By Zephyria “Yeah, just leave it.”
Cheon Seung-pil could have continued to harp on with his outrageous demands that would have floored anyone, but he decided to hold back, fearing that the blabbermouth might rat him out to Joo Tae-hyun about today’s events, potentially landing him in trouble. After all, he was close enough to Joo Tae-hyun that he’d asked him to buy a pregnancy test.
“Uh… b-but, Hyung, I haven’t even seen Tae-hyun’s face yet-.”
“It’s not like you had an appointment. You just came to drop off side dishes, right? I’ll take care of it, so just leave it.”
He sugarcoated the message to get lost now that he was done, but Cheon Seung-pil just hesitated.
“Seung-pil, have I become too comfortable to you? Seeing as you’re listening to my words however your dick pleases now?”
The harsh tone, so unlike his gentle voice, seemed to instill even greater fear, as Cheon Seung-pil shook his head vigorously. The way he stammered, denying it completely, made him look so utterly foolish that Seo Baek-han found himself laughing at how upset he’d been by such a guy.
“Um, Hyung. Tae-hyun… he’s doing okay, right?”
A livid vein popped out on Seo Baek-han’s forehead as he casually scanned the contents of the bag Cheon Seung-pil had brought.
He was trying to end this amicably, but this guy had zero tact.
“Eating well, sleeping well… he’s not sick or anything, is he?”
Cheon Seung-pil squeezed his clasped hands mercilessly as he barely managed to ask. Anyone watching would think he was an ex-boyfriend who had broken up due to unavoidable circumstances.
“Tae-hyun tries not to show it even when he’s hurting or having a hard time. So-.”
He was only tolerating him because of the excuse of being best friends, but this was the limit. Seo Baek-han forced himself to relax the space between his eyebrows, which had naturally narrowed, and offered a lukewarm smile.
“Seung-pil. You said you succeeded in transferring, right? I heard you haven’t graduated yet… so, a senior?”
Cheon Seung-pil’s face, which had been wistfully longing for Joo Tae-hyun, crumbled. It was plain to see that he resented being looked down upon for his academic background in such a petty way.
“Whatever the case, you’ll be graduating soon, so how about going to graduate school afterward? There are a lot of good schools in the Washington area.”
“H-huh?”
“I’m bound to miss some news about Tae-hyun since I’m going back and forth to Pyongyang. I’d feel a little more at ease if you were by his side, taking good care of him.”
“N-no, I… graduate school, Hyung. I can’t even graduate from college right now…….”
“I’ll take responsibility and get you a master’s degree.”
When he said he would contact the chairman of the Yoonra Foundation directly, Cheon Seung-pil’s complexion turned pale.
“Your family elders will be so happy. You’re not exactly young anymore, either. You need to grow up.”
He had only said it to shut the guy up, but the more he thought about it, the better the plan seemed.
Wouldn’t it be a great comfort to Joo Tae-hyun to have a close friend nearby? He didn’t want to admit it, but there would definitely be times when he’d want to vent to someone like Cheon Seung-pil rather than to him, the person involved.
Besides, he was traveling to Washington every week anyway, and he had people planted there, so if Cheon Seung-pil lived in Washington, it would actually be easier to keep tabs on him.
If he was properly coaxed, he’d probably relay Joo Tae-hyun’s inner thoughts, which even the secretaries would have a hard time discerning…….
“So, study hard. Tae-hyun will probably get his degree faster than you, and it wouldn’t look good if you’re the only one still in school. And it’ll be boring for a guy who used to roam around Manhattan to be stuck alone in Washington.”
He nodded quietly, thinking it was a really good plan, and Cheon Seung-pil trembled as if he had heard something he shouldn’t have.
“Ha, haha……. Thank you for thinking of me, but I’m planning to return home as soon as I graduate. Uh, uh? Did Hyung buy that?”
Desperate to change the subject, Cheon Seung-pil craned his neck and started blurting out whatever came to mind.
“I don’t think I’ve seen that case before… Ah! Is it a trash can?”
A trash can, he said. If Choi Yeon-jun, who had spent a full half-day protesting to make that vase, heard that, he would shower him with curses. Seo Baek-han crossed his arms as if he couldn’t listen anymore, and Cheon Seung-pil became even more desperate. He seemed to want to erase the talk about graduate school at all costs… but that wasn’t going to happen.
There was nothing he wouldn’t do for Joo Tae-hyun’s stability. It wasn’t bad for him either, having someone he could use nearby, and how delighted would the elders of the Yoonra Foundation be? He had no reason to pass up an opportunity that would make everyone happy except for Cheon Seung-pil.
“Come to think of it, it seems like there are more flowers in Tae-hyun’s house these days……. Ah, Hyung, did you use roses when you proposed?”
“…Proposed?”
“Ah, sorry! I just thought of it naturally since I saw the flowers……. I wasn’t trying to pry or anything, it’s just that Tae-hyun never tells me about these personal things. I was just suddenly curious about what it would have been like since Hyung has such great taste-.”
Cheon Seung-pil’s eyes widened as he peeked through the narrow doorway, desperately trying to find something to talk about.
“Huh? Hyung, you didn’t do anything?”
“…….”
“Seriously? Why? Hyung, weren’t you trying to get back together with Tae-hyun?”
He should have retorted, asking why he cared whether he proposed or not. But perhaps because he had heard something unexpected, the words didn’t come easily.
“No, I mean, I’ve heard that Hyung is just chasing after Tae-hyun, so why……. Oh, that’s not what I meant, I’m just telling you what other people said…….”
Seeing Seo Baek-han speechless for once, Cheon Seung-pil seemed to roughly grasp the situation.
“But… really, why? Does Tae-hyun not like proposals or something? You should still try it once. Tae-hyun complains, but he accepts everything you do for him. It might not be ‘I love you, let’s get married again!’ but I think he would have liked it…….”
“…It’s not the right time.”
“Huh? Isn’t now the perfect time…?”
Joo Tae-hyun had announced the divorce at the press conference, Seo Baek-han had followed Joo Tae-hyun all the way to America, and even taken a bullet for him. Even to someone who didn’t know the details, it looked like Seo Baek-han was clinging to Joo Tae-hyun. If he was in a position where he had to beg Joo Tae-hyun not to divorce him, not to break up with him.
“Shouldn’t you do everything you can for Tae-hyun? How did you propose the first time?”
Seo Baek-han maintained his silence this time as well.
Proposal. In the first place, Joo Tae-hyun had been the one to propose marriage, and after that, they had only gone through the formal procedures. It was closer to a contract between two families than a marriage.
“Anyway, I don’t think this is something you need to worry about, Seung-pil. Just focus on preparing for graduate school.”
“Ah, Hyung! I’m really not going to graduate school!”
He wasn’t so careless as to show Cheon Seung-pil an opening twice. He quickly composed himself and spoke kindly, causing Cheon Seung-pil to have a fit.
“I’ll contact the chairman right away, so keep that in mind. Ah. You’re not still far from graduating, are you?”
“What graduate school! Baek-han Hyung? Hyung! Wait, Hyung!”
He gave a suitable smile to Cheon Seung-pil, who was desperately calling out to him, and slammed the door shut. He kept ringing the doorbell, so he pounded on the front door with his fist, and only then did it quiet down.
“…Ha.”
Do everything you can for him? That guy was saying such carefree things because he didn’t know the full story.
Propose to Joo Tae-hyun, who had crumbled just from mentioning the dead child? And do it because he felt sorry for him, because he wanted to do something for him?
That was absurd. Joo Tae-hyun was struggling not to collapse, and he didn’t want to talk about such comfortable things as proposals just to ease his own mind. But…….
Seo Baek-han stared blankly at the vase decorated with the flowers he had bought last week.
A small event that he hadn’t been able to give him in the past, something the younger Joo Tae-hyun had wished for… wouldn’t that be okay?
Instead of just pouring out the words he wanted to say to him, like “I love you” or “I’m sorry.”
Even if it wasn’t a huge, flashy bouquet that he couldn’t even hold in his arms, or an expensive watch.
Just handing him a short letter on a day that wasn’t an anniversary, saying that he had suddenly thought of him.
Yeah, that much would be okay, wouldn’t it?