Be My Baby - Vol.1 Chapter 2 Part 5
His legs felt heavy.
As if enormous stones were tied to them, Seonwoo dragged his heavy legs out of the restaurant and sighed with his head bowed low.
Throughout the meal, he had tried to muster up the courage to pull out the consent form several times, but the words ‘fraud’, ‘court’, and ‘lawsuit’ kept spinning in his head, making it impossible to bring it out.
Thinking that his brother and Seyoon would surely try to eat him alive if he went on like this, he tried to speak up somehow, but Eungyo hyung’s attitude was too resolute.
“Haah…”
As a very small sigh escaped, he quickly clamped his mouth shut in case the other man heard it. A moment later, a car approached and stopped in front of them.
At the appearance of the car that had been waiting, Seonwoo thought about asking if he could just sleep at this restaurant tonight, but Eungyo hyung opened the back seat door first.
“Get in.”
“…Yes.”
Although he desperately didn’t want to leave this place, he couldn’t insist on not going, so he obediently got into the car. Eungyo hyung also got in the seat right next to him.
As he got in and closed the door, the car started moving, and the secretary driving in front spoke.
“Where shall we go?”
At those words, Seonwoo snapped to attention and spoke first.
“Ah… You can drop me off anywhere. I can take a taxi.”
Wanting to delay going home somehow, he answered like that. A moment later, a short message tone sounded.
At that sound, he took out his phone to find a message from his brother had arrived.
“Did you get the signature?”
At the message that arrived with uncanny timing as if reading his mind from afar, he gritted his teeth.
He thought that if he went back like this, his brother might lock him in a room and beat him.
As he was considering whether he could just return to the research institute dormitory and hold out for a few days, Eungyo hyung sitting next to him asked.
“Are you going back to your brother’s house?”
“Yes, probably…”
Answering softly like that, Seonwoo lowered his gaze.
He couldn’t go to his brother’s house today.
He needed to run away somewhere, but if he went to another friend’s house, he would be 100% apprehended on the spot, and the dormitory was out of the question too.
Since the only places he could go were the dormitory, his brother’s house, and friends’ houses, his range of movement was too narrow.
As he was wondering where he should go, Eungyo hyung sitting right next to him spoke gently.
“Come to think of it, didn’t you say you had something to talk about? It seems you didn’t properly say what it was?”
Only then remembering that was the excuse for meeting, Seonwoo changed the subject.
“Ah, it’s nothing… Don’t worry about it.”
“I’m worried about it.”
“Thinking about it now, it wasn’t really important.”
“Even if it’s not important, I’m curious, so let’s go to my apartment and talk slowly. Over a glass of wine.”
At the mention of that apartment and alcohol, memories from a month ago flashed through his mind instantly, draining the blood from his face.
Unless he was an idiot, he couldn’t repeat the same mistake again, so he shook his head frantically.
“Ah, no. No… Not that… Um… Actually, it was about my brother. I wanted to consult you about my brother’s problem. I said it was an experiment because… I thought you wouldn’t come out if it was a personal matter…”
He made up excuses as they came to mind, but it seemed to work as Eungyo hyung nodded in understanding.
“Well, that’s a relief then. Is there anything else?”
“Pardon?”
“Any other matters you want to consult about.”
“No. There’s nothing.”
“…I see.”
With those words, he heard the sound of teeth grinding, so he glanced to the side, but Eungyo was looking ahead with an nonchalant face.
Thinking he must have heard wrong, Seonwoo was watching his reaction when Eungyo, who had been leaning back on the seat silently, spoke again after a while.
“Seonjung must be having a hard time too.”
“…Pardon?”
“A child all of a sudden. Well, your family would welcome a natural birth, but… Is he going all the way to marriage?”
“Ah… I don’t know about that.”
“Though it’s shocking… if he’s not adamantly single, it could be alright. Seonjung is 32 now, right?”
“Yes, he’s 32…”
“What about the other party?”
“Huh?”
“The woman. Have you met her?”
“Ah… No, not yet.”
While inwardly apologizing to his brother who had suddenly become an unwed father due to an accident, Eungyo smoothly continued the conversation.
“I don’t know much about these issues, but tell him to hear the other party’s opinion first. They might want to just entrust the child without getting married, or only want child support.”
“…Are there cases like that?”
“Women often find marriage more burdensome. Plus, if it was a one-night stand, they might think of raising the child alone, or even consider leaving the child with us. So tell him to listen to their opinion first, rather than other people’s opinions. If he needs a lawyer, I can introduce one.”
“No, he won’t need a lawyer… Probably…”
“If they can communicate, it’s better to reach a clean agreement between themselves, but still, it’s good to draw up a settlement agreement in the presence of a lawyer just in case. It would be troublesome if they disappear without a word and suddenly show up with the child 10 years later, but it would also be awkward if they just give birth to the child and disappear, only to reappear 10 years later claiming custody rights.”
“Ah, that’s… right. It would be troublesome if they suddenly disappeared and reappeared…”
As he muttered Eungyo hyung’s words verbatim, a brilliant idea suddenly struck him like lightning.
Yes, that’s it.
That would solve all the problems.
Inwardly shouting “Eureka!”, he quickly cried out.
“Excuse me! Please let me off here.”
“Why?”
“This is fine. This is near my brother’s house.”
“I’ll take you all the way.”
“No, please let me off here.”
Just as he said that, intending to bolt from here, another message arrived.
“You’re not answering? Where are you? Did you get the signature or not?”
“Please stop here!”
Seeing the message made him feel urgent, so he pointed to a quiet part of the street and shouted. A moment later, the car stopped.
As the door unlocked with a click, he quickly opened the car door and stepped out onto the street.
“Thank you. Well then, have a good night.”
“Wait a…”
“Goodbye.”
Seonwoo bowed deeply in farewell, then closed the car door and quickly crossed the street towards the taxi stand.
Yes, that would work.
Then there would be no problem at all.
Praising himself for his brilliant quick thinking, Seonwoo quickly hailed a taxi and told the driver:
“Please take me toDaegwallyeong[1].”
