* * *

“So it is.”

Jingyeom’s eyes narrowed as he watched Jinwoo’s bitter smile.

He’d seemed fine during dinner, but now his eyes were red and bloodshot.

It seemed Jinwoo had been struggling with a lot.

‘Of course… Jinwoo must’ve had a harder time than me.’

The secret he had tried so hard to keep had been revealed by Jeong Sanho in a single phone call, so it made sense that Jinwoo’s mind was in turmoil.

Without thinking, Jingyeom frowned in sympathy and stretched his arm out.

Even though there was a table between them, Jinwoo, seeing the pale hand reaching toward him, leaned forward until his cheek met it.

Jinwoo grasped Jingyeom’s hand tightly, rubbing his face against it before turning his head to press his lips against Jingyeom’s palm.

Then, he pursed his lips slightly, lightly kissing it.

“What are you doing?”

Feeling the vivid warmth, Jingyeom tried to pull his hand away, but Jinwoo held it firmly.

“…Can we just stay like this for a moment?”

“…”

“Let me breathe… then I’ll let go.”

Until just a moment ago, Jinwoo had felt like he couldn’t breathe, but now, just having Jingyeom in front of him made everything easier.

This small hand felt like his lifeline.

Now that the signal jammer was working again, Jingyeom had no way to contact the outside world.

And with only the two of them in this room, there was nothing to interfere with their relationship.

His heart raced at the thought.

Now that Jingyeom knew they weren’t real brothers, there was no longer any need for hesitation.

Yet Jingyeom was even more conscious of it now. He knew that every action Jinwoo took was directed not at him, but at Baek Jingyeom of Gray.

Even though he knew he should coldly push that hand away, seeing how Jinwoo seemed to exhale like he’d been holding his breath for so long made it impossible to do so.

After a moment, Jinwoo slowly released Jingyeom’s hand.

Jingyeom opened the wine and poured it into their glasses.

“It’s been a while since I’ve had wine.”

He had occasionally had some when Wonbeom dragged him to restaurants, but he preferred beer, so he hadn’t drunk wine often.

“Cheers!”

Jingyeom raised his empty glass, and Jinwoo smiled faintly, clinking his glass against it.

As the wine in the bottle gradually disappeared, their conversation still didn’t progress.

It wasn’t until the bottle was almost empty that Jinwoo finally spoke.

“…Were you disappointed when you found out I wasn’t really your twin brother?”

“No, not at all! I’ve never thought of it that way.”

Jinwoo had carefully chosen his words, but Jingyeom’s response was casual, and Jinwoo’s face showed visible relief.

“But there is one thing I’m a little sad about.”

“…What is it?”

“People say twins have this connection, right? I’ve never experienced that, so I was hoping I might get to someday, but I guess I’ll never know. Well, we were always different, even for fraternal twins… Honestly, weren’t there more people who didn’t believe we were twins?”

Just by looking at their appearances, no one would have thought they were twins.

Their personalities weren’t similar either.

There wasn’t a single thing about them that matched, yet they were supposed to be twins.

“Why do you think Dad made us twins? Was it really just for that reason you mentioned earlier?”

“Probably, yeah.”

They were born around the same time, so making them one year apart was impossible, but it was considered best for them to grow up together, or so he’d heard.

He couldn’t think of any other reason for it.

Jingyeom set his glass down and grabbed a cushion, hugging it to his chest.

“Did Dad say anything else?”

“…Gyeom, he told me to prioritize you because you’re frail. Every single day, without fail… I heard it every day.”

“What?”

“He said it was my fault for giving you the cold, so I had to take responsibility. But he’s right, isn’t he? If I hadn’t passed the cold on to you….”

Snap!

Jingyeom snapped his fingers right in front of Jinwoo’s face.

“Get a grip, Baek Jinwoo. I already told you last time, this isn’t your fault. The surgery was always going to happen, it just got moved up a bit.”

“…But still.”

“No ‘but stills.’ We need to set this straight.”

Jingyeom leaned forward, sitting on the edge of the couch, staring intently at Jinwoo.

His face had definitely turned red—probably because of the alcohol.

“It wasn’t an unnecessary surgery. I was always going to have it. Isn’t that right?”

“…Yeah.”

“It just happened sooner, that’s all. So why are you blaming yourself for that?”

“Because I gave you the cold.”

“Yeah, you did give me the cold. But that doesn’t mean you made me sick. You didn’t cause my illness. And the surgery went well, didn’t it?”

Jinwoo nodded slowly.

“So you have nothing to be responsible for, Jinwoo.”

“But Dad—”

“What the hell did that man say to you to make you feel like this…?”

What had Baek Myungjun done to make Jinwoo carry this guilt for so long?

Jingyeom knew that after all this time, Jinwoo wouldn’t change his thinking overnight, but his refusal to even try was frustrating.

The person affected was saying it was okay.

No, Jingyeom might not be the “real” Baek Jingyeom, but even he was saying it was fine—so why did Jinwoo keep acting like this?

Jingyeom pressed for details, digging to find out how Jinwoo’s parents had treated him.

Normally, Jinwoo would avoid answering such questions, but maybe because he was drunk, he started to talk, little by little.

He confessed about the small but constant discrimination he’d faced as a child and how everything changed after Jingyeom had the surgery.

And the brainwashing-like words that started back then.

The more Jingyeom listened, the more he couldn’t help but let out a hollow laugh.

‘If he grew up hearing that kind of thing from such a young age…’

It wasn’t that Jingyeom didn’t understand why Jinwoo was like this.

He’d been brainwashed since childhood, so of course, it wouldn’t be easy for him to shake off those thoughts.

Jingyeom tightened his grip on the cushion.

He’d wondered why Jinwoo couldn’t let go of Baek Jingyeom, but now he understood.

It had been drilled into him for so long that it became natural, and at some point, Jingyeom became Jinwoo’s entire world.

Jingyeom wasn’t sure when Jinwoo started to like Baek Jingyeom, but he cautiously guessed it might have started with Baek Myungjun’s words.

Should he see this as Jinwoo genuinely being in love, or as a product of his childhood conditioning?

Either way, with the “real” Baek Jingyeom no longer here, Jingyeom could only feel sorry for Jinwoo.

‘…What is this?’

And the more he listened to Jinwoo’s words, the more furious he became at Baek Myungjun’s actions.

Even if Jinwoo wasn’t his biological son, how could he treat him like that after raising him from infancy?

Then again, considering how he treated Baek Jingyeom, his biological son, it wasn’t all that surprising.

Jinwoo wasn’t crying, but to Jingyeom, he looked like a child who wanted to cry but couldn’t.

It was as if all the emotions Jinwoo had suppressed for so long were finally starting to spill out, and he couldn’t stop talking, even if the words weren’t making much sense.

Jinwoo kept drinking, emptying the wine bottle without realizing it.

Jingyeom began to worry if it was okay to let him keep drinking like that.

“…So, I told him we’re going to live without Dad from now on.”

“You did well.”

“We really… are going to live without him, right? We will, won’t we?”

“Yeah. We will. From now on, it’ll just be the two of us.”

Jinwoo would likely have to keep his feelings hidden forever, but Jingyeom wondered if he should set him free from Baek Jingyeom once and for all.

The thought made him uneasy.

He wanted to work hard, pay off all the debt, and give Jinwoo everything he’d ever wanted.

When Jinwoo shook the empty wine bottle, Jingyeom took it from him and set it down on the table.

“Jinwoo. What’s your dream?”

“For you to be healthy.”

“No, not that. Don’t you have something you’ve always wanted to do?”

“Something I’ve wanted to do?”

Jinwoo paused, lost in thought.

Since childhood, he’d been told to take care of Baek Jingyeom, so he hadn’t really thought about what he wanted.

He was good at both studying and sports, but he’d never clearly written down any career aspirations.

He probably left the “dream” section blank.

There really wasn’t anything he wanted to become.

Just getting through each day was overwhelming.

At one point, he had thought about becoming a doctor.

Maybe he could cure Baek Jingyeom’s illness himself.

But that was a long time ago.

Jinwoo shook his head.

“I don’t know. I just wanted to pay off the debt and for you to be healthy. That’s all I’ve ever focused on.”

“….”

“Well, it hasn’t happened yet, so maybe that’s still my dream?”

Seeing Jinwoo, who didn’t even know what he wanted for himself, nearly brought tears to Jingyeom’s eyes again.

“…You can find something now! Something you want to do, something you’re good at… We can take it slow and figure it out, one step at a time.”

Jingyeom thought he should help Jinwoo break away from Baek Jingyeom completely, starting now. He couldn’t support Jinwoo’s feelings of love.

“Stop drinking. Your face is too red.”

“My face is red?”

“Yeah. It’s really red. And it’s not just your face—your whole body is red.”

He’d seen Jinwoo drink beer before, but it had never turned him this red all over.

Plus, his eyes were starting to glaze over—it was clear he was drunk.

Since Jinwoo was in a talkative mood, Jingyeom took advantage of it.

“Oh, and now that you’ve told me everything, can’t you let me use my phone again? I’m so bored doing the same things all the time.”

“…I’ll ask.”

“Who? Soohyuk hyung? Wonbeom hyung?”

“Director Sun. It was his idea… He kept debating whether to confiscate your phone or break it. I didn’t think he’d actually install a signal blocker. I was surprised too when I found out it really didn’t work.”

Jinwoo, drunk, babbled without even realizing what he was saying.

The alcohol seemed to be loosening his tongue.

* * *