Still, it was Yoonwoo’s birthday party in name, but the state of Yoonwoo, the party’s main character, was not normal.
“Yoonwoo, it’s okay to cancel today’s appointment.”
“No, it’s an appointment we made with Taeon in advance. We have to keep our promises.”
Saying this, Yoonwoo’s face smiling bashfully looked bright and pretty even to Sunjeong’s eyes. So how much more precious and lovable must it be in Jinhyeok’s eyes, who loved Yoonwoo endlessly?
“Is Jinhyeok still sleeping?”
“Yeah… he said he’d sleep a bit more then get up.”
“Yoonwoo.”
“Yeah.”
Sunjeong, who was choosing what to say to Yoonwoo looking up at him intently, chuckled inwardly.
At least Jinhyeok and Yoonwoo were completely colliding with each other’s obstacles. While doing so, even if they got hurt and suffered a lot, they endured that pain together.
He, who was going around in circles taking a long detour because he couldn’t collide properly even when he tried to collide properly, wasn’t in a position to give advice to Yoonwoo. He didn’t have any advice he wanted to give either.
Instead, Sunjeong spoke sincerely in a calm voice.
“If it’s too hard, you don’t have to just endure it forever.”
“……”
“Like Jinhyeok said, there are other paths.”
“But that means Hyeok has to give something up. I don’t want that…”
Yoonwoo’s voice was uncharacteristically firm. Sunjeong nodded his head quietly.
The family Jinhyeok belonged to was originally famous for being strict and conservative, one that would even adopt if necessary to find a perfect successor unless the trait was dominant alpha and the biological sex was a son.
So he’d understood from the start that Jinhyeok’s family wouldn’t just overlook Jinhyeok and Yoonwoo’s relationship as if it were children playing with fire and would try to nip it in the bud from the beginning.
The unexpected obstacle everyone hadn’t anticipated was actually Yoonwoo’s family.
Yoonwoo, who grew up ordinarily in a household that a poor couple worked hard to build, was bright and lovable enough to catch many people’s attention despite the weakness of being a beta. His appearance, which drew comments about being beautiful at first glance, shone even more.
He’d thought that what Jinhyeok, who fell in love with such a Yoonwoo, would have to bear was only Jinhyeok’s own risk…
Yoonwoo’s parents, who learned of the situation Yoonwoo was in, were also unexpectedly very angry.
How great can a chaebol family be, my child is just as great as you guys, just as precious—they apparently yelled at Jinhyeok, who came to visit with Yoonwoo.
That commotion ended lightly with Yoonwoo and Yoonwoo’s younger sibling stopping them, but the problem was Jinhyeok’s heart after experiencing the commotion.
“Father was right.”
“Hyeok…”
“You’re just as precious as me, but it doesn’t make sense for you to go through these things because of me…”
After the night when they whispered while embracing each other, saying such things regardless of whether Sunjeong was there or not, Jinhyeok had fallen into deep depression.
Because of that, Yoonwoo before his eyes had also become haggard.
In an atmosphere that had become like walking on thin ice overnight, he was reluctant to invite Taeon. At least he wanted the dinner with Taeon to be only joyful and happy.
He thought it would be good for both Jinhyeok and Yoonwoo to rest well, but since Yoonwoo wouldn’t bend his stubbornness, there was nothing he could do.
“It’s Taeon’s first time coming to this house, right?”
“Yeah, that’s right.”
“I’m looking forward to it. It’s our first time inviting a friend.”
Sunjeong liked the heart that still called him “Taeon” but also said he was a friend.
Sunjeong decided to pretend not to see the damp aura of sadness permeating Yoonwoo’s bright smile as he said this and laughed.
“Yeah, I’m looking forward to it too.”
Jinhyeok and Yoonwoo’s love was Jinhyeok and Yoonwoo’s, and Taeon and Sunjeong’s love was Taeon and Sunjeong’s.
Perhaps now was the time to learn how to be faithful to the love given to each of them.
Only 10 minutes before Taeon arrived did Jinhyeok reveal himself in the living room from his room.
“How do I look?”
The courage to ask such a question with his eyes swollen and his hair in a bird’s nest was quite admirable.
“At least you’re not in a state to receive guests.”
“Totally cool.”
Sunjeong and Yoonwoo’s answers were thrown into the air in complete opposition.
After pondering for a moment, Jinhyeok opened his mouth.
“At times like this, Go Sunjeong’s words would be more objective. I’ll go wash up then.”
Was he not even going to wash up? Before Sunjeong could click his tongue, Yoonwoo said “Jinhyeok must be really tired right now” as if trying to block criticism of his boyfriend, so Sunjeong kept his mouth shut too.
“Sunjeong, you’re really good at cooking!”
Since it was Yoonwoo’s birthday party in the first place, he argued that it wasn’t appropriate for the party’s main character to set the table, but actually, he didn’t want to feed Yoonwoo’s cooking to Taeon. So today’s meal, centered around mille-feuille nabe, was prepared under Sunjeong’s lead.
Actually, Sunjeong hadn’t done any cooking. He’d just carefully ordered meal kits last night while caught up in very deep deliberation.
“Yoonwoo, you should make good use of meal kits too. These days, you don’t necessarily have to cook yourself.”
“Hyeok says my cooking is the most delicious.”
Even at Sunjeong’s earnest words—who occasionally had to eat Yoonwoo’s cooking—Yoonwoo only smiled shyly and spoke.
Sunjeong, who became serious inwardly, soon opened his mouth.
“Yoon Taeon might not be able to find the way, so I’m going to go out. I’ll be back.”
“Okay, see you.”
In the first place, he’d only given Taeon the address up to the subway station entrance. He wanted to see him off too, but if he knew the house address, he’d definitely come striding over on his own.
The subway station wasn’t far from the apartment where the three lived together. After walking a short distance, Sunjeong spotted a very tall young man standing stock-still in front of the subway station.
“Yoon Taeon!”
Did he dress up a bit today?
As soon as he saw Taeon, Sunjeong put Taeon’s name in his mouth and realized that Taeon had dressed up quite a bit for today’s occasion.
Actually, his appearance was impressive even without touching it, but he looked even cooler when he properly combed back his hair and wore stiff new clothes like today.
Sunjeong, who quickly scanned Taeon, opened his mouth playfully with a smile.
“Did you dress up?”
“……”
Sunjeong ended up thinking Taeon, who didn’t bother denying Sunjeong’s words, was cute too.
“Let’s go quickly. The food’s ready.”
“Okay.”
Still, since it was an occasion to officially meet Sunjeong’s friends, he’d dressed up, but Taeon was blunt as usual. Sunjeong took note of the shopping bag with the dish store’s logo stamped on it in Taeon’s hand.
On the opposite side was a strawberry cream cake contained in a transparent case.
“You prepared cake too? Oh, Yoon Taeon.”
At Sunjeong’s playful voice, Taeon shrugged his shoulders.
“The boss said to take it when I said I was visiting your place. I said there’d be cake since it’s a birthday party, but she wouldn’t listen.”
“There’s no cake.”
“Ah, really?”
Well, it’s a birthday party hastily put together to invite you.
Besides, neither Yoonwoo nor Jinhyeok would be in the mood to stick candles in a cake and blow them out.
“Right, Yoon Taeon. The kids aren’t in good condition today.”
“Condition?”
“Yeah. They’re always dramatic, you know. Apparently there was some drama yesterday too. So we’ll eat dinner simply, and the gathering will probably end quickly.”
“I see…”
“Then let’s just look around my room and take a walk around the neighborhood.”
“That’s not bad either.”
As Sunjeong walked side by side with Taeon, he realized what he’d missed and let out a very small groan, “Ah.”
He’d carefully hidden photos related to Taeon and all sorts of items containing memories in his room so they wouldn’t catch Taeon’s eye, but he’d only failed to remove the letter stuck on the wall. The letter written on high school graduation day was placed as naturally as wallpaper, so he hadn’t even thought to remove it.
He didn’t want to be caught by Taeon reading that letter at least once a day. I need to remove the letter when I get a good chance later. Thinking this, strength went into Sunjeong’s steps as he walked.
Looking at Sunjeong lost in thought, Taeon spoke up.
“Your bangs have gotten really long.”
“Right. They’ve been covering my eyes lately.”
“Cut them. If they keep poking your eyes, it hurts and your eyesight gets bad too.”
“You cut them for me.”
Exchanging such words back and forth without even looking at each other while walking—it had been a while since they’d done this. At the shopping mall they’d met at to choose a gift for Yoonwoo, it hadn’t been this comfortable.
“I’ll cut them for you.”
Sunjeong ended up being slightly surprised at Taeon’s indifferent answer.
When he was a high school student, Sunjeong found grooming his hair particularly annoying, so his hair was always in a shaggy state.
Taeon would often tidy up such Sunjeong’s bangs during short breaks between classes or during lunch time. Those large hands that seemed like they wouldn’t know delicacy knew how to always arrange Sunjeong’s bangs naturally.
Then after Sunjeong confessed, he refused to cut his bangs. No matter how much Sunjeong begged and pleaded, he only said to go to a hair salon and cut them.
Sunjeong knew the reason Taeon had suddenly changed.
Whenever Taeon’s face came close to Sunjeong’s face to cut his bangs, Sunjeong would feel feverish. Taeon must have noticed the faint blush blooming on his cheeks.
Of course, after that, if Sunjeong begged too much, Taeon would cut them a few times as if annoyed, but each time, Taeon showed signs of tension instead, so he stopped begging. Taeon would definitely dislike the fact that Sunjeong noticed that appearance itself.
“Thanks to you, my bangs will be neat for the first time in a while.”
“Even if my skills are rusty, I don’t care. Even if they’re cut into some weird shape.”
“Yeah, even if they’re cut weird, I’m pretty so it’s okay.”
To the words deliberately said to hear a reaction, Taeon was quiet without scolding Sunjeong. Does that mean he agrees, or what?
Even though Sunjeong looked at Taeon with unnecessarily sparkling eyes, Taeon still said nothing in the end.
