By Zephyria ■
Last time, it was Nox Hotel, an affiliate of Hanseo Group, but this time the consultation location changed to H Hotel, which was close to Choi Hong-seo’s home. It was within walking distance. Thinking it was probably out of consideration for him, Choi Hong-seo pulled his bucket hat down low and headed to the hotel.
He counted numbers on his fingers several times in the elevator due to nervousness, but when he opened the door, it wasn’t Lee Hae-sung who greeted him, but Manager Kang.
“Uh… Uh. Hello.”
Choi Hong-seo, who had expected Lee Hae-sung as he had last time, hesitated for a moment and bowed his head.
“Thank you for coming. You have some time before the consultation, so please rest for a bit.”
Following Manager Kang’s guidance, he entered the living room and timidly sat down on the sofa. Since he had arrived about 15 minutes early, the interpreter hadn’t appeared yet.
“What kind of drink can I prepare for you?”
“Water is fine. Thank you.”
Since he seemed to have come alone without any other attendants, Manager Kang personally brought bottled water and a glass from the mini-bar. It felt awkward to be attended to by someone older, so Choi Hong-seo awkwardly stood up, unsure of what to do, and accepted the glass. Then, looking around, he gathered his courage and asked,
“Thank you. Um, by the way… where is the Vice President?”
“The Vice President has an important task, so I will be attending in his stead today.”
“Ah, I see…”
Choi Hong-seo’s gaze, which had been looking up at Manager Kang, naturally slid down.
“That’s right. Why didn’t I think of that? With such an important schedule the day after tomorrow, he couldn’t just be killing time here while ‘Yoon Hye-an’ is having a consultation.”
In fact, he hadn’t seen him at the study group meeting at Director Kang Woo-hyun’s house last time either. Although he had said he would show up as much as possible, he hadn’t promised to attend every time, and everyone seemed disappointed to miss the opportunity to spend more time with ARA’s Lee Hae-sung.
Of course, Choi Hong-seo was equally disappointed.
That’s why he had been looking forward to today even more. There was no promise that he would definitely be present here either. Why had he thought he would definitely be here without any doubt… He felt ashamed, beyond disappointment.
Feeling his ears heat up, Choi Hong-seo absently ran his hand over his ear and stealthily pulled the shopping bag he had placed beside him closer to himself. He felt like he had been caught with something he didn’t want others to see, and the heat on his face didn’t subside.
A phone call that came at that moment felt like a savior.
Holding his phone, he jumped up from his seat and headed towards the bathroom, bowing his head to ask for permission from Manager Kang, who was looking through something at his desk.
“Ah, Yong-jae.”
[Hyung, where are you?]
He entered the guest bathroom by the entrance and closed the door.
“Here… just in the neighborhood.”
It wasn’t a lie.
[Did you finish your shopping?]
“Yeah.”
[I offered to drive you to the department store, but you kept refusing… If you keep doing that, I won’t have any work. Please take me with you more often from now on. Okay?]
“It was really close by. I’ll ask you often from now on.”
[You’re not feeling well either. If I don’t hear from you for a while, I get scared you’ve collapsed somewhere again.]
Choi Hong-seo felt a little wronged, as if he was perceived as a weakling who often collapsed by people around him. He had only collapsed twice, really.
“I’m not like that anymore.”
[You say that without any basis. Even with tests, they don’t know the cause, so how can we know if you’ll collapse again or not?]
I probably know the cause that can’t be found through tests. Choi Hong-seo’s current thought was that if he didn’t strongly recall the emotions he felt at the time, as Choi Hong-seo, in places deeply intertwined with his memories, he might be able to prevent collapsing. He wasn’t entirely sure if this was correct or not.
“But why did you call? I can’t talk for long right now.”
[Ah, my mind. We’re going for drinks at Dong-ha’s place, so they invited you too. You don’t have any schedules tomorrow either, right?]
“……”
Seeing Choi Hong-seo’s silence, which didn’t readily agree to go, a cautious voice came from the other end.
[Hyung, by any chance… did you fight with Dong-ha?]
“Why?”
[The atmosphere was a bit off at the birthday party too, and I heard you didn’t even make eye contact with Dong-ha at the last study group meeting.]
“So, he says we fought?”
[He doesn’t explicitly say we fought… but it feels like he wants to reconcile with you, and since he doesn’t have the courage to tell you directly, he’s asking me to probe you instead.]
He didn’t take everything Yong-jae said at face value. Park Dong-ha suspected ‘Yoon Hye-an’ was acting, but they also felt that Park Dong-ha was hiding something.
However, today, he didn’t feel like going straight home after the consultation.
If he were Choi Hong-seo, on a day like this, he could have called Jeong Ji-in or Song Hyun-soo and had a drink of soju outside, or at their place. But now, he had to admit that the only people ‘Yoon Hye-an’ could meet were Yong-jae and Park Dong-ha.
“I’ll leave in an hour. Send me the address.”
The one-hour consultation felt incredibly long compared to last time.
He knew he was paying expensive consultation fees, so he tried to be sincere, but everything felt uninteresting simply because he wasn’t there in the living room beyond the door.
When he applied for the
After the consultation, when he went out to the living room, Manager Kang had prepared some simple snacks for the interpreter and Choi Hong-seo.
“Thank you for your hard work. The Vice President will speak with you separately at a later date.”
“Yes.”
Choi Hong-seo’s face flushed again, feeling that Manager Kang had thoughtfully mentioned this because he had asked about him before the consultation.
He sat at a round table with tea and macarons, along with an American interpreter who spoke fluent Korean.
‘Does Hong-seo’s dating preference include men?’
On the day he heard Lee Hae-sung declare he wanted to be his boyfriend, when he was the past Choi Hong-seo. He had prepared macarons for Choi Hong-seo that day.
When he heard that he was waiting at the hotel, someone he had barely had a chance to talk to at the movie dinner meeting, Choi Hong-seo had definitely felt anticipation.
While feeling anxious that he might be the same as the other people he wanted to sleep with, a thought began to sprout that he might be different, special.
Lost in reminiscence, Choi Hong-seo simply gazed at the colorful macarons on the pretty plate. Like a child who had been told not to eat.
“Do you perhaps not like macarons?”
The interpreter, who was also being treated to snacks, whispered quietly so Manager Kang couldn’t hear. Choi Hong-seo smiled and replied,
“No, I like them.”
“Since Hyean is an actor, you might feel guilty eating sweet things at a time like this.”
“It’s a bit like that. Besides, I gain weight easily.”
Ah… is that not the case anymore?
He habitually mentioned Choi Hong-seo’s physique, but according to Park Dong-ha, Yoon Hye-an had a physique that didn’t gain weight.
However, Choi Hong-seo had not experimented to see if Park Dong-ha’s words were true. He didn’t have the courage. Even if he didn’t gain weight due to his physique, he couldn’t maintain a beautiful figure with an immoderate diet, and it affected his skin.
“Still, you’re so thin, one or two should be fine, right? They’re so delicious.”
At her words, Choi Hong-seo smiled faintly and nodded.
‘You’re so skinny. Shouldn’t you gain a little weight instead?’
Because I remembered what Lee Hae-sung had said while looking down at Choi Hong-seo’s wrist, which couldn’t quite bring itself to reach for the macarons.
Among the macarons of various colors, I picked the green one that looked like matcha flavor. It was the same color as the one Lee Hae-sung had eaten that day. Whether it was a delusion or not, the texture and taste seemed identical to the macaron I had eaten that day.
No matter how much tea I drank together, my throat felt dry. Perhaps it was a trap set by him, who was not here today, for ‘Choi Hong-seo.’
Had he come to wish for ‘Yoon Hye-an’ to play the role of ‘Choi Hong-seo’?
After the last consultation, while riding in the car together, Choi Hong-seo had gotten that impression from him. He had been so flustered, unsure of how to react, especially when the topic of cigarettes came up. His tone, as if speaking to Choi Hong-seo, his voice trembling ever so slightly, had caused his emotions to sway greatly.
It was no longer an attempt to test ‘Yoon Hye-an’s’ reaction as before. He was simply repeating the scenes that had occurred between him and Choi Hong-seo. The existence of ‘Yoon Hye-an’ was already out of his interest; if there was anything he wanted from ‘Yoon Hye-an,’ it was only to play ‘Choi Hong-seo.’ That’s how it felt in that moment.
That’s why I had boldly prepared a tie…
Of course, I couldn’t be sure. It was all just speculation.