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 Nam-woon 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 froze. Grandfather lowered his gaze and continued,

“…I know I said it 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.

“Eat it on the way.”

As they stepped out of the restaurant, the owner handed them two ice creams. Nam-woon’s mouth-watered and he 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 on the side of the road, was looking at something. It was an empty playground with only a rusty swing.

“Let’s sit down for a moment.”

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

Creak, squeak. Even though their feet remained still, the swing kept making creaking noises as if it were about to break. Nam-woon glanced nervously upward at the swing, which barely supported two people, while he fidgeted with his frozen bar. It had apparently been stuck in the freezer for so long that it was as hard as stone—no matter how much he licked it, he was unable to release its contents.

Seo‑oh, who had been watching the awkward struggle, raised his hand momentarily before letting it drop again.

Nam-woon, still sucking on the stubborn ice cream without managing to extract any of it, kept his gaze fixed straight ahead, though all his attention was really on Seo-oh sitting beside him.

“Why are you working there? What kind of restaurant is that?”

“It’s our client’s restaurant. They were short-handed, so…”

“.……“

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 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.”

“Aren’t you 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 bowl earlier. Didn’t you hurt your hand?”

“…I’m fine.”

“Show me.”

 Ignoring Nam-woon’s words that he was fine, Seo-oh grabbed his finger. Nam-woon’s body stiffened momentarily at the feeling of a thick, long-jointed hand wrapping around his left hand. It had been a long time since they had touched. After examining Nam-woon’s finger for a moment, Seo-oh said unhappily,

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

“Yeah.”

“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 school?”

“Uh… I just happened to see it on the way.”

Unable to tell the truth, Nam-woon mumbled vaguely before blurting out, 

“Was that your girlfriend earlier?”

Nam-woon almost gasped at his own words. It was a question he had been curious about all day, and it had slipped out without him even realizing. Before he could correct himself, Seo-oh answered first,

“She’s just a friend.”

“But you don’t even have any friends.”

“…Where have you been all this time, Hyung?”

“I was just at home, where else?” 

 Seo-oh pursed his lips and then asked in a small voice,

“Didn’t you go to someone’s house?”

“…No, I didn’t.”

They had fought fiercely over someone last time. Nam-woon hesitated for a moment before speaking.

“I’m sorry about that time.”

“For yelling at you.” Nam-woon briefly added and continued,

“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 something like 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 in 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, who seemed like he might run to the Han River immediately in shock. That’s why he just swallowed his words.

Moreover, he couldn’t bring up Jin-sang. If he told him that he had bought a heat suppressant for Jin-sang, he would definitely ask why, and another fight would break out. So, Nam-woon instead brought up something typical of alphas.

“All alphas take these inhibitors, you know. But when I checked at home, there wasn’t even one in the medicine box, so I thought I’d buy some just in case…”

After a moment of silence, Seo-oh spoke up.

“I’ve never had a rut.”

“Oh… I see…”

Seo‑oh maintained a dark expression and remained silent. Nam-woon waited quietly for him to speak. After a pause, Seo‑oh finally managed to say with difficulty,

“Hyung, I looked at your phone.”

Of course. He must have misunderstood after seeing the explicit messages.

“What… is your relationship with that person?”

“Seo-oh, that bastard and I are really not in any kind of relationship…”

Nam-woon started to speak but stopped and frantically searched for his phone. Even if he kept talking all day, it wouldn’t be much different from that time. He entered the chat window with Jin-sang and stopped at the part Seo-oh might have seen while scrolling up. He was a little worried about the conversation about seven million won and errands, which was more 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 parted slightly. Embarrassed, Nam-woon awkwardly turned his head away.

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Seo-oh slowly raised his head. Nam-woon, feeling like his face was being pierced, wanted to disappear like a handful of ashes, but he had to wrap up the conversation. Nam-woon made eye contact with Seo-oh. Seo-oh’s eyes were full of questions.

“What is your relationship with this guy?”

“Well, he’s just a client, and as you can see, his personality is a bit off…”

It was still too soon after our fight to go into every minute detail about that flowerpot incident, and Nam-woon’s own disheveled state might only serve to further enrage Seo‑oh. Seo‑oh then scrolled down through the chat window. Ninety percent of Jin-sang’s messages were useless, explicit, adult content. Nam-woon hadn’t replied to any of Jin-sang’s messages.

Handing the phone back to Nam-woon, Seo‑oh said,

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

After those words, Seo‑oh let out a small sigh, covered his eyes with his palm, and lowered his head. He looked both relieved and shocked.

“I was worried that maybe, Hyung, you had something with that guy…”

“.……“

“…I misunderstood.”