After calling out another person’s name in such a clear voice, Seongjo shut his mouth tightly again as if it never happened and fell asleep.
Yujeong left him alone for a moment and headed toward the register. What behavior, calling out his ex-boyfriend’s name when he’s so drunk he can’t even walk on his own two feet. Isn’t this a situation where he’d have nothing to say even if Yujeong took out the wallet from his breast pocket and paid on his own?
Though it was unpleasant in truth, he didn’t feel like acting that way. Lee Seongjo, who had money to spare, wouldn’t have had the thought of making Yujeong pay from the start. Probably even if he took out his wallet and paid, the event of hearing unpleasant words the next day wouldn’t occur. Everyone knew this, but Yujeong had no such thought at all.
When he checked the bill, excluding the fish cake soup and steamed egg they’d ordered at first, it was purely the cost of soju. He was newly concerned about how much Seongjo’s stomach must be churning. Isn’t it praiseworthy that he has enough conscience left to worry about him in this situation?
“I’ve received your card. Oh dear, you’ll have a hard time taking your friend.”
The pojangmacha owner who was processing the payment spoke warmly. Yujeong turned his head in the direction he was looking. He could see Seongjo still sleeping obediently. His face wasn’t visible since his head was turned the other way.
About three or four answers to give came to mind. For instance, Yujeong could have answered ‘He’s not my friend’ and caused unnecessary trouble. If Seongjo had been sober, he might have acted that way.
“No.”
He cut off the first two syllables from the words he could have answered and spoke. Even while receiving the card back, Yujeong was looking at Seongjo, not at the person standing at the register.
“Should I give you the receipt?”
“No, please throw it away.”
He answered still without turning his head, then headed toward Seongjo. He helped Seongjo up while also gathering his luggage. At least this time, another person’s name didn’t come out. It was fortunate since even Yujeong didn’t want to leave Lee Seongjo abandoned on the street and return home.
* * *
Originally, supporting the body of an adult man who’s drunk and not in his right mind isn’t an easy task. Seongjo’s physique wasn’t that much different from Yujeong’s to begin with. It was even more problematic since he had to prevent the limp Seongjo from being dragged on the ground.
However, Yujeong’s face didn’t look particularly strained. Rather, he was thinking that considering Seongjo’s height and condition, wasn’t he on the light side? If there was one part that could be a problem for Yujeong, it was this.
“Lee Seongjo-ssi…… Try to walk straight. It tickles.”
The hair of Seongjo, who was leaning his body on Yujeong, was tickling around his neck. He tossed his head slightly each time Yujeong opened his mouth, and in doing so, his breath, not his hair, would also touch Yujeong’s neck. Though thinking Lee Seongjo wouldn’t pull such a basic trick, it was behavior that made him suspect whether it might be intentional.
However, even when called several times, Seongjo didn’t open his eyes. He only mumbled a few incomprehensible words.
Yujeong, who let out a small sigh, put in strength to correct his posture, then glanced upward.
It was a time when even the last subway train would have stopped. The sky was pitch black, but the main road wasn’t particularly dark with the lights of shops still open for business and brightly lit streetlights. Yujeong, who became aware that the wind was chilly, awkwardly reached out his hand to button up Seongjo’s collar a bit more.
Yujeong, who lowered his gaze, this time looked around. It was to check if there was a somewhat suspicious-looking luxury foreign car parked nearby. The thought was that since Seongjo had drunk to this extent, wouldn’t a waiting chauffeur have come out to pick him up? However, the sight he saw was only people who had gone out on the street for a late return home and a line of taxis.
Had he really come out without anyone accompanying him? The thought that he tried to focus that much on today’s appointment made him feel strange.
“There was no need for you to do that.”
Yujeong threw out one word of modesty that Seongjo wouldn’t hear, then moved his steps again. Yujeong, who discovered the black taxi he’d called among the taxis on the main road, headed that way leading Seongjo.
Even in the midst of chaos, Yujeong didn’t forget to open the taxi door and greet with “Hello.” He carefully bundled up Seongjo’s body and pushed it inside as if it were a fragile item requiring caution in handling. Then he also got in the taxi and finally caught his breath. A question immediately came back from the taxi driver.
“Jai Apartment Building 106, right?”
Yujeong hesitated for a moment. He ended up answering as if somewhat hesitant.
“……Yes.”
Why does he feel like he’s committing a crime? Objectively, there was no reason for that. Right now Seongjo wasn’t in a state to say his destination with his own mouth. Moreover, the apartment he was living in now was the same complex, the same building anyway. Giving the name of the apartment he lived in wasn’t strange at all. Rather, just by not abandoning him on the street, Yujeong had done his duty but…….
What was the taxi driver thinking while looking at the two people right now? Would it look like taking a drunk friend to his own home?
When he imagined taking him into his house, his insides churned. It wasn’t from alcohol, but Yujeong decided to treat it as such.
He sat as far apart as possible and turned his head toward the car window. He didn’t want to be conscious of being in the same car as him. Occasionally he could hear the sound of the completely asleep Seongjo banging his head with a thud on the opposite window, but he deliberately pretended not to notice.
He could hear a song flowing from the radio. When he glanced to check the frequency, it was a pop music channel that Yujeong also listened to often. It was a place that mainly played moderately emotional songs from the ’80s and ’90s.
What happened to be flowing was a song Yujeong was hearing for the first time. Like many songs, it contained lyrics about love. The taxi driver, who was humming and singing along with the melody, at some point started glancing at the back seat with interest. Not long after, he struck up a conversation.
“Even if it’s the weekend, drinking until this hour? Men together.”
“Indeed.”
Though it wasn’t a pleasant question, Yujeong replied calmly. Now that he heard it, the driver’s words weren’t entirely wrong either. Yujeong didn’t like drinking, rarely went around until this hour, and moreover, had even less immunity to doing such things together with a man of the same age. Since the day had already changed, it meant they’d spent almost a whole day together.
“I guess you’re not married yet? Once you’re married, you can’t even dream of bringing home a drunk friend at night. The wife catches you like catching a mouse.”
“Is that so?”
That said, it wasn’t like he felt regret about why he called out Lee Seongjo in the first place. Since he had no intention of faithfully going along with the small talk of the bored and nosy driver, he replied half-heartedly. At that answer, the driver, who was looking back awkwardly, stubbornly asked.
“He’s a friend, right? You’re not attending to a work superior even on the weekend, are you? That would be too pitiful.”
“……”
He didn’t reply anymore to the driver’s nonsense about how hard it is to be a working person. However, he only glanced at the rearview mirror with an awkward face for a moment but didn’t give up on talking. Yujeong didn’t answer, but seemed to have decided to treat him as about a wall with ears.
Yujeong, who had been quietly just listening to the words speculating about their relationship that continued without nutritional value, at some point impulsively opened his mouth.
“Neither.”
“Ah, really? Then……”
“He’s my lover.”
Before such speculation could continue further, he concisely cut off his words.
“Uh…… Huh?”
The driver’s mouth, which had been moving well, stopped like a buffering machine. He started rambling with a flustered face. Fortunately, he didn’t cause a serious accident like twisting the steering wheel, but he did step on the brake incorrectly.
The car body jolted. The drunk and sleeping Seongjo was in a state where all strength had completely left his body. Thanks to that, Seongjo’s head, which had been hitting the opposite window just then, tilted toward Yujeong.
Yujeong didn’t bother to push him away. As if he wanted to give grounds to the impulsive lie he’d just spat out.
Thanks to that, it became a situation where Seongjo was sleeping with his head leaning on Yujeong’s shoulder. The driver was looking at the two people through the rearview mirror with a pale face as if seeing a ghost.
When Yujeong also looked into the mirror the driver was looking at, reflected in it was the image of Seongjo and himself where ‘objects are closer than they appear.’ Wasn’t it quite an affectionate scene?
Yujeong was seized by a strange feeling. It seemed similar to the guilt he felt earlier when wanting to take him to his own house, but it also felt like satisfaction. Yujeong added with a feeling that seemed both excited and relieved.
“It’s a joke.”
When he turned his head toward the window, the night street still brightly lit came into view. Yujeong covered the area around his mouth with his hand inconspicuously. The corner of his mouth revealed through the gap between his fingers was drawing a subtle curve.
