"I'll kill you myself!"
Gyu stood still, the air around him suddenly too quiet. The only sound breaking the silence was the car speeding across them.
His gaze stayed locked on Garam's face, the heat of anger still flush on those sharp features even as Garam's words delivered a small, sharp jolt. The jolt did not move his eyes. He kept them fixed, heavy, on Garam's.
What he saw there was not only a threat,fear sat deeper. Fear of what? What was Garam afraid of? What was he still hiding?
Gyu already knew, at least in part. the sheer truth kept him grounded he was undoubtedly the reason behind the shackles on his tongue.
He lowered his gaze a fraction. A knowing,lopsided smile came to his lips. He inhaled deeply, His voice came out low, almost careful.
"Do you miss her that much?" He asked, his voice barely above a whisper only meant to be heard by him.
"Does she still come to you that strongly?" his gaze fixated on the steering where Garam's hand rested. He continued,
"In all the times you remembered her… did I ever appear?...Did Gyu ever appear.. Beomgyu?"
His gaze shifted from steering to Garam's. There was no emotions meant for him. He takes a painful exhaustion breath.
"Can you never look at me without seeing her instead?" his voice trembled a bit.
The anger drained from Garam's face as if someone had poured cold water over it. The water which reflected his inner turmoil like a mirror. Yes it was like someone had held up a mirror but what kind of mirror?
What truth was it showing him that he had spent so long trying to hide?
Garam did not look at him nor did he answer. He never did.
Garam took a deep steady breath, killed the engine and without looking at him said,
"Leave. I'll call Mom… Hana. She'll come get you."
The words were spoken while his eyes stayed carefully averted. Even when Garam's face was turned toward him, his gaze never quite met Gyu's. It slid past, through, around as if a void stood between them. A void which gave Garam a place to breathe normally but started to suffocate him if he stayed longer. People thought Garam watched Gyu with something close to fascination. They were wrong. Garam had never truly looked at him.
Gyu had always known, every time Kaven claimed Garam was protecting him, Gyu knew the truth underneath. Garam never met his eyes. The first time they had ever seen each other, after the truth of his sister's death, Gyu had found only tears there. Deception always left either tears or hatred in the eyes. Garam's held both and Gyu knew exactly which deception had put them there.
The place that once existed for him inside Garam's heart was gone. Rebuilding it now felt almost impossible.
His thoughts circled back to eyes.
Another pair floated up in front of him... Old, sharp, unforgettable. He had seen those eyes somewhere before. Suddenly the image clarified, the woman in the mask, sitting inside Ijeung's house. Those same eyes. Gyu's breath caught.
The face was different, but the eyes…
The longer he held the memory against the face in his mind, the more certain he became. It was her.
The woman he had been hunting for so long was right here.
The ground seemed to tilt under his feet.
He had known Ijeung for almost a month. He had kept the boy close. And he had never once realized that the boy's mother was the very woman he was searching for.
He could not leave now. Not under any circumstances.
If someone was still following him, they were following Ijeung's mother. And following her meant Ijeung himself was in danger.
He would not walk away. Not like this.
Gyu looked at Garam, then at the photograph still in his mind, and spoke the single sentence that shifted the Garam's exterior.
"I know this woman. She's in this village.
She's Ijeung's mother."
"Ijeung…?" Garam's voice cracked with open confusion. "The little kid who comes to school?" he unbeknownstly asked, slipping off from his non talking zone.
He could not map the connections. The pieces refused to settle into any shape he understood. But then his face gets tensed again, seized by a raw certainty that rose within him. All he knew in that moment was that Gyu was not safe here. He closed his hand around Gyu's wrist and, without another word, pulled him inside the airport terminal.
"I just told you the specific important detail just why are you so determined to send me, he's a kid Garam! If they are after his mom then he might be in danger too... Shouldn't we inform them, we need to save him... Please let me go!" He begged.
"You are not contacting them," Garam yanked his phone, "If i find out you did, Hana wouldn't be the place i will drop you, ever!
Gyu kept struggling against his strength, refusing to yield to his dominance. But as the gates opened, he stood still.
The moment Gyu was checked in with the airline, Garam turned and left. He walked straight out, climbed into the waiting car, and drove away.
Gyu stood behind the glass panel and watched him go.
The car door shut. The vehicle pulled into traffic.
Only then did Gyu take out his phone and make a single call.
"I'd like to stay at your house tonight."