***
The hallway was quiet. Because it was Friday, just like last week, most students had left the dormitory. Woojae had seen off Minwook, who was going to the blind date, and stood in front of Gye Sajun’s door to meet him. He didn’t even need to practice smiling. Thinking of him being horrified by his attitude made a smile form naturally.
“Hi.”
Should I greet him like this? Is this gentle enough? He hadn’t even knocked on the door yet, but he decided to do a simulation for a moment. Or more friendly?
“Did you wait long?”
After saying it out loud, it was a bit disgusting, so he couldn’t manage his expression for a moment. I guess I just need to do something similar to this. Woojae, who had gathered his resolve, knocked on the door of room 2710. Knock knock knock, at a tempo neither fast nor slow. And not long after, the firmly closed door opened. Woojae hung his lips from ear to ear and looked at the crack in the door.
“You’re late.”
“Hi. Did you wait long?”
A handsome face whose thoughts were impossible to read was looking at him. Woojae spat out the lines he had practiced internally. Gye Sajun’s eyebrows moved at a peculiar angle. It seemed to be working. The mouth that he had punched was gleaming in pristine condition as if it had never bled. What the hell did he do to his face? For a moment, his pride was hurt that he thought a man’s face was handsome.
“…Come in.”
Opening the door a bit more, Gye Sajun stepped aside slightly. Woojae entered the room with a bright face, soothing his constantly twitching nostrils. What should I do next? Making his deliberation meaningless, Woojae’s face twisted subtly as he looked around. Because that bastard’s room was somehow strange. It was because of Gye Sajun’s roommate, of whom not even a trace could be felt.
“Where’s your roommate?”
Woojae asked as naturally as possible. Since he was called to the room, he had assumed the roommate would have left the dormitory for the weekend, but something was strange. Just like the day he first moved into the dorm, one side of the room was completely empty.
Just like his room, there were two beds and two desks each, but unlike bed #1, which appeared to be used by Gye Sajun, bed #2 had no bedding and the desk was completely cleared out. It was a scene that couldn’t exist unless it was a snail or turtle-like person with OCD who had to carry all their belongings every time they left.
“Roommate?”
“Yeah.”
“I don’t have one.”
The smile he had carefully built began to crack. If he had entered smoothly like other dormitory students, it would be one thing. But Woojae had argued several times over the phone with the dorm supervisor who said there were no rooms for betas, and even attempted to make it public online. So seeing a scene where Gye Sajun was using a double room alone couldn’t possibly feel good.
“Why don’t you have a roommate?”
“Ah, the school was considerate.”
Considerate? Who are you? Does being a chaebol mean everything? He had definitely resolved to treat Gye Sajun kindly and gently enough to make him sick of it until he entered the room, but it became meaningless in an instant. His fists trembled and strength entered his eyes.
“Want to watch sitting down? Or lying down?”
Would he feel a bit better if he hit the mole on Gye Sajun’s cheek precisely? Watching Gye Sajun calmly pointing at the bed, Woojae’s lips trembled. Right, that’s not what’s important right now. Anyway, he had gotten into the dorm, and getting angry at Gye Sajun personally wouldn’t change the unfair past, and he had a carefully designed winning strategy right now.
“Let’s watch on the bed.”
You’ll definitely find me disgusting. Woojae smiled meanly like a hunter who had dug a trap.
“Lie down, then.”
Gye Sajun treated Woojae without any particular change in expression. Woojae diligently observed his features whenever he had the chance, trying to find even a hint of displeasure on that handsome face. It was no different in size from the bed he used, but lying down with the mountain-like huge Gye Sajun, it was incredibly cramped. Did I say we should watch on the bed for no reason? He regretted it a bit, but it was too late to back out.
Gye Sajun opened his laptop, found a movie, and played it. The production company’s logo filled the screen first. He suddenly realized he had forgotten to ask what movie it was. Woojae soon shook his head, thinking it didn’t really matter. The title would appear soon anyway, and since he had lived a life far from movies, he wouldn’t know what it was even if he heard the title.
“…Do you wear perfume?”
“I don’t.”
“Then what body wash do you use?”
At Gye Sajun’s random question, Woojae scrunched his eyebrows into a strange shape. He’s curious about all sorts of things.
“Cucumber soap.”
Woojae answered, recalling the plain light green soap in his bathroom. Was that too blunt? His temperament, which kept clashing with the plan he had set up, was an unexpected obstacle.
“What do you use?”
Woojae asked with as favorable an expression as possible. He wasn’t fucking curious at all, but he couldn’t end the conversation like this. Of course, the brand name Gye Sajun answered with was one he wouldn’t know even if he heard it. Woojae pulled Gye Sajun’s collar and sniffed. A cool and fragrant smell wafted, as if he had just washed.
“Smells nice.”
“…Should I buy it for you?”
“Don’t treat me like a beggar.”
A sharp answer popped out without him realizing. Woojae squeezed his eyes shut at the ‘act kindly’ strategy that wasn’t as easy as he thought. In the meantime, the movie had started. The screen was filled with a scene of two people walking down the street and shyly holding hands. Ah, it seemed to be a movie about dating and getting married. It was a common romance movie. To think he picked something so obvious when told to watch a movie related to marriage. Gye Sajun’s taste was questionable. Something like this wouldn’t be suitable to use for an assignment that could receive a high score.
How many minutes had passed? Woojae, recalling that the conversation had been cut off since his rude answer earlier, continued speaking. His gaze remained fixed on the screen.
“Don’t keep trying to buy things for me. It’s not like I want anything from you.”
Because from today on, he had decided to act kindly enough to make him sick of it. Gye Sajun, who liked being cursed at and hit, would definitely lose interest in him like this. Woojae acted friendly with confidence.
“…”
“Would you like it if I gave you cucumber soap?”
He meant it as putting himself in the other’s shoes, but comparing the expensive bath products Gye Sajun surely used with his cucumber soap that cost ten thousand won per box made him feel a bit embarrassed. It was more awkward since he couldn’t hear an answer to his question. Woojae pressed the space bar on the laptop to stop the movie. Because he wanted to salvage the situation somehow. When he turned his head, he saw Gye Sajun staring intently at him.
“Are you going to give it to me?”
In his confusion, the space bar was pressed once more. The line thrown by the actor in the movie was drowned out by the soft and heavy voice.
[What’s this?]
[I’m giving it to you.]
An answer was heard from inside the screen. Woojae only blinked at the strange situation. What are they giving and receiving? It surely wasn’t cucumber soap. He didn’t know when they had progressed that far, but the man was holding out a ring. The woman had a peculiar expression. Woojae fixed his gaze on the screen and answered as kindly as possible.
“About two bars or so…”
“Why are you smiling so prettily today?”
It was surely an awkward and artificial smile, but at the greasy question, Woojae’s face twitched. Did he notice my plan? The touching shoulders were hot. What kind of body temperature is this high? It was even hot when he wasn’t even covered with a blanket.
Woojae briefly fell into contemplation about whether Gye Sajun had noticed his plan and was teasing him. To avoid being caught wavering, he even performed the bizarre act of only rolling his eyes without turning his head. In his vision like that, Gye Sajun’s face was positioned right in front.
“Do I look pretty?”
Woojae decided to make a bold move. Even he thought it was a line that made him want to vomit. He thought that if a man threw such a question at him, he would vomit in his face. And when he realized that the man in front of him was someone he had already vomited on once,
“…Want to try kissing?”
A question that was more than enough to shatter his composure came back.
There was no time to console himself thinking he must have misheard. Gye Sajun’s gaze was straight and there wasn’t a hint of a smile on his face. But Woojae decided to ask once more. Because he didn’t want to crumble with his own hands the plan he had built over a long time while juggling part-time work and studies.
“What?”
“I asked if you want to try kissing.”
“This crazy bastard…”
Curses finally burst out of Woojae’s mouth. There’s a limit to jokes. The ‘act kindly to shake off the pervert’ operation failed along with Woojae’s profanity. From the beginning, it wasn’t someone the plan or anything would work on.
“I was wondering why you weren’t cursing today.”
A mocking voice gouged at Woojae’s patience. From head to toe, there wasn’t a single corner he liked. Can a person be this annoying? Woojae exploded in anger with a heavily distorted expression.
“Are you crazy? Are you dying to be cursed at by me? You perverted bastard, really!”
He grabbed his collar, but it was counterproductive. Because their faces became closer. Gye Sajun was pulled without a single point of resistance, led by his hand. Though he was the one who pulled, Woojae, surprised as their faces actually got closer, threw away the collar he had been holding.
The problem was that Gye Sajun had grabbed Woojae’s wrist and climbed on top of him.
