CH 79

Yoonshin braced himself to hear a defensive retort like, “Do you think I’m your boyfriend or something?” or “Why are you bothering me?” but surprisingly, Sehun had nothing to say. Rather, that was why Yoonshin got the courage to say what he wanted to.

He wasn’t sure why it was Sehun Kang. It might be because Sehun accepted everything as it was without any bias and could forget about it all if needed.

“Actually, I don’t want to get pushed into marriage like this. There are too many things that bother me about it. But my sister would be put in a bad position if I stopped here because she was the matchmaker. What should I do? You think of all the possibilities and the solutions to them,” Yoonshin rambled.

“Fourth-year, how much did I say a 10-minute consultation with me was?”

“Don’t look at everything like a potential case to be retained on. It’s even in the code of ethics for lawyers. Article One: a lawyer protects and enhances human rights and freedoms…”

Sehun cut him off mid-sentence and threw the solution to Yoonshin irritably, “All right, I’ll give you the answer. It’s simple. Go study overseas. People usually go in their fifth year, so you could just go a few months in advance. Go get licensed to practice and spend a few years there. When you come back, it’ll all be solved.”

“I can come up with that much too. But I can’t leave Korea any time soon.”

“Why not? Do you think you’re a patriotic martyr?”

“It’s because of my sister.”

“Yeah, so what about it?”

“I can’t tell you the details. There’s just a thing like that.”

Between the impulse to spill everything against his sister’s warning for advice and his rationality telling him not to leak anything without any countermeasures in place, Yoonshin put his palm over the opening of the still-warm mug. While he was appreciating the warmth, Sehun continued in his subdued voice, “I can’t take on a case that I don’t know all the details of. Think for yourself.”

“It’s very cold today.” Yoonshin looked out the window and stared blankly at the pitch-black sky. The stars were faint, but he could feel that they were glittering brightly. He couldn’t see them from where he was, but he imagined that Sehun also glanced out the window then. “And I wish someone was beside me right now. I’m lonely.”

“Call the woman you went on a date with,” Sehun shot back.

“Hey, we live in the same building, yet you’re so cold. Am I that much of an eyesore to you?”

“I don’t like the fact that you’re earnest about everything. I’m temperamentally unsuited with clean people.”

“Aren’t you raising me? Your innocent lamb is suffering and slowly dying here.”

“I’ll bury you at least as a means of staff welfare.”

“Can’t you just save me instead? I’m in the café in front of the building. The place where we bumped into each other last time.”

“Damn it,” he heard the other man mutter quietly. Yoonshin wasn’t sure he heard correctly because Sehun mumbled with the mic away from him. Yoonshin pressed his device to his ear and fumbled with his mug handle. It felt nice to be rubbing it to the point that it squeaked.

While they spent time individually, silence hung over them both. It went on and on. Yoonshin looked at his screen, worried that Sehun hung up, but that wasn’t the case. Sehun seemed to be thinking about it.

“Attorney Kang, how long should I wait? Ten minutes? Fifteen minutes?” Yoonshin asked, unable to maintain the silence longer.

“One hour,” Sehun replied tersely.

“You weren’t at home right now?”

“I am at home. Still, one hour.” After saying what he wanted, Sehun hung up on Yoonshin just like last time. Dumbfounded, Yoonshin looked down at his now-black screen and wrinkled his brow.