‘You won’t be able to say anything, if only to protect your own position. You’ll have to lay low to protect the company shares you barely got your hands on.’
She couldn’t refute this either. She was a candle in the wind. Right now, the flame was not extinguished only because Chairman Han looked upon her favorably, but she knew better than anyone that both she and her son could be snuffed out with a single wave of his hand.
Han Jinheon tilted his head. The low voice that escaped between his playfully raised lips teased her. It was intentional. He did not easily show his hand.
‘Doesn’t it not make sense in the first place, for a brother to manifest another brother? It's not like we're brothers who don't share a single drop of blood, so for us to commit such an outrageous act is a bit... Haven't you been watching too many dramas?’
Lee Geumyoung frowned at Han Jinheon’s light change of pace.
Just a moment ago, he had made her suspect he was truly planning something for her son, saying she wouldn't be able to tell his father about his plans to manifest Han Sol. And now, he was backing out, using their brotherhood as a reason. He had acted as if they were in the same boat, and now he was saying they weren't.
At this rate, she couldn't get a feel for whether he was planning to make a move on her son or not. Han Jinheon was a man with a good poker face, so she had to get a sense from his words as much as possible, but he was openly hiding his intentions, making her confused and frustrated.
‘I will make him a new person. That pitiful life, which might get stuck in the gutter if he’s not careful, I will make it better. I promise you that.’
‘Don't make me laugh. I was the one who dragged his life out of the gutter and made it better. And I'll be the one to do it in the future. So listen carefully, I'm only letting you keep him by your side for a little while, so don't get cocky. And don't you dare try any funny business.’
Han Jinheon stared at her silently. Under his heavy gaze, she unknowingly backed away, biting back a curse. She didn’t feel any pheromones, but it was a disgusting feeling, like being pressed down by an Alpha’s pheromones. Annoying Alpha brat.
Han Jinheon smirked, his lips pulling up quite refreshingly.
‘Funny business, wasn't that something you and Han Sol usually did together, Stepmother?’
‘What?!’
Her beautiful face crumpled hideously. Han Jinheon stepped back from the screeching Lee Geumyoung and wrinkled his nose slightly. He threw her thoughts into chaos once more.
‘Now, it's my turn.’
As he pulled himself out of the reverie, life returned to the Alpha’s hazy focus. Han Jinheon, having collected his thoughts, looked at Han Sol. He was diligently eating even the scorched rice water.
Is this what it feels like to enjoy watching someone eat well? And is this what it means to feel full just by watching? It is satisfying.
“Between my parents, who am I supposed to please first….”
'Father is mad at me. Mother is also mad at me.' He grumbles quietly, asking what he should do when both of them are angry. Han Jinheon, while pouring water into his own cup, also poured water into Han Sol's and spoke.
“If you're going to worry about someone, it's better to worry about the hyung in front of you than your parents.”
“Can’t it be the other way around? Can’t you, at least, put my mind at ease?”
“I have been putting you at ease. If you want to be even more at ease, it's simple. Tell me who it is.”
“Who it is, ah…. Just think whatever you want, hyung.”
Han Jinheon, wiping his mouth and chuckling, couldn't take his eyes off Han Sol. The sulky, crumpled face that screamed "I'm sick and tired of this" was cute. So he laughed. But perhaps because the room was warm, the blush on his cheeks looked quite pretty. It was novel.
Han Sol was, by anyone’s standards, a pretty man.
From the first time he saw him at fifteen until now, Han Jinheon had accepted that Han Sol was pretty without any argument. As long as Han Sol didn't know how pretty he was and act all high and mighty. Except for when he was being insolent, he admitted he was a beauty.
Someone once said that if he just existed, he was a peerless beauty who could captivate one person, and if he put his mind to dressing up, he was a beauty who could shake a nation.
“Don't try too hard to please your parents, just let it go and live. We wrote the agreement today, too. Just focus on becoming a new person and living a new life.”
“I’ll live a new life. I’m becoming a building owner thanks to you, hyung.”
“You should be focusing on becoming an Omega, not a building owner.”
Han Sol giggled at the scolding. Seeing his excited face asking if they could go see the building now that it was mentioned, Han Jinheon felt a slight regret.
He shouldn't have offered the building as a reward. It would be fine if the building was just a suitable catalyst for a major decision. It would be troublesome if the roles were reversed.
He pats his bulging belly, saying he ate well and it was delicious. Han Jinheon declared it was no time to lounge around right after eating and got up. It was spartan-like.
“If you’re done eating, get up. There's a place we need to go before it closes.”
***
The place Han Jinheon dragged Han Sol to was a nearby handmade cookie shop. Leaving Han Sol behind—whose eyes were darting around busy looking at the cookies displayed here and there as soon as they arrived—he approached an employee and gave his name.
"I have a cookie set reserved under Han Jinheon."
The employee, asking him to wait a moment, went inside and soon brought out a luxuriously and beautifully packaged cookie set, showing him the contents for confirmation.
The square box was divided into four compartments. Each compartment had an individual container, and each held a different flavor of cookie. Red velvet, chocolate, matcha, and earl grey.
While the employee, having confirmed the contents, was wrapping it up beautifully, Han Sol approached Han Jinheon and tugged on the hem of his clothes. Han Jinheon glanced at Han Sol's fingers clutching his hem.
Is grabbing my clothes a habit of his?
"What's with the cookies?"
He came because Han Jinheon told him to, but he said he didn't know the reason for coming here and that the cookies, being so colorful, diverse, and charmingly cute, felt unfamiliar. Not him, but the combination of Han Jinheon and cookies.
Han Sol, who had been teasing that one shouldn't judge a person by their appearance but that things that don't match just don't match, soon shut his mouth.
It was because the cookie set was his.
"It was mine?"
"Yes."
If I knew, I would have looked more closely at what was inside, Han Sol lamented, disappointed, as he meticulously peered inside the shopping bag containing the cookie set.
"But why are you giving this to me?"
Then he asks, hugging the shopping bag to his chest. Even though it was a gift received without knowing the reason, he seemed happy, his face lit up with a fresh smile.
Han Jinheon watched Han Sol, who was hugging the cookie set to his chest and trotting to keep up with him. Slowing his pace, he answered calmly.
"I find they're a safe thing to give when someone has done well, when they deserve praise."
"Praise? What did I do well?"
"What do you think you did well?"
Han Sol, who I thought would answer right away, bit his lower lip and fell into thought. Han Jinheon stopped walking as he looked at the puzzled face. Then, he approached Han Sol, who had stopped in his tracks, and pulled the hood of his long padded coat over his head. There was no one on the street. It was just something he did.
A disgruntled voice complained, asking if he could take it off because it felt stuffy. He answered while pulling the hood down firmly.
"It's because I'm proud of you for living quietly, saying you'll reflect on your actions. And deciding to become an Omega is also amazing."
Han Jinheon was not an optimist, but he wasn't overly pessimistic either. He believed that any person could change if the will was added to the desire to change.
He was the type to think that even if a person's basic nature doesn't change, if moments and time spent trying to change accumulate, one could build a different life.
Han Sol will change. He had been trying hard since he came to the mansion. Except for when he coaxed Secretary Jeong Seongwoo to go to a cafe. And except for when he was completely swayed by his mother and went out for a blind date, he had been staying quietly at home, to the point that the CCTVs and the location tracker had nothing to do. This was a first.
In any case, the cookies contained praise for doing well so far and a sincere wish for him to continue doing well. Han Sol's brow furrowed as he looked down at the cookies. As if thinking of something, he stared blankly into the air with narrowed eyes before he spoke.
"This is what you used to give to Cha Seonmin…."
"That's right. How did you know?"
Cha Seonmin was an Omega who would refuse any gift he felt was burdensome. Even when Han Jinheon asked him to name something he needed because he wanted to give him a gift, he wouldn't say, and if he bought something on his own, he would politely refuse or refund it and ask for understanding.
Han Jinheon just wanted him to accept, but Cha Seonmin's constant refusal was tricky. He was slightly annoyed too. In the end, out of stubbornness, he ended up researching gifts Cha Seonmin would accept and settled on cookies, deciding to find meaning in the act of him just accepting 'something'. Cha Seonmin seemed to like the cookies, at least.
"How could I not know…."
"Did you try one before?"
He only said it was true because Han Sol mentioned Cha Seonmin first, but his expression isn't good. I should have been more careful. Han Jinheon studied Han Sol's complicated-looking face. The forced upward curve of his lips bothered him.
"No wonder it looked familiar…."
Just as I was about to relax at his seemingly understanding reaction, his lips pouted out like a duck's bill, making my own insides feel unsettled. What should I do about that? Han Sol, who was walking a few steps ahead of the slowed Han Jinheon, turned around with a pout.
"The cookies are nice, but they're not to my taste. I like cake more than cookies."
"Cake?"
"Yes, cake.... From now on, if you want to praise me, don't give me something you used to give to praise someone else.... Do it with cake!"
Even as Han Jinheon answered evenly that he understood, he inwardly felt a pang of regret. He was usually the type who lived without caring about what others thought and didn't feel uncomfortable about it, but today, he felt strangely self-conscious and uncomfortable.
He wanted to praise Han Sol, yet he had acted thoughtlessly. Anyone else might not have cared, but Han Sol wouldn't want something that Cha Seonmin used to receive. I should have just taken him to a department store and told him to pick whatever he wanted.
"They had cake just now, right? Let's go back. I'll buy you some."
"It's fine. I'm not asking for it right now.... I mean in the future."
"Alright. If you don't like them, you can give them to me."
"How can you give something and then take it back…!"
"I'm not giving and taking it back, I'm saying you don't have to force yourself to accept it if you don't want it."
"It's not that I don't want it, okay? I just prefer cake.... Do you see me as someone who would ignore your sincerity? Well, I might look that way but.... You said it was mine."
'So I'm going to have it. I'm going to eat it all. Let me see what this thing that your beloved Actor Cha used to eat tastes like.'
Blehh. He sticks his tongue out teasingly and starts to run. Contrary to his momentum, the car door doesn't open, and the sight of his back standing blankly in front of the passenger seat was truly pathetic and weak.
Watching that back, Han Jinheon bit his lip and then covered his mouth with his hand.
The world is turning upside down. To think that the brat I only found hateful and pitiful now looks cute. And to think that once I found him cute, every single thing he does looks cute. This was a severe case. He might have been caught in a trap set by Han Sol.
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