After driving for a long time, the car turned onto a quiet road and ran along a beautiful trail.
When they entered the trail, Siwoo opened the car window and deeply breathed in the fresh air.
It was like a scene from a car CF. The harmony of the handsome driver and the magnificent scenery made him imagine such things.
Even when they followed that trail and encountered a large gate, Siwoo had no thoughts.
Because in Korea too, there were many restaurants with good scenery in such suburbs.
When they encountered the large iron gate, he frowned slightly, but didn’t think deeply about it.
Evan didn’t press the horn, nor did he do anything special. But the iron gate opened quietly.
Had he made a reservation or something?
Even when they passed through the iron gate and drove in for quite a while, Siwoo enjoyed the pleasure that beautiful nature gave him. The only thought he had was that since the scenery was this beautiful, he would understand even if the food was a bit lacking.
“……”
From the moment the castle that he’d only seen in movies came into view, Siwoo began to feel something was strange. The humming he had been doing alone until now also stopped.
The car circled around the large fountain in the middle of the castle and stopped in front of what appeared to be the main entrance.
Just as he was about to ask where this was, the passenger door opened, so startled Siwoo’s body flinched greatly.
“Welcome.”
There was no time to ask Evan a question. The middle-aged man in uniform who had opened the passenger door was looking at him. When he politely greeted him, Siwoo bowed his head with a dazed expression.
An atmosphere where he felt he absolutely had to get out of the car.
He hurriedly turned his head to Evan, but he was already getting out of the car.
Only when he inevitably got out of the car did Siwoo realize that something was definitely wrong.
The large, heavy-looking door that opened on both sides opened, and an elegant middle-aged lady was walking out from there.
“Where is this?”
Siwoo, who got out of the car, looked at Evan who was already by his side and spoke in a very small voice.
“My house.”
“……You said we were going to eat.”
“Yeah. The food at my house is delicious. We have a chef who’s a former royal head chef. Plus, we can eat anything—Korean, Japanese, Chinese, Western food, it doesn’t matter.”
He just said let’s eat delicious food in a quiet place, and you came to your house?
“Ah. And as far as I know, this house was built about 200 years ago. It’s actually a castle that was used as a royal villa.”
He thought it was magnificent. The moment he saw this castle up close, he understood why they had passed through the large iron gate.
But this castle is Evan’s house?
“Mm. From your expression, you seem surprised, but when are you going to give me a kiss? A castle. A quiet place with delicious food. I don’t think there’s a better place than here.”
The sound of Evan chattering next to him wasn’t that important. The moment he saw the middle-aged lady coming down the stairs, Siwoo had already realized. Who that person was.
He could know without explanation. Because you couldn’t easily see someone with such tremendous appearance, and he couldn’t deny that she resembled the person next to him quite a lot.
Moreover, hadn’t Evan just confidently said it? That it was his house.
“Evan said he was going out for filming, how did you suddenly come? Siwoo-kun, welcome. This is the first time we’re seeing each other in person, right?”
Momentarily surprised that she spoke Korean perfectly, Siwoo’s head creaked as he fumbled through his memories and barely found that Evan’s mother was Korean. She looks very exotic, but she’s Korean. Such thoughts were brief. At the words that this was the first time seeing each other in person, all the hair on his body stood on end.
Then does that mean they had met in other ways? This wasn’t something that could be solved with memory.
“I didn’t pack my luggage. I need to pack my luggage and return to the hotel before dinner. Siwoo said he wanted to eat something delicious, so we came together. There’s no place as full of delicious food as my house.”
“He… Hello.”
Siwoo, who had been standing awkwardly, bowed deeply first when she got closer.
“I felt this during our video call too, but Siwoo-kun is really polite. Is there anything you want to eat? If you’re returning by dinner, you have some time. Ah! Look at me. I should tell him to come in for a bit too. It would be nice to have tea time together.”
What? Wait, Mother?
You’re calling Evan’s father, who must be busy? Just to have tea time with me? Why on earth? Is the CEO of a global company that free?
With shaking pupils, Siwoo looked up at Evan pitifully. Evan was the only person who could solve this situation.
Right, there are cases where you greet your friend’s parents at their house and eat a meal or have refreshments together. It’s something that happens often enough. But I haven’t sorted out my feelings yet.
So this is like, what should I say. We’re friends, right? Why does it feel strange that Mother is welcoming me like this? Evan. Say something.
But why does Mother have to come all the way down the stairs? Let’s just go up.
Right. Since you need to pack your luggage, how about we go in and you just get your luggage?
Siwoo, who had fallen into confusion, poked Evan’s side with his fingertips. Don’t just stand here, let’s do something. Okay. Is this perhaps a promise with me that I don’t know about? Is that it?
“Tea time sounds good.”
The moment Evan looked at him and winked, Siwoo bit the tip of his tongue. Someone please explain to me! Or just tell me this is a dream!
The silent scream echoed inside Siwoo’s mouth.
* * *
In the end, he was embraced by Evan’s mother who had come all the way down the stairs and exchanged cheek kisses, and entered the house guided by the person who had opened the car door. He passed through a lobby that you’d only see in movies, past carpeted stairs, and walked along a long corridor.
“Please rest comfortably.”
Wasn’t this England? Hearing the perfect Korean of someone who clearly appeared to be British, Siwoo looked around. A space that seemed to be someone’s bedroom.
Before he could ask any questions. The person who had guided him closed the door and left the room.
“……”
Bright sunlight poured in through the large arched window. Looking at the space with a sofa, desk, and bookshelf, it seemed to be someone’s study. Where’s the bed? Was he guided to a reception room, not a bedroom? Standing alone in the middle of the room looking around, Siwoo stealthily moved toward the sofa.
Sitting slightly on the edge of the plush single-seat sofa, Siwoo rolled his large eyes around looking at his surroundings.
Now, let’s organize.
When he opened his eyes in the morning, he had regressed to twenty years old, and confirmed that he was a member of Ocean in their first year after debut. And he had inadvertently come to England, and now he was at Evan’s house.
Shortly, he was scheduled to have tea time with Evan’s parents.
He knew that Evan was the son of a tremendous family, but he didn’t know he actually lived in a castle.
For a moment, it really hit him how different he and Evan were.
Though they were said to be members of the same group enjoying tremendous popularity, fundamentally Evan and himself were different.
I had a thing with such a tremendous person.
His chest tickled, so he raised his right hand and scratched above his left chest.
If he wasn’t careful, he almost filmed a makjang drama. If that relationship had continued and he hadn’t suddenly regressed, the relationship between Evan and himself might have deepened to the point of no return.
Right. Let’s say we became that kind of relationship.
The ending was obvious. We would date, we would date. We would be happy, for a while.
They say you marry someone similar to you. Leaving aside the traits of Alpha and Beta, the end of the two who were different from birth would ultimately have been a catastrophe.
When his thoughts stretched out to the wrong place, he quickly shook his head.
Was it originally promised? The manager hyungs allowed his and Evan’s companionship too naturally. The other members didn’t even say anything like why are only the two of you going. He quickly took out his phone and searched for Ocean.
Clearly, the two’s relationship wasn’t good.
[Eco, what really are these two?]
Siwoo’s nickname was Coco here too.
He could find the explanation that the reason was he resembled a quokka. So they naturally call him Eco. There was no way to know in this situation whether the agency intentionally made it or the fans called him that.
While there were many opinions on one side that the two’s relationship wasn’t good, on the other hand, they were liking them while calling them that abbreviation.
Looking at how Evan treated him, the idea that their relationship wasn’t good was speculation.
A sigh of relief flowed out. If the two had been enemies, it would have been quite troublesome.
Indeed, you had to experience everything. From now on, he had to trust and act as he saw and felt. That was what he learned through several regressions.
That he shouldn’t guess on his own and move.
After confirming there were no problems between Evan and himself, Siwoo’s fingertips moved busily.
He had to experience it directly, but still, he should do a little advance learning.
Siwoo’s gaze, which had rationalized itself, reached one place.
What’s ChanChan?
They’re putting Lee Chan and Yechan together and calling them ChanChan.
“Lunch will be ready if you wait a bit.”
As soon as the door opened without a knock and Evan’s voice was heard, Siwoo jumped up from his seat.
He was about to say something, but the moment Siwoo saw Evan’s face smiling brightly at him, he lost his words. This guy just had a free pass with his mere existence.
“Hey. You suddenly left me here alone!”
Still, words containing hurt flowed out of his mouth. Because we’re close. Whatever the inside was, we were really close on the outside, so he said what he wanted to say as he had treated him originally.
“Sorry. This is my room.”
Whether it was Siwoo standing in front of the sofa or Evan standing at the door, the two didn’t easily get closer.
“You say it’s your room? There’s no bed.”
“Over here.”
When Evan walked to a door on one side of the room, Siwoo unconsciously approached there.
The door opened silently, and a small exclamation burst from his mouth as he looked inside.
