Divorce in Bed Chapter 16

“Reject them all.”

“Understood.”

“Make sure they don’t touch any part of the private sphere in the future, either.”

Dowon’s voice as he gave the instructions was exceptionally cold.

“That’s right. Use this incident as a pretext to codify a privacy protection clause for executive families in the KD Group PR guidelines. Ensure that requests like this never make it into a report again.”

“Yes, Director. I will handle it immediately.”

“Good. What is tomorrow’s schedule?”

“At 10:00 AM, there is a final review meeting with the legal team regarding the ongoing M&A and hostile takeover defense strategies.”

After dismissing the secretary who had finished the briefing, Dowon turned his gaze back to the documents. However, a few fragmented words still drifted through his mind.

‘Joint interview’. ‘Pictorial article’. The media was, as always, hungry for gossip.

‘Spouse Seong Yeohwi…’

He glared at the cell phone sitting on the table.

[No messages received]

He furrowed his brow. He felt a flash of unpleasant irritation at his own lack of focus, and at this silence.

He had wanted it to be quiet, he had intended for it, and he had made it happen, so he should be relieved.

That the brat had finally realized his place. That this dreadful game of playing house was over. That he no longer needed to allocate any mental energy to it.

Surely, that must be it.

Dowon rubbed his face with his hands as if to shake off the thoughts.

‧₊˚🍊༉‧₊˚.

Dowon returned to the mansion late at night.

Naturally, the entrance was dark and empty. There was no sound of bare footsteps running out upon hearing him get out of the car. That bothersome, warm lump that used to sleep curled up on the marble stairs while waiting for him was gone.

Entering the house, he walked across the second-floor hallway.

The door to the bedroom where Yeohwi stayed was firmly shut. Not a single streak of light, nor a hint of sound, leaked through the gap under the door. It was dark and silent everywhere.

For the first time, Dowon felt that this massive mansion was empty. Even though it had merely returned to its original state.

Entering the study, he tried to focus again on the work he hadn’t finished at the office. But suddenly, his hand moved first.

He pressed the intercom connected to the kitchen and waited for an answer.

“Mrs. Park.”

—Yes, Director.

“Dinner.”

—Yes? Ah, are you hungry? I’ll prepare something right away.

“No.”

In the end, he couldn’t bring himself to say Yeohwi’s name.

“The boy, I mean.”

Hesitation was buried in Mrs. Park’s voice as she answered.

—…I brought it to his room.

“Then that’s fine.”

It was just as he was about to hang up.

—Director! Excuse me…!

Mrs. Park called him urgently.

“What is it?”

—It seems that lately, the young master… is hardly eating anything. Lunch was brought back untouched every time. And since he doesn’t come out of his room…

Dowon’s eyebrows furrowed sharply.

‘…He’s not eating?’

The guy who used to swallow cereal by the bowlful every morning as if he were famished?

Is he now going on a hunger strike or something? It was a childish and obvious ploy.

“Leave him be. He’ll eat eventually when he gets hungry enough.”

Dowon intended to draw a cold line and hang up the phone once and for all. However, through the intercom, Mrs. Park’s voice sounded more desperate than usual.

—Director Do! No, Young Master.

As if she had returned to the time when he was young, when she was his nanny.

Dowon’s hand, which had been about to hang up, paused.

—I know what I’m saying is out of line. It’s not my place to step in, having only worked in this house my whole life, but…

Mrs. Park’s voice was trembling. Giving advice to her employer could not have been easy. Nonetheless, a firm resolve to speak up could be felt.

—Young Master Yeohwi looked exceptionally tired today. It seems he hasn’t been able to sleep lately, either…

“…”

—To tell the truth, I haven’t even been able to see the young master’s face properly for the past few days…

“Mrs. Park.”

Dowon sent a warning signal. Even so, Mrs. Park was submerged in sighs and began to sniffle.

—He must have had a hard time adjusting, coming to a strange place all alone as it is. If you could just visit the young master’s room even once…

The space between Dowon’s brows crumpled miserably. He shouldn’t have brought up Seong Yeohwi’s name. It was a pointless thing to do.

“I’ve heard enough.”

Click. Unable to listen any further, Dowon cut off the intercom.

Yet, Mrs. Park’s earnest voice didn’t cut off; it seemed to remain and echo inside the study.

‘He looked exceptionally tired today.’

‘If you could just visit the young master’s room even once…’

“…Ridiculous.”

The fountain pen in his hand slammed hard against the desk.

‧₊˚🍊༉‧₊˚.

When the dawn light faintly illuminated the floor-to-ceiling windows, Dowon forced himself to stand up.

Having spent the night finishing the review of M&A documents, he had only loosened his tie; he was still in the suit he had worn yesterday. A sense of fatigue emanated from his wrinkled shirt.

Today’s final review meeting with the legal team was a major part of the schedule to seize the shares of KD. It was a war to win his position, one where he couldn’t rest for even a single moment.

Dowon straightened his spot and stood up from the desk. The air in the study was stagnantly settled with the bitter scent of the coffee he had drunk all night and the smell of the paper from the documents.

“Phew.”

Exhaling a short breath, Dowon stared at the closed mahogany door. Across the hallway beyond it. He quietly thought of the twenty-year-old who would be huddled in the dark, having skipped his meals.

He had dismissed it as a childish hunger strike for a moment, but since the boy was at an age where he was still growing, he felt he should make him eat, even if he had to force it. He thought it would be best to instruct Mrs. Park.

‘Mister Dowon, don’t touch the kid.’

‘I’ll touch the adult.’

…Idiot.

Dowon lowered his eyelids. The end of that night was vividly etched on his retinas. That wet face turning white with a despairing expression. Seong Yeohwi, who threw himself into the fray with his everything at every moment. That shattered gaze came to mind.

Dowon changed his clothes and stepped down into the first-floor lobby.

It was earlier than usual. He spoke to Mrs. Park, who was setting the table.

“Mrs. Park, excuse me for last night.”

Mrs. Park’s face looked haggard, perhaps because she hadn’t slept well. Dowon clicked his tongue inwardly and gave instructions regarding Yeohwi.

“I think it would be best to make him eat breakfast today. Is he awake?”

She shook her head.

“There is still… no sign of life at all.”

“Wake him up. And have him sit at the table.”

Dowon pulled out a chair and sat down. It was just as he was fastening his Patek Philippe watch to his wrist.

Thump.

The sound of something dull and heavy falling to the floor was heard from the second floor.

“Young Master!”

And then, Mrs. Park’s piercing cry echoed.

“Oh no. Director…! The young master…!”

Dowon abruptly pushed back his chair and stood up.

Running across the hallway and up to the second floor, he saw Seong Yeohwi collapsed on the floor through the gap in the open bedroom door.

Sweat-soaked loungewear.

Lips that had turned white, without a trace of blood.

And eyelashes trembling faintly…

It seemed he had collapsed right there as he tried to come out through the bedroom door, unable to cross the threshold.

“Young Master! Wake up, Young Master!”

He spoke in a terrifyingly low voice to Mrs. Park, who was shouting to wake Yeohwi up.

“I’ll look after him. Call the family doctor immediately.”

“Ah, right! I’ll go—go call him right away.”

Dowon sat down on one knee where Yeohwi had fallen. Then, he tapped Yeohwi’s cheek. There was no reaction.

‘He fainted.’

Dowon slid his arms under the collapsed Yeohwi’s knees and back and picked him up. He intended to lay him on the bed for now.

But the moment he turned around and faced the inside of the room, he couldn’t help but pause in his tracks.

‘…What is this?’

It was because the scenery unfolding before his eyes was not the bedroom of Seong Yeohwi he had expected.

On the desk, the laptop screen was filled with complex stock charts and legal document files, and the floor was littered with thick professional books he usually only saw in the study. 《Corporate Law》, 《M&A Strategy Practice》, 《Understanding Asset Management》…

Even the bed where he intended to lay Seong Yeohwi was not a cozy cradle for sleeping. Dozens of file folders were spread wide open. They were covered in highlighter marks and post-its scribbled with ballpoint pen.

Traces of a life-and-death struggle, as if he had spent several days without eating or sleeping.

Only then did Dowon realize the truth of what he had dismissed as a childish hunger strike. He realized what Seong Yeohwi had been doing all alone, cooped up in this room.