The time spent alone with him was more pleasant than he’d thought. Since they were the same age, there were bound to be overlapping parts. Especially as the alcohol went in, the atmosphere inevitably got better.
It was mainly Minho talking about his worries and concerns while Haeyoung listened, but as time passed, Haeyoung, who had also gotten tipsy, often played around as well. He returned home with Minho in a state where he couldn’t even realize he was letting out silly laughter.
He didn’t think he was drunk enough to be unable to keep his wits about him. He was fine even while climbing the stairs heading to the second floor, and his walking was steady and consistent, not crooked. He was just in a slightly better mood than usual. Haeyoung, who greeted those gathered in the common area drinking beer and chatting with a grinning smile, soon turned around and entered his room.
“Huh…”
Opening the door and entering, he tilted his head sideways seeing that the room was empty despite the lights being on. He hadn’t seen Seonwoo in the common area just now either. So he naturally thought he’d be in the room.
Haeyoung entered the dressing room with a puzzled face while taking off his outerwear. After hanging up the clothes he’d taken off and washing his hands and face in the attached bathroom, he staggered for a moment at the belatedly rising intoxication and leaned against the wall.
It seemed the problem was that it had been too long since he’d drunk. Slowly leaving the bathroom while vowing never to drink this much again, Haeyoung’s eyes caught the box placed on the vanity in front of the mirror. Because it was too big to ignore, the gift-wrapped box immediately drew his attention.
Haeyoung, who had assumed it was Seonwoo’s, silently picked it up upon seeing the card with his name written on it.
Although there was no decoration, what was written on the beige card that looked like fairly high-quality paper was definitely his name no matter how he looked at it. Then the gift box the card had been placed on must also be meant to give to him. Fingertips that would normally have hesitated gained strength from the alcohol and opened the box in one go.
What was inside was clothing. More precisely, a navy-colored knit. Haeyoung, who felt a sense of déjà vu about the gift’s contents, unconsciously let out a chuckle. He’d forgotten for a moment. That Cha Seonwoo had quite childish aspects. When they were dating, that was so endearing…
“It’s annoying how cute it is…”
Now was no different. Haeyoung, who had been fiddling with the soft knit touching his fingertips, neatly put the clothes back into the box. Then he moved his steps and left the room.
Seeing the lights already on in the room, it was certain Seonwoo had come first. And since he’d seen he wasn’t on the second floor while coming up, he must be on the first floor. He came down the stairs and entered the dining room, but there was no one in the lit space either. Haeyoung’s gaze, which had been looking around the space that had no presence for no reason, stuck on the glass window at the front.
Seonwoo was standing at the edge of the garden visible beyond the glass window. It was also instantaneous for him, who seemed to be on the phone with someone, to spot Haeyoung. He, who had briefly raised his eyebrows, immediately hung up the phone and raised the corners of his mouth. At the face that had noticed he was looking for him, Haeyoung stepped out into the garden.
“Hyung.”
“Why did you come out without even wearing outerwear? You’ll be cold.”
Seeing Haeyoung approaching him, Seonwoo took off the outerwear he was wearing. However, looking at the eyes that stared blankly up at him without any thought of wearing it, Cha Seonwoo let out a sigh-like laugh as if there was nothing to be done.
Haeyoung, who had been watching him as if there was something to dig out from him putting clothes on his shoulders, finally spoke first.
“…Why are you giving it?”
“Why am I giving it? Because it seems cold.”
“Not this.”
Seonwoo realized what Haeyoung was bringing up. He must have just discovered the gift he’d left. He leaned his straight waist forward and looked into Haeyoung’s face.
Tightly closed lips, gaze slanting downward, features that had lost their sharpness, slightly drooped eyebrows. Eyes and cheeks that were flushed, perhaps from the rising intoxication. The face that often appeared when his heart had weakened in front of him remained as it was.
Looking at Haeyoung, who was still soft toward him, he let out an affectionate voice.
“I just wanted to give it. It was Christmas.”
Then Haeyoung’s eyelashes trembled shallowly. At the wavering sign, the smile hanging on Cha Seonwoo’s lips deepened further.
“I told you not to give things anymore…”
“Christmas presents aren’t something you can only give if you’re dating.”
Seonwoo, who had asked back with his head tilted at an angle, added a question as if muttering.
“Then does Santa have ulterior motives when giving presents to kids?”
“Hyung, is it because I’m drunk? I don’t understand a single thing you’re saying.”
Are you drunk too? Haeyoung, who had been listening quietly, quickly raised his head and asked back. At Haeyoung looking at him with a gaze asking what kind of crazy talk he was spouting, Seonwoo couldn’t hold back and let out a small laugh.
“But I do have ulterior motives, Haeyoung-ah.”
The voice that leaked out with laughter was sweet. At that, Haeyoung, whose fingertips had flinched and trembled, clenched and unclenched them, then reflexively grabbed Seonwoo’s wrist and pulled him unconditionally. He released the strength in his grip thinking he might unconsciously apply force from the alcohol, yet he remained quietly caught in Haeyoung’s hand.
Only after going behind a tree in the corner of the garden did Seonwoo’s hand become free. However, as if that freedom didn’t suit him, he moved his gaze following Haeyoung’s hand with a regretful look. As if it felt empty, while Seonwoo was rubbing the wrist that had been held, Haeyoung looked around outside the bushes, checking if anyone might be there.
Cha Seonwoo, who had been quietly watching him do that, also moved his position to Haeyoung’s side. Haeyoung, whose eyes met with Seonwoo standing next to him and looking at him, gestured toward the mansion with an awkward face for no reason.
“Just in case someone might be there.”
“Mm…”
“They say the cameras can’t see well from here. Even if we’re filmed, they won’t know it’s us, right? Unless other people come out to the garden, they won’t be able to see.”
At the affectionate gaze, Haeyoung again went on at length with words he didn’t need to say. Cha Seonwoo looked down at such a Haeyoung and briefly made a conflicted expression as if he didn’t know what to do. He seemed a bit dumbfounded, and also looked a bit upset.
However, instead of interrogating how he knew about this place or asking why he’d brought him here, he swallowed his laughter and grabbed Haeyoung’s shoulders.
“Really? They can’t see?”
“Uh…”
Along with a soft but somehow ambiguous voice, he moved Haeyoung in front of him. Haeyoung, who had suddenly come to face Seonwoo head-on, looked up at him with a quite flustered face. Because he was standing with his back to the mansion, even though shadows were cast on his face as the light didn’t reach, he could tell he was smiling while looking at him.
A smile deepening along the eye shape where thin inner double eyelids stretched thinly. The smile as if drawn was so vivid that he could immediately recall it without even looking. Haeyoung, who had been drawing a smile over the darkness, raised his head in surprise at the distance that had suddenly grown closer.
Because he’d approached right before his nose, his face came into view more clearly. Seonwoo, who had been smiling listlessly just a moment ago, slightly stretched his lips and said.
“I keep finding things I don’t know. I was always Haeyoung’s first…”
It was a voice clearly showing disappointment, but Haeyoung only looked at him with narrowed eyes. The tension that had been taut since moving in here had already melted away as the alcohol circulated. He could tell at a glance whether the words Seonwoo was spitting out were truly expressing disappointment or not.
‘He’s using the honey trap again…’
Cha Seonwoo knew that if he acted like that, he would fall for it. The problem was that he really did fall for it. He knew all too well the fact that he was soft toward him, the fact that he would be helplessly shaken however he was shaken.
“Ah, really… how annoying.”
Haeyoung muttered to himself and glared at Seonwoo’s trembling eyelashes. He didn’t particularly want to know whether the rambling words coming out were really due to the alcohol or because he felt at ease and his old speech habits kept coming out. Ignoring the warning sign of his head tilting up sharply, Yoon Haeyoung brought out mischievous words.
“Actually, not everything was a first. I already kissed someone else.”
“…I thought so. After saying you hadn’t. Yoon Haeyoung, you liar.”
“Who’s calling who a liar? You also lied to me saying it was your first kiss.”
Would I have been fooled by that? I let myself be fooled. Seeing Haeyoung muttering his inner thoughts, Seonwoo made a pitiful face, but laughter was clearly evident at the corners of his mouth. Even if he tried hard to act unbothered, he couldn’t help the corners of his mouth rising.
Seeing his more excited voice and face than usual, he was definitely drunk, but still, he was helplessly happy about him talking to him like before.
“Everything was a first with you.”
“That’s absurd, if we’re counting like that, everything was a first with you for me too.”
As if the voice settling down softly tickled him, Haeyoung reflexively wrinkled his nose and smiled. Then, startled on his own, he glanced around checking if there were any signs of people. Looking at a face that seemed to stand under bright light even though it was hidden by him, Seonwoo’s eyes sank.
“It feels like we’re having a secret relationship.”
Along with a short mutter, cold fingertips touched Haeyoung’s face. The usual soft mid-low voice was hoarse as if it had caught on something at the end of his throat. At that sense of discord, Haeyoung, caught by Seonwoo, rolled his eyes with a flustered face.
“Hyung, wait. Too… close.”
The intoxication that had risen enough not to feel the midwinter cold disappeared in an instant.
