As soon as the words fell, the two who had gotten up and prepared went out to a nearby mart to shop for groceries.
Armed with sunglasses and hats, there were quite a few people who recognized them.
Of course, people rushing up to ask for autographs or to take photos had noticeably decreased compared to before.
“Why are people just staring at us?”
At Dohyeong’s surprised murmur, Haesung looked around. Then he chuckled and pulled Dohyeong’s shoulder close with strength.
“Because we look happy.”
“What does that mean?”
“Because we look so happy, they can’t bear to intrude.”
At Haesung’s words, Dohyeong thought carefully about the past.
Actually, the days they came out to shop together were extremely rare. On the rare occasions they went out shopping together, people would persistently talk to them.
Looking back, back then he had almost never walked stuck close to Haesung.
He had only followed half a step, or a couple steps behind.
“Our hyung was really mean.”
“Suddenly?”
“Yeah. I’m thinking about the old days.”
“…You’re not hurt again or anything, right?”
At this point, one might expect words like forget the past.
Haesung was looking at Dohyeong with a restless expression.
That appearance was also cute and lovable. Dohyeong shook his head and smiled brightly.
He was a person who didn’t give any room to sulk or pout even if one wanted to.
“That won’t happen. Because someone doesn’t give any room to be hurt.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means you love me without rest.”
“…Since when were you so good with words?”
“From the beginning.”
At the sight of Dohyeong sticking out his tongue slightly, Haesung laughed once more.
Smiles didn’t leave the faces of the two people pushing the cart and putting in various ingredients.
After returning home, Haesung moved busily while cooking.
From preparing the ingredients to the finishing touches, everything went through his hands. It was because he didn’t let Dohyeong lift a finger.
“I could help a bit.”
“Then it would be meaningless.”
“What meaning?”
“…Mm.”
Haesung, who had been placing two plates of pasta and wine glasses on the table, pondered for a while.
Then he brought forks, spoons, and wine, sat across from Dohyeong, and gently opened his mouth.
“I want to do even one more thing for you. If you help, it seems like that meaning would be lost. From beginning to end. I wanted to do it completely myself.”
How should I explain this happiness?
Dohyeong chewed over his emotions that couldn’t be defined and smiled until his eyes curved.
“Hurry and try it. How’s the taste?”
At the urging that followed, he quickly picked up his fork.
He twirled the noodles on the spoon and pushed a big mouthful in. It was the cream pasta Dohyeong liked.
After chewing and savoring for a while, Dohyeong thrust his thumb toward Haesung.
“It’s so delicious.”
“Delicious?”
“The best. Hyung, there’s nothing you can’t do. It’s really, really so delicious.”
“I’m glad. That it suits your taste.”
Only then, as if relieved, a gentle smile hung on Haesung’s lips too.
He opened the wine, filled each of their glasses, and clinked them lightly. The sound of the wine glasses clinking was quite clear.
“To Kim Dohyeong’s successful return.”
“Celebrating Jung Haesung’s successful change.”
“Really now. You’re even celebrating something like that?”
“Of course. For me, this is more surprising than the drama viewership ratings.”
“That sounds rather like sarcasm.”
“They say changing people is the hardest thing. It’s not sarcasm.”
“I know. I’m just saying it sounds like that.”
The two, holding a sip of wine in their mouths, made eye contact and nodded.
It meant it was delicious.
“The aroma is really nice.”
“Right. It’s pretty good. It would be fine to buy more from a similar line.”
Dohyeong smiled at the sight of Haesung savoring the wine and eating pasta again.
“Later when we retire, if we have nothing to do, should we try running a pasta restaurant?”
“A pasta restaurant?”
“Hyung cooks. I’ll do the serving.”
“A shop run by the two of us?”
“Yeah. So we’d take reservations. Just one table per day. A restaurant for special people on special days. Isn’t that really exclusive?”
Holding a fork while chattering away, Dohyeong’s appearance was pleasant to see.
His voice, his gaze, his smile. There was nothing to miss.
“Dohyeong-ah, do you have time tomorrow by any chance?”
“Tomorrow? Mm….”
Dohyeong picked up his phone and checked the schedule Wootae had sent.
After the drama aired, the schedule had noticeably increased, but perhaps because the hit cycle was approaching soon, the schedule was adjusted more leisurely.
“Yeah. Tomorrow’s free. But why?”
“To go on a date.”
“A date?”
His eyes rounded at Haesung’s words. Date. Just hearing it was a word that made his heart float fluffily.
“Good, totally good! Where are we going? No, what are we doing?”
Looking so excited, just like a puppy. Haesung swallowed his laughter with effort and filled Dohyeong’s empty glass with wine.
“You have to see that tomorrow directly, if I tell you in advance it won’t be fun.”
“I think it would be fun even if you told me in advance.”
Watching Dohyeong pouting his lips, Haesung lightly pushed his forehead with his fingertip.
“You’ll see tomorrow. Kim Dohyeong-ssi.”
“Cheapskate.”
“So you don’t like it?”
“Well. So do I not like it?”
Asking back while tilting his head questioningly, Dohyeong smiled playfully.
“Or do I like it?”
“Then you’ll regret it.”
“Why would I regret it?”
“You’ll know that too if you wait and see.”
He didn’t dislike Haesung’s sly appearance. Though he no longer lingered on the past, he was more than welcome to see the sides he couldn’t see back then being taken out one by one now.
The two laughed pleasantly and finished their meal. The large bottle of wine was more than half empty before they knew it, and Dohyeong had his eyes drooping heavily with drunkenness.
“Shhhh. Jung Haesung.”
Haesung, who had finished cleaning up and come back, looked down quietly at Dohyeong making a stern expression.
“Why do you come sho late, huh?”
“Dohyeong’s drunk.”
“Shhhh. Don’t talk! Why! Like thish! Sho late! You come!”
Dohyeong, who had been speaking with emphasis on each word, tapped the table.
The thing he hated most in the world was people who caused drunken trouble. But strangely, he didn’t find it annoying when Dohyeong did this to him.
Swallowing his laughter with effort, he crouched down as he was and made eye contact with Dohyeong.
“I came after cleaning up. Doing the dishes.”
“…I thought, you were leaving me alone again.”
“You can see the kitchen right there, what.”
“I don’t know. Anyway, I thought, you were leaving me alone again.”
Dohyeong’s whining eyes became moist.
Even this appearance was cute and heartbreaking. Even more so when he thought it was an appearance he had created.
However, apologetic feelings must be buried as apologies. Only by being more faithful to the present could he build a house called happiness.
“Let’s go to the room, let’s go sleep. Dohyeong-ah.”
“Hug me.”
Haesung froze in place at the voice that popped out.
The first reason was because this appearance of Dohyeong was unfamiliar.
“Mmm, hug me.”
The second was because the sight of him stretching out both arms and even acting cute was embarrassingly adorable.
The last was probably because even this unfamiliar appearance of Dohyeong was so lovable.
Is he deliberately doing this to kill me?
“Yeah, I’ll hug you.”
He barely regained his reason. He put his arms under Dohyeong’s two arms and lifted him up. Supporting his bottom with one hand and patting his back with the other, he headed to the room.
Lighter than expected. I’ll have to feed him better from now on, he thought as he laid Dohyeong on the bed. Just as he was thinking whether to wash first and come back to wash Dohyeong, or wash him first—
“Hyuuung.”
Dohyeong made a nasal sound and hugged Haesung’s neck.
Then pulling him toward himself, he left short kisses here and there on his face.
“Mmm, I like hyung. Hyung, I like.”
“Dohyeong, Dohyeong-ah. Wait.”
To be honest, he hadn’t planned to just put him to sleep, but at least he didn’t want to pounce on him like a beast.
He didn’t want to torment Dohyeong restlessly or push him with the momentum of devouring him.
Dohyeong, not knowing his feelings, continued with the skinship. He could feel the strings of reason he’d been holding well breaking one by one.
“Dohyeong, ah.”
When Haesung urgently called his name, Dohyeong pulled Haesung as if to show him and flipped their bodies.
The positions changed in an instant. Dohyeong, sitting on top of Haesung, looked down at him with drooping eyes.
“…Hyung.”
It was a clear voice, but a tone that showed he was drunk.
Haesung let out a big sigh and slowly stroked up his thigh. After stroking once the supple waist hidden by clothes, the hand heading toward his chest stayed on his back.
“We should wash.”
“I’ll eat.”
“…What?”
“Jung Haesung.”
“What?”
“I’m eating. Jung Haesung.”
It was a statement that made him wonder if this was Kim Dohyeong. Haesung’s flustered eyes widened, but he couldn’t continue speaking.
Dohyeong’s two hands entered inside Haesung’s clothes. Though the movements were somewhat clumsy, they were enough to make Haesung impatient.
Kim Dohyeong, the short call was sucked into his mouth. Clothes rolled up, and he felt the cold air touching him.
“…Kim Dohyeong, you really.”
The weight that had been felt above his pubic bone gradually moved toward his legs.
It was as if heat flowers were blooming over his body. The heat flowers that bloomed profusely soon headed toward his lower body, and when the surging heat concentrated in one place.
Haesung let out a groan and threw his head back.
When he reached out his hand, what he touched was Dohyeong’s soft hair. While gripping it tightly as it was, he moved his body naturally.
Even that wasn’t enough, so Haesung flipped their bodies again and pulled Dohyeong up onto the bed.
“This is what you brought on yourself.”
“Hurry.”
Should he make him drink alcohol in the future, or not make him drink? He couldn’t get a grip.
But that wasn’t what was important right now. After stroking Dohyeong’s hair once, he ravaged Dohyeong’s mouth like before.
Couldn’t it be called a magnificent view?
Dohyeong’s face flushed red, eyes that couldn’t open properly from being drunk.
Most of all, even his slender fingers gripping his thigh tightly.
“I love you.”
In the short burst of words, breathless gasps were buried.
“I love you, Dohyeong-ah.”
In the words that came from sincerity, his heat about to burst was contained.
Dohyeong nodded. And Haesung began to move his body even more passionately.
His head became dizzy and then his throat became heavy.
How could he have loved and endured not loving?
In the past, he decided to reprimand himself once more for being dull and focus on this moment.
The slowly setting sun spread reddish light here and there.
As if being encroached by it, Haesung and Dohyeong too were drunk on the rising heat, unable to come out.
