~ Min Woo ~

My hand was still shaking in anger when I left. I felt really bad to leave the rest of the guys back there in the café, hanging and with no explanation, but I desperately needed some time alone to sort out my thoughts and not blow up on any innocent person. Heck, I couldn’t comprehend half of what was going on either. But I knew I was going to have to find out sooner or later.

I flagged down a cab by the roadside and hopped on, muttering my home address to the middle-aged driver before settling down on the scratchy PVC seat with my oversized duffel sitting on my lap. The urban scenery outside the window flashed by blurrily as the taxi coursed through the familiar streets, heading closer and closer to my apartment. I fished out my phone and thumbed through the text messages again.

16:27

To: Jung Daeryong

From: No Min Woo

There’s a rumour going around that you’re getting engaged. Wtf?! Explain.

16:27

To: No Min Woo

From: Jung Daeryong

Oh wow, the high and mighty No Min Woo has decided to contact me on his own accord! The world must be coming to an end.

Well, to answer your question, that is in fact correct. How did you find out?

But more pressing is the issue, why do you even care? You’ve never meddled with Soryong and my affairs before.

16:27

To: Jung Daeryong

From: No Min Woo

Don’t flatter yourself. I can’t even be bothered with what you two do. You can go plot to assassinate the US president for all I care.

I heard this from a friend. What are you two up to this time?

16:28

To: No Min Woo

From: Jung Daeryong

Nice to see that you haven’t changed one bit. But wouldn’t you like to know, really? Rest assured, we’re not up to anything illegal.

What’s the matter, my lovely little brother? You can’t possibly be jealous that we’re getting married before you, are you? If that’s the case, why don’t you ask that lovely doctor of yours to pop the question then?

16:30

To: Jung Daeryong

From: No Min Woo

Don’t get Dong Hyun involved in this conversation.

And don’t you even dare call me that. I don’t have you two as my brothers.

16:30

To: No Min Woo

From: Jung Daeryong

So that’s the name of your boyfriend.

Alright, I’ll make sure to note that down when we send you the wedding invitations. ‘To: Dong Hyun & Min Woo’. Sounds lovely, doesn’t it?

16:31

To: Jung Daeryong

From: No Min Woo

Just off and stop this nonsense before someone gets hurt.

16:33

To: No Min Woo

From: Jung Daeryong

And I love you too, my little brother.

Btw, Soryong sends his regards. He says he can’t wait to see you on the wedding day.

Little brother. My eyes were fixated on the phrase as my thumb hovered over the Delete button hesitantly. Just seeing that line made me sick to the core. I didn’t want to be related to him, to them, to any of them, in any way. It was revolting enough to know that his blood flowed in my veins. But I couldn’t just let things go. I need to get to the bottom of this.

I open a new text message and began typing.

16:42

To: Jung Daeryong

From: No Min Woo

We need to talk. Tomorrow, this time, at the usual place by the Han River. I’ll clear all my schedules so you’d better turn up too.

As soon as I tapped the Send button and the text message went out I deleted the entire conversation thread at one go. A minute later, my phone buzzed with a simple reply from Daeryong – ‘Okay’, and I knew I was on the way to getting things done. After all these years of cowardly running away from my problems, it was time to face up to reality like a man.

~~~

The next day, I arrived at the Han River with fifteen minutes to spare. I settled down on the terraced banks of the river and took the time to survey the area. Nothing much had changed since the last time I came here. Of course, many more high-rise buildings have popped up on the opposite bank where Gangnam was situated, but over on this end the environment was still peaceful and undisturbed by the bustling, polluted capitol that surrounded it.

This very spot that I sat bore significant memories for me. When I’d first left home and came here eight years ago, between schooling and working part time to pay for my rented apartment and living expenses, I used to come to the Han River whenever I could and just stare out into the water for hours at time. It was easy to lose yourself in a big city such as Seoul. Things were so much more different back in Gwangju. Here, everything around you just seemed to be moving twice as fast, and you always seem to be in a rush to catch up to something. And this place was the only quiet and calm place I could find that bore any resemblance to my peaceful hometown.

I heard a smattering of footsteps echoing from behind me and another person settled down to my left. I didn’t need to turn my head to check to know that my half brother had arrived. “I see you still remember this place as well as I do.”

Daeryong snorted before drawing his knees to his chest. “Why would I not? This was the exact place I first found you after you ran away. You were only what, seventeen years old back then? When I was that age I didn’t even have the guts to leave Gwangju for a vacation, much less get out of the place for good and go live in another city by myself.”

“It’s not like I had a choice. I hated dad for being so chivalrous and your mother for having an affair with him and you guys for wrecking my family. Besides, I’d already been living in Seoul for a full year already. There was no reason for me to go back with you, which was why I sent you back. What I don’t understand was what compelled the old man to send you up here to hunt for me.” Daeryong reached into his back pocket and pulled out a cigarette pack, sticking one into his mouth and lighting it before offering another to me. I wrinkled my nose and declined. “Ugh, I see that you’re still smoking those cancer sticks. Do you really want to die early?”

“Not really. I quit after my mother went through a divorce with the old man. Couldn’t exactly afford these things then. I only picked up the habit again recently.” Daeryong pulled the white stick from his mouth and rolled it between his thumb and index finger. “And I’ll have you know that it wasn’t the old man who sent me up to find you. He couldn’t have been bothered less when you left. It was my mother who wanted you back.”

I was slightly taken aback when Daeryong said this. All these years I’ve always assumed it was my father who’d sent for me, because it was “humiliating for a successful businessman to have a rebellious son”, but turns out that it had been my stepmother all along. “Well that’s no surprise. I still remember how indifferent he was when my mother died. Despite being so damn bloody rich he merely organised a slip-shod wake for her and was out gallivanting and cruising night clubs again even before the funeral procession. And five months on, he was already walking down the aisle with your mum. Speaking of which, how’s Ri In auntie? What’s she up to these days?”

“Nothing much, seeing that she’s dead.” Daeryong replied drily and took a long drag from his cigarette. He allowed tendrils of dirty grey smoke to creep out from his nostrils before exhaling the rest out in a drawn-out puff. “Kicked the bucket eight months ago.”

“What? How? When?” Even though I loathed the fact that their mother had been one of the main causes resulting in my parents’ divorce, I couldn’t deny the fact that she had been a kind and loving stepmother who treated me like her own. She had never been impatient with me despite the multiple times I treated her with disrespect. I was only too blinded with rage and pride to see it when I was younger. And now that I knew that it was only her who cared for my wellbeing all along…

“Car accident.” Deryong stubbed out the ends of his cigarette before reaching into his back pocket for the pack. Placing the new stick between his lips he dug out his lighter and lit the end.

My heart dropped to my stomach at the thought of the loss of the only other parental figure in my life besides my own biological mother. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

Daeryong caught the stick between his middle and fore finger and turned his head towards me sharply. “Would you have gone for the funeral even if I did? Even if you did attend, what kind of attitude would you have brought with you to the funeral? It hurt enough for Soryong and I to be orphaned. But to have you spit on our mother’s grave and speak those spiteful words, that I can never allow.”

I couldn’t argue with that. Given how bitter and ungrateful I was throughout the entire span of my father’s remarriage to Daeryong’s mother, anyone would have expected me to still harbour the animosity that I did so many years ago. I guess I really was young and foolish. I pushed away the people who genuinely cared for me. And now I didn’t even have the chance to say goodbye. “Did… Did he attend?”

“Nope. I would’ve restrained him within 1km of the area if he did, but luckily, he decided to save me the trouble. He didn’t even send his ‘condolences’. Didn’t you hear, he’s busy fathering the next generation now. The fact that he at the age to become a grandparent hasn’t done much to deter him. The old man’s newest conquest is young enough to be our sister. I don’t know how she can even look at his wrinkly form without feeling the urge to throw up.”

“Ugh. That’s just plain nasty. Don’t even talk about him and those sleazy, money-crazed es in my presence. It makes me lose my appetite.” I cringed and draped a hand over my tummy for emphasis. “Well, I guess that was the only similarity the three of us had while growing up. We both hated the old man to pieces. What happened after I left?”

“Well, the morning after you disappeared, the old man threw a hissy fit for about three hours straight before promptly forgetting about you and going golfing with his business partners.” Daeryong unfolded his legs and stretched his lanky self out, using one arm to prop his body up. “And since then you were never mentioned again all the way until my mother suggested coming up to Seoul to look for you. He couldn’t care less about it. I think he was already busy having his next affair. After I returned, their marriage barely lasted for another year before they split, and the three of us moved here to Seoul for good.”

Daeryong looked like he was bored out of his senses with the small talk, and so I went straight to the point. The motive for coming here today. “So tell me truthfully. Why are you doing this?”

“Easy money. Their father was practically dangling it in our faces. How could we not accept?” Daeryong replied without a second to lose. He stole a glance at his wristwatch before rising easily to his feet. “I have to go now. I know I agreed to not have anything on today, but something cropped up on the last minute and I need to cover double shifts for my friend at work. My ride’s just arrived, so I guess I’ll see you around. Call me out some other time, brother.”

I watched him crush the remnants of his cigarette beneath his foot and walk away wordlessly, leaving me with more questions than answers.