“Cool and reliable… Well, well.”
Though he seemed to reluctantly agree, he was more or less satisfied. Yoonjo let go of his hand with a refreshed posture and stuck close to Seonwoo’s side.
“And it’s not a lie. It’s just… that’s how it is.”
Yoonjo grumbled as he subtly embraced Seonwoo, then soon laid down with his head on his thigh. He could feel something hot yet firm, but Yoonjo didn’t budge an inch. At this, Seonwoo moved his lips in an uncharacteristic flustered manner.
“You’ll get gastritis if you lie down right after eating. Sit up.”
“…Hyung, you sometimes have no sense of romance and are like an old fart.”
Though it was the second time hearing this, the impact was unavoidable each time. Seonwoo slowly tidied up Yoonjo’s hair covering his forehead. His round forehead was clearly visible. Seonwoo, who had been moving his lips slightly, smiled with effort.
“I’ll be an old fart then, so get up. What if you get sick?”
“Then hyung will pat me better, right?”
“A hospital injection will pat you better, won’t it?”
“Wow… That’s such a cruel thing to say. I really hate shots.”
“It won’t do if you hate shots.”
“Ugh…! I really get the shivers when I get shots. There’s no way I could like them.”
Toward Yoonjo, who shuddered, Seonwoo added in a teasing tone.
“You might come to like them. In a different sense.”
“Ah, that will never happen in my lifetime. Nope.”
At Yoonjo’s firm words, Seonwoo nodded. He seemed to think that might really be the case.
“If you end up hating it, it can’t be helped. You can just try until you like it. Anyway, why were you so sulky earlier? Little Yoonjo.”
At the last word, Yoonjo narrowed his eyes, then soon hid his face in Seonwoo’s embrace. He was just like a young child who thinks they’re completely hidden if they just hide their face.
“Why, what do you want to say?”
I can’t look like a baby… I really need to become a reliable person… Yoonjo kept his face pressed firmly against Seonwoo’s stomach and stayed still. Then Seonwoo’s long, pale fingers slowly stroked his hair. Each time his fingertips brushed against his scalp, he strangely became drowsy. Yoonjo, who had been deeply inhaling Seonwoo’s scent, gently closed his eyes.
For a moment, a faint sigh escaped from Seonwoo’s side. As if holding something back, he repeatedly removed his hand and then stroked his hair again.
“Hyung.”
“…Yeah.”
At the answer that came back a beat slower, Yoonjo exhaled deeply. Should I ask, or shouldn’t I? His brain quickly rolled this way and that, continuing question after question.
In the past, when Yoonjo heard the story related to that bastard Seo Yeongyeom, he had suffered inside. He had cried and whimpered without being able to spit out the words in his heart, but now the situation was slightly, just slightly different. So… wouldn’t it be okay to ask? If he did, Seonwoo would readily answer as he always did.
“That… Hyung, you lived with that person too, didn’t you?”
“Who?”
“Seo Yeongyeom… ahjussi. You said you lived together. So, just…”
Seonwoo’s hand, which had been stroking Yoonjo’s soft hair, paused for a moment. At that sign, Yoonjo quietly turned his head.
“…Did you really live together?”
“Does that make you that curious?”
“If you don’t want to answer, that’s okay. I’m not curious at all… well, that’s not quite it, I’m a little bit curious. But if it’s difficult to answer, you don’t have to. It’s fine. But if I say I’m really curious, will you tell me? Then I’m curious, really really curious… Please tell me.”
At the attitude change as quick as flipping one’s palm, Seonwoo answered with a slightly dumbfounded look.
“With Yeongyeom… about two days? There was a flood at the dorm, so we lived together for about that long, and if two days counts as living together… then it would be right.”
“Two days?”
At the unexpected words, Yoonjo sharply raised his head and his eyes sparkled. His face, which had been about to be shrouded in gloom, was nothing but bright as if nothing had happened.
“Ah, of course. That’s understandable. Even two days, if you reeeally stretch it, is living together. Of course. That’s right!”
At Yoonjo’s movement of shaking their clasped hands up and down as if delighted, Seonwoo was limply dragged along.
“Ah~ What~ So that’s what it was? Wow, that ahjussi is really a strange person. That’s not called cohabitation, isn’t it called temporary residence? Two days? Two daAAys?”
As if that was nothing, Yoonjo laughed cheerfully. Only after a while did he slightly furrow his brows as if something was strange.
“But hyung. Do you still call him by his name so familiarly?”
It was jealousy that couldn’t be any cuter. Seonwoo gently pressed and smoothed out Yoonjo’s brows, then lightly kissed above them. Then he paused for a moment. It was an action done without awareness. Nothing went according to his own will when he stood before Yoonjo.
“The name just doesn’t mean anything special. When calling a person, you call them by their name, you can’t go around saying ‘this guy’ or ‘that guy.'”
“That’s true but… Hyung, why do you keep kissing my face?”
“Yoonjo does it too. Without rhyme or reason. I remember you did it today too.”
It was true. In fact, since meeting Seonwoo again, Yoonjo had been constantly pressing his lips to his face whenever he had the chance. However, there was one big difference between what Yoonjo did and what Seonwoo did.
“I do it because I like hyung, but hyung doesn’t yet.”
“Consider it payment for touching me.”
“Aren’t you a highway robber?”
“It’s a fair trade.”
At Seonwoo’s words, which rebutted everything as if he’d been waiting, Yoonjo scrunched up his face. Like an angry pufferfish, he looked at Seonwoo threateningly, then reached out his hand. Yoonjo immediately grabbed Seonwoo’s jaw below his ears with both hands and thrust out his lips as if charging forward.
Smooch-.
Having finally left a kiss on Seonwoo’s lips, Yoonjo said with a triumphant smile.
“Then to make it a fairer trade, I’ll charge it as the price of liking you and double pay.”
Yoonjo fluttered up from his spot and tried to enter the bedroom. Dongtae also followed Yoonjo, moving his feet tap-tap-tap. But for some reason, Seonwoo remained sitting quietly on the sofa. With his elbows resting on both knees, he was in a pose as if praying, looking quite serious.
“Hyung, aren’t you coming in?”
“Go ahead first. I… just suddenly feel like praying.”
“Okay then! I’ll go first and warm up the spot nice and toasty for you!”
At Yoonjo’s shameless attitude, Seonwoo let out a chuckle. Then he exhaled deeply and glanced down. It was because he wondered what on earth he should do about this.
***
Seonwoo, who had only turned on one dim night light, carefully sat up from his position. He was careful not to let Yoonjo’s arm resting on his stomach fall as he leaned his back against the bed’s headboard.
Certainly, until they fell asleep, Yoonjo had been far away, but now he was stuck close as if it had never been otherwise. Every time Yoonjo went to sleep with Seonwoo, he wriggled and burrowed into Seonwoo’s embrace like someone searching for body heat.
Seonwoo, who inwardly muttered that it was a terrible sleeping habit, gently patted Yoonjo’s shoulder. Then he carefully reached toward the nightstand beside the bed. When he opened the drawer, inside was a script collection of a work Seonwoo had written previously. It was a work that was completed but had not yet been shown to the world.
‘Are you doing this just for yourself? Because you’ve earned enough, so it’s over? I’m the one who raised you to become who you are now, and I haven’t even received everything yet. So Ki Seonwoo. If you want to leave, do your job properly first. Make a proper hit. Then I’ll give you the contract termination you want.’
These were the words he heard at the place he was called to after dropping Yoonjo off near school. Seonwoo was quite weak toward his agency CEO, Jeong Suyeon. When penalty fees flew in due to his sudden retirement announcement, it was Jeong Suyeon who paid them all back, and it was also she who had waited without a word until now.
A proper one… Thinking up to there, Seonwoo fiddled with the edge of the script for a long while, then straightened his body again when Yoonjo tossed and turned.
“Kuu…”
Seonwoo carefully stroked the cheek of Yoonjo, who was sleeping soundly, snoring once in a while. The words that it was okay to quit being an actor and that he didn’t have to write either momentarily flashed through his head.
“Before letting go completely, don’t leave regrets…”
Regret.
Seonwoo, who mulled over the single short word, looked at the script, then shifted his gaze to Yoonjo. It was something he would have to face once anyway. So Seonwoo, as Yoonjo said, had to do something at least once before leaving regrets, while he could still grasp it.
If it were before, it would have been something he couldn’t even think of. At the fresh change, Seonwoo gazed at Yoonjo. It was quite remarkable that the beginning of all change was Yoonjo. He closed his eyes tightly and slowly pictured in his mind the things he had to do going forward.
After all this was over, wouldn’t he be able to tell Yoonjo the words he hadn’t fully conveyed yet? Having that thought, Seonwoo unknowingly embraced Yoonjo a bit more. The various breathing sounds and warm body heat brought him a sense of stability.
***
**Schrödinger’s Cat**
With the words written as large as a door on the blackboard behind him, Yoonjo let out a rough breath as he looked for Seonghyeon. He was late, of all things. Because it was a lecture he had to attend early in the morning, he should have woken up quickly, but when he opened his eyes, it was 10 o’clock.
This was all because of Ki Seonwoo. When his eyes fluttered open at the alarm sound, Seonwoo patted his shoulder saying he could sleep more, so he lost his senses and fell into the world of sleep. The problem was that both Seonwoo and Yoonjo fell asleep. It was maddening.
Though he rushed to school in a hurry, because it was orientation, the class had already ended. At least it was fortunate that it was a course he was taking with Seonghyeon.
“Huff… Ugh, I’m dying… How was class?”
Seonghyeon, sitting with his chin propped on the desk, had a strange expression. It was as if he didn’t know whether to call it good or bad. Yoonjo sat across from him and asked again. His breathing was still heavy.
“How was it, huff… I’m asking how it was. What was the vibe?”
“First of all… I think he’ll give good grades.”
“What do you mean ‘first of all’?”
Seonghyeon, who had been rolling his eyes, thought for a long while, then held out the syllabus.
“Looking at the syllabus… this is kind of… like raising animals… it seems like that.”
“It’s a philosophy department elective. How is this raising animals?”
