Passion Raga Novel (Completed) - Chapter 19

Yuri nodded wryly, recalling Kyle’s gleeful smile. And James, who must have been fuming watching that, tore at his hair and groaned.

“If he buys some unintelligible Islamic scripture, I’ll burn it immediately.”

“Wouldn’t you get fired then?”

It was then. Suddenly, James stopped tearing at his hair and looked at Yuri, his eyes gleaming with a sudden flash of brilliance. Yuri instinctively recoiled slightly from the radiating light in his eyes.

“Yes, that’s it.”

Snap, James clicked his fingers and nodded.

“That way, I can finally get fired!”

“…….”

It had been a joke, but it seemed it wouldn’t end as one. Yuri could only wish James or Kyle good luck in the future.

“What about you, though? Will you be alright?”

“Huh?”

“I thought it was just a role to appease a difficult rich young master, but he’s not easy, is he?”

“Ah,” Yuri murmured, rubbing his temple.

“Of course, a personality that points a gun at Rick wouldn’t just be ‘a little difficult.’ …Still, he’s not that bad.”

He was a little unsure about the last part. He had always thought of himself as reasonably honest and objective, but it seemed that when one’s feelings leaned too heavily towards someone, that wasn’t the case anymore.

Fortunately, James’s focus wasn’t on that point; he clicked his tongue and shook his head.

“The crazy second one is the problem. Why are the people around him so bad?”

“But Mr. Jeong Taeui seemed like a good person.”

“No, it’s not a matter of character. If it were just character, Kyle isn’t a bad person either. The problem is whether or not they cause trouble.”

James was firm, and Yuri was speechless in the face of his firmness. Moreover, on second thought, it didn’t seem entirely wrong.

“Look at Mr. Jeong Taeui, too. He’s at the center of the Seringe situation right now. Do you know how many calls that crazy second one makes to me?”

“Ah, indeed. Now I understand why you’ve been so unusually gaunt lately,” Yuri nodded expressionlessly. At the same time, he guessed why James had called him out. It was probably because of the situation in Seringe. Although they had talked briefly in the room earlier, James seemed to have considered that Yuri might have held back something due to Ling Xinlu’s presence.

“There’s not much change,” Yuri thought, slowly rubbing his chin.

“There’s not much change in Mr. Jung Jaeui’s situation. Mr. Jeong Taeui is similar… I don’t think it’s the absolute worst-case scenario. If something had happened where people could see it, whether he was killed and buried or whatever, word would have already come. So, if the worst-case scenario did happen, it means it happened somewhere out of sight…”

In Seringe, the only such place was Al Saud’s villa. And James seemed to understand the implication immediately.

Yuri fell silent for a moment, then turned his gaze from the outdoor pool to James and muttered casually,

“I think Mr. Jeong Taeui might have already reunited with his brother. But that’s just a guess.”

“I just hope they didn’t reunite in the afterlife.”

“No way, if that happened, Rick wouldn’t be able to handle it,” Yuri said, shuddering at the chilling thought.

“There will be news soon. One way or another.”

“…If you say so, then it must be true.”

James relaxed his expression slightly with a sigh. Yuri’s intuition was usually accurate when it came to work. At least, if he spoke it aloud, it could be considered almost certain.

“Indeed, Jung Jaeui is more famous for his luck than his genius, so surely nothing bad would happen to him. Anyway, your work is slowly coming to an end, but it’s ironic that you’re stuck here like this.”

James, who always moved on a minute-by-minute schedule, checked his watch and, perhaps thinking he still had a little time, offered words of comfort. Yuri, who had been glancing longingly at the pool, shook his head nonchalantly.

“It’s fine. It’s not that bad. Except for not being able to swim whenever I feel like it.”

“Haha, that’s the most important thing to you, isn’t it? The atmosphere seemed quite chilly earlier. Is that young master not even giving you enough time for a quick swim?”

“No, it’s not that. He’s a bit rough right now because of the situation, but he’s actually a good person.”

After saying it, Yuri wondered if it was a somewhat contradictory statement from a general perspective, but he thought, what does it matter? In Yuri’s mind, Ling Xinlu was indeed a person with enough lovable qualities, even if a little difficult, and for Yuri himself, it wasn’t a lie.

“A good person, huh…”

James, murmuring after Yuri’s words, didn’t seem to believe them outright. But his expression suggested, what does it matter to me? Moreover, Yuri, who generally liked people but rarely showed affection for specific individuals, saying such a thing seemed to intrigue him. He smiled faintly and asked, “In what way?”

Yuri was in a predicament. When asked in what way he was a good person, he was momentarily flustered, unable to think of anything to say.

In truth, since their encounter, Ling Xinlu had hardly ever shown Yuri the qualities of a ‘good person.’ He had shown a lovely smiling face, but beneath that veneer, his true nature was always clearly visible.

…Then why was his heart leaning towards him?

Because he was beautiful.

That couldn’t be the only reason.

Perhaps the initial reason his gaze was captivated was because of that. But if it were merely superficial, he should have been drawn to Ling Xinlu’s mother, who resembled him even more closely and was softer and more innocent.

Then why?

“…He seems perfect, but he’s not perfect.”

Yuri blurted out. After speaking, he himself thought, Ah, is that it? Was it? What was in his unconscious that he hadn’t brought to his conscious mind.

Once he started speaking, the words flowed slowly but continuously.

“He’s so beautiful that I want to watch him from the side, but more than that, he has an unstable and precarious side, so I want to protect him… And he knows that himself. He’ll stop at nothing to get what he wants, even resorting to cruel acts, yet he has strong pride and a fastidious nature.”

He felt somehow sorry for him and couldn’t take his eyes off him. …No. It wasn’t that he couldn’t take his eyes off him. It was that he didn’t want to.

“Hmm… Is that a good person…?”

James frowned, as if the context didn’t fit, and smiled.

Yuri fell into thought again. As James said, what Yuri had listed was far from the requirements of a good person. Then what he had said was…

“…Yes, he is a good person, to me. A good person to be next to and to look at.”

Yuri nodded and said quietly.

I see. That’s how it was.

Yuri felt a strange sensation, as if he had always thought that, but it was the first time he was consciously thinking about it.

Yuri’s expression must have been very serious, for James laughed aloud and lightly waved his hand.

“What, that sounds just like you’re saying you like him.”

“Yes. He’s beautiful. Pure. Lovable. Fastidious.”

Yuri’s reply was as blunt as ever, but sincere. James stopped smiling for a moment and quietly looked at Yuri, then gave a wry smile, thinking, Oh, it seems he really quite likes that young master.

“Yes, truly,” Yuri nodded.

Yes, that’s right. He’s lovable. Even his spiteful and wicked side.

His heart thumped. Slowly but with a clear presence, his heart went thump, thump. It felt somehow shy and pleasant, so Yuri quietly placed a hand on his chest.

I see, yes, he thought, a faint smile gracing his lips for no reason.

So absorbed in feeling the pleasant thumping of his heart, it was a few seconds later that he realized James, whose smile had vanished, was looking over Yuri’s shoulder and standing up.

“It seems you’ve already finished your conversation. Did you come down to see your cousin off, or to have some tea?”

“Coffee isn’t bad, but the macarons here are excellent,” James said. Only then did Yuri turn around.

He didn’t know since when, but Ling Xinlu was standing there. Standing beside the man who had come as his relative, he looked at Yuri with a strange hard to read expression.

Their eyes met.

“……….”

“……….”

Until then, his heart, which had been thumping thump, thump in a pleasant rhythm, suddenly beat a little harder. It was because the lovable face he had been thinking of had appeared before him in reality.

Yuri smiled happily. Even though it had only been tens of minutes since they last met, he felt a longing and joy as if he were seeing someone he had seen in a dream again in reality.

However, unfortunately, the smile was not returned with a smile. Ling Xinlu, who had been silently looking at Yuri, frowned slightly for a very brief moment. At that instant, the smile vanished from Yuri’s face too.

Oh… for a moment there, he seemed to be upset.

Yuri, whose face had quickly returned to its usual expressionless state, fell into thought. If he hadn’t misread it, then why?

Perhaps Ling Xinlu had overheard Yuri and James’s conversation. The café was open-plan, and their voices weren’t particularly loud, but they hadn’t intentionally lowered their voices either. Moreover, they had been talking continuously until he came this close, so he might have heard them for quite a while.

But thinking back, he hadn’t said anything unpleasant or critical. If anything, it was a somewhat embarrassing conversation. …Come to think of it, he might have said things like ‘wicked’ or ‘not perfect.’

While Yuri was lost in thought, Ling Xinlu, however, had regained his usual bright and gentle smile, just as he did when dealing with other people.

“My cousin said he was leaving, so I came down to see him off. I thought you would have already left, but you’re still here. It seems you had a lot to talk about with Mr. Gable.”

“Ah, I was just about to leave myself.”

James briefly greeted the relative standing next to Ling Xinlu, and the relative, after being briefly introduced to James and Yuri by Ling Xinlu, looked at Yuri with the benevolent expression of an older brother.