Chapter 27

“What are you doing? Are you trying to break it?”

“I didn’t mean to do it. I got emotional for a moment…”

In a flustered voice, Kang Ji Seok tried to explain and I met his eyes. He turned his head with a start, but it was already after he was surprised to see my eyes.

Ji Geon-hyung gently place my hand on my lap and knelt down in front of me. Then, he took off my sneaker that I couldn’t take off because I was being dragged from the front door.

“Don’t forcefully drive him into a corner.1 Can’t you see how startled he is?”

Kang Ji Seok opened his mouth as if he was trying to refute it, but only let out a few sighs to soothe his anger.

“Hyung, why are you here now?”

He put the one shoe of my pair of sneakers on the floor, and carefully lowered my foot, which he had been supporting until then when he was questioned by Ji Seok.

“I said I had work to do. I would’ve contacted you and come back right away after sleeping outside.”

“It’s strange that the timing of the two of your’s return is similar.”

A hard voice filled with suspicion came out and surrounded hyung.

Originally, he was only going to come up from the parking lot about thirty minutes after I went in first. But for some reason, not long after I opened the front door, he came in right away.

It’s true that the situation would be strange enough, but hyung wasn’t particularly troubled.

“What’s strange about it? Or…you want it to be strange?”

I could tell without turning my head. Kang Ji Seok exuded a heavy and violent air like when he was lashing out before.

“…Hyung. I’m not so calm as to accept your joke.”

“Same for me too.”

Ji Geon-hyung stood up, covering me with his body facing Kang Ji Seok. Thanks to him guarding me as if protecting me, I couldn’t see Kang Ji Seok even if I raised my head. It was only then that I came to my senses a little. The tears that had condensed had fallen in a few drops when I realized, I wiped them away with my sleeve, rubbing the corners of my eyes and cheeks.

“Don’t think about raising your voice at innocent people and just take care of your own emotions.”

Hyung exhaled chillingly, turned around, and wrapped his arm around my shoulder. My heart, which had been beating wildly from the previous intense emotions, gradually calmed down thanks to the warmth that flowed through his hand.

Hugging my shoulder, he whispered to me in a low voice.

“Are you alright, Woo Seo-ya? Let’s go into the room.”

It was a gentle voice that was completely different from when he was confronting Kang Ji Seok. It wasn’t full of soothing words, but his voice alone seemed to comfort me.

As I headed to my room with him, Kang Ji Seok tried to follow me in.

“Woo Seo, I’m sorry about earlier. Let’s talk for a minute.”

Kang Ji Seok’s voice was also quite softer than before. But to say, ‘it’s ok, let’s talk about it,’ my emotions were in too much disarray.

As I entered the room without a word, hyung stopped Kang Ji Seok in front of the door.

“We’ll talk about it later.”

“Hyung, why are you stopping me?”

Kang Ji Seok’s voice became harsh again. His older brother snorted once and pushed Ji Seok’s chest away with his fingertips. While trying to close the door without answering, Kang Ji Seok’s voice broke through again.

“Hyung, how does a person who just came from the parking lot know that I was yelling?”

Ji Geon-hyung didn’t answer Ji Seok’s sharp question.

He closed the door without answering, and only Ji Geon-hyung and I were left in my room.

I flopped down on the bed as if my legs has lost all their strength. Only then did the stifled tears begin to form again.

Hyung came closer and wrapped his arms around my shoulders. He didn’t ask what happened with Ji Seok. He just let me lean comfortably against his shoulder, and with his hand, he brushed the wrist that Ji Seok held that was in pain several times.

Strangely enough, I felt at ease. The silent comfort and warmth from hyung, who seemed to know all the emotions I felt, gently caressed my pounding heart.

The hand that was stroking my wrist caressed around my eyes this time.

“This is my first time seeing you cry.”

Embarrassed by those words, I wiped the corners of my eyes with my sleeve. Perhaps it seemed like the rough rubbing was painful, he grabbed my arm and whipped my teary eyes with his thumb.

“It’s probably because of Kang Ji Seok, but can I ask why exactly you cried?”

I couldn’t answer his question easily. The feelings I felt were things I was too ashamed about to say out loud.2

Jealousy, resignation, resentment, dejection, remorse.

All kinds of negative emotions burst out, and it was difficult to properly deal with them.

“Just…”

I moved my lips slightly with difficulty.

“I’m just so pathetic… and stupid.”

The more I spoke, the more I became emotional, and tears welled up in my eyes again. In most cases, I wouldn’t shed a single tear no matter how hard it was or anything, but today for some reason I kept crying like a child.

“When Kang Ji Seok got angry… I didn’t know why I had to be scolded by him. But what was more ridiculous was…I was worried that he might have hated me.”

A chuckle broke out.

“But at the same time, I was thrilled and excited to know that Kang Ji Seok had been waiting for me until now… Then when I thought about why I couldn’t come back yesterday, it made me sad…”

Recalling the whirlwind of emotions, one by one, I tried to lay them out and it made me feel pathetic again. Talking about this, I was sure that hyung didn’t find it interesting and would just be annoyed.

I was about to say sorry for telling him such a depressing story, but then hyung’s hand gently stroked my cheek.

“It’s okay, so if you have something you want to say, just say it. I’ll listen to anything you say.”

That’s cheating.

I was having a hard time because of Kang Ji Seok, but I was comforted by the kind-hearted Ji Geon-hyung, whose face resembles the guy. Moreover, hyung knew all the feelings and thoughts I had hidden away so far, so there was nothing more to hide.

Consolation is basically possible only when you know the other person’s feelings or stories. In that sense, the only person who could comfort me was hyung and the only one I could lean on was hyung.

I couldn’t help but be grateful.

Without him, I’d probably be exhausted from pushing down all kinds of emotions all alone.

For the first time, I thought it was fortunate that I was connected to him by the ring. Without the ring, I couldn’t have gotten as close to him as I am now.

Even if he didn’t say much, just by leaning on hyung quickly calmed my mind down. Without asking anything, he quietly hugged me, patted me, and stayed there for a while.

++++++++++

Every time I took a step, I could sense someone behind me. Not only that, but I could even hear the sound of suffocated footsteps.

‘What is he doing?’

I entered the kitchen with a frown and opened the refrigerator. It was lunchtime soon, and I took out some vegetables that were wrapped up to cook with the groceries I had bought beforehand. Then, maybe because I took out too much at once, the carrots rolled out of my arms.

Just before the carrot fell to the floor. A hand suddenly stretched out from behind splendidly grabbed the carrot at the critical moment.

“…”

I looked down at the hand holding the carrot. The hand slowly raised, and gently placed the carrot in my arms.

“… What are you doing?”

I asked, glaring at the hand that had fallen back after putting the carrots on top. Hesitating several times, the hand slipped down and was retrieved from behind me.

“Just… anything I can help…do…?”

Those words seemed to be plastered with caution.

I piled up the wrapped vegetables I was holding in my arms on the kitchen counter and turned around. Meeting Kang Ji Seok’s eyes, he quickly lowered his gaze and hesitated, not knowing what to do.

I looked at Kang Ji Seok with my arms crossed.

Just a while ago, he was bullying and pushing me, but now he was whining like a big dog who couldn’t even go for a walk because of the rain. In fact, it was a little frightening to see a big buy depressingly chase after me.

“Going to your room and waiting helps.”

Kang Ji Seok, who could only cause various cooking accidents after saying he would try to cook, was anxious no matter how much I thought about it. He didn’t seem like he’d be of any help, so I’d rather he went back to his room.

‘In fact, more than that…’

I couldn’t my discomfort as I watched Kang Ji Seok hesitate in front of me.

After what happened earlier, we didn’t talk seriously again or apologize to each other. We couldn’t do it because whenever I made eye contact with Kang Ji Seok, he looked down like a sinner and closed his mouth tightly, and I was embarrassed to say anything because I also had tears in my eyes. I tried to ignore it, and just cook or lock myself in my room, but this leech-like Kang Ji Seok kept following me as if he were a shadow.

“Over there…”

Kang Ji Seok, hesitating like a timid child, glanced at me and came a little closer.