PAO 75

“No.”

Junghoo answered in a choked voice. It seemed his chest had indeed taken a direct hit. Seowon sighed, debating whether to click his tongue as well. And Junghoo had no intention of letting go.

“I asked for an answer…”

All he did was hug him.

“I can’t shamelessly ask you to be my boyfriend. If I die…”

“Stop. From now on, you only die if I die.”

Seowon slapped Junghoo’s hand. He felt like he knew why this guy hadn’t asked him out, so he replied even more harshly.

“And most couples break up while dating, what are you thinking about forever for?”

“I don’t want to break up.”

“Then let’s not date either. If we don’t date, there’s nothing to break up from.”

Seowon grinned, mocking Junghoo’s timid response. In truth, while he was chiding Junghoo on the outside, he was also reflecting on his own actions. It was just dating, not marriage, literally. You don’t have to be in love to date, but he had been too serious about it too.

“Let’s put all that aside and think about it. If we just like each other, we can date. How about it?”

“But I haven’t even prepared a ring.”

“What are you talking about? Just answer my confession.”

“I don’t have a bouquet either.”

“Ah, so…”

A ring, a bouquet.

Realizing what they were used for, Seowon shut his mouth.

“I’m a bit sad that I have nothing right now, but I’d like to be your boyfriend.”

Junghoo’s whisper in his ear was filled with undeniable joy. As if that wasn’t enough, he pressed his lips to Seowon’s ear, the moist sound of a kiss piercing through clearly.

“I never thought I’d be able to date you. It felt like something so happy that I didn’t dare wish for it… Am I really your boyfriend? Huh? Seowon, does this mean I can be your alpha?”

“What’s so difficult about dating? To be honest, I also thought you could only date with some grand feelings, but I don’t think that’s the case. Let’s not think too deeply.”

“Okay. I get it. I love you, Seowon.”

Junghoo nodded emphatically and continued to pepper kisses here and there.

“What are you doing, showing affection like this out here?”

“Why? We’re a couple, so it doesn’t matter.”

At Junghoo’s words, asking what the problem was, Seowon, unable to move his trapped body, turned his free head to the opposite side.

“Still, no. You stand out too much, everyone’s staring.”

At Seowon’s words, pointing to the gazes directed at them, Junghoo finally reacted. He seemed to be looking around to see who was watching, and Seowon thought it was surprisingly compliant for a person who usually had no interest in others.

“This is my boyfriend.”

Ah, he was looking so he could show off.

“We started dating today, do you know how long it’s been since we met? This is a story you really can’t listen to without shedding a tear…”

“Shut up.”

He stopped Junghoo, who was wiping the corner of his eye with his index finger as if he were really about to squeeze out a tear. Junghoo didn’t move a muscle, instead just rolling his eyes to look at him.

“If you do anything more to stand out, I’m going home.”

Thanks to his handsome face, he was used to people staring when he was with Yoo Junghoo, but that didn’t mean he liked it. So, after preventing him from drawing any more attention, Seowon broke free from his embrace and stood up.

“Where are you going?”

Junghoo, still in the same position, looked up at Seowon and asked. He sent him a pitiful look as if asking if he was really going to leave him behind, but Seowon responded with a snort, as if to say, ‘don’t be ridiculous.’

“Don’t you think you should change now? You don’t need to be reckless anymore, and you don’t have to act like a crazy bastard.”

Before, he did it to hide his illness, but now none of that mattered anymore.

“But I’m crazy to begin with.”

“That’s ridiculous. When you were really sick, you acted like a completely normal person.”

From before Junghoo collapsed at the villa to when he had somewhat regained his senses, to anyone who didn’t know him, he was just an ordinary kid who happened to be handsome.

And now he was acting crazy, as if anyone would fall for that.

“I’m crazy about you.”

But Junghoo stubbornly insisted that he was crazy.

“Do you want to keep being the crazy one?”

“Yeah.”

What was so great about it that he wanted to protect it so much? Seowon mulled it over and then shook his head.

“Let’s go. You crazy bastard.”

Come to think of it, he really had treated Junghoo like a crazy bastard a lot. He wondered if Junghoo knew that and was acting this way, but it didn’t matter. All that mattered was that he liked that crazy bastard.

“Get up and take my hand.”

At Seowon’s words, holding out his hand, Junghoo broke free from his frozen state and quickly stood up.

“Father!”

At the sound of the front door opening, Seowon shot up from the sofa. At that, Han Sucheol stopped as he was coming in and looked at Seowon.

“Were you waiting for me?”

“Yes, yes. I thought I should see you and tell you something before I leave.”

Only then did Han Sucheol notice the large bag next to Seowon.

“It looks like you’re leaving again.”

In the past, he had lived in his own studio apartment, and when the business was struggling, he had stayed at Junghoo’s place. So, Han Sucheol, for whom his son’s comings and goings were not awkward, recognized the situation immediately, and Seowon nodded his head.

“I’m going to stay at Junghoo’s place.”

While Han Sucheol came over and sat down, Seowon pondered how to talk about Junghoo. If he were to put it simply, he could just tell him about Junghoo’s condition. But his heart wasn’t drawn to that. So when Han Sucheol was staring at him, he said it very simply.

“We started dating today. It’s our first day.”

He told his father first.

“Congratulations.”

Han Sucheol wasn’t particularly surprised, and after offering his congratulations, he seemed to have guessed the reason for Seowon’s departure.

“You’re moving in together.”

“Ah…”

Should I have just told him about Junghoo’s condition?

“If I knew this would happen, I should have brought Yoo Junghoo with me.”

He had told him to go home first, intending to get his father’s permission and then leave, but the two Boston bags were considerably heavy. He had packed quite a few books since it was his last semester, and the clothes he packed in preparation for fall also played a part.

“No. What would I have him do?”

He might be tall as a beanpole, but he was definitely not the type to do this kind of thing.

He must have been raised with a silver spoon as a child, and babied and coddled as he grew up.

Seowon readjusted the bags in both hands and walked on. A path he had traveled lightly before was now full of obstacles just because he was carrying luggage. First, when he reached a hill, he let out a sigh, and when he saw a convenience store, it was too much of a hassle to buy anything, so he just passed by.

By the time he arrived home, he was already exhausted. He wanted to go home, wash up, and go straight to sleep.

“Ah, after one beer.”

Whatever it was, he wanted to have a moment to wrap up the day. And he also needed to properly greet the Junghoo pheromones he would be in charge of from now on and ask them to be good to him…

Seowon, who hadn’t forgotten the passcode after being away for such a short time, punched it in and pulled the doorknob with force.

“Yoo Junghoo, I’m hooome…”

Seowon’s words trailed off at the scene he saw as he threw the door wide open. He couldn’t move a single step from that spot, wondering if what he was seeing was real.

“Please, Junghoo.”

When he mentioned the ring and bouquet earlier, he knew he would come up with some extravagant confession someday, but not this.

He now understood what it meant that being too dreary was a problem, but being too flashy could also make a person afraid.

Candles were lined up on both sides of the hallway, and the center was strewn with rose petals. He had no idea where he was supposed to step or how he was supposed to walk.

“Is he telling me to just stomp all over them or what?”

Thinking he had to go in, Seowon put down his bags and forced himself to take a step. He took off his shoes and stood on his tiptoes, but a flying petal happened to land right where he was about to step.

It was an experience that let him see what kind of color contrast a red rose petal on a white sock actually made. It came with the bonus feeling of being fragrant and yet somehow not fragrant.

For the most part, Seowon did his best to avoid them. He pretended not to notice the ones he couldn’t help but step on. After all, stepping on petals wasn’t a big deal, but touching a candle flame would be a problem.

Still, these days there were LED candles, and candles used as mood lights; anyway, there were plenty of candles in the world that could create an atmosphere without being lit.

But Junghoo had lit the candles so sincerely that he was scared a fire might start. Even though the candles were in transparent protective cups, it was too bothersome to just pass by. So Seowon went back the way he came and took a thin book out of the bag he’d left at the entrance.

“It’s a fire hazard.”

Starting from the entrance, he fanned out the candle flames one by one with the book. Even after extinguishing them, he double-checked to make sure they were properly out.

Because of that, it took quite a while to walk down the hallway.

Only after putting out all the visible candles did Seowon lift his head and see Junghoo standing in the middle of the living room. Standing inside a heart made of candles, Junghoo was holding a large bouquet and looking at Seowon.

“You…”

Before any sense of being moved could swell up…

“Only the candles under you are mood lights?”

Junghoo was surrounded by very safe candles.

Should he praise him for being clever?

It was supposed to be a very touching atmosphere, befitting an event, but Seowon, whose personality test results were 49% feeling and 51% thinking, was currently leaning toward the thinking side.

“I’ve been waiting.”

Junghoo’s voice, who would probably score 99% on the feeling part of a personality test, echoed. Amidst all this, the conclusion that his voice was pleasant to listen to was based on cold judgment founded on logic and analysis.

“The days of dating you, loving you, and living together with you… I never knew I could dream of such things. Because of my situation… I didn’t want to be a burden to you either.”

Junghoo’s voice was filled with the poignancy of a time that had taken a long, roundabout path.

“But I was so happy you accepted me. So I decorated this place so 멋지게 and was going to confess to you.”

Seowon crossed his arms and shook his head.

“Your face is handsome in the first place, what else do you need to prepare?”

Isn’t that face alone enough?

Still, it wasn’t bad. So Seowon reached his hand out toward Junghoo. He was about to take the bouquet from Junghoo, but just before he could touch it, the flowers disappeared.

Instead, what Seowon’s hand grasped was Junghoo, and he pulled Seowon into a hug.

“The one you should be holding is me.”

As if it were the most natural thing in the world, he stole the bouquet’s role for himself.

Seowon acted dumbfounded for a moment, then stopped. Whether it was a bouquet or Junghoo, having his arms full felt the same, so he could just hug either one.