Chapter twenty five.

Stunned—was an understatement to describe any of the members at the table back then. Except for Eun Jae though, who kept her smile in absolutely normal conditions. Head Master So had gone still, his pupils stared blankly at the edge of the wooden table, unlike Yi Jeong's, which ran from one corner to the other, inside his eyes trying to figure it out what he had heard, while Ga Eul simply blinked in disbelief.

Il Hyun chuckled at the reaction, as Ga Eul turned towards Eun Jae.

"Saseongnimae... does that mean..._"

Il Hyun smiled again.

"_Geurae...We won't be returning back to Korea... Eun Jae here, has got a scholarship and... we are hoping to open our own coffee shop too..." he continued. "...It has been quite some time since I've quitted pottery, and it seems I have forgotten even how to spin the wheel..." he chuckled. "...Yi Jeong was good at managing the museum and he had taken good care of it all this time. So... hurabeujji... it would be better if you'd return the rights back to him..."

Silence filled the residence.

The younger couple had their heads bended and eyes staring at the teak floor, confused. In contrast, Il Hyun and Eun Jae, sat there as if they were chatting about the weather outside, and suggesting their hurabeujji to go out for a walk, who preferred to stay inside that teak-darkened house, with the artificial yellow glows lighting its space.

"This decision of yours, does it have other reasons than what you have told?" So Yoon Hee's eyes settled on Il Hyun's face examining every detail on it, his every breath and every twist of his lips. But despite of the intense attention on him, Il Hyun smiled, relaxed.

"Anniyo.. hurabeujji.."

"It doesn't seem so?..." a grey eyebrow lifted elegantly. " Aren't you the one who always wanted it? The museum? It is the eldest who should have it... Angaraeyo.. Il Hyun..?" The old lips twisted into a wolfish smirk.

Il Hyun's smile tightened, and his eyes shut tight with his fingers balling into a fist. It was not something he wanted Yi Jeong to know—his conversation with hurabeujji, back when he was discharged from the hospital years ago, when he almost died, and when Il Hyun found out it was neither him nor their father that was named as the 'heir' to Woo sung but his dongseong, Yi Jeong. Truth to be told, he did not expect it. He did not want hurabeujji to die in the first place, as they both had adored him ever since they were young. Yet more than the pain of losing the museum what he once thought that was his, it was the confirmation of his greatest fear that gave him courage to split it out in front of So Yoon Hee—that, it was never the same for him and Yi Jeong, how everyone had treated them.

It was no secret that both of them were born as a completing of duty, rather than a child born from love, but for some unknown reason their mother had always treasured Yi Jeong more. Il Hyun was first considered as a child merely born to be an heir, till he grew up losing that title as well. But he had managed to suppress his feelings and love his brother as much as he could. When Yi Jeong turned out to be a better potter than himself, not just better— but a 'gifted' potter, unlike any of their family had ever been, he managed to smile and be happy for him. And when Yi Jeong received praise more than he had ever had, he still managed to congratulate him, appearing as if there was no one else more happier than himself. But as always, where competition was, jealousy embered deep inside his heart, only to burst out when he came to know that he had been thrown away. And without further hurting himself, he quitted from the family, leaving Yi Jeong alone, to bear all the responsibilities of their suicidal mother.

It was never meant to hurt him, but Il Hyun had simply had it enough to be useless—useless as a child and useless as an heir. It was too late for him, when he came to know, how much impact his act had had on his brother.

But now, he desperately wanted to change it.

"Geurae... hurabeujji, back then I did. But when I thought about it more... it was the talent that mattered the most, than the age... " he chuckled, snapping back his eyes at him. " Just as hurabeujji told, Woo sung, if under a ' talentless' person...could be destroyed, and I, So Il Hyun, does not want it to be... everything our hurabeujji had built from his sweat and tears to be destroyed just because of someone like me..."

Tension roared in the silence that followed. Yi Jeong remained still, amidst all the things that unravelled before him—unheard conversations and unsaid feelings of his hyung which he dismissed, unable to understand—himself being too blunt, just as he was, when it came to matters like them.

"You..." At the end, So Yoon Hee lifted his eyes to look into Il Hyun's. "... haven't changed a bit ... have you?" and smirked, getting up to his feet, leaving the room.

...

...

...

Eun Jae had led Ga Eul out from the lobby few minutes after Head Master himself had left, sparing Yi Jeong and Il Hyun for themselves alone in there. Guiding along the corridors as if it was her own home, she often looked around to make sure of their privacy. In a matter of minutes they reached its large back garden.

The So, unlike the Song, who preferred apartments or penthouses in luxurious urbanised cities, was more likely to have mansions in less crowded areas with vast gardens around them—something to allow their artistic instincts to flow—once Yi Jeong had told himself. Their tastes had the longest spectrum of all, differing from dynastic era to the modernized day. In other words, their pottery, while being curved in traditional shapes, had the hints of other cultures, especially Yi Jeong's , making it hard to tell, whether it was inspired from western or eastern or some other culture or a time, only an artist could reach. After all, it was hereditary, only to reach its peak by Yi Jeong, which explained it well, why Head Master's residence with curved roofs and bonsai decorated interior, had the largest estates around it, with hedge mazes grown in them, inspired from European gardens.

Eun Jae led Ga Eul along the path paved by garden lights to the middle of the maze. And then to the nearby garden bench. Wind blew cold as the garden lamps lighted the path they came, it was fairly midnight, Ga Eul guessed, as the moon was at the very top of the sky with stars sprinkled around it. Eun Jae smiled, observing her relaxed expression.

"It is calm here isn't it?"

"Ye..." Ga Eul answered, still unsure of what she should say.

"It reminds me of our old days..." she sighed, gazing up at the starlit sky, " how much things have changed?..." Ga Eul stayed silent allowing her to continue. "...sometimes... I used to be jelous of you.. how could you have solved a problem I tried so hard for years? fate is it? who knows?..." she chuckled seeing how Ga Eul's expression grew concerned. " Anniyo... I have come out of it now... so Ga Eul, I can now whole heartedly call you dongseongah..."

The girls exchanged a smile and let a silence follow.

" Ga Eulah... you really are his air..." Eun Jae grinned wider. " That's why you were able to make things happen...things this impossible..."

"Impossible?..."

"Kre..." she smiled switching her gaze to far away nothingness. " ... The man I stayed beside for ten years, having my eyes only on him, at that time..." a sigh escaped. " had many women, around his arms, but he is now having his eyes on one single woman ...The one who was afraid to run after my heart...the one who was afraid to accept my love, in fear of losing what he had...has now thrown everything away to be with her..." Eun Jae smiled again. "And she was able to give him a family, that I didn't even know he had..."

Ga Eul remained silent, unsure where all this was leading.

"What kind of wind could change a person that much?" Eun Jae looked into her eyes. " Ga Eulah, Gumoktha... for everything."

The days and nights, followed after the meeting with Il Hyun and Eun Jae, Ga Eul thought that it might be because Yi Jeong was figuring it out, that he grew more and more silent every day.

Though Ga Eul had joined Eun Jae with her chuckle back then, yet it took two days for her to understand what she had really meant about the So brothers, how much grief they had for each other, when Yi Jeong protested against going to the air port to see them depart.

"Sunbae..." Ga Eul reached to his hand across the dinner table. With his coat hung away, Yi Jeong was in a loosened grey waist coat above a white shirt, looking tired than ever, staring blankly at his plate for hours by then.

"It's pointless." He muttered at last. " They won't change their mind..."

"Even though! Aren't we suppose to be there when they leave? Sunbae, won't unnie and Il Hyun ajubeoni would feel left out if not?"

Ga Eul waited for his answer, but Yi Jeong kept staring for another minute before he gently squeezed her hand and left for bed, stating that he was tired.

Not long after Ga Eul went to bed she fell asleep, only to wake up few hours later to find an empty space besides her. She went searching for Yi Jeong and found him at the lobby, listening to a message Il Hyun had sent.

"... Geurae... I am never going to deny that. If I was given it first, I would have taken, without any second thoughts... yet now, it just feel too cruel, Yi Jeongah...Ga Eulshshi ... isn't she something you have dearly wanted in your whole life?...(chuckles) ... I ... won't be the reason for your pain...(whispers) at least...not anymore... I don't know whether you could forgive me dongseongah... geuraedo... I won't abandon you... not ever.. again."

The voice mail ended.

She heard him sniffing.

"Sunbae..." a whisper escaped her lips.

" huh... oh!.. Ga Eul?..." Yi Jeong flinched and swiftly turned around "...I thought you were asleep. Did I wake you up? " He shot a smile dodging her eyes wiping a tear.

"Anniyo..." she shook her head, taking a seat besides him.

A tear streamed down his cheek no matter how much Yi Jeong tried to stop it. He didn't meet her eyes, instead kept staring at the carpet.

"Ga Eul?..."

"Hm?"

He sniffed. " I was selfish wasn't I? Not to forgive him till the end?...or.." he smirked, more to himself than to anyone else. " Or.. is that what called being childish?"

Ga Eul stared into his tear glistening eyes, and smiled as softly as she could.

"Sunbae... isn't it why you are his dongseong?"

Yi Jeong shut tight his eyes, allowing himself to fall on to her and bury his face in the comfort of her chest.

Ga Eul felt his tears soaking her pyjama top as she let him embrace her tight and sob into her heart. One of her hands gently patted his shoulder in a soothing manner as the other caressed his hair, as she whispered to his ear,

" Sunbae... it's going to be alright..."

Once again...

–to be continued.