# Chapter 39
No way. That can’t be right. This is just me being self-conscious.
But what if it’s true?
Suddenly, Mo Eunje remembered what happened on April Fool’s Day. The prank he pulled with Song Yeonhwa, and how Tae Igyeol acted differently, as if he had a screw loose…
If Gye Minho’s speculation, which he presented as reasonable suspicion, was true, then Mo Eunje was the worst garbage in the world. To play such a prank on someone who liked him.
No, not only was Gye Minho’s suspicion not reasonable, but the very premise that Tae Igyeol might like him was wrong. They had lived like family their entire lives—it was absurd. Mo Eunje tried to cut off the ridiculous flow of thoughts that was spreading unchecked and regain his rationality.
So Tae Igyeol had come out, but he hadn’t said he currently liked anyone. If Tae Igyeol did have someone he liked, he wouldn’t have just come out—like Ban Hajun, he would have said he likes someone and that someone is a man. After calmly examining the truth, Mo Eunje’s mind was finally at ease, and he could answer firmly.
“No, it’s not like that. He can’t like me in that way.”
“Really? But why do I keep leaning toward that idea…”
“What’s with this conspiracy theory? It’s impossible, even if I died and came back to life.”
“Phew… that’s a relief. I don’t want to lose both of you. I could respect it if you dated, but if you broke up—”
“Not you. We’re connected through our families, so that would be catastrophic. Would Tae Igyeol be crazy enough to sever a second-generation relationship? Hey, laugh, laugh. They’re looking at us right now.”
As Mo Eunje glanced sideways at the ashtray and gave instructions, Gye Minho burst into laughter. With his thoughts somewhat organized and feeling relieved, he genuinely smiled without having to fake it. Mo Eunje, whose heart felt strange, also laughed broadly, his eyes crinkling.
“You idiot, be suspicious of things worth suspecting.”
“You two are always together as a set, so I thought it might be possible. You’re even living together now. But even I think it doesn’t make sense.”
“How could that make any sense?”
Tae Igyeol likes me?
That would be world-changing. Family doesn’t do that.
Mo Eunje had unknowingly been tense for a moment, but as his stiffness released, laughter erupted so loudly it made a sound. It was so absurd that tears were about to form. Mo Eunje held his stomach and laughed with Gye Minho, contemptuous of the ridiculous suspicion they had seriously entertained for a moment. It was so absurd that tears almost came to his eyes.
2-2
Tae Igyeol lay on his side with his arm between his head and the pillow, endlessly gazing at the sleeping Mo Eunje. Mo Eunje was sleeping peacefully in Tae Igyeol’s territory, breathing evenly and oblivious to the world. Though the blackout curtains made the surroundings dark, his eyes, adjusted to the darkness, clearly recognized Mo Eunje’s face.
The reason he could be like this at 10:30 AM was because he had decided to take a short break from investing in new stocks after making a large profit last week. Though he wouldn’t stop watching the market entirely, his daily schedule had certainly become more relaxed.
Quietly watching Mo Eunje sleep like this sometimes made him feel like a stalker. He worried that Mo Eunje might be uncomfortable if he found out, but then he would put himself in Mo Eunje’s shoes—if Mo Eunje were to gaze at him endlessly while he slept, he would be so touched and happy that his heart would settle.
However, this only applied if that person was Mo Eunje, whom he loved. Just imagining substituting Ban Hajun or Gye Minho, who were a bit closer than ordinary acquaintances, made him shudder with goosebumps. They might even throw a punch, calling him a pervert for staring at someone’s face while they slept.
About 15 minutes more passed, and it was nearly 11 o’clock. Considering Mo Eunje’s average wake-up time, Tae Igyeol gradually got up and left the bed. Today too, he mustered maximum self-control, restricting himself to only looking passionately without touching even with a fingertip.
Upon entering the living room, the first thing he saw was the hundred roses prettily withering. Since receiving them as a gift, he had been appreciating them to the point of saturation, placing them next to the TV where they were most visible. Although Mo Eunje might have bought them without much thought, Tae Igyeol gave them personal meaning and couldn’t throw away even a single withered petal.
“…”
Since washing in the bathroom attached to the bedroom might wake Mo Eunje with the sound of water, he showered in the living room bathroom. After roughly drying his hair with a hairdryer and checking his phone, he found a message. It was a notification that the custom bracelet he had ordered was ready for pickup. It had taken exactly a week to make, just as they had said.
After getting ready to go out, Tae Igyeol entered the bedroom and looked down at Mo Eunje, who was sleeping peacefully in his bed. He could come back soon and have lunch together.
“I’ll be back.”
Mouthing the words silently, he stroked Mo Eunje’s cheek once and left the bedroom. It wasn’t a long distance to the department store, and it wasn’t a time for traffic congestion, so allowing for some margin of error, a round trip should take about 40 minutes.
Arriving at the department store and entering the jewelry store, an employee who recognized Tae Igyeol greeted him warmly. Even before he handed over the reservation confirmation he had brought, the employee showed him the completed bracelet. The circular pendant wasn’t large, so it matched well with the bracelet.
“We used the same engraving font that your friend chose for the necklace that time, as you ordered. Please check here.”
The letter ‘T’ was engraved in a flowing font in the center of the circular pendant. Because he had chosen a very simple and clean design for the bracelet, the circular pendant stood out even more. A rare, satisfied smile spread across Tae Igyeol’s face.
“If it’s a gift, we also offer a card message service.”
“It’s for me.”
“Ah. Would you like to wear it now, or shall I wrap it for you?”
“No need for wrapping. Just put it in the case, please.”
For his birthday this year, he now had two items matching Mo Eunje’s. The watch strap and the circular pendant with engraved initials. Though people who spend a lot of time together often become similar and might collect the same items, their tastes were so different that it wasn’t easy. He wanted to adapt to Mo Eunje’s taste as much as possible, but he wasn’t confident he could handle what Mo Eunje claimed was “sophisticated.”
After receiving the shopping bag with the bracelet case, Tae Igyeol left the store and went straight to the bakery on the first basement floor. Yesterday, while Mo Eunje was looking at something on his phone, he had shown Tae Igyeol a picture of a new menu item at the department store basement bakery: a cream and strawberry castella. He didn’t ask Tae Igyeol to buy it, but he had expressed regret that if it had been available last week, he could have bought it when they were at the department store.
Tae Igyeol bought two cream castellas topped with fresh strawberries and one regular castella, then headed home.
As he entered the passcode at the front door, he checked the time and saw it was just past noon. Exactly 36 minutes had passed since he left home.
He took the castella out of the bakery paper bag, placed it on the dining table, and entered the bedroom. The bed was empty and neatly made. Hearing the sound of a shower from the bathroom attached to the bedroom, it seemed Mo Eunje had woken up and was washing.
Tae Igyeol put the bracelet in the safe he had custom ordered before moving in, making it the hundredth item inside. Then, after changing into comfortable clothes in the dressing room, the water sound abruptly stopped, and shortly after, a nearly naked Mo Eunje emerged from the bathroom. He had put on a pair of drawers, but there was still too much flesh visible.
“Oh? You’re back? Where did you go so early in the morning?”
“Just out for a bit.”
Suppressing his instinct to look at Mo Eunje’s body thoroughly and meticulously, he pulled his gaze up from where it wanted to fall and fixed it on Mo Eunje’s face. At times like this, he somewhat envied Ban Hajun’s smooth personality. If it were Ban Hajun, he would have made all sorts of excuses—saying things like “it’s almost summer, what’s with those forearms, do some push-ups,” “your side profile is excellent,” “aren’t you going to build abs,” “your chest seems firmer,” “your thighs seem to have developed some lean muscle”—just to take in that body with his eyes as if he were going to devour it, and he wouldn’t hesitate to touch it either.
“What should we have for lunch?”
“I’m supposed to eat with Iden.”
Last Sunday, when they had dinner at the family home with Mo Eunje, Tae Iden was absent due to variety show recording. Tae Iden had video called and expressed great disappointment, so Mo Eunje had promised to treat him to a meal, and it seems he set the time for lunch today. Though who knows if it would end with just lunch.
“Want to come along?”
“No.”
No matter how much he wanted to stay by Mo Eunje’s side, he had no desire to meet his annoying sibling at the same time. Especially since Tae Iden was a social media addict who constantly took photos whenever they met, and it was tiring to review pictures with himself in them.
“The bus stop is a bit far from there. Should I take a taxi…”
Mo Eunje, who had applied basic skincare products to his face, scratched his stomach with an expression of annoyance. Tae Igyeol’s gaze naturally followed his fingers down from where he had applied lotion to his stomach and stopped. Though he was clearly looking at the stomach, the bright turquoise drawers with their clear outline caught his eye.
Since they hadn’t bathed together since graduating elementary school, he unconsciously imagined beyond the insignificant piece of cloth. Just as heat was gathering in his lower abdomen and he felt his strength building, fortunately or unfortunately, Mo Eunje turned his back and went into the living room. Below his beautifully lined back, his bottom rose roundly, wrapped in that piece of cloth.
