"I believe you, trust me. Now back to the matter. What are your thoughts? You have also been uncharacteristically lenient with your handling of the matter."
Mark's voice started flat, impassive but sarcastic, before turning serious and pushing aside the joking atmosphere.
Alex also restrained his smile, though he didn't let it fade away:
"Come on, you know why, Mark."
To the unbothered retort, Mark's softened:
"I just wanted to confirm."
"What? That I'm not becoming soft?"
Alex raised an eyebrow, his smile widening, before fading as he slowed down at a red light, and his gaze took on a faraway hue. His voice turned quiet, as if he was speaking not only for Mark to hear, but more for himself, for a past that had shaped him, and made him open his eyes to the truth of the world:
"Softness… That is a luxury in the Lenner family, just like trust."
Mark went quiet for a moment, seemingly feeling the destination where the trip down the memory lane had taken Alex. The silence felt heavy, not stifling or suffocating, but dark, so he broke it after a moment:
"Got it. So next time…"
"Anyone who tries the same thing again, fatten them, then let them burst, the more brutally, the better. I'm not a fish. I've carved up my own lake to become a leviathan before swallowing up the sea, not to feed any parasite of any sort."
The powerful words carried callous ambition that peeked out from behind the veil of casualness. They lingered for a moment in the car, silencing the line, before a calm, unsurprised answer came from the other side:
"I understand."
The calm depth to Mark's voice as he answered brought Alex's smile back to his face. He restarted moving with the green light as he changed the subject:
"Anyway, is my roof ready?"
"It would have been ready way earlier if you had not been so demanding about the end result."
Alex waved off the complaint with dismissive entitledness:
"So what if I am? I have every right to be demanding. Life is so short, what's wrong with a man wanting to look at the most beautiful sky at any time, whether day or night? Don't tell me you are not looking forward to it too."
"I'm just an executor."
The response was so full of political flavor that Alex almost laughed out loud.
"Yeah, right. So?"
"So, it is almost ready. The design is done. Within a week or two, you will have your roof. You will not have to deal with ugly imperfection anymore."
Alex nodded, his smile turning satisfied:
"Good. I will have it installed the same day Ga-yeong will give birth."
Mark paused, before replying, the warmth in his voice unmistakable, his tone shifting from one belonging to a subordinate to one belonging to a friend, a brother, almost:
"Alright. I will thank you in her stead, I'm sure she will appreciate that."
A similar warmth visited Alex smile, and he moved the subject along:
"By the way, how is she?"
Mark's voice settled into a comfortable tone, happiness shining within as he replied:
"She is fine, and she is not complaining. She has found ways to keep herself busy, and with your mother and mine around, she is behaving herself."
"You are happy now, but after little Bruce arrives, it will be the start of your sufferings."
Mark sent another eye roll over:
"You are just jealous. And it will be Brandon, not Bruce."
"Come on, Bruce Lee is such a meaningful name. Why are you so reluctant to adopt it?"
Alex pushed further with a smile, but Mark remained as firm as before:
"If you want someone to be called Bruce, get a son of your own, Alex. You don't need to be surnamed Lee to use the name. Leave mine and Ga-yeong's soon-to-be born child alone. We have decided to call him Brandon. Brandon Lee, nothing else."
Alex shook his head with disappointment, a sigh escaping his lips:
"Sigh, Mark, you are so stingy. I'm sure you are the only obstacle to the name. Ga-yeong would never refuse me anything. Alright, I won't insist. Tell, how is my mother? Did she experience any discomfort after you drove her back?"
The banter stopped, and the tone of the conversation shifted once again, as Mark's light voice carried the answer to the question over:
"No, don't worry. Aunt is alright. She didn't show any sign of pain or discomfort after coming back, and before leaving, Leyna didn't inform me of anything I might have missed either. My mother said nothing either. She accompanied the chairman to relax throughout the afternoon, and now she is preparing the dinner like usual."
Alex didn't show relief at those words. He opened his mouth, words eluding him for a moment, before he exhaled the emptiness called depression clawing at him:
"Sigh, poor me. My mother is living a life of leisure while I'm stuck dealing with old foxes each more gifted in acting than the other. Where do I go to find justice now?"
"Pfft! Cough! Cough!"
Mark choked as he tried to restrain himself. This time, it was Alex's turn to roll his eyes:
"Laugh if you want. You are not the one tied somewhere you don't want to be, so you have all the rights to laugh."
"Ahem, sorry."
Having grown up together, Mark knew just how petty Alex could be. He knew just how bright his smile could be while planning dark paybacks. Even with the not-so-sarcastic explicit permission, he swallowed back the rest of his amusement. And indeed, Alex casually asked in the next instant:
"Done laughing already?"
"..."
Mark thought fast, then broke the silence with what might pull him back from the edge of abyss and save him from having to always look back for the unexpected push for the ultimate fall:
"Alex, I have some news that might cheer you up."
Alex smiled with an eyebrow raised in amused curiosity:
"Alright, go on."
"Jenny is back. She came home today."
The simple revelation hovered in the silence of the space isolated from the noisy outside. Then, Alex ended the call with a single sentence:
"Make Ga-yeong the priority in the coming period. Work can survive without you."
*Beep*