When he asked if she had no appetite, Kim Eunha smiled awkwardly and said she’d been about to eat—but for an instant, the voice of Yiwon, whom he’d met on his recent U.S. business trip, crossed Muyoung’s mind.
Amid a schedule with no time to breathe, he’d deliberately made time for Eunwon’s brother, bought him dinner.
"*This is the kind of thing my mom likes…*"
Yiwon had murmured, looking down at the elaborate dessert that came out last—both missing it and bitter about it.
"*Bread and desserts, sweet snacks like these. That’s why she has a harder time during treatment, they say. She can’t eat things like this.*"
"*Sweet-moist cheese baguette, soft-soft cream roll, fluffy-fluffy castella… things like that?*"
The cringe-inducing words Muyoung had blurted out reflexively were the names of the breads written on the note Eunwon had dropped along with his panties last time.
"*Puh-hahat! Wow… that’s right. Exactly our mom’s taste. How’d you know? Did my brother tell you?*"
Yiwon, who’d been dark-faced all through dinner, had smiled brightly for the first time, nodding.
"*Back in the day, Dad always bought them on his way home from work. After Dad passed, I think hyung worked hard buying them instead, and these days… well, Mom’s in the hospital and hyung’s busy. I should be the one taking care of it…*"
"*He still works hard at it, your hyung.*"
"*Yeah?*"
"*If it weren’t for Seo Eunwon, how would I be rattling off names of bread like that? Your hyung’s doing everything right, being a proper hyung—so you just work hard at your own thing. That’s how you help your poor brother.*"
Chewing over his conversation with Yiwon as he stared at the cooled hospital meal, Muyoung checked something for a moment, then moved without hesitation. He picked up the cardigan draped over the sofa, draped it kindly over Kim Eunha’s shoulders, and led her outside.
"I haven’t had dinner either. Let’s go out and have something good together, ma’am."
"What, you haven’t had dinner at this hour? No matter how busy you are, you have to eat on time."
"I usually do, but today I skipped on purpose for a date with you."
"Goodness. How can you talk so sweetly."
"Of course. I learned it all from Team Lead Seo."
The "affectionate son" side he’d never once shown his own mother, Yoon Heejin, flowed like water in front of Kim Eunha. The reason Cha Muyoung did for someone else’s mother the filial devotion he didn’t do for his own parents was clear. The undisputed number one in Seo Eunwon’s heart-rankings was the woman right in front of him.
He himself would forever be a mere third place, but Muyoung, gladly content with that ranking, escorted Kim Eunha like a reliable eldest son to a neat Korean-beef rib restaurant nearby.
Watching his (prospective) mother-in-law eat the meat deliciously—fortunately it wasn’t lack of appetite, just boredom with the daily hospital menu—Muyoung smiled with pride.
"How’s our Eunwon at work? Is he really doing well?"
"He’s a huge help to me. You know how it is. Eunwon’s so smart and good at his work—everyone on the team, not just me, likes and cherishes him."
"Well, that’s a relief…"
Meeting the eyes of the mother who still only worried about her child even after hearing him out, Muyoung delivered his heavy sincerity.
"I can’t do without Eunwon, Mother. Not just at work—in every way."
"Oh my… is that so."
Though it was nothing she didn’t know, Kim Eunha looked freshly surprised, and as they finished their meal chatting intimately about this and that, Muyoung took her back to the hospital and then moved busily.
He went to the bakery Eunwon had noted down and swept up armfuls of sweet-moist, soft-soft, fluffy-fluffy breads. And coming and going, he contacted Director Shim—who handled his personal matters—and cleanly resolved the new-drug treatment cost issue that had kept Eunwon up at night for days.
He hadn’t breathed a word about the treatment costs, of course. With just one meal and a bag of bread, Kim Eunha—feeling touched and burdened—let her eyes droop just like Eunwon’s.
"I’m so grateful to Muyoung, and so sorry. When and how will I ever repay all this…?"
"You don’t need to think like that. If it weren’t for Team Lead Seo that day, I wouldn’t have come back alive. And without Eunwon, I wouldn’t be living this intact."
"…"
"And in my heart, I’ve long been living as the eldest son of the Seo family… was that just my own delusion?"
More accurately, he’d been thinking of himself as the Seo family’s dependable eldest son-in-law or eldest daughter-in-law—but since he couldn’t yet tell her his real relationship with Eunwon, it was a slightly roundabout joke. Only then did Kim Eunha’s face relax.
Receiving her warm send-off, he arrived in Eunwon’s neighborhood when the night was already deep. It was awkward in several ways to barge in right then, so Muyoung stood on the rooftop of the neighboring building—his own reserved seat—overlooking Eunwon’s rooftop room at a glance.
Eunwon’s room was brightly lit.
As expected, his first guess—that he’d come straight home—had been right. He’d spent a fairly full day in his own way, looking after his mother and settling the treatment-cost matter, but he couldn’t help feeling regretful and sorry that he’d missed his chance to talk to Eunwon thanks to that idiotic cousin’s lie.
"Three days is dead impossible… I’ll give you just until tonight, you little shit-mutt." He’d go pick him up at dawn, the moment the sun rose. Picturing Eunwon looking up at him with startled rabbit eyes—*why are you here already?*—made little laughs leak out. Yes, letting him toss and turn all night, lost in thoughts of him, wasn’t a bad strategy either.
As if sensing Muyoung’s resolve, Eunwon’s room light went *thunk* off. The private night-view show—the only beautiful scenery in the world that Muyoung, who cared for no beautiful sights, enjoyed—was over.
"Going to bed early today… must be tired."
It had been a day with an enormous amount happening, for him and for Muyoung both.
Of course, Muyoung—who’d rushed after Eunwon and grabbed Eunwon’s phone but not his own—didn’t know. He didn’t know that the person snoring on the tens-of-millions-of-won top-of-the-line mattress he’d installed as an "option" in that rooftop room wasn’t his rabbit-like Seo Eunwon, but his obnoxious uncle.
He’d hoped Eunwon would lose sleep tossing over thoughts of him, but he’d never wished for him to suffer nightmares curled in the corner because of some luggish uncle showing up out of nowhere. Not knowing that, Muyoung could smile at ease.
Still knowing nothing, gazing a little longer with tender feelings at Eunwon’s darkened room, Muyoung lightly turned to leave—at that very moment.
*Bzzzt— bzzzt.*
Eunwon’s phone, held in his hand, vibrated noisily. Checking the caller on the screen, Muyoung answered roughly, not bothering to hide his irritation.
"Give it a rest. Why are you calling the kid?"
[*What, Cha Muyoung? Isn’t this Eunwon’s number?*]
"That’s right. So why are you calling here?" [*Why are *you* answering the baby’s phone?*]
"Don’t worry about that. Just tell me why you called. Trying to use the poor kid who knows nothing, to your own taste again?"
[*Oh my, why do you talk like that—it hurts to hear? What "use." You think Mom treats Eunwon like that? It’s not just you who’s close to Eunwon and fond of him. I’m close to Eunwon too. I’m *very* fond of Eunwon—*]
"Don’t be close. Don’t be fond. Don’t contact him separately like this. Especially if you’re going to bother the kid with that absurd plan of yours—just delete this number."
[*Hey. Cha Muyoung. Do you know why I’m going this far!*] At his mother’s shriek, Muyoung dropped his bomb calmly.
"I’m seeing someone."
[*…What?*]
At Yoon Heejin’s re-asking, her tone turned calm. After a beat of silence, an [*Oh my.*] of admiration came through, and her voice instantly turned affectionate.
[*Is that in the… serious sense of seeing someone?*]
"Yes. Someone I want to marry and live with for life. I’ll get you into that wedding hanbok you want so badly soon, and I’ll have a grandchild in your arms in no time. So please, stop interfering and just stay still." [*Goodness! Oh my, really? Oh my, oh my my. Who is it? Does Eunwon know who it is?*]
"Eunwon… doesn’t know yet. So don’t bother the poor kid who knows nothing." [*Oh my my, oh my my my. What. Since when have you been dating? Whose daughter is she? An omega? Goodness! You were doing everything on the sly, pretending otherwise? Goodness me.*]
"…"
[*You rascal, you should’ve told me sooner! If I’d known, I wouldn’t have just left *that* at your place…!*]
"What else did you leave at my place?"
[*No! Nothing, so just throw it away! Don’t open it, throw it away, okay? Ehehehehe, Mom’s in such a good mood. Good! Then I’m done! No more worrying about work, no more interfering—just tell Mom right away when there’s news—!*]
Muyoung hung up ruthlessly, sick even of the pouring fuss. She’d said something ominous about leaving something at his ownerless house, but he had no intention of opening it, so it wasn’t his business.
"…Marriage."
He had to tell Seo Eunwon the truth of that day first, though. No, wait… Seo Eunwon—so he doesn’t even know he might have a baby in his belly right now? How should he tell him all of that so he could take it in gently, without shock?
Thinking various thoughts, Muyoung familiarly turned around and strode through the front door of the rooftop room connected to where he’d been standing—his own secret downtown villa, bought and decorated together with Eunwon’s rooftop room the moment Eunwon moved in. A perverted rooftop room, shabby only on the outside, glamorous inside, done in the same style as Eunwon’s house.
"Good night, Seo Eunwon."
He left the greeting Eunwon would never hear—affectionate, truly—and lay down on the bed, but Muyoung tossed and turned for quite a while without falling asleep.
It wasn’t that his heart was complicated; he’d lost track of time browsing the contents of Eunwon’s *real* phone—things he couldn’t see through the hacked clone.
He’d pulled up the most liked of Eunwon’s few selfies and been *enjoying* it for a long while before falling asleep.
And the next morning.
*Crash! Crash! Crash!*
"*Hey, you fucker. What kind of rude people are these. If you’re gonna talk shit, do it where I can’t hear it, huh? I can hear *everything*, y’know?*"
At the commotion not far off, Cha Muyoung’s eyes snapped open.
To be continued in Volume 2.
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