Unable to remove the hand covering his face, Siwoo felt like he was getting drunk from the hot heat transmitted from Evan and the strong smell of alcohol he felt with every breath Evan took.
If you drank, you should nicely go to the dorm and sleep. How did you know to come here again?
“On my way to the dorm, I saw Sangjun hyung and Coco doing a live, so I wanted to do it together too.”
Speaking more slowly than usual, Evan, stuck right behind Siwoo’s back, didn’t seem to have any intention of moving.
“Hey… you’re heavy. Get off.”
Siwoo, caught between the standing table and Evan, still covering his face with his hand, raised his other hand and tapped Evan’s head, which had his chin resting on his shoulder.
“Am I heavy?”
“Of course you’re heavy. Do you think you’d be light?”
As soon as he heard Evan say he was heavy, he stepped back a bit, so Siwoo quickly escaped from his embrace and moved his body to the side.
“Really? Am I really that heavy?”
Evan, who put his arms on the table and rested his chin on them, muttered softly while looking at Siwoo instead of the camera.
“Nemo~ Watch carefully right now. It’s not common to see Evanie drunk. He holds his liquor the best among the members.”
Ignoring Evan’s gaze, Siwoo lightly pinched his nose to express that he could smell alcohol and shook his head. It seemed like the live was ruined again, and there was no choice but to roughly gloss over it. Since scenes of them lightly drinking at company dinners or on ‘Ocean Story’ had been broadcast occasionally, Evan being drunk didn’t seem like it would be a big problem.
“The members’ drinking habits? There’s not really anything special.”
At the mention that Evan was drunk, it seemed like many related questions were coming up. Fortunately, after confirming that Evan had obediently separated from Siwoo and was standing beside him, Sangjun quickly spoke so the sound wouldn’t cut out.
“Yechan, who’s overflowing with excitement, tends to sing a lot, and Chan hyung gets tired quickly so he watches from behind. What else is there?”
“Coco acts more cute too, and he’s really proactive so first…”
Sangjun, who had subtly moved his body to cover the sight of Siwoo and Evan standing together even a little with his head, quickly turned around when Evan readily brought up Siwoo’s drinking habits.
“Sangjun hyung repeats what he already said. Anyway, there aren’t any particularly outstanding or fun drinking habits. As you can see, Evan’s speech just gets a bit slower.”
Before Evan’s words could get longer, Siwoo, who intercepted his words, blinked slowly when their eyes met with Sangjun.
Please catch on. If we don’t end this live now, we don’t know what Evan might do.
“Ah… favorite alcohol? Well, it’s alcohol. It’s a preference. There’s a song I’ve been listening to before bed lately.”
When the quick-witted Sangjun played a pop song, Siwoo quickly lowered his head to look at the table and opened his mouth.
“Shh. We’re going to turn off the live now. Just stay still.”
Whether he gave a warning or not, when Evan wrapped his arm around his waist and placed his large palm on his stomach, he quickly grabbed that hand to keep it from moving. He didn’t know that keeping distance from Sangjun and doing the live from the start would be this helpful.
When Sangjun turned up the sound while pretending to adjust the volume, Siwoo bit his lower lip hard, feeling like laughter would burst out. He felt Sangjun’s will to somehow not cause a broadcast accident, even though he was as flustered and surprised as himself.
“You said you didn’t want to do a live with me, but you’re doing it with Sangjun hyung.”
Was he really drunk? Or was he pretending to be drunk?
Seeing Evan muttering softly, Siwoo ran his hand through his hair and just chuckled. Seeing his unfocused eyes, he must be drunk after all.
“Because I don’t know what you’ll do. Even now, you’re only looking at me. Hurry and look at the monitor and communicate.”
To Evan, who kept looking only at his face, Siwoo whispered again, small and fast.
“Hey hey! Both of you get out. This is my live. Where do you think you’re trying to ruin my live?”
Sangjun, who had pretended it was a mistake to turn up the music then lowered it, moved the wheeled chair here and there as if touching the equipment and tried to cover the two somehow, then turned around and spoke with sincerity.
“No way. Would I ruin hyung’s live? Come on, let’s go. Let hyung do his live. Nemo~ Today was really fun.”
Siwoo, who felt the same as Sangjun, smiled brightly toward the camera and lightly touched Evan’s arm as he was still looking at him. Then he quickly shoved his things on the table into his bag, blew a hand kiss toward the camera, and turned around.
“Nemo, next time I’ll come with Coco.”
Fortunately, Evan also smoothly said his goodbye and followed, so Siwoo opened the studio door and went outside.
“Geez, if you drank, you should really just go to the dorm. What are you doing coming here?”
Coming outside, Siwoo brought up the words he’d been holding back.
“I was watching the live and missed you so much.”
“Do you not remember going into the meeting together and eating lunch together?”
“That’s why we were apart for eight whole hours.”
At Evan’s actions of sticking right to his back, burying his face in his neckline and whining, Siwoo, who had been getting angry, gritted his teeth and held back the laughter that was about to come out. Having glossed over it vaguely every time, his actions became increasingly bold, and he himself had become lax too.
“What am I supposed to say to a drunk person? We’ll talk about today again tomorrow. What about Daehwan hyung? Didn’t Daehwan hyung bring you?”
“Coco.”
“What?”
“You want to drive, right?”
Evan was the first to bring up the word driving, then suddenly held out car keys in front of him. Siwoo stared at the car keys in his hand. Sometimes there were times when he couldn’t follow his thoughts, and now was one of those moments.
“Let’s go to the officetel.”
“Why would we go to the officetel together just because it’s pretty?”
Evan, who had been clinging from behind just a moment ago but was now in front, dangled the car keys and smiled more radiantly than ever.
“You don’t have to cherish me. Just let me cherish you.”
Only at times like this…
Unable to turn away from that smiling face, Siwoo reached out and snatched the car keys Evan was holding.
“Fine.”
Both of Siwoo’s cheeks, walking ahead of Evan, were red. At some point, Evan’s officetel had become a place they went when they wanted to spend time alone together. So the suggestion to go to the officetel led to one meaning.
Still, since you drank, you’re at least handing over the steering wheel. Siwoo, who took the elevator down to the underground parking lot, was walking ahead when he stopped.
Since Evan had handed over the car keys, Siwoo’s head naturally tilted to the side as he looked for his car. In Siwoo’s gaze as he looked around, the car he knew couldn’t be seen. He couldn’t find the van, Evan’s car, or his own car.
Only then checking the car keys in his hand, Siwoo blinked several times. The emblem engraved on the car keys and the mark on the red sports car standing right in front were the same.
When he put strength in his fingertips and pressed the button, only the sports car that seemed to be sleeping soundly responded among all the cars here.
“Do you like it?”
“What is this?”
“You said you wanted to ride a red sports car. Let’s go quickly, Driver Kim. I’m tired.”
Pushed by Evan’s hand, Siwoo was sitting in the driver’s seat before he knew it. And Evan, who sat in the passenger seat, adjusted the seat back and calmly called him Driver Kim.
“You, this car…”
“Please drive carefully, Driver Kim.”
At Evan’s action of fastening his seatbelt and closing his eyes as if he wouldn’t accept any questions, the corners of Siwoo’s lips rose stealthily.
“Is it a bribe?”
“Yeah.”
Humming flowed from Siwoo’s mouth as he smoothly drove the car out of the parking lot. When would he get to drive a car like this again? If it were his old self, he would have refused sharply and put on a stern face.
Siwoo, who stopped the car according to the signal, looked at Evan, who still had his eyes closed.
He didn’t want to imagine how it would feel to be rejected by someone he loved. That would be the same for Evan too. All of his actions were consideration for him, a driving beginner. He’d accepted his intention of recommending an SUV because an SUV with a high and sturdy body was safer than a flashy sports car.
Since he could change cars anytime after driving the SUV for a while, he hadn’t argued with him for that long. Since he was satisfied with the sturdy four-wheel SUV, he’d completely forgotten about sports cars. Unlike himself, it seemed a sports car had remained in Evan’s heart.
After sneaking a look around, Siwoo grabbed the seatbelt and stretched it long, then drew close to Evan and lightly stole his lips.
“Thank you.”
Though he looked like he was sleeping, it was easy to know he wasn’t sleeping.
Before getting caught by Evan, Siwoo quickly returned to the driver’s seat and started the car according to the signal that had just changed.
“Ah… Kim Siwoo. Really. Do this kind of thing when you’re in the SUV. This is why I don’t like sports cars.”
Siwoo’s humming, listening to Evan’s grumbling, gradually grew louder. He absolutely didn’t say out loud, ‘Honestly, I’m a bit disappointed too.’
* * *
Rolling his stiff shoulders, Evan left the room and went into the kitchen, standing in front of the refrigerator and emptying a small water bottle right there. As he rolled his neck and moved lightly to loosen his stiff body, the humming Siwoo had sung in the car last night flowed out as is from his mouth.
His hand, which was about to grab bread, paused in the air for a moment. Then he opened the refrigerator again.
He’d already eaten a simple breakfast-slash-lunch with toast and juice. Having nothing particular to do, Siwoo, who had been rolling around watching a movie, had fallen asleep again. Though it was nice to see him sleeping comfortably, if his nap got too long, his night sleep would be delayed too, so he was about to wake him up soon.
But inside the officetel’s refrigerator, which they didn’t visit very often, there was nothing suitable.
Having no choice, he took out apples, oranges, and grapes.
At a thought that suddenly occurred, Evan put everything down and picked up his phone. The bean sprout hangover soup that Siwoo enjoyed as a hangover cure came to mind. It seemed like it would be good to cleanse their palates simply with fruit and eat bean sprout hangover soup for dinner.
“When did it turn off?”
At the phone that wouldn’t turn on, perhaps discharged since he hadn’t plugged in the charger, Evan plugged in the charger and looked toward the front door.
“You… Siwoo is here too, right?”
The people who knew the password to this place were only Siwoo, himself, and Daehwan. There was no reason for Daehwan to come here today when there was no schedule. At his action of looking for Siwoo in a loud voice as soon as he entered hurriedly with an urgent-looking appearance, Evan’s expression hardened on its own.
“Why Siwoo?”
After scanning the living room and kitchen once, at his action of heading unhesitatingly to the bedroom, Evan quickly grabbed his wrist.
“Is that the problem right now? Both your phones are off. I’m really going crazy.”
Just then, his phone that Daehwan was holding rang with a noisy sound.
