NOVEL NEXT Side Story 6
Side Story 6
Side Story 2. Family, and a New Family (2)
“Get out. What do you think you’re doing?”
“This wouldn’t have happened if you’d just answered our calls. Are you really thinking of cutting ties?”
“You even transferred all the properties back, didn’t you almost make your mother faint?”
Amidst the clamoring voices, Jae-young covered Seung-hyun’s ears. “That crazy guy,” Jae-young’s family members all stared at him with identical eyes.
“Enough. Quickly leave…”
“No, we can’t go on like this forever. You need to have a proper talk with your family.”
Seung-hyun said, pushing Jae-young’s back. Pushed into the living room, Jae-young turned to look at Seung-hyun with a surprised face.
“Call me when you’re done talking. I’ll be in the room.”
Before Jae-young could stop him, Seung-hyun went into the room and closed the door, taking a deep breath. A startled Jae-young tried to follow him, but his sister grabbed him by the nape and dragged him away.
“This isn’t something we can resolve just by talking among ourselves, but before that, we have things to settle between us.”
“…Why did you come here?”
Jae-young asked with a sullen face. He looked like he only wanted to quickly chase them out and have a peaceful dinner with Seung-hyun.
“How dare you speak so rudely in front of your parents.”
“Ow!”
Jae-young glared at Jae-yun after getting hit on the back of the head. Seeing this, Mrs. Ju sighed and said,
“So, were you really planning to cut ties with us?”
“…If necessary, yes.”
Jae-young said after hesitating a bit. In fact, he knew that while his family was shocked for now, they wouldn’t avoid seeing him forever.
But he was angry that they had hurt Seung-hyun, and he thought they needed some time to cool off, so he blocked all their numbers.
Moreover, this was a more crucial time than ever, so there was even more reason to do so.
“Barging in as a group and scaring a pregnant person. I knew you wouldn’t just sit quietly when I didn’t answer your calls, but I didn’t expect this.”
“That’s because you…!”
This kind of arguing would only bring them back to the same place. Mrs. Ju took a deep breath and calmed her anger.
Honestly, even after seeing them enter the house together, it was hard to believe. Jae-young might not know, but Mrs. Ju and Jae-young’s siblings had all spoken with Seung-hyun before.
He had seemed like a person who wouldn’t bleed even if stabbed, but seeing him enter with a smile on his face while holding her youngest son’s hand made her feel like they were seeing an illusion.
“…So, where are you coming back from?”
“The hospital. As you know… there’s a lot to take care of.”
“How’s the health?”
“It’s still very small, but they say there are no special problems.”
Jae-young said with a shrug. It seemed they were curious about their son and grandchild after all.
“…No, that’s curious too, but what I’m asking about now is Director Han. No…”
Jae-sung was lost in thought about how to address Seung-hyun. In place of the confused Jae-sung, Jae-young’s father asked,
“How is Han Seung-hyun doing? Someone who almost died won’t be okay overnight.”
“…Han Seung-hyun is… fine. There’s nothing to worry about.”
Jae-young answered, a bit surprised. He thought they wouldn’t want to bring up that topic.
“There might be some aftereffects, but they said there’s nothing life-threatening.”
“That’s a relief.”
Mrs. Ju, sitting next to her husband, nodded at his words. Honestly, from a parent’s perspective, he thought it would be a situation where they might dislike Seung-hyun, thinking, ‘If it weren’t for you, our youngest son wouldn’t have done such a crazy thing…’ Surprised by the unexpected reaction, Jae-young asked,
“…Aren’t you angry?”
“Of course I’m angry.”
“…But nothing will change. I’m going to…”
“I think you’re misunderstanding something, but I’m not angry at Director Han, I’m angry at you.”
Mrs. Ju interrupted Jae-young’s solemn words. Jae-young blinked, wondering if he had heard wrong.
“The crazy one is you. You. Did you think I could live peacefully saying, ‘Alright, you damned kid, go and live well,’ after you transferred all the properties and ran away?”
“That’s right. Do you know how angry Mother was because of you?”
“It was scary. Scary. We were all unnecessarily called in and scolded. You’re not a child anymore, what were we supposed to do about such a big thing…”
“Be quiet.”
The brothers, who had been chiming in, shut their mouths after getting scolded by Mrs. Ju. It seemed the anger was rising again just thinking about it. After taking a deep breath for a moment, Mrs. Ju continued,
“…Of course it’s shocking. Not just anyone, but Director Han, no, Han Seung-hyun. No one could just say, ‘Oh, I see,’ and let it go.”
“…I know that too. But…”
“Still, you should have talked to us properly. Did you think running away saying you’ll live separately after just doing whatever you want would solve everything? If you’re so sure about that person and want to spend your life together, shouldn’t you properly introduce them to your family and at least greet us?”
Mrs. Ju said, tightly gripping her husband’s hand next to her. After Jae-young came alone, dropped the bombshell, and disappeared, the family was left with a lot to think about.
At first, they were angry. They thought he had gone completely mad. It would have been surprising enough if he was just an alpha, but not an ordinary alpha, but Director Han Seung-hyun. Moreover, that Director Han Seung-hyun had almost died, and knowing that, he still stayed by his side until the end.
After finding out that only Jae-sung knew about it, they got angry, saying how could he hide such a thing when there are things you shouldn’t keep secret. And seeing that he had even made preparations as if he was really going to cut ties, they almost fainted from shock.
However, the fact that he prepared to that extent, knowing it would be something that would make his family jump in surprise, but still stayed by that person’s side until the end, meant that person must be someone he loves that much.
At first, anger took precedence, but after calming down a bit, they started to think about what kind of feelings Jae-young must have had to say such things and leave. They had only thought of him as their thoughtless youngest son who just needed to be happy under the family’s shadow without any worries.
‘He wouldn’t have done this without any thought. So instead of just getting angry, why don’t we think it through from the beginning?’
After Mrs. Ju calmed down a bit, her husband tried to persuade her, carefully gauging her mood. The more they thought about it, the angrier they got, but the more they thought about it, the more upset they felt too.
“Did you think we would abandon you just because you fell in love with someone we didn’t approve of?”
“…You did that before, didn’t you?”
“The order is different. That wasn’t because that child was recessive, but because those people from that family were so unpleasant, and out of a desire not to lose…”
Mrs. Ju said, shaking her head. Well, it wasn’t completely incomprehensible that he had some distrust, given that he had to let go of his first love due to adult circumstances.
Even so, to just throw out a notification and block all contact, Mrs. Ju sighed and stood up. She approached her son and suddenly hit Jae-young on the head, saying,
“You stupid boy. You couldn’t trust me that much?”
“…That’s not it.”
Jae-young said, rubbing his sore head. He had just blurted it out and left because he couldn’t face dealing with it, but he didn’t think they would see it that way.
“…Still, you didn’t need to gather all my brothers and sister and come here.”
“Even if you weren’t afraid of me, you’ve been a bit afraid of Jae-yun since you were young, and now that there’s a new family member, we can’t just let it pass without an introduction.”
“New family…”
Jae-young mulled over those words. Once the two of them got married, Jae-young’s family would become Seung-hyun’s family too.
That seemed like a good thing, no, a very good thing. Since Seung-hyun’s family was such a mess that he didn’t even want to call them family, Jae-young wanted to become a good enough family for Seung-hyun to forget about them.
And Jae-young’s family was, at least as far as Jae-young knew, the best family. They often bickered and fought, and had childish aspects even as they grew older, but that made them an even more enjoyable family.
If such a family became Seung-hyun’s family, if they could let him know the warmth of family that he knew, that would be really nice. Thinking this, Jae-young lowered his head.
“…I’m sorry. I didn’t know you would think that way. I just… couldn’t face dealing with it right away, that’s all.”
“I’m sure. When have you ever thought things through before acting?”
Even Jae-yun’s sarcastic comment from the side didn’t sound annoying. As Jae-young quietly bowed his head, Jae-young’s father approached him.
“We were surprised, but you’re still our top priority. We might be like this because we don’t know that person well yet… Once we become family and get to know each other better, things will change. And Dad trusts his son’s judgment.”
“…Mother probably doesn’t think that way.”
“What can we do now that it’s already done? We can’t throw you out.”
Jae-young chuckled at the pointed joke. The initial tension had disappeared without a trace. There were still some worries, but unlike when they first entered the living room, now he felt certain that everything would turn out well.