Sponsorship Stigma
Chapter 17
Mom’s Friend
Perhaps because it was dismissal time, the kindergarten was bustling with people.
Yeonjae tried to weave her way through the crowd heading out to step inside.
Before she could take more than a few steps, a voice calling out to her brought her to a halt.
“Jiwoo’s mom!”
Turning around, she saw Seoha’s mother, Hyekyung.
Hyekyung approached and warmly took Yeonjae by the arm.
“Do you have a minute to talk? I was going to call, but I thought it would be better to tell you in person.”
“Yes. What is it?”
“Sigh, you see… I heard from the teacher that you didn’t know about the kids practicing last time.”
Hyekyung lowered her voice, continuing so only Yeonjae could hear.
“I had no idea. When I picked up the kids to take them to the Arts Center, I asked Jiwoo.”
“……”
“I said we should call his mom, but Jiwoo told me you were busy working.”
A troubled look was written all over Hyekyung’s face as she recounted what had happened that day.
“Let’s see. I think I had Jiwoo’s mom’s number.”
“My mom’s number?”
“Yeah. We’re about to leave, so shouldn’t I give her a call?”
“No, it’s okay! She’s busy working right now. We can just go! Jiwoo got permission.”
It had been Jiwoo who stopped Hyekyung as she reached for her phone.
Smiling brightly, the boy had insisted it was fine to just go and urged her to hurry along.
She said she had gone straight to the lesson, remembering the teacher had supposedly given permission as well.
“I know you’re a working mom, so I didn’t call and just left. But to think you didn’t know… You must have been so shocked when you heard. I really should have checked with you anyway. I’m so sorry.”
Looking at the woman overcome with remorse, Yeonjae clenched both hands tight into fists.
“Are you saying I put him up to lying? Did Jiwoo say that?”
The mocking chuckle that had broken through Jeheon’s twisted lips.
“Fine. It’s all my fault.”
“……”
“I rented a rehearsal hall because they said there was nowhere to practice, and I brought in the symphony orchestra because they had no teacher to look after the kids. And yes, I egged Jiwoo on. Satisfied now?”
The image of Jeheon turning away after throwing those words at her surfaced in her mind.
Yeonjae had genuinely believed he had coaxed Jiwoo into it.
Renting a rehearsal hall, attaching a symphony orchestra teacher, and blowing up a kindergarten talent show into a Daejeon ensemble concert…
She thought he was staging everything just to tie Jiwoo to the Foundation.
Yet it turned out Jiwoo really had lied.
The belatedly sinking reality made Yeonjae bite her lip.
When she placed a hand over her chest, she could feel her heart pounding with escalating speed.
Perhaps, deep down, she had known all along.
That day, as she turned and walked away, the trembling in the hand holding Jiwoo had refused to stop.
She had gripped him with unconscious force, terrified her tremors might pass onto the child.
The child wouldn’t have done that to me on purpose. But in the end, that had merely been what she wanted to believe.
A hollow emptiness washed over Yeonjae.
“You really were quite upset, weren’t you? I’m so sorry.”
Hyekyung’s voice, asking with renewed concern, snapped Yeonjae back to her senses.
She shook her head at Hyekyung.
“No, not at all. It wasn’t your fault, Seoha’s mother.”
It was simply that her child had grown enough to start keeping secrets from her.
Before she knew it, the inside of Yeonjae’s mouth had gone dry and rough.
“And… thank you so much for taking on the trouble of picking up the kids. Please don’t worry about that day.”
“It means a lot to hear you say that, Jiwoo’s mom.”
Even as she waved her hand to assure Hyekyung it was fine, Yeonjae’s mind remained a tangled mess.
“Don’t worry about picking up the kids! I’ll take good care of them, okay?”
Watching Hyekyung speak with such warmth, Yeonjae forced the corners of her mouth up into an awkward smile.
“Yes, of course. Thank you so much.”
“Alright. The kids should be coming out soon. See you tomorrow, Jiwoo’s mom!”
Finishing the conversation with words of gratitude, Hyekyung headed inside the building.
Though Yeonjae had tried to act unbothered in front of her, the smile dropped from her lips the moment she was alone, dragged down by swelling emotions.
A suffocating sense of self-reproach swept in.
She hated to admit it, but this time, the mistake had truly been hers.
* * *
“Let’s take a ten-minute break.”
As the piano melody ceased, Teacher Tami clapped her hands.
At the announcement of break time, Seoha pitter-pattered toward Hyekyung.
“Would you like some coffee, Teacher? We’re heading to the cafe.”
“Shall we? Let’s go together.”
“Mom, I want hot chocolate!”
“Alright.”
Hyekyung gently stroked Seoha’s hair.
Holding her hand, she was about to step out with the teacher when she paused and turned back to Jiwoo.
“Aren’t you coming too, Jiwoo?”
“I’m okay!”
“Come along anyway.”
“Umm. Jiwoo wants to stay here and practice.”
Jiwoo smiled up at Hyekyung from the piano bench.
“I like the piano better than the cafe!”
“Still, leaving Jiwoo all by himself isn’t…”
Hyekyung looked rather troubled, glancing back and forth between Jiwoo and the doorway.
“I’ll stay behind, so go on ahead.”
Teacher Tami offered a bright grin and gave Hyekyung and Seoha a gentle nudge on their backs.
Promising to order something for the teacher as well, the two disappeared from the hall.
Watching the teacher take a seat in the middle of the hall, Jiwoo turned back around to face the piano.
The boy lifted both hands.
His small hands descended from the air onto the ivory keys.
Even though he had been pressing the keys nonstop just moments ago, all ten of his fingertips still tingled with excitement.
It was nothing like the clunker piano at home.
That one barely produced sound unless he pressed down with all his might, but the piano here was soft and responsive.
Not only that, the melody that bloomed every time his fingers brushed the keys was breathtaking.
Just like the performances by the pianists he had seen on television.
‘Can I become like that too?’
Like the older boys and girls.
If he could play wonderfully like them, would Mom smile for him?
The thought of Yeonjae beaming brightly at him once the performance ended brought a flush of heat to the child’s cheeks.
Overjoyed by the mere thought, Jiwoo began pressing the keys.
Clear, crystalline notes resonated through the air like rolling glass marbles.
A quiet smile crept onto Jiwoo’s lips.
As the tempo quickened, a peculiar, fluttering sensation stirred in his chest, carrying him deeper into the music.
He was entirely lost in the notes, oblivious to the presence of someone approaching.
“Little genius.”
The voice coming from behind made Jiwoo freeze in an instant.
The piano notes snapped to a halt, and along with them, the rhythmic footsteps striding toward him stopped.
Slowly, the child spun around on the bench. His eyes widened into large circles at the sight of the man before him.
Standing there was Jeheon, who had approached without him even realizing.
Just a moment ago, the teacher had been sitting in the middle of the hall. Now, the teacher was nowhere to be seen, leaving only Jeheon in the room.
‘Mister?’
Along with the unspoken word, Jiwoo’s parted lips twitched.
Jeheon, who had walked right up to the stage, stepped up onto the platform.
Having closed the distance in mere moments, he came to a halt right beside him.
“You’ve improved quite a bit in the meantime, haven’t you?”
With the narrowed distance, his voice reached Jiwoo with striking clarity.
As their gazes met steadily, Jiwoo quickly lowered his eyes.
When he first spotted Jeheon, he had felt a surge of happiness at seeing him after so many days.
It had been an entire week since he last saw Jeheon leaving through the lobby.
“Mom, isn’t that handsome mister coming back anymore?”
“CEO Gu? We haven’t seen him lately. He must be busy.”
Whenever Seoha and Hyekyung brought up Jeheon, Jiwoo had flinched.
Because he really hadn’t shown up since that day.
He had worried that Yeonjae and Jeheon had fought because of him, and that was why the man stopped coming.
What if Mister never comes back?
I want to follow him and learn the piano, though.
Unlike those fears, he was genuinely glad to see Jeheon appear.
Yet that gladness was quickly pushed aside by awkwardness.
Over Jeheon’s face, the memory of the man arguing with Yeonjae overlapped.
Naturally, that led Jiwoo to remember what he had done.
Lying was bad.
He knew that, yet he had lied to his mother anyway.
The guilt that had gradually begun to fade over the past week flared back to life, weighing heavily on his chest.
With his head bowed, Jiwoo merely pressed down on the piano keys one by one.
“Aren’t you going to say hello?”
A hand reached out and rested atop the grand piano.
Jiwoo’s gaze shifted to the large hand. Unlike his own, the hand was broad, with strong, defined lines.
“You should look someone in the eye when you talk to them, little genius.”
“I’m not a little genius. I’m Jung Jiwoo.”
Jiwoo snapped his head up, his eyes locking with Jeheon’s.
Unlike when the man had looked at him from a distance, the direct gaze looking down at him was overwhelmingly steady.
Soon, the corners of Jeheon’s lips curled up softly.
“Right. Jung Jiwoo.”
With his hand still resting on the piano, the child took in the tall man standing at a slight angle.
The rolled-up sleeves of the dress shirt revealed the faint veins along his forearms.
The tall, broad-shouldered build. Clad in a perfectly tailored suit, the man looked dashing as a model, even through the eyes of a five-year-old.
Perhaps because of that, his own name rolling off Jeheon’s tongue sounded exceptionally cool today.
“Did you make up with your mom?”
Huh?
Not quite sure if they had truly reconciled, the child gave a hesitant nod first.
In truth, Yeonjae had said they would talk about it another day, but she hadn’t brought it up since.
Could letting things settle like that really be called making up?
“Men shouldn’t tell lies. It isn’t cool.”
“……”
“When you do something wrong, speaking honestly and apologizing—that’s what makes someone cool.”
Jiwoo fiddled with his fingers.
Then what Jiwoo had done wasn’t cool at all. Because he still hadn’t told her the truth.
“What if it’s too late?”
Jiwoo asked in a small, feeble voice.
Yet the words reached Jeheon, who pulled up the edge of the piano bench and sat down beside him.
“Nothing is ever too late. What matters is saying it now.”
“……”
“If you want to become a pianist, you have to become a cool kid first. That’s how you get popular.”
“Like you, Mister?”
Seeing Jiwoo ask in return, Jeheon let out a hearty laugh.
“Seoha and the auntie said you’re handsome, and Teacher Tami did too.”
That wasn’t all.
Whenever he visited the kindergarten, the teachers there remarked on how handsome Jeheon was as well.
At the mention of Teacher Tami, Jeheon’s smooth brow twitched slightly.
After appearing to ponder for a brief moment, his lips parted.
“What about your mom?”
“My mom?”
Jiwoo fell silent, as if lost in thought.
Then, he pictured Yeonjae in his mind.
In his memories, whenever Yeonjae was around Jeheon, she never seemed to like him.
Her eyes when looking at Jeheon were always filled with either sorrow or a sharp edge.
“Are you friends with my mom, Mister?”
Instead of an answer, Jiwoo chose to ask a question of his own.
At the child’s question, a subtle glint passed through Jeheon’s eyes.
“Do we look like friends to you?”
“Umm. No.”
Hesitating for a second, Jiwoo opened his mouth.
“I think you guys broke off your friendship.”
He recalled how classmates at kindergarten who fought with each other would declare the next day, ‘We broke off our friendship!’
If fighting and never making up meant breaking off a friendship, that was exactly what Yeonjae and Jeheon looked like.
“Broke off our friendship?”
The unexpected choice of words made Jeheon’s lips slacken before he burst into laughter.
“You’ve got quite an eye, kid.”
Though it was closer to an amused scoff than a gentle smile, it looked dashing enough to captivate the child’s attention.
“The thing is, I want to get along with her.”
“Are you going to make up?”
In an instant, a bright sparkle lit up Jiwoo’s eyes.
If Mom and Mister could become good friends again, wouldn’t he be able to join that place called the Foundation?
A tiny sprout of hope bloomed in the child’s heart.
Just as Jeheon parted his firm, straight lips to answer—
The firmly shut door of the hall swung open, and Teacher Tami’s brisk, cheerful voice echoed through the room.
“Let’s get back to practice!”
When Jiwoo turned around, he saw Hyekyung and Seoha, who had returned before he knew it.
It was truly terrible timing.
