Heavy Rain Chapter 69

As soon as the sound of the bedroom door clicking shut reached him, Lyle brushed his hair back roughly. The fellow must have nothing to do, to the point of flipping through the same newspaper several times. And yet, the fact that he would not even set foot in the library caused Lyle’s brow to furrow suddenly.

Suddenly, the face of Haejin looking at him somewhat disapprovingly in front of the library came to mind. Perhaps that library was simply too shabby, after all.

There were about five libraries in the mansion. The place he had guided Haejin to was the closest among them, but it was not the best. After all, the libraries used by the direct line were decorated with the most elegance.

However, to get there with Haejin’s uncomfortable leg, he would have to pass too many stairs.

“…”

Lyle, who had been pacing in front of the bed without realizing it, took out his cell phone from his pocket this time. The plan for renovating the mansion that was in his head began to grow increasingly vast.

Lyle, who hurriedly contacted his secretary, placed an order that was like a bolt from the blue to the secretary. He said that he needed to install elevators along with safety facilities inside the mansion.

Even though he had finished work for the day, the secretary sent a diligent reply. He read a bit of fluster in it, but he did not care. Still, he felt that he should raise the secretary’s salary soon.

As promised, Lyle sought out Haejin the next morning without fail. The fellow had a stoic face that contained no expectation, but Lyle felt a reflexive sense of relief just from the fact that he was not rejected.

Lyle had been unable to eat anything since having breakfast with Haejin yesterday. He had received reports of every single thing that went into the fellow’s mouth every hour, but he himself felt nauseous. In any case, if work was busy, this level of forced march was nothing, so he did not care about his own physical condition.

Then, upon actually facing Haejin in the morning, a bit of an appetite returned. Thinking it was a strange thing, Lyle looked at the stelline soup placed in front of him. He heard that Haejin had also requested star soup for the first time in a long while.

Since it had never been a time for friendly conversation to begin with, the dining room where only the two of them sat was enveloped in silence. Lyle, who was cautiously tallying the foods that Haejin ate well, cast his gaze toward the plants placed as decoration on the table.

“By any chance, is there a plant you like?”

It was natural that his thoughts jumped immediately to the greenhouse currently being built. Since he was decorating it anyway, it wouldn’t be bad to fill it with things Haejin liked.

However, Haejin, who halted his hand abruptly at the question, cast an indifferent gaze toward Lyle. Suddenly, Lyle felt the throat that had been swallowing soup well tighten dryly.

“…”

Faced with Haejin’s silence, Lyle had no choice but to pour out other words he had prepared. A strange tension consumed him.

“…Security personnel will be replenished soon. If there is a fellow who acts rudely toward you, be sure to tell me. Of course, I will make sure such a thing does not happen, but…”

Haejin’s eyebrows, which remained expressionless no matter what he said, suddenly twitched minutely. Lyle, sensing a massive foreboding, asked urgently.

“Could it be, have you already experienced such a thing? If you tell me what happened…”

Lyle, who let go of the spoon he was holding entirely, lowered his hands beneath the dining table. A tight strength entered the palms of his hands as they dug into his knees.

Haejin cut into his hasty question as if with a knife.

“Mr. Vermouth.”

“…Yes.”

Even though he was openly interrupted, Lyle answered obediently and shut his mouth. Haejin, who stared intently at that attitude, let out a faint sigh and turned his head.

Thanks to that, he failed to see how greatly his sigh shook Lyle’s body.

“Why are you curious about that.”

It was the question that came out once again. Why.

Until now, Lyle had been unable to answer that question. Because he himself did not know why he was so concerned about Haejin.

Now he knew the reason. However, now that he knew the reason, he could not answer that question.

“…Just because.”

Thus, only a hollow excuse flowed out of his mouth. In truth, that question of Haejin’s was like a rebuke for the indifference Lyle had held until now. Because he knew that fact too well, Lyle cautiously lowered his gaze to the table and could no longer open his mouth.

Just, because I’m curious.

He could not ultimately add that one sentence. And Haejin, too, did not answer until the very end.

The next morning, Lyle ended up sitting in the library with a very dark face.

Today, he sought out Haejin without fail. However, no matter how much the bell was rung, the door did not open. Permission to eat breakfast together was not granted.

Lyle was on the verge of going crazy, fearing that Haejin would start starving himself again because he had offended him yesterday. It was because the fellow’s life was now soon to be his own life that he was this concerned. For someone saying that, the time he spent lingering nearby without Haejin’s knowledge was long, but Lyle tried hard to think of it that way.

It was only much later that Mark conveyed Haejin’s intent to eat in his room. Lyle, who only then felt a breath of air, entered the library for the time being. The secretary and Mark were also together with him to discuss the mansion renovation.

While they organized their opinions, he fell into a miserable state of agonizing. This was like a warning. It was likely an extension of the question asked yesterday.

Haejin had clearly said that if it was not related to the contract, he did not want to exchange anything with him. Therefore, this kind of baseless interest was likely also not permitted. Lyle felt that line clearly.

With a miserable heart, he brushed his face and leaned back deeply into the chair. Had there ever been anything this difficult in his life? If he could, he felt like chasing down his past self and strangling him.

“Are you really going to proceed with this?”

“Yes. All of it.”

“May I ask the reason why you are clearing out this particular area?”

Mark, who was looking at the mansion blueprint, asked while pointing to a certain section in wonder. That was the place where “that room” which Haejin feared was located.

Occasionally, when receiving reports on Haejin’s movements, Lyle had been struck by a bizarre sense of dissonance. It was because, even though his leg must hurt, the fellow often chose to take a strangely roundabout way.

At first, he thought the purpose was a walk. Then, the moment he opened the blueprint to renovate the mansion according to Haejin’s movements, he wanted to shoot his own stupid head.

The fellow was moving around while avoiding that room which had given him trauma, whether consciously or unconsciously.

“Change everything so that one cannot even recognize that a room existed there. Everything from the nearby hallway to the interior decorations unified in that section. If that is not possible, just get rid of the building entirely.”

“…”

“…”

This was not a construction project on the level of merely adding handrails to stairs. The secretary’s face, realizing this, hardened. Mark, who narrowed his eyes at the mention of “that room,” guessed there were some circumstances and remained silent for the time being.

He too recognized that this was a reckless instruction. Because it might become an excessively extravagant construction. Nevertheless, he was occasionally plagued by a ferocious impulse to destroy everything that made Haejin suffer.

It was quite funny that he himself was included in the scope of that destruction.

“Chairman. Such a large-scale renovation will not end quickly.”

The secretary, who had been quiet, spoke cautiously. He was pointing out the remaining contract period with Haejin, which was not much.

Lyle was the one who knew that best. Since he was the one checking the calendar several times as if he had been given a terminal sentence. In fact, it was true that it was a situation not much different from a terminal sentence.

“I know. Do it anyway.”

He knew that, but he wanted to try something, anything. If only he could catch Haejin, no matter what he had to do.

By the time it was late afternoon, Lyle had ultimately been unable to swallow anything. Thinking of whether Haejin felt this way even in situations where he was hungry made bitter water rise. He even had a premonition that if the fellow did not join him in the future, he would never be able to swallow anything again.

However, Lyle, who possessed superior physical strength befitting a dominant Alpha, immersed himself in work without showing any signs. The position he sat in was not one where he could show his condition one by one.

[Chairman. Mayor Burns is scheduled to arrive in 10 minutes.]