Chapter 6

Ping, ping.

A flare of irritation sparked within Yu-gyeom at the incessant pings coming from the messenger app since morning. Until just a few days ago, Rian’s phone had always been completely quiet.

Driving Rian to school, Yu-gyeom kept his expression completely neutral, casting subtle sideways glances at the passenger seat.

“Rian, what are you doing?”

“Hm?” Rian responded absently.

Rian was tapping away furiously on his phone, his eyes glued to the screen. A faint smile played at his lips. Even that was deeply unsettling to Yu-gyeom; under normal circumstances, Rian was never the type to lose himself in his phone.

“Kwon Rian. Look at hyung.”

“Yeah, just a second,” Rian muttered without looking up.

Even with Yu-gyeom speaking directly to him, Rian kept his gaze fixed on the screen, completely failing to notice the slight furrow knitting between Yu-gyeom’s brows.

“I asked what you’re doing on your phone. Are you looking at something fun?”

Rian explained with a cheerful grin, “Ah, we made a group chat with my classmates. Everyone’s trying to decide what to eat for lunch today.”

“A group chat?” Yu-gyeom asked, his tone flat.

“Yeah!” Rian chirped.

“Ah. Since when did you do things like that? I thought you said getting lots of messages was annoying.”

Only when the questions persisted did Rian finally lift his head to look at Yu-gyeom. Glancing at the changing traffic light, Yu-gyeom offered him a warm smile. The fleeting dark shift in his expression a moment ago had been so brief that there was no way Rian could have noticed.

What mattered to Yu-gyeom right now was the simple fact that Rian was in a group chat at all. Up until he had left for his business trip, Rian had never used private social media aside from essential school group announcements or official DMs. What sudden change of heart could have possessed him while Yu-gyeom was away?

“Oh, about that—I joined the theater club. A friend kept begging me to join with him.”

Yu-gyeom’s eyes flashed with alarm. “The theater club?!”

Screeech!

The instant the words ‘theater club’ registered, Yu-gyeom slammed on the brakes. With a violent screech of tires against asphalt, both Rian and Yu-gyeom lurched forward before their seatbelts locked and snapped them back into their seats.

“Haa… haah…”

Thoroughly startled, Rian peered out to see that Yu-gyeom’s car had skidded past the stop line, halting right at the edge of the pedestrian crosswalk.

Behind them, a chorus of angry horns blared as trailing cars honked incessantly at the sudden stop.

“H-Hyung, what’s wrong all of a sudden?”

Because Yu-gyeom was normally the epitome of a careful driver, Rian stroked his pounding chest in shock. Fortunately, there was no collision. Still trembling, Rian turned his wide eyes toward Yu-gyeom. Yu-gyeom took a brief breath to steady himself before turning to inspect Rian.

Yu-gyeom gasped, turning in a panic. “Rian, are you all right?!”

“Huh? Y-Yeah,” Rian stammered, his pulse racing. “What about you, hyung?”

Yu-gyeom reached out with trembling hands. “Are you really okay? Did you hit anything? I thought your head hit the dashboard just now.”

“No, hyung. I’m really fine,” Rian assured him.

Rian had been frightened, but seeing that Yu-gyeom looked far more shaken than he was, Rian reached out and squeezed Yu-gyeom’s hand to reassure him. Only then did Yu-gyeom seem to regain some composure. Though he tried not to show it, his mood had visibly plummeted.

“Yeah, I’m fine. I’m sorry, I didn’t see the light change. Are you truly unhurt?”

Yu-gyeom searched Rian’s body with anxious eyes, terrified that his carelessness might have caused him injury.

“I’m really, really fine. I was wearing my seatbelt.”

“Right. That’s a relief,” Yu-gyeom breathed softly.

Rian noticed beads of cold sweat gathering at Yu-gyeom’s temple, realizing his brother was strung taut with extreme tension. It was so unlike him that Rian felt unsettled. Could it really be because of the theater club?

Could something like that really be the reason…?

Rian’s expression turned instinctively glum. Maybe he’s upset because I didn’t ask for his permission first.

“You must be exhausted, hyung. I could have just gone to campus by myself.”

The traffic signal changed. Feeling guilty that Yu-gyeom was driving tired because of him, Rian lowered his head, but Yu-gyeom shook his head.

“I told you I wanted to drive you. It’s not because I’m tired. I was just surprised to hear you suddenly joined a club.”

“Hm?” Rian tilted his head curiously.

“A theater club, of all things.”

Yu-gyeom continued driving, far more cautiously than before. The road ahead was surprisingly clear, but his thoughts were a tangled mess.

“Ah… because of that? Is it because I didn’t tell you? Did that startle you?”

Still, was joining a club really so monumental that it warranted nearly causing an accident?

“I’m sorry for joining without your permission, hyung.”

He hadn’t meant to upset him, but feeling that he had caused his brother distress after all, Rian hung his head.

“Rian, stop, it’s not that. A theater club is just… What hyung means is, I didn’t know you were interested in acting.”

Steering smoothly with one hand while rubbing his chin with the other, Yu-gyeom looked thoroughly burdened with worry.

Rian assumed Yu-gyeom was acting this way purely out of concern for his well-being.

“It’s not really that I like acting… My friends just asked me to join.”

“Friends?” Yu-gyeom echoed sharply.

Since when do you have any real friends? The cruel retort almost burst from Yu-gyeom’s lips, but he barely managed to swallow it back down his throat.

“Yeah,” Rian replied softly.

“People I don’t know, right? I’d love to see who they are.”

Rian fidgeted, rambling nervously, “My friends? Well, they just suddenly came up to me and asked me to join the club… So at first I said no, but they said if I just put my name on the roster… Ah, right. They begged me to just sign up on paper! So without thinking much of it…”

“So you couldn’t say no…” Yu-gyeom observed quietly.

When Yu-gyeom let out a faint, dismissive chuckle, Rian’s lingering tension dissolved, and a bright smile returned to his face.

“…It started like that, but I know I can do well! Besides, my classmates are really nice to me. Lately, we’ve even been eating lunch together.”

“Mmh, I see,” Yu-gyeom murmured dryly.

Yu-gyeom’s response felt oddly unenthusiastic. Rian had thought his brother would be happy to hear that he was making friends.

The subdued, sunken look on Yu-gyeom’s face weighed on him. Had something he said rubbed him the wrong way? Rian couldn’t fathom what it might be.

From Rian’s perspective, he had never made close friends even after entering university, so he was genuinely grateful to the classmates who had warmly approached him first.

He had cautiously brought it up wanting to boast a little to Yu-gyeom, yet it felt as if he had only ruined the mood again. The entire conversation felt like a rollercoaster—swinging from excitement to disappointment, his emotions teetering back and forth with every reaction from Yu-gyeom.

“Hyung… are you angry?”

At Rian’s timid, cautious question, Yu-gyeom’s brow furrowed subtly. The realization that Rian’s little world had shifted in just the few days he was away on business made his stomach twist with bitter resentment.

If I had known this would happen, should I have dragged him with me on the trip? Or locked him inside the apartment so he couldn’t step foot outside? Such insidious thoughts clawed at Yu-gyeom’s fraying sanity.

The moment his back was turned, fucking flies swarmed around his boy. A surge of venomous irritation boiled in his chest.

“Why would I ever be angry with you? I was just wondering when you developed an interest in theater.”

Yet he masked his feelings completely, burying his venom beneath an affectionate, soothing tone.

“It’s not that I was dying to do it. They just begged me to help fill their member quota.”

“Those friends of yours sound rather selfish,” Yu-gyeom pointed out smoothly.

“Huh?” Rian blinked in confusion.

Rian looked at Yu-gyeom in bewilderment. Yu-gyeom even offered him an amiable smile in return.

“Think about it. You had no interest in it, but they pressured you into joining just for their sake.”

“…Ah, well, that’s…” Rian stammered, caught off guard.

“Doesn’t that make those friends of yours a bit selfish?”

Rian looked down, fidgeting with his fingers. “Is that so? I hadn’t thought of it that way. I just figured since I joined, I might as well do my best…”

As Rian tilted his head in confusion, Yu-gyeom pulled the car over to the shoulder. When Yu-gyeom abruptly stopped the vehicle and let out a faint breath, turning to look at him, Rian met his gaze with wide, bewildered eyes. The sinking conviction that he had done something wrong settled even deeper in his chest.