On the way home, Won Dogyeong was busy teasing me with a grin.
“Now everyone at that store will know your name is Yeo Jeongwon, right?”
“…They’ll forget.”
“What if next time we go and they’re like, ‘Oh! Mr. Yeo Jeongwon is here’?”
“……”
“‘It’s Mr. Yeo Jeongwon who ordered four originals, two pineapple donuts, two chocolate-coated donuts, two custard cream donuts, and added two strawberry jam donuts at the end!’ What will you do then?”
Won Dogyeong listed the donut menu clearly with unnecessarily good pronunciation. Why is he memorizing everything I bought, I grumbled internally.
I glanced at him to tell him to stop, but he didn’t care and kept chattering while bumping shoulders with me.
“‘Please tell me your name.’ ‘Ah, the donut.'”
“……”
“‘We already know your name, Mr. Yeo Jeongwon.'”
Won Dogyeong muttered with a serious expression by himself, then giggled again. I squeezed our clasped hands tightly in protest.
“If you keep going, I’ll shout that Won Dogyeong is here.”
He widened his eyes and laughed heartily.
“Would you really?”
“You started it.”
“Then I’ll have to shout that the person next to me is named Yeo Jeongwon.”
I imagined the ridiculous scene and snickered. It was like a comedy routine.
“Nobody would care about that.”
“That’s true, it’s a fight the celebrity loses.”
He muttered and scrunched up his nose.
When we arrived home, we washed our hands and sat at the dining table. I was excitedly taking out and opening the box, but before I could even lay eyes on the donuts’ glory, the box slipped right out of my hands. I stopped dead still with my hands in the shape they’d been holding the box and looked up.
“Eat dinner first.”
Won Dogyeong closed the lid without mercy, put the box back neatly into the bag, and set it aside far away. I blinked forlornly like a raccoon whose cotton candy got washed away.
I wanted to go home all day because of that.
I wiggled my fingers on the dining table with a pitiful expression. I sneakily read the room and attempted a compromise.
“Just one.”
“No.”
“Half of one.”
“No.”
I failed without exception. After firmly refusing, when I kept staring at the donut box he’d placed on the counter, he put it away in the pantry altogether.
What, I can’t even look at it?
I sat in a slouched posture, showing my dissatisfaction, and glared at his back as he went back and forth in the kitchen.
Whether Won Dogyeong knew I was glaring at him from behind or not, he quickly stirred the frying pan to heat up kimchi fried rice and brought it over. I checked the rice bowl with my lips stuck out four inches, but fortunately the amount wasn’t that much. Maybe because he knew how much I ate, it was less than half my usual amount.
I’d sulked a bit after having the donuts taken away, but thinking I could finish this quickly at this amount, I obediently picked up my spoon.
“You can finish it all, right?”
“…Yeah.”
As I ate, the rice was delicious as rice. My appetite really has returned lately. Setting aside the absurd desire to eat donuts, everything went down better than usual.
I emptied the rice bowl in three spoonfuls and sprang up from my seat.
I opened the pantry door and looked around for the Malgospee Cream cream bag. It was sitting alone on a shelf right at eye level. I grabbed it and trotted back to my seat.
Even though it was too much, maybe because I’d emptied my dinner rice allocation, Won Dogyeong didn’t particularly stop me. He just quietly followed my movements with his eyes while chewing his kimchi fried rice.
I carefully took out the box on top and opened the lid. The donuts I’d ordered, enduring the embarrassment, were lined up neatly by type. The donuts coated in sugar and chocolate reflected the fluorescent light with a glossy sheen.
What should I eat first?
I want to eat the pineapple one too, but I should go with the classic original first…
Or not? Since I’ve tried that flavor before, should I go with pineapple first?
Since I’m eating anyway, starting with chocolate is also a method…
After bringing it over with such gusto, I’d been just looking down at it for a while when Won Dogyeong tilted his head.
“Not eating?”
“I’m thinking about what to eat first.”
“The original.”
“Why?”
“Listen. Which will be sweeter, the pineapple or the original?”
He straightened his posture with a serious expression, then alternately pointed at the donuts with the chopsticks he was holding.
After thinking carefully, I felt like the pineapple donut with jam filling inside would probably be sweeter, so I answered uncertainly.
“…Pineapple?”
“But if you eat that and then eat the original, will it taste good or not?”
“Not good…?”
“Exactly.”
Won Dogyeong nodded with a confident gesture as if he’d written a thesis on the order of eating donuts. It did seem to make sense as I listened.
There’s an order to eating sashimi too, right? There’s no law saying it can’t be the same for donuts.
It’s true that Won Dogyeong is more knowledgeable about desserts than me.
I nodded in agreement and picked up an original donut. He who’d been staring blankly grinned as soon as I took a bite.
“Actually I just made that up.”
“You’re dead, seriously.”
No wonder he spoke too seriously. I frowned at his playful face, but my expression quickly melted at the sweetness I felt on my tongue.
The donut I was eating after so long was fantastically delicious. It was shocking enough to make me wonder why I’d thought I didn’t like donuts until now.
Won Dogyeong, who’d been watching from across, asked “Is it good?” but I just nodded without answering and demolished one in an instant.
For the second one, I picked the summer limited edition. As I took a bite, he who’d just finished eating took out milk from the fridge and poured me some. Then he sat across from me, propped his chin on his hand, and looked at me curiously.
“Did the taste buds take after me?”
He was talking about Yongyong. Even from Won Dogyeong’s perspective, me wanting to eat donuts seemed totally awkward.
“Seems like it.”
“That won’t do, Yeo Jeongwon’s taste is healthier.”
“But won’t they eat more than me?”
“…Looking at how you’re eating now, that might be true.”
When I finished the pineapple donut and picked up a chocolate donut as my third, Won Dogyeong looked a bit surprised. I bought a lot, but he probably didn’t think I’d actually eat this much.
As I was bringing it to my mouth, our eyes met and I hesitated.
Did I eat too much by myself?
I held out the donut I was holding.
“Want some?”
Without answering, Won Dogyeong grabbed my wrist, pulled it close, and took a bite of the donut I was holding. My fingertips twitched slightly at the warmth I could feel up close.
There are so many others, why eat it… like this.
As I looked at his face tilted at an angle with downcast eyes, I felt strange and hurriedly turned my gaze to the corner of the table.
He who’d pulled away quickly nodded saying it was delicious.
“…You can finish it.”
“Later. You eat.”
I bit into the chocolate donut and chewed silently. Suddenly this whole situation felt awkward.
Is it because Won Dogyeong is staring at me so intently?
Judging by his thoughtless expression, it seems like only I feel that way.
He just sat quietly watching me eat and refilled my glass whenever the milk ran out. I wished he’d at least say something, but he really just sat there. Watching me like I was some TV show.
I tried hard to ignore that strange silence and when I picked up my fourth donut, he finally spoke. It was his usual nonchalant tone.
“But why do you keep stealing my clothes?”
My mouth stopped dead while I was halfway through biting the donut.
I’m caught.
I slowly moved my jaw to finish cutting off the dangling donut. Custard cream leaked out and stuck to the corner of my mouth as I slowly chewed the lump in my mouth.
It had already been quite some time since I’d been stealing the clothes Won Dogyeong wore every night to hug and sleep with. Even though one piece of clothing disappeared every night and appeared in the morning, he didn’t seem to notice, so I’d been reassured.
If before I’d made the effort of rummaging through the laundry basket to bury them inside, lately I’d been bold enough to put them back where I’d taken them from.
Was that the problem?
As I just sat there blankly chewing the donut, he pulled out a tissue and gestured for me to bring my face over. When I obediently leaned forward, he rubbed the tissue to wipe the cream from the corner of my mouth.
I rolled my eyes to read his expression, but I couldn’t tell what he was thinking. It was an inscrutable expression—not smiling, not angry, not even just expressionless.
I swallowed what was in my mouth.
“How did you know?”
“A few days ago while cleaning, I went into your room and there were clothes I’d seen somewhere before sticking out from under the blanket.”
I know which day.
That day I didn’t have time to return the clothes in the morning, so I roughly covered them with the blanket and left.
When Won Dogyeong cleaned the living room, he usually vacuumed my room too, but in other words that was all, so I didn’t think I’d get caught. It’s not like he touches my things carelessly.
I thought I’d covered it all, but I must not have covered it properly in my rush. I remember even now, but those clothes were even ivory-colored. My bedding is dark navy blue.
If even a bit was sticking out, it would have been noticeable.
“But thinking about it, recently clothes I didn’t put in were often in the laundry basket.”
That’s me.
“I thought maybe you put them in after I left them somewhere and let it go… but that was strange too.”
I felt like I was breaking out in a cold sweat. I took another bite of the donut and chewed vigorously. Even in this situation, the donut was delicious.
Yeah, Yongyong, it’s enough if at least you’re happy…
“So I deliberately left them on the sofa and kept watch, and you took them?”
“When I showered… I took them when showering?”
I stammered in panic.
