Chapter 31

“Director Cha!”

Gyuhan waved a hand, walking with his feet turned outward in an exaggerated splay to hide his awkward waddle.

“You took time off!”

Ah, so that’s the cover story?

Gyuhan immediately deduced how Gong Jio had handled his absence. Concealing the fact that his longtime friend and partner attorney had practically held him under house arrest, Gyuhan replied with smooth nonchalance, “I did, but I had to drop by anyway. Can the company run properly without me? I was so worried I couldn’t sleep.”

“Heol. Is that so? If that’s the case, you could’ve slept right through.”

What does he mean by that?

How am I supposed to take that, Secretary Kim? He was about to ask, then shook his head, remembering his objective. Well, whatever. If the company ran fine without a few people, all the better. Thinking along those lines, the son of the company’s owner concluded that his friend’s sunglasses were a far more pressing issue. What a splendidly run company this was.

“I came by to see Attorney Gong.”

“Attorney Gong? He took time off too. He’s never taken a single break all this time, so they said not to disturb him since it’s his first vacation.”

“Who said that?”

“The Chairman.”

“What? He said that? What did he say about my time off?”

“He asked if you’d been showing up for work in the first place.”

Mm.

Letting out a low groan, Gyuhan waved his hand dismissively.

“That’s his way of showing affection.”

“Yes, sir. I didn’t say a word.”

“For someone who didn’t say a word, you sure talk a lot, Secretary Kim. Couldn’t you just give clean answers to what I ask? Yak, yak, yak.”

“By the way, what’s with the slippers, Director? They don’t look like your size. Should I bring a spare pair of shoes… no, a spare suit?”

Noticing that his clothes didn’t quite fit his frame either, Secretary Kim asked.

Though it wasn’t a pointed interrogation, Gyuhan felt a guilty prick. He hadn’t noticed when wearing loose loungewear, but after stealing and slipping into Jio’s suit, he had already been startled to realize Gong Jio’s frame and build were noticeably broader than he had thought. But he couldn’t very well walk out naked… and stealing slippers instead of the shoes he couldn’t find was just an added bonus.

Ah, but if the bastard locked me up, he should at least put up with this much.

Usually, a kidnapper who holds someone captive doesn’t put up with lending them clothes.

“No, I’m good. These are comfortable.”

“Aha… Well, if you say so. But the color doesn’t really suit you, Director. That tone looks much better on someone with paler skin.”

“Didn’t I tell you one second ago that you talk too much, Secretary Kim?”

“Come on. It’s been way more than one second.”

“…”

Meeting Gyuhan’s steady, level stare, Secretary Kim averted his eyes. Faced with his cheeky expression that held not an ounce of intention to reform, Gyuhan let out another groan. Even if the kid acted like this, he never dropped the ball on his schedule, came up with great excuses whenever he wanted to skip an appointment, and had superb taste when picking out gifts. Everything had its pros and cons. His heart instantly softening with generosity, Gyuhan reminded himself of the most important issue at hand.

“So Attorney Gong isn’t here?”

“No, sir.”

“That’s strange.”

Judging by the snippet of phone conversation he had overheard, it certainly sounded like Jio was heading to the office.

Tilting his head, Gyuhan asked Secretary Kim, “There isn’t some erotic situation going on that I don’t know about, is there?”

Difficult situation… is what he means, surely. It was a commonly used term, but why did it sound distinctly like erotic when Director Cha said it? It wasn’t offensive, just purely hilarious. Secretary Kim did his best to avoid making his superior a laughingstock as he replied, “No, sir. If there were any major issues, I would have notified you even if you were on leave.”

“Right… Good. Keep it up from now on, okay?”

“Then… since you’re already here, will you be handling some work?”

“Mm…” Scratching his eyebrow in deep thought, Cha Gyuhan soon shook his head. “No. I’ve got something important to take care of.”

What could possibly be more important than company business…? Please, do some work.

Yet after some deliberation, Secretary Kim nodded as well. After all, if the boss was lazy but paid salaries on the dot every month, wasn’t that the best kind of arrangement anyway?

He had even stopped by the legal team, but not a single soul knew where Gong Jio had gone. Jio had gone through the trouble of hiding his phone and car keys, so Gyuhan hadn’t wanted to make all that effort feel pointless by letting on that he’d found them or slipped out, but now he had no choice. Scratching his head vigorously, Gyuhan let out an irritated sigh and sent a text.

❮0go⠇

Did you bring your sunglasses

Unsure whether he’d get a reply, Gyuhan debated for a beat before sending one more.

❮0go⠇

Take good care of those eyes of yours. See you at home.

Smoking a cigarette, Gyuhan waited briefly for a response, but seeing no sign of one, he hailed a taxi. His destination was his own apartment.

“Whoa, shit. Feels like it’s been ages.”

In truth, he had only been away for a little over a week, yet it felt as though an entire season had turned before he set foot here again. Gyuhan had zero aesthetic sense or flair for decorating, but he kept his living space reasonably clean. Even before the front door swung open, his primary worry was the stale, heavy air and settling dust from having the place sealed shut all this time.

Yet what greeted him was the scent of a fresh breeze and the whir of a vacuum cleaner.

No way, Gyuhan thought, hurrying inside in a fluster, not even caring whether Gong Jio’s slippers—looking completely out of place with his suit—went clattering across the floor.

“Huh? Hyung, didn’t you say you were locked up?”

Yet the one welcoming him wasn’t a fairy-bride Gong Jio; it was a fairy-bride bear… Cha Gyuwon. With headphones resting around his neck, Gyuwon asked in a bright, cheerful voice, “Did you get released already?”

“No. I’m going back. Just swung by to grab some underwear…. But why the hell are you here?”

Looking exceptionally cheerful Cha Gyuwon answered with a goofy grin, “If you leave a place empty for too long, it gets run-down. So while I was at it, I figured I’d clean hyung’s place too.”

“‘Hyung’s place too’…?”

“Mm-hmm. While cleaning Woonha-hyung’s place. Two birds with one stone.”

He was so overjoyed that he squirmed his massive frame, whining out a cute little ‘Mm-hmm’ like an overgrown toddler.

Gyuhan adored his little brother, but he couldn’t stomach a sight like this.

Whether his older brother stared at him with dead, lifeless eyes or not, Cha Gyuwon proudly announced that he’d cleaned out the fridge and scrubbed the bathroom. Gratitude was gratitude, so for this once, Gyuhan decided to pretend he hadn’t heard that damn name, Go Woonha.

Passing his brother, who wore an apron Gyuhan hadn’t even known existed in his house, Gyuhan headed into the walk-in closet. Pulling out a duffel bag, he swept up whatever underwear, T-shirts, and workout clothes his hands could grab. Lying around doing nothing but having sex all day would make his joints ache, so he’d have to hit the apartment gym from time to time. Once he packed a brand-new toothbrush, the bag took on a hefty, bulky silhouette at a glance.

Stepping back into the living room, he saw Gyuwon’s back as his brother closed the windows, having aired out the apartment to his satisfaction. Gyuwon was humming the theme song of some bizarre anime Gyuhan had ended up watching in the past simply because his brother had put it on. Gyuhan vividly recalled the ending where people turned into orange liquid, which had prompted Gyuhan to ask, Did they just turn into Fanta? Was all that fighting really over Fanta?—a question that had made young Gyuwon burst into tears and swing his fists, landing quite a few punches that Gyuhan had patiently taken.

He really was cute back then. Even then, the kid was solid as a rock.

Gyuhan had strongly urged their parents to put the boy into judo, but every time they took him to the dojo, Gyuwon—already the size of a bear cub—kept hiding behind his brother’s or parents’ pant legs, his crippling shyness turning every attempt into a failure.

And from some point onward, seeing Gyuwon’s back as he drew the curtains shut rather than opening them had become the more familiar sight. The sound of a turned head and a slamming door had become far more familiar than a hummed tune.

Watching Gyuwon now, who had become the exact opposite of that withdrawn self, Gyuhan called out to him, “Cha Gyuwon.”

“Huh?…Ah, you scared me. Hyung, don’t hold a bag like that dressed like that.”

Gyuhan was wearing a suit without a tie, and the bag he held at his side was a pitch-black duffel. To anyone else, he’d look without question like someone heading to the gym after work, so he had no clue what his brother was talking about. Was he obsessed with some manga again? Dismissing it as nothing, Gyuhan tipped his chin toward the dining table.

Taking the hint, Gyuwon brewed some coffee and brought it over. Gyuhan munched on the coffee and the cookies Gyuwon claimed to have baked, chewing mechanically before finally getting to the main point. The times he had hesitated this much before getting down to business could be counted on one hand….

“Gyuwon-ah. Is dating fun?”

Yet even that couldn’t be asked straightforwardly; he ended up skirting around the edges first.

When his older brother—who until now had worn nothing but expressions of stifling misery as if his chest might burst—finally brought up the very cause of that frustration, his lover, Gyuwon’s face instantly lit up.

“Yeah! I love it so much. Woonha-hyung is the person who changed my life….”

“Right…. But hearing you call him hyung, you clearly know this already, but he’s a guy. Gyuwon-ah. You’ve never dated anyone in your life before, right? Are you sure it’s okay for your first relationship to be with a man? Between two guys, a family…”

“Hyung.”

Gyuwon cut him off sharply.

“Huuuh?”

Gyuhan, who had been flailing his hands in the air trying his best to phrase things delicately, stared blankly at his brother. Wearing an utterly serious, deadpan expression, Gyuwon corrected his brother in a solemn voice, “It’s my final love. Not my first.”

“Huh…?”

“Say it accurately. Becoming Woonha-hyung’s first ‘last’ is a very important matter to me.”

“…”

For the first time, Gyuhan found his little brother a little exasperating….

“Fine… anyway.”

“Not ‘anyway.’”

“Fine…. The first love that’ll become your final love… are you really okay with that being a man?”

This was the point he had finally arrived at after taking such a massive detour.

Gyuhan assumed his brother would need time to answer. He lifted his coffee cup to wet his tense throat, but Gyuwon replied immediately, “Of course. It’s Woonha-hyung. What could possibly matter more than that?”

An honest confession. His brother, who had spent his entire life hiding away, was now speaking his heart proudly without a shred of hesitation.

Gyuhan felt a slight daze take hold of him at those words.

What could possibly matter more than that?

That counter-question struck a heavy blow against Gyuhan, who had been sitting there with a furrowed brow trying to act solemn. As though Gyuwon had abruptly hurled an answer at him when Gyuhan hadn’t even realized he was searching for one.

“Woonha-hyung is an angel, so gender doesn’t matter.”

“Mmm.”

His brow smoothed for a fleeting second, only for Gyuhan to furrow it again, letting out a low groan.

After a long pause, he carefully offered a piece of advice to his beloved brother.

“Gyuwon-ah. You’re an adult now, so let me give you a piece of advice. Whenever you go out to work, try not to think about Go Woonha as much as possible. You’re naturally a smart kid, but whenever he’s involved, you turn a little… a little like that.”

Before Gyuhan, who couldn’t bring himself to say ‘you turn into an idiot,’ Gyuwon curled his large frame shyly and mumbled, “If it’s for Woonha-hyung, I don’t mind becoming a fool….”

“Right…. Er, don’t say stuff like that in front of Mom and Dad. It’ll break their hearts, man…. Hyung is, uh, gonna get going now.”

Gyuhan gathered his things and stood up. Even though it was his own apartment, he looked just like a guest getting ready to leave when it was time to go home.

✦ ✦ ✦