TV from downstairs and bolted upright to leave the room.

As expected, Lucas was sitting on the sofa on the first floor with Crunch, watching TV. Crunch, who had been wandering the rainy streets all day, seemed to be feeling the fatigue finally hit; after confirming Ho-jae’s presence with his eyes, he finished his greeting by wagging the last five centimeters of his tail left and right twice.

There were many things he wanted to ask, but since he wasn’t particularly talented at asking things naturally, his mouth kept going dry. After hesitating, he poured himself a glass of water in the kitchen and sat down on the floor, leaning his back against the sofa where Crunch was lying. Seeing this, Lucas let out a laugh.

『Why do Korean people sit on the floor when there’s a sofa?』

『Korean people…?』

『Hugh does it too.』

At those words, an image of Jung-hyun using the sofa as a backrest flashed through his mind, and a smile touched his lips. However, a second later, the feeling that it was cute vanished completely, and his brow furrowed. Why did this guy know something that he didn’t? Naturally, his tone became stiff.

『How do you know that, Lucas?』

『I stayed for a few days with Crunch while helping Hugh fix up his house before. That house is old, so there were a lot of things that needed work. That’s my specialty. I repaired almost everything in this house, too.』

『For a few days…?』

Ho-jae muttered as if displeased, but Lucas, failing to notice, hugged the cushion he was holding tightly and spoke.

『I fixed the roof, and Hugh played with Crunch in the yard… It felt a bit like a trial version of married life, I guess.』

“…….”

It was a relief that Shin Ho-jae’s face was not in his line of sight. Because Shin Ho-jae’s expression was as cold as a winter gale, as if he were facing his parents’ sworn enemy.

He had forgotten. He had forgotten that Lucas was conscious of Jung-hyun in that way. To think he had said he hoped things went well, not knowing that the “pregnant Oriental man” Lucas mentioned was Jung-hyun. He wanted to take it back right now, but since he was in a position where he had much to ask Lucas, he forcibly suppressed his unpleasant emotions for the time being.

『That… about what you said before, that Jung-hyun was pregnant. Is that true…?』

『Yes. Hugh told me himself.』

Lucas nodded nonchalantly. His throat felt parched, so he downed the water in the glass in one go.

Pregnant…

Naturally, the memory of that first and last night came back to him. That night, he had been in his rut, and he had clearly smelled Jung-hyun’s pheromones. For a long time, he had thought that scent was from a pheromone perfume, but now he knew that wasn’t the case.

If so… could that child possibly be his?

His palms began to sweat instinctively. He wanted to go to Jung-hyun’s house right this moment, knock on the door, and ask. The reason he couldn’t was because of the sentence Lucas uttered in the next moment.

『Looking at how his belly is barely showing, it seems it hasn’t been long. Maybe 3 or 4 months?』

『……You can tell just by looking at the belly?』

『My dad’s partner recently had a baby. Around 3 months, they looked exactly like Hugh, so there’s no mistake. From 4 months on, it becomes quite noticeable.』

『Ah….』

With a blank expression, Shin Ho-jae stared at the screen Lucas was watching for about ten minutes before slowly getting up and returning to his room.

Click. As he closed the door, the sound of the TV echoing in the living room was cut off, and the sound of the rain hitting the window grew louder.

3 or 4 months….

It was currently May.

And the last night he spent with Jung-hyun was at the end of December. The timing didn’t match. If Lucas was right… it would make more sense to think that the father of the fetus was not him, but rather Kyung Seung-hee.

“…….”

Collapsing onto the bed, Ho-jae covered his eyes with both arms.

The emotion burning his chest black was not unfamiliar.

* * *

The next day, the rain continued to fall steadily.

Early in the morning, Shin Ho-jae stood in front of Jung-hyun’s house holding a box and an umbrella.

Ding-dong.

After swallowing hard and waiting for a moment, a silhouette appeared on the glass of the front door. Jung-hyun opened the door wide while simultaneously asking who it was.

“Uh….”

His eyes widened slightly, as if he hadn’t expected it to be Shin Ho-jae. It was the same for Ho-jae.

“……Why are you so wet?”

Jung-hyun’s clothes were damp from his chest down to his knees. He brushed back his bangs and looked down. Hearing a small gasp of “Ah,” it seemed he had only just realized his clothes were that wet.

“There’s a bit of a problem with the house. What brings you here?”

“Ah, this. Peter asked me to deliver it. He said most of the boxes were left at my hometown house, but he forgot to send this one, so it was at his place.”

As he spoke, Ho-jae quickly held out the box. The box was in the same sealed state as it had been five years ago. Without asking further, Jung-hyun took the box and placed it on the console next to the entrance. To anyone else, it might have seemed no different from usual, but Ho-jae, who had observed him for a long time, could tell that he was currently very flustered. It seemed the problem at home had completely thrown him off balance.

A glance at the console showed it was still cluttered with mail, hats, mufflers, and such. Ho-jae’s expression softened slightly. This was the Jung-hyun he knew. Thanks to that, his hesitation faded, and knowing it was intrusive, he stepped boldly into the entryway.

“Is the problem you mentioned a plumbing issue? Should I take a look?”

Whenever the bathroom pipes or boiler broke at his family home in Suwon, Shin Ho-jae was always the one to fix them. Of course, it wasn’t a perfect professional repair—it was more of a temporary fix—but he naturally didn’t mention that.

“Ah…. It’s not the plumbing.”

Jung-hyun replied with a somewhat vacant expression. It seemed he really was in a state of mental disarray. Normally, he would have more strongly insisted that help wasn’t needed. Ho-jae took advantage of the opportunity to quickly take off his shoes and step inside.

As is the case with most Koreans living abroad, shoes were removed inside his house. This was a fact Ho-jae had learned when he visited yesterday.

And thanks to using it yesterday, he also knew where the bathroom was. It was the leftmost door at the end of the hallway past the living room. Just as Ho-jae was striding toward his destination—

The living room, drenched in water, made Ho-jae stop in his tracks. It seemed he had been cleaning it up until the moment the doorbell rang; a bucket, wet towels, and a carpet that seemed ruined by water were rolled up and pushed to one side.

It was only at this level because the carpet had absorbed some of it; otherwise, it would have been a state that could be called a disaster. Jung-hyun followed from behind and explained.

“When it rains a lot, water comes in through the air duct. I thought it was raining quite a bit yesterday, and then….”

“Ah.”

The rain, which had started before they went to look for Crunch, had poured down intensively last night. He didn’t know which part was the problem, but it seemed that was why the place had flooded like this.

“I did call someone, but it seems it’ll take about a week. Until then, I have no choice but to just wipe up the water every time….”

“I think the gutter over there isn’t doing its job. Look over there. Even now, the rain isn’t draining into the waterway; it’s pouring out of the pipe.”

As soon as he heard the mention of the air duct, Ho-jae looked out the window. He found the problem quickly. The gutter connected to the roof was failing to do its job and was spitting out the rain.

That water was running down the wall and entering the air duct hole. During a downpour like last night, the amount of water entering the hole must have been significant. Enough to turn the living room into a sea of water.

Perhaps it was something he hadn’t considered, as Jung-hyun’s eyes widened and he stood beside Shin Ho-jae, looking out the window.

“You’re right….”

Their shoulders brushed slightly and then parted. It was a tiny, fleeting contact, but a soft, watercolor-like emotion spread from that spot. With his cheeks flushing, Ho-jae licked his dry lips and spoke with exaggerated vigor.

“CEO, please stay here. I’ll go take a look.”

“What? It’s raining, it’s okay.”

“It’s better if you make use of me since I’m already here. Do you happen to have a ladder?”

“I have one I borrowed from the neighbor….”

Thinking he could actually be of help, Ho-jae energetically took the ladder and went outside. Although the rain had weakened compared to last night, it was still falling. But he didn’t mind getting a bit wet.

Jung-hyun followed him out with an umbrella. He held the umbrella over Ho-jae as he set up the ladder. Ho-jae pushed his hand slightly, signaling that he was fine and that Jung-hyun should use it. Jung-hyun looked at Ho-jae with a somewhat uncomfortable expression.

“Ho-jae. I think you should just stop….”

“I need to find the exact cause. If the gutter hasn’t been cleaned for a long time, sediment might have built up. When I lived in Canada, I saw people often go up on the roof to clean them. It’s nothing major, so it’ll be over quickly.”

“Sigh…. I didn’t know those things needed cleaning too.”

Listening to Jung-hyun mutter to himself, Ho-jae climbed the ladder. Tilting his head to check the dip in the gutter, Ho-jae’s eyes widened.

“Huh?”

A smile reflexively appeared on his lips.

“CEO. Do you have your phone? Please lend it to me for a second.”

“What? Ah, here….”

“I’m going to turn on the camera.”

Using the phone Jung-hyun had handed over in a daze, Ho-jae took a photo of the inside of the gutter with a click. Then, with a wide grin showing all his teeth, he held the photo out to Jung-hyun.

“Look at this. There was a bird’s nest inside. Three baby birds that haven’t even opened their eyes… Whoa, glub!”

At that exact moment, water that had been pooled somewhere suddenly gushed out. Right over Shin Ho-jae’s head.

“…….”

“…….”

Looking exactly like a drowned rat, Shin Ho-jae wiped the water streaming down his face with his palm. Yesterday, he had just been a bit rained on, but now he was completely soaked down to his underwear.

“…I’m sorry, but perhaps.”

“…Use the bathroom.”

“…Thank you.”

Ho-jae bowed. To think the result of his eagerness to be helpful was looking like a drowned rat. How utterly uncool.

His cheeks burned for no reason, so he quickly hurried back into the house. Because of that, he didn’t see Jung-hyun’s expression soften slightly.

130 – Puck Drop