Judging from Moon Gyeonwoo’s attitude, it seemed that no matter how bad his condition got, he would absolutely never allow contact from the other two people besides himself. Choi Hwan also stubbornly insisted on only receiving from Yeonrok, and since those two were like that, Yeom Cheonho was also in the situation of only receiving from Yeonrok.
‘Huh? Is this okay?’
Wasn’t this quite different from the relationships of other Name Partners he’d seen in the Name Manifestor community? Why are these three like this? Shouldn’t they get some counseling or something? He was thinking that when Moon Gyeonwoo asked worriedly.
“Does your arm ache?”
Only then did Yeonrok realize he’d been rubbing his left arm for a while.
“Yeah. The condition seems good but it’s strangely aching.”
“If you’re not feeling well, you don’t have to go out.”
“No way! We have a lot to do today. It doesn’t hurt that much!”
Yeonrok firmly refused and quickly prepared to go out. Today they had to eat Korean beef and delicious potato pancakes, go to the ranch to pet sheep, and go stargazing. However, Yeonrok’s arm wasn’t aching for no reason today.
“Huh? Rain?”
While excitedly feeding the sheep, Yeonrok was flustered by the cold raindrops tapping on the bridge of his nose. Moon Gyeonwoo’s face, which had been contentedly watching Yeonrok play, also became gloomy like the sky. Clouds had gathered thickly. He sighed.
“The precipitation probability was 30%, so I was hoping it wouldn’t.”
If it came to this, it would be difficult to see the stars. The observatory was available until 10 PM at night, but checking the weather forecast, the sky wouldn’t clear until well past midnight. Both of them were very disappointed that stargazing had been canceled.
Yeonrok shook off his deep disappointment with Korean beef. After eating dinner and returning to soak in the hot spring, his arm that had been aching from the low pressure also felt much better. Like yesterday, he was receiving rehabilitation therapy from Moon Gyeonwoo, and since his stomach was full and he was warm, drowsiness gradually came over him. Yeonrok didn’t resist and smoothly fell asleep. How long had he slept like that?
“Mm… What’s that sound?”
Swoooosh—. Woken by the rain growing heavier, Yeonrok looked around in bewilderment. Moon Gyeonwoo was nowhere to be seen.
“Gyeonwoo hyung?”
The Dongchunjae where they were staying was fairly large, but it wasn’t comparable to Yeom Cheonho’s house. Meaning it wasn’t big enough that one would have to search around because a person disappeared. Yeonrok, who confirmed Moon Gyeonwoo wasn’t anywhere, was flustered.
“Where did this hyung suddenly go?”
For a moment, the incident where Choi Hwan abandoned him at the club came to mind, but he soon shook his head. It didn’t seem like Moon Gyeonwoo would do such a thing. But where could he have gone with rain pouring like this? Though spring had ended, it was Gangwon Province and the middle of the night, so it was quite chilly.
“No, I’m really worried.”
Yeonrok called repeatedly but he didn’t answer. He was anxiously pacing around the front yard where torrential rain was pouring, and was just about to call the bodyguards.
Creeeak. Clatter. Creeeeak… Draag, scraaape.
A strange noise was heard through the rain, making Yeonrok pause.
Dongchunjae had large windows generously installed on the building wall facing the front yard. The purpose was to view the garden and scenery, and thanks to that, the outside was clearly visible from inside. It also meant the dark silhouette slowly walking across the garden was clearly visible.
The unidentified person wore a raincoat so their face wasn’t visible. Even more suspiciously, they were dragging something heavy and long in their hand.
“Wh-who…”
Of all times it was raining gloomily and the other person’s atmosphere was so overwhelming that Yeonrok stammered. Just then—flash! When lightning struck, the other person’s face was briefly visible. They were smiling with teeth showing white. It was when Yeonrok was about to unconsciously step back.
“Yeonrok-ah!”
Only after hearing the voice calling him could Yeonrok realize the other person was Moon Gyeonwoo. Moon Gyeonwoo, who had dragged over some unknown sack, smiled as radiantly as a flower.
“I brought what you wanted.”
With good timing, thunder rumbled ominously belatedly. Startled, Yeonrok unconsciously stepped back. What on earth could I have wanted for you to appear like a horror movie at this late hour…?
* * *
“A telescope?!”
Yeonrok exclaimed in surprise. Then he looked at the clock again. The time he started receiving rehabilitation therapy was 9 o’clock. Moon Gyeonwoo had put Yeonrok to sleep, then ran out in the middle of the night and somehow obtained a large telescope from somewhere.
“No, where… how on earth?”
“They were selling it at a nearby observatory.”
Speaking nonchalantly, Moon Gyeonwoo checked the condition of the telescope that showed signs of use.
‘…He didn’t solve it with money?’
Even to Yeonrok’s unknowing eyes, it looked heavy and good. That would mean Moon Gyeonwoo had worked quite hard bringing it all the way here.
In reality, Moon Gyeonwoo’s face was pale. The telescope itself looked like it weighed at least ten-some kilograms, and as if that wasn’t enough, he’d also brought chairs to use during observation. What Yeonrok had seen earlier was him dragging a metal chair in a sack. The extremely sensitive telescope tube part had already been carried in Moon Gyeonwoo’s arms like a precious treasure.
“They said the clouds would clear a bit past 1 o’clock. If you’re okay with it, let’s go out and look at the stars then.”
Only the area around his eyes was reddish on his pale face proposing with a smile. Yeonrok was briefly at a loss for words. He was grateful for the other person’s devotion and heart… Most of all, being moistly wet with water made his appearance shine even more. Moon Gyeonwoo was handsome in a different direction from Choi Hwan, a person who captivated one’s gaze.
“Okay, let’s look. Before that, take a hot bath first. There’s still time left.”
Feeling sorry for him and grateful, Yeonrok gathered clothes and pushed Moon Gyeonwoo toward the bathroom. After washing with hot water and warming up, he even personally dried his hair with a dryer. Moon Gyeonwoo’s sharp eye corners drew graceful lines as they drooped.
“You should have asked the bodyguard hyungs to help, why did you carry it alone?”
At the very least, ask them to hold an umbrella for you. When Yeonrok scolded him, Moon Gyeonwoo spoke nonchalantly.
“They said I couldn’t go at this time, so I went secretly. Too bad. I was going to set it all up while you were sleeping and surprise you.”
This guy… He’s more reckless than I thought. Yeonrok suddenly felt it. Among his Name Partners, not one of them was easy to deal with, but he had an intuition that among them, Moon Gyeonwoo’s temperament in particular would be no joke.
“Don’t do this next time. You’ll hurt yourself. …And.”
Hesitating, Yeonrok said in an embarrassed voice.
“We can come look at stars together again later.”
At those words, Moon Gyeonwoo looked back at Yeonrok who was drying his hair and smiled. It was an expression that said even though he’d gone through all kinds of hardship, just hearing the other person say that was enough. Because his heart made a thudding sound, Yeonrok dried his already dry hair a bit longer for no reason.
As Moon Gyeonwoo said, after 1 o’clock passed, the night sky cleared as if there had never been rain or clouds. Moon Gyeonwoo quickly and carefully moved the telescope. He must have handled telescopes before, as his hands were skilled at assembling it and leveling the tripod. Yeonrok watched from the side with fascination.
“I tried to bring it without any shock as much as possible… It’s been a while since I’ve handled a telescope too, so I’m not sure if it’ll go well. Yeonrok-ah, can you go turn off the lights?”
By the time Yeonrok turned off not only the building but also the garden lights completely and returned, the telescope installation was finished. After looking through the lens and doing this and that for a while, Moon Gyeonwoo finally beckoned.
“Come here. Want to look at the moon first?”
“Yeah…!”
Yeonrok approached closely, positioned himself as Moon Gyeonwoo instructed, and put his eye to the telescope. Soon his mouth fell open in amazement. Moon Gyeonwoo familiarly wrapped his arm around Yeonrok’s body. That warmth was very warm.
“Wow, it’s really big. The craters are incredibly clear.”
“When you’ve seen enough, I’ll show you Jupiter and Saturn too. Look, …it’s really pretty.”
Staring intently at Moon Gyeonwoo who was smiling comfortably, Yeonrok unconsciously nodded with reddened cheeks. He agreed, saying:
“Yeah, it’s pretty…”
Yeonrok observed the moon, stars, and planets with Moon Gyeonwoo for a long time without knowing how time passed. The air was chilly but his chest warmed up. His chest, which had never once been filled, swelled full with emotions like sparkling soft nebulae.
He came to his senses because of a small coughing sound—*cough*. It seemed there was an effect from struggling back and forth through the garden while getting rained on. Yeonrok grasped his Name Partner’s hand without a moment’s hesitation. Moon Gyeonwoo smiled with a happy-looking face.
“How affectionate you are.”
The body temperature of the person saying that was even more affectionately warm, so Yeonrok unconsciously asked:
“You seem to be feeling unwell, should I kiss you? …If I do, it’ll be much more effective.”
