Wedding Ending Chapter 7

An urgent voice rang out. The surrounding footsteps moved back and forth. Min Jaeyoon slowly turned his head. People crowded around the bed placed side-by-side with his. Because of that, Kang Seunghyun’s face could not be seen.

“He slept for a whole day and woke up just a moment ago.”

His mother, who was standing at the foot of the bed, was on the phone with someone. It seemed to be his father, President Min. Min Jaeyoon turned his head and looked up at the white ceiling. He blinked his eyelids. As he repeated it, the blurry fog cleared, and his vision gradually became clear.

Christmas had passed. Likewise, their married life was over as well. Kang Jion was not the type of person to feel a shallow sort of regret like Min Jaeyoon had thought. Perhaps he might just consider him as a cute younger brother. Min Jaeyoon closed his eyes as if exhausted.

It was all in vain.

Before long, the snow falling outside the window stopped as well. The snow-laden branches, bathed in rare sunlight, trembled abruptly. At that moment, Director Im’s voice scattered as if cracking.

“Executive Director Kang, do you recognize me?”

💍

Around Director Im, who was standing in front of the monitor, people wearing the same white gowns tangled together. A look of anxiety flitted across Director Im’s face as he stared at the screen showing the brain scan with a solemn gaze. He was Chairman Kang’s personal physician. He was in charge of routine major and minor health examinations, as well as those of his grandsons, Kang Jion and Kang Seunghyun.

When the airbags deployed at the time of the accident, Driver Song and Secretary Song, who were sitting in the front seats wearing seatbelts, complained of severe pain in their necks and backs, but the person who was injured even more severely than them was none other than Kang Seunghyun. He had been brought in bleeding, having struck the area near his temple against the car window glass.

“….”

Min Jaeyoon, who was sitting on the edge of the hospital bed, stared ahead. Kang Seunghyun, who seemed to regain consciousness for just a brief moment, had fallen back asleep. He blankly stared at Kang Seunghyun, whose head was wrapped in bandages. Director Im’s actions from a moment ago flickered before his eyes.

Suddenly flustered, he had dragged all the people out of the hospital room. He had also sent Min Jaeyoon’s mother out, saying that he needed stability. She stepped out the door after first informing President Min over the phone that the two had regained consciousness.

The most unscathed person among those riding in the car was Min Jaeyoon. He stared at the sleeping Kang Seunghyun for a long time. Because it had happened so completely without warning, he hadn’t even realized it was Kang Seunghyun’s embrace and had clung to him as if hanging on.

At that time, he really thought he was going to die. At the embarrassing sight that came back to mind, Min Jaeyoon’s cheeks puffed up slightly. After glaring at the sight of Kang Seunghyun sleeping with a pale face that would be hard to see in a lifetime, he stood up. He stepped onto the floor with bare feet and approached Kang Seunghyun’s bedside. You should have just used me as a shield like usual. Since when did you ever care about me.

“Why go and do something so useless….”

Min Jaeyoon chewed over self-mocking thoughts. He bit his lips gently. It won’t be a big deal. He just woke up a moment ago too.

Min Jaeyoon turned away without any lingering attachment and returned to his bed. Let’s not show sympathy. He pulled the blanket up over his head. As he tightly closed his eyes, the memories he had buried came back vividly. The scene he had seen in his dream before regaining consciousness unfolded.

―…You didn’t receive it?

After returning from a family trip, Min Jaeyoon, who visited Kang Jion’s house with his father to give New Year’s greetings, wore a dazed expression. He dropped the cookie box he was holding in both hands. It was something Min Jaeyoon, who had returned from an overseas trip, had brought along to eat together.

He takes back the statement that he isn’t as bad of a kid as he looks. Kang Seunghyun said that he had placed the gift Min Jaeyoon left behind on Kang Jion’s desk ‘on that day’.

―I… told you… to pass it on right on Christmas….

Min Jaeyoon’s voice choked up. Kang Seunghyun, who didn’t even give him a glance, turned the page of the book he was reading. He poured out the exact same words without missing a single syllable.

―I clearly placed it on hyung’s desk back then.

Kang Jion approached as if put in an awkward position and stroked Min Jaeyoon’s back.

―I’m sorry. It seems to have vanished somewhere while I was cleaning up the desk. Jaeyoon, have you had lunch? Do you want to eat with hyung? But what was the gift?

Kang Jion coaxed him and picked up the cookie box that had fallen on the floor. Min Jaeyoon wiped his welling tears with the back of his hand. “A necklace that brings good luck….” His voice was buried by Kang Seunghyun’s gesture of clapping his book shut.

…Fading out, Min Jaeyoon had no choice but to open his eyes at the commotion around him. He clasped his throbbing forehead. He had a nightmare. It was a memory he didn’t even want to think about.

“Who am I?”

As he pulled down the blanket that had been covering even his head, Director Im was pacing around. Behind him was Im Dongjin as well.

Director Im had brought in only his trustworthy son. Following his instructions, the rest of the people were waiting outside the hospital room. Director Im moistened his dry lips with his tongue.

Having woken up at some point, Kang Seunghyun was sitting up, leaning against the top of the bed. Staring at him with bandages wrapped around his head, Director Im anxiously buried his face in his two hands before lifting his head. He repeated the question he had just asked.

“Who did you say I am?”

“….”

There was no answer coming back. As Min Jaeyoon slowly raised his upper body, Kang Seunghyun’s gaze followed.

It wasn’t something to make a fuss about. Kang Seunghyun is not a kind person who answers just because someone asks. He originally doesn’t reply much anyway. Because he only spoke when he felt the necessity to do so.

Director Im extended his fingertips, pointing anxiously at Im Dongjin, who was standing beside him. He was also one of the few figures who associated casually with Kang Seunghyun.

“Do you not recognize this face either?”

“….”

Director Im grabbed his gray hair as if put in an awkward position.

“Why? Is something wrong with Seunghyun?”

Min Jaeyoon asked nonchalantly, pressing the button at his bedside. Even though he was sitting up so perfectly fine, Director Im’s complexion was ash-gray.

Min Jaeyoon’s bed slowly rose upward. Damn it, the volume of the pillow supporting his head was miserable. No wonder his dreams were troubled. Supporting his back with the pillow, he moved his body back and forth to find a comfortable position and leaned back. Director Im spat out words mixed with deep sorrow.

“His head… sigh… at any rate, it seems I must inform the CEO of this fact.”

Even if it were anyone else, he had to convey things exactly as they were to Kang Jion. This matter was a problem that Director Im could not handle alone.

“That would be all right, wouldn’t it? Executive Director.”

Director Im sought formal permission from Kang Seunghyun, who was just staring, and turned his body. As his upper body twisted, only then was Kang Seunghyun visible. Min Jaeyoon, who looked at Kang Seunghyun’s figure fully, faltered despite himself.

Eyes as light as glass beads flew straight over and locked in. An amused look dwelt on Kang Seunghyun’s face as he stared intently. His cold eyes twinkled. It was completely different from when he treated Director Im with no emotion.

Just because their eyes met, a chill ran down his spine. Min Jaeyoon’s lips parted slightly as he felt something bizarre.

“What’s wrong with Seunghyun’s head? Is he hurt badly? At least tell me….”

Just as he was gesturing toward Director Im’s receding figure, Kang Seunghyun lets out a languid smile.

“?”

Min Jaeyoon’s hand stopped as if hung in midair. Am I still dreaming? He blinked his eyelids in succession.

Though they had practically grown up together since childhood, Min Jaeyoon had never once seen Kang Seunghyun smile. It was the same when he stepped out before people publicly. It seemed as if laughter didn’t exist in his cells in the first place.

Kang Seunghyun slowly opened his mouth.

“Is Seunghyun hurt badly?”

The bandages wrapped around his head, the sharp almond-shaped eyes—a smile that didn’t suit his refined and sculpted face at all took its place.

Min Jaeyoon’s throat surged. His hand that had been in the air came down powerlessly. It was a low voice that was no different from usual, but a sense of foreignness struck him. Kang Seunghyun scanned the surroundings and then looked at Min Jaeyoon once again.

“But who is Seunghyun?”

He wanted to return those exact words right back to him this instant.

Who are you?

“What do they say is the cause of the accident?”

Inside the rapidly moving car, Secretary Ha, who was sitting in the front passenger seat, looks back. The gaze of Kang Jion, from whose face laughter had vanished, is sharp. Secretary Ha pushed up his silver-rimmed glasses and replied.

“The exact circumstances are under investigation, CEO.”

“Is it perhaps a vehicle defect?”

“We are checking that right now as well.”

“How on earth could such a thing happen….”