When Asami gave the silent young man a sideways glance, she saw the conflicted look trapped inside his impatient slate black eyes as if he was suffering from a dilemma. Her lips thinned, trying to figure out what this young one is thinking about, "Possibly?"
My, my, what a response, by chance what could be troubling him at this hour? Don't they click well enough?
Asami leans to the table as she calmly places her hand on her waist as her other is placed flatly on the table's surface, supporting her weight as she faces him. No matter how much she looks at him, his behavior somehow resembles someone he knew, "Don't you two like each other?"
Was she wrong to have thought that 'someone' she's referring to is an eight years old boy from their neighborhood?
Hiro's intense gaze towards Jin's door thaws from sharp ice splinters to dandelions softly dancing with the wind in the open meadow in a split second, warm with hidden affection only he knew, "I do . . . " And his voice sound lost in melancholy, waiting and anticipating for the doorknob to twist and spit Jin out.
Five more minutes . . . He breathes out the uneasy and heavy sensation slowly filling his chest.
It's suffocating . . . He thought so.
Just a bit more.
He'll wait for another five minutes.
Asami felt extremely relieved at his response. It was beyond what she expected. It's heartwarming to know there isn't any hostility present between the two of them, "And what about Jin?"
She knows her son wouldn't hold grudges and thus already know the answer to her question, but Asami tilts her head, mystified at the sudden change in his mood and expression.
More importantly . . .
Is that a frown she sees?
A frown that surprisingly melted the stoic and cold displayed expression on his face.
But now he looks rather . . . a bit blue.
Hiro clears his throat, looking away from the door, a little startled and upset, "Possibly . . . "
He doesn't know. He doesn't want to know.
His slate black eyes darken even more, anxious and fearful enough to know the truth.
Because if Jin doesn't, who knows what destruction will fall upon him.
Asami wants to slap herself seeing how depressed the air around him has fallen. And why oh why does he sound hesitant? Perhaps he didn't get the hint?
After a little while, the distressing expression the young man wore vanishes and hardens into an expressionless figure, eyes empty and quiet.
Is that how bad their relationship is? But how could it be? It couldn't possibly be that way, not after seeing how lenient and docile they were towards one another. Are they not on good terms?
Did she miss something?
"Was there a chance that I made you uncomfortable?" Asami clenches her waist with her fingers and her nails painfully dug into her flesh beneath the clothes she wore, but she knew the punishment has to be more than that. She closed her eyes briefly, dismayed of whatever mistake she has done as her brows frown in worry when it took him a little while to respond, and when he did he was back sounding indifferent and stern. What a peculiar child.
"No."
She ended up receiving a firm answer from him and for a moment, she felt that talking to him almost felt like talking to her subordinates at work. But she finds his strange and distant behavior somehow acceptable.
She couldn't even find her way to bring out what he thinks of her remarrying his father.
And the possibility of him hating her for that valid reason is horrifying.
Her determined thought of winning another's son's heart had failed even before she thinks about trying. Nevertheless, she bitterly smiled at him. She only hopes he's not placing a grudge against her son because of that same reason.
"Jin's sincere and generous by heart." Her voice was warm and soft with appreciation as she talks about her sweet fruit towards another victim even though that would only prove the fact that she's much of a doting mother and a fool for her son.
"There hasn't been anyone who had problems approaching him." None so far and she's ecstatic about it at the very least.
Even for her child's lack of parental support, Asami had watched him grow brighter than the rest of his kind all her life. She knew how much Jin yearned for fatherly affection and she's hoping she did her best to cover up that missing piece in his young and fragile heart.
He was so young when it happened.
The melancholy ambiance settling between them worsened as she reminisces about the fond and tragic memories she had from the past.
My sweet dewy lemonade…
"Does he naturally let his guard down to strangers?" said Hiro, thinking far more beyond her affectionate words.
Strangers? He's not cruelly referring to himself, does he? Asami can't help but just nod her head. She wouldn't want them to feel distant from one another. As a matter of fact, it was partially close to the truth. Her child couldn't defend himself even if he let his guard up around him.
That's why she truly believes Jihyuk is a godsend gift to her unending prayers.
Kai Hiroshima succumbs himself to a set of deep horrid thoughts. Afterward, his jaw clenches, displeased as his hands start to gravely twitch and itch again at the side of his thighs. That explains his defenseless state when he first met him, frail and as fragile as he remembered.
Out of blue, his umbra eyes worriedly avert back towards the door of Jin's room after he hears a merely audible thud inside that distracts him from his thoughts.
Jin?
"He refused to lend me his underwear." He tests and though he doubts the former Mrs. Saesang would want to lend a mere stranger from their family her child's underwear.
She wouldn't, would she?
Upon hearing the words unexpectedly leaving his mouth, Asami almost stumbled on her own two feet. Underwear? She looks over at the frustrated child who followed her inside the kitchen. His mysterious dark eyes were gleaming expectantly as if her response mattered to him by life or death. Could this be a chance that there's still hope to grasp her desired goal of winning him over?
But,
Underwear…Hmm.
Why's that?
For some reason, she feels alright but it's indeed rather unexpected.
And here she thought he's already hating her for taking the role of his mother in the family, but how can such dark eyes light up while looking expectantly at her.
It's not one that belonged to a person with hatred.
Asami felt attacked, pressured, and cornered, "I see…" What should she say to him?
What happened during her absence for him to look this thrilled over an underwear? She clears her throat, hoping that her response would save her from her disoriented dream, "I'm sure it'll be okay to take one from him." Her voice came out tiny.
"…"
An unavoidable dark halo swirls around Hiro, dejected, but then again he clears his throat.
"Two."
Immediately the hardly visible darkness around him subsides as he firmly corrects her.
He might as well grab this chance.
His determination and purpose in approaching Jin intensify. He's not just going to protect Jin but also protect his underwears from the filthy hands of humanity.
Eh? "Dul? . . . " (Two? . . . ) Asami was lost for words.
Hiro took a hint of her calm expression and he regretted saying a one-digit number.
"I-I'm sure he won't mind." Asami gulps as she responds to what she truly thinks would save her from the unknown situation she's trapped in. He wouldn't point his gun at her for that, would he?
Kai Hiroshima blinks at the quick response he receives, rather too quickly and one without too much hesitation.
Naturally, they both fell into another uncomfortable silence.
Asami coughs and made up her mind to dismiss the thought before it could get any more awkward. Why? Is her son's underwear that much of a big deal? "Do as you please."
After hearing her statement, Hiro immediately nods his head and left the kitchen, in haste.
Even though Asami was still unsure of what was happening. She breathes out and exhaustingly slumps down to one of the chairs around the table. No matter how deep she thinks, it's truly odd to think of their size difference. What does he intend to do with her child's middle school-like underwear, anyway?
Aigoo…
Her neck was already strained looking up at his towering height.
He truly took after his father.
And she realizes too late that she and her cinnamon roll son is always surrounded by giant people. Speaking of tall, she places her hand on her chest, still out of breath. Where's Jihyuk?