Separation Anxiety

13.

#Third Generation of Haedo Group

The movie Na-eun chose was decent enough. At first, Dawoon wasn’t really keen on going to see a movie. It was a currently popular superhero film, but he thought it might be difficult to understand the content without having seen the previous installments. Fortunately, not knowing the previous stories didn’t hinder his enjoyment of this one. Thanks to that, the two-plus hours passed faster than expected.

Although it was a weekend, the early morning time meant the theater wasn’t crowded, which also helped. He was still uncomfortable in crowded places. It had gotten worse after his parents passed away and his face became known. Not only did his schoolmates whisper about him, but even strangers on the street seemed to glance and murmur as he walked by.

Some time had passed, and now most people had forgotten, but the memory of that time was ingrained in him, making him avoid crowded places as much as possible. This was also why he obediently commuted to school by car, as Hayun suggested.

“It was nice that it wasn’t crowded, right?” Na-eun said, clinging to Dawoon’s arm as soon as they exited the theater. When he nodded in agreement, she smiled, looking pleased.

“Ui-hyeon told me you don’t like crowded places. That’s why I deliberately chose an early morning showing.”

Her expression was clearly asking, “I did well, didn’t I?” So that’s why she wanted to see a movie so early, it was Ui-hyeon’s suggestion. When Dawoon turned to look at Ui-hyeon, he just shrugged as if nothing had happened. Grateful for his consideration, Dawoon smiled faintly, which made Na-eun tug on his arm.

“I was the one who booked the tickets! Why are you smiling at Ui-hyeon?”

She was asking to be praised, but when Dawoon turned to her, his face hardened.

“I thought you said you got the tickets for free. Did you actually book them?”

“Oh, well…”

Realizing her mistake, Na-eun’s face contorted, and she rolled her eyes to look elsewhere.

“I’ll pay for my ticket.”

He had come along, half-dragged, because she said she got free tickets that would go to waste if they didn’t use them. But if she had actually bought them, he naturally thought he should pay for his share.

“No! It’s really okay.”

“It’s not okay with me.”

Although Na-eun waved both hands in refusal, Dawoon was adamant.

“Just take it. Once he says he’ll pay, it’s over,” Ui-hyeon chimed in from the side.

“I really don’t need it…”

While Na-eun was muttering, Dawoon had already calculated the movie ticket price and sent it via messenger. Ding. At the sound of the deposit notification, Na-eun checked her messenger and jumped even more.

“You sent too much! It’s not this expensive!”

“I included Ui-hyeon’s share too.”

Na-eun still looked unconvinced at Dawoon’s answer.

“This is too much even for all four of us!”

“Is it?”

He didn’t know exactly how much movie tickets cost. Whenever he went to see a movie, it was always with Hayun. Because reporters often followed Hayun, he would rent out entire VIP theaters to avoid the hassle. So he had never thought about the price of regular theater tickets.

Wondering how much Dawoon had sent to make Na-eun so shocked, Ui-hyeon peeked at her phone screen.

“We can buy a meal with that.”

Suggesting they use the remaining money after subtracting the ticket price for a meal, Na-eun puffed up her cheeks.

“I showed you the movie, so I was planning to get a free meal from Dawoon.”

Ui-hyeon and Dawoon couldn’t understand her logic. They thought everyone could just pay their own share, so what did it matter who showed the movie or bought the meal?

“Since it’s money Dawoon sent, let’s just count it as him treating,” Ui-hyeon said indifferently. Na-eun pouted and turned away with her friend who had come along.

“She knows you like her, right?” Na-eun’s friend whispered in her ear. Na-eun nodded.

“I confessed at the beginning of the year.”

“Then he’s just not interested?”

Na-eun glared at her friend for muttering this.

“No, it’s not like that. I thought he might have feelings since he agreed to come out for a movie today, but the way he’s insisting on paying for the ticket shows he’s seriously drawing a line, doesn’t it?”

“That’s just his personality.”

Despite Na-eun’s excuse, her friend didn’t seem convinced. Though she said that, Na-eun was quite disappointed too. As her friend said, she could feel Dawoon clearly drawing a line. Even when paying for the ticket, he only considered Ui-hyeon’s share. Although he ended up sending too much, covering all four of them and then some.

At school, Dawoon kept the same distance from everyone, so she thought it was just his personality. Only Ui-hyeon, his friend since middle school, was different. If she hadn’t included Ui-hyeon, Dawoon probably wouldn’t have agreed to come see the movie today.

“But is he really the third generation of Haedo Group?” her friend asked cautiously, in a voice only Na-eun could hear. Na-eun nodded vaguely.

“Then shouldn’t he be able to pay for movie tickets? He must have a lot of money anyway. Seeing how he just sent money earlier…”

Her friend, who had been chattering on, swallowed her words when Na-eun glared at her.

“I don’t like Dawoon for his money! It has nothing to do with Haedo Group!”

Upset at being seen as some kind of gold-digger, her voice grew louder. It was loud enough for Ui-hyeon and Dawoon, who were following behind, to hear. Realizing her mistake, she turned to look at Dawoon and their eyes met. While Na-eun was at a loss for what to do, Dawoon’s face showed no particular emotion.

“I’m sorry. She had a needless misunderstanding…”

“Why are you apologizing? You said it’s not like that.”

That was all Dawoon said in response. Seeming to have no intention of discussing it further, he walked past Na-eun towards the restaurant area. Na-eun bit her lip and glared at her innocent friend.

“Don’t worry about it. This kind of thing is nothing to him,” Ui-hyeon added as he passed by them. That comment bothered her more. Nothing? What did he mean by that? But Dawoon and Ui-hyeon had already walked quite far, and she missed the chance to ask.

Ui-hyeon quickened his pace to walk beside Dawoon.

“Are you really okay?”

At the question of whether he was alright, Dawoon turned to look at him. Ui-hyeon was just looking straight ahead as he walked. Although his expression and tone were calm, Dawoon could tell he was genuinely concerned.

“I’m fine. I really don’t care. I know Na-eun isn’t that kind of person.”

“Okay then.”

Dawoon smiled slightly at the curt response. He could guess why Ui-hyeon had acted nonchalant in front of the girls but then followed him to check on his feelings again.

In middle school, after transferring to the private school, things seemed peaceful on the surface, but the undercurrent was even darker than in public school.

From the beginning, his classmates knew that Dawoon was the third generation of Haedo Group and that his parents had recently died in an accident. They couldn’t help but know because the news had made such a fuss about it. That was also the reason for his transfer from public to private school.

The difference from public school was that no one directly approached him to ask if he was really the third generation of Haedo Group. However, the whispers behind his back were the same. Some even questioned his parents’ death.

‘My parents know a bit about Haedo Group’s affairs, and they say it wasn’t an accident, but suicide. They say his mom committed murder-suicide.’

‘Why would they commit suicide? They’re the heirs to Haedo Group.’

As it was a famous private school, there were several students from well-known families. Perhaps because of this, some knew private matters that weren’t covered in news articles.

‘I heard his dad had an affair?’

‘Just for that reason? Wasn’t it an arranged marriage anyway?’

They couldn’t understand the choice Dawoon’s mother had made. To them, arranged marriages were common, and as such, having other partners didn’t seem surprising.

‘It wasn’t an arranged marriage. His mom…’

And they knew facts that even Dawoon didn’t know. It was then that Dawoon first learned that his mother had been the mistress of Haedo Group’s vice chairman, and that she had taken the position of his wife after the original wife died. Why hadn’t he ever questioned it? Even though he knew that Hayun and he had different mothers. He finally understood why his grandfather hated him so much.

Despite all the rumors, many students approached Dawoon. The Haedo Group name that followed him had more influence than he thought. No matter what they said behind his back, they wore smiling faces in front of Dawoon and reached out to be friends.

As a result, he could no longer trust people’s smiling faces at face value. He couldn’t purely accept the kindness of those who were nice to him.

It was probably around that time. When even Hayun’s affection became burdensome.

How had Hayun been able to smile at his mother all this time? How could he be so consistently affectionate towards him? Hadn’t he resented Dawoon’s mother for taking his mother’s place?

He was too scared to ask Hayun directly. Not only had his mother taken Hayun’s mother’s place, but she had also caused him to lose his father. Wouldn’t Hayun hate him too? He was afraid. When he thought that Hayun, who said it was okay, that he would stay by his side and protect him, might actually resent him, it felt like the ground was crumbling beneath his feet.

All Dawoon had left were Hayun and Haram. Among them, Hayun was special. To Dawoon, Hayun was both a brother and another parent. The thought of being abandoned by him made it hard to breathe.