There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL)-Chapter 704: Side Story 3. Stellar Blossom - 39

What he wanted to do...

Right. From the start, he only wanted to do one thing: to be with Radia. He even asked Laurel about it last week, when he was still mentally seven. What should he do to be with Radia? What should he do to stay by his darling side...

...darling? Dee?

It had a nice ring to it.

The problem was...how could he do that when the man kept getting away from him? Just a slight sign of him shifting closer made Radia scoot even further away. Was this a revenge? Radia used to be the one baiting for reaction, while Han Joon was the one acting like he saw nothing.

Was this karma? Han Joon wanted to laugh.

The worst of it all was the fact that Radia would diligently go to work after breakfast and only return right before dinner. Since he also went back to the annex right after, Joon didn’t even have time to talk to him.

How annoying.

"Can’t you just take me with you? I’m bored," Han Joon used his best whining voice as he followed Radia to the car in the front yard. It was fun using it since Radia seemed to be easily railed every time he did.

Unfortunately for Joon, Radia had learned his lesson and built immunity around it.

"I’m going to work--it’ll be even more boring."

"But at least it’s something new."

"The ’bring your kid to work’ day has already passed," Radia replied dryly, shot him a look, and added. "Just stay home like a good boy, minor."

Han Joon narrowed his eyes, but he couldn’t say anything when he saw Radia’s little smirk before the man entered the car. Oh, that salacious little smirk. Han Joon sighed as he watched the car drive away from the front porch.

"Oh, no! You’re making such a sad face!" Laurel tilted her head and peeked up from his back while covering her face.

Han Joon smiled without averting his gaze from the car. "That’s a lie, Ma’am."

Laurel laughed and joined him watching the car drive off. From their position at the main mansion, they could see the car driving off all the way down the hill, only obstructed in several places by other mansions or trees.

She glanced at Joon’s fixed gaze. "But you do look sad, my dear."

Well...Joon had no idea what kind of face he was making, actually. He used to bring a small compact mirror that his mother had so he could check his expression before he met his father or before he had to be in front of strangers in public. Naturally, he didn’t have one right now, and he didn’t really want to hide anything anymore.

"Is Radia very busy?" he asked.

"Ah, that’s..." Laurel’s reply was rather hesitant. "Well, he does have a lot of work to do. I told him juggling between managing a group and managing a guild would be hard, but..." she shrugged. "Let’s go back inside; it’s cold here."

Han Joon let him be guided inside by Laurel, but he still glanced at the driveway until the end, as if trying to see a glimpse of Radia as much as he could. "Hmm..."

"Why?"

"It’s kind of weird," Han Joon muttered after finally turning away so the house staff could close the front door. "I never imagined he would become this hard-working in the future. I mean...he told me he became a summoner because he didn’t want to work."

Laurel laughed. "Actually, he does that too--using his summons to work, I mean," she smirked. "He probably did not count the fact that those summons from another dimension would not have business managerial capabilities."

"Heh..."

Laurel glanced at the chuckling boy and smiled. "The Radia from your memory is probably very different from the current Radia, huh?"

"Well, I suppose changes are inevitable after all those years," Han Joon shrugged. It did not make sense to think that someone would stay the same for twenty years--especially comparing them with their childhood and teenage selves where they had just tried to find themselves.

Even Joon knew he had changed. And him in his forties was probably different from how he was ’now’ too.

But Laurel told him something surprising. "Actually, the change happened not far from the time in your memory."

"Yes?"

"A few months more...I think? He was getting all irritable and mopey for a few months, and after one point, he started getting all soft and mellow and smiley," Laurel tapped on her lips in reminiscence. "He became kinder, more diligent, more responsible-- he stopped playing around, if you get what I mean."

"Hmm...puberty?" fɾeewebnoveℓ.co๓

Laurel laughed until her eyes sparkled at that nonchalant reply. "Initially, I thought it was because he had someone under his wings."

"Bassena?" Han Joon frowned slightly. The thought of Radia changing because of someone else irritated him.

"You know how firstborns usually started to act more mature after they got younger siblings? Ah, I guess you were already matured even before."

"I understand."

"Yeah, I thought it was because of that at first but..." Laurel stopped and turned around to look at Han Joon. "Now I know that he changed because of you."

"...me?"

"Do you know what changed teenagers the most during their puberty?" Laurel leaned forward and continued in a low, mischievous, but also genuine tone. "Love."

Han Joon blinked. This wasn’t what he had in mind when the conversation started, but...he was liking it.

"They had a crush, tasted the flavor of first love, or perhaps a first heartbreak--and drown in it."

Han Joon raised his brow. Laurel said it happened a few months after the timeline he knew, and he was itching to know what happened during that time that made Radia all irritable, and mopey, but also soft and mellow and smiley...because if he understood it correctly, Laurel was saying that it all caused by him.

Argh! It was so frustrating that he couldn’t remember it!

"Weren’t you also, Joon?" Laurel smiled deeply while pinching Joon’s cheek, snapping him out of his frustration. "This cheeky side of you--it was probably sprouting so you could match his stride, huh? Even I knew Radia was hard to please."

Well...she wasn’t wrong. Han Joon knew what kind of stuff Radia did when he was a kid, going around making chaos in high society. He already knew from back then that he needed to do something different, something that would pique Radia’s interest. He knew he couldn’t look like he was into Radia--not before Radia wanted him.

He played a long game, being so patient, carefully crafting situations where Radia would prefer to spend time with him more than anyone else. And for him to be able to do that, he twisted himself unconsciously; because desiring someone when he had that kind of life and that kind of father was a dangerous game.

"...aren’t you worried?" Han Joon muttered.

"Hmm? About what?"

"That I manipulated him so he would fall for me," he met Laurel’s gaze, feeling both curious and also worried about her reaction.

He knew he ended up in a relationship with Radia, and the family seemed to accept him well. But...did they know about his game? Did they know Joon intentionally made Radia obsessed with him?

Surprisingly for Joon, Laurel responded with a loud laughter that echoed in the living room.

"Pfft--what are you saying, boy?" she shook her head amusedly. "People court others because they want the other person to fall for them."

"Are you not worried about me using him for his wealth and status?"

Laurel raised her brows and chuckled. She took a seat on the couch, facing a spread of flower stalks on the table. She picked a red flower with a smirk. "We did not teach Radia to be someone who could be duped," she stroked the thorn along the stalk and, without trimming them, placed the flower inside the vase. "If someone really manages to use him like that, we’ll applaud them."

Han Joon blinked. Wasn’t that...dangerous? He thought Old Houses and wealthy families loved to gatekeep their circle so regular people couldn’t enter it.

Perhaps he should stop listening to the housekeeper’s ramble about the afternoon soap opera during mealtimes. Ah, right--that was more than twenty years ago. The housekeeper had probably quit already.

"Besides..." Laurel glanced at the dazed boy. "People with that kind of intention won’t ask about it like you did."

Han Joon raised his brow and chuckled softly. He smiled while taking a seat beside her. "Thank you for accepting me."

Laurel pursed her lips and turned her head away. "Hmph--who said I’m accepting you? You don’t even call me Mother. Hmph!"

Han Joon laughed softly--young Radia was definitely taking upon his mother’s personality.

* * *

In the end, Han Joon couldn’t ask about what he had to do to stay close to Radia. At the end of the day, he had to wait until his memory returned. Even if he wanted to do something non-esper related, there was a difference between stuff he thought he could do when he was sixteen and when he was forty.

He could not disturb Radia when the man looked really busy. Something probably happened with the company because even Calix was getting busy, despite Laurel saying she and her husband did not ’work’. Shin and Bassena also had their job piled up in the guild, so the children left the Peak after Nari’s first birthday--where Joon finally met Reina’s family.

Everyone was been cordial and nice to him--a new sensation after all of those nasty relatives from his father’s side. Perhaps that was why, but he felt a bit empty after everyone left. There was nothing much he could do in a house that he couldn’t call his, so except for spending time in the library, he had been idle.

Fortunately for him, the staff had worked tirelessly to get rid of the snow on the walking path, so he could finally run again. It was also nice to look around the Peak, since he had been cooped up in the main mansion for days. It got him to realize that the whole estate was as big as national parks--and more. Just running around the whole estate would be enough for a short marathon.

"Hey, hey, hey!"

In the middle of his light jog, a pair of girls, probably in their early twenties, joined his run. They moved lightly, looking at him with sparkling ruby eyes and swaying strawberry-blond hair. It was clear to him that they were espers, and one of them ran backward to face him while talking.

"I heard about it--are you really forgetting who we are?"

"Unfortunately," Han Joon replied shortly to manage bus breath. "But you must be his cousins."

The other one who ran beside him chimed in. "Are you exercising? Aren’t you just getting out of the hospital?"

"I’m bored."

"Relatable. Wanna go out and play with us?"

The one beside Joon shifted closer and whispered. "Do you know there’s an underground path you can use to go from here to his office?"

"...really?"

"Yeah, yeah--let’s go!"

What a tempting offer. Did that mean he could pop up in Mortix for a surprise visit? Han Joon contemplates for a few seconds before shaking his head.

"...no, but thank you for the offer."

"Eeeh? Why?"

"I don’t want him to get mad at me."

It was a fun thought, but Radia would probably be furious. And it wouldn’t be the annoyed kind--it would be real anger for crossing his boundary.

"Aww~don’t worry about that," the girls didn’t seem to agree. "He won’t get mad at you."

"Yeah, he loves you too much for that!"

"I mean, why else would he kneel in front of someone just for you?"

Han Joon halted his steps as his heart felt like it had stopped beating for a second. His brows dipped and his lips stiffened.

The girls stopped a few steps in front of him. "Why are you stoppi--oh, he didn’t know, Sis."

"...damn," the older-looking one grimaced and grabbed his sister’s arm before running away. "Umm...you didn’t hear it from us, okay?"

"Bye! I mean--see you around!"

Before the girls even left his sight completely, Han Joon had turned around and ran back to the mansion. As fast as he could.