His father's grip tightened around Eunwon's hand.
Eunwon met the desperate look in his father's eyes for a long moment before lowering his gaze.
Madam Seo had said much the same thing, yet hearing it from his father stirred something different inside him.
Is it because... he's still my father, no matter how unfamiliar and awkward he feels?
He thought of his mother, who had worried about him until her final breath, unable to close her eyes in peace. The woman who had spent her entire life without once speaking a word of resentment against the man who had coldly turned his back on them and walked away.
She had always told him the same thing.
His father wasn't a cold-hearted man.
He'd only had his reasons. One day, he would remember them, come back, and become the dependable father Eunwon deserved. So he must never hate him.
And after she was gone...
He must always remember that his father would be the only family he had left.
"..."
Eunwon knew those words had been nothing more than the shield his mother had built to protect her own wounded heart.
He knew his father had already abandoned them—and that he was never coming back.
Still, he had never hated him.
You couldn't resent something you'd never truly possessed.
It wasn't as though he'd once had a father and lost him. It wasn't as though someone had given him hope only to snatch it away.
His father had simply never existed in his life.
But...
Now that his mother was gone, with no one left in the world to lean on, nowhere he could truly rest, standing before someone who told him he could rely on him made his resolve waver again and again.
At the very least, the eyes looking at him... and the desperate warmth of the hand holding his...
Neither of them seemed false.
Even though every word struck precisely at his weakest place—telling him exactly what he longed to hear, offering exactly what he wanted most—Eunwon never once suspected that the man before him might be revealing such desperation for some hidden purpose.
Eunwon simply wasn't the kind of person who could exploit another person's weakness and perform sincerity to achieve an objective.
"Come home."
"..."
"I don't want you struggling out here anymore. Come home now, Eunwon."
His voice overflowed with earnestness, but the eyes resting on Eunwon's bowed head silently pressed for an answer.
Those eyes, acting the part of a sincere father in order to hear the answer he wanted—to bring Eunwon into the family home as quickly as possible—carefully searched the expression hidden beneath Eunwon's lowered face.
"Eunsu wanted this too. It was one of the things she asked me for."
"...My mother?"
"She did. She told me that even if nothing else mattered, she wanted you to grow up under your father's protection and never have to struggle again. It took me... far too long. But from now on, I'll be the parent she wanted me to be. I'll make up for her share too."
The moment his mother was brought into it, Eunwon's emotions became even more impossible to steady.
And Chairman Seo did not miss the instant when Eunwon was at his weakest.
"I know it's far too late... I only realized everything after I'd already lost her. But let me be family to Eunsu too. If you'll allow it, we'll hold her memorial rites at our family home every year. My wife was the one who suggested it."
"...You'd really do that?"
For a fleeting instant, triumph flashed across his father's face.
I've got him.
Just as quickly, it disappeared beneath the mask of an earnest father as Chairman Seo nodded.
"Of course. It's only right. You don't have to worry anymore. You have a reliable family now."
Family.
A reliable family.
The promise that they would remember his mother... the assurance that he finally had a family he could rely on...
Those words dissolved the last of Eunwon's resolve.
They found every fragile place inside the young man who had spent years standing alone, forcing himself to remain upright simply because there had been no one to catch him if he fell.
"So... you'll come home?"
The final question drove the last nail into place.
Eunwon let out a long breath before slowly nodding.
"...Yes."
The tiny word barely left his lips before satisfaction tugged at the corners of his father's mouth.
"Good. Thank you. Thank you so much, Eunwon. Thank you... for letting us become a family."
The large, warm hand wrapped around Eunwon's own—rough despite its warmth—tightened once more.
Watching his father look at him with tears in his eyes, thanking him over and over again, Eunwon answered with a faint smile.
He had stepped into the trap bearing the warm name of family.
***
After finishing his morning laps in the swimming pool beneath the main house, Cha Sejin noticed Secretary Jung entering the pool area in a suit.
He leisurely swam to the edge instead of climbing out immediately, resting one wet arm across the marble deck.
"You're here?"
"Good morning, Executive Director Cha."
"Tell me everything about what we talked about yesterday."
"As I mentioned before, Seo Eunwon is Baum's illegitimate child. When Chairman Seo Junhyuk first learned of his existence, he turned his back on him, so Mr. Seo lived alone with his mother. Three years ago, after losing her and ending up by himself, it appears Baum located him in order to use him for this arranged marriage."
"If he's still working at that convenience store, then they haven't even managed to bring him into the family home yet. So they haven't even gotten him through the front door, but they're talking to us as if the wedding could happen tomorrow?"
Secretary Jung gave a short nod.
"That's right."
"My parents don't know any of that, so they think Baum's dragging its feet because of me?"
"...Yes."
"Jesus, what a load of bullshit. Those scammer bastards make me look even more like a slut, while my parents are the ones stressing themselves sick. They ought to be saying they wouldn't touch a bastard like that if someone paid them, but instead they're terrified the marriage might fall through." He clicked his tongue before smirking. "Then again... it'd be a shame to pass on that face. Did you see him?"
"Only in photographs. The Chairwoman was extremely pleased. She said that, at the very least, she didn't expect you to have any complaints about his appearance."
"My mother really does know my type."
Grinning to himself, Sejin climbed out of the pool. He accepted the towel Secretary Jung held out and absentmindedly dried his hair, falling into thought.
"Hm... Well, it's not like we have to get married this month. We can give them a little more time. The lies and all the bullshit they're pulling are irritating as hell, but..." He chuckled. "...it's kind of entertaining."
"Understood. Then how much should I tell the Chairwoman? Shall I report everything exactly as it is?"
"Just tell her that getting wrapped up in marriage rumors involving a hidden illegitimate child doesn't exactly look good. That's enough. Honestly, it's not a great look, is it? I may be a slut, but there's no more expensive slut on the market than me. If someone's going to marry me, they should at least have a reputation as embarrassing as mine."
After giving himself a quick towel-dry, Sejin dropped into a deck chair and took a long drink of the iced coffee beside him.
Realizing the conversation was over, Secretary Jung bowed politely and left the pool.
Watching him go, Sejin leaned farther back in the chair, popped an ice cube into his mouth, and crushed it between his teeth.
Eunwon's face drifted back into his thoughts.
The way he'd kept asking whether Sejin needed anything, completely unaware of who he was.
What kind of face will he make if I show up at the convenience store again tonight?
And what kind of face will he make when he finds out I'm his fiancé?
Maybe it was because he'd never met anyone whose face captivated him so completely at first sight, but every time he pictured Eunwon's face, one thought led naturally to another until he found himself imagining all sorts of things.
He swallowed another mouthful of coffee before pulling out his phone to check the time.
Maybe it was because his dopamine had been running high, but he'd woken unusually early, even found himself swimming before breakfast for the first time in ages...
...and it was still only eight in the morning.
I'm starving. I'll eat breakfast, drag myself into the office, half-ass a little work...
God, when is it going to be night already?
The sun needs to hurry up and set so I can go mess with him.
Despairing at the realization that it was still morning, Sejin sprawled across the deck chair.
It was shaping up to be one of those days that seemed destined to crawl by.
***
The morning after Eunwon agreed to move into his father's family home, a car pulled up outside his apartment.
The chauffeur politely informed him that he had come to drive him to school.
Caught completely off guard, Eunwon immediately declined, insisting he would be fine on his own.
Then Chairman Seo called.
There was no refusing after that.
"You're my son. I want my son to receive the treatment befitting his place. These are things you should have enjoyed long ago, and things that should become natural from now on. Even if they feel awkward, I hope you won't refuse them. Can you do that for me?"
Compared to standing for several bus stops on crowded buses and squeezing into subway cars so packed that sometimes he couldn't even find room to stand, much less sit, it was an unimaginably comfortable ride to school.
And yet...
His heart refused to settle.
Throughout the drive, Eunwon couldn't relax even a fraction. His body remained stiff as he repeatedly bit the inside of his lip.
He understood that the moment he'd made that decision, all of this was supposed to become his new normal.
But the Eunwon of yesterday and the Eunwon of today were still the same person.
The world around him had changed overnight, and somehow...
...it still didn't feel like it belonged to him.