“I saw you on the rooftop, so what. How could I not notice when you were kissing so openly? You looked like you were dying of happiness, but as soon as you break up, you’re dating a new lover?”
Even after hearing Yeonrok’s criticism, Moon Gyeonwoo shrugged as if it was no big deal.
“Treating my lover well or falling in love quickly isn’t exactly something to be criticized for.”
“Playboy…”
“Playboy? That’s truly an incomprehensible insult. I’ve never once been unfaithful to my person every single time I’ve dated. If anything, it’s the opposite.”
Answering calmly, Moon Gyeonwoo sat down in front of the computer. Watching him work, Yeonrok suddenly remembered what Choi Hwan had rambled about to him. The story that Moon Gyeonwoo had broken up because his ex-lover cheated.
“If you treat them so well, why do they cheat?”
“That’s what I’m saying.”
Pausing the hands that had been rapidly tapping the keyboard, Moon Gyeonwoo briefly raised his gaze upward. His head tilted slightly to the right.
“I treat them so well, so why do they all stab me in the back like that? I really can’t understand it…”
A voice that seemed to feel deep disillusionment from experiencing such situations so often fleetingly flowed out. But as if it never happened, Moon Gyeonwoo soon hid his emotions and focused on work again. Snorting, Yeonrok soon growled.
“Just give me back my doll, you bad bastard!”
Yeondoo wasn’t just a comfort doll. It was a truly important object to Yeonrok. To others it was just an insignificant, old doll, but to him it was surprisingly something close to family. As he poured out curses, Moon Gyeonwoo let them roll off and said this.
“No matter how much you curse, it doesn’t affect me. You’re only hurting your mouth. Besides, I’m aware that my character isn’t great.”
He admitted so readily that he was a son of a bitch with a ruined personality that it was absurd enough to bewilder the person attacking him.
“You know and still act like that?”
“I do it because I know. Even if I become a bad person to everyone, it’s enough if I treat my person well, right?”
At the shameless answer, Yeonrok lost his words for a moment. To be honest, on one hand he was a bit envious of Moon Gyeonwoo’s lovers. When he’s this devoted, why did his ex-lover cheat? If it were him, he would never have done that to a devoted lover…
Having lost the will to converse, Yeonrok scratched and knocked on the door to try opening the display case. Regardless of that, Moon Gyeonwoo didn’t pay attention and handled his work with frightening concentration.
In the other person’s indifference, Yeonrok wandered here and there around the office like a stray cat he’d picked up, then exhausted, lay down carelessly on the sofa. Dozing off like that, when he opened his eyes at some point, he flinched in surprise. Before he knew it, Moon Gyeonwoo was standing with his arms crossed, quietly looking down at him. Still half-asleep, Yeonrok stammered.
“Wh-what.”
“Get up. It’s time for lunch.”
Lunch? His ears perking up, Yeonrok drowsily sat up and blinked. A blanket was covering his body. Looking at Moon Gyeonwoo wondering if it could be, he answered indifferently.
“If someone else came and saw I didn’t even cover my lover with a blanket, how strange would they think I am?”
I thought so. There’s no way he’d take care of me with good intentions. As Yeonrok yawned and got up, Moon Gyeonwoo clicked his tongue and reached for a mask. Not wanting to wear the stuffy mask, he turned his head to the side and resisted, so clicking his tongue, he firmly grabbed the back of his neck.
“You’re so high-maintenance.”
“Anyway, I have bodyguards with me… and I’m mostly at… home! Ah, I just won’t wear it…!”
“Tsk. Just stay still.”
“Ugh!”
“Look at you being disgusted. I’m trying to keep you as safe as possible, so why won’t you listen?”
“Then don’t bring me here in the first place! Report the stalker to the police!”
“Whether the stalker sees or not, bringing you here was essential, so just accept it. And you think I haven’t reported it to the police?”
After bickering, Moon Gyeonwoo finally pressed a cap firmly onto his head. Yeonrok scratched the back of his neck that had been grabbed with a sullen face. It itched for no reason.
“What are we eating for lunch?”
Glancing at Yeonrok who asked grumpily but sparkled his eyes with anticipation, Moon Gyeonwoo reached out his hand while answering.
“Go and pick whatever you want to eat. And hand.”
Yeonrok looked warily at the white hand extended toward him. Perhaps because he was in research, it was smooth and straight without calluses.
“…Why?”
“Right now you have to pretend to be my lover. So hold hands at least.”
Reluctantly stretching out his hand slowly, Moon Gyeonwoo snatched it like a bird of prey. It was contact after mutual agreement for practically the first time since living in the same house. The touch of checking his pulse when he collapsed briefly came to mind, but that was closer to a medical act…
Moon Gyeonwoo’s hand was somewhat cool. But after holding hands for a while, warmth circulated. Holding hands with someone he disliked and pretending to be close felt very strange. Every person passing by glanced over Moon Gyeonwoo once and him once with curious faces, which was also very distracting.
Soon Yeonrok’s attention was drawn elsewhere. Perhaps because it was a rich company, instead of the usual cafeteria appearance he knew, it looked like a department store food court. The type of food provided was different in each section, and even all of this was free for employees and visitors only.
“Now, you stamp your visitor pass like this and select your food. Let’s package it and eat together in the office. What do you want to eat?”
Moon Gyeonwoo spoke in a very friendly voice and led Yeonrok to the kiosk. Yeonrok still wasn’t used to that attitude and just felt it was creepy. Following what he showed him, he stamped his visitor pass on the kiosk and selected Western food. Moon Gyeonwoo, like someone who had entrusted his ego to him, chose a menu from the same section as Yeonrok. But strangely, he selected one more menu item. Knowing the other person ate very little, Yeonrok asked curiously.
“You’re eating two?”
“No, you eat a lot. So I got more.”
Speaking kindly, he added quietly so no one could hear, pig. Pig…! While Yeonrok’s eyes widened, Moon Gyeonwoo made a rarely seen pleasant face.
* * *
Moon Gyeonwoo kept Yeonrok by his side, properly fed him dessert, and even made him walk through the company park. Many people were curious about Yeonrok’s identity and why his face was completely covered. Each time, Moon Gyeonwoo made statements with a smiling face that Yeonrok found absolutely unacceptable.
“My lover is cute and younger, so he’s very shy.”
“His face is too handsome, so I told him to cover it.”
“You’re not showing interest in my lover right now, are you? I’m not joking.”
“He usually always says he wants to watch me work, so I brought him to do some observational research while I’m at it.”
“Why do you keep talking to him? Are you really interested?”
What was surprising was that despite the socially ruined statements in various ways, people just accepted it. How often must they have seen this kind of thing… Among them, there was one statement he absolutely couldn’t let pass, so Yeonrok chewed over those words, rubbed his goosebump-covered arms, and asked quietly.
“Observational research, what the hell does that mean?”
“Do you know how strict the security here is? I can’t easily bring someone to the company just because they’re a researcher’s lover.”
Unnecessarily frightened by the nuance of the expression “observational research,” Yeonrok immediately attempted to escape. But sensing that sign, Moon Gyeonwoo wickedly whispered like a demon, “Yeondoo,” so he had no choice but to sulkily trudge along. Moon Gyeonwoo, who linked arms like shackles, spouted this.
“Since I said research, you seem to have some prejudice, but don’t worry. I said observation. I’m just looking.”
“I want to go home…”
Moon Gyeonwoo didn’t even pretend to listen and finally dragged Yeonrok into the laboratory. In the laboratory, one researcher was sitting in front of a fume hood, staring intently inside. Inside the hood were various experimental tools including flasks.
“Chief Kim. Did you get results?”
The other person, who had been very focused, was startled. Turning around, they carefully removed their hands from the experimental tools and closed the sliding door.
“No, sunbae-nim. I’ve progressed about halfway, but valid values haven’t come out yet. I think it might be a dilution ratio problem.”
“Or it could be because of the catalyst.”
Yeonrok rapidly lost interest as a conversation he couldn’t understand at all continued. He was looking around the laboratory when the researcher glanced at Yeonrok curiously. Moon Gyeonwoo smiled and naturally pulled in Yeonrok, who had been keeping distance, by grabbing his waist.
“Ah, this is my Name Partner. I said I was bringing him today, right?”
“Wow! I’ve heard quite a bit about you from Senior Moon. It’s nice to meet you like this. Thank you so much for cooperating with today’s research!”
Researcher Chief Kim excitedly grabbed Yeonrok’s hand and shook it up and down. The tightly held hand was so warm from how happy they were that Yeonrok really wanted to run away. Fortunately, Moon Gyeonwoo quickly intervened and separated them.
“I’d prefer if you didn’t touch my lover carelessly.”
