MORE 35

“Once the housing issue is settled, I’ll get a decent job. After that, I’ll get to see you get married… and see your niece or nephew born…. I’d like to live together, but your wife would hate that, right? I should keep my housing subscription account.”

“Why say ‘your wife’? It’s ‘my sister-in-law’.”

“Sister-in-law, my foot. I’m two months older than you.”

Kwon Yuwon smirked, pulling up only one corner of his mouth. Siyul laughed along and leaned his back against the back of the chair.

Still, I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to get married. Siyul gazed at the table and tried to sketch out his distant future. Unlike Kwon Yuwon’s blueprint, where even a single dot was clear, mine was hazy, as if caught in a thick fog.

■ ■ ■

“Huh?”

Siyul, who had been lying on his stomach playing a mobile game, opened his eyes wide. The sender of the text was a name that had remained in his mind. They had exchanged numbers, but they had never been in contact until now.

Do you happen to remember me? It’s Woo Taeju.

How could I not remember? It was the day I went to a bar for the first time in my life, intending to sleep with someone else, and walked proudly into a motel with a person I’d just met. Thanks to that courage, I spent the night with Woo Hyunse, so I couldn’t forget him even if I tried.

Yes. We saw each other at the bar last time.

You remember. What have you been up to lately?

The exchange of greetings continued. Woo Taeju said he had been frantically busy because it was final exam season. I had heard that, but seeing him talk about exams and assignments, it really seemed like he was a college student.

Do you happen to have time tomorrow?

He asks as if he already knows that tomorrow is my day off. But I already had prior plans. Naturally, the partner was Woo Hyunse.

It happened just a while ago. Woo Hyunse had blocked Siyul as he tried to get out of the car. He told him to just sleep over since he had tomorrow off anyway. With Kwon Yuwon wide awake at home, where was he saying such nonsense… Besides, Kwon Yuwon’s intuition was like a ghost’s.

Just the day before yesterday, as Siyul was sending a short reply to Woo Hyunse, Kwon Yuwon poked Siyul in the side like a veteran detective, asking, “It seems the number of texts you’re sending lately is increasing; have you met someone?” I broke out in such a cold sweat that Siyul hastily sent an unfinished sentence—‘Good ni’—and hurriedly turned on a game.

‘What person am I meeting? It’s just the part-time job group chat.’

Fortunately, Kwon Yuwon didn’t dig any deeper. Ever since they drank at the convenience store that one time, Kwon Yuwon had been spacing out more often. Siyul was busy covering his own tracks, assuming it was because he had given up on the chance to earn big money.

‘I can’t. Yuwon will be suspicious.’

Siyul, finished with his reminiscence, clutched his seatbelt tightly as he replied. He understood Woo Hyunse’s dissatisfaction. He wanted to be together just as badly. When he lay side-by-side with Woo Hyunse in the car, even if they just listened to the radio without any conversation, a soft breeze would blow through his heart.

‘Kwon Siyul, you start with the word “no” for everything.’

‘That’s because you only ask for things that put the CEO in a difficult spot.’

‘But I want to be with you longer, Kwon Siyul. All night long.’

There was no way he wouldn’t understand the hidden meaning in those words. His cheeks flushed instantly. To hide it, he leaned his body toward the window.

‘I’m going in.’

‘Is tomorrow okay?’

‘For what?’

‘Staying together all night.’

‘Ah, seriously.’

Woo Hyunse didn’t know how to give up. He tried to achieve whatever he wanted somehow. Even if it was something that inconvenienced Siyul.

‘I’ll tell you tomorrow.’

‘My patience has grown a lot since meeting you, Kwon Siyul. Did I tell you?’

‘I think you’re still a bit lacking. Keep working on it.’

‘If I endure any more than this, I’m a Buddha.’

He looked serious as he cracked the joke. As Siyul let out a laugh, Woo Hyunse’s crumpled face relaxed slightly. It was still mixed with annoyance, but there was less tension in his eyes than just a moment ago.

‘Didn’t you forget anything?’

Woo Hyunse asked Siyul, who was unbuckling his seatbelt. “Ah,” Siyul paused, stretched his head out, and gave him a loud, smacking kiss on the cheek. Woo Hyunse quickly grabbed the chin that was about to pull away and stole a kiss. In that short moment, he tasted the inside of his mouth before pulling away.

‘Text me before you sleep.’

‘Yuwon…’

Their lips collided again. The excuse that was about to leave Siyul’s mouth was swallowed back down his throat.

‘I can’t concede on that.’

Siyul stared at Woo Hyunse with his lips parted. His eyes were dazed, as if he were bewitched. Wouldn’t it be fine if he hid in the bathroom to send a text? After making a plan, he nodded.

Because of what happened at dawn, he couldn’t meet Woo Taeju. When he sent, “I have prior plans,” Woo Taeju expressed his disappointment and promised to meet another time. As Siyul sent a reply saying, “Let’s grab a meal sometime,” he doubted if such a day would ever come. Woo Hyunse knew every single one of his days off. Even if he said he was meeting someone else, would he let him go so easily?

“No way.”

Siyul smirked and turned on his mobile game. It was as if he already knew the answer.

He opened his eyes to the sound of an alarm. Groping around his pillow, he found his phone. Narrowing his eyes against the glare, he checked the time. 10:00 AM. Considering the time he fell asleep at dawn, his sleep duration was woefully insufficient.

Still, he couldn’t ask for more sweet sleep. Siyul rubbed his sleepy eyes and sat up. Because of the noisy alarm, Kwon Yuwon naturally woke up too. He didn’t lift his face buried in the pillow, just let out a groan: “Ugh…”

“Isn’t today your day off…?”

Kwon Yuwon hadn’t been able to sleep yesterday, either. After tossing and turning several times, he had gotten up, sighed, went to the bathroom, and then went outside to get some air before coming back in. He seemed to have finally fallen asleep, but Siyul couldn’t help but worry.

Maybe it was because that proposal he received from the pig still lingered in a corner of his mind. It would be nice if he could just give it up cleanly.

“Uh, yeah.”

“You don’t have many days off lately…”

His voice was gruff, steeped in sleep. Siyul replied, “We need to earn money, where’s the time to play?” and hurriedly went into the bathroom. Having to lie to Kwon Yuwon, of all people, made his heart prick with guilt, as if he were being stabbed with a blunt, large needle.

He moved quietly so as not to wake his roommate and prepared to leave. He didn’t even use the hair dryer. The sound of the wind might cause Kwon Yuwon to open his eyes, complaining it was noisy. Since he said he was going to work, he wouldn’t press him for more details, but if he happened to ask anything, Siyul would feel twitchy with a guilty conscience.

He came out with his hair barely dried, just roughly towel-rubbed. As soon as he left the room, the cold wind tangled in his damp hair. It was a chill that made him sneeze automatically: “Achoo!”

“Dress warmly. You’ll catch a cold…”

Kwon Yuwon, who he thought was asleep, nagged from behind. His voice still held traces of slumber. Siyul answered vaguely, “Yeah, yeah,” and buttoned his coat tightly. This much cold was nothing to him, having undergone cold-weather training twice.

Woo Hyunse wanted to come all the way to the front of the inn, but Siyul had done his best to stop him. He really didn’t want to experience running into Kwon Yuwon. Recently, even when Woo Hyunse dropped him off, he had him let him off far away from the inn alley so he could walk the rest of the way. Woo Hyunse seemed quite bothered by that, but while he might concede on other things, he had absolutely no intention of giving in on this.

They met far away from the inn this time, too. He hunched over and tapped on the car window, and it opened with a click. Siyul quickly squeezed himself into the car. Perhaps because he’d left with his hair not fully dry, his body felt even more chilled, and his skin had grown cold from the wind. He sniffled, rubbing his arms vigorously with both hands.

Suddenly, a hand reached out. A palm touched his cheek, which was flushed red like a child with windburn in winter. Siyul’s eyes crinkled at the warm body temperature. He didn’t shy away but rubbed and buried his cheek into the hand.

“Why are you dressed so thinly?”

“Eh, it’s not that cold. Is this even cold?”

Even though his voice trembled in parts due to the cold, he talked a big game. Woo Hyunse let out a dry laugh, as if Siyul’s bravado was absurd, and took off the coat he was wearing to cover him.

This time, he didn’t refuse, unlike when they were by the riverside. Instead, he brought the lapel to his nose, sniffed it, and grinned. The scent permeating the fabric felt cold, but the warmth the coat held was cozy.

“It’s weather just right for catching a cold.”

“I don’t catch colds easily. Do you know how sturdy I am?”

“Is that so? You didn’t look like you had much stamina.”

“Excuse me? I’ve never heard anyone say I have low stamina. I’m good at hanging on the pull-up bar for a long time, and I was Grade 1 in push-ups and sit-ups.”

Siyul immediately retorted against the unjust misunderstanding. Whether it was math or English, it was faster to count his rank from the bottom in other subjects, but he was confident in P.E.

“You got exhausted quickly last time.”

“When?”

“In bed.”

After tossing out an unexpected answer, Woo Hyunse drove the car smoothly. Siyul, clutching the coat with both hands, jerked his head up to glare at the driver’s seat. His face was toasted a lovely shade of red.