F Side Story 19

A week later, Siwoo’s father got in touch. He informed Yeonho that he had arrived at the first-floor lobby of the company around lunchtime. Setting down the coffee he was drinking, Yeonho headed straight downstairs.

Because of the restraining order, Siwoo’s father couldn’t contact Siwoo directly, so he had summoned Yeonho instead. His tone had grown curt and his voice louder, his demeanor far more hostile than before.

“Call Siwoo. I have something to say. Right now!”

Yeonho could tell it was deliberate. Causing a scene in such a public place was likely his last resort to force a meeting with Siwoo. He knew that the only way to quiet things down would be for Yeonho to hand Siwoo over.

But Yeonho remained unfazed and calm. As a security officer approached, Yeonho raised a hand to signal him to wait. Then he turned to Siwoo’s father and warned him in a calm voice.

“You can’t do this. Please leave.”

He took out his phone, signaling that if the disturbance continued, he would call the police. He had no intention of offering up Siwoo as a sacrifice to calm the situation.

Meanwhile, back from brushing his teeth, Siwoo returned to the office when a coworker from the same team approached him in a rush. In a nervous voice, the man relayed what he had just seen downstairs.

“There’s a middle-aged man yelling at Joo Yeonho from PR down in the lobby. I thought you should know, Kim Siwoo.”

“Really? Thanks for letting me know.”

The moment Siwoo heard this, he knew who it was. That middle-aged man was his father.

He rushed to the elevator, but the car was stuck deep in the basement. With no time to wait, he bolted down the stairs. Only after he had descended a few floors did something strike him as odd, and he tilted his head in thought.

“…But why did he tell me that?”

He’d never revealed to anyone at work that he was in a relationship with Yeonho. He worked hard to restrain any affection in public. The most he’d done was casually use the same straw from Yeonho’s coffee cup.

“…Ah.”

That’s when it hit him. The belief that they were keeping their relationship secret had been nothing but their own illusion.

Soon, Siwoo reached the first-floor lobby and saw Yeonho standing face-to-face with his father. With their relationship now unintentionally exposed, Siwoo didn’t care about appearances. He strode straight toward them.

He stepped in front of Yeonho and stood tall between him and his father. Yeonho, seemingly having forgotten they were supposed to be keeping things private, gripped Siwoo’s collar in urgency.

“Hyung.”

“It’s alright. I had to see him one last time.”

Siwoo knew all too well that it was his responsibility to end things with his father once and for all.

Looking at the man’s face for the first time in a long while, he felt it clearly. This was the last time. The end of a long, loathsome, and painful connection.

While Yeonho was still trying to decide what to do, Siwoo’s father opened his mouth. His voice came out like a robotic drone.

“Siwoo, I’m sorry.”

Yeonho realized then that the man had come to apologize. Whether or not it was genuine, he decided to allow the meeting to continue. Siwoo deserved to hear an apology from his parent at least once in his life.

Siwoo let out a hollow laugh at the words he had never expected to hear. The words he thought he’d go a lifetime without.

“I understand you’re in a rush, but please don’t make a scene in front of all these people. Let’s move somewhere else. We still have time.”

As they walked outside, Yeonho followed closely behind and said,

“I’m coming too. I won’t interrupt.”

“….”

Siwoo stopped, turned around, and looked quietly at Yeonho. Yeonho, eyes filled with worry, spoke again.

“I’m just… worried about you.”

Siwoo smiled and nodded. He always felt grateful for Yeonho.

When he was a child, Siwoo often imagined his father apologizing and holding him close afterward. Whenever he fell asleep thinking like that, he would have sweet, horrifying nightmares.

If this had been the Siwoo of the past, he would have been desperate to understand. Why would his father lower his pride and say sorry? Was it because he truly loved his son? Or was it just about not wanting to lose control of the company?

But Siwoo no longer cared what the man felt.

They moved to the fourth basement floor of the parking garage, quiet and deserted. Siwoo spoke in a calm voice.

“Father.”

He wanted to call him that one last time. He would never use the word again.

“I loved you. You probably didn’t know, since I never said it.”

He said it plainly. The feeling had long passed and disappeared.

His father’s eyes widened, completely unprepared for Siwoo’s words. For the first time, Siwoo saw the man’s pupils tremble. To the shaken man, he continued.

“On my eleventh birthday, I practiced over and over so I could tell my parents I loved them. But the seaweed soup got spilled all over the floor, and I never got to say it. That day was the first time I ever wanted to die. That was the day your son died.”

“Your… eleventh birthday? What happened then?”

His father wore a face that seemed to ask, Was there really something that painful? Siwoo found him repulsive. Not even worth hating. Hatred required emotional investment, and this man didn’t deserve it.

“I died back then and grew up with nothing but a hollow shell. Even so, if you had told me you loved me, I would have said it back. That I loved you too. But I never got that chance. Not even once.”

He had long shed all feelings toward his parents, Siwoo felt nothing but relief. In contrast, his father was collapsing, overwhelmed by the realization of a love that had already passed him by.

“Siwoo.”

“Tell Mom too. That I once loved her.”

Tears welled up in his father’s eyes. Siwoo felt a twisted satisfaction. It was the first time he had ever seen the man cry. Overcome with emotion, the man shouted.

“Come back! Please come back. I was wrong. Your mother regrets it too.”

“No. My unrequited love ended a long time ago. It’s been so long, I don’t even remember what it felt like.”

Siwoo laughed as he watched his father crumble to his knees. He was just now beginning his own one-sided love for his son. Siwoo bent down on one knee, brought his mouth to his father’s ear, and whispered.

“Hold on to hope. Who knows? Maybe, if a miracle happens, I’ll come back.”

He offered his father one last gift, a false hope with no promise. So that for the rest of his life, even with hands and feet cut off, the man would live in torment, waiting for a son who would never return.

He said his final goodbye as a son, Siwoo stood tall and looked down at the man’s pitiful form. Then, as Yeonho’s lover, he gave a firm warning.

“If you try anything shady again or pressure Yeonho, I’ll return the favor. Just like you did to me. If you want Namyeon Construction to go bankrupt and rot in the streets, keep going. If you still care enough not to go that far with someone you once loved, then help me out. Do you understand?”

With that, Siwoo reached out and took Yeonho’s hand. He held tightly to the only person he ever loved and walked past his father.

As they headed for the elevator, Siwoo spoke gently, as if to reassure him.

“It’s all over now. Sorry for putting you through so much.”

Yeonho studied Siwoo’s face. He saw that Siwoo felt no sadness or regret and finally let go of his own worries.

As the elevator arrived, Yeonho pulled Siwoo into a tight embrace. He no longer hid the desire he felt for the man who was now completely his.

“I’m jealous that they once received little Yeonho’s love. It hurts that even that wasn’t mine.”

“I wish I could have given all that wasted love to you. What a shame.”

Siwoo pressed a soft kiss to Yeonho’s lips, then whispered.

“Let’s meet earlier in the next life.”

It wasn’t an empty phrase. It was a promise for a far-off future they would share.

***

Not long after, Siwoo’s parents sent a letter of apology through their lawyer. Perhaps as part of a plan to win him over, they also agreed to give him the full share of assets he had demanded through the lawsuit.

Seated beside Yeonho in the lawyer’s office, Siwoo reviewed the amount he was receiving from his parents and promptly declared he would write a will immediately. It was to ensure that, should anything happen to him, none of it would go back to them.

“Yeonho-ya, I should leave everything to you in my will.”

“Don’t.”

Yeonho clenched his jaw in response to Siwoo’s teasing tone. But Siwoo didn’t stop.

“Even if Joo Yeonho ends up with someone else, Kim Siwoo leaves everything to him. How about it?”

“Stop messing around!”

Yeonho slapped Siwoo’s thigh.

Siwoo’s will was brief and simple. Yeonho also revoked his previous one and wrote a new, concise version. The contents of both were the same.

All property under the testator’s name shall be donated in full. Since the two heirs to the Platte Resort, Golf Course, and Hotel Residence died on the same day, the current CEO shall select a suitable successor. After cremation, the ashes of the deceased shall be placed side by side in the columbarium.

That Friday afternoon, after finalizing their wills, the two of them were driving home when they impulsively changed direction and left on a trip.

While Yeonho stayed in the car making a last-minute reservation for a pension, Siwoo went grocery shopping at the market. He filled the cart with alcohol until it overflowed.

Tonight, he would finally give Yeonho an answer. To see just what would happen when Joo Yeonho, drunk and reckless, laid hands on a completely intoxicated Kim Siwoo.