“I… need to get better quickly. I’m sorry. Chaeho-ya. Hyung is sorry.”
“Don’t say that. But you’re better than before. You go outside too. You work too. You’ll get better. When you get better then…”
If you knew what I did with Choi Seojun today, what kind of face would you make? You who always cherish me as if handling glass that might break with just a touch. Still, Soohyun had no choice. If he was to live without relying on Chaeho anymore.
“…Let’s just sleep. Chaeho-ya. Hyung is tired.”
Chaeho seemed to want to say more, but Soohyun turned away from him. He had nothing, and even his pheromones didn’t function properly. He didn’t want to be more of a burden to him who received all his parents’ expectations.
Soohyun forcibly closed his eyes and tried to sleep. Chaeho silently looked at Soohyun’s face like that for a long while, then after confirming he’d fallen asleep making breathing sounds, slowly approached and carefully overlapped their lips.
“I love you. Soohyun hyung.”
Today too, Chaeho desperately whispered a confession that would never reach Soohyun.
* * *
“Chaeho-ya, wake up. Let’s eat.”
Opening his eyes in the morning, Soohyun felt his body was hotter than usual and rummaged through the drawer as soon as he opened his eyes. Feeling like he needed to bring down his fever quickly before Chaeho noticed, he quickly tore open a medicine packet. Sucking down the liquid fever reducer, Soohyun set the breakfast table.
He made egg rolls with finely chopped carrots and onions, boiled bean sprout soup, and even grilled sausages that Chaeho ate well on a frying pan and put them on the table. Setting a simple meal table with one soup and three or four side dishes, Soohyun also packed his own lunch box and placed it on the sink.
“Hyung, making food?”
“Yeah, it’s done. Let’s eat.”
Chaeho sat in front of the table with a face still not fully awake. Soohyun handed chopsticks to Chaeho and stroked his hair.
“Don’t treat me like a kid.”
“But you are young. Hurry and eat.”
Chaeho pouted then scooped up bean sprout soup with a spoon and slurped it. The refreshing, spicy taste felt like sleep flew away at once. Moving his chopsticks to the simple side dishes just made, pushing rice into his mouth until full, Chaeho smiled foolishly at Soohyun.
“This makes us really seem like a married couple, hyung.”
At Chaeho’s barbed joke, Soohyun gave no answer and moved his spoon. Chaeho, who had grumbled when woken saying he’d have no appetite in the morning, ate a whole bowl of rice in no time as if he’d never said that and hovered around the rice cooker.
“Hyung, what’s this?”
What Chaeho pointed at with his finger was Soohyun’s lunch box. In the 2-tier plastic lunch box were the egg rolls served as a side dish this morning, along with pickled cucumber salad, one vegetable side dish, and even cherry tomatoes.
“I packed it to eat for lunch.”
“Wow. Then this is a lunch box?”
At Chaeho’s sparkling eyes, Soohyun became troubled. Because he anticipated what Chaeho would say.
“Hyung, can’t you pack one for me too? I want to eat hyung’s homemade lunch box.”
“Not today.”
When Soohyun refused without hesitation, Chaeho immediately looked like he’d cry. Soohyun pointed at the meal table with the rice cooker and side dish bowls on it and said as if scolding.
“You already scooped out all the rice, and that’s all the side dishes there are. There’s no lunch box container either. I’ll pack one next time.”
Even though the egg roll had 7 eggs in it and he’d grilled the entire largest package of sausages, Chaeho with his good appetite ate all the food to the point dishes didn’t need separate washing. Only then did Chaeho pester several times asking him to definitely make his lunch box next time, then scraped up the remaining rice cleanly and entered the bathroom.
“…Still a kid.”
To match Soohyun’s work start time of arriving by 9:30, Chaeho left the house with him a bit earlier than usual. Fortunately, today’s weather was clear and sunny, so it seemed there would be no rain when Soohyun returned.
“Hyung, you’re okay, right? Don’t overdo it too much, just do it roughly.”
“I’m taking it easy, so don’t worry too much.”
Getting out of Chaeho’s car, Soohyun watched the back of his car then entered the building. Standing in front of the luxury officetel where you couldn’t enter unless pre-registered at the management office, Soohyun pressed the bell and waited for the door to open.
“I should clean in the morning and go grocery shopping in the afternoon.”
Every time he came, Soohyun made two or three side dishes and put them in Seojun’s refrigerator. Though the menu wasn’t particularly set, following Kim Jinwoo’s request that it would be good if it was Korean food-focused, Soohyun recalled the side dishes he usually ate and made them similarly.
‘Today… he won’t be here.’
According to the contract, while Soohyun worked at Seojun’s house, Seojun was supposed to be outside. Soohyun, who wasn’t very comfortable being in the same space as Seojun, tensely opened the front door wondering if he might be home today too.
“No one’s here.”
Confirming there was no one home, Soohyun let out a big breath and entered inside. He brought his lunch box to the kitchen and entered the small room to change clothes. Though there wasn’t particularly set attire, following the center’s guidance that the principle was to wear neat clothing, Soohyun always wore a white shirt and black pants.
In the living room, the bed sheets he hadn’t managed to wash yesterday were still piled up. Soohyun entered the bedroom and started work by removing the sheets with traces of intercourse and organizing the blankets and pillows.
While airing the blankets, doing laundry, sweeping and wiping the dust on the floor, two hours of time passed quickly. Sitting on the living room sofa to catch his breath for a moment and tapping his arms and shoulders, Soohyun suddenly looked around Seojun’s house.
‘To live in a house like this, you really have to earn a lot.’
Seojun’s house, which didn’t feel stuffy at all and had high ceilings plus good lighting, was a clean and sophisticated house that would only be seen in movies or dramas.
Actually, Soohyun didn’t know at first that his employer was the famous actor Choi Seojun. It was because Kim Jinwoo hadn’t bothered to tell him, and Soohyun wasn’t particularly curious either. He learned the fact he was his employer through a few photos discovered while cleaning, and he recalled memories of hearing somewhere that he didn’t really like Omegas, and steeled himself somewhat.
That he might suddenly quit.
“Let’s finish up. Still, since I did it yesterday, today is easier.”
Soohyun put strength in his hand gripping the cleaning mop. Looking at the sparkling every corner of the house, though it wasn’t his own house, his mind became comfortable. Looking at the floor reflecting light like transparent glass beads, Soohyun smiled silently.
“What are you so happy about?”
Was it because he’d been lost in thought in the living room for too long? At the suddenly heard voice, Soohyun was so startled he dropped the mop he was holding. Seojun appeared from somewhere wearing light athletic wear. Soohyun hurriedly lowered his head.
“Hello.”
“I’m asking what you’re so happy about?”
Seojun found Soohyun’s smile regrettable. What was so good that he smiled? Soohyun hesitated for a moment then quietly spoke while mopping the floor.
“The floor… is clean.”
“The floor… is clean?”
Seojun lowered his head and checked the floor. Seeing even his own face reflected in the floor wiped clean without a speck of dust or water mark, Seojun laughed. Wasn’t he saying he smiled from satisfaction after cleaning himself?
“Lee Soohyun-ssi is… really an unknowable person.”
Seojun examined Soohyun’s appearance. His appearance neatly wearing a black apron and rolling up his shirt sleeves was too different from his appearance on the bed yesterday. Though he who accepted him without pushing back as he bit and sucked, with a completely disheveled face, was also attractive, he who smiled faintly with a neat appearance was also quite attractive.
“……?”
Soohyun slowly blinked and looked at Seojun. Recalling Soohyun’s face that looked very tired yesterday, Seojun touched his forehead. Soohyun stepped back at Seojun’s sudden movement, but couldn’t avoid his touch.
“Is your body okay?”
