24 – AC

===

“Madam! The Chairman is here!”

“What? Jun-hyeok is?”

A startled Eun-won quickly followed the Madam as she hurried down the stairs. In the living room stood his father, who had been out of contact for several days, supported by his secretary.

The Madam burst into tears and rushed forward to embrace Eun-won’s father. Patting her back and apologizing, the father looked toward Eun-won, who was standing behind her, with tears in his eyes.

“Eun-won….”

At the call, the Madam stepped aside, and his father approached and pulled Eun-won into a tight embrace.

“Thank you so much…. It couldn’t have been an easy decision. I’m truly grateful, and I’m so sorry. You protected not only the company, but our family of three as well.”

The words that he had protected his family—that alone was enough. It was a relief that his father had returned safely, and it was a great relief that the company his father cherished so much had been saved… but his heart felt strange. Along with a sense of relief, an indescribable, bitter, and chilling emotion spread through him. It was a feeling similar to what he felt when he faced the Madam as she wept while hugging him.

“Everything will be alright now. Our family will become even stronger. It’s all thanks to you.”

“…I’m just glad you returned safely.”

Even as he hugged his father back, Eun-won’s gaze kept wavering. Would he ever be able to feel that warmth again—the same warmth he had felt for a fleeting moment?

Despite being filled with the warmth of his father’s touch, the answer to that question did not come easily.

* * *

Cha Se-jin, who had returned home before the end of the workday, leisurely enjoyed a daytime swim. As he thought about Eun-won, who had contacted him first and asked to get married, the water he was swimming in eventually felt like the tears Eun-won had shed while sobbing.

Others might say he was out of his mind if they heard this, but since it wasn’t exactly wrong, Cha Se-jin dismissed it as nothing and headed to the main building after showering.

“Oh? Oppa, you were home? You didn’t go to work!”

“I just left early. Why are you home already?”

“I was going to do my assignment at school, but I decided to do it at home. Mom and Dad were crying, saying they wanted to have dinner with me.”

Even though they lived in the same house, it was so vast and their respective areas were divided, and since their schedules were irregular, there were many days when he didn’t see his younger sister, Cha Se-na, even once. Seeing her, Cha Se-jin strode over and teased her.

“They weren’t crying.”

“They said they kept crying when you weren’t looking. Since the eldest Oppa is coming home early too, you stay home and don’t wander off.”

“Hey, what do you mean ‘wander off’ to your Oppa? Is your sister-in-law coming too?”

“Yeah. Ah, stop it!”

As he ruffled her well-groomed, long straight hair, Cha Se-na frowned and pushed his hand away. Laughing playfully, Cha Se-jin pinched her cheek as if she were cute and then flopped onto the sofa.

“Hyung is pushing himself. He’s been damn busy lately.”

“That’s because you don’t work, Oppa.”

“Hey, why do I not work? I go to work every single day, attend meetings, and hold back the urge to crush the people who are acting like total assholes.”

Cha Se-na shook her head at Cha Se-jin’s brazen words, nagged him once more to stay home and not leave, and then headed up the stairs.

“You’ve gained weight. What are you going to do, you pig?”

“Ugh, Cha Se-jin, I really hate you.”

“Sassing me again.”

Looking up at his sister as she spun around to glare at him, Cha Se-jin pretended to blow a kiss from his fingertips. Cha Se-na responded by pretending to gag and quickly ran upstairs, disappearing from sight.

Cha Se-na was six years younger than Cha Se-jin. She was already twenty-two, but in Cha Se-jin’s eyes, she still looked like a child who loved wearing large ribbon pins and princess-like clothes.

And yet, Eun-won was two years younger than Cha Se-na. Thinking about it made him wonder if he was overreacting, but rather than hesitating and having Eun-won snatched away by some other bastard, it was better for him to hook him quickly. No matter how many times he thought about it, that was the right move.

He had intended to tell his parents today that Eun-won had agreed to the marriage, and since the whole family was having dinner together, it was great that he could announce it all at once without having to repeat himself. The only downside was that, since he was saying it in front of everyone, there was a high probability he would get nagged by ‘everyone.’

Ah, well. I’m the one getting married, so whatever.

Sinking deep into the sofa, Cha Se-jin closed his eyes, bathed in the long afternoon sunlight streaming into the house.

Various conversations flowed within the dining room where everyone had gathered for the first time in a while. It was a time when the blunt and exceptional eloquence they all equally shared shone brightly.

“Se-gyu, aren’t you pushing yourself too hard lately? I’m grateful for your dedication to the resort, but your health comes first. Take care of yourself while you work.”

“Yes, Father. I’m not starving myself to work. You know I eat well. I have an important meeting next week, so once that’s over, I plan to take a few days off.”

Listening to the talk about work between his father and brother, Cha Se-jin leisurely cut a large piece of steak and put it in his mouth, grinning at Cha Se-na, who was still glancing at him as if she were still pouting.

“Eat a lot. You need plenty of protein to bulk up.”

“Ugh, seriously!”

Laughing at Se-na’s reaction, Cha Se-jin put down his knife and took a sip of wine. Then, as if waiting for everyone’s attention to be focused, he delivered the news he had been holding in his mouth the whole time.

“I received a proposal today.”

At the sudden remark, Cha Se-na and his sister-in-law, Yoo Tae-ra, froze with their forks in mid-air, and Cha Se-gyu stopped just as he was about to lift his wine glass. His parents also chewed over Cha Se-jin’s words in silence, as if trying to grasp the situation.

“A proposal? From whom? No way, that Baum?”

At Cha Se-na’s question, which broke the silence, Cha Se-jin nodded. At that, Cha Se-gyu, who had barely managed a sip of wine, asked back in disbelief.

“They contacted you first?”

“Yeah. I said I got a proposal today.”

“Are you really going to go through with an arranged marriage? This isn’t something to decide as a joke.”

“I’m not joking.”

Knowing Cha Se-jin’s usual behavior, Cha Se-gyu could not believe that he was suddenly declaring and pushing for an arranged marriage so obediently. This was because there was a high probability that once all the preparations were complete, he would suddenly say he was sick of it and that he couldn’t get married.

And his parents felt the same as Cha Se-gyu. Of course, they intended to make it happen if the arranged marriage was feasible, but since he kept saying he needed more time and the meeting a few days ago had ended inconclusively without any real progress, they had judged it to be practically impossible.

And yet, he suddenly received a proposal after just a few days. It was bound to be hard to believe.

“Young Master, aren’t you rushing too much? Given your personality, an arranged marriage won’t be easy.”

“What’s wrong with my personality?”

“You aren’t the type to give up all your private life for public affairs.”

“Even my sister-in-law knows my personality too well.”

“Still, I think you might be better than Se-gyu. At least you express yourself outwardly, Young Master.”

Despite Yoo Tae-ra’s pointed words, Cha Se-jin glanced at Cha Se-gyu, who continued eating in silence, then grinned at his sister-in-law and locked eyes with his mother, who was still looking at him with disbelief.

“Is it true, Se-jin?”

“Yes, it’s true, Mom. He came to see me today and asked me to marry him. So I said let’s do it. It was planned from the start anyway. I guess things are finally sorted on their end too.”

Looking at Cha Se-jin, who spoke as if everything were trivial and no big deal, the father took a sip of water and put down his fork.

“Se-jin. Do you really intend to marry that child, Baum?”

“Yes. That’s what we agreed on.”

“This isn’t a romance or a prank that you usually do as you please; this is marriage. When you become family with Baum, of course, the benefits we gain are great, but that is strictly business. That marriage may not necessarily benefit your own life.”

Cha Se-jin nodded at his father’s heavy and serious words. From the beginning, his parents must have used the extreme measure of an arranged marriage to fix his habits. They probably didn’t expect him to accept it so readily.

Now that things had reached this point, it was natural for them to be more worried than he was. Even if they knew he wasn’t normal, they could never have imagined he was the kind of lunatic who would march straight into an arranged marriage while shouting that the face was simply his type.

“I’m saying this isn’t something to be decided for such a light reason… like simply liking someone’s face. Moreover, the other person is much younger than you, and I don’t know if that child can handle you. Your hasty decision could make that child unhappy.”

At his father’s words, Cha Se-jin pressed a piece of steak with his fork and thought of Eun-won, who had been crying in front of him. Would that child really become more unhappy if he married him? Wouldn’t living with him—who at least had a handsome face—be happier than living while being gaslit in a den of psychopaths?

No matter how he thought about it, he didn’t think Eun-won would become more unhappy by living with him.