Chapter 79: Another forgotten and unspoken promise
He stared at the paper as wet drops dripped onto it, one after another, soaking into the page. Rian’s crayon scratched to a halt, the screeching sound cut off as he noticed the wet stains on the colors. Cheon Areum swiftly turned to the right, desperate to hide his tears from his little brother—but instead, he came face to face with Yoon Seoyul. Their eyes locked. Cheon Areum’s features softened, breaking through his carefully held mask. He instinctively drew his head back, caught helplessly between the two people he couldn’t afford to let see him like this.
"Areum?"
Yoon Seoyul’s voice rang out with urgency as Cheon Areum raised his arms to cover his face. He couldn’t stop himself from crying, so he hid his face the best he could, compressing the arms around his eyes. Yoon Seoyul’s hand tugged at his arm in an effort to remove it, but the moment one hand was moved, it shot right back into place, refusing to let anyone see him.
"Areum, look at me."
"What is it? Tell me, hm?"
The gentle voice came from directly in front of him—soft, coaxing—when suddenly, a loud clattering sound filled the room, like multiple things crashing into something at once. Cheon Areum flinched, his body tensing, and his arm slipped from over his eyes. Blinking through the blur of tears, his gaze fell upon Yoon Seoyul’s face—his eyes squeezed shut. Cheon Areum’s attention drifted downward, where the crayons lay scattered across the carpet, thrown in chaos as Rian spoke out in a frantic shout from his left side.
"You hit Hyung, didn’t you!!"
Rian glared with an intensity he had never seen before in a child’s eyes as Yoon Seoyul slowly opened his eyelids. Cheon Areum immediately got up on his knees in front of Yoon Seoyul.
"Wait!"
"That’s not what happened!"
Cheon Areum stopped Rian, who was actively going for Yoon Seoyul. Listening to his words, Rian’s gaze shifted to him, the corners of his eyes rounding as he looked up at Cheon Areum.
"He didn’t?"