David's Husband - Chapter 37

Huh? Forgot something? Was there such a thing? Ha Yeon, who was quietly thinking, suddenly raised her voice.

“Ah! Watermelon!”

Only then realizing that she had completely forgotten the purpose of calling Min Je, Ha Yeon clutched her head.

Sigh, Ji Hoo let out a deep sigh.

The little one’s sigh had a bigger impact than expected. It felt like she had become a pathetic adult.

Ha Yeon hurriedly opened her phone and called Min Je again.

After hearing the whole story, Min Je burst into laughter. Ha Yeon rolled her eyes at the laughter coming through the receiver and checked Ji Hoo’s expression.

Even if it feels too good, I need to be more alert from now on. Ha Yeon awkwardly smiled and smoothed over the situation, not knowing what else to do.

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Ha Yeon and Ji Hoo, who had asked Min Je to buy watermelon, went to the convenience store near the house to buy other ingredients.

“Let’s make the most delicious watermelon punch in the world.”

“An incredibly delicious one.”

Ha Yeon and Ji Hoo swung their clasped hands back and forth as they entered the convenience store.

Coincidentally, Cha I Tae, who was sitting at a table set up outside the convenience store drinking beer at that time, saw them.

He had suffered a major blow to his pride when he approached Ha Yeon at the National Art Museum, and had just disbanded the useless surveillance. So this encounter now was not intentional, but truly coincidental.

Living in the same neighborhood as Kang Min Je, days like this come too. The woman who was nowhere to be seen when he wanted to meet her so badly that he assigned people to follow her, but appeared right in front of him as soon as he removed the surveillance, was annoying.

As it was already dusk with twilight settling in, Ha Yeon didn’t seem to recognize Cha I Tae sitting in the corner.

‘Does she really think she’s the mother or something?’

Cha I Tae inwardly sneered as he looked into the convenience store that was clearly visible.

The bright smile and affectionate attitude she showed the child somehow irked him. She only knew how to give him cold looks, but it turns out she can smile so brightly like that.

She was truly a strange woman. He would hate her to death, but then find comfort in the thought that she wasn’t a materialistic person like himself. She was the first person in his life to make him feel such contradictory emotions so vividly.

He wasn’t originally such a bad person. He changed because he experienced several times that he couldn’t survive by being honest. He thought it was natural to step on others through unfair acts, not to mention bribes and solicitations, in order to seize opportunities.

What’s there to be thankful for that there are still people living truthfully without compromising, with such a background?

Cha I Tae couldn’t sort out his complicated feelings and downed the remaining beer in one gulp.

“Now that we’ve bought the secret ingredient, the taste is guaranteed. What if it’s too delicious?”

“Then, we can eat until our stomachs burst.”

Ha Yeon and Ji Hoo, who had come out of the convenience store, giggled as they exchanged conversation about whatever was making them happy. Anyone could see they were a close mother and son.

Cha I Tae couldn’t take his eyes off their retreating figures for a while.

“Maybe I should just quit everything.”

Everything he thought was natural somehow seemed pathetic now. It felt like he had just discovered how dirty the place he was standing on really was.

Heaving a deep sigh, Cha I Tae rubbed his dry face vigorously as if trying to shake off the complex emotions that were difficult even for himself to comprehend.

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Not long after Ha Yeon and Ji Hoo returned from the convenience store, Min Je arrived with the watermelon.

“You’re going to make watermelon punch?”

“Yes, sister and I have already looked up the recipe on how to make it.”

Ji Hoo, who came running out, grinned and said not to worry.

“Wait a moment. I’ll change clothes and be right back.”

Min Je ruffled Ji Hoo’s hair and went into the room.

Ha Yeon, who entered the kitchen that Mi Ran had cleaned spotlessly without a speck of dust, flinched for a moment. But she nodded, thinking that making watermelon punch of the lowest difficulty would allow her to tidy up without leaving a trace.

She quickly arranged the ingredients and welcomed the two men. Ji Hoo looked adorable in his apron and headscarf.

“Would you like an apron too, sir?”

Ha Yeon asked Min Je as she took out an apron to tie around her waist.

“Are you going to put it on for me yourself?”

Min Je, who was desperate to get close to her somehow, didn’t miss the opportunity and spoke.

“If you want.”

Ha Yeon chuckled and approached Min Je. Seeing him already spreading his arms to have the apron put on, moving his body before speaking, made her laugh involuntarily.

To put on the apron, she had to reach out almost as if hugging him from behind due to their height difference. Min Je smiled, seeming to like it.

Really can’t be helped. Ha Yeon smirked as she tied the knot and returned to the table.

“Watermelon punch is really simple. It’ll be done soon, so please pay attention.”

Ha Yeon demonstrated how to scoop the watermelon into round shapes, handing out punch scoops to the two.

“Now, please put the beautifully scooped watermelon in this glass bowl.”

Min Je and Ji Hoo then began scooping out the watermelon with their scoops.

“Hmm, making it round is harder than I thought.”

Min Je exhaled, holding up a semicircle-shaped watermelon scoop.

“I did it!”

Ji Hoo smiled, holding up a round watermelon scoop.

“Well done.”

Ha Yeon praised him, but Ji Hoo was so enthusiastic that he was applying too much force, causing watermelon juice to spill everywhere. Thanks to the child putting all his effort into it, the watermelon was being almost mashed rather than scooped.

This isn’t how it’s supposed to be. She couldn’t understand why they were having such a hard time with a recipe of the lowest difficulty.

“Mm, it’s delicious. You picked a good watermelon.”

To make matters worse, Min Je, who had perfectionist tendencies, started eating the watermelon pieces that weren’t round.

Seeing this, Ji Hoo also started to get rid of all the oddly shaped pieces by putting them in his stomach. As a result, by the time the glass bowl was filled with watermelon, both of their stomachs were already full.

“Now, let’s add an appropriate amount of canned fruit here. After pouring in ice and soda, tada! The secret weapon! Add strawberry milk and it’s complete.”

A colorful, appetizing watermelon punch was completed. However, Min Je and Ji Hoo’s expressions weren’t very bright.

“What should we do? I can’t eat anymore.”

“I’m full, sister.”

Ah, really these people! Who told you to eat half a watermelon before even making it!

Ha Yeon, who was staring blankly at the two with a dumbfounded expression, let out a deep sigh and then took a proof shot.

She smiled as Ji Hoo in his apron, forcing a smile in front of the watermelon punch, looked too cute.

He still seemed awkward about having his picture taken, but Ha Yeon felt proud inside, seeing the results of her efforts to constantly point her phone at Ji Hoo to take his picture.

And the kitchen, which had been devastated by watermelon juice, was tidied up, though not to Mi Ran’s satisfaction, but somehow managed.

The cooking class, which had many ups and downs, ended as the watermelon punch, which had been made with such effort but barely touched, went into the refrigerator to await tomorrow.

“Don’t wet the bed while sleeping.”

Ha Yeon cautioned, looking at the child’s stomach bulging with watermelon, and Ji Hoo flared up.

“I’m all grown up and absolutely won’t wet the bed.”

“Okay, okay.”

Seeing Ha Yeon answer half-heartedly while fixing the bedding, Ji Hoo pouted sullenly.

“They say that in the old days, if a child wet the bed, they would send them to the neighbor’s house to get salt, telling them not to do it again.”

Ha Yeon said, tapping Ji Hoo’s protruding lips with her finger.

“What? Why?”

Ji Hoo’s reaction was quite heightened compared to usual, so Min Je explained while suppressing his laughter.

“Our ancestors probably thought that if the child was scolded and embarrassed, they wouldn’t wet the bed again.”

Ugh, seeing Ji Hoo make a strange expression, Ha Yeon couldn’t help but chuckle and said,

“Our Ji Hoo is all grown up and will never wet the bed, so it doesn’t matter.”

“Th-that’s right.”

Ji Hoo, who had been thinking quietly, nodded hurriedly.

You adorable thing. Ha Yeon couldn’t resist stroking Ji Hoo’s cheek.

After putting Ji Hoo to bed like that, Min Je and Ha Yeon tiptoed out of the child’s room.

Click, as the door closed, Ha Yeon immediately checked Min Je’s expression. Perhaps because he was suffering from guilt about deceiving the child, he especially struggled with this time of leaving the room after the child fell asleep.

“If I look pitiful in your eyes… just hug me once.”

Because the emotion in his eyes was not impure desire but deep pain and anguish, Ha Yeon obediently opened her arms and hugged him.

“Sir, you really made a big decision, and that decision is something to be proud of.”

Ha Yeon patted the broad back of the man who had fully entered her embrace with her fingertips.

“What good is that? I’m a terrible father.”

“That’s not true.”

Ha Yeon spoke earnestly, even shaking her head. But Min Je, who had been blaming himself for a long time, seemed to regard those words not as reality but as pleasant words to comfort him.

“If it weren’t for you, my relationship with Ji Hoo would have soon collapsed.”

It wasn’t just made-up words. Without any preparation, forcibly pushing Ji Hoo and himself into the frame of ‘family’ made everything precarious. Like a loosely stacked stone tower, it teetered as if it would collapse soon with just a gust of wind.

Although he had met and rubbed shoulders with various people, he didn’t know how to form true human relationships. Having never experienced being loved, he didn’t know how to love. With everything being unknown, he chose the easiest and most convenient method.

He surrounded the family relationship with money. He hired people with the money he had earned so tenaciously, and those employees raised the child. But the fence built with money might look sturdy and good on the outside, but it had no strength at all.

The affection, cohesion, and empathy that should naturally be shared as a family… nothing worked.

Min Je didn’t know well what family was, but he clearly knew that this wasn’t a proper family.

So Ha Yeon, who appeared to him standing on ground that was about to collapse, was a savior.

Every time he saw Ji Hoo smiling brightly, Min Je reminded himself of this fact. The more often Ji Hoo smiled, the more often this fact was engraved in Min Je’s heart.

“No one is perfect.”

Ha Yeon said in a voice tinged with moisture.

“You’re doing well. So everything will be alright.”

Min Je tightly closed his eyes at the voice that gave peace to his heart like a magic spell.

Every night, looking at the sleeping child’s face, he worried whether this child would become unhappy because of him. If he had met better parents, he could have lived a happy life. The memories of countless days when he couldn’t break the repetitive cycle of thoughts and agonized over them dispersed hazily like fog.

“Indeed, I need you.”

It felt like he would never be able to tell Ji Hoo the truth on his own.

“I’ll be with you.”

The feeling that this small woman who fit perfectly in his arms felt larger than the whole world was quite an unfamiliar experience.

“I’m really glad I met you.”

Min Je hugged her tightly, exhaling a deep breath of relief. Ha Yeon’s eyelashes fluttered momentarily upon hearing his words.

He was talking as if he had done something tremendous, but from her perspective, it wasn’t much different. For her too, meeting someone to rely on in a world where she lived alone was the same.

“We are all fortunate.”

It was difficult to define this strange encounter in one word, but a relationship where they were fortunate for each other.

For now, that was enough.

A relationship so fortunate that even the assumption ‘if we hadn’t met like this’ would make everything go dark.

That was enough.