SDM 10

Ryu Chae-yoon must have been a dessert and bread fanatic. After asking the manager to find audition opportunities and reviewing Chae-yoon’s SNS in his spare time, came to that conclusion.

There weren’t that many pictures of eating, but they were all bread, pancakes, parfaits… It was a series of desserts and sweet drinks. And judging by how most companions were his older brother and sister, it seemed the third and fourth siblings acted as his dining partners. Unable to properly attend school, Chae-yoon didn’t appear to have any close friends outside his family.

Ryu Chae-yoon’s SNS was a series of very ordinary, everyday photos with nothing particularly provocative, but it was surprising why so many people were following him.

Was it because of his unavoidably apparent wealth? Or was it because, even without any touch-ups, he had a pretty and handsome face? …He certainly took selfies very well.

Seong-woon couldn’t understand why he didn’t realize the “Cherry” nickname sooner when all the comments called Chae-yoon that.

Cherry as a nickname for a man over 20 years old… Since it was impossible to read the inside thoughts of the sickly youngest son of a wealthy family, Seong-woon decided to just ignore it.

“Chae-yoon!”

The only one calling out to him from the distance downstairs was Ryu Ho-yoon. Seong-woon, who was lying on the bed trying to take a selfie, rolled his eyes in exasperation.

“Hyung bought snacks! Let’s eat together!”

Should he praise him for at least not barging through the door? Despite clearly being older than Seong-woon’s original self, Ho-yoon gave off a much younger vibe.

“Baby!”

If he doesn’t answer when called by the name Chae-yoon, it gets worse. Letting out a sigh, Seong-woon got up from the bed. He wondered if reacting made him do it more, but “baby” was going too far regardless.

“Hyung.”

“Yeah.”

Seong-woon would open his mouth to say something after abruptly opening the door, but the sparkling eyes would make the words catch in his throat.

“What did you buy?”

“Mom’s hotel mango cake!”

It must be incredibly sweet. Just thinking about it made Seong-woon’s tongue hurt so much that he felt sweat beading on his forehead.

“I personally picked the apple mango. It will be very delicious.”

“Apple mango?”

“Yeah. It’s so delicious.”

The memory loss setting was still going strong, and even though Seong-woon was pretending not to know, everyone just went along with it. No reactions like, ‘Have you never tried it before?’ or ‘Why don’t you know that?’

Seong-woon followed Ho-yoon down to the dining room and accepted a plate full of yellow and white cake. He thought it would be red because it was an apple mango… Ah, but apples aren’t red either.

“The apple mangoes arrived from Jeju Island today. It’s delicious.”

“Yes, I’ll enjoy it.”

Ho-yoon was overjoyed at just one sentence. Seong-woon wondered just how inexpressive Ryu Chae-yoon must have been for everyone to overreact to a single smile or word like this.

“Are you uncomfortable anywhere…?”

“No, I’m good.”

Even asking after his condition was done so cautiously. Well, someone who had been severely ill and near death for over 10 years was probably sick of hearing such words, so his reactions must have been quite sharp.

However, since it had only been a few days since Seong-woon heard his concerns, he didn’t mind answering that he was still okay and that it didn’t hurt.

At the gesture to eat up, Seong-woon picked up one fruit with a fork and put it in his mouth.

“…Wow!”

Ho-yoon was proud of the admiration that came out without realizing it.

“Is it delicious?”

Ho-yoon watched with a proud expression as Seong-woon ate. To him, seeing Seong-woon stuff his cheeks with cake, his fluffy cheeks puffing out, and nodding his head was like a dream.

“Aren’t you going to take a photo today?”

“Photo?”

“Every time you eat something delicious, you always post it. On SNS.”

“Ah, that…”

While partially crumbled, the cake still maintained a rather pretty shape, so it wouldn’t be bad to post it. Plus, with the increasing messages demanding proof of life, if he didn’t upload something soon, his message window might explode.

“You’re not uploading your photo?”

Seong-woon was about to take a picture of a cake and upload it, but his hand stopped.

“Huh?”

“Who cares about the cake. Everyone comes to see you.”

“…You too, hyung?”

“Of course. I even leave comments.”

He really goes overboard.

“Father and Mother are there too.”

Seong-woon’s brow furrowed when he saw the comment Ho-yoon pointed out.

jiwon_choi_0331 Son, you look so pretty today too~

He had overlooked the various nicknames like son, baby, hyung, oppa, etc. but this was really his mother’s comment.

“All the brothers see it too. They don’t come home often because they’re busy…”

Surely  they wouldn’t all have verified accounts, would they? With a finger trembling with anxiety, Seong-woon tapped on his eldest brother Ryu Hae-yoon’s profile. Fortunately, it was an account with no photos or posts.

“Hyung, but… Do these people know that I am all related to Ryu Shin?”

There was a SNS photo posted on a gossip site saying that he was Ryu family’s youngest son, so most people probably knew about him, but he hoped that they wouldn’t know it openly.

“Huh? Oh… about that…”

“What happened?”

“That… Chang-yoon hyung wrote a comment using his verified account and tagged you…”

“Chang-yoon hyung is now an executive at Ryu Shin Construction.”

“Yeah.”

“…”

With trembling fingers, Seong-woon searched for Ryu Chang-yoon in the search bar and clicked on his profile picture. Sure enough, an account with a blue verified badge popped up, and it was mutuals with Chae-yoon’s…with a few photos taken together with Chae-yoon posted.

(Photo)

RCY Our pretty little brother

“…”

Yes, even if Ryu Chang-yoon didn’t do this, everyone would already know. Anyone who knows the relationship between Ryu Young-joo and Ryu Chae-yoon could easily deduce that Chae-yoon was the youngest son of Chairman Ryu Shin. Their names all share the “Yoon” syllable too.

But what does it matter? Even if they know, they couldn’t openly speak about it. And even if they do, it’s not a weakness.

“So, aren’t you going to post the photo?”

Ho-yoon urged again for a long time with sparkling eyes. No matter how Seong-woon angled and moved his phone, he had never been good at taking selfies from the start. Having no occasion to take them originally. He fared better in photos taken by others though…

“Hyung, you take it.”

“Huh?”

“I’m not good at taking selfies.”

“You are a selfie expert.”

“Hurry.”

When Seong-woon handed over his phone, Ho-yoon honestly held the camera vertically. Having mastered appearing natural while being very camera-conscious, Seong-woon naturally took a bite of the cake. At the sweet, velvety mango flesh melting on his tongue, his lips curved more beautifully than a painting – an unintentional expression.

“…There.”

“Did you take it?”

“You could be a model.”

“You’re handsome too, hyung.”

“It’s not about being handsome… Okay, let’s see the photo.”

The summer sunlight streaming through the large dining room window caressed Seong-woon’s cheek, the white cream and yellow mango blending into a fantastical hue.

His cheeks were tinged an unprecedented rosy shade, the silver fork slipping between softly parted lips. In the next photo, his eyes crinkled into crescents, lips upturned in a smile so vivid it felt like the taste could be experienced just by looking.

Seong-woon gaped at the photos that looked like fully prepared, staged advertisement shots.

“Hyung, you are really good at taking photos?”

“…Me?”

“Yeah.”

“What do you mean I take good photos…With almost 3 million followers already, what if Chae-yoon becomes a real superstar now?”

A superstar, huh? That’s not something that comes easily. At minimum, the skill and luck of someone like Baek Sang-hyun would be needed.

“Did you post the photo?”

“Yup.”

Seong-woon briefly wrote a caption under the photo.

(photo)

cherryR The cake from Mom’s bakery is delicious.

It wasn’t a lie.