By Zephyria 
The grandmother sitting across from Song Hyun-soo had almost moved her seat next to Yoon Joo-ho.
“Try this soy-marinated crab too. I’ve never seen crabs this meaty used for gejang in my life. Have you ever seen anything like it?”
The gejang was one of the gifts Yoon Joo-ho had brought. She pushed the plate full of gejang towards Yoon Joo-ho and asked the grandfather.
“Where would I have seen something like this? It’s packed with meat.”If you like it, I can send you some by courier later. Please, both of you, eat up.”
“Just watching you two sitting side by side and eating makes my stomach full.”
Song Hyun-soo, who was sitting next to him and tearing apart a braised short rib, nudged Yoon Joo-ho with his elbow.
“Don’t push yourself, just eat as much as you can.”
“That’s right. Don’t overeat just because you’re worried about us. Just eat as much as you want.”
Even as she said that, the grandmother moved every dish that Yoon Joo-ho’s chopsticks reached for in front of him.
“The food is all so delicious, I end up eating a lot.”
“You barely eat anything and you’re forcing yourself to… keuheup.”
Song Hyun-soo couldn’t finish his sentence. It was because Yoon Joo-ho had gripped his thigh tightly under the low dining table.
Having been active at the top of his field for a long time, Yoon Joo-ho had quite a bit of experience attending domestic and international events as a representative of Korea or as a representative of actors. But even at those events, he had never been this nervous. Of course, he had never deliberately overeaten to make a good impression.
He hadn’t even realized he was hungry, and he couldn’t taste the food while he was eating. But after the meal, he was full. He couldn’t even remember the last time he had overeaten this much.
After clearing away the low dining table, a smaller tea table was set with desserts. Two or three kinds of fruit and snacks, instant coffee. And the birthday cake that Yoon Joo-ho had brought took center stage.
“I heard our Hyun-soo is a CEO.”
“Please, speak casually, Grandfather.”
“Can I really do that…”
“It makes me uncomfortable. I’m only four years older than Hyun-soo. And Grandmother too. Please, treat me comfortably.”
Song Hyun-soo’s jaw slowed as he chewed his melon.
Where did Yoon Joo-ho go, the one who emphasized the importance of respecting elders so much, saying that there was a five-year age difference since his birthday hadn’t passed yet? Now that his birthday had passed and there was a four-year age difference, did that mean a four-year age difference was no big deal now?
“Even so, Hyun-soo is so indebted to us… He’s practically our benefactor…”
“He’s a rookie that our company has high expectations for, so we’re investing in him. You don’t have to think that Hyun-soo is indebted to us.”
Song Hyun-soo almost dropped his fork this time. Yoon Joo-ho’s transformation was astonishing. But he didn’t seem to be putting on an act. He was polite, but not stiff, and affable. He was the perfect Yoon Joo-ho that you could only see in dramas. Yoon Joo-ho, who had a pretty face and spoke and acted prettily.
When the company story came up, the grandmother nodded with a face that still couldn’t quite believe it.
“I was so happy when I heard he was going to be in the same series as the Crown Prince.”
“And now he’s even joined that company. People like us can only be grateful.”
The atmosphere became much lighter than it had been during the meal. The faces of the grandmother and grandfather, which had always been etched with weariness, were filled with smiles throughout. Song Hyun-soo once again felt the power of the ‘Crown Prince’.
Yoon Joo-ho put down his coffee cup and looked back and forth between the two of them.
“Please be sure to come to the VIP premiere next month.”
“Huh?”
Song Hyun-soo stepped in to help the two of them, who were looking at each other, not knowing what he meant.
“Before a movie is released in theaters, they show it in advance to important people. He’s saying that Grandmother and Grandfather should come too.”
“Can people like us go to such an event?”
“It’s an event to invite people like Grandmother and Grandfather. You’re the grandparents of an important actor.”
The two of them still had dazed expressions. Song Hyun-soo could tell that they were hesitating because they were worried that they might make a mistake at such an event and cause harm to their grandson.
“Just come and watch the movie. It’s not difficult.”
“That’s right. I’ll send a car to pick you up on time.”
“Oh my, even a car? It’s okay. It’s quick to get there by express bus.”
The grandmother refused firmly, but Yoon Joo-ho had no intention of backing down either.
“As the representative of Hyun-soo’s company, it’s something I should naturally do for you. Please don’t feel burdened. It would make me feel better.”
Yoon Joo-ho, who had spoken softly but firmly, got up and brought the shopping bags he had placed in the back.
“And, this…”
“What is this?”
Song Hyun-soo stepped in for Yoon Joo-ho and pushed the shopping bags towards the grandmother and grandfather, explaining.
“Shoes and clothes. And a bag for Grandmother.”
“Why would you…”
“To wear when you come to the premiere.”
The grandmother pushed the shopping bags towards Song Hyun-soo with an uneasy expression. And she urged him in a hushed voice, as if afraid someone would hear.
“Why did this kid, who’s just starting to earn money, buy something like this? Take it and exchange it for money, huh?”
“No, Grandmother. My senior prepared this.”
“Huh…?”
The two of them turned their gaze to Yoon Joo-ho.
“I didn’t want to come empty-handed when I was meeting you for the first time, Grandmother. It’s a gift to ask you to take good care of me. Please accept it.”
Before the back-and-forth of ‘I can’t accept it, please accept it’ could get any longer, Song Hyun-soo quickly got up and put the shopping bags in the room.
In the meantime, Yoon Joo-ho put candles on the cake. It was to change the subject. They didn’t even sing a birthday song, but Song Hyun-soo closed his eyes, made a wish, and blew out the candles. Seeing Yoon Joo-ho clapping with the grandmother and grandfather made him laugh involuntarily. He briefly exchanged glances with Yoon Joo-ho. They didn’t need to say or hear what wish they had made.
Song Hyun-soo, holding his phone switched to selfie mode, stretched out his arm and took a photo so that all four of them would be in it together. The grandmother looked at the photo that Song Hyun-soo sent her once, and then looked up at Yoon Joo-ho’s face sitting next to her once, repeating it several times. Her face, as she looked at Yoon Joo-ho, was full of satisfaction and happiness, as if she were treating her grandson who had come down from Seoul after a long time. She patted Yoon Joo-ho’s back as he ate the cake.
“It’s like watching a series.”
Yoon Joo-ho looked down at the grandmother and smiled gently.
“Is that so?”
Song Hyun-soo felt like he was being charmed by that smile and attitude, which were softer than the cake he was eating. How nice would it be if he spoke as prettily as he looked? He had always thought that when he looked at Yoon Joo-ho. But it seemed like he had to take back those words. Because he only said pretty things and acted prettily with that face, he couldn’t come to his senses. He felt like he was going to flounder.
“Every single action is different from ordinary people.”
“He’s like a real prince, isn’t he, Grandmother?”
At Song Hyun-soo’s question, she smiled and nodded.
“Yes. If there were a real prince, he would definitely be like this, right?”
She held Yoon Joo-ho’s hand and shook it affectionately. Yoon Joo-ho also held her hand tightly in return.
Yoon Joo-ho didn’t have any special memories of his grandparents. Now, only one of his four grandparents from both sides was still alive, his paternal grandmother, and her relationship with Yoon Joo-ho’s parents had gradually become estranged during the 40 years she had lived in the United States.
Being comforted by grandparents after being scolded by parents, having them unconditionally take his side, buying things he wanted with the allowance they secretly gave him without his parents knowing… Yoon Joo-ho lacked such memories. When the senior actors on set doted on him during his childhood, he had only vaguely imagined that this was what grandparents felt like.
But now, he felt like he was being compensated for his past shortcomings. He felt like he had become someone’s very precious grandson.
“Our Hyun-soo has also been praised for being pretty since he was young.”
“Yes, I think so too.”
Yoon Joo-ho ruffled Song Hyun-soo’s hair as he took a second piece of cake onto his plate and smiled briefly. This time, the grandfather stepped in to add to the conversation.
“To other people, he may be hopelessly lacking compared to the Crown Prince, but in our eyes, Hyun-soo is not lacking in looks either. But still, our Hyun-soo isn’t like a prince.”
Everyone except Song Hyun-soo burst into laughter. Song Hyun-soo, with cream on his lips, looked back and forth at the three of them with a dissatisfied expression. But soon, he thought, what did it matter? If these three were this happy.
The grandmother handed Song Hyun-soo a tissue and asked as if confirming.
“Hyun-soo is staying overnight tonight, right?”
“Yeah, that’s the plan.”
Showing a happy expression, she then looked up at Yoon Joo-ho with a regretful face.
“Crown Prince, I can’t ask you to stay overnight because the house is too small.”
Yoon Joo-ho bent down to meet her eyes.
“Should I stay overnight too?”
The grandmother shook her head three or four times and shook the hand she was holding.
“In my heart, I would want you to stay a hundred times over. But it’s too small and uncomfortable here, so you can’t.”
Even though it was a refusal that she couldn’t let him stay, he didn’t feel hurt. Because her words were based on the premise that she cherished Yoon Joo-ho.
Yoon Joo-ho looked down at her hand, which was holding his hand tightly. Strangely, her wrinkled little hand didn’t feel weak. He felt a more steadfast strength than his own hand, which seemed twice as big as hers.
As he gripped her hand tightly, Yoon Joo-ho suddenly took a slow look around.
The living room, which wasn’t large but was brightly lit by the sunlight, the carefully prepared food set on the large table, the four people sitting around it harmoniously. The wrinkled hand that kept putting a fork with fruit on it in his hand, the genuine warm smiles and goodwill directed at him. And the person he loved. His one and only person.
It was as if he had been in this place, with these people, sometime in the past.
Had he forgotten the memory, but the happiness remained deeply in his heart, and without him knowing, he had continued to reminisce about it, and had he finally returned to the longed-for place after a long journey?
Yoon Joo-ho turned to Song Hyun-soo, who was next to him. Come to think of it, he had felt this emotion a few times through him. He had some kind of power. The power to make him long for emotions that he had lost or never had in the first place. The power to make him feel nostalgia for things he had never experienced.
The hard lump that had been clumped together in his heart melted and a fragrance bloomed from there.
Yoon Joo-ho, who had quietly put down his fork, cleared his throat and opened his mouth.
“Actually, I came to see you today because I have something important to tell you.”