Passion: Diaphonic Symphonia Novel - Chapter 18

He recalled Ilay’s face, whose expression had momentarily vanished when they’d met. A face faintly scrunched up with surprise. That look, as if someone who shouldn’t be there was, wasn’t just on Jeong Taeui’s face.

Even when he saw him from afar after that, not only Jeong Taeui but Ilay too would look his way. Their eyes definitely met, but neither showed any reaction.

“Hmm—….I don’t know. When have I ever known what that bastard was thinking anyway?”

Jeong Taeui scratched his head vigorously and mumbled.

Just then.

“What are you doing here?”

From behind Jeong Taeui, from the left entrance of the West Wing, a voice approached.

Jeong Taeui, who had been spacing out and hadn’t heard anyone approaching, flinched and sat upright.

There was still a decent distance, but not far away, within a range where they could exchange words without raising their voices, was Richard.

“…Ah.”

He should have greeted him, but Jeong Taeui could only manage a brief, startled exclamation.

He had seen Richard leaving in perfect attire early that morning—of course, before that, when Jeong Taeui had rubbed his sleepy eyes awake, he’d already seen him returning from his morning workout—and he hadn’t expected him to be here at this hour, before lunch.

It wasn’t even his usual suit. He had clearly seen him leave in a suit just a few hours ago, but now he had changed into a light shirt and cotton pants. As if he hadn’t gone out in a suit that morning.

“I thought you went out earlier… You came back early today.”

Come to think of it, even knowing that Jeong Taeui was on Christoph’s side—though Jeong Taeui himself was the only one in the house who claimed not to be on Christoph’s side—this man was the only one who consistently treated him courteously and politely.

He’s become truly human, what a wonderful person, Jeong Taeui thought, nodding to himself and smiling as he spoke to him. The next moment, his smiling face froze solid.

Because, a little distance behind Richard, from the left entrance of the West Wing, a man was just emerging.

That man Jeong Taeui had just mumbled about, thinking, ‘it doesn’t seem like we’d benefit from meeting each other,’ Ilay, tapped the floor with the toe of his shoe on the stairs, as if assessing its condition, then slowly descended.

Their eyes met as Ilay approached from behind Richard, but he showed no sign of recognition. Jeong Taeui also met his gaze without betraying any emotion. What a bastard, he muttered inwardly.

“You two seem to… go around together quite often.”

Jeong Taeui shifted his gaze to Richard and spoke. Richard immediately looked over his shoulder, raising an eyebrow as if surprised.

“Not really. He has his work, and I have mine… Sometimes our work overlaps, and we discuss things, so you must have seen us then.”

Richard said, shrugging his shoulders. Ilay, approaching leisurely behind them, must have heard their words, but he merely twitched an eyebrow and said nothing.

Jeong Taeui mumbled, “I see,” and nodded.

Indeed, they just happened to run into each other like this. In fact, this was only the second time he had seen them together.

Today, Ilay was approaching in a neatly dressed suit that would look at home in some stock market area. The cold gleam in his black eyes, hidden by those horn-rimmed glasses, felt utterly alien.

If you leave, you die.

That mouth had surely spoken those words, but now it was closed, uttering nothing.

Danger on standby, Jeong Taeui muttered inwardly, forcing his gaze back to Richard. If he kept staring at Ilay, it would feel like a staring contest.

“But I thought I saw you leave just a few hours ago… You’re already back, and you’ve even changed your clothes.”

“Ah, yes. I have to teach the children soon.”

“The children—ah. Richard, do you teach something too?”

“Rather than teaching, I just play with them. They’re intelligent and lovable children, so it’s enjoyable.”

He smiled gently as he spoke, proving he was truly a good person. What a contrast to a certain someone who, just a couple of hours ago, emanated an aura of annoyance and bother as he headed for the main building.

He checked his watch and saw that Christoph would soon be done with the children. It seemed Richard would take over in the next session.

“What do you teach?”

“Haha, it’s nothing grand enough to call teaching. We just talk about topics like interpersonal relationships, negotiation, and mediation.”

Indeed, those were subjects this man would teach. Whoever selected him, they chose well.

Jeong Taeui quietly looked at Richard, who was smiling kindly in front of him.

Again, looking at him again, they really do resemble each other incredibly. Not just their features, but their expressions too seemed perfectly molded.

“? Is there something on my face?”

Jeong Taeui must have been staring too intently. Richard widened his eyes slightly, then smiled awkwardly and stroked his face. Jeong Taeui quickly waved his hand.

“No, it’s not that. I just thought you two look so much alike, like father and son.”

“Ah, yes. Have you seen Oliver?”

Richard smiled without a hint of surprise. He was probably so used to hearing it that it no longer fazed him. Jeong Taeui thought, well, it makes sense, and recalled Richard’s son whom he had just seen.

While Christoph went to the main building to teach the children, Jeong Taeui, who was enjoying his short twice-weekly leisure time by sitting in his room with a beer and a book, had to be dragged to the main building by a sudden phone call. It was to bring Christoph the books he needed.

They were in a small, cozy room at the western end of the second floor of the main building.

As he entered the room Christoph had told him about, five pairs, no, including Christoph, six pairs of eyes, all turned towards him.

Jeong Taeui stopped in his tracks.

Perhaps because they had grown up in a good family, well-fed and happily at play, the children were all uniformly beautiful. Christoph was leaning against a table, standing among them, who were seated in a semicircle, and looking in his direction.

This looks like it belongs in a painting.

It’s a picture in itself, Jeong Taeui thought, handing the books to Christoph.

The children looked curious to death about this sudden stranger but sat quietly without a word.

It felt awkward just handing over the books and leaving, so Jeong Taeui decided to praise the children. His gaze was on them, but he spoke to Christoph.

“The children are all so pretty and handsome. They must have been raised well.”

“That’s because the family has a lot of money, so everyone chooses beautiful spouses.”

Jeong Taeui stared at Christoph with a bewildered expression as he answered without hesitation in a blunt tone.

Even if his words had some validity in their own way, he hadn’t expected him to say such things outright in front of the children.

This guy is really something else. His framework of thought for common sense is definitely unusual, Jeong Taeui turned around and grimaced at Christoph so only he could see, mouthing, “Hey!!”

“Even so, how can you say such things in front of kids?!”

When he burst out, albeit in a voice barely audible like an ant crawling, Christoph looked at Jeong Taeui with an unreadable expression for a moment. He then sighed, “Hmm,” and said in a calm voice—as if he didn’t care if the children heard or not—

“Jeong Taeui. You have a serious misunderstanding about these children. Look, how old do you think they are? They’re in their teens. At this age, children who are even receiving early education in specialized fields like this, do you really think they’re the ‘children’ you imagine?”

Christoph’s slow words, as if he was tired of even explaining, sounded valid in their own way again, but Jeong Taeui still gestured for him to shut his mouth and subtly looked back at the children.

However, seeing those cute faces, winking at each other and smiling broadly from behind, Jeong Taeui realized Christoph’s words were right.

These children, though with slight differences, were terrifyingly intelligent. They already knew how to make a good impression on others, and how to smoothly smooth things over even if the other person realized the truth.

Perhaps it was the instinctive survival skill of young children who could only live by receiving adult affection.

“Are you Christoph’s friend?”

The first child to speak in a cute voice was the girl sitting on the far right, observing Jeong Taeui most intently.

Like a sweet, buttery cookie, Jeong Taeui thought, nodding. Then Christoph looked at him with a strange expression. Jeong Taeui looked back at him strangely too. Why? he asked with his eyes, and Christoph quickly turned his head away with a blank face.

“I’ve never seen Christoph’s friend before.”

“Me neither, me neither.”

“I know a lot of people who are on bad terms with Christoph.”

“I know too! Oliver’s dad!”

“What do you mean Oliver’s dad? It’s Richard.”

Like a dam bursting, the children, who had been silently watching Jeong Taeui with sparkling eyes just moments before, suddenly erupted in chatter.

“Don’t pretend to be curious when you’re not. It won’t reduce your study time anyway. The more you play now, the more time will be added.”

But when Christoph mumbled indifferently, the children instantly fell silent.

Jeong Taeui once again rolled his eyes around the children with a bewildered feeling. Then, suddenly, his gaze stopped on the face of one of the children.

Before the thought he looks familiar fully formed, he already realized. Who that face resembled exactly.

Ah, right. Oliver, Richard’s son. Richard, Oliver’s father.

A young boy who looked exactly like Richard was sitting there quietly. His appearance, expression, aura, and even, perhaps due to Jeong Taeui’s imagination, the way he held his book, all seemed identical. He looked exactly like Richard must have looked at that age.

“Wow…”

Jeong Taeui involuntarily gasped in admiration.

Blood might be thicker than water, but for them to be so alike, he was rather taken aback, wondering where the wife’s blood had gone.

The child himself seemed to notice Jeong Taeui’s surprise and smiled calmly. His face, too, was identical to his father’s.

“His personality is completely different. That guy is annoying, but he’s a bit better.”

Christoph, another person who understood the reason for Jeong Taeui’s admiration, also spoke. Jeong Taeui found his indifferent words surprising.

Considering that Christoph was the kind of person who’d want to beat Richard senseless because he resembled him—though his words on the surface were slightly different, that was his underlying meaning—his remark, “he’s a bit better,” was incredibly mild. Considering the speaker was Christoph and the listener was Richard’s son, “a bit better” could almost be taken to mean “very kind.”

However, Jeong Taeui glared at Christoph for speaking so openly and audibly, then gently patted Oliver’s head.

“I like your father too, you know.”

No matter what that bastard says about your father, he added inwardly, and Oliver smiled meekly. His voice, when he said, “Thank you,” was also mature.

Christoph, who had been listening to their conversation from the side, frowned. His voice, when he said, “Go back,” was chilly. I’m neutral between you and Richard, you know, Jeong Taeui said, feigning a frown, but Christoph’s face remained cold.

Just then, the boy suddenly lowered his head slightly and chuckled, as if something was amusing. Seeing his boyish shyness, Jeong Taeui tilted his head.

“What’s so funny?”

“If you like my father too, then you must like Christoph ‘too’.”

The boy seemed already well aware of the symmetrical relationship between his father and Christoph.

At the boy’s gentle words, Jeong Taeui fell silent. Christoph beside him also fell silent.

Jeong Taeui glanced at Christoph.

“Of course, I like him.”

Even if he does pick on me a bit, he added inwardly, but the words came out smoothly.

Then Christoph suddenly frowned and tapped Jeong Taeui’s shoulder. His hand was quite firm.

“I don’t like you. Go back. You’re wasting all the time. You’re a nuisance.”

At his harsh words, which left no room for reply, Jeong Taeui grumbled, “What a temper he has…” and turned to leave. But receiving the gentle goodbyes of the cute children, his mood quickly brightened.

Children. Children are good.

Jeong Taeui liked children. Whether visiting a friend’s or acquaintance’s house, or stumbling upon a playground during a walk, whenever he had the chance to interact with children, he enjoyed playing with them. Seeing children laugh, cry, play, or fight made him feel warm inside.

But he had never thought he wanted his own child. Now that he consciously brought it to mind, he thought it might be nice to have one or two or three, but it wasn’t something he earnestly longed for on a regular basis. More importantly, it had now become an impossible story.

Still, seeing such adorable children gathered together made him feel affectionate and pleasantly warm.

And how incredibly cute would it be if a child resembled him so much?

“You’re lucky.”

Jeong Taeui muttered, unconsciously staring intently at every corner of Richard’s face. Richard smiled, replying with a doting father’s line, “Yes, I am. It’s great.”

“He’s a healthy and kind child. Although we’re separated now, I’m always grateful to his mother. …Speaking of which, are you not married yet?”

Jeong Taeui suddenly felt a hiccup coming on and rubbed his chest with his fist, answering, “That’s right…” He couldn’t help but glance involuntarily at Ilay behind him.

Ilay seemed to notice his gaze and raised an eyebrow. Suddenly, a faint smile-like expression appeared on his lips. Perhaps it was just his imagination, but the expression looked remarkably similar to a sneer.

Huh? A sneer? He suddenly felt a surge of indignation.

Of course, Jeong Taeui naturally had a disposition that wasn’t destined for the institution of marriage, but it was only human nature to get a bit angry when sneered at like that.

“Is that person behind you not married?”

Jeong Taeui asked abruptly and somewhat defiantly. Richard, perhaps not imagining such a question would be thrown at him, widened his eyes. He then turned to Ilay with a slightly bewildered look.

“Ah, he already has a lover.”

“…Ah, really?”

Jeong Taeui almost blurted out, “What?!” but barely managed to suppress it. He then stared intently at Ilay with disbelieving eyes. Even though Ilay wasn’t the type to be bothered by such a gaze, he frowned with a what are you looking at, you bastard? expression.

A second of questioning why he’d keep someone stuck at home when he had a lover, another second of wondering when this man, who was always home except for rare days he went to work, had gotten a lover, and then a second of life planning, wondering where he’d go and what he’d do if that lover and Ilay got married.

As Ilay looked down at Jeong Taeui, who was nodding and deep in thought, he suddenly narrowed his eyes. At that moment, three seconds of pondering passed, and a moment of sudden realization struck.

…Ah. That, perhaps.

At the same time, he saw Ilay open his mouth.

Ah, wait, don’t say it, you don’t need to say it—

“I don’t know if she’s truly a lover, but in any case, we’re already living together, so you don’t need to worry about my marriage.”

He tried to stop him in a hurry, but Jeong Taeui’s desperate glares were in vain.