Yeo Ryung and I sat down on the couch, Eun Jiho and Jooin on the floor. Yoo Chun Young took a seat on the armchair while looking down again at the floor without any moves as if he was a statue. I stared at him worriedly.
He indeed looked like he couldn’t sleep at all, but why on earth did he say that he would return to the house? I glanced at the kitchen. Was it because Eun Hyung told his mother he would come back to the house?
Then why did Eun Hyung respond that way? Considering his usual character, Eun Hyung would try to stay with Chun Young; he wasn’t a person who would move alone.
‘Argh, I don’t know.’ Rambling those thoughts in my head, I disheveled my hair then found a remote control beside me. I tried to turn on the TV habitually but paused to do such a thing.
It wasn’t difficult to guess what would be broadcasted on the TV right now moment by moment. Since the surgery went successfully, all attention would be focused on when the chairman would recover his consciousness. If he couldn’t wake up from a coma, the public would also wonder what would happen afterward.
Grimacing for a second, I soon turned my head and looked at Jooin. If I continued to keep my mouth shut this way, the silence seemed to swallow me.
“Jooin.”
Having his arms around his legs covered with a comforter, Jooin turned to look in my direction.
“Yeah, mama.”
“Why did you talk about eating something when we said nothing about starving?”
That was when Yeo Ryung also switched her gaze to this side and nodded quietly. Blinking swiftly, Jooin replied nonchalantly.
“Mama, but it’s true that you wanted to come over to this house.”
“Ah, yeah, but…”
‘But we failed to persuade him…’ That was when I tried to add those words.
“We must not say to Eun Hyung that we are concerned about him or want to stay with him.”
I tossed a question with a frown, “Huh?”
“Look how Eun Hyung behaves usually. He gets anxious when something good happens and calms in the opposite situation.”
Listening to his words, I still couldn’t understand what he was implying, so I tilted my head in wonder. Throwing a glance at the kitchen with his gold-brown eyes, Jooin continued to speak.
“We must, instead, ask for something ridiculous and have to be stubborn such as telling him, ‘I’m hungry, bring me something to eat.’ Eun Hyung is a person who’s used to do something for others but feels pressured to receive something.”
“Oh…”
Though it was a little uncertain, I could roughly know what he meant. Eun Hyung didn’t move an inch at our words of concern; however, he hopped in the car without a second thought when we said we were starving. I nodded my head.
There was another round of silence since we had nothing to talk about. Only the sound of the knife hitting the cutting board went on regularly. Holding the blanket in my arms, I stared in the direction in a daze. Suddenly, I felt very sleepy at the regular sound.
Once I felt fatigued, I dozed off in a flash. As if my foot slipped and fell off a cliff, I went out like a light.
How long have I been fallen into sleep? When I opened my eyes again upon a small noise, the silence and the regular sound from the cutting board disappeared; only an intense emotion and tension were prevailing in the space.
Before I even blinked, I noticed that something was going on. Pulling down the blanket, I quickly raised my head.
In the direction where I was glancing, Eun Hyung and Yoo Chun Young were facing each other.
“… So go alone if you want to go back. I’ll be catching up on chores. Don’t worry since I’m gonna bring your stuff.”
Speaking that way with a suppressed voice, Eun Hyung closed his eyes tightly and continued, “I don’t want to go back to the hospital. Sorry for Mr. Chairman.”
“You don’t know when he’s gonna wake up.”
Yoo Chun Young’s response sounded calm. He looked too pale that I was very concerned about him; however, I felt relieved at his voice since he wasn’t that frustrated than I thought.
That was when I heaved a sigh of relief.
“You’re gonna be there, so it’s fine even if I don’t go.”
“But…”
Cutting in Yoo Chun Young’s words, Eun Hyung kept on speaking, “I’m very sorry about my absence during Mr. Chairman’s recovery, but you and Mrs. Yoo will be there. Gun hyeong, Shin hyeong, and your relatives are gonna come too, so someone like me isn’t necessary at that place…”
“Still, when your father wakes up from the coma, no one else but you would mean to him.”
When Yoo Chun Young spoke those words composedly that way, something like a small flame seemed to burst in Eun Hyung’s green-gray eyes.
Eun Hyung raised his voice in a flash.
“Chun Young, did I ever refuse when you asked me to go somewhere together? It’s just once this time. Just once. I––.”
“Then just answer this question.”
Intervening in Eun Hyung’s remark, Yoo Chun Young sounded frighteningly serene. His following question made me hold my breath.
“Why you keep talking from earlier like you’re neglecting your father’s recovery?”
“Ah…”
Eun Hyung tried to say something but just closed his mouth. Scowling at him fiercely with cold blue eyes, Yoo Chun Young continued, “As if you aren’t expecting that he’s gonna wake up?”
“Hey, Yoo Chun Young. You’re going too far… He’s not…”
Intervening in their conversation that way, Eun Jiho stopped speaking and turned stiff while checking the look on Eun Hyung’s face. Eun Hyung was now as pale as a sheet of paper.
That was when I realized the reason why Eun Hyung kept a peaceful expression from the hospital until now except the time when his mother was mentioned in a conversation. I also grasped why Eun Hyung moved busily in the hallway instead of sitting tight in front of the operation room.
‘But why?’ I murmured. It wasn’t weird at all to expect and desire his father’s recovery. Why did Eun Hyung let go of his hope before the result of the surgery came out?
At that moment, Eun Hyung, who was gasping hard, sneered. I doubted my eyes for a second.
Eun Hyung uttered, “Regardless of what I think…”
“Kwon Eun Hyung.”
Cutting in Yoo Chun Young’s call, Eun Hyung kept on speaking nervously with a trembling voice.
“I… I didn’t argue about Mr. Chairman recovering consciousness or not. I, at least, think he will wake up. I spoke that way just now, didn’t I? Isn’t that enough?”
However, at that moment, Yoo Chun Young, who looked down at the floor with depressed eyes, shook his head and said, “… No…”
Eun Hyung’s face darkened strikingly. He asked, “What?”
“When your father and my father were involved in the same accident, something flashed through my head.”
Yoo Chun Young’s following remark made my eyes wide open. I held my breath again.
“Perhaps, this time… it could be our turn.”
As soon as he dropped those words, a heavy silence hung among them. Eun Hyung soon lost his temper with a frown.
“Yoo Chun Young! How can you dare say something like that?”
“Last time, we were lucky, then this time, although we were being unfortunate… I mean, I kept thinking that this would be fair…”
As Yoo Chun Young spoke that way with a pale face, I realized that he wasn’t just blurting out whatever he had in mind. Yoo Chun Young had those thoughts from the hospital until now; that was why he had been sitting still like a statue for the whole time.
I, who was being absentminded, pulled myself together at Eun Hyung’s voice. Scowling at Yoo Chun Young with red eyes, Eun Hyung struck a retort.
“No, not you, not your father.” With a grimace, Eun Hyung enunciated each word heavily.
“If I have to lose someone again this time, it’ll… happen to me. I… I never… in this situation…”
“Kwon Eun Hyung.”
“I never had the chance to not lose someone…”
Eun Hyung’s last words turned into a bitter statement to himself at some point. Before Yoo Chun Young, who turned pale, tried to say something, there was a loud clap that intervened in the two and resonated around the space.
We all turned our heads to look at where the sound came from. Since we were absorbed in the fuss between the two boys, we didn’t even know that someone had come into the house.
Under the frizzy, maybe bleached blond hair, I saw a guy’s facial features that emitted an optimistic vibe, which looked very different from Yoo Chun Young. Only his eyes seemed to resemble those of Yoo Chun Young.
“Come on, what’s going on now? I stopped by at the house before going to the hospital.”
It was Yoo Shin, Chun Young’s second brother.
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