If You Want Me - Episode 114
<Episode 114>
The steps returning home felt as heavy as walking on sinking mud.
As he walked absentmindedly along the road Do-gyeom used to drive him every day, his nose, ears, and hands felt cold and numb. It wasn’t simply because the temperature was low and the wind was cold, but because his heart also felt chilly, the wind felt even sharper like a blade.
Walking unsteadily, he soon arrived home. Although he didn’t want to go back, it wasn’t like going somewhere else would solve anything.
Thinking he should go inside and think for now, as soon as he opened the front door, the savory smell of soybean paste soup grazed the tip of his nose.
“Is that you, Seo-won? You came just in time. I was seasoning it but wasn’t sure. Come and taste it.”
His mother’s voice came from the kitchen, as if she was home.
Just hearing her voice made his frozen heart seem to melt, but also made his emotions well up. Because of that, Seo-won couldn’t move his steps to the kitchen or answer, and just bit his lower lip firmly in that spot.
“…”
“Seo-won?”
When there was no response for a while, his mother must have felt something was off, so she put down the ladle and walked towards him with heavy steps.
As soon as she saw Seo-won standing in front of the door, she widened her eyes as if surprised and approached him with big strides. Coming up to his feet, she cupped both of Seo-won’s cheeks with her hands and asked worriedly,
“Oh my, why does your face look like this? Are you sick somewhere? I think we should go to the hospital. Wait a moment, I’ll turn off the stove and come back, so wait.”
“No… I’m not sick. We don’t need to go to the hospital.”
Seo-won grabbed her wrist and shook his head weakly, as she seemed ready to take him to the hospital right away.
As Seo-won stopped her, she looked at him with eyes that had a lot to say and opened her mouth.
“Then what’s with this face that looks like you’re dying? Come to think of it, you said you were going to see Madam and the chairman today, did you get an upset stomach from being uncomfortable? Should I make you some herbal tea?”
“…Mom.”
“Yes, Seo-won.”
His mother sent him an earnest gaze with her eyebrows lowered, as if telling him to say something. She seemed to want to hear if he was sick somewhere or if something had happened.
For a moment, Seo-won felt so gloomy that he thought it would be better if he was sick or had an upset stomach. Feeling his stomach churn, Seo-won opened his mouth with a trembling voice.
“What should I do about Hyung…?”
At Seo-won’s words, his mother pressed her lips together tightly.
She thought Seo-won would say that the chairman or Madam strongly opposed and he was very worried, or that he was in trouble for this and that. But suddenly mentioning Young Master made her feel puzzled.
“What’s wrong with Young Master? What happened?”
“Hyung… was confined. I might not be able to see him anymore…”
“What do you mean? Confined?”
It was hard to understand what he meant by being confined. Could it be that he became a criminal and went to jail? Considering he’s from a chaebol family and a large company that has been on the news a few times, she thought that might be the case.
She asked again, trying to calm Seo-won down. Then Seo-won answered with eyes that didn’t know where to look, as if wandering.
“When we said we wouldn’t break up, the chairman took Hyung away. He kicked me out of the mansion… I can’t contact Hyung… I don’t know what to do. What if something happens to Hyung?”
By the time Seo-won finished speaking, he had made eye contact with her. At his gaze wanting a clear answer, she was a bit flustered but first tried to calm him down.
“Seo-won, calm down. I’ll try contacting Madam, so don’t worry too much. What parents would harm their own child?”
“…”
At her words, Seo-won mumbled his lips and drooped his shoulders. He didn’t know about Madam, but the chairman he saw seemed like he would do anything if things didn’t go his way, which made him even more afraid.
When Seo-won couldn’t erase his gloomy expression despite his mother’s consolation, she sighed and continued.
“And you know Madam well, even if you don’t know the chairman. She terribly loves her son.”
“That’s true, but…”
“Even if the chairman tries to do something, Madam won’t let him. Let’s wait and see for now.”
At her words, Seo-won hesitated and nodded. Although he didn’t know about the chairman, the Madam he knew wasn’t someone who would do that, so he felt a bit calmer.
Let’s wait and see as Mom says. He thinks waiting won’t solve it, but the cold truth is there’s nothing he can do.
Do-gyeom must also be thinking of a way inside. With that thought, Seo-won just waited for the day he could meet Do-gyeom again.
* * *
“Damn it…”
Do-gyeom swore in a small voice. How many days has it been since he was confined here?
Do-gyeom ended up being locked in the room he stayed in when he was young. Thanks to the spacious and nice space with delicious food, it might seem no different from a hotel to others, but the difference was that there was no way to contact the outside.
His cell phone was taken away as soon as he was locked up here, and the computer that was originally in this room was also cleared out. From the beginning, his father seemed to have called him here with the intention of locking him up.
Looking at the calendar on the wall, it seemed to have been over two weeks since that day. As the days passed without being able to contact Seo-won, work, or have anyone to talk to, it felt like he was going crazy.
No matter how much he knocked on the door, there was no response from outside as if no one was there. He failed to break the door because the house was unnecessarily sturdy, and he tried jumping out the window thinking he wouldn’t get too hurt from the second floor, but the hulks were spread out in the yard and he was caught again countless times.
Although Do-gyeom was a dominant alpha with a good physique and could subdue one or two people, he couldn’t do anything when outnumbered. It was maddening.
After repeating that a few times, his motivation dropped. Although he still wanted to go out to see Seo-won, not being able to see him for days made his body and head ache and gradually became exhausting. It was because of the one-sided imprint. He took the painkillers he received through the housekeeper in the morning, but it had no effect before, so there was no way it would now.
As he lay on the bed, the door clicked open. The only person who would come in at this hour was his mother, so Do-gyeom stayed still without even giving her a glance.
As he lay stretched out like a corpse, he felt one side of the mattress being pressed down. His mother had sat down lightly by the bedside.
“Do-gyeom.”
“…”
Although his mother called out affectionately and reached out to tidy his hair, Do-gyeom showed no reaction. He just blinked his eyes, only showing a sign that he was alive, and his mother spoke as if frustrated.
“How many days are you going to be like this? Just apologize to your father for your mistake.”
“…”
At his mother’s words, Do-gyeom raised one corner of his lips crookedly. What was he apologizing for when he did nothing wrong?
As Seo-won had said at the dinner table, he had thought since he was young that his parents seemed to consider him as a business tool. However, since it didn’t cause any problems, Do-gyeom didn’t care much.
But he didn’t know it would lead to this result. He had always moved as they wanted, but he never thought that going against his father’s will once to meet the person he loved would lead to this result.
When Do-gyeom said nothing as if he wouldn’t do such a thing, his mother let out a small sigh. She looked at Do-gyeom as if thinking about something, then brought up the topic as if she had a separate reason for coming today.
“…Do-gyeom. Actually, I have something to say.”
“…”
“It’s about Seo-won.”
Do-gyeom flinched and trembled. About Seo-won?
If it was another story, he could ignore it, but it was different if it was about Seo-won. He was so curious about how he was doing while they couldn’t contact each other.
Thinking she was going to tell him about his recent situation, Do-gyeom finally got up from the bed and made eye contact with his mother.
He was very curious about what she was going to say, but after bringing it up first, she was biting her lower lip as if in a dilemma. Seeing that, Do-gyeom instinctively knew that the news she was trying to convey wasn’t good.
“…What’s wrong with Seo-won? Did something happen?”
“Well… Seo-won was taken to the hospital early in the morning.”
When Do-gyeom urged her to speak, his mother answered in a devastated voice as if she had no choice.
What does that mean now…? Seo-won was taken to the hospital?
It’s worrisome just hearing that he went to the hospital, but he was even taken there. What’s wrong with him? Why? What happened during the month he was gone?
At the shocking news, Do-gyeom felt the blood drain from his body for a moment and his vision darkened. Do-gyeom closed his eyes tightly, then clenched and released his fists and opened his mouth.
“Why the hospital, what’s wrong with him? Don’t tell me… did Father harm him?”
“No! It’s not like that…”
“Then what is it?”
Do-gyeom asked in a cold voice. He couldn’t help but suspect that his father hadn’t harmed Seo-won during the month he was locked up. Since he was a cold-blooded person who could lock his own child in a room for a month, he thought he might be capable of doing worse things to Seo-won.
When Do-gyeom demanded that she tell him in detail what happened if he wasn’t harmed, his mother opened her mouth as if she didn’t know the details either.
“I heard from his aunt that Seo-won was at home and his condition got really bad, so he was taken to the hospital. It seems like signs of preterm labor…”