Define The Relationship Novel - Chapter 54

But this was unexpected.

Ash blinked. He frowned in bewilderment, then looked down at his phone. Slowly, he raised a hand and rubbed his lips. He hung up. Then he checked the number again. It was indeed Karlyle’s number. Just a month ago, he had been perfectly exchanging calls and texts on this very number.

However, when he called again, it was the same female voice. Hearing that the number was not in use, Ash let out a low laugh. An indefinable sensation surged within him.

“Mac.”

“Yeah?”

Calling Mackenzie, who had been watching him with a serious expression, Ash rose from his seat.

“I’m going out for a bit.”

“Now?”

“You’ll have to check the mock-up for me. Sorry.”

Ash said, grabbing his coat and car keys. Mackenzie, who was about to ask if the employer and employee roles had reversed, saw his expression and nodded.

“I don’t know what it is… but I hope it works out.”

Ash smiled. A sense of urgency, unfamiliar even to him, blackened his insides.

Without time to reply, Ash left the building. Inserting the car key, Ash pressed the accelerator towards the road he remembered. The jet-black Range Rover set off towards Karlyle’s mansion.

The Hampstead Heath mansion, where he just arrived, was empty. Karlyle wasn’t there.

What greeted Ash was a ‘Sold’ sign. Ash stopped the car, staring at the words with the broker’s name and number attached.

For a moment, his mind went blank. A sensation like being struck on the head echoed through his skull.

With the car stopped, Ash gripped the steering wheel. He blinked, staring straight ahead. Slowly, a heat rose from within him. His grip on the steering wheel tightened. His long fingers stiffened, and veins popped out on the back of his hands.

He hadn’t thought it would come to this.

“Ha,” a small, low laugh escaped him. Ash ran a hand through his hair, closing and opening his eyes briefly. His head was reeling. He stared silently ahead, like someone who had witnessed an unbelievable scene.

Something that had risen to his throat began to boil. His insides were hot, as if burning. He felt angry, and perhaps flustered. But more than anything, an uncontrollable sense of loss was overwhelming.

Not contacting someone and being unable to meet them even if you do contact them were vastly different. A great sadness washed over him, like the day he realized he would never see his mother again. Even though he thought he wasn’t that deeply involved with Karlyle.

Karlyle, when it came down to it, always did things that defied Ash’s expectations. His beautifully reddening eyes, his plea for Ash to stay, his standing stock-still and watching Ash’s retreating back—all were things Ash had never anticipated from Karlyle.

He thought he was getting to know Karlyle, but in reality, he knew nothing. Ash Jones knew nothing about Karlyle Frost. His words that they were “nothing” were ironically true. He was ignorant about Karlyle.

But… he knew one thing.

Yes, he already knew that Karlyle was a very lovely person. No matter what kind of person Karlyle was, this hadn’t changed. It had already been etched into Ash’s eyes.

He wanted to know about Karlyle. He wanted to ask things he hadn’t asked, thinking they weren’t “that kind of relationship.” What he was thinking, why he looked at him that way, why he acted that way—he wanted to endure and find out until he got answers. He wanted to hear Karlyle’s heart, as long as Karlyle allowed it.

He had acted as if Karlyle was someone he liked, but his actions hadn’t followed through. Ash himself was the one who had ambiguously distorted the relationship. It was because Karlyle was someone he had never experienced before, Ash Jones’s only exception.

Quietly rubbing his lips, he tapped the steering wheel. With a thoughtful expression, Ash stared ahead for a long time, pondering. There were ways to find Karlyle. The question was whether Karlyle wanted that.

Ash generally tended to back off when someone truly disliked something. He didn’t want to be someone who forced emotions. He couldn’t be sure if Karlyle wanted to meet him now. He felt he would only know that by meeting Karlyle.

The sky, which had been faintly orange, had already darkened. Ash, who had been thinking for a long time with a smile wiped from his face, picked up his phone.

Karlyle’s image kept appearing before his eyes. He saw him standing alone among people walking cheerfully in the bright sunlight, looking at him. That neat face, somehow lonely, which had finally caught his eye and made Ash turn back, flickered in his mind.

Then, his heart ached terribly.

Ash squinted slightly, shaking off his hesitation. He rummaged in his pocket for his wallet, then, with a closed mouth, found a few business cards. Nick’s business card was among them.

The feeling of contacting someone he thought he would never contact again was strange. The phone rang only a few times before the other person answered.

“Nicholas White. …Ash?”

“Nick.”

Ash, letting out a long sigh, spoke calmly.

“I have something to ask you.”

Nick, hesitating for a moment, replied.

“I’m listening.”

“Can you let me meet Karlyle one more time?”

“Hmm.”

Nick, thinking with a slightly troubled voice, whispered softly as if speaking secretly.

“It might be difficult for him to meet if I ask. The situation is a bit… complicated. But if I talk to Kyle, it might be possible…”

“Please, Nick.”

“Since it’s my responsibility that you two met, I want to. However…”

A brief silence followed. Nick, as if having made up his mind, spoke firmly.

“Do you remember my house?”

“The mansion in Russell Square, you mean?”

“Yes. Just come here now.”

Ash lightly rubbed his forehead. He remembered getting the address. But he had deleted it at some point. When was it that he deleted Nick’s text message, which he had kept for over half a year?

“Then, could you send me the address one more time? I remember the way, but just in case.”

“Sure.”

It was probably the day Karlyle had spoken coldly to him, as if severing his relationship with Nick. That day, Ash deleted Nick’s text. He deleted everything. Leaving the business card was unintentional, but in this situation, it was a good thing.

After ending the call, he could finally breathe. His heart ached so much that he wanted to meet Karlyle immediately. The image of him standing alone, far from fading, began to flicker more vividly in his eyes.

After taking one last look at the empty house, Ash started the engine.

When he rang the doorbell, the first person to greet him was Kyle Frost. As the door opened, Ash’s eyes met Kyle’s sharp blue gaze. He saw Kyle’s beautiful white face harden abruptly. It was hard to believe that his face had been so brightly melted before opening the door.

“Why are you here?”

Kyle asked immediately, his voice filled with hostility. Nick appeared from behind.

“Kyle, when a guest comes, you should greet them first. Was your journey here uncomfortable?”

“Nick…”

With a look of bewilderment on his cool face, Kyle reluctantly glared at Ash and spoke again.

“…Hello.”

The main point followed immediately.

“So, why have you come?”

“I called him.”

Nick embraced Kyle from behind, stopping him as his momentum turned fierce. Like a rare dominant Alpha, the intangible pheromones piercing his entire body were heavy. For Ash, Kyle was not a welcome opponent.

But surprisingly, the faint traces of Karlyle visible on Kyle’s face softened his heart. He was a little dumbfounded himself.

“But, Nick… why?”

“He says he misses your brother.”

Those words seemed to touch Kyle. While glancing at Nick, Kyle glared at Ash with displeasure.

“Wasn’t it all over?”

“It’s not over yet.”

Ash said that and followed Nick into the house. Kyle, his red lips pressed tightly together, reluctantly followed them.

Whenever Kyle’s momentum seemed to turn even slightly fierce, Nick would look at him, and Kyle would appear to be suppressing himself. Thinking about it, they had that kind of relationship even when they weren’t dating. Perhaps even if he hadn’t made a move on Nick, it would have only been a matter of time before they got together.

Ash suddenly realized that he was recalling Kyle and Nick very calmly. Even facing someone he had still held feelings for just a few months ago, he felt no emotion. It was just like accidentally meeting a familiar face.

“What does that mean?”

“We have one meeting left. Since it was a mutually agreed-upon meeting, I think I have the right to see his face one more time.”

Ash said, following Nick into the living room. Kyle flatly denied it.

“I don’t understand why you’re saying that after a month has passed.”

It hit home.

Ash smiled awkwardly. This whole situation was unfamiliar to him too. At first, he genuinely thought he was fine. But he wasn’t. The sense of loss from losing Karlyle kept accumulating day by day, growing larger. He realized it today.

Since they had met through a request, he thought it was right to simply end things if the other person wanted to. It was true that he was very busy and didn’t have time to think properly, but he could have made time if he wanted to contact him. However, he hadn’t done so until now because he wasn’t sure. Was he fond enough of Karlyle to hold onto him?

“I needed time to think.”

At those words, Kyle closed his mouth. After a brief silence, Kyle spoke firmly again.

“…It’s too late.”

“I don’t think so.”

“No, because…”

Kyle irritably ran a hand through his hair. The unsettlingly fluctuating pheromones filled the air, making his stomach churn. Still, Ash silently endured it.

“Do you know how much Karlyle struggled because of you?”

Ash quietly looked at Kyle. His insides stung at the mention of Karlyle struggling. The one time he had shown his crying face came to mind.

“No.”

“My brother isn’t usually a smiling person. Even I, his family, have only seen him smile a handful of times.”

Nick nodded in agreement from behind. Ash even saw him mouth, ‘I’ve never seen it, so it’s hard to imagine.’

“And crying, even I, and Father…”

“Karlyle… cried?”

At the word “cried,” both Nick and Ash looked at Kyle. Nick’s eyes were filled with disbelief. Ash bit his lip, his eyes contorting. It felt as if his insides were filled with concrete, completely blocked. His solar plexus ached.

Kyle, who was about to speak again with a sharp expression, saw Ash’s face and closed his mouth. It had already bothered him, but hearing that Karlyle had cried, his heart felt like it was tearing apart. He felt as anxious as if he had left a child alone by the water.

The thought that Karlyle had cried somewhere he wasn’t present was unbearable. He wondered if Kyle or Karlyle’s father had wiped his tears, hugged him, and kissed his forehead and cheeks. He was a person who deserved such treatment. At least, he was to Ash.

“Since he struggled so much to end things, I don’t want to see you approach him again with half-hearted feelings.”

After a heavy silence, Kyle spoke. Kyle’s words were not wrong.

However, Ash had no intention of letting Karlyle go like this. If he did, he would live in the same state as the past few weeks for the rest of his life. No, perhaps it would get even worse. The after-effects were coming in like waves, slowly submerging him. Eventually, he might be swallowed by the water and unable to breathe.

“As Mr. Frost knows… Karlyle doesn’t talk much. At least, not that I know of.”

Ash began to speak. Kyle’s blue eyes quietly watched Ash.

“He didn’t speak, so I didn’t know. I didn’t know he would struggle so much…”