MBFT 05

Chapter 05

Jaehyun added one more little white lie.

He had never really thought about whether he preferred someone older, the same age, or younger, but he wanted to reassure him.

“Yeah. These days, older women are the trend. Anyway, I’m counting on you, Jaehyun.”

Taeyoo stopped talking and took out his wallet before handing him a card.

Jaehyun quickly lowered his gaze to the card, then raised it again.

“What is this?”

“Buy yourself something delicious. Use it for your textbooks, too. You can buy anything you need.”

When Jaehyun did not take it, Taeyoo awkwardly waved the card in the air.

“Then again. There are probably a few more zeros in your bank account than mine.”

“Yes. So let’s consider the expenses I’ll have from tutoring as payment for the rent while I stay here.”

“Okay. I’m off.”

Taeyoo smiled gently and lightly patted Jaehyun’s arm.

Only after he left did a quiet silence finally settle over the living room.

Amid that silence, an inner voice cried out.

This isn’t some kids’ game of house. What the hell are you doing tutoring your friend’s little sister?

Are you even at the age to be a private tutor?

The voice was shouting that he should crush his cunning half-brother so he could never rise up, and uphold the traditional path of the legitimate son becoming the heir.

It was just as he was about to let his heart lean toward that voice.

A rustling sound came from inside the room where Geukju’s younger sister had gone.

When the image of her shy face, with her cheeks bright red, running away came to mind, he found himself naturally walking toward the room.

As he walked, he made a decision about the feelings that had confused him for a moment.

His mother’s memorial day was approaching, and the closer it got, the more sensitive he became. So, for now, it was right to get away from Taekyung Group and find a way to live independently.

He strode over with his long legs, knocked twice, and opened the door.

But perhaps because he always moved so quickly.

Thud—!

The moment he opened the door, the younger sister who had been standing right behind it was pushed backward and fell hard on her butt.

She looked exactly like someone who had been leaning against the door and listening.

Seeing her grimace in pain and rub her hip, Jaehyun asked,

“Sorry. I didn’t know you were standing so close to the door.”

Clearly, she had been trying to eavesdrop on what was happening outside, because she did not answer.

Instead, with her head lowered deeply, her ears were as red as strawberries.

“Why do you have strawberries attached to your ears?”

He muttered without thinking.

The younger sister quickly raised her head. Then she covered both ears with her hands and pushed out her lips.

She seemed to be the kind of girl who showed all her emotions openly.

Meanwhile, the younger sister tried to get up.

But perhaps her butt hurt, because she only grimaced and struggled.

Jaehyun held out his hand.

She bit her lip lightly as she stared at his hand, then carefully took it.

At the same time, Jaehyun pulled her up.

No, now that he thought about it, she had come along almost like cotton candy. It did not even feel like he had used much strength.

Are women normally this light?

Without anyone’s permission, something ticklish seemed to be forming inside his chest, as if someone were making cotton candy there.

The unfamiliar sensation made him release her hand and look down at her.

Hadn’t she said she had been kidnapped and lived on an island?

Yet her skin did not look tanned at all.

It was so white and smooth that it was almost like looking at a white seal.

Would she be moist like a seal if I touched her?

At that moment, a heavy sensation gathered in his lower abdomen.

He was extremely flustered.

“Um… Oppa.”

Just then, the younger sister called out to Jaehyun.

Something heavy landed in Jaehyun’s chest with a thud.

Op…pa?

It was an extremely common word he had often heard in college or at social gatherings, so why did his heart suddenly sink?

He became tense like someone caught stealing, then composed his expression and answered shortly.

“Yeah.”

“……Are you really going to be my… tutoring teacher, Oppa?”

“Probably?”

“All the way from the middle school and high school equivalency exams?”

“Yeah. Why?”

Is it because she doesn’t want to study?

“When… are we going to start?”

“Today—”

That was when it happened.

Somewhere, a timid stomach alarm rang.

It was so quiet that for a moment, it was impossible to tell whose stomach it had come from.

The younger sister panicked and grabbed her stomach.

“You haven’t eaten, I guess. How about we have brunch and take some time to get to know each other?”

It was the perfect timing for him to turn around.

He gestured for her to come outside and turned around.

Today was not meant to be a serious lesson. He had only come to roughly determine whether he could stay in this house and whether her level was suitable for him to teach her.

So it seemed better to gather information about her while eating.

“Then it’s not really tutoring… We’re just playing, right? What should I tell my brothers if they ask?”

She asked with her cheeks turning red, as if she had done something improper.

Jaehyun answered calmly.

“It’s not playing. It’s an OT. An orientation. So put some clothes on and come out, pretty—”

He trailed off.

Wait.

What was this kid’s name?

Since he did not know her name, hadn’t he unconsciously just repeated the way Giju had referred to her earlier?

Why the hell didn’t Yoon Geukju even tell me his sister’s name?

He let out a short sigh and lowered his gaze again.

That was when he saw his younger sister covering her mouth with her fist, trying to hold back her laughter.

She soon raised her head and looked at him with lake-like eyes.

Her sparkling eyes looked incredibly moist.

“I… haven’t heard someone call me pretty in twelve years. Somehow… it makes me feel like I’m a real person. It feels really nice.”

Then she muttered in a serious voice,

“Thank you. Jaehyun… Oppa.”

A warm breeze brushed past the back of his neck.

How many times was he going to experience this unfamiliar feeling after coming here?

“Second Oppa—no. You’re Geukju Oppa’s friend, right? Do you know my name?”

While he was momentarily speechless because of the unfamiliar sensation, the younger sister spoke in a brighter voice.

“I’m Yoon Haesom.”

“Yoon Haesom.”

He rolled the three syllables of her name over the tip of his tongue.

“That’s a cute name.”

Haesom laughed out loud and thanked him.

She was unmistakably twenty-two, both in appearance and the way she spoke, but she seemed incredibly innocent.

Is it because she stayed untainted while being trapped on the island?

“Kiddo.”

He called her, suppressing the questions that kept appearing inside him, unlike his usual self.

“Y-Yes? No, I told you my name a moment ago…”

“Whether I call you that is up to me.”

Haesom’s face turned red as she lowered her gaze.

“So, when are you coming out after getting dressed?”

Haesom lowered her head and looked at what she was wearing.

She was dressed in an oversized brown T-shirt that seemed to belong to one of her brothers, along with wide-legged pants so long that she had folded the hems several times.

Her head was small, while her body looked bigger because of the clothes.

She looks just like a kiwi bird.

Jaehyun looked down at her round, thickly covered crown and let out a small laugh.

Haesom did not hear the sound and quickly said she would change her clothes before closing the door.

There was some clattering from inside, and soon the door opened again.

When she came out timidly wearing a bright yellow two-piece outfit, Jaehyun’s brows furrowed slightly.

“Is… is it strange? My brothers bought me a whole bunch of clothes yesterday, so I picked this one.”

It’s freaking ugly.

He wanted to say that, but held it back.

It did look expensive, but it also looked like something from the 1970s.

If this is the fashion sense of the person who bought these clothes, they’re probably all like this.

Taeyoo and Geukju mostly wore suits, so he could understand them.

But Giju was an idol, wasn’t he?

“Hmm. You’ll be okay by yourself for a moment, right? Just one or two minutes.”

Haesom blinked her round eyes several times before slowly nodding.

Jaehyun quickly left the house.

It was not that he was embarrassed to be seen walking around with her. He simply did not want Haesom, who had not even adapted to life in Seoul yet, to feel the unpleasant gazes of others.

After crossing the yard and stepping outside the gate, he went to his parked car.

He picked up a thin summer windbreaker from the back seat and was about to return to the gate when he suddenly stopped.

Then he took two steps backward.

He abruptly turned his head.

Something hurriedly disappeared around the corner of the alley.

“If you don’t want rumors going around that you got fired for stalking, come out.”

At that, a woman and a man who looked to be around Taeyoo’s age timidly appeared again.

They were his secretary’s office employees, Secretary Kim and Chief Hyun.

Jaehyun gestured with his head for them to come over.

They hurriedly ran up and stood in front of him.

“Director…!”

“Director.”

“Why are our secretaries stalking their boss like this?”

As if they had rehearsed it together, the two clasped their hands in front of them at the same time and lowered their heads deeply.