ACTSV chapter 31

The time waiting for the food felt incredibly long for Jingyeom. When he was with Soohyuk, they would chat, making the time pass quickly, but now the atmosphere was awkward.

It wasn’t particularly uncomfortable, but it was the kind of awkwardness that would make him hesitate to have such a meeting again.

In the midst of this, Wonbeom suddenly got up and went outside. Only then did Jingyeom relax his tense shoulders and let out a deep breath.

“Are you really uncomfortable?”

“Huh? No… It’s not that I’m uncomfortable, just awkward. I didn’t expect to be having a meal together.”

“I didn’t expect it either. I felt bad about sending you off alone, but it worked out. The food here is good. It’s moderately seasoned and healthy.”

He was faithfully following Hoonil’s advice to avoid eating out. Except for the time he had Hanwoo beef with Soohyuk, he hadn’t eaten out. He had all three meals at home.

No matter how much effort Jinwoo put into cooking, there were limits to what could be done at home. It was fortunate that he could feed him tasty yet non-stimulating food like this.

Jingyeom tilted his head sideways, resting his temple on Jinwoo’s broad shoulder.

When Jinwoo lowered his shoulder to let him lean comfortably, Jingyeom nuzzled his face against it like a child, then stretched out his arms and legs as if yawning.

He must have been unconsciously tense from going to the multi-level marketing company. Sitting here now, his tension melted away, leaving his body feeling relaxed.

“By the way… I’m supposed to pay for this, right?”

There was no menu inside, and Jinwoo had ordered three set meals right upon entering, so there was no time to check the prices.

It would be one thing if it were an ordinary restaurant, but this place looked expensive, so he was worried.

Mumbling to himself, “How much will it cost…,” Jingyeom closed his eyes.

Jinwoo chuckled and, while keeping the arm he lent out, massaged Jingyeom’s arm with his other hand.

He had noticed him fidgeting with it in the car earlier, so it had been on his mind.

“Why should you pay?”

“You’re probably busy with work, and I appreciate you coming along.”

Although Wonbeom didn’t resolve everything entirely, it was true that he had helped.

Since there was no transaction statement, if they had refused, they might have had to walk out with the toothpaste.

It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Jinwoo, but he hadn’t intended to demand a refund forcefully.

He had read online that things could get violent if things went wrong with multi-level marketing, so he had been cautious.

Even though such incidents were rare these days, there were still plenty of unknown places where accidents happened.

“Were they really going to refuse the refund because the executive was intimidating?”

“Intimidating?”

“Yeah. He’s taller than them, bigger than them, and wearing a black suit with sunglasses, so he looked threatening.”

“That might be the case.”

Jinwoo’s smile grew wider at Jingyeom’s explanation. He didn’t bother to say that if his intention had been to intimidate, he would have taken off his sunglasses.

And that conversation was overheard by Wonbeom, who was standing at the door. Additionally, there were employees pushing a food cart behind him.

The employees pretended not to hear anything and waited for Wonbeom to open the door.

When the voices stopped, they finally opened the door.

Jingyeom straightened his body from its leaning position.

He thought only Wonbeom would come in, but two employees followed him and began setting neat dishes on the table.

The table was soon filled to the brim, leaving no room for anything else. Jingyeom’s eyes widened in surprise.

Although the portions looked small enough to disappear with a few chopstick moves, the variety was enough to not leave him wanting.

One of the employees, wearing a modernized hanbok, placed a dish of lotus roots with sauce and glanced at the three people. When she met Jingyeom’s eyes, she smiled and said,

“This is black sesame sauce. It’s usually made with another sauce that contains peach syrup, so we changed it. There’s no peach in any of the other dishes, so you can eat safely.”

“Pardon?”

“We were informed that someone here has a peach allergy. Just letting you know, just in case.”

“Oh… Thank you.”

Jingyeom slightly bowed his head in thanks.

After the employees left and the door closed, it became quiet inside.

Jingyeom, thinking it might have been Jinwoo who informed the staff about the peach allergy, looked at him, but Jinwoo shook his head, indicating it wasn’t him.

Jinwoo had planned to ask about dishes containing peach when the employees came in. But it seemed someone had already spoken.

‘Could it be…’

Both of them turned their gazes toward Wonbeom. Since he was still wearing his sunglasses, it was hard to tell where he was looking.

Jingyeom slowly opened his mouth.

“Did you mention the allergy… Mr. Wonbeom?”

“Yeah. Eat as much as you want.”

“…Thank you.”

As expected, it was Wonbeom who had mentioned the peach allergy.

After going outside, Wonbeom, remembering the recent incident where Jingyeom had collapsed in a restaurant due to his allergy, had told a passing employee just in case.

If he hadn’t run into the employee, it might have been overlooked.

It was purely by chance that he had mentioned it when asked if there was anything they needed.

Though whether someone else had an allergy or not was of no concern to him.

‘It bothers me.’

Whether it was because he was Jinwoo’s brother, or just his presence itself was bothersome, he kept lingering in his mind.

If it were really bothersome, he would have removed him, but that wasn’t the case.

On the day Jingyeom was diagnosed with amnesia.

After returning from the hospital, Soohyuk had spoken various things about Jingyeom.

Despite being Jinwoo’s twin, Jingyeom had no similarities with him. But now he had discovered one commonality.

Jinwoo had attracted his interest because he had stirred his emotions, making him aware that he had feelings. That’s why he kept paying attention to him.

Now, it was Jingyeom who did the same.

Before, no matter what he did, he just found it annoying, but now he was curious.

He didn’t know what the two brothers were up to, but they seemed to be shaking him up.

Oddly, he didn’t find it unpleasant. It seemed okay to watch for a while.

However, there was one thing he needed to settle.

If he kept one of the main reasons for his agitation nearby, he might do something unforeseen later.

Though Jingyeom didn’t have a major influence on the current matter, there was no guarantee it would stay that way. It was best to cut the issue off from the start.

While quietly looking at the food, Wonbeom took out his phone and began pressing the keypad with his large fingers.

Since he usually communicated via calls, his fingers were slow at texting. His fingertips were thick, often pressing two keys at once.

The recipient of his hard-typed message was Soohyuk.

2:11 PM

Get out of the house now.

Sun Soohyuk: Suddenly?

2:11 PM

Since there was no reply, Wonbeom’s phone soon rang. He didn’t need to check to know who it was.

Annoyed, he flipped the phone over to silence it. Then, Jinwoo’s phone started ringing.

“If it’s Director Sun, don’t answer.”

“But if it’s urgent…”

“If it were, Secretary Yang would have called.”

That was true. But ignoring a call from a superior was hard for an employee.

Although he was hired as Wonbeom’s personal secretary, he still worked in the same company and the caller held the title of director, making it uncomfortable.

Despite his bluntness in front of Director Sun, Jinwoo was somewhat conservative in such matters.

While Jinwoo hesitated, the ringing stopped.

Jingyeom, who had been glancing around while picking at his food, noticed that he hadn’t removed his sunglasses.

With Wonbeom’s vision darkened, it would be hard to see, yet he started eating without taking them off.

‘Should I tell him?’

Did he like his sunglasses that much?

‘He’ll take them off eventually.’

He wasn’t a child, so there was no way he didn’t know he had sunglasses on his face. Thinking he would take them off if they bothered him, Jingyeon quickly stopped worrying and focused on eating.

The food was delicious. It was lunchtime, and maybe because he had barely eaten breakfast due to being preoccupied, it went down even better.

Then, a well-grilled piece of white fish was placed on Jingyeom’s rice bowl.

“I’ll remove the bones for you. Eat up.”

“I can do it myself. You eat too.”

“I’m eating. But you need to be careful because even small fish bones can get stuck in your throat.”

There was a time we ate a fish called jeoneo, which you’re supposed to eat whole, including the bones.

Jingyeom, who usually disliked fish, had wanted to try it for the first time, so Jinwoo had bought it.

It was well grilled with coarse salt, giving off a savory smell. Even though you could eat the bones, Jinwoo had removed as many as possible just in case.

But some bones must have remained, and one got stuck in Jingyeom’s throat while eating.

They had called Hoon-il immediately, who told them to go to the hospital without doing anything else, and they had to go to the emergency room to have it removed.

Because jeoneo bones are small, if left unattended, they could embed deeper into the throat, as they had been warned.

Since that incident, Jingyeom had a strong aversion to fish. Still, because of the essential nutrients, he occasionally ate it, but only when Jinwoo was there to remove all the bones and serve the fish meat.

Remembering that event, Jinwoo smiled wryly and meticulously removed the fish skin and separated the meat, placing it on Jingyeom’s plate.

Despite Jingyeom’s whispers that he was fine and could eat on his own, Jinwoo didn’t stop.

Giving up on dissuading him, Jingyeom decided that eating happily would make Jinwoo smile, so he began to eat.

Knowing that Jingyeom’s body couldn’t handle much food, he ate slowly. He didn’t avoid the vegetable side dishes either.

The only thing Jingyeom didn’t touch was the seasoned eggplant.

For some reason, he couldn’t bring himself to eat it. Ignoring it, he ate everything else, and Jinwoo’s eyes narrowed as he noticed.

“Try the eggplant too.”

“…No, not that.”

When Jinwoo pointed to the seasoned eggplant, Jingyeom shook his head. If it were fried, he might have eaten it, but he couldn’t bring himself to touch the seasoned version.