51. Where Hearts Meet

Arriving home with Haein and turning on the lights in the darkened house, Soohyun suddenly looked back at himself entering so naturally.

The house was as dark as before with no one else inside, but he didn’t mind at all. The feeling was different from when he came home alone. What had changed from before?

There was only one difference: he had come in with Haein.

“Sunbae. I’m going to change first.”

As Soohyun stood blankly, still holding her hand, Haein shook their clasped hands and said.

“Huh? Oh, okay.”

When he replied like a dazed person, Haein shook his hand again, meaning to let go.

“I was thinking about something else for a moment. Sorry.”

Even at Soohyun’s words, Haein didn’t move hastily but asked him once more if he was alright.

“I’m fine. Go ahead.”

When Soohyun shook his head, Haein finally nodded in understanding and headed to the dressing room.

As Haein’s back disappeared into the dressing room, Soohyun followed her as if possessed.

Entering the dressing room, he saw Haein standing with her back to him. Haein, unaware that Soohyun had followed her, began to take off her clothes one by one.

Swish.

His gaze followed the movement of the clothes flowing down her body.

How much time would he have left with Haein?

He had tried so hard to push her away until now, but his heart had been torn in two.

He would let her go. Or he wouldn’t let her go.

He would give her up. Or he would cling to her forever.

But none of these gave him any certainty. Only fruitless worries that never reached a conclusion stirred in his mind.

While Soohyun was lost in thought, wandering through his complicated inner world, Haein picked up the clothes that had fallen at her feet and went into the bathroom.

Soohyun briefly considered following her into the bathroom.

If he reached out and opened that door, he could hold her wet body. If that happened, he would be consumed by lust and would selfishly desire Haein’s body, whether she wanted it or not.

Soohyun sighed, turned around, and left the dressing room. There were several bathrooms in the house, so Soohyun washed up in another bathroom outside the dressing room.

After changing his clothes and coming out, he saw the lights on downstairs. Following the light, he went down the stairs and saw Haein sitting on the living room sofa.

“Aren’t you sleeping?”

“Ah, Sunbae.”

At Soohyun’s call, Haein turned around and smiled softly.

“I just came out for a moment, wondering if you might need anything. I thought I should at least say goodnight.”

Haein had probably come out after getting out of the bathroom, intending to go straight to her room. Usually, they would wash up and go to their respective rooms, ending the day like that.

But tonight, both Haein and Soohyun still had the lingering warmth of their dinner together in their hearts, making it hard to just go to sleep.

“Just a moment, then.”

Soohyun went to Haein’s side and sat next to her. Then, he moved closer to her again, put his arm around her, and embraced her shoulder.

Haein’s head naturally rested on Soohyun’s shoulder, overlapping with his.

Sitting on the sofa like that, he felt like they had become an ordinary couple.

‘This small body fills this large house.’

Reason constantly signaled that he should keep a proper distance, thinking about the future, but that was just a thought.

His everyday life with Haein was too sweet, too happy, too good.

Foolish actions that didn’t consider the future kept narrowing the distance between him and Haein.

Just a little more, just a little more. With you.

Soohyun slightly tilted his face against Haein’s head. Her fine, soft hair tickled his cheek without fail.

Her hair, having just been washed, was still damp as if she had only partially dried it. The refreshing scent of shampoo lingered at the tip of his nose.

Soohyun held her in his arms, feeling so fond of her that he rested his cheek against her head and stayed still for quite a while.

“Sunbae, aren’t you tired? You have to go to work early tomorrow too.”

A voice worried about Soohyun, who went to work every day at dawn, was heard from within his arms. Haein, who had been fidgeting in Soohyun’s embrace, barely turned her head to look at Soohyun.

Her sparkling eyes, drawing a round arc like an overturned crescent moon, looked at him.

“......Sunbae.”

Haein’s eyelids lowered slightly. She looked at Soohyun for a moment with her eyes half-closed, then took both of Soohyun’s cheeks in her hands and lightly kissed his forehead.

The sensation of her lips touching and then leaving his forehead was vivid.

Soohyun chuckled, thinking of her pretty mouth, so soft and inviting to kiss.

“Haein-ah.”

Finishing his words, Soohyun lifted Haein and sat her on his lap. Haein, suddenly straddling Soohyun’s thighs, smiled brightly.

“You have to sleep now if you want to go to work tomorrow.”

“It’s okay.”

“Um, but today isn’t my ovulation day...”

“It doesn’t matter.”

Soohyun cut off Haein’s words, which kept adding conditions, and said firmly,

“Just don’t say anything.”

“Okay.”

Haein’s fingers burrowed into Soohyun’s hair. Her slender fingers gently navigated through his still damp hair.

Soohyun couldn’t resist and pulled her into a tight embrace. But even as he held her like that, the woman in his arms felt like a mirage that would suddenly disappear one day.

He felt anxious, as if she would run away any moment. Unease made his heart restless.

“Haein-ah.”

“Sunbae.”

When Haein called his name back as if responding, he finally felt that she was here, right now, by his side.

“Look at me.”

Soohyun called Haein, whose eyes were closed, and made her look at him.

“Call my name.”

“Sunbae.”

“My first name too.”

“Soohyun Sunbae.”

“Call me one more time.”

“Soohyun, Sunbae.”

When Haein called his name, Soohyun intently watched her lips move.

“Haein-ah.”

“Sunbae. Soohyun Sunbae.”

Haein’s voice calling him wrapped around his ears.

However.

No matter how many times he heard Haein’s voice in succession, it strangely didn’t feel satisfying. It was a night of inexplicable longing.

***

May, which people praised as the queen of seasons, was the cruelest month of the year for Soohyun.

A month filled with the intoxicating spring breeze scattering flower petals and the continuation of warm daytime temperatures, days that couldn’t be better.

In this beautiful season, Soohyun’s mother and brother had left his side one after the other.

Their death anniversaries were a week apart. Soohyun visited his mother’s grave on her anniversary and drank alcohol on his brother’s.

He used to visit his brother’s grave on his anniversary as well, but he had stopped doing so sometime ago.

This was because the longing and faint memories of his brother had turned into resentment over time.

The fact that the only person he could share his feelings about his deceased mother with had abandoned him made him lonely every time he visited her grave.

“Director, we’re here.”

The car driving along the mountain road gradually slowed down and stopped in front of a building surrounded by a dense forest.

It was the family columbarium where his mother’s remains were kept.

This place, created by landscaping one of Taeseong’s private properties, was where the scattered graves of the Taeseong family were gathered. After his wife died, Taehoon had taken extra care to make it a special space.

This place, which he had been visiting for 15 years, never changed no matter when he came.

Cars were not allowed to park directly in front of the building because the place where the deceased rested should be quiet. Soohyun got out of the car and slowly walked along the path leading to the columbarium.

Passing through the well-maintained garden and reaching the front of the building, he saw Secretary Seok standing there.

“Young Master.”

Seok Ji-hyung greeted Soohyun with a light nod. Soohyun also nodded silently in return and stepped inside. It seemed his father had already arrived.

Going to his mother’s resting place, he saw his father, Taehoon, standing in front of it.

“Honey. The weather is really nice today.”

Taehoon was talking to himself in front of his deceased wife’s urn, as always.

Soohyun stopped without getting closer and watched Taehoon.

It was a sight he had never been able to understand since he was young. He seemed like a madman, and he couldn’t understand how his father, who seemed to love his mother so much, had willingly remarried under Chairman Park’s instructions.

The emotional distance between the two men was too great to share their grief. It was the same even now.

Taehoon in his own way, Soohyun in his own way.

They never asked about each other’s feelings. They didn’t embrace or comfort each other’s sorrow.

They simply survived on their own. Fifteen years had already passed like that.

While he was waiting a long time for his father to finish speaking, Taehoon suddenly turned his gaze and recognized Soohyun, nodding his head.

Only then did Soohyun approach his father and place the flowers he had brought on the altar in front of his mother’s urn.

His mother in the photo greeted Soohyun with the face she had 15 years ago.

Soohyun’s gaze was fixed on his mother’s photo for a long time.

A face he could only remember now by looking at the picture.

“Hoo.”

Soohyun let out a long sigh and said to Taehoon,

“I’ll go out first. If you have anything to say, please find me outside.”

“Soohyun-ah.”

Taehoon stopped Soohyun, who was turning to leave.

“Let’s stand together for a moment.”

Since his father had never made such a request before, Soohyun wore a reluctant expression but stood obediently by his side.

“Honey. Soohyun’s here.”

Taehoon spoke to his wife in a very tearful voice.

Soohyun didn’t like his father talking to the dead like this. However, he didn’t want to be noisy in front of his mother’s portrait, so he just let out a short sigh.

“Are you done?”

Soohyun asked, unable to endure it for long, and Taehoon reluctantly nodded.

“Soohyun-ah, go on ahead. I have a lot to say to your mother today.”

“Alright.”

As soon as Taehoon finished speaking, Soohyun turned around, but then stopped and bowed his head to Taehoon.

“Father, thank you. I heard you were the one who resolved the issue with my wife’s sibling’s treatment drug.”

“Yeah. You found out.”

“Are there any secrets in what happens at Taeseong?”

At Soohyun’s words, Taehoon laughed hollowly and nodded.

He had realized that Chairman Park was pressuring Haein using the treatment drug as leverage on the night Haein had clung to him, asking him to hold her.

Holding her was one thing, but it was clear that Chairman Park would continue to torment Haein until there were visible results.

Soohyun had actually planned to go to Chairman Park and directly tell her not to harass his wife. He had even considered calling Chairman Park “grandmother” and pleading with her if necessary.

It was something he hated more than death, but if that was the only immediate solution, he was willing to do it.

However, before he could find Chairman Park, the treatment drug issue had resolved itself.

When he had Chief Choi investigate what had happened, it seemed that Taehoon had stepped in and spoken with Chairman Park.

Through that conversation, Taehoon had clearly given some kind of compensation to his mother, but Soohyun couldn’t find out what it was.