While Evan was famous in Korea as an idol, he was even more famous because of his family. The moment he jumped into the family business, all eyes turned to him. Various opinions about him flourished, from critical views questioning how someone who only danced and sang could lead a business, to favorable views citing his Alpha trait and insisting he would excel at anything.
Above all, the love calls directed at him—still in his twenties and officially single—were beyond imagination. The love calls coming to him weren’t even at a level Siwoo could conceive of. They were heirs of major corporations known just by name, or heirs of famous noble families.
Following the unexpected proposal at the concert venue, Evan had playfully brought up marriage at the fan signing event, but after that day, he never mentioned the word marriage again. Siwoo also made no mention of it, given their already solid relationship.
On both their ring fingers was a silver ring—one they had designed together but failed to agree on, resulting in no pattern at all, just smoothly polished.
After that, countless accessories graced Siwoo’s fingers, but that ring was always on his left ring finger, and after leaving the entertainment industry, Evan wore nothing on his fingers except that ring.
As gossip always does, the numerous rumors surrounding him and Evan fizzled out indistinctly, like water mixed with water, liquor mixed with liquor.
They shared the same space, used the same bed when together, and Siwoo knew Evan’s trivial habit of always holding his toothbrush with his left hand when brushing his teeth despite being right-handed, but their relationship was unofficial.
Even though the paparazzi knew Siwoo came and went from Evan’s house and stayed there, they paid no attention at all. They just seemed to think a close member who had been in the same group as Evan frequently came and went and stayed over.
Not only Siwoo, but when Yechan, Chan, or Sangjun came to England, they frequently stayed at Evan’s house. Security was tighter and more convenient than a hotel, and it was nice to occasionally meet like that, tilt back a drink, and exchange various stories.
Anyway, for Siwoo, who had never thought deeply about his and Evan’s situation or relationship until now, the absurd dating rumor came as a huge shock.
He stared blankly at the hosts making a fuss that they were dating, presenting as evidence various photos of Evan in a suit and Olivia also dressed in a suit dining alone together, entering the company, and so on.
Having heard that it wasn’t just once or twice, but that the two had been together frequently over the past two months, Siwoo finally realized that what he was watching was a gossip program that spewed whatever they wanted, believe it or not. It was certain that Evan and Olivia weren’t dating. But it was true that the two had been meeting steadily for two months.
It wasn’t as if Evan hadn’t been meeting people while working until now, but the particular interest in his meetings with Olivia was for two reasons. Olivia’s family was also a renowned famous household, and Olivia, one year younger than Evan, was an Omega.
Listening to them prattle on about family meeting family, Alpha and Omega, Siwoo picked up the remote and turned off the TV. He wasn’t angry because he knew better than anyone that what he had just seen and heard wasn’t true.
What overwhelmed Siwoo in that moment was anxiety.
He knew that arrogant bastard lived only looking at him, and they were staying between both families with both families’ permission. But thinking that those paparazzi obsessed with gossip and those lowbrow broadcasts would continue to pull this kind of thing, what came after the anxiety was a headache.
And he knew better than anyone why Evan had met with Olivia so much. Olivia was one of the external support team members for the project Evan was currently working on. So they had no choice but to meet frequently.
Anyway, the dating rumor between Evan and Olivia that had briefly flared up on the gossip program soon died down, but that incident made Siwoo firmly decide.
He would clearly announce to the entire world that Evan was his.
Before announcing it to the world, he first had to tell Evan. Since Evan currently wasn’t saying anything related to marriage, the only person who could bring up this agenda was Siwoo himself. But he couldn’t just suddenly say, “Wanna get married?”
Though he was dull when it came to things like romance or mood, it was still a proposal, so he thought about this and that quite a bit. He absolutely couldn’t do things like others did—decorating with balloons and lighting candles. As for booking a fancy restaurant, first of all, making reservations at such restaurants was like plucking stars from the sky, and there were too many people who knew his and Evan’s faces.
Flowers? They both didn’t like them.
A ring? They already had couple rings.
Like in romantic comedies, doing something a bit risqué, getting a little undressed and going “ooh~ ahh~”… they’d already done that plenty.
Then what Siwoo came up with was a house.
The house he was currently living in with Evan was also a house they lived in together, so it was their home.
But for Siwoo, it was a space that was both comfortable and uncomfortable.
First of all, it was too big. Even if he lounged around in the bedroom and wanted to drink a glass of water, he had to walk quite a while to get to the kitchen. There were times when he clearly knew Evan was home but didn’t know where he was and had to call to ask where he was, and above all, it was uncomfortable because there were caretakers.
When the time came, they automatically prepared delicious meals with nutrition considered, there was no need to think about cleaning or laundry, and everything was convenient. But it was still uncomfortable. He had to dress properly because of the caretakers he might run into at any time, and even when he wanted to lounge around endlessly, he felt self-conscious doing so in spaces other than the bedroom.
It was a situation where someone could see his every move at any time.
That’s why Siwoo decided to prepare the small house he had been dreaming of.
And from that point on, he started looking for a house without Evan’s knowledge. After seeing and choosing from countless houses, three remained, and after agonizing over those as well, he planned to go out tomorrow, look around once more, and contract one of the three.
But now Evan was saying he knew he was trying to buy a house.
“Evan. You said you know I’m trying to buy a house? Exactly how much do you know?”
Whatever he was going to say, he first needed to know how much Evan knew.
“That you’ve been looking at houses for several months, and that you’re going to look around three places tomorrow and decide.”
Hearing Evan’s words spoken softly in his pleasant voice, Siwoo sighed and buried his face in his shoulder. Honestly, he hadn’t thought he could hide it until the end. Still, he had earnestly begged everyone who knew about this, from the real estate agent onward. Please don’t tell anyone else, at least until the final contract. Where on earth did it leak from…?
“I’m going to buy a house tomorrow.”
“So why a house?”
“It’s my house in my name, so you come.”
Evan couldn’t readily answer, not understanding Siwoo’s out-of-the-blue words.
“Well, you probably already know, but by your standards, those houses will be pretty small. Most of them only have three or four rooms. Still, I’ll make you one study.”
Siwoo’s heart, which had been beating rapidly when he first embraced him and then had briefly calmed down, began beating rapidly again, and this was transmitted to Evan. The words mumbled with his face buried in his shoulder were conveyed through his ears and body, but Evan still didn’t understand his words.
Siwoo, who had been tightly embraced in his arms until just now, suddenly moved his body to create distance between them.
“Hey! You idiot. I’m getting my own house now, so let’s live there together. So marry me. I’m giving you one study that you absolutely need!”
At Siwoo’s confession, yelling with a completely flushed face in a tone utterly devoid of mood, Evan’s face, which had been momentarily flustered, gradually broke into a smile. Then eventually Evan burst out laughing loudly.
Siwoo was clumsy at expressing his inner feelings.
It had been the same when, after spending a short time together and his sudden regression, he couldn’t control his overflowing emotions and pushed Siwoo. Random words had poured out in response to his confession.
He wanted to do everything. Hold concerts, go to award ceremonies, and such words continued in a stream, which he had thought was a roundabout rejection.
But who knew that within those words was the meaning that he wanted to get along well with him?
At first, he had wandered around unable to follow Siwoo’s way of speaking, but now he could at least accurately catch the meaning contained within. Of course, he still needed a bit of time.
Cunningly, Siwoo had been preparing a newlywed home by himself. Honestly, the houses he had lived in in England could be said to be places owned by the family rather than Evan’s own houses. So depending on the situation, he had lived going between several houses, and after Evan established himself at the company, he settled in the current house.
That’s why Siwoo had also lived going between this house and that house, and each time, there was one thing he always said.
The house was unnecessarily too big. And the houses he had seen in the photos attached to the email he received a moment ago were all small two-story houses.
Having laughed loudly for a while, Evan embraced Siwoo, suppressing his laughter so as not to hurt Siwoo’s mood.
When Siwoo had come out this far, he couldn’t hesitate.
He hadn’t rushed him because Siwoo, who must have been exhausted from the continuously repeating life, seemed to be resting comfortably for the first time. Whether he stayed in Korea or stayed by his side, even if it looked to others like he was wasting time, that wasn’t a problem at all for him.
He just thought it was enough if Siwoo was comfortable and happy. That’s why he had stopped mentioning the word marriage.
Anyway, now that Siwoo had broken the ice, he mustn’t miss this opportunity.
“So when is our wedding?”
“Yeah. In a month.”
Evan’s eyebrow slightly rose as he looked at Siwoo speaking lightly with a grin.
