To My Brother’s Friend - Chapter 26

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 26
Kwon Yeol gently tucked a strand of Hee-jo’s disheveled hair behind her ear.
“I’ve been the only one committed to practice all this time. You’ve been careless.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Practice.”
….
“Because I need to look like I’m completely captivated by you.”
As he spoke, the warmth of Kwon Yeol’s heated hand bloomed vividly within me.
“We need to look like a couple so desperate for each other that we can’t even make eye contact without losing control.”
After buttoning up my clothes, Kwon Yeol lifted me into his arms. I instinctively wrapped my arms around his neck in surprise.
“Yes, just like that.”
Kwon Yeol laid me carefully on the bed and sat beside me, gently caressing my pale, soft cheek.
“Make it look like you only see me. Like you’re genuinely falling for me, no matter who’s watching.”
Kwon Yeol would never know.
That his proposal was actually everything I’d been longing for.
“When we’re alone… we’ll need to keep practicing.”
I grasped Kwon Yeol’s wrist as it cradled my cheek.
“Flawlessly, so no one suspects.”
Between our locked gazes, a dense heat shimmered.
Then a droplet fell from Kwon Yeol’s wet hair onto my cheek with a soft tap.
“…I should dry my hair. You’ll catch a cold again.”
Kwon Yeol slowly withdrew his gaze and headed toward the Powder Room.
I pulled the blanket up to my chest and took a deep breath.
Just moments ago, I thought he was demanding my body without any regard for my condition, and I felt so wronged and bitter.
Now my heart felt lighter.
As if the stubborn indigestion that had plagued me disappeared completely after the medicine he fed me by mouth.
The cowardly yet sweet pretext of “practice” gave me permission to crave him freely.
So when Kwon Yeol returned to the bed after drying his hair completely,
I felt a surge of impulse rising within me.
I wanted to be held by him so badly.
Enough to forget even the pain in my body—or rather, I wanted to use the pain as an excuse to cling to him desperately.
Because in his arms, I could think of nothing else.
…?
But Kwon Yeol simply turned off the lamp and pulled me into his embrace.
That was all.
I looked up at Kwon Yeol with a puzzled expression, his eyes already closed.
“Oppa?”
“What.”
What, he asks. That’s what I should be asking.
“Didn’t you say you weren’t going to sleep?”
“That’s what I’m trying to do.”
Kwon Yeol slowly lifted his eyelids and met Hee-jo’s gaze.
“Why? Do you want to do something else?”
As Hee-jo stared into Kwon Yeol’s dark eyes, her cheeks flushed crimson in an instant.
‘That’s not what I meant… he really did just mean sleep…’
Embarrassment made my heart pound wildly.
When I heard a soft chuckle from above my head, I squeezed my eyes shut and lowered my face.
“It seems Yoon Hee-jo had something else in mind.”
“…No, I didn’t.”
“Sure you didn’t. You looked absolutely disappointed just now.”
As Kwon Yeol tried to gently grasp her chin and lift it, Hee-jo buried her face deeper into his solid chest.
“Come on, let me see your face.”
“…You said you were going to sleep.”
“You said you wanted to do something else.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“That’s what it sounded like.”
“You just misheard me.”
Kwon Yeol chuckled softly and tried to pull her shoulders away from him.
He wanted to see her face, but Hee-jo clung tightly to his firm waist and wouldn’t budge.
“You’re not going to show me?”
She shook her head vigorously.
The small head pressed against his chest moved left and right.
At the sight, Kwon Yeol’s eyes softened.
She was exactly like the thirteen-year-old Yoon Hee-jo who would shake her head whenever he asked if he was better-looking than Hee-jae.
Cute, really.
Kwon Yeol’s lips curved upward as he stopped teasing Hee-jo and drew her slender body deep into his embrace.
The way she stiffened at his touch despite clinging to him first was both exasperating and… still adorable.
I didn’t want to let her go.
Kwon Yeol slowly stroked Hee-jo’s back with an awkward touch.
Since turning twenty, I’m holding this girl in my arms again, soothing her.
And on top of that, I’m putting her to sleep.
Yoon Hee-jo—neither thirteen nor twenty.
“You’re going to the Hospital tomorrow.”
“I’m fine.”
“Say that one more time, and I’ll give you exactly what you wanted.”
“…”
I felt Hee-jo, her face buried in my chest, quickly seal her lips.
The tremor of her lips against my chest tickled, and against my intention, it kept stirring me.
“I think I’ll really be fine after I sleep and wake up.”
“Otherwise, we’re going right now.”
“…Yes. What time are you planning to go out?”
“I’m going by what you’re doing.”
What is that supposed to mean? I grumbled petulantly in his arms.
Every time her lips moved, Kwon Yeol quietly held his breath.
Afraid that the small, delicate creature whimpering in his embrace might shatter, Kwon Yeol couldn’t bring himself to hold her with any real strength.
“Doesn’t your arm hurt? Your head must be heavy.”
He let out a soft scoff.
Yoon Hee-jo nestled in his arms was far lighter than she appeared.
With a frame so thin her bones were nearly visible, his arm didn’t ache at all—if anything, he kept fearing she might vanish from his embrace entirely.
Like when she’d stared blankly out the window at some ridiculous blind date.
I didn’t want to see her like that anymore.
Whenever I recalled those moments, an inexplicable anxiety would surface.
A desperate need to confirm whether Yoon Hee-jo was still there or not.
He gently stroked her hair and spoke.
“Even two—no, three of you hanging off me wouldn’t be a problem.”
“…Pfft.”
So Kwon Yeol is full of bluster too.
It was a small sound, but clearly meant for him to hear.
“…My brother is better-looking and stronger anyway, so what.”
Just like the cheeky little girl she’d been at thirteen.
When drunk or ill, Yoon Hee-jo seemed to shed her mask of maturity and reveal her true self.
Sometimes I thought it wouldn’t be so bad if we drank together alone—just enough to feel pleasantly tipsy.
Then I could see this honest side of her again.
This cute, impudent, lovable…
“…”
Suddenly, Kwon Yeol’s brow furrowed.
When he’d given her the medicine earlier, the bitter taste had lingered on his tongue from dissolving in his mouth.
The fact that such an absurd thought was occurring to him…
…was probably just because it had been so long since seeing the girl’s bare face.
A fleeting warmth at the reunion, that’s all it was.
“Go to sleep. You said you were tired.”
Having rationalized it away, Kwon Yeol pulled her deeper into his embrace and rested his chin on her small head.
“Yes…You get some rest too. If you’re leaving early tomorrow morning… even sleeping now…”
Her voice grew increasingly drowsy, soon dissolving into murmurs.
In his arms, I felt both tense and, paradoxically, reassured.
Intoxicated by Kwon Yeol’s distinctive scent—one that both stirred me and offered profound solace—I drifted into deep sleep without realizing it.
“…”
Soon, soft, gentle breathing could be heard.
Kwon Yeol gazed down at the sleeping Hee-jo’s face and let out an incredulous chuckle.
“You’re unpredictable, Yoon Hee-jo.”
Watching her was fascinating yet precarious—I couldn’t tear my eyes away.
Perhaps that’s why Yoon Hee-jae had been so overprotective.
Brilliance naturally shines more vividly in darkness, after all.
And then all those dark, damp things captivated by that light would inevitably crawl toward it, desperate to swallow it whole.
Kwon Yeol gently brushed back Hee-jo’s hair that had fallen across her forehead.
In doing so, he must have touched something tender, as Hee-jo’s delicate brows furrowed slightly.
“Mm….”
“Shh. Keep sleeping, it’s fine.”
As I whispered softly and patted her back, Hee-jo, who had been murmuring something quietly, placed her hand on my chest and drifted back into deep sleep.
‘Her sleeping face is exactly the same as when she was little.’
Whenever I visited back then, if little Hee-jo stirred in her afternoon nap at the sound of my footsteps, I would pretend to be helpless and stroke her hair or pull the blanket up over her—just as Yoon Hee-jae used to do.
Then the little one, mistaking me for her brother, would smile brightly and fall back asleep.
Looking down at that innocent face was quite entertaining.
Just like now.
Tap.
“Someone’s hurting.”
When I lightly touched the bridge of her nose, Hee-jo’s expression crinkled slightly, and she tried to turn away from me.
…Where do you think you’re going.
I stopped tormenting the sleeping Hee-jo and decided to get some rest myself.
When I pulled her close in a somewhat firm embrace, Hee-jo, who seemed to resist for a moment, soon found a comfortable position and drifted back to sleep with soft, steady breaths.
Only after confirming that Hee-jo no longer tried to escape my arms did I gradually relax my grip.
This is my first time sleeping beside someone.
I thought it would be annoying and bothersome, but I realized that was a miscalculation on the first night I spent with Hee-jo.
Rather, holding something warm that fit so perfectly in my arms felt quite pleasant.
Enough that I wanted to stay like this forever.
‘I need to be more careful.’
Yoon Hee-jo couldn’t secretly fall ill again, nor could she go to the hospital with anyone else.
Because I’m the one who signed the contract.
I’m the only one responsible for this girl until the divorce.
And I can only watch over her like this… for just one more year.
Then a sharp sensation pricked somewhere in my chest.
It’s probably nothing.
…It should be nothing.
What is this feeling, anyway.
Ignoring it, I closed my eyes and tried to sleep.
Holding Hee-jo firmly in my arms until morning came.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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