By Zephyria 
Min Ra-hyeon slowly scanned the surroundings. In one corner, several old-looking canvases were gathered together, but they were all landscapes. He couldn’t find anything unusual. Moreover, seeing that the paint on the canvas resting on the easel hadn’t dried yet, it seemed this was indeed the painting Seo Yi-kyung had been working on until a moment ago.
Did he just call me here to paint and chat with a friend? If that was all, then why did he try to kick me out?
Min Ra-hyeon looked around, his eyes lingering with lingering doubt. The Seo Yi-kyung from earlier had looked exactly like someone who wanted to hide something.
Click. Just then, the door to the painting studio opened. Butler Do, stepping inside, asked with a surprised face.
“What are you doing here?”
Butler Do had entered to tidy up the studio after hearing that Seo Yi-kyung had gone up to the second floor. Taking the used apron for laundry and lightly organizing the cluttered interior was originally his job. However, today, an unexpected person was standing there. Butler Do approached Min Ra-hyeon with a look of bewilderment.
“What do you mean, what am I doing?”
Saying this, Min Ra-hyeon turned around and picked up a tray from the work table. He held it out to Butler Do as he drew closer.
“I only came to get this.”
As Butler Do took the tray with both hands, Min Ra-hyeon leisurely exited the open studio. Butler Do looked down at the tray he had received. A half-empty teapot and a teacup with traces of having been drunk sat lonely upon it.
* * *
The next day, Butler Do followed Seo Yi-kyung into the painting studio.
Seo Yi-kyung was preoccupied with smoothing out a folded apron and checking the bag Jin Seon-yu had left behind, preparing everything so that Seon-yu could start painting as soon as he arrived.
“Young Master.”
While filling a teacup, Butler Do, after much deliberation, confessed that he had spotted Min Ra-hyeon here the previous day. However, Seo Yi-kyung’s expression, which Butler Do expected to be surprised, was instead calm. As if he had known it would happen.
Seo Yi-kyung turned his gaze away from Butler Do. He was currently drinking tea while sitting in a chair, as if replenishing his strength.
“Are you not surprised?”
Butler Do asked. Although Min Ra-hyeon was staying in this house as Han Seung-jae’s guest, Butler Do existed in this house essentially to assist Seo Yi-kyung. Out of concern for Seo Yi-kyung, Butler Do had tried to bring it up during dinner last night but couldn’t, and only now, today, did he cautiously reveal it.
However, Seo Yi-kyung took a leisurely sip of the warm tea before speaking.
“I thought he would come in.”
“Pardon?”
Butler Do could not hide his bewildered expression. Seo Yi-kyung said this and brought the teacup to his lips. The ultrasound photo that Min Ra-hyeon claimed to have picked up in the living room had likely actually been taken from a drawer after he entered this room. But for some change of heart, he had returned it. Perhaps he had used it as a pretext to try and restore their relationship.
It was consistent with how he had made a scene by searching through the helpers’ rooms to find the lost bracelet and acting so conspicuously. There was a high probability that he had tried to resolve the relationship somehow by finding and returning the bracelet through his efforts.
Min Ra-hyeon, who had no interest in painting, had even suggested going to an exhibition first. And he had mentioned that he told Han Seung-jae as well.
Seo Yi-kyung gently blew on the tea Butler Do had freshly poured, from which white steam was curling up, and drank it. While drinking something warm, the emotions that had surged violently seemed to fade.
He had only thought of Min Ra-hyeon, so why did his thoughts always end up concluding with Han Seung-jae? Because of that, his mood sank even further. It was a feeling that he would have preferred not to know at all.
Shortly after, Jin Seon-yu entered the painting studio. Butler Do prepared fresh tea, set it down, and left the studio.
Jin Seon-yu skillfully took the apron Seo Yi-kyung handed him and draped it around his neck.
“Let’s see.”
He reached behind his back to tie the waist string of the apron and approached the canvas. While watching Jin Seon-yu’s profile as he contemplated the painting, Seo Yi-kyung brought over a painting of a faded winter mountain from among the array of old landscape canvases.
Jin Seon-yu took out a well-maintained brush from his tool bag.
Buzz—. After painting for a while, Jin Seon-yu turned his head at the sudden vibration of his phone. Seo Yi-kyung took the phone out of Jin Seon-yu’s outer garment and handed it to him. Kwon Gwi-jun’s name flashed briefly on the screen and then blinked out. Jin Seon-yu murmured as he shifted the brush to his other hand.
“Just sit for a bit. It’s not like the painting will get finished faster just because you’re watching.”
Jin Seon-yu smiled and reached out. Seo Yi-kyung handed him the phone and finally sat in the chair.
“You should take a break too.”
Seo Yi-kyung felt sorry to be the only one sitting comfortably. Wasn’t the reason Jin Seon-yu was painting here because of him? However, Jin Seon-yu often said he found it more comfortable to work standing up.
“Gi-jun says he’s buying lunch tomorrow.”
Jin Seon-yu placed the phone, after checking the message, on the work table.
“He always says he’s busy, but he’s truly sincere when it comes to lunch.”
Then, following Seo Yi-kyung’s lead, he gulped down the tea—which had already gone cold—like water. He then habitually leaned his body slightly against the work table to rest.
“Do you want to come along?”
In any case, all Seo Yi-kyung ate for lunch was usually just soup. Even that was served by a chef who tailored it to Seo Yi-kyung’s taste. Thus, there was no way food from another place would go down. Seo Yi-kyung shook his head.
“I wouldn’t be able to eat anything anyway, even if I went. Go on your date.”
Jin Seon-yu could just have lunch with Kwon Gwi-jun, and Seo Yi-kyung could have lunch here and then greet him upon his return.
“It’s not like that. He says it’s a thank-you gift because I gave him a present for Christmas.”
The image of the black mineral object Jin Seon-yu had sent him in a photo came to mind. Seo Yi-kyung looked up.
‘Has Kwon Gwi-jun still not confessed?’
Looking at Jin Seon-yu’s profile as he drank tea, Seo Yi-kyung couldn’t shake the feeling that Kwon Gwi-jun still had a long way to go.
Turning his head, Jin Seon-yu added with a smile.
“I won’t go either. I have to finish this painting. By the way, if I give this painting as a gift, what did you agree to receive in return?”
There was no ulterior motive visible in Jin Seon-yu’s eyes as he asked. He was likely just curious about why he was rushing a painting that Seo Yi-kyung could have finished himself if given enough time.
Similarly, Seo Yi-kyung, who had been drinking the cold tea, opened his mouth. Since it was Jin Seon-yu and no one else, wouldn’t it be okay to tell him the truth?
Clatter. At Seo Yi-kyung’s answer, Jin Seon-yu set down the teacup he was holding and turned his body, leaning his upper body in close. The eyes that had been full of curiosity until a moment ago wavered.
* * *
After Jin Seon-yu left, Seo Yi-kyung went up to the second floor, finished showering, and put on a robe. He perched on the table in the bedroom and rubbed his wet hair. His pale face was flushed pink from the temperature of the hot water.
Sigh. A long breath escaped just by opening his mouth. Painting was hard, but watching someone paint was no less exhausting. That was why Seo Yi-kyung repeatedly sat and stood from the chair, but Jin Seon-yu remained standing throughout the painting process. Still, Jin Seon-yu’s eye for detail was marvelously excellent.
What Seo Yi-kyung had seen but failed to paint, Jin Seon-yu was capturing perfectly—the contours of a winter mountain covered in white snow.
The winter mountain was also the painting Seo Yi-kyung had wanted to give to Han Seung-jae. It suited Han Seung-jae’s image.
—You said you’d give it to me as a painting.
—When did you paint this?
Han Seung-jae asked coldly toward Seo Yi-kyung, who was unable to say a word, his lips frozen.
—Do you not paint these days?
And Han Seung-jae had refused to accept the canvas that was riddled with scratches on the edges.
—Paint a new one. At my house.
Suddenly recalling those events, Seo Yi-kyung pulled down the towel covering his head. He leaned his back against the chair. His painting skills showed no sign of improving, but thinking back, there were things that had changed between then and now.
The child in his womb was one such thing, as were his feelings toward Han Seung-jae.
At this pace, the painting would be completed in about fifteen days, just as Jin Seon-yu had said.
If he gave that painting to Han Seung-jae and told him what he wanted, what kind of expression would he make? Would he even grant it? However, Han Seung-jae was not a man who enjoyed idle jokes, and even less a man who said things he didn’t mean. Therefore, he would take responsibility for the words he had spoken.