He barely came to his senses and glared at the letters with wide eyes. After checking several different figures and words a few times and drawing lines with a highlighter, Yeonrok soon tilted his head.
At one time, Yeonrok had also worked in a clothing factory. Thanks to that, he roughly knew about the cost price of goods and wholesale delivery prices. However, the prices related to clothing delivery in these documents were set particularly high. Not extremely high, but still somewhat strange. He hesitated, then took out a ballpen from the desk and added a note.
Yeonrok, who finished the work in about two hours after looking and checking again in case there were any mistakes, went to find Yeom Cheonho holding the documents. He, who had been leaning against the sofa staring intently at some graph or other, gave a tired smile.
“You worked hard.”
“Not at all……. Um, but. I might have done something useless. Here…….”
Yeonrok flipped through the documents and pointed to the part he’d found questionable earlier. When Yeom Cheonho raised his thick eyebrows, he flinched but explained diligently.
“The price is a bit strange. It’s being delivered directly from the factory, but it can’t be this expensive.”
“You’re saying the price seems high?”
The man who seemed to have been born with a diamond spoon in his mouth didn’t seem to grasp what was strange even while looking at the part Yeonrok pointed out. Since he was a President who didn’t hesitate to buy clothes with five or six zeros attached, it seemed he didn’t know the ways of the world, so Yeonrok nodded.
“Yes……. If it’s not brand-name clothes and is simply work uniform delivery, this level would be appropriate. No matter how expensive, it’s not this amount. Besides that, there were a few other items with somewhat high prices.”
Though it might only be a difference of a few thousand won at most, if this kind of thing repeated, that difference became tens of millions of won. It was even a difference that could reach the hundred-million-won range in a year, assuming regular deliveries. Yeonrok, who had been anxious wondering if he’d done something unnecessary, felt relieved when he saw Yeom Cheonho raise the corners of his mouth.
“Of course, I could be wrong. Well, maybe the amount is high because special options were included…….”
“No. Yeonrok-ssi. You pointed out a very important matter. Thanks to you, it seems it will be of great help.”
Saying that, Yeom Cheonho meticulously put the documents Yeonrok had checked one by one into a separate document envelope. At the words that it had been helpful, Yeonrok smiled brightly without realizing it. Yeom Cheonho watched such Yeonrok intently, then reached out his hand. Yeonrok, who felt a strange atmosphere, cleared his throat.
“……President?”
Yeom Cheonho’s fingertips brushed against his flushed cheek. He wondered if he was trying to remove a strand of hair, but on the other hand, it also seemed like he’d just touched him as if caressing a lusciously ripened fruit.
“……What’s the matter?”
Both embarrassed and itching inside from just staying still, Yeonrok asked quietly. Yeom Cheonho just smiled silently, then lowered his hand and lightly gripped Yeonrok’s shoulder. Was it a coincidence? His palm was pressing on the chest area where Yeonrok’s name was. His handsome eyes folded in a curve.
“Somehow I had a premonition that Yeonrok-ssi will become a precious person to me in the future.”
* * *
“Young Master’s face is fully bloomed? Yeom Cheonho-nim liked the lunch box, right?”
As soon as Yeonrok returned, Housekeeper Park, who came out hurriedly, saw his beaming face and smiled brightly. Yeonrok, slightly excited, ran to Housekeeper Park almost bouncing and chattered.
“Yes! He said it was delicious. As expected, it’s because I made it with your recipe, housekeeper.”
“Oh my, what! It’s because Young Master made it well. I told you. You have good handiwork.”
Affection for Yeonrok showed all over Housekeeper Park’s face. While taking out the shopping bag Yeonrok brought, he acted cute all over.
“Just as you said, I’m going to try for the Korean cuisine chef certification! I bought this too, asking for your good guidance from now on!”
It was a red ginseng set he’d deliberately bought with his own money from the department store food section, taking Kim Jeongseong’s advice. Now, affection was dripping profusely from Housekeeper Park’s eyes looking at Yeonrok. Receiving a look that said she found him so adorable she could die, Yeonrok went one step further.
“Now I should call you teacher, housekeeper.”
“Oh my, what teacher~! You have to call me housekeeper! Otherwise I’ll be too embarrassed to teach you!”
It was when Housekeeper Park and Yeonrok were having an endlessly warm and friendly chat like that. Yeonrok, who looked around because he felt a gaze from somewhere, made eye contact with Moon Gyeonwoo, who had stopped midway to coming to the kitchen and was frowning. The moment he saw that face, what came to mind was his appearance tenderly kissing his lover last time.
Moon Gyeonwoo scanned Yeonrok up and down for a moment. Though it wasn’t a look of newfound interest or hostility, it definitely contained some intent. A strangely uncomfortable and unpleasant probing……. If he had to classify it, it was close to ‘observation’.
Only for a moment, Moon Gyeonwoo soon lost interest in Yeonrok. Housekeeper Park asked with a smiling face.
“Gyeonwoo Young Master, you’re here?”
“……Yes. Please make me some coffee.”
The face saying that seemed no less tired than Yeom Cheonho. However, it wasn’t a look of poor condition from lack of contact with his Name Partner. He was simply overworked. Yeonrok became curious about who and how Moon Gyeonwoo, who had a lover, made contact with, but didn’t voice it.
“Coffee again? If you drink it like that, you’ll ruin your stomach…….”
“Work is busy.”
Housekeeper Park brewed strong coffee with a completely disapproving face and served it with snacks. Moon Gyeonwoo took the coffee as is and smoothly slid away like a ghost and disappeared. Housekeeper Park sighed seeing that he left the snacks as they were. Yeonrok quickly said.
“I’m a bit hungry, can I eat them instead?”
“Hm? You want to? Well, Young Master needs to gain more weight anyway.”
Yeonrok, who received all of Housekeeper Park’s affection, returned to his room with a basket of snacks. While deliciously eating freshly baked pie, Yeonrok smiled quietly. He quietly recalled again what Yeom Cheonho had said to him today.
‘Since you’re a closer person than anyone, I can trust and entrust you with it.’
‘Somehow I had a premonition that Yeonrok-ssi will become a precious person to me in the future.’
A close person, a precious person.
Those words particularly touched Yeonrok’s most vulnerable part. It was the first satisfaction that came to him, who had been continuously disappointed after meeting his Name Partners.
The vivid ‘name’ engraved on Yeom Cheonho’s body was particularly so. Only after confirming it with his eyes did Yeonrok first feel a bond with the other person. He felt anew that this was his life partner given to him by something that could be called god or fate or whatever.
Then an issue to seriously consider arose.
‘……What does it mean that I’ll become a precious person?’
Yeonrok, who had been building walls against his Name Partners all this time, now thought seriously about a same-sex partner for the first time.
‘Holding hands, or touching faces……. I wasn’t unpleasant at all touching the other person’s back.’
Moreover, recalling how wonderful and magnificent a person Yeom Cheonho was, he thought embarrassing things wouldn’t be entirely impossible either. It seemed possible. Though he couldn’t imagine well beyond a certain line, if the other person was Yeom Cheonho rather than Choi Hwan or Moon Gyeonwoo…….
However, just imagining it was somehow shameful, so Yeonrok opened the window for a moment to let in cool air and crunched on his snacks. While reading posts on the Name Manifestor community he’d been frequenting until the virtual threshold wore down to refer to same-sex partners, his throat became dry. He should have brought something to drink. Making a belated regret, he brushed off the crumbs and stood up from his seat.
Yeonrok’s steps, which had been heading to the kitchen without much thought, slowed down. It was because he heard a low conversation.
“……So?”
“……It wouldn’t be bad.”
Listening carefully, it was Yeom Cheonho and Choi Hwan’s voices. Curious about what conversation the two were having at this hour of night, Yeonrok unconsciously followed the voices. And stopped dead.
Near the fireplace-shaped lighting turned on for decoration since it was winter, Choi Hwan was grabbing Yeom Cheonho’s collar. No, to be precise, he grabbed and pulled his necktie. Perhaps because of the fireplace light, Choi Hwan’s beautiful eyes shone particularly brightly. He looked at the other person provocatively. Yeom Cheonho, with a faint smile, leaned his upper body as the other person pulled.
Then, naturally, the two’s lips pressed together. It was a blatant yet tense kiss where sparks seemed to fly between their joined gazes. Yeonrok, who saw up to that point, stepped back hesitantly. He backed away as is toward the stairs connected to the second floor. And sat down forlornly on the landing, feeling déjà vu.
