VDN Ch 59

The wrinkled hand handed them two eggs.

“One each.”

Nam-woon accepted the first egg, and Seo-oh took the other. The soup simmered, emitting steam as the rice soup bubbled inside. The grandfather, holding a spoon, looked up from his bowl of rice soup and glanced at Nam-woon and Seo-oh sitting across from him. The two hadn’t spoken since they started washing dishes. The sudden intrusion of the tall man who had come to help with the dishes was equally silent and he didn’t spare a glance at Nam-woon standing next to him. Grandfather, assessing their relationship from the atmosphere, suddenly asked,

“Are you two dating?”

“Cough, ouch, no!”

Nam-woon, who had just put a spoonful of rice soup in his mouth, widened his eyes and denied it. Seo-oh’s hand momentarily paused, but he calmly scooped another spoonful of broth. The grandfather addressed Seo-oh again.

“Is he Mr. Seok’s new employee?”

He had a neat appearance for Mr. Seok’s employee and seemed to fit the job. He was tall and reserved, which suited Mr. Seok’s workplace. Then, unexpectedly, Nam-woon strongly denied it.

“Not at all! He is not a new employee!”

Seo-oh quietly interjected.

“I work at the office.”

“Hey.”

Nam-woon warned him, then turned back to the grandfather and explained,

“He doesn’t do this kind of work. He’s not a new employee to the office.”

“Why are your stories different?”

“He attends a prestigious university. He’ll probably study abroad and work for a big company or become a civil servant. He’s not involved in this kind of work.”

Seo-oh turned his head to look at Nam-woon. It was the first time he had set his eyes on him since he entered the restaurant. He’s not involved in this kind of work. Seo-oh looked at Namwoon with his dark black eyes.

Unaware that Seo-oh was looking at him, Nam-woon slurped a spoonful of hot rice soup. The grandfather’s expression changed upon hearing about the prestigious university.

“How I wish my grandson had gone to a prestigious university.”

Nam-woon’s hand frozen. Grandfather lowered his gaze and continued,

“…I know I said before, but it’s not because of you.

“.……“

“My grandson has been a runaway since he was very young. You have no idea how much he troubled me when he was in school.”

“I apologize.”

“It’s nothing for you to apologize for.”

The grandfather stared at the silent Nam-woon. At some point, Mr. Seok became a different person. Until now, it had been like pulling teeth to get him to consider reducing the repayment amount for the money he had borrowed. But at some point he had come to help him in the restaurant a few times since then.

Even after he threw cold water and dirty water on him, cursed at him, and even threw salt to drive him away, Nam-woon had stubbornly entered the shop, demanding gloves and an apron. After that, he didn’t kick him out and they hadn’t engaged in friendly conversations.

But when he saw him again after some time had passed, Seok Nam-woon’s face had turned pale….What had happened?

The grandfather looked at the young man from the prestigious university sitting next to him. Even though he wasn’t wearing the hip or trendy clothes that his grandson always talked about, he looked very neat and handsome. Mr. Seok might seem like he lives carelessly, but it seems he has people who care about him.

At first glance, Mr. Seok also has a good-looking face, so they would look quite good together, except for the fact that the young man is from a prestigious university. 

While lost in thought, the young man from a prestigious university was placing side dishes in front of Mr. Seok. He sneaked it in while Nam-woon was focused on the pot. The young man also discreetly placed a tissue next to the side dishes. As Mr. Seok finally looked up from the pot, he instinctively grabbed the tissue and wiped off some spilled soup from his pants.

The restaurant owner blinked in surprise.

“You spilled it again while eating.”

The young man’s lips curled into a faint smile as he mumbled.

He wondered if Mr. Seok was chasing the young man from a prestigious university because of his profession, but now that he saw it, it was the other way around.

“Go ahead and eat while you go.”

As they stepped out of the restaurant, the owner handed them two ice creams. Nam-woon mouth-watered and accepted a chocolate ice cream from the nearby hand, while Seo-oh took the remaining green ice cream.

The afternoon sun hadn’t become scorching hot yet. It was quiet in the deserted alleyway and they walked along without saying a word. The two were fiddling with their ice cream cones. Nam-woon, who was walking ahead, turned his head when he didn’t feel anyone following him. Seo-oh, who had stopped at the side of the road, was staring off into the distance. It was an empty playground with an old swing.

“Let’s sit down for a moment.”

Seo-oh said, looking directly into Nam-woon’s eyes for the first time today.

Creak creak. Would it break soon? The swing kept squeaking, even though he wasn’t pushing it. Nam-woon looked up anxiously at the swing on which two men were on. No matter how long the ice cream had been in the freezer, it was frozen solid as a rock, unable to release its contents no matter how hard he tried to lick.

Seo-oh, watching this scene, raised his hand for a moment and then put back down.

Nam-woon continued to suck on the ice cream, staring straight ahead. However, all his attention was on Seo-oh sitting next to him. Seo-oh spoke first.

“Why do you work there? What kind of restaurant is it?”

”It’s our client’s restaurant, but they are short-staffed.”

“.……“

Nam-woon hesitated at Seo-oh’s silence, then added,

“Even though it doesn’t look like it, there are quite a few customers. Grandfather runs it alone, and sometimes I go there to help with the dishes when I’m bored.”

“I told you.”

Seo-oh glanced at Nam-woon’s ice cream before speaking again.

“Sometimes, just staying still is helpful enough.”

Nam-woon didn’t respond. Seo-oh’s curt tone that sounded surprisingly friendly today.

“You must have been surprised when Se-han was gone.”

Nam-woon heard a faint response from the side. As Nam-woon, who was absentmindedly rubbing his shoes on the ground, grabbed the swing handle and spoke.”

“Let’s go back to the office. We need to pick up the kids.”

“Did you get hurt?”

“Huh?”

Nam-woon widened his eyes in surprise at the sudden question. Seo-oh reached out and touched Nam-woon’s hand.

“You broke a dish earlier. Are you okay?”

“It’s fine.”

“Let me see.

Ignoring Nam-woon’s assurances that it was fine, Seo-oh held onto his fingers. The firm grip of Seo-oh’s thick, long fingers sent a jolt through Nam-woon. It had been a while since they’d touched like this. Seo-oh examined Nam-woon’s fingers for a moment, then grumbled.

“Hyung, did you throw away the ice cream wrapper?”

“Mmm.”

“Your hands are cold.”

Seo-oh scolded Nam-woon for holding the ice cream with his bare hands. Nam-woon felt a little awkward and kept repeating, “It’s fine” Seo-oh ignored him again. Then he took the ice cream from Nam-woon’s hand, squeezed it firmly, and handed it back. The contents of the ice cream had been pushed up to the top, ready to be eaten. Nam-woon scratched the back of his neck, feeling a little embarrassed.

“Why did you come to the school?”

“Well… I saw it as I was passing by.”

“Unable to tell the truth, he mumbled vaguely and then suddenly asked,

“Was that your girlfriend earlier?”

Nam-woon gasped at his own words. The question that had been on his mind all day slipped out unconsciously. Before he could correct himself, Seo-oh answered first,

“Just a friend.”

“You don’t have friends.”

“…Where have you been all this time?”

“Just at home.”

Seo-oh hesitated before asking quietly,

“So you didn’t go to someone’s house?”

“…No, I didn’t go.”

Really. They had fought over someone last time. Nam-woon paused before speaking,

“I’m sorry about that time.”

“For yelling at you.”

Nam-woon added,

“But that suppressant, I really bought it for you. And I didn’t know I had someone else’s pheromones on me.”

Seo-oh, who heard those words, was silent for a moment before calling out to Nam-woon,

“I don’t understand why you suddenly bought a suppressant.’”

“.……“

“You would’ve asked for that at the pharmacy, right? Were you worried I might suddenly go into rut? Why did you think that?”

He wanted to answer, When you were a rut, you tried to pierce my ass. But he didn’t know if he’d believe it, and looking at the man in front of him, he might run to the Han River at any moment from the shock. That’s why he just swallowed his words.

Besides, he couldn’t tell him about Jin-sang. If he told him that he bought him a rut suppressant, he would ask why he bought it, and then another fight would surely break out. So, Nam-woon brought up the general alpha’s story instead.

“Alphas all take suppressants. But when I looked in the medicine cabinet at home, there were none, so I bought some just in case.”

Seo-oh, who had been silent for a moment, spoke up.

“I’ve never had a rut.”

“Oh… I see…”

Seo-oh still had a dark expression and remained silent. Nam-woon waited quietly for him to speak. After a moment of silence, Seo-oh spoke with difficulty.

“I saw your phone, Hyung.”

As expected. He must have misunderstood after seeing the explicit messages.

“What kind of relationship do you have with that person?”

“Seo-oh I swear, there’s nothing between me and that guy.”

Nam-woon stopped talking and hurriedly searched for his phone. Talking a hundred times wouldn’t make a difference back then. He entered the chat with Jin-sang and scrolled to the part Seo-oh might have seen. Scrolling up, there was a conversation about seven million won and errands, which was a bit concerning, but clearing up the misunderstanding was more important.

Seo-oh took the phone from Nam-woon’s hand and shifted his gaze to the screen. As he stared blankly at the conversation, his mouth slightly opened. Feeling embarrassed, Nam-woon awkwardly turned his head.

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Seo-oh slowly lifted his head. Nam-woon, feeling a gaze that seemed to pierce through his face, wanted to disappear into a handful of ashes, but he had to finish the conversation. Nam-woon met Seo-oh’s eyes.

“So what’s your relationship with this asshole?”

“Well, he’s a client and as you can see, he’s a bit of a character.”

It was too soon after their argument to go into details about the broken plant incident and Nam-woon’s foolishness might reignite Seo-oh’s anger. Seo-oh scrolled through the chat window, finding that 90% of Jin-sang’s messages were pointless and explicit content. Nam-woon had not replied to any of Jin-sang’s messages.

Seo-oh handed Nam-woon his phone and said,

“Be careful. If anything happens, tell me right away.”

With that, Seo-oh took a small breath, covered his eyes with his palm, and lowered his head. His expression seemed a mix of relief and surprise.

“I was worried that you might have a relationship with that person.”

“.……“

“…I misunderstood.”