It was not as difficult to start speaking as he had been nervous.
Rather, Song Hyunsoo looked back at Yoon Jooho with surprised eyes.
He had not expected him to bring the subject up this quickly.
At the mention of having something to say, the complexions of the two elders immediately darkened.
“Why, is there some sort of trouble?”
“No. It is not a bad thing like that, so please rest assured for now.”
Song Hyunsoo stepped in to reassure them first, and Yoon Jooho covered the back of Song Hyunsoo’s Hand under the refreshments table.
“I… like Hyunsoo very much.”
“……”
“Grandmother, Grandfather, you might be surprised… but we are seeing each other as Lovers.”
“……”
Silence followed. Only the sound of Song Hyunsoo swallowing dryly reached Yoon Jooho’s ears clearly.
“I have no idea what that means at all… Do you understand, husband?”
“That… so… like a man and a woman like each other, is that how it is?”
“Yes, that is correct.”
Grandmother covered her mouth. The two elders looked at each other.
They confirmed the meaning of the words, but their faces still looked as if the situation had not hit reality yet.
“Between two men. It is natural that you would not like it or that you would be worried. However, I am confident that I can cherish and love Hyunsoo more than anyone else.”
“……”
“I came here to pay my respects because I want your permission.”
The two were silent again for a long time. Rather than opposing or getting angry, they seemed to be at a loss, surprised and flustered.
After quite a while, Grandmother drank a sip of water and asked Song Hyunsoo.
“What about you? You… also like the Prince?”
Song Hyunsoo, nodding his head, tightly gripped Yoon Jooho’s Hand.
“Yeah. I like him. I love him.”
To Yoon Jooho, it was a heart-swelling confession, but it was not so for Grandfather.
He showed a sign of displeasure.
“That is not something to say in front of your old Grandfather and Grandmother.”
Those words provoked Song Hyunsoo.
“What about me loving Sunbae? Why is that not something to say? We have done nothing wrong!”
“What…? You fellow, what did you just say?”
Grandfather’s eyebrows twitched.
“I brought the Prince here, and is this the time to care about whether it is a man or a woman? To be honest, it is true he is too good for me!”
“Since we could not teach you as much as others and have nothing, does that mean if you bring a great fellow, we should just prostrate ourselves? Where did you learn such language…!”
Grandfather stood up abruptly. The atmosphere suggested he might smack Song Hyunsoo’s head at any moment. Yoon Jooho stepped forward, hiding Song Hyunsoo behind his back.
“Grandfather, please calm down.”
“You… step back.”
“I am sorry. I cannot do that. Scold me instead. I followed Hyunsoo around. I was the one who asked him to meet.”
“…You did?”
“Yes.”
“Why you?”
“……”
Yoon Jooho did not answer immediately; instead, he looked back at Song Hyunsoo hidden behind his shoulder.
Just as the younger man parted his lips to say something, Grandfather spoke first.
“No matter how much people say the world has changed, it is not like that yet. Don’t you have much more to lose? What will happen if you get caught… Are you planning to throw away everything you have worked so hard to build?”
“I will be as careful as possible. But even if I am caught, I am not afraid.”
Yoon Jooho’s voice, without a hint of shaking, made Grandfather flinch. He continued in a neat and firm voice.
“It is because I have that level of resolve that I came to pay my respects today.”
“That’s right, Grandfather! If not, we would have just met in secret! Would we have asked for permission?”
Grandfather, who seemed to be calming his excitement for a moment, sent a furious gaze back toward Song Hyunsoo, who was hiding behind Yoon Jooho.
This time, Yoon Jooho checked Song Hyunsoo first. He hushed him and quickly warned him in a low voice.
“Be quiet for now.”
Yoon Jooho formally knelt. His left Hand was still holding Song Hyunsoo’s Hand.
“I know you are worried. I understand completely. But no matter what happens in the future, I will protect Hyunsoo with everything I have.”
“…Protect him? What will you do to protect him after trouble breaks out?”
Yoon Jooho slowly looked back at Song Hyunsoo. He looked at every part of his face as if engraving it into his eyes. His jaw muscle twitched greatly.
“I will be with him until the end. I believe that is what it means to protect him.”
“……”
After standing there for a moment, Grandfather slowly sank down onto the floor. Their tightly held hands felt as if they would freeze into one.
Song Hyunsoo was someone who understood Yoon Jooho’s obsession with the form of a Family or the formality of marriage, but he had not been able to empathize with it.
However, at that moment, Song Hyunsoo truly thought that it would be okay to run away somewhere with Yoon Jooho and get married.
■
The mountain of dishes was almost finished.
Grandfather, who had left the House to cool his anger, had not returned yet even after an hour, perhaps having gone to a Go parlor.
Grandmother locked herself in her Room. She might be lying down with a headache.
If there was a hopeful side to be found, it was that the two of them did see Yoon Jooho off. Song Hyunsoo decided to think that it was a result that was not too bad. Placing the last small dish on the drying rack, he wiped his hands on a towel and looked around the Living Room. It felt like a lie that Yoon Jooho had been here until a moment ago.
“……”
Standing blankly like a person who had lost their soul, he pictured Yoon Jooho being here.
He wondered if he had a short Dream while taking a nap.
Rubbing the back of his neck and laughing pointlessly, he cautiously approached and opened the door to the Room.
Contrary to his expectation that she would be lying down, Grandmother was sitting with her back turned.
“Grandmother, what are you doing?”
He approached and clung to her with an intentionally more affectionate tone.
She was looking at the Photobook with Yoon Jooho that had been released recently.
“I cannot tell you how much I boasted about our Hyunsoo appearing in the same soap opera as the Prince.”
“Yeah…”
“Your Grandfather also bought three or four copies of this Book. Because if he looks at it every day, it will wear out.”
Despite being so proud, the two did not put up a single photo of Song Hyunsoo in their Bunsik Restaurant.
It was because of the worry that even a small mistake of theirs might become a spark that hit their grandson.
“To have a photo taken side-by-side with the Prince published in a Book.”
“It is like a Dream, right?”
“Yes. Like a Dream. Just like a Dream…”
“……”
Sometimes I feel that way too, Grandmother. Answering her in his heart, he hugged her body tightly with both arms and rested his chin on the end of her frail shoulder.
“Is it true that man followed you around?”
“Sunbae was the one who asked to date first… but I liked Sunbae too.”
“Was it always like that? You liked men? You had many pretty girlfriends while you were growing up.”
That’s right. But, Grandmother just doesn’t know, I did meet some handsome Hyungs too.
“It is not because it is a man or a woman… I just like Sunbae.”
“How much do you like him? Enough that you won’t break up even if I say I don’t like it?”
“……”
He loosened his arms from around her and looked her in the face.
The look in her eyes as she looked up at Song Hyunsoo was desperate.
It was a look hoping he would say he did not like him that much.
However, she soon read the sincerity in her grandson’s eyes.
This was a child she had watched and raised through feeding him milk, changing his diapers, and watching him pass through puberty to become a man.
Reading his heart was not very difficult.
“Is he that good?”
“You saw him too, Grandmother. If you were me, wouldn’t you like him?”
Song Hyunsoo tried to say it like a joke on purpose. However, the concern that rose on her face showed no sign of subsiding.
Her eyes were watery as if filled with tears. With eyes like a small, frightened animal, she tightly grabbed Song Hyunsoo’s arm.
“That such a great man would get involved with people like us… Grandmother is scared.”
Once again, he gently hugged Grandmother’s small shoulders. And he slowly stroked her to reassure her.
“Grandmother, that person isn’t scary at all. He is a very… pitiful person.”
“……”
“You said so too, Grandmother. That the Prince was pitiful.”
“That was… well, I did say that.”
“I want Grandmother and Grandfather to like Sunbae too. Since he is a pitiful person, I want you to like him as much as I do.”
Her thin fingers tightly gripped Song Hyunsoo’s arm.
“What will you do if something happens? He is such a famous and great person. If the world finds out, how much they will point fingers…”
Yoon Jooho’s guess was right. Song Hyunsoo had naively believed they would like him because he was the Prince.
But because he was that great Prince everyone in the country knew, Grandmother was more worried about that point than the fact that he was a man.
“We are not scared at all, Grandmother.”
“Why aren’t you scared? You should be scared. It is a scary thing.”
The thin hand holding Song Hyunsoo’s arm was trembling slightly.
“You heard what Sunbae said earlier. That he will protect me no matter what. I believe Sunbae’s words.”
“……”
“And I will protect that person too.”
No matter what happens, even if money and popularity leave Yoon Jooho, he would never betray him.
He would stay by that person’s side forever. Because that is what ‘protecting’ means to Yoon Jooho.
They stayed still like that for a while longer, hugging each other. Warmth rose according to the shape of the place where they sat together.