‘Everyone’s faces are really something…’
With his mouth slightly open, looking once at Choi Hwan’s gorgeous face as he slept soundly, and once at Moon Gyeonwoo’s delicate and pretty face, his eyes grew dim. It was when he was half-falling asleep again. He faintly heard the sound of a door opening.
At first he thought it was a mistake. Probably an auditory hallucination he heard because he was on edge about the midnight intruder. The light from the hallway falling on his face as the door opened must also be a hallucination. But he heard the sound of footsteps approaching.
It might be that bastard who tried to invade my room last time…
Yeonrok, who had been very drowsy from fever and medicine, desperately opened his eyes. He tried to confirm that it was just a mistake, but a gloomy and dark silhouette approached close and stood still. Yeonrok’s heart pounded heavily. It was the moment his lips parted to scream. The other person raised one gloved finger and placed it on his lips.
“Shh.”
Huh? Only then did Yeonrok recognize who it was and moved his lips. Yeom Cheonho, who had definitely said he was on a business trip to America, was in his room. The smell of cold wind came from the coat he was wearing.
‘Am I dreaming right now?’
Yeom Cheonho looked down silently at Moon Gyeonwoo and Choi Hwan, who were sleeping peacefully without knowing anyone had come. With the hallway lighting behind him, his face was shadowed so it was impossible to tell what expression he was making. Soon he brought a blanket from somewhere and covered Moon Gyeonwoo and Choi Hwan’s bodies with it. After that, he turned his body toward Yeonrok.
Yeonrok looked up at Yeom Cheonho with his mouth open, not saying anything. It felt like he was having a somewhat scary and strange dream. Yeom Cheonho took off his gloves. Then he bent his upper body and touched Yeonrok’s hot forehead to check his fever. When the cool hand touched him, Yeonrok’s mood improved.
“The spring wind is still cold.”
Speaking softly in a calm and composed voice, he lowered the hand that had been checking his fever. Because his hand was large, just lowering it a little completely blocked his view. The spring wind is still cold. In his dazed state of mind, Yeonrok unconsciously muttered those words after him in his heart.
“…President?”
Yeonrok called out to him in a whispered voice, completely defenseless. Yeom Cheonho leaned his body. And soon something soft and cool and tender and holding breath touched Yeonrok’s lips. As if sharing his breath, Yeom Cheonho shared warm vitality. Continuously, until Yeonrok, melted tenderly, fell back into deep sleep.
* * *
“…Huh.”
Yeonrok’s eyes snapped open. His body felt light and refreshed. With wide eyes, he chewed over his last memory from last night. It seemed like Yeom Cheonho had said the spring wind was cold and then kissed him, but because the cold medicine was too strong and he’d been continuously drowsy in the middle of the night, he couldn’t tell at all whether it was a dream or real.
“…It must have been a dream, right?”
Otherwise, how could someone who’d gone to America have come to his room? He muttered blankly, and when an unexpected response came from beside him, startled Yeonrok jumped.
“A dream? It seems you still have energy left to sleep?”
“Ah! Why are you still in my room!”
Surprisingly and shockingly, Moon Gyeonwoo had been staying in Yeonrok’s bedroom until now. Looking around as if having a fit, Choi Hwan wasn’t there. As he tried to unfold the blanket that was tightly wrapped around his body, Moon Gyeonwoo raised his foot and firmly pressed down on the blanket. At the gaze looking down at him, indignant Yeonrok glared.
“Won’t you move your foot?”
“You owe me a debt, right?”
“A debt? What the hell are you talking about?”
Unable to understand why he was spouting such nonsense from the morning, and also because it was an ominous start, Yeonrok frowned. He didn’t give up and wriggled to escape from the blanket.
“I fed you medicine and nursed you all night. You owe me a debt, right?”
“When did I ask you to nurse me?”
At the pure absurd claim, Yeonrok raised his eyes fiercely.
“So you need to repay that debt.”
Really, neither this guy nor that guy listens to reason. Now really wanting to escape from the blanket cocoon and also wanting to go to the bathroom, Yeonrok sighed.
“Debt, whatever. How much money do you need?”
“I don’t need money. I have plenty of that too.”
“Then what do you want!”
Like shouting to hurry up and get to the point, Yeonrok, the poorest in this house, jumped again. He was hungry and his body felt gross. He needed to quickly send Moon Gyeonwoo away, take care of his business, wash up, eat Ms. Park’s delicious food, and also report to Kim Jeongseong about the midnight intruder. After pausing for a moment, what Moon Gyeonwoo brought up was unexpected.
“I have a stalker.”
Yeonrok deliberately replied very bluntly and disappointingly.
“You have a stalker, so what do you want me to do about it?”
“You need to pretend to be my lover instead.”
As expected, it was nonsense. Yeonrok replied immediately, finding it absurd.
“You have Choi Hwan! What are you doing, leaving your lover aside?”
“If Hwan pretends to be my lover, he’ll be exposed to the stalker and become in danger.”
“So it’s okay if I’m in danger?”
“At least more than my lover? And Hwan is a celebrity. It’ll be a big problem if he gets caught up in something like this.”
Yeonrok was full of rage. Really, it’s miserable being someone without a lover. Hearing this right after waking up was outrageous…
“Stop talking nonsense and hire someone with all that money you have! Why are you spouting bullshit to me!”
“The stalker clearly knows I live here, right? Among the housemates, you’re the only useful one. The bodyguards all obviously look and act like bodyguards from their appearance to their behavior, and the other servants don’t match in age and gender. Most importantly, it has to match the information registered in the Name Partner database…”
It meant that among his Name Partners, Choi Hwan was his precious lover so he couldn’t use him, and he couldn’t dare to boss around the great Yeom Cheonho, so he picked the easy target Yeonrok. Of course, it was none of Yeonrok’s business. Now even if Choi Hwan gave him ten million won, he didn’t even want to look at him. To that extent, he didn’t want to do something like this without any compensation.
“Forget it, so get lost!”
“Now, look at this carefully.”
Moon Gyeonwoo shoved his phone right in his face. When Yeonrok looked to see what it was, he screamed. He saw a familiar existence in the photo.
“Yeondoo!”
Only then did Yeonrok realize that the comfort doll he’d cherished on his bed was nowhere to be found. He looked at the photo again. The old and shabby puppy doll was sitting obediently on what appeared to be Moon Gyeonwoo’s desk. The despicable Moon Gyeonwoo let out a deep sigh.
“Phew, to think I’d resort to such childish tricks…”
“If you know that, then don’t do it!”
“Does Hwan know I’m doing something like this for him?”
“You bad bastard!”
To be subjected to tricks he’d only experienced from mischievous kids when living at the orphanage, now from a full-grown adult—it was truly outrageous.
“Love makes people so difficult like this.”
“Ha…”
“If you don’t follow my words, your cute puppy Yeondoo will never be able to see its owner again. Pitifully…”
“Hey, you crazy bastard!”
The cold, rational, and chilly image from when they first met was nowhere to be found. The person before Yeonrok’s eyes was truly a petty lunatic who acted biased, selfish, and blindly for his lover. While Yeonrok was grumbling, Moon Gyeonwoo spouted this in a serious tone.
“Actually, I valued your doll quite highly. It’s being used as a hostage to protect our Hwan.”
Beyond shameless, his way of thinking was completely different, so Yeonrok lost his words. Should he slightly tell Yeom Cheonho? Since the other person is acting so despicably, wouldn’t it be okay for me to be a bit petty too? While thinking such thoughts, as if reading his mind, Moon Gyeonwoo smiled.
“Whatever you’re thinking, go ahead and try as you please. I’m curious about what the result will be.”
Grinding his teeth, Yeonrok bolted up as soon as Moon Gyeonwoo released his blanket cocoon. He planned to run straight to Moon Gyeonwoo’s room, but the other person said this.
“By the way, it’s not in my room.”
“Son of a bitch!”
Moon Gyeonwoo didn’t even pretend to hear Yeonrok’s emotion-filled cursing. Spouting “Is that the best you can do?” he got up from his seat and threatened despicably.
“If you do as I say, your doll can return safely.”
Yeonrok tore at his hair. Why are my Name Partners like this? Why do they all have such personalities? In the midst of that, Moon Gyeonwoo still gave him medication guidance, telling him to take his medicine well for a while before leaving. Furious, Yeonrok threw the medicine packet, then trembling, eventually picked it up again.
