BOYFRIENEMIES

MAPLES

8 Years later

The tall stack of paper on the desk blocks Ethan's view to see who's on his doorstep.

Ethan's dark workroom, with only the lights on the desk, makes Ethan unable to guess who dares to enter his study without knocking on the door.

"Sir, it's morning, you've been up all night, it's time to rest" Christopher said softly as he pushed the pedals forward so that the wheelchair moved forward.

The old man was no longer strong to stand, since the last two years his health deteriorated and he was often in and out of the hospital.

"Aren't you supposed to rest, take good care of your health, you can't die without my permission"

Ethan stands up from his work chair and walks up to Christopher, he then pushes the wheelchair out of his study, towards the first floor where Christopher's room is.

Nick, the waiter Ethan assigns to keep Christopher from falling asleep on the couch in Chris's room, holds a book by Jacoba van Velde, a book that used to belong to Sean, ethan's tenth birthday present.

Ethan kicks the table and makes a little fuss to wake Nick up.

Nick who was still half conscious from his sleep jumped in shock when he saw Ethan, he immediately stood firm while occasionally yawning.

Ethan is ready to raise his hand to hit Nick, but Christopher holds the end of Ethan's sleeve, shaking his head.

"Don't blame him, he's too tired to take care of me 24 hours" Christopher said, coughing.

Ethan is forced to lower his hand and throw his breath rough, in his eyes Nick who does look tired from top to bottom.

"Sorry sir" said Nick bowed.

Nick is only 13 years old, Ethan finds Nick lying on the side of the road wearing a thin outfit during the winter. Sean and Christopher insist on bringing Nick home on humanitarian grounds. And it just so happens that Christopher just got out of the hospital and needs someone to look after him.

"I'll hire one more man so you can take turns looking after Christopher. So take care of Christopher properly, or I'll throw you off the roof of the Gold Tower so your head breaks and your brain splashes on the sidewalk" Ethan said coldly.

Nick nodded with a trembling body. For a child his age to get death threats is not natural and create a fear for him.

"And you, be a good parent and listen to the doctor, stop wandering around with your weak body!" this time it was Christopher who got the nagging from Ethan.

Christopher simply smiled and nodded slowly.

Ethan had intended to return to his study, but Sean was waiting for him in front of Christopher's room with a slight smile on his lips.

"It's early in the morning, you should be in the office, don't act as you please just because I entrust the company to you" Ethan said, acting cynically, though he was quite curious why Sean who rarely smiled even smiled now.

Instantly the smile on Sean's face disappeared, he again put on his usual expressionless face and lowered his head.

Since Ethan's psychological departure from Chaerin is not very stable, he resigns from the company and appoints Sean as his successor, many of whom argue with Ethan's absurd decision, sean has limited thinking beyond the savant syndrome he suffers from, which makes him a numbers genius.

But Ethan remains on his decision, and until now, Sean has proven that he is capable of being paired with other normal people, although sometimes Sean makes a little mistake on his job, but can still be tolerated.

"Say what's wrong?" ethan said as he walked, followed by Sean in the back.

"Ronan died two years ago" Sean said.

Ethan stops his steps, turns to face Sean and squeezes Sean's shoulder with both hands.

"I've taught you before, that you shouldn't look happy when bad things happen to good people close to you, you should feel sad" Ethan breathed.

Ethan thinks that Sean's cognitive abilities have developed rapidly, but he still can't express himself properly.

"That's not what makes me smile" Sean said plainly.

Ethan immediately raised his head waiting for Sean to say his next sentence.

"Someone whom I assigned to watch Ronan said that Ronan went to Japan after he resigned from Gold Dragon 8 years ago, and lived in Rika's parents' estate. After that we never again keep an eye on Ronan for being busy diving into the ocean in search of Miss Chae"

Ethan watches closely, and tries to figure out the core of Sean's story.

"Until three years ago someone saw Ronan along with a girl about 4 or 5 years old, I ignored him because I didn't think it was important. But this morning one of our guys sent me an email and said that Ronan was dead 2 years ago, he also sent me a picture of the altar where Ronan's ashes were stored"

Sean hands over his phone and shows me a picture.

The photo has Ronan's ashes in a glass cabinet and a picture of Ronan with a black-haired girl smiling broadly holding a large lollipop.

In addition to the photo there is also a post card with a streak of colorful markers forming a picture of four people who join hands, with the words mama, Mapel, Jiji, uncle.

"I get it now, you're happy because before Ronan died he had a family that loved him, you're a good kid" Ethan patted Sean's shoulder proudly.

"Not that!" Sean brushes Ethan by the hand and raises his tone in annoyance.

"You yelled at me?!"

Sean snorted, then zoomed in on the photo on his phone and panned the girl next to Ronan.

"This kid is wearing the necklace you gave Miss Chae, it's not a necklace you can find anywhere, you ask a jeweler to make a necklace that there is only one in the world" Sean explained at length.

Ethan grabs Sean's phone and looks at the picture more thoroughly.

"Find this kid, find him at all costs" Ethan orders with watery eyes.

"I've told people to check it out, but the place where Ronan used to live is no longer there, replaced by a shopping center building, he said, people who used to live around there said they had left Japan" Sean said in a disappointed tone.

"I said find the boy, I didn't ask you to give me a reason!!!" suddenly Ethan's emotions burst out, a smile that had disappeared was replaced with a sharp eye piercing gaze.

"But sir"

Not done Sean talk, Ethan exposed Sean many times without the slightest intention of Sean to avoid.

"Why do you always make excuses, why can't you work properly, you make me sick, I've had enough patience raising an idiot like you!"

Ethan's shout made the whole house surprised and soon arrived. None of them dared to stop Ethan. The only one in the house that can stop Ethan is Christopher, but Chris has just taken a sleeping pill and is now sleeping very well.

Hongjung's personal servant Sean even knelt beside Ethan rubbing his hands together in tears asking Ethan to stop immediately. Sean was like his own son, he could not bear to see Sean hurt.

Nick who also witnessed the madness of Ethan could not bear to see Sean who continued to be hit without a fight, as well as the cry of an old woman who was ignored by Ethan.

Nick emboldens himself to pull Ethan and push him away from Sean.

Nick knows what he's up to now could get him a severe punishment from Ethan. Ethan might throw him out, or throw him off the top of the building, but Nick can't just keep quiet. He knows that Sean must be innocent, Ethan's sometimes uncontrollable temper is the problem.

Ethan laughed as he closed his eyes with the back of his hand, grabbed a gun from one of the guards and pointed it at Nick.

"I hate traitors so much" Ethan said as he pulled the trigger, launching a bullet at Nick, which the boy could not escape.

Ethan throws away his gun and staggers away leaving the crowd panicking as Nick falls to the floor.

*

Chaerin was wiping the freshly finished glasses and putting them back on the shelf. One of the glasses she was holding slipped and fell back into the sink when a girl suddenly startled her by pulling the edge of her shirt.

Cherin turned and looked at the girl.

"Ma, I found this under the bed, is this papa?"

Maple shows a worn-out picture of herself with Ethan at the wedding, a photo Chaerin had accidentally taken when he ran away from Ethan.

Chaerin immediately snatched the photo from Maple and tore it to pieces and threw it into the trash beside him.

"Not" Chaerin said briefly, his face water instantly turned cloudy, and he tried to refocus on the glasses he was drying.

"That must be papa"

"I said no, your father is dead"

"Mama lied!" scream Maple.

Chaerin took off the glass he was holding and once again looked at Maple, but this time with glaring eyes.

"Papa's not dead yet, Jiji says papa's not dead!" Maple insists.

"Ronan lied to you, do you trust Jiji more than you do?"

"The teacher's mother said to bring both parents to the school festival, Maple was always ridiculed because papa was never present, anyway Mapel wanted papa and mama to come!" maple's whining makes Chaerin feel guilty, he can't possibly tell Maple that his father is alive and that he is an ****.

He has been struggling to avoid the man for the past 8 years, and he does not want his hard work all this time in vain just because of the whining of his son that makes his heart weak.

"Mama will come with uncle, you can pretend in front of your friends and say that uncle is papa" Chaerin said.

"No way!" Maple stomped her feet to the floor crying out.

Chaerin hugged her and tried to make Maple calm but to no avail. Maple kept whining and crying.

Whichever mother in the world could have seen her son sad, Chaerin did so, even though he was just a teacher at the bar, he tried his hardest to raise Maple, he did whatever his son asked him to do, bought him many toys and beautiful clothes, although he himself rarely bought new clothes.

Even Chaerin was willing to forget his grudge against Antoni so that he could give a normal life to Maple.

But the one thing he can't give to his father, even if he has to die, Chaerin never intends to tell Maple who his father is.

Who knows what will happen if the boy finds out, or if Ethan knows.

Ethan will probably take Maple from her, and Maple will probably prefer to live with Ethan who has everything compared to his short-lived self.

"Maples! Stop crying and get in your room, we don't have to talk about this anymore, you know!" Chaerin invites Maple's body and encourages her to leave.

He didn't want to scold Maple, but if it wasn't stopped now, Maple might make a bigger fuss next time.

"I hate mama, I hate mama the most!"

Maple ran into the house, and not long before the sound of door slamming, and also the sound of items thrown.

"That child, it could be that his temper is very similar to someone!" Chaerin complained while massaging his temple.