“Do you have an ideal type?”
At my question, Cha Hyunwoo answered with a question.
“Hyun-ssi, do you have an ideal type?”
I closed my mouth at Cha Hyunwoo’s words. The first thing that came to mind was Eun Haejin, whom Lee Hyun liked. And next was Cha Hyunwoo, who eventually dated Lee Hyun. But I couldn’t talk about this. My stomach churned for no reason. I felt like trash playing around after seeing into people’s hearts. Of course, I did this knowing that Cha Hyunwoo didn’t like Lee Hyun right now.
…This didn’t seem like a question worth pondering this deeply. Cha Hyunwoo silently waited for my answer. I decided to just talk about it lightly.
“I like adults who haven’t committed crimes, don’t have violent ideologies, and have basic manners.”
“What?”
Cha Hyunwoo turned his head with a flustered expression.
“…Hyun-ssi, that’s more like a basic life guide than an ideal type?”
But boss, I was originally a broadcast writer, and I recently read quite a lot of material to adapt a romance story, and there are more people in novels who aren’t like that than you’d think.
“But it’s important, right?”
I shrugged once and stopped. Cha Hyunwoo looked at me and chuckled.
“Hyun-ssi, the more I talk with you, the more you seem kind of unique.”
“You too, boss.”
“Me?”
“Yes. I had a prejudice that you’d have hobbies like flower arranging, but you use bold cologne.”
“Flower arranging?”
Since I’d only seen Cha Hyunwoo outside the cafe briefly while he was exercising, I seemed to have unconsciously thought of him that way. Maybe I thought that way more because he was gentle.
“I’m joking. But the cologne really did smell good though? Enough to want to buy the same one.”
“Should I buy you one as a gift?”
Cha Hyunwoo asked as if he was serious.
“What?”
“I saw you wear it then and it suited you well.”
“Ah, no? It’s okay. To receive something that expensive…”
“It’s not that much.”
“I’ll go home and look up the price.”
“…It’s a price I can afford to buy.”
“It’s okay. I don’t have anywhere to wear it anyway.”
I really didn’t have anywhere to wear it. Except for this semester’s only class that I attend once a week, everything else was either going to work or hanging around in front of my house.
But because Cha Hyunwoo spoke too seriously, I asked full of playfulness.
“Would you be okay if our scents overlap? The exclusivity of the cologne will drop.”
Cha Hyunwoo opened his mouth to answer my words, but I couldn’t hear it because of the customers who rushed in right away. After that, we were busy without rest until closing, so I completely forgot we’d had that conversation.
“Did you close out the POS?”
“Yep! All done.”
“You worked hard today. Change clothes first.”
“I’ll change and come back in 1 minute.”
I quickly changed clothes and opened the door.
“Good work, Hyun-ssi.”
“I’ll wait so change and come out. That’s loyalty.”
At my words, Cha Hyunwoo laughed out loud and went into the break room. I was looking at my phone for a moment when a message came.
“I’m in front.”
It was Eun Haejin. What do you mean in front? I stared at the message absurdly at the words that cut off both front and back. Then the door opened and Cha Hyunwoo came out.
“Hyun-ssi, do you want to spray some today too?”
“Spray what?”
Cha Hyunwoo silently showed the cologne.
“Now?”
“Because it seemed to suit you well then.”
With those words, Cha Hyunwoo sprayed cologne on my wrist. Even though it was night and there was nowhere particular to go even if I sprayed it, I obediently held out my wrist to let Cha Hyunwoo spray the cologne. Cha Hyunwoo sprayed cologne on me and then sprayed cologne on his own wrist too. Since Cha Hyunwoo had the scent of strong cologne instead of the subtle coffee scent, the feeling was strange. It was like looking at a stranger.
So this is why scent is important to image.
Thinking nothing of it, I locked the door and came out the back door. I was watching Cha Hyunwoo lock the key when a call came from Eun Haejin.
[Are you done?]
“Are you done?”
As soon as I answered the phone, a familiar voice was heard from two places simultaneously. When I reflexively turned my head toward the voice, Eun Haejin was standing in front of the cafe holding his phone, looking at Cha Hyunwoo and me.
Eun Haejin’s text from earlier flashed through my mind. Wait, “in front” meant this front?
“You… why are you here?”
I looked at Eun Haejin with absurd eyes. Eun Haejin walked over to us leisurely.
“Since I went out anyway, it was about time for you to finish so I came.”
“So, no, incredibly sweet and all…”
I almost let out a curse as usual but barely recognized Cha Hyunwoo next to me and corrected my words. Eun Haejin bowed to Cha Hyunwoo without much expression change.
“Hello.”
“Ah, yes. Hello.”
And an awkward silence began. These shy people…
I was rolling my eyes wondering how to break this awkwardness when unexpectedly Cha Hyunwoo broke the silence first.
“I think I saw you once before, right?”
“Yes. You were exercising then.”
“Ah, right. Hyun-ssi’s friend.”
“Yes.”
Another awkward silence flowed between the two. I put my hand on Eun Haejin’s shoulder, thinking to take him away. But as soon as I put my hand on Eun Haejin’s shoulder, Eun Haejin snatched my wrist.
“Wha… what?”
The speed was so fast that I stuttered without realizing. Eun Haejin frowned and brought my wrist to smell it.
“Cologne?”
“Huh?”
“Didn’t you not spray cologne when you left?”
Just as I was about to open my mouth to answer Eun Haejin’s question obediently, Cha Hyunwoo’s voice was heard.
“When you left?”
*What? Great King Writer-nim, I must have neglected adaptation so now I’ve entered inside a drama. *At the drama-like development unfolding out of nowhere, I looked at both of them alternately.
“The cologne is mine. Yesterday Hyun-ssi asked to borrow it so I lent it, and since it seemed to suit them, I sprayed some while I was spraying it on myself.”
“Ah…”
Eun Haejin acted like something was displeasing even with Cha Hyunwoo’s explanation. Does he have trauma about cologne? That wasn’t in the book.
I twisted and pulled out my wrist that Eun Haejin had been holding until now, then squeezed his hand tightly once and let go. It meant to relax his expression. I bowed my head to Cha Hyunwoo.
“Boss, I’ll be going now. See you the day after tomorrow!”
“Hyun-ssi, if you don’t have plans tomorrow, do you want to have dinner together today? I’m worried because we ate roughly earlier since we were busy. It’s late for dinner though. I’ll treat. Your friend can come too.”
I knew Cha Hyunwoo’s words were mixed with pure goodwill, but unfortunately, Eun Haejin wasn’t someone who took others’ goodwill at face value. Moreover, I didn’t want to eat sandwiched between a service industry boss who was subtly shy and a friend who was openly shy.
But Eun Haejin accepted the invitation before me.
“I’m good with it. Lee Hyun. You’re going to eat, right?”
Why is this guy acting like this? They say stress sometimes makes people go crazy, so did he go crazy because the interview results are fucking weighing on him?
I didn’t know why Eun Haejin said yes, but in this situation, I couldn’t refuse either.
“Uhh… thank you.”
“Hyun-ssi, is there anything you can’t eat?”
“I’m fine with everything and he can eat everything except tomatoes…”
At my answer, Cha Hyunwoo nodded.
“Is there something you want to eat?”
“I eat everything well, but should we just go eat meat to be safe?”
“Is your friend okay with that?”
“Yes.”
And so we headed to a meat restaurant to eat meat in the middle of the night, not side by side.
“Beef? Pork? Lamb?”
“Pork.”
“You can eat expensive stuff.”
At Cha Hyunwoo’s words, I just smiled silently. No, if we do that, we might end up paying more than today’s sales.
“I like pork more anyway. Let’s go.”
Cha Hyunwoo’s cafe and home weren’t extremely far on foot, but there were cases where he’d bring necessary supplies by car, so he commuted by car. I hesitated for a moment and asked.
“Is your car okay, boss? Are you planning to walk home?”
“It takes 20 minutes on foot.”
“Still.”
Ah, I have a feeling we’re going to drink today…
***
As soon as we arrived at the meat restaurant and were guided to our seats, I spoke cheerfully.
“Boss, you can’t hate me starting tomorrow for eating a lot.”
“Of course not.”
“How much should we order? Haejin, did you eat?”
Eun Haejin was quiet as if lost in thought, then answered.
“…Around five?”
“Then you can eat it as a late-night snack. Hyun-ssi, you order.”
“Boss, are you going to drink?”
