“Want to just keep living here from today? If you have stuff to bring, bring it.”
Tae Shinwoo’s tone sounded as if he was doing a favor, but it didn’t sound like a joke. Thanks to that, the one who became dumbfounded was Seo Eunho. He’d never asked to let him live here, so what kind of magnanimous gesture was he making all on his own?
“Why would I?”
Seo Eunho asked, furrowing his brow.
“Because you seemed to like it here.”
Tae Shinwoo answered directly as if he’d expected this.
Of course he liked it since it was a nice house. Anyone would. It would be even better if only Tae Shinwoo would leave.
Seo Eunho could have easily answered like that and ended this conversation as a joke. But strangely, the words wouldn’t come out. He could just brush it off as Tae Shinwoo’s game and goodwill as he had from the beginning.
But Seo Eunho felt that he needed to know for certain exactly why Tae Shinwoo was treating him this well.
“Who are you to try so hard to hang out with me?”
If he wanted to ask this, he should have asked long ago. But the bastard’s suspicious attitude that he’d just let pass before was particularly bothering him now. His brain, exhausted from fatigue, seemed desperate to create a situation that would kick away the fortune that had rolled in, having paralyzed his reason.
“Do you like me?”
In the end, Seo Eunho, having handed victory to emotion, suddenly asked Tae Shinwoo. Perhaps the question was very out of the blue, as Tae Shinwoo’s mouth, which had been about to answer something, snapped shut for a moment.
Honestly, the moment he blurted out the words, Seo Eunho thought it wasn’t entirely impossible. Maybe all that about wanting to be friends, finding him interesting because he was unique, was all an excuse. Those things weren’t reason enough to treat him this well.
However, Seo Eunho soon realized his thought was wrong. It was because of Tae Shinwoo’s expression. As soon as the words ended, his face crumpled completely, and his expression was filled more with the absurdity of the question itself rather than the emotion of being caught.
“Never mind then.”
Faced with such a blatant reaction, Seo Eunho spoke calmly. It wasn’t particularly something to be embarrassed about. Rather, he was relieved by Tae Shinwoo’s reaction.
The reason he asked even though it wasn’t something to ask openly between the same sex was because he’d experienced similar situations several times regardless of the other party’s gender. If the case was the same, the current Seo Eunho who had lost his reason would have turned his back on Tae Shinwoo without hesitation.
Seo Eunho had done various work since he was quite young. Thanks to a father who had no interest in how his young child was living, he had to survive on his own, and for that, he needed money. So he worked hard at whatever job he was given.
During that time, he saw quite a lot of people. He was grateful to those who pitied him and gave charity, and he also liked those who saw him as a dirt-cheap worker they could use as they pleased. They gave him money anyway. If he just endured, even pocket change could buy him a full meal, so he thought it was better to work quietly as told rather than protest to them. It wasn’t much different even now.
Rather, the group of people most difficult for Seo Eunho to deal with were those who poured out unconditional goodwill. To be precise, people who saw Seo Eunho, who had grown tall from a young age, as an object of sexual desire and tried somehow to seduce him.
They didn’t consider the fact that he was a minor very important. No, maybe they approached him more easily because he was a powerless minor. Pretending to be pity and goodwill, they gave Seo Eunho allowance and food. Young Seo Eunho only realized it was too much to be given just out of pity after he’d greedily accepted it all.
Everything he’d received for a long time became leverage for them to move Seo Eunho as they pleased. They gradually demanded excessive things from Seo Eunho, and eventually whispered for him to come to their homes.
He almost followed them.
Seo Eunho unconsciously clicked his tongue. If it hadn’t been for that boss who, despite being stingy with money saying he was a student, was meddlesome, Seo Eunho wouldn’t even be here now. Wouldn’t he have ended up like his mother, who died young after following his father who was only shiny on the outside but rotten inside?
It was a useless imagination.
Anyway, after that, Seo Eunho gradually began to be wary of people. What he gratefully accepted was snacks in his locker—that was it. He was wary of any goodwill beyond that and only steadily saved the money he earned himself. There was no goodwill without reason. Seo Eunho still thought that way.
Of course, he didn’t guard against Tae Shinwoo, who showed similar goodwill to the point of making all these thoughts meaningless. Even though he’d paid an amount too large to be convinced by the excuse that it was just for fun.
Seo Eunho added his own reason to it. That Tae Shinwoo had never expressed attraction to him like the people he’d seen so far.
Maybe, blinded by money, he’d just looked away. Yeah, so this was something he should have addressed by now. Since he’d somehow resolved what had been bothering a corner of his heart, it was actually something he could think of with relief.
“That I like you?”
However, Seo Eunho changed his mind before long. He probably shouldn’t have asked. Looking at Tae Shinwoo, who was frowning and smoothing his expression repeatedly in a strange way, deliberately repeating the words, made him feel uneasy.
“That I like you……”
Seo Eunho clicked his tongue and shook his head. It was right before his uneasy feeling materialized.
“It seems that way.”
Seo Eunho’s face crumpled completely as Tae Shinwoo got up from the sofa and walked toward him step by step. On the other hand, Tae Shinwoo’s face was quite serious. The distance closed in an instant. Before he knew it, Tae Shinwoo was right in front of Seo Eunho’s nose.
“Yeah. That’s right.”
“Right about what?”
“Me liking you.”
“I don’t think so.”
“You asked if I like you.”
“But I don’t think so.”
As soon as he asked, his face crumpled completely, so he’d thought he’d misjudged, and just as he felt relieved, Tae Shinwoo’s eyes narrowed mischievously.
“I think it’s right though.”
He was sneakily approaching, but perhaps because of his expression and tone, there was no sexual feeling at all.
He’d done something unnecessary. While trying to clarify their relationship, he seemed to have only widened the range for Tae Shinwoo’s teasing.
“Yeah, it could be.”
Seo Eunho answered with a short sigh. Anyway, since he was certain it wasn’t, the tension left and an indifferent voice flowed out. Tae Shinwoo was looking at such a face of Seo Eunho with a playful expression. The bastard even wiggled his eyebrows as if telling him to say more.
“I understand your feelings well. So now go. Let me sleep.”
“That’s it?”
Seo Eunho laughed as if absurd. Tae Shinwoo’s voice, disappointed at the words roughly wrapping up the situation, was funny.
Then that’s it. What more should he say here?
“I acknowledge it. That’s enough, right? What more do you need?”
“……You don’t believe me?”
Are you doing this to make me believe you?
Seo Eunho was about to ask back right away but stopped. Before he could say anything, Tae Shinwoo suddenly brought his face close. Since he’d been sprawled on the bed, there was no space to retreat, so Seo Eunho could only watch the approaching face. At the distance where he could feel breath, bewildered emotions rushed in.
“I’m telling you it’s real.”
“……I think you could say that a bit further away.”
“Want to check?”
“Do you know you’re uncomfortably close right now?”
“I think I could kiss you right now.”
What could he do? Kiss? Did he hear that correctly? Seo Eunho furrowed his brow and clamped his mouth shut.
Right now this bastard was trying to play around. Seo Eunho had just become certain of that fact. But when Tae Shinwoo actually changed his expression completely and stuck his face in, he didn’t know how to react. It felt like his head was going blank.
“Should I?”
Tae Shinwoo’s face tilted forward more and more. How did the situation end up like this? That aside, was he really going to do it? At the situation that arose too suddenly, Seo Eunho reacted stupidly. His head wasn’t working well. He couldn’t think of anything about what to do at a time like this.
“……You scared?”
Instead of Seo Eunho who’d clamped his mouth shut, it was Tae Shinwoo who broke the atmosphere. At a precarious distance where their lips might or might not touch, Tae Shinwoo asked in a voice full of laughter. Only then did Seo Eunho come to his senses.
“Ow.”
Thwack, Seo Eunho’s head struck Tae Shinwoo’s forehead hard enough to make a sound. Perhaps because it was strong enough to make his own head ring sharply, Tae Shinwoo cupped his forehead and fell back in one go. Despite that, the voice whining that it hurt was still soaked in laughter.
He’d been completely played. Seo Eunho got up from his seat, pressing down on his heart that had started pounding hard and taking deep breaths. One headbutt wasn’t enough to vent his anger, so he intended to at least kick him. However, Tae Shinwoo had no intention of getting hit twice and only dodged this way and that. The corners of his mouth were raised sky-high.
“No. You reacted so innocently, it didn’t suit you.”
“Fuck off. Just fuck off, fuck.”
“Did you expect it? But I couldn’t actually kiss you—”
“Won’t you leave? Ah, forget it. I’ll just leave.”
Seo Eunho’s face was flushed red. Even though he’d naturally thought it wouldn’t be true, he felt wronged for playing along in the direction Tae Shinwoo wanted. Seo Eunho tried to leave the house right away. If Tae Shinwoo hadn’t grabbed him, if the bastard’s strength wasn’t impossibly hard to overcome, he surely would have.
“Okay, okay. Where are you going when you have nowhere to go?”
“Sleeping rough is better than leeching off you.”
“I was just joking. You looked like you’d bolt right away if I said I liked you.”
If he looked like he’d bolt, shouldn’t he not play around? Seo Eunho, who’d uncharacteristically yelled his head off, glared at Tae Shinwoo. Tae Shinwoo released the two hands that had been holding Seo Eunho and stepped back one step. It was toward the sofa direction. He immediately picked up his bag and slung it over his shoulder. With each step back, the distance from Tae Shinwoo was growing.
“I just won’t joke around. Sleeping rough is hard, so that’s why you came all the way here, right?”
“……”
“Just sleep here. I’ve joked around enough now.”
What should I really do with that bastard? Seo Eunho took a big breath. Meanwhile, Tae Shinwoo had reached the entrance.
“Ah, still, lock the door well when you sleep. I might come back if I go home, think about it, and decide I do like you after all.”
“Hey!”
At the sound of the front door opening and the teasing again, Seo Eunho’s voice rose sharply. To his call, Tae Shinwoo answered with laughter. Even to the listener’s ears, it was clearly visible that he was so satisfied he could go crazy.
As soon as Tae Shinwoo disappeared, the inside of the house became quiet in an instant. Seo Eunho briefly thought about leaving this house, but quickly gave up and sprawled back on the bed. He was a bit pissed off, but the bed he was lying on for the first time in a week was too cozy to run out.
Yeah, I’ll just consider that I played along. I earned what I was paid for. For Tae Shinwoo’s entertainment, this much……
“Ah, that son of a bitch.”
Seo Eunho snapped in anger at the empty air. There was no one to hear his cursing, but after letting it out, it seemed a bit better. Seo Eunho squeezed his eyes shut. His startled heart was still pounding.
