LV Chapter 7.1 || My Dear Sponsor

“Shall we have a meal together on your birthday?”

It was early April, about a week before Sasya’s birthday, when Karel made this unexpected suggestion. Sasya’s eyes widened in surprise.

“A… a meal…?”

Sasya, who hadn’t celebrated his birthday with anyone for a long time, stammered.

“Yes. If you already have plans to celebrate it with your friends, we can postpone my turn.”

“No! I don’t have any plans!”

Sasya denied hurriedly, feeling touched. At the same time, he recalled feeling a bit embarrassed about his attire when he had previously gone to an upscale restaurant with Karel.

“Yes, of course I’d like to eat together, but Karel… I don’t have a nice suit. I need to dress up well to go to a restaurant with you…”

Karel responded with a kind smile.

“You seem to want one quite a lot. Alright. Let’s get one tailored.”

“Wow…”

Sasya’s eyes sparkled.

However, contrary to his expectation of going shopping together, Karel handed Sasya money for the suit and assigned Woods, his other secretary, to accompany them instead.

“I have a business trip. George will be coming with me. I’ll give you plenty of money, so don’t hold back and choose what you want. If you have trouble deciding, Woods can help you.”

Woods, with her glossy black hair, waved cheerfully, saying it had been a while.

“I’ll definitely return before your birthday.”

Karel said with quite apologetic eyes. Although Sasya was very disappointed to see him go, seeing those apologetic eyes made them not want to complain. So he decided to just maturely understand.

After seeing him off, Sasya sighed, thinking the hotel room felt unnecessarily bigger when staying alone. Karel had left on Saturday morning of all times, right at the start of the weekend, so now Sasya had nothing particular to do either.

Sasya flopped down on the bed and looked at the scenery outside the window. Spring had come, and various trees with fresh light green buds were coloring Central Park. While he had no particular preference for seasons that changed with time, he did like the scenery turning light green in spring and the shorter warm-up time needed as it was easier to raise body temperature.

And if he had to pick one more thing… having his birthday was nice too.

Actually, he hadn’t really attached much significance to birthdays before, but now that Karel was celebrating it, he wanted to consider it special. Sasya decided that from now on, when someone asked about his favorite season, he would answer “spring.”

The sound of Woods setting up her work laptop came from the study. While rolling around on the bed for a while, feeling a sense of security from the small sounds made by another person, Sasya reached for the white envelope Karel had left.

The envelope was very thin, so he thought there would be nothing inside, but it contained quite a few crisp new bills.

‘Are these $10 bills?’

Then Sasya took out the unfamiliar-feeling bills and examined them front and back. The bills were marked as $100, and there were 50 of them.

‘100 dollars times 50… then add another zero…’

His brain slowed down at the enormous amount he had never touched before. Only after a while could Sasya properly calculate the amount in his hands.

‘$5,000?’

***

The first thing Sasya did while counting down the days until Karel’s return was to go to Karel’s regular tailor shop with Woods to have a custom suit made.

“Since you have a slim and pretty figure, let’s show it off. We’ll make it with a fitted waist and not too wide trouser legs.”

At the tailor’s words, Sasya added his own opinion.

“Um… I’d like to have a vest made too.”

“A three-piece suit! Even though you’re young, you have a taste for classics. You have a great sense of style. Alright.”

Sasya made a satisfied face, recalling the vest Karel always wore under his suits. He paid $1,000 as a deposit, with the remainder to be paid when the suit was completed.

Afterwards, Sasya received birthday wishes from Levin, Julian, Woods, and Oksana in turn. Levin gave a hibiscus-scented candle, and Julian gave $200 limited edition Nike sneakers. Sasya loved both of his gifts. Woods gave the biggest bouquet Sasya had ever received and a beautiful bedside lamp, saying it was prepared together with George who was away on the business trip, and Oksana brought a crepe cake made with multiple layers of dough from a cafe near the school.

‘This is my favorite. Enjoy it. If you had told me earlier, I could have thought of a better gift… sorry it’s not much.’

Sasya, who hadn’t expected to receive any gifts at all, was rather surprised and couldn’t stay still. The crepe cake that Oksana said was her favorite was really delicious.

That night, Sasya received a call from his mother. Since it had been a while since he last talked, Sasya thought she had called to wish him a happy birthday.

― Is everything alright? Are you not sick anywhere? My back hurts so much. These days my left chest keeps aching too.

However, the conversation was no different from their usual talks on any other ordinary day. Sasya responded, feeling somewhat dejected.

“Then you should go to the hospital soon.”

― Going to the hospital always ends up costing money and gives me a headache. If you don’t know about it, it’s fine, but doctors always want to cut you open and poke at wounds to be satisfied.

And until the end of the call, it seemed his mother hadn’t remembered Sasya’s birthday. Of course, it was comprehensible. His mother was very busy with ‘outside work’ and ‘housework,’ having dozens of things to remember and take care of each day.

Therefore, Sasya, who had been considering whether to tell her that his birthday was coming up, ended up not saying anything. And as always, they even ended up arguing with raised voices at the end of the call.

After hanging up the phone with a gloomy feeling, Sasya fell into thought.

‘Mom is so stubborn. She could at least go for one medical check-up. Where is she spending all the money I gave her?’

Of course, he knew that the money he gave was too little to be worth mentioning. That money couldn’t even cover half the rent. Sasya had been splitting the $400 school supply allowance in half, sending half to his mother and using the other half for food expenses. However, since receiving the living expenses card from Karel, he had no need for the money, so recently he had been sending all of the school support money to his mother.

At that moment, Sasya’s gaze suddenly fell on the bills in the envelope. $4,000 in cash after taking out the $1,000 deposit from $5,000. Karel had said to use it to get the suit made and spend the rest on having a party with friends and eating good food.

Sasya swallowed dryly. It seemed he didn’t need an extremely expensive party, and maybe the suit could be made a bit more affordably. Then he could save about $2,000.

Sasya called his mother again.

Thinking that since this was spending money on necessary things, Karel would understand.

***

“I’ve never been to a place like this before.”

Sasya had experienced all sorts of amazing things since living with Karel. However, the interior of the restaurant that Karel had rented out entirely for Sasya’s birthday felt like it was on a different level from anywhere Sasya had been before. From the ceiling that opened up almost three stories high, a crystal chandelier stretched down to the floor, scattering light, and the open windows were decorated with sculptural elements that looked like both wave patterns and enormous clouds.

He had thought he would be very happy just having dinner with Karel while looking down at the night view from the hotel room today… Faced with this unexpected treatment, Sasya was so grateful and happy he didn’t know what to do. At the same time, he was very glad he had dressed well. If he had come wearing his shabby sweatpants or jumper, it would have been a great discourtesy.

Karel looked with fond eyes at the suit that fit Sasya’s slim body well.

“A good outfit has its advantages.”

Sasya nodded slightly while watching his reaction.

Actually, before the custom suit was completed, he had requested to cancel the vest. The tailor shop seemed a bit troubled but agreed and deducted that amount from the price.

Thanks to that, Sasya was able to get his custom suit for $3,000 and send the remaining $2,000 to his mother. Plus, Karel had even complimented it as a ‘good outfit.’

Everything had wrapped up well. Sasya firmly believed so.

Not knowing that Karel had already figured out how all that money had been used.

“At last year’s party, you didn’t wear proper clothes, right?”

“Yes…”

Sasya’s body shrunk a little at the fact that he remembered his appearance from their first meeting.

“I bought it from someone else at a cheap price. I brought it from home… thinking I might need it if there were parties at school. I knew it wasn’t a very good outfit.”

Sasya said, feeling a bit intimidated.

“Now you can go anywhere without feeling inferior to others.”

“It’s all thanks to Karel.”

Contrary to Sasya’s worry, Karel didn’t point out his previous shabbiness. Karel, who had been looking at Sasya with a generous smile, called the server. Then from far away, a birthday cake the size of Sasya came wobbling in on a wagon.

“Wow…”

Sasya jumped up and, hands trembling, circled the cake several times.

“Can I take pictures?”

“Of course.”

Sasya took one shot from the front to capture the cake well, another shot very close up, and one more of the small figurine doing an attitude pose while spinning around on top of the 17-tiered white cake—it symbolized Sasya’s age.

“Karel? Is this supposed to be me?”

“You can eat it too.”

Then Karel boldly reached out, removed the figurine, and demonstratively licked the head part slightly. He even tried to bite off the neck completely! Until then, Sasya had only thought ‘rich people really are different’ while watching Karel casually ruining the expensive cake, but now he caught his breath and quickly snatched what was presumed to be his sugar figurine from his hands.

“I-I’ll eat it. It’s my cake after all.”

“Go ahead.”

“Hmm, if I put it in the freezer, it won’t spoil, right?”

Next, very small, colorful foods were brought out one piece per plate. Sasya looked at them, each a work of art in its own right, and gobbled them all up in one bite, saying they were too small. Then he chattered that this place must have prepared about 30 dishes since they weren’t serving filling portions.

By the time Sasya, who had been skeptical about the portion sizes, was barely able to breathe with his small stomach completely full, Karel held out the gift he had prepared.

“Happy birthday. You’re seventeen now.”

“Wow…”

The box Karel gave him shimmered with a subtle pearly glow and was decorated with gold leaf. ‘Open it.’ At Karel’s soft urging, Sasya opened the box. Inside was a beautiful glass bottle containing clear, swirling liquid.

“It’s perfume. I had a perfumer create it specially for you.”

“…”

“This is truly a unique fragrance in the entire world – quite the meaningful present, isn’t it?”

“Karel…”

Making a choked sound, Sasya unconsciously rose to his feet. The chair scraped back with a screech, and the napkin fell from his lap. Standing in a daze, Sasya went to Karel’s side and gently hung onto his neck.

“Thank you.”

Sasya mumbled in a choked voice.

Actually… he wanted to rub his cheek against his. He wanted to convey a more affectionate thank you. And while doing this, he wanted to brush his lips against his, ever so slightly. He was very curious about how that would feel.

But Sasya firmly suppressed the urge.

“You seem quite moved.”

Karel chuckled while gently stroking the back of Sasya’s hand as he clung tightly to his neck. And very generously, he showed the consideration of letting Sasya remain lost in that lingering moment a bit longer.

Though it was a very happy dinner, they entered the hotel separately. Karel said he had some very troublesome matters lately and emphasized that he needed to be careful on his way back.

“I’ll let you off here. Go in first.”

“What about you, Karel?”

“I’ll circle around this area for about 15 minutes before going in.”

Getting off at a spot slightly away from the hotel entrance, Sasya turned around and headed back to the hotel. Indeed, at the spot Karel had hinted at, there were people with large black cameras. They turned their attention when they saw someone coming to the hotel, but upon realizing it wasn’t who they were waiting for, they looked away.

***

When Sasya woke up the next day, Karel wasn’t there. As Sasya was squirming under the blanket, waiting as always for Karel to wake him up, what came flying to the crown of his head was George’s voice.

“I know you’re awake. Go wash up quickly.”

Sasya froze stiffly while buried under the blanket. He had been happily waiting for what he thought was Karel’s presence moving around the living room to come wake him up, but it had all been George…

Though the content of what was said might be the same, it felt drastically different when it came from a different person. Sasya silently got up, tossing aside the blanket, and went to the bathroom.

Sasya splashed cold water on his puffy face. It seemed better to brush his teeth after breakfast. As soon as he came out of the bathroom with his wet bangs slightly separated, Sasya found George busy preparing breakfast.

“Where did Karel go?”

As he pulled up a chair and sat down, George served cereal in a small bowl.

“He went to his family home.”

“Family home? His real house?”

“Yes.”

“Where is that family home?”

“I’ll tell you if I ask him and he says it’s okay to tell you.”

“…”

Having shut Sasya up, George elegantly poured milk over the cereal as if decanting wine. Even while holding the heavy milk jug high in the air, he didn’t even blink as if he felt no weight at all. Though not as much as Karel, George also seemed to have considerable physical strength. While pouring milk like wine was probably not showing off but rather a habitual motion, for a moment it looked very cool in Sasya’s eyes.

“You said you were an ex-soldier, right?”

“Yes, I was.”

“Then have you killed people? Did you shoot guns? Or maybe pilot fighter jets…”

“Have you been watching too many movies?”

George cut off Sasya’s words with that response. Finding him slightly annoying as he raised his eyebrows at him, Sasya internally mocked how an ex-soldier was now just pouring milk for him as Karel’s secretary.

“Eat quickly. Where’s your bag?”

“Why do you need my bag?”

“Because I was given a memo of things to pack.”

Saying that, George looked at his pad memo. When Sasya pointed to where his sports bag for school was placed, George started meticulously packing items while muttering – ballet shoes, tights, body lotion for easily dried legs, brush for scraping shoe soles, taping bandages, and such.

“You don’t have to be so thorough. If anything’s missing, they’ll lend it to me at school.”

“I see.”

While responding casually, George ignored Sasya’s helpful advice and remained focused on packing the bag. Sasya turned back around and concentrated on eating. The absence of Karel across the wide dining table was dampening his mood. As Sasya scraped at his moist omelet filled with small onions, potatoes, and cheese with his spoon, he suddenly thought of something and asked George.

“George. What does it mean when someone says their daily life is troublesome?”

“Ah… that must be referring to me. No matter how hard it is to prove the professionalism of a secretary’s work, the trivial tasks keep increasing and becoming more troublesome.”

As George complained while tossing aside the bag he was packing, Sasya disagreed while nibbling on his spoon with his front teeth.

“What…? That’s not it. You seem to have it pretty easy. But that’s not what I meant…”

Not backing down from George who was looking at him sideways, Sasya mumbled.

“Karel said it. He said he’s someone whose daily life is troublesome.”

“Hmm…”

“He said he’s sensitive because his private life is being exposed.”

“That’s understandable.”

As soon as Sasya finished speaking, George brought over several newspapers that were beautifully spread out like a fan on the low glass table in the living room to the dining table. There were not only English newspapers but also ones in French and German, though there were no Russian newspapers that Sasya could confidently read.

“In today’s world, not many people only read paper newspapers, but there are some who must read them. Like my boss. You probably thought these were just decorating the table, but…”

Sasya flinched at those words.

“Look. This is today’s newspaper.”

In the section George opened, there was a photo of a familiar man. It was Karel.

Sasya could find three more images of Karel in other newspapers as well. As he was looking at Karel’s photos in the newspapers with a feeling of wonder and surprise, George’s voice fell over his head.

“These weren’t taken at official venues.”

“This is in front of the hotel, right?”

“That’s right. So you can recognize that much, huh?”

“Is Karel famous?”

“Famous… well, I suppose you could say that. He’s someone whose mere change of residence becomes news.”

Saying that, George tried to fold up and take away the newspapers. Sasya grabbed his wrist and said he wanted to look a bit more.

Though as George said, the photo quality in the newspaper articles wasn’t great, it was still clearly recognizable that was Karel – blonde hair noticeable even in dark places and his solid build standing a head taller than others.

“There’s even more on the internet. If you want to know about Mr. Clements’ every move, looking up news articles would be faster.”

“What?”

“Paparazzi are always following him around.”

Saying that, George got Sasya up, saying he was running late.

Though he hadn’t even eaten half his breakfast because he was distracted by the newspapers, Sasya got up from his seat as he led him. After finishing brushing his teeth, Sasya put on his tights and leotard, then covered them with training pants and a t-shirt. As full spring approached, the thickness of clothing was gradually decreasing.

Finally, just as Karel always did, George checked Sasya’s bag and hung it on his shoulder.

“So when is Karel coming back?”

At Sasya’s question, George narrowed his eyes and made an ‘hmm’ sound before giving an unclear answer.

“Probably sometime today?”

“What time today?”

“That I don’t know. Ah, but he did say he’ll definitely be back before bedtime, so you can wait for him.”

George waved his hand through the closing elevator doors.

‘You can wait for him.’

Before, it was the opposite – he would say ‘don’t wait and go to sleep.’ Though the latter was actually more considerate, Sasya preferred the former.

Riding down alone in the quiet elevator car, Sasya fell into thought.

Karel is a very busy person. Sasya still couldn’t imagine the adult world, and thought about his work, his fatigue, and the many people around him who troubled him. While he wouldn’t attract attention from anyone except Levin even if he caused a commotion that got him into a police car, just moving houses made the newspapers for him. The complexity of the world Karel experienced was probably beyond what Sasya could imagine.

Though he couldn’t always be by his side, when he had business trips or personal schedules, he would assign Woods or George to him, and if he was going to be late, he would let Sasya know in advance like this. Even today, when he returns home from school, the house might be empty at first, but he didn’t feel as gloomy as before. Because if he waited, Karel would surely come.