KISS THE SCUMBAG Chapter 33

I brought her along because I was worried she wouldn’t get a proper meal while being pushed around by the adults.

Yujin’s face crumpled in frustration, as he had intended for her to be at least somewhat fed by the time the reception started. As an adult, it didn’t matter to him—he had no appetite in this situation anyway—but Angela was different. The thought that his child hadn’t eaten a single thing since the morning made his blood boil.

“Angie, you’re hungry, aren’t you? I’m sorry, I’ll go ask someone to make you something to eat right away.”

He just wanted to get some simple bread and milk for her at the very least. He tried to search for some quick food by checking the refrigerator as usual, but the kitchen was so crowded with people coming and going that there wasn’t even a place to step.

I never imagined a kitchen this big could be packed so full.

He had heard there were plenty of cooking tools like barbecues outside and that they were even using the kitchen in the guest house, but he hadn’t expected it to be to this extent. Just how many people were coming for them to be doing this?

What do I do?

As he stood there, perplexed while holding his child, a voice suddenly came from behind.

“What are you doing here?”

Startled by the unexpected sound, Yujin turned around, and his eyes widened even further. The ever-stoic butler was standing there, looking at him.

“Aren’t you supposed to be waiting in the waiting room? There shouldn’t be much time left now.”

Seeing him check his wristwatch as if to make a point, Yujin had no choice but to explain the situation.

“My child hasn’t eaten anything since this morning. It’ll take some time until the reception, so I wanted to feed her something…”

He won’t have any interest in this anyway.

As he spoke, he felt it was futile, and his voice trailed off weakly. The butler, who had fixed his gaze on Yujin’s face before he stopped talking, immediately met eyes with Angela. Yujin pulled his daughter into a tight hug as she momentarily cowered in tension. As if to say, I’m here, so don’t worry. The child also wrapped her arms around Yujin’s neck, showing her infinite trust in him.

Maybe there is food already set up outside.

With that thought, Yujin decided to step back.

“It looks like everyone is busy, so I’ll just…”

“In front of the waiting room door.”

Just as he was about to quickly brush past the butler, the man suddenly spoke up from behind. Yujin hesitated and turned around; the butler opened his mouth without a single change in his expression.

“Was there no one guarding it?”

“…There was.”

When Yujin answered, puzzled, the butler twitched his eyebrows ever so slightly.

“Even though someone was there, you had to come all the way here yourself?”

At those words, Yujin immediately went on the defensive.

“That’s right, because I can’t just let my daughter starve. Is there something wrong with that?”

To the sharply retorted question, the butler nodded, “Yes.” And before Yujin could even say anything else, he continued.

“I had them stand there to attend to you, but they were of no use. I will give them a warning.”

“…What?”

At the unexpected words, Yujin let out a blank sound with widened eyes. The butler continued in his professional tone as before.

“I will prepare something for the child to eat and bring it over. Is there anything else you need?”

Yujin blinked in confusion before replying, “No, that’s all.” After hearing his answer, the butler concluded politely.

“Understood. Then, please wait in the waiting room.”

Immediately, he turned and strode into the kitchen. Unlike Yujin, who had no choice but to hesitate as he lacked the courage to squeeze into that crowd, the butler skillfully navigated through the bustling people. In an instant, he opened a cupboard and took out some tableware. As Yujin watched the butler quickly achieving his goal with flawless, disciplined movements, he was left completely dumbfounded.

“Wow, that’s amaaazing.”

Beside him, his daughter let out exclamations as if she were spellbound. Feeling a complex emotion at Angela’s reaction, who couldn’t take her eyes off the butler as if she had completely fallen for him, Yujin felt a mix of things.

∞ ∞ ∞

The ceremony didn’t take long to end. A priest from the church that had long sponsored the family presided over it, and after they exchanged formal vows, they swapped the rings that the secretary had prepared. They didn’t even share a vow kiss. Perhaps having been tipped off in advance, the priest skillfully skipped that part. That was a relief to Yujin as well. If he had been told to kiss in front of all these people, he, too, would have refused with distaste.

Anyway, it was over. Yujin looked down at the ring on his finger with a strange feeling. Though he could count on one hand the number of weddings he’d attended in his life, there couldn’t possibly be another wedding in the world this depressing and awkward. If anyone saw it, they might have thought it was a funeral. That was how chillingly flat the atmosphere of the wedding was.

No one smiled, and no one toasted with champagne or gave congratulatory speeches. It was to the point where one would wonder why they even had to hold such a loud, elaborate wedding when they weren’t even taking photos.

If this is to show that I don’t belong in their world, then it seems like a useless effort.

Looking at the people surrounding Winston, Yujin thought indifferently. As soon as the ceremony ended, the guests flocked to Winston. Of course, considering that Yujin didn’t have a single guest of his own, it was expected. Still, it was, in a sense, impressive that they could ignore and thoroughly exclude the other protagonist of the wedding to this extent.

It was just a choice to get the inheritance, so I suppose it’s natural.

These were people who had never known how to show respect to others in the first place. For Yujin, who had lived his whole life being ignored by them, this was nothing new. His only concern now was where his daughter was.

Caine did say he would take responsibility for her earlier.

He recalled what the butler had said just before the ceremony started, but he didn’t know what had happened since. Feeling anxious, Yujin decided to find Caine first. Since Caine would be in charge of one of the main aspects of the wedding and reception, he would probably know where everyone was.

“Yujin.”

As he hurriedly moved, someone suddenly grabbed his arm. Yujin, who had no choice but to stop, turned around to see, unexpectedly, Winston looking down at him with a scowling face.

“Where are you going? You need to greet the people.”

“Me too?”

He asked before he knew it at the unexpected words, and Winston’s brow furrowed even deeper. Yujin was startled, but soon remembered his purpose and tried to shake his head.

“I’m sorry, but I’m busy right now…”

Without giving him a chance to finish his sentence, Winston pulled on the arm he was holding. Winston hugged Yujin tightly, making him stumble, and gave a smile.

“Is there something more important than this?”

Winston’s voice was much lower and quieter than usual. Those who couldn’t hear what they were saying would have surely mistaken it for him whispering sweet nothings of love.

“I need to find Angie.”

As he spoke in a lowered voice as well, Winston lifted the corners of his mouth to smile. To Yujin, it was simply terrifyingly chilling, but it would surely look different to others.

“Honey, you should think of the guests first.”

After sweetly reprimanding him, Winston lowered his head to his ear as if to kiss Yujin’s cheek and whispered.

“This is your duty, too. Fitting in with people to match me.”

Winston lifted his head and added:

“Just like all other couples.”

“We aren’t like other couples.”

Yujin protested with a frown, but it didn’t work on Winston.

“You should at least try to become like them.”

It felt like talking to a wall. Was Winston always this unreasonable? Lost for words in sheer disbelief, Yujin looked at Winston, who offered him a smile.

“Shall we go? Everyone is waiting.”

“I could just greet them at the reception…”

Yujin resisted one last time, but it was in vain. As he was dragged along by Winston, who had already started walking, he looked ahead and saw a group of people standing there watching them. Winston naturally wrapped one arm around Yujin’s waist and walked toward them. It might have looked like the light affection of a newlywed couple, but Yujin knew better—it was no different than him restraining his body with one arm to ensure he couldn’t run away.