“Won’t you tell me what happened?”
“Huh?… Nothing happened.”
“That’s different from what I heard.”
What had he heard — Eunseo looked at Jaeheon with worried eyes. Jaeheon swallowed the fruit that came for dessert and spoke.
“I hear Jin Seunghu really tore into you.”
“Ah… no. The doctor…”
“You call him ‘Doctor’?”
“Wasn’t he a Sunbae you were really close to?”
“…Because he’s a doctor. Dr. Jin Seunghu didn’t say anything to me. Our voices may have gotten a little loud discussing work, but…”
Setting down the empty wine glass, Jaeheon gave a wry smile. Eunseo’s stiff cheek trembled slightly, and Jaeheon, watching it quietly as if he roughly understood what had happened, didn’t add anything more.
“Anyway, don’t get close to Dr. Jin Seunghu.”
“…What?”
Like he was some elementary schooler. Eunseo asked back, appalled at Jaeheon’s petulant words.
“It annoys me seeing the two of you together.”
While Eunseo dithered, the wine bottle emptied, and only then did Jaeheon stand. As always, the bill was already settled. Under his coercive gaze, Eunseo got into Jaeheon’s car, and the smoothly departing car headed for the company housing.
Surely he wasn’t going to do it at the company housing? Checking their destination, Eunseo anxiously clenched and unclenched his fists on his thighs. Soon the car stopped in front of the company housing apartments, and Jaeheon looked at him with a fresh face. His face reddened at what he’d been expecting, and a palm touched his cheek briefly and fell away.
“Go on in.”
Jaeheon opened the car door as if pushing him out. Watching the black car’s rear disappear from view, Eunseo patted his cheeks, cooling in the cold wind, a couple of times. Jaeheon kept trying to become the only person.
***
It had been a while since Eunseo had lunch with the three coworkers who’d joined the company at the same time as him. They weren’t close, but they were on grab-a-seat-when-someone-organizes-it, twice-a-month terms. As always, the institute’s biggest topic was Han Jaeheon, so Eunseo was uncomfortable even at the rare superior-free lunch.
“Executive Director Han Jaeheon is no joke. They say he cut all the portfolios the team leaders brought and redid everything from scratch himself.”
“They say that presentation was no joke. Everyone just shut up and watched.”
“Everyone talked so much shit behind his back about a green young chaebol third-gen coming in as an executive, saying the company was done for — now the wind’s changed.”
“Right. The anonymous board was in an uproar too. But as of yesterday, total change of stance —”
“Eunseo, weren’t you in that meeting?”
“Huh? Uh… I was in it…?”
“How was it?”
“He’s… good at it.”
Jaeheon had organized the countless market research reports that had been piling up uselessly, pulled out several project items, and shown his subordinates something like a blueprint for them. The employees were bewildered by the complete reversal, but couldn’t raise objections to his opinions. Everything he said was too right.
And the presentation materials and skills he’d shown were at a level shocking to this company’s researchers, so everyone just gaped in admiration. For someone so good… Eunseo just shook his head, thinking of the Jaeheon who’d slacked off in college. He really must have hated studying general chemistry.
“Our team leader took the PLA and got completely shot down.”
Eunseo’s boss had stubbornly taken the topic Jin Seunghu had mocked — and Eunseo also thought was outdated — and been systematically torn apart by Jaeheon, point by point. Then he’d gone back to Jin Seunghu, whom he’d been freezing out, to rework the topic, but that happened to already be on Jaeheon’s list, so he got shot down again.
“Oh, but Eunseo — didn’t you get an offer for the innovation unit?”
“I did…”
“You’re not going? They said the office is in Seoul.”
“They said it’s management work. I’m not suited to that. And I’d have to find a place to live to go to Seoul.”
“True. But I’m getting a bit sick of research, so I’m thinking of going.”
“Then you’re moving?”
“Yeah, I’ll move back into my parents’ place, so I have to get rid of all sorts of things. I just bought the digital piano — should I sell it secondhand?”
“…Piano?”
At the word “piano,” Eunseo dragged his chair a little closer and sat. It was because he’d suddenly thought of Jaeheon playing the piano in the empty café.
“Yeah, piano. Why?”
“Did you play?”
“Yeah, as a hobby. I bought a new digital piano when I came here, but it’s a set with the stand, so it’d be hard to move. And my parents’ place already has a piano.”
Piano… Eunseo thought of Jaeheon at the piano. Lowering his eyes, hiding a slightly joyful energy as he pressed the keys — he must have been really happy. He did look happy tormenting him now too… but that was a very different direction.
“Are you… going to sell it?”
“It’s not even three years old, so it feels like a waste…”
“Will you sell it to me?”
“Do you play?”
“…I was thinking of learning.”
Telling a small lie, Eunseo glanced away slightly. He was a human with no artistic sense whatsoever — he’d never even thought of learning piano, and couldn’t even read sheet music properly.
“Works for me if I sell it to you. Easier to move too.”
“Then I’ll buy it.”
His coworker showed him photos of the piano on his phone, searched a shopping site, and checked the new price. When he named about half of that, Eunseo transferred the money on the spot. He wasn’t the type to scam anyone, and with tomorrow being the weekend, he was in a hurry.
“Want me to move it over tonight?”
“Yeah.”
“That’s a big load off. Thanks. I’ll buy you dinner before I go to Seoul.”
“Nah.”
“Nah.”
Could he see that face again? Back at his desk after the meal, Eunseo patted his lightly fluttering chest. He didn’t know if he still played the piano, or whether he’d play for him like that time, but he couldn’t fully erase the anticipation.
After work, Eunseo moved the piano with his coworker. Luckily his coworker’s company housing was only five floors above in the same building, so they could move it comfortably by elevator. Set in the corner of the living room, it served as interior décor quite well. The deep walnut-colored piano didn’t even look like a digital piano from the outside.
“You’re still living alone?”
“Yeah.”
“They haven’t hired anyone since the principal left?”
That… didn’t sound right. Come to think of it, Eunseo had been using the two-person room alone for over a month now. Surely it wasn’t Jaeheon’s influence — with a near-certain guess, he bit his lip briefly and let go.
“Nice, living alone. Want me to put the piano in your room?”
“Nah, it’s fine.”
“Yeah, let’s grab a drink before I go to Seoul.”
“Sure.”
Even though it was a slightly empty promise, Eunseo agreed lightly. After his coworker left and he’d locked up, he carefully pulled out the piano bench and sat. He opened the manual and read a little, then turned on the power and carefully pressed the keys.
His touch was awkward — he’d barely ever touched a piano. Each time a key pressed lightly, a clear sound rang out. How could Jaeheon move all ten fingers so freely?
If he saw the piano… would he like it, even a little? He hated himself for thinking this even after hearing they were nothing to each other, but he couldn’t help it. Still, he wanted him to like it, and seeing him smile made him feel good too… That was the heart — unable to throw away, even while being hurt. Losing its color little by little, cooling little by little… someday it might become completely cold black-and-white, but right now it was full technicolor.
The phone on the table vibrated. There was only one person who’d contact him on a Friday night.
“I’ll come by around noon tomorrow.”
“Understood.”
“Is there anything you want to do?”
Over the three weekends they’d spent, Jaeheon had taken Eunseo all over. They’d gone to a huge library, seen a musical, gone to an incredibly high observatory. It really looked like a date… course, and Eunseo found the daytime hours hard to endure. While he was mulling it over, the phone started vibrating again.
“You saw my message — why aren’t you answering.”
“…I was thinking for a moment.”
“About what you want to do?”
“Yes.”
“What did you usually do on weekends, Sunbae?”
“I…”
Eunseo didn’t do much on weekends. He was a dull human without even anything to call a hobby — he just slept a little more, or sat doing nothing with the TV on, or very occasionally read a book.
“I’ll think about it more by tomorrow.”
“You can just stay home, you know.”
Glancing at the piano at the edge of his vision, Eunseo nodded. It was a movement Jaeheon couldn’t see, but he reacted as if he’d seen it.
“Okay. See you tomorrow.”
Listening to the dial tone with the phone still at his ear after it was hung up without hesitation, Eunseo slowly lowered it. He regretted buying the piano. Seeing it, Jaeheon would feel his heart once more… and might torment him more.
Eunseo, who’d been sitting with his face pressed to his hugged-up knees, quietly stood up. He wanted to get away from that worry for a bit. It was a point where he didn’t want to think deeply.
***
With about five minutes left until noon, the intercom rang. Eunseo, sitting on the sofa staring into space, hurriedly got up and opened the front door, and Jaeheon, with an excessively handsome face, walked in like it was his own home.
“Hello.”
“…Hello.”
The moment he slipped off his shoes and came in, Jaeheon wrapped his arms around Eunseo’s waist. Though the unrestrained contact was weeks old now, he kissed the forehead and cheeks of the Eunseo who startled at each one before finally releasing the stiff waist.
“Did you think about what to do?”
“Well…”
“Hm?”
When he trailed off, Jaeheon asked back the way he would with his nephew. Younger than him, too. He sometimes forgot, but Jaeheon was two years younger than him.
“I don’t really want anything…”
“Just looking at your place, it doesn’t look like you do anything.”
Stung to the quick, he frowned slightly, and Jaeheon smiled with crescent-moon eyes. And his eyes widened a little as he glanced around.
“What’s with the piano?”
He hadn’t prepared what to say about it. With nothing to explain, Eunseo kept his mouth shut a moment, then brought out the same excuse he’d given his coworker yesterday.
“…I was thinking of learning.”
“Piano?”
“Yes…”
Jaeheon didn’t look like he believed a word of it. Well, even he could hear the lack of confidence and credibility in his own voice — it’d be worse for the listener. Eunseo bowed his head in embarrassment, and Jaeheon, gazing down at him quietly, pulled his arm and walked toward the piano.
“Doesn’t look new.”
“Yes, my coworker’s moving, so… I bought it used.”
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