CH 17

“It’s an outdoor barbecue. There is no such luxury.”

CEO Kim shrugged his shoulders and smiled wildly. Manager Cha, who was grilling meat next to him, said sarcastically.

“I’m cooking all the meat, so the CEO is living in luxury.”

“Let me cook.”

Choi Inseop, who had been restless for a while, held out his hand. But Manager Cha shook his head.

“Mr. Inseop it’s okay. You saw how well I was grilling a few pieces of meat earlier.”

“The meat is cooked well by Cha.”

“I am very curious about what brought you here.”

Even if he said so, MAnager Cha’s hand, who grilled meat, did not rest. After going to a nearby sashimi restaurant at lunch and tasting the effect of Lee Wooyeon, who paralyzed nearby roads, CEO Kim quietly went to a butcher’s shop and bought meat. He decided that it would be impossible to even sleep in the villa, let alone fishing, if he continued to carry Lee Wooyeon around.

In the end, the four of them had a barbecue in the front yard of the villa.

“Manager Cha. Even if you roast my meat for the rest of your life, you cannot complain. You lost your last fishing bet.”

“That’s because the president made a foul.”

“Your foul play talk will freeze me to death.”

“The position of my fishing rod changed while I was in the bathroom. If it’s not you, who will touch it?”

Manager Cha, grumbling with a face that said he would die of unfairness, grabbed Choi Inseop’s shoulder and started giving serious advice.

“If you go fishing today, the key to successful fishing is whether that person touches your fishing rod or not. Understand?”

“Yes? Haha… Yes. All right.”

“What are you! Seop. I’m sorry. Oh, Seop. Seop. This sticks in your mouth. Shall I call you Seop from now on?”

Choi Inseop was bewildered and could not answer. If even a nickname was attached, it would become difficult. He was going to disappear without being noticed, but he started to feel like his plans were going wrong. It also happened that Lee Wooyeon helped him with such a terrible thing today… Whatever it was, he should be fired within three months.

“Why? Don’t you like Seop? It sticks in your mouth and sounds good.”

“He doesn’t like it. The representative doesn’t even notice that?”

“Why? It’s good. You too, manager Cha, you said you didn’t like your nickname at first, but later  you said you liked it and keep using it.”

Cha Hyeongyu’s nickname was Cha Cha. It was a nickname derived from his habit of waving a tambourine when he went to a karaoke room after drinking alcohol. He used to introduce himself as the manager of cha-cha-cha when he went to a place where he had to show off the atmosphere.

“Let’s eat!”

Manager Cha wrapped the meat in a large leaf and stuffed it into CEO Kim’s mouth. Lee Wooyeon, who was sitting on the chair looking at it, raised his sunglasses over his head and said.

“You guys are like a couple.”

“…Hey.”

“Lee Wooyeon… Don’t talk like that.”

“CEO Kim is an indecisive husband. Manager Cha is a wife who listens to everything his husband says while nagging.”

Choi Inseop wanted to express his strong agreement with Lee Wooyeon’s words for the first time.

“Hahaha. Well, there was a wife in the middle, so it’s not completely wrong.”

In the meantime, CEO Kim, who felt superior to being referred to as a husband rather than a wife, gave a loud laugh.

“What does it mean that your wife is in the middle?”

Choi Inseop asked carefully, wondering if it was a Korean expression he did not know. Because if it was a new Korean expression, he had to write it down in a vocabulary notebook.

“My second wife was married to Manager Cha. I told him not to do it, but he didn’t listen to me and married her, and lost all the money he earned in alimony. Tsk tsk.”

“Hey, why are you talking about that here?”

Manager Cha shouted, turning red.

“Did I say something wrong?”

“Yeah, you don’t even have to talk about it… Ah really.”

Manager Cha started drinking the beer from the bottle without pouring it into the cup. As Kim said, it wasn’t a false statement, it was the truth. Mr. Cha, who married the second wife of CEO Kim, got divorced and went bankrupt, and it was CEO Kim who accepted him. There was no such reason why manager Cha was loyal to CEO Kim.

“Lee Wooyeon. If you want to make your manager loyal, let your second wife marry your manager. The moment they divorce, your manager will be loyal to you forever.”

Manager Cha couldn’t help but laugh at the words of CEO Kim, who knew how to turn painful reality into a gag. Lee Wooyeon, who was drinking beer, responded with a smile as well.

“I don’t like other people laying their hands on my things”

None of the three of them felt the strange inappropriateness of his words referring to women as objects.

“But what do you call a case like this?”

Choi Inseop reflexively exclaimed at the question posed by Lee Wooyeon.

This is what he knew!

“Hole buddy…  Is that correct?”

“… ”

“…  Inseop-ah.”

The mouths of the two who suddenly became brothers had convulsions. With a strange expression of holding back his laughter, Lee Wooyeon replied, “It’s not wrong.”

“I was trying to say ‘Pillow Buddy’.”

“… sorry.”

Choi Inseop bowed his head.

He learned Korean from his father at home from a young age, so he could use it like it was his mother tongue, but he had to study the vocabulary part and the slang used by people of today’s generation separately. Before coming to Korea, he used various dramas and internet bulletin boards to memorize slang, so sometimes he didn’t know exactly what they meant. That was exactly the situation as it is now.

In the atmosphere, realizing that he had made a mistake, Choi Inseop apologized. CEO Kim smiled emptily and patted Inseop’s head.

“It’s okay. By the way, where did you learn such strange words?”

“… on the Internet.”

“The internet ruins all the kids.”

Suddenly, he felt like a child ruined by the Internet. Choi Inseop quietly fiddled with the lettuce and waited for the meat to cook.

Then he saw a white object approaching from afar.

“Oh, Happy.”

When CEO Kim recognized him and called his name, the white-haired dog ran wagging until his tail.

“Who’s is it? That dog.”

“The dog from next door. This guy knows me for a long time.”

When CEO Kim scratched his chin a couple of times, the white dog narrowed his eyes and wagged his tail to say he was in a good mood. As soon as Choi Inseop saw the dog, he remembered Will he had left at home. Now that he was an old dog, he was worried about whether Will, who lost his hair and couldn’t see well, was doing well.

Happy came to Choi Inseop’s feet, sniffed it, and wagged his tail.

Have fun with me, human.

Even though he knew what it meant, Inseop did not readily reach out his hand.

“Why? Do you hate dogs? You’re scared? Oh, he doesn’t bite.”

“…no.”

The opposite was true. He loved them so much that he just wanted to hug him and roll around in the front yard even now.

“Then touch him. His tail will fall off.”

Inseop carefully reached out his hand. Then Happy put his front paw on it. Everyone burst into laughter at the cute and funny appearance. Choi Inseop also grabbed Happy’s front paw and smiled brightly.

“Smile like that. In the future.”

“What?”

“Seop, you. You do your job well, but you always look depressed. Manager Cha was very worried.”

“… I was worried in a different way.”

Manager Cha’s gaze fell on Lee Wooyeon for a moment.

“Why is the young guy so clumsy in expressing his emotions? Because you don’t have to try too hard. We’re not bad people… No, not all of them are good.”

It felt like a crime to put Lee Wooyeon in the category of good people, so CEO Kim quickly corrected his statement.

“Thank you. Thank you for caring.”

“Look. Again. Laugh like you laugh at the dog. From now on, forever.”

After saying that, CEO Kim wrapped the wrap by hand and put it in Choi Inseop’s mouth. The size of the lettuce wraps that filled his mouth made him shed tears. He replied, munching on the lettuce wrap, saying that it was delicious. That was all he could do now.

Peter was an emotional boy. There was a lot of laughter, a lot of crying, a lot of fear and a lot of dreams. He was abandoned by his biological parents due to congenital heart disease and was adopted at the age of one, but he was brought up by parents who were more wonderful than anyone and was able to grow up as a boy with diverse emotions like a flower garden in spring. When he was sad, he cried and when he was happy, he laughed out loud. That was his way of life battling the disease.

But Choi Inseop was not. He was a person who had to suppress his emotions as much as possible, live like a shadow, and then disappear. In fact, such a trip should not have come in the first place. Choi Inseop felt guilty because it felt as if the little happiness or laughter he felt was betraying Jenny.

Happy rubbed his head at Inseop’s feet and showed affection. In his heart, he wanted to hug him tightly and give him a lot of love, but Choi Inseop deliberately turned his head, pretending not to know.

“Seop. Please take him to the next door.”

“What?”

“The owner is an old man with limited mobility. He thinks it’s terrible, so if he doesn’t see his dog for a long time, he will always look for him.”

“Yes. All right.”

Choi Inseop grabbed the dog’s leash. The dog thought he was going for a walk, so excitedly, he took the lead and started walking. The moment he saw the dog’s butt swaying with excitement, Inseop thought of the path he and Will had walked.

As soon as he passed the outer wall of the villa and turned the corner, Inseop sat down and hugged him. The dog, who had struggled at first in bewilderment, quickly wagged its tail and licked his face.

“Will… Will…”

He called him that, even though he knew it wasn’t Will. Tears streamed down his cheeks at the small warmth that engulfed his chest. He felt the hot salt water rushing through his throat.

He wanted to see Will. He missed his mom and dad, his sisters, Aunt Stacey, his grandmother, and Jenny. Pretending to be an adult, suppressing emotions, and doing bad things in an unfamiliar place was very difficult.

Every time he touched the hearts of those who were kind to him, his heart broke. He wanted to write on his chest that he was not worthy of such kindness, if possible.   

Above all, it was very difficult to look at Lee Wooyeon. It felt like someone had engraved a feeling of guilt into his heart with a sculpting knife. It hurt. However, he had to keep his promise to Jenny. Because she was his dear friend.

“Will… ”

As Choi Inseop squirmed and shed tears, Happy licked his face and comforted him by licking him with his tongue. Choi Inseop gave more strength to hug the dog. Suddenly the dog started whining.

“Uh, sorry… ”

Inseop released his hand, but Happy hung his ears and ran behind him to hide. Choi Inseop noticed that a long shadow was cast at his feet.

“Are you crying?”

“…!”

“Why are you crying here? Holding the dog.”

He wanted to say no, but the tears he still couldn’t wipe were running down his cheeks. Choi Inseop quickly wiped his face with the hem of his sleeve.

“Why did you cry?”

Lee Wooyeon, who was sitting with his knees bent in front of him, asked with a curious face. There was no sign of concern or regret. He was just curious. Why was the manager hugging the dirty dog ​​and crying?

“I… I’m not feeling well… ”

Choi Inseop made up the reason for crying with the most plausible lie.

When he thought of his hometown, he wanted to throw everything away and go back, but he kept in mind the heavy promise with his friend that he cried.

“Oh.”

Lee Wooyeon grabbed Choi Inseop and lifted him up and continued.

“Are you still unwell? Then you should go in and rest. Not here crying with a dog.”

“… sorry.”

“What do you have to be sorry for? I am not sick.”

It was a subtly contradictory conversation, but it wasn’t a situation worth voicing. Lee Wooyeon picked up Happy, who was whining from behind Choi Inseop, with one hand. Happyi was struggling at first, but when Lee Wooyeon smiled and said “Stop,” he stretched out and relaxed as if he understood what he was saying.

“I will take it. Go in and rest.”

“No, I…”

Choi Inseop, who raised his head, closed his mouth to Lee Wooyeon’s eyes looking down at him. In the eyes assuming kindness, there was a sharpness that penetrated the other person. Choi Inseop realized that he was observing him, and his back cooled.

Since when has he been staring at him like that?….

“Go in and rest.”

“…all right.”

He had no choice but to do as he said. Choi Inseop, who saw Lee Wooyeon’s disappearing back with a dog in one hand, sighed.

Looking at the crescent moon hanging from the end of the tree, he prayed that the long day would end soon.