The Sleepwalker’s Mansion Chapter 5

Doeon had contacted Taeoh solely because of Doha. Did that guy not feel anything even though his own mother had died? His expressionless face felt incredibly alien.

“Uh… Hi….”

“…….”

Doeon pushed through the silence and managed to spit out a short reply.

“I said hello, so we’re good, right?”

Doha replied nonchalantly, put the earphone back in his ear, and turned his gaze back to his phone. Taeoh, who had turned off the hazard lights and was following the hearse, clicked his tongue, tsk, and subtly glanced at Doeon in the rearview mirror. A pale Doeon was reflected in the rearview mirror.

“He’s like that because he just turned twenty. As his hyung, please try to understand.”

“…….”

On one hand, he thought it must be hard for Doha to accept him suddenly appearing as his hyung, but on the other hand, he didn’t want to understand. Did he not even feel a sense of grief when his biological mother had passed away? Did he not feel even one percent of happiness that a brother, who could be called his other half, had appeared?

Was a cold personality a common trait among Alphas? But his father’s first impression was definitely gentle. He felt sorry towards him, and that felt genuine. The one who didn’t make sense was his younger brother, Seo Doha.

*

His mother became a handful of ashes in the incinerator. He hadn’t cried until then, but suddenly the fact that he was now completely alone hit him with stark clarity. And only then did the tears burst forth. As he was crying and gasping for air, Taeoh approached with a bottle of water.

“You’ll be exhausted if you keep crying. Here, at least drink some water.”

“Sob, I’m fine….”

“Just one sip.”

At his continued urging, he twisted open the cap and took a sip of water. He felt his hazy mind clear up a little. The display screen announced that the cremation process, which had taken about two hours, was finally over, and Taeoh placed a hand on Doeon’s lower back. The tears still hadn’t stopped.

“Shall we go out for some air?”

He had been feeling dizzy anyway. Doeon nodded his head. He followed Taeoh out to the crematorium’s parking lot.

In the smoking area set up in a corner of the parking lot, Taeoh familiarly took out a silver lighter from his pocket and lit a cigarette. Thin streams of white cigarette smoke rose behind Taeoh’s head. It seemed he had positioned himself so that the smoke wouldn’t blow this way.

“Doeon.”

As someone called his name so gently, it felt like tears would come again. The memory of his mother calling his name came to mind. Feeling like he was about to crumble, Doeon barely held back his tears and answered.

“Yes….”

“I don’t think it’s right to leave you alone.”

He had already asked himself if he could live alone in the mansion, which was completely jumbled with traces of his mother, if he could endure it there. If he could live without thinking of his mother, without blaming himself. Taeoh continued calmly.

“How about staying with us for the time being?”

“…Where?”

“At your house.”

“A, at my house?”

“Yes.”

“We, well….”

Doeon replied with an unwilling expression. The secondary gender he was hiding was a problem. His father and Doha would know him as a Beta. It was because he had heard that his mother had told his paternal family so when he was fifteen.

What if they found out he was a Recessive Omega? How would they treat him? Would they take the mansion away? While Doeon hesitated, Taeoh soothed him in a light tone.

“We won’t be there for long. Just for a little while. We’ll stay just long enough so you won’t feel lonely and then we’ll leave, so you don’t have to worry about that.”

“…….”

“I haven’t done anything for you as a father all this time, so I want to help you before I go.”

Doeon couldn’t refuse outright. Certainly, because the matter of the mansion’s inheritance still remained. Although his mother had designated him as the heir to the mansion in her will, he couldn’t inherit it right away. The pension he had received using the house as collateral due to financial difficulties and the associated inheritance tax issues were complicatedly intertwined. He didn’t have the money right now, so selling the mansion was an option, but Doeon had no intention of doing so. But just then, Taeoh brought up that very point. He had the money actually needed for the inheritance process. Above all, it seemed he had the intention to at least provide financial assistance to the son he had neglected for nineteen years.

However, that was only the case when Doeon had the right to inherit. If that son was a Recessive Omega with no inheritance rights, the story changes. Could he deceive them about his secondary gender and receive his father’s support? Doeon looked at Taeoh with uncertain eyes.

“Do you need more time to think?”

Taeoh asked, extinguishing the cigarette filter, which had only two drags left, in the ashtray in the smoking area by rubbing it with his fingertips. He saw his short fingernails. He suddenly felt the back of his neck stiffen. Instead of rubbing the back of his neck, Doeon clasped his hands together and swallowed, gulp.

“Um… is Doha staying with us too?”

Taeoh, who was blowing, whoo, the black ash from his fingertips with his lips, glanced at Doeon. He had a look as if he had asked the obvious.

“Of course. He’s your younger brother. Don’t you think you’ll need time to get to know each other?”

Time to get to know each other. It was also time for him to gain their trust and inherit the mansion normally. He didn’t know about Doha, but he had to gain the trust of at least his father that he was a respectable Beta son. Doeon glanced at Taeoh’s expression and nodded his head.

“Yes….”

“You’re a good boy, Doeon.”

Taeoh gently stroked Doeon’s head. A sharp smell of cigarettes mixed with the thick scent of wood wafted from his stroking hand. Doeon secretly let out a hollow laugh.

A good boy? I’m only accepting the offer because I have something I want. We’ve lived like strangers our whole lives, can I play the part of a son who meets this person’s expectations?

But he said it was only for a little while anyway. During that time, he had to inherit the mansion somehow. Let’s do it. I have to do it, somehow. Doeon made a firm resolution.

*

Doeon, who had enshrined his mother’s remains in a charnel house and returned to the mansion, was not alone. Taeoh and Doha were with him. He opened the iron gate, whose lattice was wrapped in green vines, and walked through the garden. Doha, who had lifted his head with an uninterested gaze, his eyes widened considerably.

“I’ve only heard about it, but it’s quite spacious, isn’t it?”

“It’s about 7,100 square feet.”

So he has heard about it through someone. Who would have told him? Dad? Doeon glanced at Taeoh.

Taeoh, for some reason, seemed to be lost in reminiscence, looking around the garden where the reddish-purple crape myrtle flowers had grown in profusion with a wistful gaze. When his eyes met Doeon’s, the corners of his eyes curved into a round shape, and he smiled faintly. It was a beautiful smile that could easily bewitch an unsuspecting person.

Doeon felt the nape of his neck flush for no reason. Why am I like this. He shook his head slightly and then walked ahead like a captain leading a ship.

Having been away from the house for a few days, a lot of weeds had grown in the mansion. As he pulled out the long weeds that had grown through the gaps between the stepping stones at the entrance, he glanced back for no reason. Taeoh and Doha were leisurely looking around the mansion’s garden.

When he pressed the password for the entrance and opened the door, a musty smell, as if the inside had not been ventilated for a long time, seeped out and into his nose. It was the smell of mold. So an old mansion’s smell changes even after just a few days without a human touch. He thought the mansion was like a person. No, maybe it was his mother.

“Uh, excuse… huh?!”

Just as Doeon was about to turn his head to call Doha, a large chest blocked his view. Startled, Doeon stepped back. Mysterious grey eyes were looking down at him.

“What are you so surprised about.”

“N, no, I, I was about to call you….”

He was so surprised that he couldn’t speak properly. His expressionless face, as if he didn’t like him blocking the door, gradually crumpled, and finally, a sharp voice was spat out.

“Move.”

“Huh? Oh….”

Doeon quickly moved out of the way of the entrance. Doha, who strode inside, took off his shoes and entered the living room. His demeanor was as natural as if it were his own house. Doeon craned his neck, looking for Taeoh. Taeoh came in after him.

“Is Doha being rude?”

“Ah, no. It’s fine….”

“Are you really okay?”

“Yes. Doha needs time to adjust too….”

Doeon waved his hand as if it were nothing. He didn’t want to cause any trouble until the inheritance of the mansion was safely concluded. He didn’t have the strength to confront him anyway. Besides, the other party was an Alpha. If he unnecessarily clashed with him and it was revealed that he was not a Beta but a Recessive Omega.

As his weary gaze slid downwards, he saw the reddish-purple crape myrtle flower in Taeoh’s hand.

“A flower had fallen. Isn’t it pretty?”

Taeoh handed the small, cone-shaped flower to Doeon.

Doeon opened his palm and received the flower. It was a flower that always bloomed in the garden, so he had never paid close attention to it and hadn’t realized how pretty it was. A feast of red and purple hues colored his palm.

“This flower doesn’t bloom and wilt all at once. It blooms and wilts alternately over several days, so it looks like it’s blooming for a long time.”

Taeoh explained as if he had read Doeon’s mind. A tree that is also called the “hundred-day red” for that reason. Doeon looked down, feeling a little awkward.

“Dad also wanted to come to Doeon’s side for countless days. While this flower bloomed and wilted.”

“…….”

“I missed you.”

“…….”

A moment of silence flowed between the two. Could it be true? He wanted to believe that his father hadn’t completely forgotten about him. The moment he confessed that he had wanted to come to him all the time while the flowers bloomed and wilted felt as if it were proving that even without his mother, he was not alone and had another family. A fulfilling feeling of not being alone in the world. Doeon felt his eyes growing hot.

Just the two of them, with his mother. He was lonely. He couldn’t help but be lonely. In this vast mansion, just the two of them with his mother. While nursing his sick mother. It would be a lie to say he wasn’t lonely.

“Da, Dad….”

For the first time, Doeon called him Dad without reservation. Taeoh opened his arms. As if telling him to come and be held.

“You’ve had a hard time.”

“I, I’m….”

“It must have been hard.”

“I, I’m….”

“I know. I’m sorry I was late.”

Doeon threw himself into the other’s embrace without hesitation. Taeoh’s embrace was warm. And wide. And firm. Taeoh hugged Doeon tightly. Doeon rubbed his forehead against his firm upper arm. Within the wide embrace, Doeon cried out loud with a sense of relief.

“Sob….“

“You can cry in front of me.”

“Hic… It’s because of me…. Because of me… Mom… got, got hurt… s, so…!”

Tears poured down in droplets from his furrowed brow. The guilt he had been putting off came rushing out like a flood. Taeoh patted his heaving shoulders as if he understood everything.

“It’s no one’s fault.”

“Sob….“

For a very brief moment, he felt as if his entire being was understood. He had wished for at least one person to say this to him. He needed an embrace like this, even for just a moment. Even for a very short while was fine. Even if it was the embrace of the father he had met for the first time in nineteen years.

*

The next morning, Doeon, who woke up with swollen eyes, looked at the familiar ceiling spread out before him and finally realized that he had returned to the mansion.