PAO 69

Smelling oil before he was even all the way down the stairs, Seowon headed straight for the kitchen.

“When did you wake up?”

“Not long ago.”

While Junghoo finished flipping the bacon in the frying pan, Seowon sat on a stool at the island bar. The guy who’d said he was going to sleep hugging Seowon’s naked body as he slept couldn’t possibly be fully dressed himself. As he looked at the waistband of the pants hanging on his hips, his exposed back muscles flexed quite a bit.

“What are you going to do if oil splatters on your nipples, cooking shirtless like that.”

At Seowon’s displeased-sounding words, Junghoo’s back muscles moved even more. Wow, his back muscles are smiling.

“It’ll hurt if oil splatters on you.”

As Seowon muttered that it was no laughing matter, Junghoo brought over two plates. Toast, fried eggs, bacon, and even avocado—it was as if he’d replicated a brunch plate he’d seen at some cafe.

“You can just blow on it for me.”

When Junghoo even placed a fork and knife next to him, Seowon grimaced in horror.

“Does blowing on it make the heat go away?”

“Yeah.”

“Should we really try it once?”

He said it, thinking that maybe if Junghoo got hurt once, he’d obediently wear a shirt in front of the stove next time, but Junghoo’s shoulders shook with laughter. I told you it’s no laughing matter.

“Next time, wear a shirt when you cook. If you don’t, I’m going to cook shirtless too.”

Before picking up his fork, Seowon drank the orange juice that was already set out. He took just one gulp, but it felt thicker and seemed to catch in his throat more than the juice he usually drank, and he raised an eyebrow.

Did he squeeze this too?

He imagined Junghoo squeezing oranges, his forearm muscles flexing, and it suited him quite well. As expected, a guy with strength should be the one to do this and that…

“If you get naked for me, I’d like that.”

Breaking from his thoughts, he looked at Junghoo. He wondered what he had just said, but then realized it was a response to his own words about cooking shirtless.

Seowon watched Junghoo, who was smiling genuinely at what had been said as a joke, with wary eyes.

“Even if I’m naked, I’ll be wearing an apron, so don’t smile like that.”

“That makes me look forward to it even more.”

Seeing Junghoo’s smile deepen, Seowon tilted his head. Did I say something strange?

“It’d be incredibly sexy if you were completely naked with only an apron on.”

Then, realizing that the picture Junghoo and he had imagined were different, Seowon quietly picked up his knife. He had meant he would just be topless like Junghoo, so why was that guy thinking of him being completely nude?

“Don’t think about it any further.”

When he issued the threat while holding the knife, Junghoo flinched, shut his mouth, and nodded. He was being obedient, but he probably wouldn’t stop thinking about it entirely.

Since that sly bastard subtly does whatever he wants anyway.

Seowon shot Junghoo a glare and then cut his bacon.

“My vacation is almost over.”

Compared to the times during college when he would get a certificate or work a part-time job as soon as vacation started, this was the first time he had spent his time so leisurely in one place.

Considering it was the most relaxed and laziest time he had ever spent, it hadn’t been a bad time.

‘There were gains, too.’

Junghoo’s physical condition.

While biting into the bacon with his front teeth, he looked at Junghoo. Before, his skin was white like Snow White’s, but he’d gotten quite tan. On top of that, with a healthy glow returning, his complexion looked quite good.

“Then you have to go get tested too, right?”

At Seowon’s repeated question, Junghoo nodded. Since they had agreed that he would get a full examination after leaving the villa, having only received a simple check-up from Yoo Taeha, he would probably have to go right away.

He didn’t know how many tests there would be, but Junghoo showed no particular reaction.

“Do you… not feel anything?”

“Feel what?”

“You know, like, what the test results will be. It doesn’t matter if you think you’re completely cured, but aren’t you anxious?”

He carefully studied Junghoo’s expression, then spoke bluntly since there was nothing to hide. At Seowon’s question, Junghoo put down his fork and picked up his juice.

“To be honest, I think you’ll get mad if I tell you.”

“So you were holding back, planning to tell me after we ate?”

Seowon ate his fried egg, signaling him to just say it. As he neutralized the salty taste of the bacon with the egg, Junghoo’s voice drawled.

“I don’t care what the results are.”

“Hey, you…”

A curse immediately rose in his throat and almost came out of his mouth. Barely holding it back, Seowon lifted his chin as if to tell him to continue.

“For you to say that when you know what I did for you is incredibly selfish.”

“It’s because I know what you did for me.”

“Yoo Junghoo!”

“The time we spent at this villa is enough. Whatever the results, Han Seowon, don’t you feel any sense of responsibility.”

He understood why Junghoo had spoken as if drawing a line. He had said he would take responsibility for Junghoo, so Junghoo was doing this in case he might be disappointed by bad results.

He should have just been brazen and said, ‘You soothed me, so I’m much better now.’ That would have been more like the Yoo Junghoo he knew.

“What are you talking about… It’s only now that I’m saying this, but I don’t get it. Why didn’t Mister do anything when you were sick?”

Honestly, wouldn’t he have sent him abroad or something to find some method? With the love Mister had for Junghoo, he should have been able to think of any method possible.

“He tried everything here.”

“What?”

“He brought in renowned doctors in the field of trait medicine, and if he read a paper and found related content, he would contact the academic journal and ask to meet the author.”

Junghoo chuckled and pushed his own glass of juice toward Seowon. It was an action he took after seeing that Seowon had already drunk more than half of his. But what Seowon wanted right now wasn’t juice, but Junghoo’s words.

“He’s developing a new drug, too.”

“So it’s not that he did nothing, but…”

“It’s the opposite.”

He just wasn’t showing it on the surface, but he was doing everything he could for Junghoo.

“A few drugs did come out, but none of them could completely calm my pheromones.”

“Wow, so I managed to do what even a new drug couldn’t.”

Junghoo happily agreed with Seowon’s flabbergasted mumble. Just a moment ago he was saying not to care about the results, yet now he was readily giving Seowon all the credit.

“You crazy bastard, I didn’t say that for you to be happy about it.”

“To me, Seowon is my medicine.”

“Why do you keep taking something I just said and…”

“When I was taking the medicine, I didn’t really want to live, but after having sex with you, I started wanting to live.”

Every change, starting from when he tried to pull himself together so that Seowon wouldn’t get hurt, all started with Seowon as the catalyst. It was because of Seowon that he attempted to form a bond, and it was because of Seowon that he endured somehow. And it was because of Seowon that he wanted to get better, and because of Seowon that he wanted to live.

“I get it now.”

Junghoo raised his head to tell Seowon what he had belatedly realized.

“Get what.”

Having already sensed that a normal conversation with Junghoo was impossible, Seowon retorted bluntly. He also drank his juice.

“My future is you.”

“Pfft, ah, seriously…”

The sourness of the juice not only hit his throat but almost came up through his nose, making Seowon cough and wipe the juice from his lips.

“I’m going to live by your side.”

Junghoo muttered as if making a new resolution.

Worried that this new determination seemed to have made Junghoo-mon lose his mind, Seowon tried to stop him.

“You’re not going to listen even if I tell you to think of a different future, are you?”

“Yeah.”

Thinking how praiseworthy his self-love was, Seowon just gave up on stopping him. It wasn’t like he was someone who would listen just because he was told to.

“Fine. Do your best.”

“Yeah. I’ll be a great supportive husband to you.”

“…”

His intention to stop trying to dissuade him was about to vanish, but the phrase ‘supportive husband’ made it flare up again.

“What do you mean, supportive husband.”

“I’ll support you from behind in everything.”

“What do you think I’m going to do that you need to support me.”

“Should I set up a company for you? Or a building? Do you want to open a cafe?”

Seowon was becoming increasingly speechless.