Keep Going Crazy Chapter 19

“Fucking crazy bastard.”

“Huh?”

It was on the way to the Shanghai Circuit. At Ryeoun’s mention of that bastard early in the morning, Younghoo’s eyes went wide.

“Never mind.”

Ryeoun waved his hand half-heartedly from the passenger seat. He was absolutely dumbfounded. Because Aiden had read his lengthy, elaborate text and completely ghosted him!

‘Did he really just leave me on read?’

He felt bewildered. Yes, of course, he was the one who had unilaterally changed the appointment and apologized for it. That could have upset Aiden. He understood that.

But still, reading it and saying nothing at all… that’s really not okay, is it?

Ryeoun had even called him, and there wasn’t even a callback. He’d apologized clearly and even said twice to let him know a new date. And yet, how could he just read it and ignore it?

Doesn’t he feel frustrated…? Just cutting off contact like this? It’s truly baffling.

No, even conceding a hundred times that he could have read and ignored it, since they’d agreed to talk, they should at least reschedule.

‘For someone with his personality….’

He wasn’t exactly someone who went around being called good-natured himself, but this was beyond that. If you input a process, you should get a result, but no matter how much he input, there was no output, and it was frustrating enough to drive him crazy.

Even as he got out in the parking lot and entered the paddock, Ryeoun looked around, searching for Aiden. But not a single strand of that bright hair of his was visible.

“Good morning.”

Team members passing through the paddock greeted him. Ryeoun smiled and returned their greetings.

And finally, as he got closer to the motor home, he spotted Aiden. He was standing in front of the motor home, talking with Rowan.

“Brother, I’ll be right back after I talk for a bit.”

“Huh? Okay.”

After peeling Younghoo off, Ryeoun strode toward Aiden and Rowan.

“Hello.”

“Oh, Woon! Good morning. How’s your condition?”

The director, Rowan, smiled and welcomed him. Aiden only squinted his eyes and briefly scanned Ryeoun.

“Good. Coming to China, I even had dim sum for breakfast, so I’m much better.”

“That’s nice, isn’t it?”

It was Aiden who cut off the light greeting between Ryeoun and Rowan.

“Then I’ll go in first.”

“Ed, don’t forget the discussion with Allensa later.”

“Yes.”

Ryeoun quickly reached out his hand. And he succeeded in grabbing Aiden’s wrist as he turned and tried to step into the motor home.

“Can we talk for a moment?”

Rowan blinked.

“Should I step aside?”

“No, Director. We’re going inside. That’s fine, right?”

Ryeoun asked Aiden with a smile. Aiden, who had been staring at Ryeoun expressionlessly for a moment, nodded.

It wasn’t a good idea to talk in the paddock. There were far too many journalists passing by.

He had zero point one percent desire to give them material like ‘Conflict between Helix drivers ahead of practice!’

Ryeoun strode into the motor home. With his wrist still caught, Aiden followed behind him as if being dragged. The eyes of the team members inside the motor home followed them. Ryeoun greeted them with a bright smile instead of words.

Going up to the second floor, Ryeoun quickly found an empty meeting room. And he slipped inside.

As soon as the door closed, Aiden shook his hand free. Only then did Ryeoun realize he had been holding Aiden’s wrist.

“Oh, sorry. Did that hurt?”

“Not at all.”

“….”

“….”

Silence flowed between them. Ryeoun, pondering what to say, frowned and scratched the back of his head vigorously. He was feeling somewhat embarrassed.

“So….”

“…?”

“So, did you see the text I sent yesterday? And the call? Why didn’t you reply? Are you angry?”

After firing off questions in a rush, he felt even stranger. This was like… nagging at a partner who’d gone silent. Tch, Ryeoun clicked his tongue.

Aiden silently stared at Ryeoun without a word. Ryeoun also looked back at Aiden.

Despite the early morning, Aiden was very radiant. His neatly swept-back blond hair shone with luster. For a moment, Ryeoun was slightly captivated. As expected, he was truly blessed in the looks department.

Ryeoun started counting the freckles spread widely across the bridge of his nose and cheeks. It was because he simply couldn’t stand this silence.

After counting about eight freckles, Ryeoun finally surrendered to Aiden’s silence. It seemed he had no intention of answering.

“Don’t you want to talk? Should I just leave?”

“…Why.”

Just as Ryeoun, genuinely thinking it would be better to just leave, had half-turned his body, Aiden spoke.

“Huh?”

“Why is your appointment with me not important?”

“…Huh?”

He was so dumbfounded that a sound of pure bewilderment popped out. Ryeoun blinked and craned his neck toward Aiden. He wondered if he had misheard.

“What are you talking about?”

“Was my appointment trivial enough to postpone, while the other appointment was so important it could never be postponed?”

Ryeoun quietly studied Aiden’s face. So… is he, right now, feeling a bit hurt? Or not?

‘It’s not like we’re the kind of relationship where we get hurt over each other, is it?’

Having concluded that, Ryeoun answered lightly.

“It was a really important appointment. Tell me a date that works for you, and I’ll adjust my schedule. Or we can just talk now, that’s fine too.”

Checking the time on his wristwatch, Ryeoun added.

“I have about 30 minutes.”

“What’s the important appointment?”

At Aiden’s question, Ryeoun squinted his eyes. It was because explaining everything about Hao was a huge hassle.

“I just had to meet someone important.”

As Ryeoun answered vaguely, he couldn’t help but widen his squinted eyes at Aiden’s next words.

“Is meeting a man more important than your appointment with me?”

“…What?”

“I asked if drinking at a bar with some man is more important than meeting with your teammate.”

“Hold on.”

Ryeoun raised his hand.

‘What the hell is this nonsense?’

The utterly sudden nonsense left his mind reeling. After quickly sorting out the situation, he spoke again.

“First of all, you said let’s talk, not let’s have a meeting. How does ‘let’s talk’ turn into a meeting with a teammate? Weren’t you just saying you had something to tell me personally?”

Before Aiden’s mouth could even open, Ryeoun spoke again.

“And how do you know I went to a bar with a guy? What, are you stalking me? Or did you have someone following me? How did you know that?”

Again, Aiden’s lips twitched, but Ryeoun waved his hand and fired off again.

“I didn’t drink alcohol, I had tea. And he’s not ‘some man,’ he’s a really important friend in my life. Not that I expect Mr. Aiden Carter, who hardly has any friends, to understand that feeling.”

In the end, he finished with a sarcastic remark. Ryeoun screamed internally. This is insane, what kind of crazy misunderstanding is this? It was so frustrating it felt like his chest was blocked.

Patting his chest, Ryeoun added more.

“And frankly, whether I went to a bar and drank with a guy or not, is that any reason for you to frown and grill me about it? Don’t I decide the priorities in my life? I apologized, I explained the reason, and I suggested a solution—isn’t that enough?”

“….”

“I did think you might be angry. Because I unilaterally changed the appointment. If you were upset about that, I was going to sincerely apologize. But you don’t seem to be upset simply because I broke the appointment. Am I mistaken?”

The more he talked, the more heated he became. Why does this guy talk like this? Ryeoun genuinely could not understand Aiden.

“Listen, Mr. Carter. There’s a limit to treating people like they’re beneath you.”

“….”

“Just because I happen to go in and out of hotels with a guy doesn’t mean I deserve to be criticized like this by you. Huh? Do you understand what I’m saying? Do you think I’m some man-crazed fool? This is ridiculous.”

After huffing and letting it all out, he felt a bit relieved. Not that his anger had subsided, though.

Aiden kept his mouth tightly shut and said nothing. Ryeoun patiently waited for his lips to open. Since he had interrupted multiple times, he felt he should wait this much.

After a little more silence, Aiden finally spoke.

“…Are you saying I’m misunderstanding right now?”