“Your face is red.”
It probably meant not to lower the towel, but Seongjo pretended not to hear and just stared up at Yujeong’s face. At a glance, it was an ordinary expressionless face, but if you looked carefully, it was an expression with faint traces of worry and concern. Seeing that made him want to tease him more, so he sighed and said.
“From the middle on, I thought you didn’t come to refresh my mood but just came to make me work.”
Yujeong quietly looked down at Seongjo’s face. A fairly calm question came out, as if he saw through Seongjo’s inner thoughts.
“So did you have stray thoughts today?”
“I didn’t even have time for stray thoughts.”
He didn’t intend to grumble enough to deny those words, so he obediently replied. But seeing Yujeong smile slightly at Seongjo’s answer made him feel a bit uneasy.
“…But do I have to work like this tomorrow too?”
Yujeong’s face, which had been faintly smiling, crumbled even more. Yujeong, who burst into audible laughter, soon shook his head.
“No, my parents will be going out tomorrow. You just need to watch the house.”
Seongjo let out a sigh of relief while lying sprawled on the bedding. As he was calming his fatigue with one arm covering his eyes, he thought once again whether anyone could even imagine him like this.
Earlier it was simply a matter of clothing, but now the sight of him collapsed in that state was added. Just thinking of his secretary Kyeonghun alone, he’d open his eyes wide like a rabbit in surprise at Seongjo collapsed after farming in loose pants and fall backward.
Thinking that way, even his desire to grumble disappeared. It was a strange situation in many ways. Both Yujeong bringing him to the family home without notice and the unexpected hard labor—it should be unpleasant, so why didn’t he feel bad? Had Yujeong predicted all of this?
Yujeong, who had been silently watching Seongjo, soon approached him. The quiet footsteps stopped, and a soft rustling sound was heard. Seongjo lowered his arm and looked toward where the sound came from. Yujeong, who had lain down next to him, was facing him.
For a moment, he was flustered and couldn’t speak. He’d known he came close, but he never expected him to lie down side by side. When their eyes met, Yujeong smiled, slightly crinkling the corners of his eyes. As if a bit embarrassed…
Seeing that smile made him even more speechless. Yujeong, who had been quietly watching Seongjo who wasn’t saying anything, spoke first.
“I’m reflecting.”
It was a sudden statement. Just moments ago, when Seongjo was complaining, he’d asked if the stray thoughts had at least disappeared, so he thought he’d continue to be shameless. Yujeong, who had been lying facing Seongjo, turned his body toward the ceiling and continued speaking.
“Bringing you without saying anything… if I told you in advance, I thought it would sound strange no matter what, so I thought it would be better to come and see for yourself.”
“It was strange.”
“Haha… Making you work was also because there’s nothing better for emptying your head. Not because we were short on hands.”
Seongjo already knew that. It was because of what he’d heard from his parents while Yujeong was away earlier. Originally, they’d been thinking of calling one or two workers, but Yujeong and Seongjo had done that work instead.
Yujeong’s parents thought Seongjo had followed here with a firm will to directly experience farm work, so Seongjo didn’t deny it and played along pretending that was the case. Thinking of Yujeong who must have ambitiously brought Seongjo all the way here after dissuading his parents from calling other workers made him feel both amused and delighted.
Yujeong, who had calmly explained while looking at the ceiling, turned his head toward Seongjo. At a glance, it was the same expressionless face as usual, but it seemed to be a face gauging the situation in its own way.
“Thinking about it, I was too unreasonable. Are you angry?”
Seeing him apologize so honestly and uncharacteristically hesitantly like that made it seem like any anger would dissipate.
Seongjo looked at him quietly, thinking anew that he seemed particularly yielding toward Yujeong.
“I’m not very familiar with dates.”
When Seongjo didn’t answer right away, Yujeong’s gentle words continued.
“This is also the first time I’ve planned a date course.”
At Yujeong’s words added like an excuse, a corner of Seongjo’s chest tingled.
On the way here in the car, it had been an emotion mixed with displeasure, but not now. Rather, it was the exact opposite. It was purely a tingle in a good sense.
“I thought it seemed clumsy.”
When he muttered playfully like that, Yujeong’s proper lips curved slightly into a smile.
‘Did it show that much?’ Hearing the voice that likewise bantered back, the emotion was renewed. Seongjo turned his body to face Yujeong as he lay down and asked.
“Honestly, didn’t you bring me knowing? That I wouldn’t dislike it. No, not just not dislike it… didn’t you know I’d like it?”
“That’s true.”
Yujeong, who agreed without denying it, slowly added one more thing.
“But I thought maybe I was too overconfident.”
Just moments ago, he’d been exhausted, but before he knew it, he’d forgotten about being tired. He couldn’t understand why Yujeong’s words about being overconfident sounded so good. It was a sensation as if adrenaline was busily swirling through his body. Fundamental curiosity toward him kept popping up.
“You seem like a different person since coming home, Jeon Yujeong-ssi.”
Seongjo, who had turned his head to look at Yujeong, suddenly said. He thought that perhaps Yujeong’s attitude today like this was coming out because he came to his family home. Was it because it was the hometown where he’d spent his childhood? Right now, Yujeong felt much younger than what Seongjo knew and had seen. In a good way, of course.
“Does it seem that way? It might be that I’ve loosened up because I’m comfortable.”
Yujeong answered with a voice loosened without resistance. Normally, he would have been a bit more contrary, but it was an answer that didn’t deny it at all.
“Just looking at how you’re answering now.”
When Seongjo pointed it out, Yujeong muttered as if slightly troubled.
“I thought I answered pretty well normally too…”
“No, I don’t think that’s quite right.”
Though he’d liked the prickly answers he usually gave, saying that normally was no different from now seemed a bit unconscionable. Instead of denying Seongjo’s firm words, Yujeong just lightly crinkled the corners of his eyes. At that reaction, Seongjo began to fire off questions in earnest.
“Is Teacher Jeon an only child?”
It was a sudden background check, but Yujeong answered without any sign of embarrassment, quietly looking back at Seongjo.
“I have an older sister.”
“Age difference?”
“She’s five years older than me. She’s married now, so it’s hard to see her face.”
Five years. Thinking by current standards, it wasn’t a very big age difference, but when they were young, a five-year difference would have been quite significant. Seongjo briefly imagined young Yujeong and his older sister in his head before answering.
“Usually guys with older sisters are generally decent.”
Do older sisters educate them well? When he muttered like a joke, Yujeong, who had been staring at Seongjo, asked.
“What about you, Lee Seongjo-ssi?”
“I’m an only child.”
“Then are you not decent?”
He laughed at the question that immediately came back. He’d said guys with older sisters were decent, but that didn’t mean everyone without an older sister was indecent. Since he couldn’t respond so seriously to a joke, he asked back lightly.
“How do I seem?”
“Seeing you today, you definitely pulled your weight.”
Even so, he hadn’t done nearly as much work as Yujeong. But the one who collapsed was Seongjo, so it was lamentable.
However, unlike Yujeong, it was Seongjo’s first time, so he didn’t particularly show modesty at Yujeong’s praise.
“I didn’t know, but farming seems to suit me pretty well.”
Yujeong laughed softly again. As they exchanged idle conversation like that, both body and mind felt drowsily relaxed. Seongjo turned his head and yawned softly. Then, in a voice slightly drawling with sleepiness, he said one thing.
“Actually, I normally can’t sleep well even if my place is uncomfortable.”
As those words said, Seongjo was the type who couldn’t easily fall asleep not only in cars but even when his sleeping place changed. Yujeong, who had also lowered his voice to match Seongjo’s tired-sounding voice, asked.
“Should I lay down one more layer of bedding for you?”
Seongjo slowly shook his head.
“No, but I’m sleepy now… maybe it’s because I’m so tired.”
Yujeong’s answer didn’t come right away, but Seongjo couldn’t say anything more. It was because he fell into a long sleep once again just like that.
It seemed like he heard Yujeong’s voice just before falling asleep. Though he couldn’t make out what he was saying.
