Chapter 62: The Memory of a Promise

Yoonwoo glanced at Yeon-chae, a fresh realization dawning in his eyes. What thoughts occupied him, Yeon-chae gave no indication, his gaze still fixed on the table as he spooned his pudding, never once turning to Yoonwoo.

His remarkably unperturbed expression struck Yoonwoo as entirely unexpected. A persistent sense of suspicion made Yoonwoo narrow his eyes.

Sensing Yoonwoo’s gaze, Yeon-chae looked up. As their eyes met, his long, elegant eyes curved into a beautiful arc. Yoonwoo gazed at the brightly smiling face, and unconsciously, almost as if enchanted, he found himself smiling back.

‘Maybe Yeon-chae doesn’t remember me at all.’

Yoonwoo had been merely eight or nine years old when he and the child next door, Yeon-chae, were constantly together. Only faint memories remained, and even the face of the child next door was indistinct.

Yeon-chae had been even younger than Yoonwoo. Yoonwoo couldn’t even recall the existence of people he’d been close to at six or seven. Yeon-chae, he presumed, was no different.

Yet, the profound shock of encountering the child next door, a vision as adorable as a baby angel from a fairy tale, remained remarkably vivid even now. That child was small enough that Yoonwoo had to look down a good handspan to see him, and so incredibly pretty that Yoonwoo had naturally mistaken him for a girl.

And so, perhaps it was then that he had impulsively hugged that child—that is, Yeon-chae—and demanded something.

‘…I asked him to marry me?!’

His mind dredged up that ‘dark chapter’ from childhood, a time when he had demanded marriage without even understanding what it meant. Clearly, his weakness for a pretty face had remained unchanged, then and now.

He suddenly understood why, despite being annoyed by the child next door, he had trudged along, held by those small, chubby hands, and been dragged to the tennis court. It had been his own peculiar form of courtesy towards his ‘fiancé.’ Or perhaps, simply a tribute to the child’s captivating features…

Feeling thoroughly embarrassed, Yoonwoo nervously fidgeted with his reddened earlobes.

‘So, I’m actually marrying him after all.’

Could this truly be fate? A destined connection?

Yoonwoo, repeating the word ‘destiny’ for what felt like the tenth time, glanced at his delighted mother and Yeon-chae’s mother, lost in thought. If the story he’d vaguely spun for his family—that he’d serendipitously reunited with the kid next door, now a university senior and junior, and that their romance had blossomed into marriage—were actually true, Yoonwoo might have entertained such thoughts himself.

However, given that their relationship was more akin to an alliance forged to resolve an accidental predicament, Yoonwoo felt no compulsion to invoke the notion of ‘destiny’ for this marriage.

As Yoonwoo remained lost in his own thoughts, the mothers, delighting in childhood anecdotes of the soon-to-be-married pair, were already regressing to the very ‘dark chapter’ Yoonwoo had just recalled.

“That time, when Yoonwoo was nine, I think. You insisted so much on marrying Yeon-chae.”

“That’s right! Sister, do you remember? Yoonwoo loudly declared he’d be an Alpha, and therefore Yeon-chae had to be an Omega.”

“I remember, I remember. Whose son indeed, with such grand ambitions. And now Yeon-chae must be at least twenty centimeters taller than him.”

“He’s your son… And he’s only fifteen centimeters taller!”

Unable to bear it any longer, Yoonwoo, his cheeks burning, interjected. His mother exchanged glances with Yeon-chae’s mother, laughing for a moment, then looked between the pouting Yoonwoo and the consistently quiet Yeon-chae, asking,

“But, did you two really not know about your past? You didn’t date knowing that?”

“Yes, you really didn’t remember? Even though you were supposed to get married.”

Yeon-chae’s mother playfully chimed in. Yeon-chae, who had been looking down at the table, finally raised his head.

Yeon-chae’s clear, light brown eyes fixed directly on Yoonwoo, his gaze calm and gentle. Yoonwoo would inexplicably grow tense. In those moments, he would subtly avert his gaze, lowering his eyes.

The answer, of course, would be straightforward and simple. Naturally, neither of them remembered their connection from when they were seven and nine years old. Yet, as he waited for the reply, sweat beaded on Yoonwoo’s back. He picked up his water glass, wetting his lips, and his eyes darted nervously.

“No, we didn’t know.”

Yeon-chae replied softly.

“Who would remember agreeing to marry at seven, unless they were utterly infatuated?”

‘I am that utterly infatuated fool.’

Sipping his iced americano through a straw, Yeon-chae lamented inwardly. Yoonwoo, oblivious to Yeon-chae’s thoughts, cupped his cheeks with both hands, continuing to exclaim in constant wonder.

“It’s truly amazing. How can such a connection exist? Can you believe we lived next door when we were kids? You’ve changed so much. I didn’t recognize you at all.”

“…Indeed.”

Naturally, he believed it. As if agreeing with Yoonwoo’s earlier astonishment at such a unique connection, Yeon-chae readily nodded.

They were now in a nearby cafe, having parted ways with their families. Yeon-chae had suggested going home early due to Yoonwoo’s condition, but Yoonwoo seemed invigorated by this rare outing, perhaps even a little excited by the unexpected revelation of their shared past.

Moreover, ever since Yeon-chae had begun clinging to Yoonwoo once more, like a devoted limpet, Yoonwoo’s physical condition had remained consistently good. With no urgent reason to go home, Yeon-chae took Yoonwoo’s wrist and led him to a pretty cafe they’d noticed on a map app. Yoonwoo chattered incessantly, asking if it wasn’t simply amazing.

“But you don’t seem surprised? You don’t remember me?”

After a long time of talking, Yoonwoo, seemingly parched, sipped his lemonade. His big eyes blinked, filled with questions. Yeon-chae shrugged, trying to act nonchalant, but his mind raced.

‘What could I say to make Yoonwoo accept it without a trace of suspicion, allowing the moment to pass smoothly?’

Yeon-chae thought that, by his own estimation, the story of having missed the ‘hyung next door’ for thirteen years and finally ‘caught’ him did sound a little obsessive. Furthermore, pretending not to remember everything until the marriage was decided seemed far too calculated.

Neither the pregnancy nor the marriage had been intentionally orchestrated (though, admittedly, he had desired them), but it would be a catastrophe if Yoonwoo, leaping to the conclusion of a ‘scam marriage,’ were to flee.

Yeon-chae quickly thought, paused for a long moment, then replied with an utterly nonchalant expression.

“No, I was completely surprised. But I don’t remember anything from when I was little.”

‘Lie.’ Yeon-chae, however, had forgotten nothing, from that day at five when he first met Yoonwoo to the final day at eight when they last saw each other.

Yoonwoo, unaware of Yeon-chae’s true feelings, said, “Ah,” and readily accepted it.

“Right? I thought so. You were a total baby then. I don’t remember anything from when I was your age either. Who would?”

‘Isn’t Hyung’s memory excessively poor?’

“Hyung, do you remember anything?”

Yeon-chae remembers everything about Yoonwoo. But Yoonwoo is different. With a half-sulky, somewhat prickly tone, Yeon-chae pressed him.

“Hmm, well…”

‘There’s no way he remembers anything.’ Even after posing the question himself, Yeon-chae inwardly scoffed. Yeon-chae didn’t have much faith in Yoonwoo’s memory, separate from his longing and affection for him.

Only the loud sound of Yeon-chae sipping his iced americano filled the air. Yoonwoo, rolling his big eyes this way and that, suddenly laughed awkwardly.

“I asked you to marry me. That’s the one thing I remember, isn’t that hilarious?”

*Cough.*

Yeon-chae promptly choked, spewing the iced americano he had been drinking.

“Hey!”

Yoonwoo, covered in coffee, jumped up, his brow furrowed deeply.

Nothing changed after the family meeting. Since they had decided on a small wedding, inviting only close family and friends, there wasn’t an extensive list of preparations. Indeed, the mothers, utterly thrilled by this reunion after thirteen years, had taken it upon themselves to handle all the wedding arrangements, effectively sidelining the betrothed couple.

The wedding ceremony, the honeymoon home, and even the household furnishings had all been taken out of Yoonwoo and Yeon-chae’s hands. When a rather embarrassed Yoonwoo hesitantly offered to help, Yeon-chae’s mother kindly pressed a gleaming black card into his hand, saying gently,

“Be good, now. Take this, go buy yourselves something delicious, and just enjoy yourselves over there.”

“…”

To the adults, Yeon-chae and Yoonwoo still appeared to be the seven and nine-year-old children from next door.

Ultimately, the only thing Yoonwoo could decide was the honeymoon destination. Yoonwoo’s request to simply relax at a pool villa caused the mothers to tilt their heads in confusion.

“A pool villa where?”

“…”

Twenty-three-year-old Yoonwoo, however, knew of no specific pool villas. He had merely admired photos of attractive resorts online occasionally, thinking, ‘I’d love to visit a pool villa someday.’

He hadn’t thought about where they were located. Yoonwoo stammered, his cheeks flushing, and so the choice of honeymoon destination ultimately fell to the mothers.

Consequently, unlike a couple just two months away from their wedding, Yoonwoo and Yeon-chae found themselves surprisingly idle.

Before long, however, Yoonwoo would come to consider this turn of events a true blessing. As the semester advanced into its mid-to-late stage, his demanding class schedule began to take a toll.

Yoonwoo was not alone in his body; as he grew heavier, his need for sleep increased dramatically, making twenty-four hours barely sufficient to manage the deluge of assignments and team projects. Had he been forced to juggle wedding preparations alongside all this, it surely would have ended in disaster.

“Ugh, I’m tired.”

Today, Yoonwoo gathered with his team members in a seminar room to tackle yet another of their numerous group projects. Yeon-chae, who had naturally joined Yoonwoo’s group since they were taking the same class, was also present. The hour was already heading towards late night.