Chapter 32
Nicholas POV
I called Kang Dae early the next morning, before breakfast.
No one knew.
Not my father.
Not Eric.
And definitely not Laurel.
I stood by the upstairs window, watching the garden below while the house still slept. Morning light stretched across the grass in pale strips, quiet and cold. The fountain in the center of the yard made the only sound.
When he answered, I didn't waste time.
"Laurel is here."
Silence.
Then
"At your house?"
"Yes."
Another pause followed, longer this time.
"I'll come later."
The line went dead.
I stared at my phone for a moment before lowering it.
Why did I call him?
Because he would have found out anyway.
Because SEO Hee couldn't keep a secret if her life depended on it.
Because I was curious.
Because I wanted to see what happened when certain people were placed in the same room again.
Even to myself, that answer felt incomplete.
By noon, Eric had become impossible.
He had toured the garden twice, explored the game room, challenged one of the guards to table tennis, lost badly, and complained four separate times in less than an hour.
"This house is too beautiful to be this boring," he announced dramatically, collapsing across the sofa.
Laurel sat nearby with documents spread across the table, reading without interest.
"Then suffer quietly," she said.
"That is wickedness."
I laughed.
"I'll take him out."
Eric sat upright instantly.
"Really?"
Laurel finally looked up at me.
"Return him exactly how you found him."
"I'm not a package," Eric muttered.
"You're noisier than one," she replied.
He grinned and stood.
"Let's leave before she changes her mind."
The city roads were alive by the time we left.
Traffic lights blinked over long lines of cars. Sidewalks were crowded with students, office workers, couples, delivery bikes, and people who looked like they had somewhere important to be.
Eric had his face turned toward the window like a child seeing a festival.
"So," he said suddenly.
I already disliked that tone.
"So what?"
"You and Laurel."
My hands tightened on the steering wheel.
"What about me and Laurel?"
He smiled to himself.
"If one of us gets into trouble right now, who do you think she saves first?"
"You."
"That fast?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because you're her brother."
He leaned back proudly.
"I knew it."
"And because you are more likely to create the problem."
"That is slander."
"That is evidence."
He laughed loudly enough for people on the sidewalk to probably hear.
We passed one of the university districts.
Students crowded the streets in loose groups, backpacks hanging low, coffee in hand, laughing like life had not yet started charging rent.
Eric watched them quietly.
"You'll like school here," I said.
"The environment seems nice."
He turned to me.
"I haven't even entered the school yet."
"I can tell."
"How?"
"You look like someone who would fit in."
He stared for a second, then smiled faintly.
Then I said, without thinking
"Soon you'll make friends. Maybe even get a girlfriend."
His expression changed.
It happened quickly, but I saw it.
Something in him closed.
"Yes," he said after a moment. "I can't wait either."
And strangely, my own mood shifted too.
A sharp irritation moved through my chest for no clear reason.
So I changed the topic.
"What do you want for your eighteenth birthday next month?"
He looked back out the window.
"I already have everything I want."
"That answer means nothing."
"It means probably nothing."
Too calm.
Too polite.
I frowned.
Why did that annoy me?
I parked near a busy street lined with food stalls.
Steam rose into the air. Vendors shouted prices. Oil crackled. The scent of sugar and spice drifted through the crowd.
I bought him hotteok fresh off the pan, crisp outside and filled with melted brown sugar and nuts.
I also bought a bag of honey butter chips from a convenience stall nearby.
He accepted both with a smile.
"Thank you."
"You're welcome."
He bit into the hotteok and paused.
His eyes widened.
"This is good."
"Obviously."
Then he opened the chips and ate one.
He nodded slowly.
"Also good."
"You sound surprised."
"I am."
I laughed.
For a moment, everything felt normal again.
The drive back was quieter.
He answered when I spoke, but something had shifted.
I replayed our conversation in my head.
Was it the girlfriend comment?
The birthday question?
Did I say something wrong?
By the time we returned, I was irritated mostly because I didn't know why.
Miss Shin met us at the entrance before we were fully inside.
"You're back!"
Eric handed her the unopened chips and the rest of the hotteok wrapped neatly in paper.
"For you."
She gasped dramatically.
"What a kind young man!"
I stared at him.
"You didn't want them?"
"I thought she would enjoy them."
That annoyed me more than it should have.
Laurel sat in the main living room with her tablet.
She looked up once.
Then at Eric.
Then at me.
Immediately, I knew she noticed something.
"What happened?" she asked Eric.
"Nothing."
She narrowed her eyes.
"What happened?"
He dropped onto the sofa.
"He talks too much."
I looked offended.
"That is false."
She ignored me.
"Did he annoy you?"
"Yes."
"Good," she said, returning to her tablet.
Traitor.
The front doors opened.
No one needed to announce him.
Kang Dae walked in with the kind of calm confidence that made space move around him.
SEO Hee followed behind, already talking.
"I told you they were here!"
"I can see that," he replied.
His eyes found Laurel immediately.
Of course they did.
She looked up once.
Nothing in her expression changed.
"Kang Dae."
"Laurel."
Even their greetings sounded expensive.
I leaned back.
This was why I had called him.
To watch.
To understand something.
Later, I passed the west hallway and saw them outside in the stone garden.
Alone.
I stopped before they noticed me.
Kang Dae stood facing her, hands in his coat pockets.
"You came back without telling me."
"I came back without telling many people."
"I am not many people."
"You are exactly people."
I almost laughed In the place I was hiding.
He didn't.
SEO Hee's voice echoed faintly from inside the house.
Kang Dae glanced toward it.
"This is about SEO Hee."
Laurel folded her arms.
"Then talk to SEO Hee."
"You know what I mean."
She said nothing.
His jaw tightened.
" i am dating SEO hee. He said.
" Congratulations".
Dating I said from where I was standing.
That made him pause.
Something old and unfinished passed between them.
Invisible.
Heavy.
" Did Lee Joo knows"? I asked facing them.
"Why are you facing me" laurel asked
" Am just looking for the right time to tell him".
"SEO hee is not a kid and besides she can choose who to love i guess" laurel said.
Then she added "just make sure whatever happens doesn't affect me and take good care of her".
" What are your plans" I asked.
" I love her, so much that nothing else matters more than she not been mine."
Then there was a awkward silence between us, only for Kang dae to break it by saying " it been a while since we are all together, I miss you guys".
And somehow he looks different like a man who is trying everything to be the best for his lover.
Dinner was strange.
Which meant everyone acted normal.
SEO Hee laughed too loudly.
Eric barely looked at me.
Kang Dae spoke only when necessary.
My father observed everything and said little.
And Laurel?
Laurel ate in complete peace, like difficult conversations were a hobby she had already mastered.
I watched all of them.
Especially her.
And one thought kept repeating itself.
Why does everyone orbit Laurel?
And why does it bother me that I do too?