“I don’t think I’ve asked this before… How is it? Now that you’re married.”
Kyung-heon’s effort showed. He’d clearly thrown out a topic first, trying to take responsibility and break the atmosphere since this was his proposal.
But why? Even that felt like an interviewer’s question. He’d never had a single part-time job interview in his life, but Young somehow felt that way.
“In what way specifically…?”
Then again, Kyung-heon probably had no experience trying to close the distance with someone like this before either. So he seemed nervous too. When Young asked back, he made an “oh right” expression and reorganized his words.
“You said the reason for this marriage was to become independent from your family. I was curious if it’s had the effect you wanted.”
Young finally understood the intent of the question and went “Ahh.”
“I’m satisfied. Very satisfied.”
“Really?”
“Actually, at first I wondered what this was all about. The house contacted me constantly. Asking if everything was okay, if I was doing well, if I was sneaking around behind their backs…. I wondered if it would’ve been better to just live with them.”
“…….”
“But when I lived with my family, I went out here and there, but now I’m mostly just at home. Every time they video called and saw me at home, they seemed to finally relax. The calls decreased a lot, so recently I’ve been living independently just as I wanted.”
When Young added “Thanks to you,” Kyung-heon smiled faintly.
“I’m glad I could help.”
“It’s more than just help. You liberated me. I think of you as my savior.”
Though it may have started like an interviewer’s question, it wasn’t entirely ineffective. With each additional answer, Young’s attitude, which had stiffened from awkwardness, gradually began to loosen.
“What about you, Kyung-heon-nim? How is it for you now that you’re married?”
Opening the floodgates was difficult, but once his mouth opened, it wasn’t hard after all. He could just return the question and naturally continue the conversation.
“I’m also very satisfied.”
The answer came while looking straight into his eyes, firm and resolute—almost enough to make him lose his words again.
“Thanks to you.”
But the fact that he added the same words Young had said, without delay, made it easier to brush off playfully.
After that, a certain pattern emerged in their conversation. Kyung-heon would say one thing, and Young would say ten.
It wasn’t strange. Kyung-heon had entered his specialty listening mode, responding to each word with his gaze, nods, or brief exclamations.
Then Young would get excited and tell stories he didn’t even need to tell. Like how he’d mentioned in passing that he wanted to raise a dog someday, and his older hyung suddenly crawled on all fours and rolled over to imitate a dog.
And so time flew by quickly.
“Should we head in now?”
Exactly one hour. When Kyung-heon wrapped up the conversation after keeping to his promised time, Young thought this time wasn’t so bad after all.
***
Joo Kyung-heon
Leaving Grandfather’s place now.
When Young received Kyung-heon’s message, he went into the dressing room and changed clothes first. It seemed like just yesterday that he could easily last 24 hours in one set of pajamas, but now changing once a day wasn’t bothersome.
This also meant that Kyung-heon was faithfully keeping his word.
‘One hour a day, whether we eat, drink tea, or whatever.’
It was exactly as he’d said. Lunch, dinner, dawn. He didn’t discriminate by time. Eating a meal, drinking tea, or just sitting and talking with nothing at all. The activities they shared were freeform. Even if work wasn’t finished, Kyung-heon always stopped by the house before the day ended to find Young, and they definitely spent an hour together.
The first few days had been awkwardly formal, sitting upright as if performing a mission with an air of ‘So, what should we talk about today?’ It took some time to get past that initial awkwardness and get things rolling.
But now there was no such process. Even while lying in bed watching short-form content, he’d think ‘I should tell him about this later,’ so that said it all.
“Since it’s almost bedtime….”
Young came out of the dressing room and headed straight to the kitchen. It was past midnight, so Kyung-heon wouldn’t be going back to work. After spending an hour with Kyung-heon, it would be about time for him to go to bed too.
Then warm tea would be perfect today. Young took out chamomile tea from the cupboard. His face was cheerful as he boiled water and scooped out the dried chamomile flowers.
And finally, when he heard the front door opening,
“You’re here?”
His expression was bright as he turned around holding the teapot.
“It’s always this time these days, isn’t it? I guess you can’t find time in between. Are you very busy?”
“It just became difficult to make time.”
“You worked hard until this late hour. Want to wash up? I’ll prepare the tea. Chamomile is okay, right?”
Kyung-heon nodded and headed to the bathroom. Watching his somehow tired-looking back, Young thought his choice of tea was excellent. He poured water into the teacups thinking just that.
***
It was clearly a different atmosphere from before when they’d maintain proper posture as if at an interview. The two sat comfortably facing each other on the sofa.
Young quietly took in the chamomile scent, then raised his eyes to gaze at Kyung-heon. His face looking down silently at the cup Young had given him was definitely dark.
There was definitely something going on. Come to think of it, today’s departure point wasn’t the company but the main house. Then it probably wasn’t just excessive workload causing his fatigue.
“Is something wrong?”
Young took a sip of tea and asked. Then Kyung-heon looked intently at him. He quietly fiddled with the teacup handle before opening his mouth a moment later.
“What I can do internally is progressing well, but the site issue just won’t resolve.”
After honestly opening up about his concerns, he quickly added:
“Ah, I’m not trying to blame anyone. Everyone is trying their best. They’ve actually approached areas we didn’t even know about.”
It seemed he was concerned it might sound like he was blaming Young’s family for incompetence. Young calmly nodded.
“Still, it’s a job we took on, so it’s embarrassing that progress is slow. Is the site issue causing difficulties?”
“Grandfather and I don’t think so. Father and hyung just have different opinions.”
“What are they saying? That it needs to be resolved quickly?”
“Father is rushing because he’s anxious about his appointment as chairman and worried it’ll look like an empty justification. And hyung always agrees with Father anyway. Hyung’s position is that we’d be better off looking for a different site.”
“What if you look for another site like hyung says?”
“If we had another place in mind, it wouldn’t have been delayed this long. The board responded in the first place because it’s a site with the most suitable conditions.”
“It’s meaningless to look elsewhere at this point?”
Kyung-heon didn’t say much beyond the main point of this problem. Still, Young could figure it out. He must have been considerably harassed by his father’s pressure and hyung’s opposition until this late hour. It was the first time Kyung-heon, who always seemed so calm both before and after manifestation, showed such a troubled expression.
Young just quietly looked at Kyung-heon. Then, after a moment, he quietly got up and moved to sit next to Kyung-heon. Then, while still quietly looking at Kyung-heon, he suddenly raised his hand. He placed his index and middle fingers together and pressed them firmly against Kyung-heon’s temple.
It had been Kyung-heon’s habit when he suffered from chronic headaches before manifestation. Remembering how he used to press his temples or forehead when his head hurt, Young tried imitating it.
“…….”
Kyung-heon quietly moved only his eyes to observe what Young was doing.
There was no other reaction. So Young also kept his hand quietly on his face. And just when he thought this was enough and was about to remove his hand,
He was suddenly caught. Kyung-heon’s hand wrapped around his entire hand.
“You need to apply this much pressure.”
Kyung-heon held Young’s hand firmly. Then he applied steady pressure so the caught hand couldn’t leave his face.
That only lasted for a moment. At some point, the act of pressing the temple was pushed aside. The pressure on the skin disappeared, leaving only the warmth of their overlapped hands lingering.
“…….”
I just meant to comfort him since he seemed to have quite a headache. The situation was no longer flowing according to Young’s intentions.
Not that he felt like pulling his hand away saying this wasn’t what he’d meant. He didn’t want to break Kyung-heon’s quiet calm when he finally seemed a bit at ease, and more than anything….
He didn’t dislike the warmth pooling between their clasped hands. To be more honest, he liked it.
Both the body heat completely enveloping his hand and the faintly lingering alpha pheromones.
