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Chapter 9 …
It hadn’t even been that long since she finished her phone call with Jesse.
Yet the questions piling up in her mind led to one conclusion.
Jesse had contacted Aymus before he contacted Harry.
Which meant he had first asked Aymus to take care of Harry, waited until he agreed, and only then informed her about it.
In other words, she had been pushed behind Aymus in priority.
The cruel realization pierced painfully through Harry’s heart.
[Tell him to go home.]
[Harry, how could you say that to a guest…….]
[I don’t want to see anyone right now.]
Even though she knew Aymus had done nothing wrong, she could not stop herself from resenting him.
Aymus silently watched the middle-aged woman walking down the stairs alone after going upstairs to get her daughter.
It was Harry’s mother.
Her face was full of awkward discomfort.
“I feel terrible about this. Our Riri says she doesn’t want to see anyone right now.”
Our Riri.
Quietly, Aymus repeated the woman’s words in his mind.
It was one of Harry’s habits too.
Our family. Our house. Our Jesse.
The expressions sounded rather awkward in English, but whenever they came from Harry’s mouth, they sounded natural.
“Would it be alright if I spoke to her myself?”
While replaying Harry’s speech habits in his head, Aymus asked politely.
Actually, Harry’s house was not very large, so he had heard the entire conversation between mother and daughter from the second floor.
Including every word about how she did not want to see anyone.
But he could not just leave like this.
And it was not only because Jesse had asked him to look after her…….
“If Harry refuses, I’ll come right back down.”
The woman, who seemed hesitant for a moment, reluctantly nodded.
“Alright.”
“Thank you for allowing me.”
Aymus politely thanked her until the very end before heading up the stairs to the second floor.
Behind him, he could hear Harry’s parents quietly talking.
[You said he’s Jesse’s friend? Did Jesse even have a friend like that? I’ve never even heard his name before.]
[Shh, lower your voice.]
Among the Korean words, Aymus caught the familiar name.
But pretending he had heard nothing, he silently continued climbing the stairs.
[And Jesse isn’t actually our son. It’s possible there are friends we don’t know about.]
At the repeated sound of Jesse’s name, Aymus clenched his fist so tightly the bones on the back of his hand turned white.
Soon, he reached the second floor and found Harry’s room without difficulty.
Each bedroom door had a nameplate hanging on it.
‘Riri’s Room’
The nickname Jesse had given her remained not only at school, but here as well.
After staring at the nameplate for a moment, Aymus lightly knocked.
“Harry.”
The sniffling from inside the room immediately stopped.
He could easily picture the girl inside holding her breath in silence.
“It’s me, Aymus Huntington.”
“……”
“I’m not trying to force you to go to the party. I just want to check if you’re okay before I leave.”
There was still no answer, but Aymus waited.
Waiting was something he was used to.
“……Wait a second.”
At last, a small voice came from inside the room.
Though weak and trembling with tears, he did not miss it.
“Tell me when you’re ready.”
After giving Harry some time, Aymus stepped back from the door.
How long had he waited like that?
The tightly shut door finally opened, and Harry appeared.
She was wearing the black mini dress they had picked out together, her long hair elegantly pinned up.
And because the dress left her shoulders exposed, her graceful collarbones and elegant shoulders stood out even more.
‘Too bad for JJ.’
That was the very first thought that crossed Aymus’s mind when he saw her.
He genuinely felt sorry Jesse would miss seeing her looking this beautiful.
“Are you okay?”
He carefully studied Harry’s face as he asked.
She seemed calmer now, but there was still moisture lingering around her reddened eyes.
“I’m okay. Thank you for worrying about me.”
“It’s nothing.”
“And…….”
Harry paused to steady her breathing.
It looked as though she were trying to suppress something, but a hiccup slipped out from between the lips she had pressed shut.
“Hic.”
Her cheeks flushed red as her shoulders trembled with hiccups.
She had probably wanted to hide the fact that she had been crying, yet now everything had been exposed, so naturally she was embarrassed.
‘Should I tease her?’
A childish urge rose within him to tease the girl whose face had turned bright red.
But he could not ruin the hard-earned opportunity with his own hands.
Changing his mind, he pretended not to notice anything.
“And I’m sorry you came all the way here for nothing.”
After finally calming her hiccups, Harry apologized to him.
If he had been in Harry’s position, he would have slapped the annoying person and told them to get out of his house immediately.
Her rejection was unbelievably gentle, and he nearly laughed because of it.
“I don’t really mind.”
He tossed out the bait as casually as possible.
“But won’t you regret it?”
“Regret what?”
Like a wary cat, the girl stepped back cautiously and looked at him with suspicion.
Sharp instincts.
Whether she was suspicious or not, Aymus leisurely shrugged and dangled the bait a little further.
“You went through all the trouble of dressing up beautifully. It’d be a waste to stay home.”
Even Aymus’s own mother would spend the entire day preparing whenever she had a party to attend in the evening.
Which meant Harry had probably spent well over an hour doing her makeup and styling her hair.
“You don’t have to go to the homecoming party. I know someplace way more fun than that.”
“……”
“I’ll take you there.”
The bait had been cast.
All she had to do was bite.
Even if she chose him out of revenge toward Jesse, he did not care.
‘Please bite.’
Unlike his calm appearance, the inside of him was burning with impatience.
‘Should I bring up Jesse?’
He was seriously considering whether he should say Jesse would not want her spending the day miserable either.
Just then—
Harry, who had been staring down with lowered lashes the entire time, finally looked up.
The moment their eyes met,
Aymus started becoming confused about who exactly was holding the bait in their hands.
“Are you doing this because Jesse asked you to?”
Before she could even finish the question, Aymus firmly shook his head.
“No.”
“Then why…….”
“I just happened to be free today too.”
Harry seemed to remember that Aymus still had not found a homecoming partner, because she let out a weak smile.
“Guess I got lucky.”
“I did.”
In more ways than one, Aymus silently agreed.
Harry stared at him quietly for a moment before finally extending her hand with a resigned expression.
“Then I’ll leave it to you.”
Escorted by Aymus, Harry walked downstairs.
Her parents, who had been sitting on the living room sofa talking, looked startled when they saw their daughter.
They had fully expected Aymus to fail at convincing her.
But things had gone completely differently than expected.
Harry’s mother asked with wide eyes,
“Riri, you decided to go to homecoming?”
“No. Not exactly, but…….”
Her parents, who were normally so busy running two restaurants that they barely had time to breathe, had finally made time today.
It was Harry’s last homecoming party of high school, and they also had not seen Jesse in a very long time, so they had intentionally cleared their schedules.
Thinking about it now, Harry felt guilty for taking out her emotions on them for no reason.
As she trailed off awkwardly, Aymus answered politely in her place.
“It’s not the homecoming party, but we decided to go out for a bit so she can feel better.”
“That sounds good too. Alright, be careful and have fun.”
“You must be back before ten.”
“Yes, sir. I’ll keep that in mind.”
Harry’s father seemed rather pleased by how disciplined Aymus sounded, like a military recruit standing at attention.
“Jesse has a good friend. I wonder why he never introduced him to us before.”
“I know, right?”
Her mother agreed before pulling Harry into a hug.
“Forget about what upset you and go have fun.”
“Okay……. I’m sorry for earlier.”
“It’s alright. I understand how you feel. I’m disappointed too that I can’t see Jesse.”
By now, there should not have been any trace left of the tears Harry had shed.
But somehow, her mother still seemed to see right through her.
“Thank you for understanding.”
At Harry’s whispered words, her mother smiled teasingly.
“Should I scold Jesse for you the next time I see him?”
“No! Please don’t.”
Harry hurriedly stopped her with a horrified expression.
She had definitely been hurt by Jesse passing her off to Aymus.
But at the same time, it had probably been Jesse’s own way of trying to keep his promise to her.
That was how she decided to understand it.
She did not want to resent Jesse over something like this.
“You really do love Jesse an awful lot.”
Clicking her tongue, her mother pulled out her phone.
“Since we’re all together now, let’s take a commemorative picture. Honey!”
At her mother’s call, her father jumped to his feet, ready to take the photo.
But there was still one person missing.
Looking around the living room, Harry asked,
“Where’s Robin?”
“When he heard Jesse wasn’t coming, he went into his room.”
Harry was not the only one who had been looking forward to seeing Jesse today.
Staring toward her younger brother’s tightly shut bedroom door, Harry turned back to Aymus.
“You don’t mind taking a picture, right?”
“Mm.”
Even though most boys his age would probably find her overly enthusiastic parents annoying, Aymus remained as calm as ever.
‘In some ways, maybe he is a little like Jesse.’
While quietly staring at him, Harry’s gaze stopped at the back of his neck.
“Your bow tie is crooked.”
Considering what time he had arrived, it was obvious he had rushed over the moment Jesse contacted him.
That was probably why neither his clothes nor his hair had been perfectly neat.
“Ah, damn…….”
“I’ll fix it for you.”
Since she often tied Jesse’s bow ties for him, it was not difficult.
Harry completely untied the bow tie and began tying it again from scratch.
To match his height, she had to stand on tiptoe, and when Aymus noticed her trembling legs, he quickly lowered his waist for her.
Because of that, the distance between them became close enough for their breaths to touch.
Maybe it was because of how close they suddenly were.
But for some reason, she became aware of him.
