Kwon Gyo-eon really did come back before sundown. The moment he walked in, he went looking for Hae-yul first.
“Hae-yul?”
Hae-yul had been planning to pretend he hadn’t heard the front door and stay lounging on the sofa — but at the sound of his name being called, he clicked his tongue and shuffled slowly toward the entryway.
“…You’re back earlier than I expected.”
“A little later than I’d planned, actually. You didn’t answer my calls — what were you doing?”
He was asking gently, but it felt like a nudge.
Truth be told, Kwon Gyo-eon had called a couple more times after the first. Since Hae-yul had already changed that irritating contact name, he’d ignored the calls under the excuse of having taken a nap.
He wasn’t keen on lying — but this time, Kwon Gyo-eon had gone too far. What on earth was the point of calling that many times? The only thing he’d have to say was asking what Hae-yul was up to anyway. They weren’t even anything to each other — was it really necessary to go that far?
Don’t tell me he was calling to check I hadn’t run off?
That would have been absurd in its own right.
“I took a nap. But why are you calling twice? What, are you worried I’d run away while you’re gone?”
“I was curious what you were up to on your own. And I wanted to hear about your day from you directly. But are you still thinking about running away?”
Kwon Gyo-eon shrugged off his coat, still carrying the cool outdoor air, and looked down at Hae-yul with a smile in his eyes.
“What if I am?”
“Then I’d have to try harder so that thought disappears entirely. Or alternatively—”
He paused, seeming to think something over for a moment, then delivered his answer.
“Should I put a shackle on your ankle so you can’t run away?”
Hae-yul had to question his own ears.
What the hell kind of thing is that to say?
He comes back from a perfectly normal day out and the first thing out of his mouth is that he’d put a shackle on him? What on earth had happened outside to bring about such extreme thinking? Kwon Gyo-eon’s out-of-nowhere words sent Hae-yul’s heart lurching wildly.
No. This wasn’t a case of something happening that had pushed his thinking to an extreme — it was more likely that he had simply let a part of his true self show.
He had seemed so consistently kind up until now that Hae-yul hadn’t really felt it, but the Kwon Gyo-eon standing before him was the father of Kwon Je-yeon, the obsessive male lead of the original story. So it stood to reason that he would share at least some of that personality.
He had been far too complacent. Kwon Gyo-eon was exactly the kind of person who could turn on a dime at any moment.
As Hae-yul stared at him with eyes full of wariness, the corner of Kwon Gyo-eon’s mouth twitched.
“That was a joke.”
“A joke? Who says something like that as a joke?”
Hae-yul snapped back with a face that had gone ice cold. But despite his sharp voice, the tips of his fingers were trembling faintly. Hae-yul clenched his fists tightly and glared at Kwon Gyo-eon. The man, who had been tilting his head with a puzzled expression, soon offered a composed smile and opened his mouth.
“My joke went too far. I apologize.”
Even that apology looked like a performance to Hae-yul, and he couldn’t feel completely at ease. If it hadn’t been for the shock of that absurd joke, he probably would have found the sight of Kwon Gyo-eon apologizing so readily to be surprisingly out of character.
Hae-yul continued to watch Kwon Gyo-eon with a guarded look, then turned and headed to the living room. Part of him wanted to retreat into the bedroom, but he figured he still needed to eat.
As if reading that thought, Kwon Gyo-eon loosely draped his coat aside and headed to the kitchen. Shortly after, the sounds of food being prepared could be heard.
Is he going to make it himself?
It didn’t suit Kwon Gyo-eon at all. The image of Kwon Gyo-eon cooking was so unfamiliar it was hard to even picture. He had seemed like the type to have someone else prepare things — apparently not. The dining table from that morning had clearly shown the work of a professional.
Sitting there quietly listening to the sounds of him preparing dinner, the tension seemed to ease a little. That was probably why he could let himself think such pointless thoughts.
Earlier, the moment he had heard the word “shackle,” his whole body had gone rigid. In truth, living with Kwon Gyo-eon had brought the original story to mind on more than one occasion — but at the same time, he had also found himself feeling relieved at the sense that things seemed to be heading in a different direction from the original.
In practice, Kwon Gyo-eon himself and the overall atmosphere when they were together felt like the opposite of what the original had described. The Kwon Gyo-eon on the page had been rigid, difficult, and frightening — but the Kwon Gyo-eon who actually existed in front of him was difficult, yes, but generally soft and full of playfulness.
Which was perhaps exactly why that ridiculous joke had frightened him more. It had felt like being grabbed by the back of the neck just when he had let himself relax.
Without realizing it, it seemed he had grown comfortable with his current life living alongside Kwon Gyo-eon. Hae-yul swallowed a sigh. It was fine. He could pull himself together again starting now. And letting his fear show the way he had earlier could actually backfire.
If he acted as though nothing had affected him at all, Kwon Gyo-eon would lose interest — whether in those kinds of jokes, or in his reactions.
Sitting across from Kwon Gyo-eon at the dining table, Hae-yul sank into deep thought. A few of the dishes laid out on the table were quite a sight. A ragged, falling-apart rolled omelette and sausages that had burst at the sides from not being scored sat naturally wedged in among the otherwise proper dishes.
What’s this? Is he expressing his feelings through food?
Everything else on the table was perfectly fine — only those two things looked off. He wanted to ask what it meant, but since the atmosphere had grown a little awkward after what had happened at the entryway, Hae-yul just stared blankly at the table.
“Not very hungry?”
“…It’s not that.”
“Then is it that your appetite’s gone because of the rolled omelette and sausages?”
Kwon Gyo-eon brought up exactly what Hae-yul had wanted to ask about. Hae-yul shot him a flat look, and Kwon Gyo-eon explained with a somewhat sheepish expression.
“Normally the meals are all prepared by the cook who handles that for me — but I wanted to apologize for going too far with my joke earlier, so I did something I don’t usually do. As you can see, the results of doing something I don’t usually do are pretty dismal. You don’t have to eat the rolled omelette or the sausages. I’ll clear them away.”
At that explanation, Hae-yul’s eyelashes fluttered. He had thought the food was some kind of passive display of dissatisfaction — turns out it was the exact opposite.
After having sat down with his guard so firmly up because of what had happened earlier, Kwon Gyo-eon’s words left him completely thrown. He had made that oddly shaped rolled omelette and grilled those sausages because he wanted to apologize?
All that intense deliberating on the sofa suddenly felt hollow. Right — the Kwon Gyo-eon in front of his eyes, not on the page, was the real answer. Things the Kwon Gyo-eon in the original story — the one made of words — never would have done, the real Kwon Gyo-eon did without thinking twice. He had even looked embarrassed about his own terrible handiwork.
It was as if the tension simply drained out of him all at once. Without realizing it, Hae-yul shook his head slowly and let out a short, helpless laugh.
“You really shouldn’t cook. The fact that you didn’t start a fire is remarkable in itself. So there are things even you can’t do? I thought you’d do everything perfectly.”
“Hardly. I make plenty of mistakes. That’s exactly why I made one with you earlier.”
“…Well, that’s in the past. Anyway — it’s not bad enough to clear away. As long as it tastes fine, that’s all that matters.”
Hae-yul replied in a deliberately blunt tone and put a piece of the rolled omelette in his mouth. The vegetables inside were slightly undercooked and gave it an unusual texture, but the taste itself wasn’t bad. He swallowed the piece and tossed out a remark.
“I’m going out for lunch with some classmates tomorrow.”
He had planned on going regardless of what Kwon Gyo-eon said — and after what had happened earlier, any desire he’d had to mention it in advance had completely evaporated. But since Kwon Gyo-eon seemed genuinely sorry, and they were living in the same space for the time being, it felt right to at least say something.
Kwon Gyo-eon’s reaction, however, was a little unexpected. Hae-yul had assumed he would either agree without objection out of guilt, or add something to it. Instead, Kwon Gyo-eon just looked at him with a puzzled expression and poured his water.
“Are you sharing your schedule with me right now?”
“It’s temporary, but we are living together, so I thought I’d mention it — though come to think of it, you probably couldn’t care less.”
At that, Kwon Gyo-eon looked at Hae-yul with a slightly surprised expression, then curved his lips into a soft smile.
“Living with you is better than I expected.”
“…What?”
“I’m saying I’d like you to share your schedule with me comfortably going forward. Even small things are fine. Like I said earlier — I’m curious about your everyday life when you’re the one telling me about it.”
Hae-yul truly couldn’t fathom why anyone would be curious about such an ordinary, uneventful daily life. Was he deliberately teasing him, expecting some kind of reaction? No — how long had it even been since that apology?
Hae-yul frowned and scolded him.
“I don’t particularly want to share my everyday life with you. Stop talking as if we’re something to each other.”
“I do want to be something to you — but does there have to be a defined relationship before one person can be curious about another’s daily life?”
At those words, Hae-yul’s eyebrow twitched.
“Isn’t that obvious? Why would you be curious about someone’s everyday life if you’re nothing to each other? And what — are you going to bring up that whole getting-comfortable-with-each-other thing again like last time? I have absolutely no interest in that.”
Kwon Gyo-eon smiled, stretching the corners of his mouth, and answered.
“It is a shame — but as they say, the one who cares more is the one who works harder for it. I can wait as long as it takes for your feelings to change.”
“…Are you — no, are you seriously in your right mind? You think I’m not going to get angry at a joke like that?”
The moment he confirmed Hae-yul’s guard had come down, he was already testing his limits again. Hae-yul stared at Kwon Gyo-eon in pure disbelief.
