He didn’t even know how the weekdays had passed. Yoonjo’s days had been packed lately. He carefully prepared breakfast so Seonwoo wouldn’t wake up and went to do dawn work, then in the afternoon rode the cultivator to town to check if the beer was fermenting well. Coming home, he swept and mopped the floor in place of Grandma, and when the sun set, he went out to the field again. Only when dusk slowly descended at a late hour did he finish all his work and crawl into Seonwoo’s house.
They ate a delicious dinner together, sat on the sofa watching variety shows, and when it was time to sleep, each found their own spot to lie down. Yoonjo and Dongtae were in the living room, and Seonwoo was in the master bedroom. Though it was nice to fully enjoy the cool air conditioner air, Yoonjo had complaints too. Right now was exactly that.
“Dongtae-ya, Dad will be back soon.”
Dongtae, the white ball of fluff, was busy rubbing against Seonwoo with his hind legs raised repeatedly. Perhaps knowing that unlike usual he was going somewhere far, Dongtae had been going back and forth around Seonwoo since morning. Eventually, using his large body to rub against Seonwoo’s waist and chest indiscriminately, it had already been 30 minutes.
I haven’t even been able to hug hyung. Despite being a cute white ball of fluff…!
He looked at Seonwoo and Dongtae with dissatisfied eyes, but Yoonjo pressed down hard on what he wanted to say inside. He didn’t want to show such pettiness and lose the points he had worked hard to accumulate. Then, unable to hold back, he grabbed Dongtae’s waist and pulled him down.
“Dongtae-ya, hyung says he has to go.”
Huwoong, huwoong. Glancing up at Yoonjo and turning his head to look at Seonwoo alternately, Dongtae eventually lay down on the floor and covered his face between his front paws. Yoonjo, who sat down together next to him, pulled Dongtae’s body into a hug and shook his front paws held in his hands.
“Master, have a safe trip. Please buy something delicious on your way back.”
Yoonjo, who had been speaking seriously as if Dongtae was talking, looked toward Seonwoo who was crouched in front of him. He reached out to Yoonjo and lightly stroked his cheek.
“I’ll be back. Take good care of the house and stay pretty.”
Yes, master. Replying playfully and grinning widely, Yoonjo rubbed his face against Seonwoo’s palm touching his cheek. Along with the warm body temperature, he felt a pleasant scent. For a moment he fully enjoyed Seonwoo’s soft touch.
Yoonjo slyly raised his eyes and quietly traced Seonwoo’s face. His long eyelashes were exceptionally long and pretty.
It seemed like they would be within reach if he just extended his hand, so Yoonjo raised his arm without realizing it. As his fingertips headed toward his eyes, Seonwoo half-closed his eyes. At the signal that seemed to say it was okay to touch, just as he was about to trace Seonwoo’s eyelids, he moved his hand backward.
Yoonjo, who loosened the hair tie holding his hair, immediately put it on his own wrist, then took something out of his pocket and held it out.
“This is a gift.”
“…Are you serious?”
What Yoonjo held out was a yellow hair tie with a colorful elephant attached. Seonwoo’s expression became strange, wondering if he was really supposed to wear this. But Yoonjo’s side seemed serious as he moved his hand leisurely as if saying to take it quickly. Reluctantly taking the hair tie, Seonwoo fiddled with the plastic elephant.
“While you’re in Seoul, look at that and think of me. When you come back, return it.”
Even if it was something absurd like that, wouldn’t Seonwoo at least think of him a little while he was away? Though a gift attack probably didn’t mean this kind of thing, there was no other way. Yoonjo hugged Dongtae from behind and buried his face in his fluffy fur.
“You’ll come tomorrow, right?”
“Probably… I think I’ll come late. If it’s too late, I might sleep one more night and come.”
“You have to come quickly. Dongtae will be waiting for you, hyung. If you’re any later, I’ll marry Dongtae.”
Actually, I miss you. I want to drink beer with you, hyung, and hold hands too. Yoonjo made excuses about Dongtae for no reason and piled up the inner thoughts he couldn’t spit out neatly under his tongue.
“Marrying Dongtae would be troublesome….”
Seonwoo, who had smoothed down his hair, slowly got up from his spot. Time was a bit tight. CEO Jeong Suyeon had purposely set the appointment time for late evening. It seemed like a will to make him spend at least one night in Seoul no matter what. Though it was awkward, there was no grounds to refuse.
Yoonjo, who got up fumbling, followed Seonwoo’s back with his eyes. He waved his hand toward the rear of the black sedan that closed the car door and started slowly, smoothly. Yoonjo came into the house only after a long time had passed since Seonwoo disappeared.
“…Ah. I have to go pick up the beer today.”
He had a bitter taste in his mouth. Yoonjo, who had been fiddling with the leash, took out his phone and took a picture of Dongtae.
「Hyung, have a safe trip. I’ll take good care of Dongtae!」 10:30am
After deliberation, he sent a brightly smiling rabbit emoticon and repeatedly stroked Dongtae’s soft body.
“I hope he comes back quickly. Right, Dongtae-ya?”
Dongtae barked “Wang!” as if comforting him and bumped his nose against Seonwoo’s cheek with a tap. His damp nose tip and hot breath reached Yoonjo. Burying his face in Dongtae’s body for no reason, Yoonjo muttered.
“You smell like hyung too.”
He felt depressed for no reason. Because he thought he really did like Ki Seonwoo.
The sound of cicadas crying was filling the alley Seonwoo had left. Yoonjo swept several times with his palm as if wiping away the hot sunlight touching the nape of his neck, then walked with Dongtae. The sound of slippers dragging, scraping against the dirt sand, and small pattering footsteps accompanied him.
Though they say it’s the era of living to 100, Namhang village still faithfully observed events like 70th and 80th birthday celebrations.
On that day, all the village people put down their farm work. They would gather at the village hall or the birthday person’s house to make feast food and spend the day drinking makgeolli or soju all night. Since it was quite a big feast, there were often elderly people who counted the days waiting for a day they could play all day.
Of course, Yoonjo waited too. It was a different kind of waiting.
Yoonjo, crouched in front of a frying pan full of oil, held a spatula in his hand and tapped the round jeon with its flat surface, tap, tap. With a sizzling sound, oil bubbled up around the edges of the pan.
“Yoonjo-ya, flip it.”
“Ah….”
At the grandmother’s words that came in like a rebuke from the side, Yoonjo snapped to attention. When he hurriedly flipped the jeon, blackened burnt marks could be seen here and there. It seemed he had finally burned it while spacing out. Yoonjo looked at the egg mixture piled up next to him, then again rested his chin on his knees and poked around with the spatula.
Wang! Wang!
When a delicious smell wafted, Dongtae, who was inside the house, scratched at the door. The indecent sound of the glass door and hard claws scraping could be heard several times, then now he stuck his face toward the wide living room window with only a screen. Whether he had climbed on the sofa, his front paws were standing upright.
As if he would rush to the jeon at any moment, the tip of Dongtae’s red tongue was glistening with pooled saliva. Even so, it wasn’t something Yoonjo could give carelessly.
He knew how bad greasy food was for dogs, and even if not, he didn’t want to treat Seonwoo’s dog carelessly. Yoonjo had desperately blocked even the village elders from handing food to Dongtae.
“Cute is cute… but this is this….”
Muttering and fumbling to take out his phone from his pocket, Yoonjo savored Seonwoo’s last message.
「I’ll go down right away. It won’t take long either. Let’s definitely eat together.」 11:22am
There was no answer after that. Yoonjo, who didn’t want to bother someone who had work, checked his phone several times a day. Just in case a greeting might come from Seonwoo.
Yoonjo, who had been looking at the messages exchanged with Seonwoo for a while, hurriedly flipped the jeon at the grandmother’s nagging to flip it quickly, and sorted the fully cooked ones and stacked them neatly in a basket. As he took out the jeon that had been soaked in egg mixture and put it back on the pan, he quickly moved his fingers at the suddenly loud ringtone.
“Hello? Hyung?”
– Wow, Yoonjo-ya. Are you finally going to straighten out the family tree with me again? You know my birthday is two months earlier than yours, right?
“Ah…. Huiwon-ah.”
– Say hyung again. That sounds better than I thought.
“What, why’d you call?”
At the fact that it wasn’t the contact he’d been waiting for, Yoonjo’s mouth automatically jutted out. Regardless, the other person kept scratching at Yoonjo’s insides, telling him to call him hyung. Right now his insides were already torn and tattered, and even his friend was saying this, so he felt like he’d burst.
“I’m busy. Hurry up and talk.”
“Yoonjo-ya! Flip it! It’s all burning!”
– What are you doing?
When Grandma yelled, as if it was heard even beyond the phone, Huiwon asked curiously. Yoonjo quickly flipped the jeon with taps and replied.
“Preparing for a feast. I’m making jeon. I’m originally in charge of jeon. But why?”
– It’s nothing much, just wondering if you made your schedule well.
“We each do our own schedules anyway. Ah, except for one thing, that… easy course. Since that wasn’t there, I just put in anything. What was it… something about cats….”
– Unexpected. That you’d take something like that…. Ah, right. I have one more thing to ask. Didn’t you say you like Ki Seonwoo? Like you memorized his debut work and everything.
At the unexpected name, Yoonjo paused his hand briefly. It was because Seonwoo hadn’t been active for the past 5 years, so among peers he was practically a buried actor. Regardless, Huiwon continued.
– Just now Ki Seonwoo appeared in Cheongdam. Isn’t it news that he’s returning? There’s an article about him having a meal with his agency CEO and entering the agency building that day. It’s blowing up right now on Twitter and internet articles. I was seriously shocked when I saw this and called you right away.
Comeback, Cheongdam, agency. Did saying he had business in Seoul mean a comeback? He’s someone who secluded himself for 5 years… why suddenly. Questions struck his head.
“When…?”
– Really just a moment ago. Should I send you the article? Never mind, just search it yourself. Ki Seonwoo is really handsome. I guess I ate all the age by myself. If someone stayed home for 5 years, you’d think they’d change a bit. Huh? Their belly would stick out a bit, they’d gain some weight. But how is he exactly the same? No wrinkles either. Do celebrities eat preservatives to live?
“Uh uh…. Got it. Hang up. I’ll contact you later.”
Hurriedly hanging up the phone and trying to go online, Yoonjo shook his phone at the exceptionally slow signal. It wasn’t a signal that would be caught by doing that, but he did it anyway.
