Heavy Rain Chapter 9

Haejin sent an indifferent gaze toward the driver calling him. Suddenly, the reality sank in that he was the only Bright left in this city.

“Um, about last time…”

“…”

Coincidentally, the driver the Vermouth family had sent for him was the very same man who, not long ago, had prevented Haejin from even going to visit his parents.

Come to think of it, that had been Haejin’s last chance to see his parents’ faces.

“Well, that is…”

The driver, whose eyes met his in the rearview mirror, wore a troubled look. Haejin silently recalled the verbal abuse the man had spat at him, but strangely, he didn’t even feel angry. He simply felt like a hollow doll left all alone, as if all the blood had been drained from his body.

It was that driver who had personally driven Haejin to the hospital where his parents died and to the funeral hall. There was no way he could fail to notice the situation. Having grown into a quick-witted adult as a child who was raised in an orphanage for a long time, Haejin knew very well what that troubled face wanted.

But there was truly not a single reason for Haejin to care about that, was there?

So, he simply turned his gaze back out the window indifferently. Even if the driver were to start shouting insults right now, it would hold no meaning for him.

Unexpectedly, the driver was very quiet, and the car soon entered the main mansion of the Vermouth family.

“…”

Right. Haejin had to return here. Because he had nowhere else to go right now.

Haejin sat blankly inside the arrived car for a long time before finally getting out. This was because the driver, who had been restlessly reading the room, jumped out quickly to open the car door for him. If the door hadn’t been opened, he might have sat there endlessly, having lost his way.

Still, once his feet touched the ground, he moved automatically. The driver hurriedly held out an umbrella, but Haejin ignored that as well and walked. Moving along as his feet led him, the room he used was right before his eyes.

The warm house where he grew up had long since been sold to cover hospital bills. But it was okay. Because when his heart was worn down, the parents he could go see were at least in the hospital.

But now there is no place to return to.

Haejin came to a dead stop, unable to even open the room door. In the short time heading to the mansion, his body had become soaked through. The sound of cold rainwater dripping down his ankles could be heard. In that infinitely damp sensation, Haejin realized.

That he was left alone.

“You’ve arrived.”

Turning his head weakly, Lyle was there. Haejin, who unintentionally knew Lyle’s schedule, felt a sliver of wonder. Because it was not a time for him to be leisurely staying at the mansion.

Not that they were in a relationship where he could ask the reason. Just as Lyle had publicly declared in front of all the servants. So Haejin just stared at Lyle expressionlessly.

“…”

Lyle, who had successfully concluded an important negotiation, had returned to the mansion with a light step. He had to change clothes and head back out to the company immediately. Since the rut was over, his head felt refreshed for the first time in a long while.

As he entered the mansion, he saw Haejin. Only then did he remember that today was the day he was returning from the funeral. He suddenly realized that the room assigned to Haejin was in a very secluded corner even within the mansion’s exterior.

The situation was a bit coincidental for him to deliberately ignore it and go on his way. After all, his servant had touched upon a rather sensitive issue.

That day, after Haejin had vanished in haste to the hospital, Lyle had fiercely interrogated the butler’s actions. It was because it was a piece of business that did not make sense even by his standards, which deviated from those of ordinary people.

The butler had his own excuses. He said there had been several calls saying Haejin’s adoptive parents were in critical condition since he first came to this mansion. He claimed that because they had pulled through every other time, he judged alone that they would pull through this time as well. However, looking at the butler speaking while watching his every move, Lyle saw through the underlying psychology.

It was an attitude often seen in Alphas dealing with Lyle. They were suppressed by his overbearing pheromones and could not think properly. In particular, the butler, an inferior Alpha, had been hit hard by the pheromones of Lyle while he was in his rut, and was acting as if the command not to disturb him was the most important thing.

Of course, as a result, there was no dispute that the people of Vermouth had done a very terrible thing to Haejin this time. Lyle thought the uncomfortable expression remaining on the butler’s face was because of that. So he had instructed him to deliver the funeral expenses and a consolation payment to Haejin. Even while busy going abroad, he didn’t forget to tell him to send flowers to show sincerity.

However, unexpectedly, Haejin, who should be suffering from financial difficulties, was said to have rejected all that money. Lyle knew even less that flowers, which were only needlessly flamboyant, could insult a cold funeral hall.

“…”

“…”

Surely, he must have stopped him to settle the matter appropriately. He intended to tell him not to do things like rejecting money out of petty pride.

But facing Haejin’s two empty eyes, he felt strange. As if the loosening he had done earlier wasn’t enough, he felt as if his tie was choking him a little.

Fingering the area around his neck, Lyle once again examined Haejin’s appearance. Seeing him wandering around soaked through, it seemed he was quite out of it. Lyle, judging that now was probably not the right time, exercised a rare bit of patience.

Before turning to leave again, he tossed a word to Haejin in passing.

“Ah, we shall rewrite the contract later.”

Having said it, he thought this was also a necessary matter. It was a situation where the most important condition of the contract was changing. If Haejin were to remain in this mansion, shouldn’t they start by fixing the clauses of the contract?

It was then that Haejin’s lips, which he had been staring at intently for some time, slid open. They were lips tinged blue from the rain.

“I am going to end the contract.”

The moment he heard Lyle’s words, something that had remained like a thin thread in his heart crumbled with a faint sound. Haejin could not tell what that thing was that had remained until now.

He was just too exhausted.

“What? What do you mean all of a sudden.”

Unexpectedly, he showed signs of recoiling at Haejin’s words. He couldn’t understand that faint emotion instead. Why was he thinking that Haejin would remain in this mansion?

In fact, he hadn’t returned with the intention of quitting. It was just that the car had moved in this direction. However, hearing Lyle’s words, he realized there was no reason for him to remain here either. The fact that he had nowhere to go did not necessarily mean he had to stay here.

Lyle furrowed his brow and strode toward him. Looking at the tips of his feet, which were not wet with rain unlike his own, Haejin spoke calmly.

“The contract clearly states that I can quit at any time.”

“Ha.”

A sudden displeasure enveloped Lyle. In a state where the rut had ended, it was quite a fierce emotion.

The reason came easily. It was because he looked as if he were negotiating just to catch a mere Omega. In the first place, the reason Haejin became a contract subject was because of his faint pheromones due to being an inferior, and his background where he was most desperate for money. Now that those were gone, Haejin was just a troublesome Omega with no way to be controlled.

Right, come to think of it, the important reason has vanished.

Having thought this far, Lyle regained his cold reason. If so, Haejin was no longer a top priority for negotiation. Since the person himself had expressed his intent that way, there was no reason to hold on to him, was there?

“Fine. Then get out of my mansion.”

Fingering his tie again, Lyle turned around. For a relationship where they had shared skin for five years, it was a dry end. Lyle’s reason thought that it was very much to his liking. The remaining unpleasant emotion was a bit strange, but that too would disappear.

However, before he could even take a few steps, the sound of Haejin’s room door opening made the displeasure grow even more fierce. Lyle headed toward his study while pulling down his tie irritably. He simply couldn’t leave the tie be because the area around his neck was so bothersome.

Naturally, he did not look back.

𓂃ﾟ ⋆ ﾟ ☂︎ 🍂༄˖°

The contract with Lyle was cleanly settled. So Haejin immediately packed the items in his room and came outside.