Yiyoung came out of the bathroom first.
Chahyun couldn’t take off his clothes until after he’d washed Yiyoung from head to toe, dried his body with a towel, and dried his hair with a hair dryer. Only after putting Yiyoung in perfect condition did Chahyun grin and tell him to go out first. Having been pushed out and chased from the bathroom like that, Yiyoung now felt like a puppy that had been dragged in by its owner after playing in muddy water and forced to take a bath.
Yiyoung looked sullenly at the firmly shut bathroom door, then sat down at the dining table. As he held his phone and scrolled through a food delivery app, his stomach rumbled loudly.
‘He’ll eat anything well, right? He even knows how to eat chicken feet.’
In any case, the food he could order at this time was limited. Yiyoung ordered from the most delicious place he’d tried that had fast delivery. It was pork soup with rice.
As soon as he cleared away the bedding in the living room, the doorbell rang.
The sound of running water could still be heard loudly from the bathroom. Yiyoung received the food from the delivery driver and began setting the table in the kitchen.
He deliberately transferred the food that had been in disposable containers to the nicest bowls and plates he could find in the cupboard. They were dishes mainly used only on his mother’s or Yiyoung’s birthdays and holidays. For kimchi too, instead of what the restaurant sent, he took out the fresh kimchi and diced radish kimchi that Ki Taeseong’s grandmother had sent. After doing that, the meal spread was quite hearty.
Just as he finished preparing to eat the pork soup with rice deliciously, the bathroom door opened.
Chahyun was wearing a white T-shirt Yiyoung had newly given him and the dress pants he’d worn yesterday. Chahyun, who had been shaking out his wet hair with a towel, smiled brightly when he saw the dining table.
However, unfortunately, Chahyun’s bright expression didn’t last very long.
Chahyun, who sat down at the dining table, crossed his arms and scanned the table quite discontentedly, saying.
“I didn’t particularly live conscious of the fact that I’m a chaebol, but when I’m with Yiyoung-ssi, I feel it every moment. No, compared to Bae Yiyoung-ssi, I’m closer to a prince.”
So he was saying the royal table was rather shabby. Really, at times like this, he wanted to slap his mouth.
But by Chahyun’s standards, it was a natural impression, and now he was so used to his annoying way of speaking that it was even a little funny, so it didn’t bother him at all. That said, he had no intention of indulging even his irritating side dish complaints, so Yiyoung silently picked up his spoon.
Perhaps that looked like he was angry, because Chahyun let out a deep sigh and said as if conceding.
“But considering Bae Yiyoung-ssi’s sincerity, I’ll try to eat it as deliciously as possible.”
Chahyun, who scooped up a large spoonful of soup and rice, took a deep breath with quite a resolute expression. Then he held his breath like a child eating food he dislikes and put the spoon in his mouth. Chahyun, who had been forcibly chewing the meat with his eyes squeezed shut, suddenly tilted his head.
The more Chahyun chewed the food, the more his expression relaxed. When he opened his eyes after swallowing the food, his pupils sparkled. At the reaction that was exactly as he’d expected, Yiyoung asked somewhat triumphantly.
“It’s delicious, right?”
“…It is.”
Chahyun muttered in disbelief and repeatedly scooped up the soup.
Yiyoung was pleased but also slightly puzzled to see Chahyun eating something this deliciously for the first time. The restaurant Yiyoung ordered from was indeed a good restaurant, but this wasn’t pork soup with rice earth-shattering enough to cause heaven and earth to split open.
Yiyoung asked Chahyun in a light joking tone.
“Is this your first time eating pork soup with rice?”
“Yes.”
For a moment, Yiyoung froze in shock. Come to think of it, he was a chaebol family’s young master.
Hyeyoung had also said she’d never eaten sundae or intestines, so sundae soup with rice could be an unfamiliar food to Chahyun. But Chahyun was someone who liked chicken feet. Compared to that, pork soup with rice was a popular food without likes or dislikes, so he’d ordered it thinking he would naturally like it.
Chahyun narrowed his eyes as if trying to read Yiyoung’s expression, then spoke first.
“The chicken feet were also my first time eating them. If that’s what you’re wondering about.”
“Really? No, that can’t be.”
Because Chahyun had eaten the chicken feet really deliciously well that day.
He’d even worn vinyl gloves and skillfully made rice balls without anyone telling him, so Yiyoung thought Chahyun had properly learned how to eat chicken feet. He’d withdrawn his plan to tease him a bit and then immediately take him to the Korean beef restaurant next door if he really couldn’t eat it, also because Chahyun liked the chicken feet so much.
“…Setting aside that it was your first time eating it, it was delicious though, right?”
“Delicious? I went home and threw it all up.”
You stole and ate my portion too, and then you vomited?
Yiyoung became increasingly confused and tilted his head with a frown.
“Why did you lie like that?”
Then Chahyun glared at Yiyoung with resentful eyes and answered.
“Because I was annoyed that Bae Yiyoung-ssi was trying to make a fool of me.”
Yiyoung was so dumbfounded that a “huh” sigh came out on its own.
To forcibly eat food that felt disgusting enough to make him want to vomit just because he didn’t want to show the desired reaction. He knew well that Chahyun was a somewhat spiteful troublemaker, but he didn’t know it was to this extent. And one thing he newly learned from this incident was.
‘…Is he an idiot?’
No matter how you look at it, it’s an act where only he loses out, isn’t it?
It seemed Chahyun was a bit stupid compared to how smart he was. Unexpectedly, he seemed to be the type who wasn’t calculating and acted swept up by momentary impulses. The great Moon Chahyun was increasingly hopeless the more you got to know him.
He’s really cute.
Yiyoung unconsciously put perilla powder and salted shrimp in his soup bowl while blushing at the bridge of his nose.
Chahyun, who had been eating deliciously, stared intently at Yiyoung. Though puzzled, Yiyoung also put cheongyang chili peppers in his soup. Chahyun immediately turned his gaze to the table and followed exactly what Yiyoung had done, putting perilla powder, salted shrimp, and cheongyang chili peppers in his own bowl.
As soon as Chahyun tasted it with an expectant expression, he closed his eyes trembling and bent his head. From the way he tightly gripped the handle of the spoon, you could read the thought, ‘Ah, it got even more delicious?’
Yiyoung felt like he’d cry because Chahyun was so cute. He should also show him later how to eat it spicy by adding seasoning sauce.
Yiyoung quietly smiled while Chahyun was absorbed in the pork soup with rice.
***
The meal ended with only traces of red broth left in both soup bowls.
With an utterly satisfied expression, Chahyun crossed his arms firmly and evaluated solemnly.
“This is a taste that should be known to the world.”
People who should know in other countries already all know. Among Koreans, only you probably didn’t know.
In any case, Yiyoung was happy and proud that the restaurant he’d carefully chosen was recognized.
Now that his stomach was full, Chahyun, perhaps getting bored, began looking around the house with curious eyes. Then he pointed behind Yiyoung’s back and asked.
“Who hung up those photos?”
Though he obviously knew what he was pointing at, Yiyoung reflexively turned around. Then he saw the kitchen wall that was practically wallpapered with Yiyoung’s photos. Yiyoung shifted his gaze back to Chahyun and answered.
“My mom did. She took most of them too.”
“Ah, so that’s why every single one has a bright expression?”
Is that so? Since he’d never been conscious of it, Yiyoung tilted his head.
People naturally smiled in front of cameras, but Yiyoung was not like that. Because being photographed was burdensome, when someone pointed a camera at him, his expression would stiffen or he would avoid their gaze.
Of course, when his mom took photos of him, he naturally smiled toward the camera lens. Because he loved the person holding the camera.
Come to think of it, Yiyoung was like that when he was with Chahyun too. Probably in the photos on his phone too, Yiyoung would have a bright appearance in all of them.
As he was thinking he didn’t quite know what expression he wanted to make now, Chahyun in front of him grumbled sullenly.
“You don’t smile well for me though.”
“…”
Well, a smile has to come out for that to happen.
He’d tried his whole life, but the shamelessness to fawn when he didn’t mean it would never come even if he died. The person called Bae Yiyoung was someone whose words and actions kept coming out indifferently unless he made an effort to express himself, even when his heart was burning.
Chahyun continued his question with the same sulky expression.
“Why did you lie to me?”
“What?”
Yiyoung asked back in bewilderment at Chahyun’s unexpected question. Chahyun gestured with his chin toward the row of photos on the kitchen wall and answered.
“Street performances, you did them.”
Ah. Come to think of it, there was one photo from around age twenty-two when he was actively performing on the streets.
While staring intently at Chahyun with puzzled eyes, Yiyoung answered obediently.
“I meant I don’t do it anymore. I don’t even remember it well now.”
“Whose clothes are those you’re wearing in the photo?”
