Chahyun swiftly raised his arm and brushed off Yiyoung’s hand. Then he held the mug right up to the sobbing Yiyoung’s nose and asked:
“Do you want it back?”
Yiyoung nodded vigorously. And just as he was about to grab the mug again, Chahyun quickly dodged his hand as if playing a trick and said spitefully:
“No.”
Yiyoung was so dumbfounded that he couldn’t even make a sound. Even while crying buckets of tears, he exploded with resentment in his head.
‘What kind of bastard is this?’
Chahyun shamelessly faced Yiyoung and spouted nonsense that made his jaw drop even wider.
“Have dinner with me. Then I’ll give it back.”
“What did you say?”
Yiyoung raised his voice angrily while crying like a broken faucet.
“Is that even something to say right now……!”
Then Chahyun blinked his eyes so calmly he looked innocent and raised the mug high above his head. It was a gesture laden with the threat of ‘try refusing again.’ Huk, Yiyoung raised his head toward the mug and took a big breath.
As he remained silent, Chahyun smiled broadly as if he’d won.
“What will you do? Do you want it back?”
Now that he looked, the twenty-year-old Moon Chahyun wasn’t just crazy. He was childishly crazy.
Yiyoung’s lips bubbled with frustration. But soon he lowered his gaze from glaring fiercely at Chahyun to stare at the box. He absolutely couldn’t turn away saying ‘do as you please.’
Yiyoung reluctantly nodded. Chahyun generously put the mug back in the box.
“Save my number first.”
Yiyoung obediently followed Chahyun’s orders while cursing him out with every insult he knew in his mind.
‘Crazy bastard. Arrogant with a prince complex. Psychopath. Thug bastard.’
Chahyun beckoned to Yiyoung with his index finger. Understanding what his gesture meant, Yiyoung held up his phone to show he’d saved the contact. Chahyun showed a somewhat displeased expression.
“Executive Director Moon Chahyun-nim? Am I Bae Yiyoung-ssi’s workplace superior?”
He’d barely held back from saving it as ‘elementary schooler.’ Yiyoung, whose tears had stopped before he knew it, glared fiercely at Chahyun while sniffling. Finding that amusing somehow, Chahyun let out a chuckle.
“Answer when I call.”
Chahyun gave a stern warning and turned around.
As he disappeared around the corner of the alley, Yiyoung suddenly relaxed and rubbed his tear-soaked face roughly with his palms. With dejected movements, Yiyoung crouched down on the ground and picked up the broken album pieces and perfume bottle. The whole time, pitiful hiccups wouldn’t stop.
It was truly the worst.
And Chahyun called the very next morning at dawn.
Having lost all affection for Chahyun after last night’s incident, Yiyoung answered the phone with a hardened face. As soon as the call connected, Chahyun abruptly asked:
― What are you doing today?
“Working.”
Yiyoung deliberately answered stiffly and briefly because he didn’t want to talk long with Chahyun. Chahyun continued questioning without caring at all.
― What about on the weekend?
“Working.”
Over the phone, Yiyoung heard Chahyun make a ‘hmm’ sound. Soon an announcement came.
― Make time on Saturday.
“Okay.”
Yiyoung answered curtly and hung up abruptly. He hoped the sound of hanging up sounded irritated. Of course, that wouldn’t happen.
He was furious to the top of his head, but the other person was acting nonchalant as if nothing had happened, which strangely made him more annoyed. Grumbling alone didn’t relieve his anger, so Yiyoung changed Chahyun’s contact name from ‘Executive Director Moon Chahyun-nim’ to ‘Elementary Schooler.’ Rather than feeling relieved, he only felt empty.
‘……I shouldn’t have given him the composition notebook.’
Even if he gave up on other things, he had to get that back.
Yiyoung had used the composition notebook Chahyun gave him like a diary. It was a notebook he mainly wrote in when he came home excited after meeting Chahyun. If he didn’t pour out his feelings into musical notes like that, his pounding feelings wouldn’t subside and he couldn’t sleep. They were musical scores containing Yiyoung’s raw emotions.
Because it was literally a diary, he hadn’t backed it up separately or had any intention of showing it to anyone. But on the day Chahyun’s memory returned, he gave it back hoping he would know how lovely he had seemed to someone. Because Chahyun was someone who listened to and understood music like a language.
But looking at what he was doing, Chahyun was the kind of person who would tear up the composition notebook right in front of Yiyoung’s eyes and more. No matter how messy the scores were, they were too precious to throw away like that.
Yiyoung gloomily looked at the perfume bottle and shattered album he’d picked up from beside the recycling pile the night before. Soon he resolved with a determined expression.
‘I’ll block him once I get my things back.’
He’d met enough of such belligerent and selfish people to be sick of them. He didn’t want it anymore.
***
At 9 AM on Saturday, Yiyoung’s front gate rang with knocking.
There had been minor noise from streetlight construction in every alley since the afternoon two days ago, and people rarely visited his house, so at first he didn’t even realize it was the sound of someone knocking on his gate.
Thinking about it, since it was the weekend, construction would be taking a break too. Yiyoung stuck his face out beyond the front door of his house to confirm that the rusty green iron gate was shaking from being knocked.
When he opened the gate, he saw an unfamiliar man in neat formal wear standing there.
The man was holding a box with a ribbon as big as Yiyoung’s face. Without giving Yiyoung time to be bewildered, the man said:
“Executive Director Moon Chahyun-nim sent this.”
Yiyoung received the gift box inadvertently. While he struggled to support the large box with both arms, the man bowed to Yiyoung in greeting and turned around. Coming into the house, Yiyoung set the box down on the living room floor and untied the ribbon.
Inside the box were a suit, shoes, and a wristwatch.
It seemed he’d sent them to wear when meeting him today. Yiyoung was seriously worried about where Chahyun was trying to drag him to by giving such luxurious clothes. If it was a place like the sky lounge they’d gone to before, he felt like even the dinner he’d digested the day before would come up.
Just then, a text message arrived from Chahyun.
[Elementary Schooler:
Come out to the end of the alley at 5 later
It’s hard to bring the car inside]
9:10 AM
This is really annoying. Yiyoung answered briefly with “Okay” and turned off his phone screen.
Then he gazed worriedly at the neatly folded suit in the box. He didn’t want to look good for Chahyun, but he didn’t want to carelessly go out and attract attention like at the sky lounge.
‘Should I wear it?’
Yiyoung thought of the sweatshirt and cotton pants he’d prepared as today’s outing outfit.
In his own way, it was casual wear he’d wear when he needed to look neat. However, seeing the suit Chahyun sent made all his agonized efforts feel futile. Even if he took out and wore the best clothes from his wardrobe, it would probably look like rags to Chahyun’s eyes.
Yiyoung frowned and changed his mind.
‘What does clothing matter? It’s not even a date.’
Whatever Chahyun thought, Yiyoung had no intention of having a time-limited romance or a date with him. He was just meeting him because there were things to get back.
Besides, wherever they went, it wouldn’t be a place where Yiyoung could act naturally. He’d feel like sitting on a bed of thorns with Chahyun anyway, so he at least wanted his clothes to be comfortable. Yiyoung closed the lid of the gift box without touching the contents.
***
As the appointed time approached, Yiyoung came out with the gift box just as he’d received it.
As soon as he left the run-down residential area and came out to the main road, an SUV parked on the roadside caught his eye. Seeing the car with an extraordinary design, Yiyoung stopped his steps dead from a distance and his jaw dropped.
‘Pink!’
To be precise, it was a vehicle in what was called ‘rose gold’ color.
He didn’t know anything about cars, so he didn’t know how well-performing the model was. However, the SUV that sparkled with a subtle pearl finish as if rose-pink paint had been mixed with gold pigment was bizarrely unique and strangely extravagant.
It absolutely wasn’t a car an ordinary person would drive.
Sure enough, Moon Chahyun was standing leaning against the car.
Yiyoung squeezed his eyes shut at Chahyun’s appearance, which stood out even more than the rose gold pearl-colored car. Even when he opened his eyes again to look, Chahyun was dazzlingly magnificent. Yiyoung’s brow furrowed automatically.
‘Too burdensome.’
Unlike someone who’d brought a flashy car, Chahyun was dressed in a classic charcoal gray suit.
The perfectly fitted suit without a single place that was too big or tight clearly revealed Chahyun’s sensual physique with moderate muscle. The relatively flashy cufflinks and tie pin also naturally harmonized with his urbane appearance.
Looking at him like this, Moon Chahyun was really, without a shred of exaggeration, a handsome man.
