I Possessed a Terminally Ill Omega - Episode 209
I Possessed a Terminally Ill Omega – Episode 209
“Seung-jae, about lunch tomorrow.”
Han Seung-jae, who was savoring his tea, looked intently. Seo I-Kyung, also holding a teacup, carefully placed it on the saucer and continued speaking.
“Outside, together.”
Instead of interrupting Seo I-Kyung, Han Seung-jae drank more of his tea. Seo I-Kyung opened his lips, still flushed as if stained. He realized that Han Seung-jae seemed to be waiting for something. Wasn’t he someone who didn’t like waiting for anything? Yet, the expressionless Han Seung-jae leisurely put down his cup. Seo I-Kyung hurriedly murmured.
“I’m planning to eat with Seon-yoo.”
Han Seung-jae’s cup made a clinking sound as it touched the saucer. Seo I-Kyung’s suspicious gaze fell on the slightly askew teacup before looking up. It wasn’t just his imagination that Han Seung-jae’s eyebrows had subtly risen, unlike before.
Seo I-Kyung knew that he didn’t like him meeting with Jin Seon-yoo.
―Why don’t you keep some distance from Jin Seon-yoo?
Han Seung-jae had said such things before. That’s why Seo I-Kyung wanted to tell him in advance before he found out through someone else tomorrow. But perhaps it would have been better not to say anything.
“Your teacup is empty…”
Seo I-Kyung glanced at Han Seung-jae’s empty cup and reached for the teapot. But Han Seung-jae was faster.
“Is that all?”
He poured tea into his own cup and filled Seo I-Kyung’s half-empty cup as well.
“What’s next?”
Han Seung-jae seemed to be asking him to say more. Suddenly, the meaning of Han Seung-jae’s words flashed through Seo I-Kyung’s mind. Was he asking if he was going to have lunch with him next? Seo I-Kyung restrained his wild speculation and said,
“Ah, did you think I was going to ask to have lunch with you tomorrow…”
The words “Did you think that?” were crushed on Seo I-Kyung’s tongue, and different words leaked out.
“I must have misunderstood.”
That couldn’t be. Han Seung-jae wasn’t such a leisurely person, was he? He spent most of his time in the office and met many people. So Seo I-Kyung felt embarrassed by his own presumption. Just as Seo I-Kyung was about to lift his teacup,
“I thought you were going to suggest that.”
When Seo I-Kyung looked up from his teacup, Han Seung-jae was calmly drinking his tea. Seo I-Kyung blinked. He stared at Han Seung-jae as if doubting his ears.
If they hadn’t been alone in this room, he might have believed Han Seung-jae would never say such a thing.
***
Shhhh-
In the morning, Seo I-Kyung entered the bathroom and positioned himself in the shower stall. He washed his hair and finished showering with his left hand in a cast stretched out to the side. Wearing a robe with the front not properly closed, he approached the sink and wiped his wet cheeks with a towel. Long scratches and bite marks were still evenly visible on his chest area where the robe gaped open with its dangling ties. However, he no longer felt the intense pain like before.
Seo I-Kyung stepped out with the towel covering his hair. He picked up his phone and called Butler Do.
A moment later, there was a knock. When Seo I-Kyung opened the door, Butler Do entered. Butler Do moved without making eye contact with Seo I-Kyung. It was even more so because Seo I-Kyung had his entire head covered with a towel.
Butler Do placed the clothes he had brought on the bedside table and turned around.
“I’ll prepare breakfast downstairs. You can come down after you change.”
Seo I-Kyung had woken up late. The night before, he had fallen asleep waiting for Han Seung-jae, who had gone to his study. So when he woke up late, Han Seung-jae had already left for work.
As Seo I-Kyung was responding that he understood, he suddenly added as if remembering something.
“I’m having lunch with Seon-yoo, so you don’t need to prepare anything.”
Butler Do, who was about to leave, turned back and nodded.
“I understand. I’ll do that.”
As Butler Do left, closing the door, Seo I-Kyung pulled down the towel covering his head and exhaled deeply. The tips of his ears were slightly reddened. Although Butler Do didn’t say anything, it didn’t lessen Seo I-Kyung’s embarrassment.
He changed clothes, went downstairs for a simple breakfast, then spent time on the second floor. Seo I-Kyung ate fruit while watching the mobile spinning in the breeze from the open window. His gaze then moved to the empty chair where Han Seung-jae had sat. Han Seung-jae’s voice brushed past his ear.
―I thought you were going to suggest that.
Seo I-Kyung scratched his forehead with the tip of the fork in his hand. He thought he should have asked when would be a good time then. Han Seung-jae hadn’t said anything after that. It occurred to him that maybe he had been waiting for him to say something.
Ring- His phone on the table vibrated. Snapped out of his thoughts, Seo I-Kyung put down his fork and fiddled with his phone screen.
He looked at the hotel map Jin Seon-yoo had sent.
[Let’s meet here at 12.]
[Okay.]
Seo I-Kyung’s finger hovered over the screen after sending the reply. He stared at the list with Han Seung-jae’s contact information and hesitated for a moment.
Sending a message about what he couldn’t say yesterday seemed like it might be too late. Besides, Seo I-Kyung wasn’t on such friendly terms with Han Seung-jae to exchange text messages. Given Han Seung-jae’s nature, there was a high chance he wouldn’t reply even if he sent one.
After hesitating for a long time, Seo I-Kyung got up. He closed the open window and left the room.
***
Myeongjun Financial Group, Director’s Office.
Knock knock, Secretary Park knocked and entered.
“Director Han.”
He approached Han Seung-jae at his desk and reported that Seo I-Kyung had left the house. Han Seung-jae tapped his pen on the approval documents.
“I know. Me too.”
Hadn’t Seo I-Kyung personally said he would have lunch with Jin Seon-yoo? Han Seung-jae made no comment about it. He didn’t tell Seo I-Kyung not to go out or not to meet Jin Seon-yoo.
Secretary Park was about to put his phone back in his inner pocket. Han Seung-jae stretched out his hand holding the pen.
The phone passed to his large palm. Han Seung-jae casually scanned the photo of Seo I-Kyung. It showed Seo I-Kyung wearing a navy jacket, with Butler Do seeing him off.
Seo I-Kyung in the photo seemed to have color in his face. He looked slightly excited about meeting Jin Seon-yoo.
Looking at the next photo of him getting into the car, Han Seung-jae coldly said,
“I didn’t hear he was going to a hotel.”
Secretary Park didn’t answer. Han Seung-jae was muttering as if talking to himself. It wasn’t a question for Secretary Park.
Thud, Han Seung-jae put down the phone he had been looking at in front of Secretary Park. The last image of Seo I-Kyung entering the hotel flickered and disappeared from the screen. Secretary Park took it and put it in his inner pocket. Han Seung-jae turned a page of the document and said,
“We know who he’s meeting, so tell them not to follow him inside and interfere.”
Seo I-Kyung seemed to be in a good mood for once. Whether it was because he was going out or because he was meeting Jin Seon-yoo, it was unclear. Maybe it was both.
Either way, although it was unpleasant that it had nothing to do with him, Han Seung-jae turned his gaze away as he rejected the approval document.
***
“I was thinking of going to Sangaru, but Gi-jun said this place was good, so I made a reservation here.”
Jin Seon-yoo smiled as he flipped through the gold-decorated menu. Seo I-Kyung also looked at the same menu, considering what to eat.
However, Jin Seon-yoo said there was a menu item Gwon Gi-jun recommended and even paired it with wine as he had suggested. Seo I-Kyung just placed the glass filled with red wine beside him.
“Give it to me. I’ll cut it for you.”
Jin Seon-yoo looked at the cast on Seo I-Kyung’s arm and took his plate. He held the fork and knife in both hands and thinly sliced the meat, returning the plate to Seo I-Kyung. Seo I-Kyung thanked him and picked up his fork.
“How long do you have to wear the cast?”
“They said I could take it off this week.”
Seo I-Kyung lifted his left hand and moved it around. Watching this, Jin Seon-yoo asked again,
“Does it hurt?”
“No, not at all.”
It seemed that because it was cracked, the attending physician was being particularly cautious and preventing him from using it. Seo I-Kyung lowered his arm and looked carefully out the window. Perhaps because the cityscape could be seen small and all at once even from afar, his complicated mind and heart also seemed to become simpler and more at ease.
He wondered if he met Han Seung-jae in the evening and told him the food here was delicious, asking to come together, would he come…