CH 33

“Don’t you think I would know better, considering I’ve lived here longer than you?” Sehun replied. Then, to show Yoonshin, he took an exaggerated step to the left. The road on the left passed by an elementary school. Since there were no kids who would be out this late, it was a tranquil road. Additionally, the stores were all closed. It looked like Sehun enjoyed this type of empty and deserted road at night.

Maybe it was because of the languorous atmosphere, but the two walked side by side wordlessly. Eventually, uncomfortable with the heavy silence between the two, Yoonshin was about to break the silence. However, Sehun spoke up first. “Why are you following me? Just get to the point and go away. You’re distracting me from my thoughts.”

“I’ll walk with you only for a while longer. But I have something to confess to you first.”

“I’m a very skilled lawyer. Consider that first, then tell me.”

“I read a novel from your bookshelf yesterday. There was something that bothered me.”

“You’ve gone crazy. Capital punishment for you.”

Yoonshin was shocked that the older man gave him a sentence without even hearing the rest of the story, so he instinctively reached out to Sehun’s sleeve. Then, before touching the other, he pulled back and instead asked precipitously, “You’re not even going to ask which novel it was?”

“I don’t care what you saw in my office. Don’t do it again.” Sehun retorted.

“But that book…” Yoonshin started.

Sehun interjected, “I don’t have it. You don’t get it?”

“You want me to shut up now?”

“I see you still have a brain.”

But Yoonshin’s convictions were solidifying. If nothing else, Sehun picked up Great Expectations once more because of him.

It just so happened that the quote he used in his hearing was bookmarked—whether Sehun liked it or not, he naturally ended up bookmarking that page. Yoonshin briefly contemplated whether he should mention that. But seeing as Sehun caught on to what Yoonshin wanted to talk about just by mentioning the novel in Sehun’s office, Yoonshin kept it in.

Hesitantly, Yoonshin found another suitable topic and asked, “Do you have a girlfriend?”

Sehun looked aghast and countered, annoyed, “What does it matter to you?”

“It doesn’t. But I figured sharing the bare minimum of personal information would allow us to show each other a bottom line of consideration… Oh, I don’t have one.”

“Great. I hate when others are happy for no good reason.”

Yoonshin grinned knowingly to himself. Sehun surely didn’t read Yoonshin’s thoughts, but what he said felt loaded. “And above all, I’m most bothered when you’re the one who’s happy.”

“Why? You don’t even know me that well.”

“Exactly. I want to know why too. Why do I react so sensitively when it comes to you?”

“In any case, I’m glad that there’s something I could help you with.”

Sehun suddenly stopped in his tracks and looked down at Yoonshin at a position slightly diagonal to him. So far, Sehun didn’t look particularly angry. He didn’t look like he was looking down scornfully either. However, Yoonshin felt an inexplicable curiosity coming from Sehun, so he was taken aback. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Is it because you’re an affluent young master, or do you just have no sense of fear? You’re not afraid of me? Why’re you so clingy? This is the first time I’ve met someone like you, so I’m genuinely curious.”

“I don’t think it’s either, but if I must choose, it’s probably closer to the former. The influence of the former probably made me into the latter,” Yoonshin replied.

From a young age, Yoonshin grew up without wanting anything. His mother passed away shortly after he was born, so he did feel something was missing, but that was only a fraction of his life. Besides, his sister raised and cared for him well, so he never felt lonely. On top of it all, his prestigious father was always respectable, and the inheritance that his mother left was significant enough that he was never in a financial pinch.

Thanks to Yoonshin’s thoughtful personality and his temperament unaffected by inferiority, he was always surrounded by a lot of people. He must have received the good genes because he was intelligent as well as good-looking. He didn’t understand defeat, which was similar yet different to Sehun. He never lived walking on eggshells. These circumstances were why Yoonshin could look after the weak and chase after justice.

This was also why he could intuitively see that Sehun thought he was absorbed in his affluence and disliked him.

“Each time, I feel like you’re quite perceptive. Annoyingly enough.”

“But I do care about what you think. I want to learn more about you. I also want to get closer to you.”

“Get closer? Do you do these things to get to know other people better? Disturbing walks? Eliciting small talk?”

It was such an unexpected question that Yoonshin thought about the answer more sincerely and replied, “Rather than that, I start with the school they came from, where they live, and what their parents do.”

Yoonshin paused to wait for Sehun’s reply and glanced up at the other man. However, the man who had willingly replied now kept his mouth shut.

Yoonshin racked his brain to think whether he misspoke, then swallowed nervously. He felt slightly troubled since he had just recalled that Sehun didn’t have parents growing up. “Oh… So, what I meant was… Well…”

Sehun saw how flustered Yoonshin was and saw through the younger lawyer’s thoughts. He could probably deduce that Yoonshin indirectly learned of his childhood. “This is why we can’t be friends. Just do your work properly.”