“Your brother?”
Seo Jumyeong, who had been listening to the call, asked. Chaehun nodded.
“Yeah. He wants to eat chicken.”
“Oh, our Chaehun. So popular.”
At cheerful Seo Jumyeong’s words, Chaehun just laughed it off. Hiding Seunggeon’s existence from this guy for a year was going to be difficult.
*
*
Chaehun, who swept back his hair dripping with water droplets, quietly stared at Seunggeon’s apartment door painted black. And looking at the small puddle forming at his feet, he took a deep breath.
There were days like this. Days when timing went wrong once and a chain reaction occurred, twisting everything into a mess.
It was nothing that the restaurant owner made a payment mistake and wasted time in front of the counter. It was the same that the taxi heading to Seunggeon’s place had a very minor fender bender.
He was lucky to barely catch a new taxi and arrive at Seunggeon’s apartment right at 8 o’clock. But things started going wrong from when the apartment front door wouldn’t open.
Since he’d taken the elevator to the 19th floor, it meant the card key was fine. Then he could guess that either the door lock itself had broken or the password had changed.
After several attempts, judging that he couldn’t get inside, Chaehun sent Seunggeon a message. That the front door wouldn’t open so he’d wait at the cafe on the first floor.
Chaehun waited for three hours. But no contact came from Seunggeon. Just in case, he called, but the phone was turned off. Director Shim’s phone rang but he didn’t answer.
At first he was irritated, but later he started to worry. Chaehun didn’t know what Seunggeon was doing now. But Seunggeon’s phone being off when he had a history of being kidnapped on the street felt ominous. It was the same that Shim Jeongmin, the only one who could confirm Seunggeon’s whereabouts, wasn’t answering the phone.
Still, thinking that if something happened to someone like Taehwa Group’s CEO, at least one internet article would appear, he searched until his phone battery was completely drained. Then in the end, the cafe’s business hours were over.
Finally, Chaehun, tired of waiting, decided to go home. He sent Seunggeon a message that he was going back and left the cafe.
A taxi wasn’t immediately available. Calls were the same. To make matters worse, a sudden downpour poured from the sky that had been cloudy since afternoon. At the unexpected torrential rain, Chaehun got completely soaked.
Chaehun eventually gave up on taxis. He bought an umbrella at a convenience store and was heading to the bus stop when finally Seunggeon called.
At the words to come back, Chaehun gritted his teeth, but there was no other choice. Because the way home was so far, thinking he’d borrow Seunggeon’s clothes, he turned his steps back.
Standing in front of the black door, reviewing the past five hours, Chaehun found his own state ridiculous. Having to wait for hours and in the end, when the guy called, unable to say no and rushing right over.
Chaehun shook off the negative thoughts. His luck had just been bad. Thinking it was fortunate that Seunggeon was safe without any incidents or accidents, he pressed the entrance bell. Not long after, the sound of the lock releasing rang out.
Opening the front door and stepping inside, naturally Seunggeon hadn’t come out to greet him. Chaehun, who hesitated for a moment about whether to call Seunggeon and ask for a towel, boldly stepped on the floor with his wet socks with a “whatever” mindset.
“I’m here.”
Deliberately making loud noise, he headed to the bathroom attached to the living room. Just then, he encountered Seunggeon coming out of the bedroom while on a phone call. He still hadn’t changed his clothes.
“Sort that out first… please.”
Seunggeon, who had been irritably sweeping back his neatly combed hair, stopped the moment he saw Chaehun. Right now, Chaehun’s appearance fit well with the idiom of a drowned mouse. Water dripped from his soaking wet hair and clothes.
It was a quite pitiful state. And Chaehun himself knew that well too. At Seunggeon’s gaze, clearly surprised, he felt awkward, embarrassed, and irritated. Trying to firmly suppress what was about to surge up and head to the bathroom, Seunggeon blocked his way.
“I’ll talk about the rest tomorrow. I’m hanging up. Kang Chaehun. Why are you so wet?”
Seunggeon, who hastily ended the call, urgently asked. Chaehun took a big breath and answered a beat late.
“It suddenly rained on my way back. I couldn’t catch a taxi. What about you? Why was your phone off? The front door password changed, right?”
“The password changes regularly, but I thought you’d been informed. The phone was off because the battery died. No, more than that, go wash up first. You’ll catch a cold.”
“What about Director Shim-nim? He wasn’t answering the phone.”
Chaehun ignored Seunggeon’s words to wash up. His heated body trembling with cold was forecasting a cold, but showering came later. There was something he wanted to confirm first.
“He lost his phone. At Beijing Airport. Being late was because the plane turned back due to mechanical issues.”
“……”
At Seunggeon’s explanation, Chaehun lost his words. His luck had really been bad. Waiting for three hours, worrying something might have happened to the guy, getting drenched in a downpour on the way back—it was all the result of bad coincidences piling up.
It wasn’t difficult to accept, but the sense of injustice and irritation didn’t fade. In the first place, if this guy hadn’t called him out to meet today right away, none of this would have happened at all. The resentment that had nowhere to go turned toward Seunggeon.
Chaehun, who was about to conclude that Seunggeon was the source of all evil, calmed down with a long exhale. It wasn’t even Seunggeon’s fault, so demanding reasons was unseemly.
“I’ll wash up and come back.”
His curiosity was resolved, and his resentful feelings had subsided. Chaehun, who didn’t even have the energy to argue, headed straight to the bathroom.
Only after taking off his wet clothes and showering in warm water did he finally feel alive.
Standing under the showerhead for quite a while, Chaehun lamented whether he was really such an unlucky person.
Looking back at the past, there was nothing special. Failing the college entrance exam was the biggest trial, and other than that, things were generally ordinary. Being assigned as Park Gwangho’s trainer was the biggest landmine recently.
Suffering because of difficult customers was a common occurrence. His hyung being scammed was also easily resolved thanks to meeting Seunggeon. Perhaps because something that should have been resolved with difficulty was solved easily, this kind of backlash was occurring.
Chaehun didn’t believe in God’s existence, but he thought karma and miracles existed. And as a cold modern person, he held the belief that there was no such thing as a free lunch in the world. So, he wondered if he was being tested in patience like this to make up for the insufficient compensation for 2 billion won.
Perhaps it was because the other party was Seunggeon. A classmate whose insides he couldn’t read, who wanted a meeting without emotions entangled, had become the superior party in a power relationship.
Chaehun shook off his thoughts that were flowing in a strange direction. He couldn’t say he couldn’t do it now, so the best thing was to adjust appropriately.
After finishing his shower and roughly drying his hair, Chaehun neatly folded his wet clothes. Not only his outerwear but even his underwear wasn’t in a state he could wear right away. Even if he washed them, it was uncertain whether they’d be dry by the time he went back. It seemed he’d have to borrow Seunggeon’s clothes.
Chaehun, who tightly closed his bathrobe, went out to the living room. Seunggeon was on a call with someone while looking toward the living room balcony. Chaehun checked the entrance area. The wet footprints he’d made from the entrance had disappeared.
“He cleaned it.”
Chaehun muttered quietly. Seunggeon, who looked like he’d order people around with his chin, surprisingly did many things with his own hands. Basically, he wasn’t the type to just leave things messy and watch.
To avoid hearing Seunggeon’s phone conversation, Chaehun headed to the bedroom.
He was looking at his phone checking the messages from earlier when Seunggeon appeared. He was still wearing his suit. As far as Chaehun remembered, the only time Seunggeon hadn’t washed before having relations was the day of the reunion. Seunggeon seemed to care about cleanliness as much as his appearance, seeming quite fastidious.
“All my clothes got wet, so I think I’ll need to borrow some of your clothes when I go home. You can lend them to me, right?”
At the request to borrow clothes, Seunggeon didn’t answer immediately. With a stiff face, he strangely frowned. He seemed to be pondering what to do. Could it be he didn’t want to lend them?
“Seunggeon-ah?”
“I have something to give you.”
“…?”
At the words that he had something to give, Chaehun reflexively thought of the credit card. He wondered if Seunggeon would really give him the credit card again even after fighting like that.
Chaehun followed Seunggeon’s movements with his eyes. He picked up one of several small paper bags stacked on the table and handed it to Chaehun. Taking the paper bag inadvertently, Chaehun asked what it was.
“What’s this?”
“A wristwatch.”
“—?!”
“It won’t cause allergies. I picked out styles you’d like, but if there’s nothing you like, tell me.”
Chaehun, who had been slightly dazed, snapped to attention at the word wristwatch. All kinds of thoughts rushed in at once.
