“Are you having fun?”
“Ah, you’re really cute.”
“I thought I deleted it… Why was it saved?”
“Didn’t you have auto-save on?”
“I guess so. I don’t usually curse that much. You know that.”
“You must have really had a hard time.”
“Honestly, it was tough.”
I sighed and deleted the entire page of curses. Cha Hyunwoo snickered, then cleared his throat once and gave some serious advice.
“For this, you just need to check a few company information sources and reflect the reference materials from the papers you found and put them in?”
“But won’t it be a bit lacking? The professor here asked me to attach actual data.”
“If you look at our cafe headquarters, there’s a case here. This is a comparison of the year before last and last year. Right?”
“Oh… But I mainly focused on this marketing. Centered on social network services…”
“But rather than that kind of noise, wouldn’t it be better for tallying to just openly do marketing targeting influencers or celebrities? This is a bit ambiguous, so take it out.”
Since all of Cha Hyunwoo’s advice was useful, at some point I was focused on diligently revising the thesis. From the middle, Cha Hyunwoo completely took the laptop and downloaded necessary paper materials for me. I was reading reference materials on the laptop when Cha Hyunwoo brought a tablet from somewhere and read materials even more diligently, marked them, and passed them to me.
I filled in the parts I couldn’t grasp and obtained a large amount of useful reference materials. Honestly, there were countless things Cha Hyunwoo had done well for me, but this time I was really grateful.
When I checked the time, just from doing that a bit, it had already become evening. Investing an entire day off that he barely got to rest in me was no ordinary kindness.
“Boss, thank you so much.”
“No. It’s fun for me too since I’m looking at materials like this after a long time. It reminds me of the old days.”
“I think you must have done well in school, boss.”
“Honestly, I worked hard. It was also an environment where I could focus on studying.”
After checking several times that it was definitely saved on the laptop, I sent the overall revisions to the professor by email. It was thanks to the professor threatening me to unconditionally send an email as soon as I revised my disastrous thesis. I really just need to graduate.
After confirming the email was sent, I closed the laptop and put it back in my bag. I was sprawled on the sofa slightly exhausted when Cha Hyunwoo saw that and chuckled.
“What?”
“Just.”
At the bland answer, I looked at Cha Hyunwoo for a moment, then suddenly asked something I was curious about:
“But how did you end up running a cafe, boss?”
“Originally, having my own shop was my dream.”
“Your own shop, boss?”
“Yeah. So as soon as I graduated, I just had a short preparation period and immediately opened a cafe, and I was lucky. It went well. Later, in a few years, I’m also thinking about just running a private cafe.”
“You didn’t really do company work?”
“No. I saved money working part-time throughout university, and with what my parents added, I opened the cafe.”
“Your parents must have really trusted you, boss.”
At my words, Cha Hyunwoo made an ambiguous expression. Wondering if I’d made a mistake, I just moved my lips when Cha Hyunwoo hesitated and said:
“They did trust me.”
Did he do something to disappoint his parents? But Cha Hyunwoo didn’t seem like that kind of person. But then again, a few years ago was unknowable. People change so quickly. I was curious, but if Cha Hyunwoo wasn’t talking about it, I had no intention of prying. When I was just staring at Cha Hyunwoo silently, Cha Hyunwoo was silent for a long time. When difficulty started mixing into his expression, I took the initiative and opened my mouth first:
“You don’t have to talk about it.”
“…This is why you’re really kind. Mature. Honestly, sometimes you seem more mature than me.”
Well, I am older than Cha Hyunwoo. Of course, I didn’t say this. Besides, biological age didn’t necessarily correlate with mental age, and moreover, a mere one-year difference didn’t reflect tremendous mental maturity.
I was just looking at Cha Hyunwoo without particularly urging him to speak when Cha Hyunwoo sighed and said:
“…As it turned out, I don’t contact them now.”
“Mm… That can happen.”
Cha Hyunwoo stared at somewhere between me and empty space for a long time, then made eye contact with me and spoke as if he’d made some decision.
“My parents are a bit old-fashioned. I understand. I also think it can be that way.”
“Yes.”
“…You might feel uncomfortable about this too.”
“You didn’t commit a crime, right?”
“What? Of course not.”
“If it were a crime, I probably would have pried more into the circumstances.”
At my words, Cha Hyunwoo laughed as if absurd. I was slightly relieved that the atmosphere had become a bit lighter than before. Cha Hyunwoo thought for a moment, then asked:
“Hyun-ah, didn’t you say your ideal type was like someone who doesn’t commit crimes or something? But you’d listen to the circumstances?”
“I don’t know about other people, but if it’s you, boss, who committed a crime, I think it would be worth hearing out. First of all, you’re not that kind of person.”
At my words, Cha Hyunwoo smiled and made eye contact with me. After a moment, Cha Hyunwoo’s mouth opened somewhat impulsively:
“I like men.”
Cha Hyunwoo’s voice sounded like he was talking about everyday matters.
Honestly speaking, I wasn’t that surprised that Cha Hyunwoo said he liked men. It wasn’t just because the Cha Hyunwoo in the original work liked men. I couldn’t explain it precisely, but it was for reasons a bit more complicated than that.
“So that’s why you don’t talk to your parents?”
“Yeah.”
“…I see.”
“…How is it?”
“What?”
“Does it seem different now that I like men?”
“Uh… No?”
It was sincere. Cha Hyunwoo liking men didn’t sound like such a big event that my thoughts about Cha Hyunwoo would change. Rather, the dimples that formed when Cha Hyunwoo smiled broadly, which I’d discovered for the first time recently, seemed to have changed Cha Hyunwoo’s image more.
I looked at Cha Hyunwoo’s cheeks for a moment, then made eye contact with him. Cha Hyunwoo was just smiling, but I could easily read anxiety in his eyes. I could guess what that anxiety meant, but I was more impressed by the fact that Cha Hyunwoo had brought up this topic even though he hadn’t known me for long. I also spoke impulsively:
“I saw the dimples on your cheeks for the first time recently and thought it was fascinating.”
Even to myself, it was a random statement. I continued speaking, hoping Cha Hyunwoo wouldn’t think my words too strange.
“Until then, I didn’t know you had dimples. But when you didn’t just smile but smiled really broadly, they formed.”
At my words, Cha Hyunwoo touched his cheeks with his hands. It seemed to be an unconscious action.
“It was fascinating. Just because of one dimple forming, your face looked really playful, boss.”
“Dimples?”
“I’m not good at speaking, so I don’t know how to say this… A single word from you, boss, or something like that won’t change your image that much.”
I added hurriedly. I wanted to speak as honestly as possible.
“When I first saw your dimples, your image changed even more. Just… yeah.”
I couldn’t package my words well at all, so I roughly finished speaking. I just hoped Cha Hyunwoo wouldn’t find it strange. After a long while, Cha Hyunwoo laughed like a sigh and said:
“That’s different. Hyun-ah.”
And before I could say anything, he continued. His tone was gentle but indirect.
“It’s… different from dimples.”
Cha Hyunwoo looked at me with a face that seemed like he wanted to say more but was holding back. I wanted to tell Cha Hyunwoo to openly share his thoughts, but at the same time I didn’t want to. It wasn’t simply because I felt like I was overstepping with Cha Hyunwoo. …It was a very strange feeling to explain in words.
“Still, thank you for saying that.”
“…It’s nothing.”
“Actually, I didn’t mean to talk about this.”
“…Did I make you say it by prying?”
“No.”
Cha Hyunwoo answered firmly. However, sensitive issues required great resolve just to share, regardless of how the other person received it. Since I wasn’t Cha Hyunwoo, I couldn’t know what thoughts he had, or what impulses and worries those words went through before coming out. That’s why it was difficult to add more words.
Seeing me maintain silence for a long time, Cha Hyunwoo smiled and corrected his words:
“I mean I didn’t mean to do it now. I would have done it someday.”
“Still.”
“I think it’s better that I said it now.”
“Really?”
“I said I wanted to get closer. More.”
