PIA 31

“Grandma, you’re here? Ye-seo did you greet your great-grandmother?”

“Hello.”

“What’s with great-grandmother? It makes me look old. Just call me grandma.”

Myeong Hyun-sook smiled as she lifted up Ye-seo, bringing her face close to the baby’s. She already had in mind the image of her precious grandson getting married and giving her a great-grandson the size of Ye-seo.

“Why are you in such a good mood, Grandma?”

In response to Jeong Hee-young’s question, Jeong Han-joo just shrugged his shoulders. He didn’t even want to explain it with his own words. Myeong Hyun-sook put Ye-seo down and put her arms around Jeong Hee-young.

“Come here, come here. Do you know what I saw before coming here?”

Jeong Han-joo scowled as he watched the two women whisper and walk inside. His stomach, which had been boiling since a while ago, could not calm down.

“Uncle, am I cute?”

Ye-seo asked Jeong Han-joo as she spun around.While watching, he suddenly remembered Ji-an dancing, laughing, and conversing in front of Jeong Hee-seo. Jeong Han-joo became annoyed as images of the carefree couple kept flashing through his head.

When did they become so close? And was Ji-an always like that?

He couldn’t calm down because the images kept circulating in his mind. Jeong Han-joo roughly brushed his hair and took out his cell phone. He opened his phone contact, he found Yoon Ok-hee’s number and dialed it without hesitation.

∞

“You’ll bleed.”

It was already the third time. He took Ji-an’s hand away from his lips as he kept biting it. Jeong Hee-seo frowned as she gazed down at Ji-an. He was worried about how much Ji-an’s were shaking.

Ji-an finally seemed to have come to his senses and slammed his palm on the table. It had been an hour since they’d entered the suite.

“I need to negotiate with that Grandma.”

“Oh.”

“Why? You think I can’t do it? I just realized that living like this is impossible.”

When Ji-an met both Jeong Han-joo and Myeong Hyun-sook in the same spot, he realized that running away would not solve the problem. Even though it was a JM Hotel, there were not one or two JM Hotels in downtown Seoul, and meeting Chairman Myeong Hyun-sook in the center of Seoul was not a coincidence.

He had been overconfident in believing that he could bear it for 9 months till the child was born safely.

This meant Ji-an couldn’t evade the coercive force that pursued him at every chance. When he thought about the possibility of being hit by lightning while walking down the street and having a miscarriage, his backbone stiffened and his blood ran cold.

Moreover, after seeing at the scene that Jeong Hee-seo’s remarks could change the plot in this way, he gained hope and courage.

As the voice advised, he considered focusing more on changing the character, and he felt a faint sense of direction about how to proceed in the future.

“Shall we go home?”

“Are you disappointed, hyung-nim?”

Ignoring the peculiar gaze from earlier and pretending not to hear the question, Ji-an spoke playfully. Quick-witted Jeong Hee-seo just smiled and responded.

“It was quite fun so far.”

“Yes, it was. Living with you was more comfortable than I thought. It was fascinating.”

It was an ambiguous, neither long nor short ten-day period, but the two got along quite well. From trivial eating habits to lifestyle patterns and personalities that didn’t conflict with each other.

Above all, the unexpected thing was that their sense of humor matched. The time spent eating together and chatting about trivial things became more and more enjoyable. By the time five days had passed, workaholic Jeong Hee-seo had even made an effort to leave work early so that he could have dinner with Ji-an.

Jeong Hee-seo quietly looked into Ji-an’s eyes. The courage pulled up from under his determination shone in his dark eyes as he continued to ponder something.

When Jeong Hee-seo tried to recall the time when he first met Seo Ji-an, his memory was strangely blurry. Was it because of the drug he took that day? He wasn’t sure why, but when he looked at Ji-an, he felt as if he was someone he didn’t know.

“Ah, at times like this, I need to drink.”

Jeong Hee-seo abruptly stood up from his seat at Ji-an’s cry of frustration. From the bar located on one side of the suite kitchen, he returned to the table with a bottle of whiskey filled with amber liquid, carbonated water, and lemon juice.

“Wow, this is dangerous.”

Jeong Hee-seo smiled briefly as Ji-an puffed out his cheeks and held out a large glass in front of him. Jeong Hee-seo filled it with ice, strong carbonated water, and lemon juice before handing it to him to drink. He filled his glass with ice and whiskey.

Jeong Hee-seo gently took Ji-an’s hand away from his lips, placing it back on the table, and spoke reassuringly.

“You don’t have to worry about my grandmother. She just said that, but you have no reason to meet her forcibly.  And about the marriage you’re so concerned about, she’s not the kind of person who’ll go out of her way to force you into the marriage. Even if she finds out you’re pregnant…”

“Are you sure…?”

Ji-an looked at Jeong Hee-seo with uncertain eyes. It was an expression that seemed to say, ‘You still don’t know about your grandmother.’ Jeong Hee-seo drank the alcohol from the glass, despite the fact that it was full of ice.

“Yeah. The other party is me.”

“Oh, can I laugh a little, Hyung-nim?”

Ji-an covered her lips with her fingertips and chuckled.

“It’s cute that you’re so confident…”

Jeong Hee-seo frowned. He was truly a person who spoke with his eyebrows.  However, it didn’t seem like he disliked Ji-an’s statement, so Ji-an spoke again.

“Anyway, I’m going to tell them. I will speak confidently and say that I will make a decision slowly.”

“Decide slowly? Decide what?”

“Well, I mean…”

Oh, saying it like this made it sound like he was considering getting married. Ji-an pursed his lips in frustration.

Jeong Hee-seo knew well that Ji-an’s intention to have the baby remains unchanged. So, if Ji-an said he would delay making a decision, what else could it be other than marriage? Since he had a one-year time limit, Ji-an thought he would negotiate with his grandmother and mother by telling them that he would postpone the decision.

However, this was unfair to Jeong Hee-seo. Considering a marriage he had no intention of having would be deceitful. Jeong Hee-seo was a much kinder person than he had expected.

“Uh… any plans for the future or something?”

“Hmm.”

Jeong Hee-seo rested his chin and tilted his head.

“You are saying that you will slowly decide whether or not to marry me, who is the father of 50% of the children in your stomach.”

Anyway, Jeong Hee-seo was very quick-witted. While Ji-an was rolling his mind, Jeong Hee-seo struck a chord.

“Does that mean there’s not a complete 0% chance of marriage in your head?”

No, no, it was actually 0%.

“Why on earth did you come to that conclusion?”

This was a round-trip ticket. The discussion on this matter was an endless loop.

Seeing Ji-an in a dilemma, Jeong Hee-seo picked up the second glass and drank it down. He drank two glasses of strong whiskey without any snacks and seemed to be thinking about something while rolling the ice.

“Fine.”

He said briefly. It seemed like he had reached his own conclusion as quickly as he had.

“No… Why on earth are you fixated on marrying me? Is marriage just like a hasty… shopping, not something you do with care, considering it’s irreversible once done?”

He was skilled at making bold statements in front of Myeong Hyun-sook, but Jeong Hee-seo still had a clear goal of getting married. Ji-an frowned, wondering if his mind was also part of the compulsion to go to the plot development settings.

Without even knowing Ji-an’s mind, Jeong Hee-seo spoke as if retorting.

“Who said that? I made a hasty decision? You’re pretty good. To be a marriage partner.”

“Ordinary people experience four seasons and when they feel moved, they prepare from there.”

“Therefore. Take your time to think. Just like you said. I heard you say it at your home as well.”

“No… I don’t treat marriage like a business.”

Ji-an stopped talking and took a gulp of carbonated water.

Did it make sense to put forward the conclusion of marriage first and then try to align the feelings after that? Usually, people who have feelings for each other approach marriage slowly!

Jeong Hee-seo, what exactly are your feelings? Ji-an swallowed a question that was difficult to say out loud.

No! Snap out of it, Seo Ji-an! Avoid having feelings, and don’t try! Think about your situation! Ji-an slapped his forehead in frustration.

Ji-an felt drunk only from sipping carbonated water while talking to Jeong Hee-seo. He couldn’t say that he was a being from another dimension that might disappear like smoke in a year. There was no way to conclude the conversation with the decision of marriage.

In a situation where Jeong Hee-seo had no choice, asking questions about the origin of his feelings was a deception, and it was obvious that he would only be hurt when he thought about it later after he was left alone. Even if he was someone from a completely different world unrelated to Ji-an.

Ji-an couldn’t do it. No matter how much Jeong Hee-seo thought of marriage as a merger or acquisition, he needed to find someone other than Ji-an to live with for the rest of his life.

While pondering his gloomy thoughts, Ji-an slowly raised his head and saw Jeong Hee-seo quietly looking at him.

“I was wondering why your expression was so solemn.”

“Haa, you wouldn’t understand, Hyung-nim. You’re always straightforward and clear.”

After a moment of hesitation, Hee-seo’s hand came up to Ji-an’s head. He took a strand of hair with his fingertips and brushed it away.

“Are you afraid of telling the people at your home?”