HPK 68

Unlike Wooseung, whose heart was in turmoil, Taejung was no different from his usual self.

“What do you want for lunch.”

He pressed down on the crown of Wooseung’s head with his hand before letting go and plopping down onto the sofa. He leaned his head comfortably against the backrest and fiddled with his phone with one hand.

Come to think of it, he had already grown accustomed to eating with Taejung in this house. At every mealtime, Taejung would indifferently ask Wooseung, “What do you want to eat,” just like now. To match his preference for junk food, the meals mostly consisted of things like pizza or hamburgers, but occasionally they would eat a variety of foods that Junseok had packed separately.

Just then, the phone screen turned off, and the recent call history he had been staring at blankly disappeared. At the same time, the memory of last night came to mind.

‘Who is Kim Jaemin.’

‘What about Jung Soohyun.’

‘Jiyoung Chan.’

Names that should never have come from his mouth. He couldn’t even dare to guess why he was asking. And…….

[It was like he came to keep his lover in check hahaha]

And Hyojun’s text, which had made his heart even more turbulent.

Wooseung slowly raised his head. There, Taejung was staring intently at him, his eyes lowered.

Seeing Wooseung just staring blankly at him instead of answering his question, he raised an eyebrow crookedly. A delinquent aura instantly surrounded him.

“Should I choose?”

He opened and closed his lips, then blurted out whatever came to mind.

“Ah, for me, just rice is fine.”

“Rice, what kind.”

“……Uh, sushi.”

The sushi his grandmother used to love so much suddenly came to mind. When her condition was severe, his grandmother could only have tube feeding, but when she wasn’t sick, she especially liked sushi topped with white fish. It must be the aftereffect of the short phone call. That sushi came to mind.

Taejung immediately sent a text to Junseok. Not long after, Junseok came in, set down paper shopping bags held in both hands, and left.

“Thank you for the food.”

An assortment of sushi was neatly arranged in a square box. The grains of rice were glossy and the fish was thick, making his mouth water just by looking at it. Wooseung picked up his chopsticks and was about to pick one up, but he paused when he saw the sushi placed in front of Taejung.

“Uh……. You don’t eat sushi?”

It made sense, because there were two take-out containers in front of Taejung; one was filled with egg sushi, and the other was filled only with fried tofu sushi. Both types of sushi were typically chosen by those who couldn’t eat raw fish.

“I don’t eat raw stuff.”

Sure enough, Taejung said the surprising words that he doesn’t eat raw food as he picked up a piece of egg sushi.

“I’m sorry. We could have eaten something else.”

Wooseung put down his chopsticks, not knowing what to do. He felt uncomfortable, as if he had made him order food he couldn’t even eat. And in his position of being treated to the meal, no less…….

However, Taejung just smirked and playfully jerked his chin, saying, “Just eat.”

“…….”

When Wooseung couldn’t bring himself to pick up his chopsticks, Taejung threatened him as if he would take it, saying, “If you don’t eat it, I’m taking it.” Only then did Wooseung pick up a piece of sushi and dip it lightly in soy sauce. The moderately packed rice grains fell apart, blending harmoniously with the taste of the raw fish. It tasted completely different from the sushi he used to order and eat with his grandmother when she wasn’t sick.

They ate together while watching the TV they had turned on. Their eating speeds were remarkably different, but perhaps because the amount they ate was different to begin with, they finished their meal at roughly the same time.

As Wooseung cleaned up the empty containers, he kept sneaking glances at Taejung. As soon as the meal was over, he sprawled out on the sofa and started fiddling with his phone.

“…….”

Are all sponsor relationships originally like this?

Not going home even after sex, eating together, and even inspecting his phone.

Inspecting his phone…….

If Taejung had checked his recordings or memos, he could have fully understood, but he only checked his recent call history and the text messages he had exchanged.

[It was like he came to keep his lover in checkㅋㅋㅋ]

A very possessive lover.

Wooseung was startled by the thought that suddenly came to mind and shook his head vigorously. It was truly a descriptor that didn’t suit Taejung at all. It was a thought he had found so absurd even after thinking of it himself that he had immediately thrown it into the trash can in his mind, but why did it keep…….

Why did the trash can keep gaping its mouth wide open. As if it were about to vomit out what was inside at any moment.

♡

Thoughts are truly a frightening thing. Like a plant that grows endlessly once it absorbs water, they grow branches vigorously. One cannot dare to predict what kind of flower will bloom at the end of the branches, or what kind of fruit will be borne.

Wooseung was listening to Taejung’s voice coming from beyond the half-open bedroom door, then quietly turned away.

Taejung is strange. No, he was a strange person to begin with, so perhaps this current feeling is closer to suspicious.

He had woken up for a moment at dawn. His throat was dry, so he had intended to get up carefully and go to the kitchen. If only Taejung hadn’t been awake, leaning against the headboard of the bed.

He was looking at his phone. The reason the unremarkable scene particularly caught his eye was because the phone in his hand was his own.

‘That’s my phone…….’

Taejung tilted his head and looked at Wooseung, who had awkwardly raised his upper body.

‘Yeah, it’s yours.’

He was at a loss for words at the shameless reply. His slender fingers, which were resting on the soft bedding, curled inwards. Wooseung replied timidly, “Yes……,” and then lowered his legs off the bed. He went straight to the kitchen and drank some water. Then, on his way back to the bedroom, he heard the voice on the phone and turned his steps toward the living room.

Wooseung walked past the sofa and toward the window that filled the entire living room wall. He stood so close that his nose almost touched it and looked outside. Someone might say it’s not a particularly special view. The houses packed tightly on the hill, the church visible beyond them. And the sky, embracing all of this, slowly brightening in the predawn light. Clouds, like layered cotton, floated slowly behind the church’s steeple.

“What are you doing.”

It was Taejung who woke him from his absorption in the scenery unfolding outside the window. He wrapped an arm around Wooseung’s waist and playfully pressed his chin down on his shoulder. Like a cat kneading a thigh with its front paws, it had just the right amount of pressure, making it feel ticklish. Wooseung reflexively hunched his shoulders and said, “I was just looking outside.”

“There’s nothing to see, what are you looking at.”

“There’s a lot to see…….”

He pictured the long, horizontal window in his own home. The sash, which hadn’t been replaced in a long time, made an unpleasant metallic screeching sound, creak, whenever the window was opened, perhaps due to the weight of time. The windowsill, on which dust settled quickly even if wiped every day, was filled with traces of previous tenants.

The view beyond the window is also very different from here. The black asphalt would get scorching hot in the summer, making it impossible to even think of opening the window, and the only changing scenery in the semi-basement window was the occasional pair of sneakers of someone passing by in front of it. Or things like discarded cigarette butts, take-out cups with half-finished coffee.

Perhaps that’s why, he never got tired of looking at the sky that took up half of the window.

But his sightseeing didn’t last long. It was because Taejung, who had quickly lost interest, deliberately put strength into the arm wrapped around his waist and acted annoyed.

“Are you going to stay up all night here?”

He even added a taunt, saying that there were many ways to be sentimental. He was hearing all sorts of things just for looking outside for a bit.

Wooseung glanced down at the arm wrapped around his waist. The touch that had been playfully pressing his shoulder was gone, but he was still in his embrace all the same.

“…….”

Was he always this frequent with physical contact?

Wooseung’s brow furrowed slightly before smoothing out. His mind was already complicated, but Taejung kept throwing new assignments at him without any warning. And just the problem, without any options to choose from.

Just then, the loose t-shirt he was wearing as pajamas was lifted, and a hand slid inside. At the touch that was subtly rubbing his stomach, he turned to look at him, and Taejung made that characteristic expression of his, saying, “What.” The hand that slowly moved up held his nipple between its index and middle fingers and playfully rolled it.

“Ngh…….”

A strange sensation bloomed, and his shoulders curled inwards.

“Wow, you can feel that?”

Taejung teased the flinching Wooseung in a mischievous tone.