“I’ll wait while playing the piano.”
Unlike Eunchan’s shabby playing skills, Miro was quite skilled. He must be a person who can’t do anything badly. Eunchan looked at Miro’s perfect appearance and calmed his rippling heart. Eunchan often asked Miro to play. The soft melody resembling the performer made Eunchan smile.
Once Miro learned that Eunchan liked his performances, he started collecting sheet music from that day on. When he said let’s go to the sea once, he collected postcards; when he tried to play golf once, he offered golf clubs; and now that he liked his performances, he was only practicing piano like crazy.
When Miro tried to make a soundproof room that was good for practicing, Eunchan had to be shocked and beg him to stop.
“Yeah. I’ll wait without eating.”
“No, eat lunch first. Don’t skip it.”
The demand to return before lunch was cute. Since he was just going to help Hyungsik with work, he wouldn’t come home late, but still, he didn’t know. It bothered him to leave Miro alone in the empty house.
“Yeah. But Eunchan, send me pi-pictures of what you’re eating too.”
“Got it.”
He didn’t reveal to Miro that the reason for going to work early was Hyungsik. He already disliked Eunchan and Hyungsik talking on the phone, and if he said the two were meeting while leaving him behind, he might truly get angry. Eunchan, who reassured Miro with a lie that he couldn’t meet Hyungsik because he went on a business trip far away, prepared to leave the house.
Today too, he wore clothes Miro chose. Now the clothes Eunchan originally had couldn’t be found in the wardrobe. Whether Miro stole them bit by bit each day, when he came to his senses, there were only clothes Miro bought.
When he went out to the entrance with Miro, a rabbit doll wearing the same shirt and jeans as himself was waiting on top of the display cabinet. Eunchan deliberately unbuttoned the shirt the rabbit wore and revealed its white belly.
“Why, why?”
“This one’s charm is its fluffy belly.”
Now he teased because Miro’s reactions were fun. When he roughly threw the doll on the floor, he could feel Miro getting restless. Eunchan pretended not to notice such Miro and urged him to see him off quickly since he was late.
In the end, Miro, who had been torn between the real Eunchan and the fake Eunchan, left the doll behind and followed him out of the entrance. Walking between the garden they cultivated together, Eunchan swung their clasped hands.
“Did you see the sprout that came up there?”
“Whe-where?”
It was four days ago that he planted the cherry tomato seeds that came as a free gift. It was amazing that they sprouted in that time. At this rate, we might be able to eat them in a few days. Forgetting about going to work, Eunchan and Miro observed the sprouted seedlings with interest.
“The soil here must be good.”
Even without giving fertilizer or nutrients separately, whatever they planted quickly took root and sprouted. When Eunchan smiled and told Miro, Miro also smiled brightly. The house that didn’t even get sunlight well and was gloomy had somehow become a space overflowing with vitality. Eunchan felt affection while brushing back Miro’s hair swaying in the wind.
“It’s because Eunchan is here.”
It was an affectionate, almost blind gaze. Looking at his own image clearly reflected in Miro’s eyes, Eunchan touched his chest area. His insides churned as if he had motion sickness.
How can that person be so special? Even the hot solar heat seemed to shatter down on Miro like brilliant light. Eunchan quickly took his eyes off Miro and quickly walked outside the gate.
“I’ll go quickly, I’ll be late.”
“Mm, contact me.”
Miro, who came out to the roadside, waved his hand gently and saw Eunchan off. Eunchan waved back and gestured for Miro to go in quickly.
Living together affected not only Miro but also Eunchan greatly. Just the existence of someone waiting for him gave Eunchan comfort. He thought he’d gotten used to loneliness, thought he’d overcome it all……. That’s why it wasn’t easy to stop his heart from going to Miro.
Skinship increased compared to before, but kisses like last time didn’t continue. Miro originally liked touching Eunchan anyway, so he touched him without hesitation, but whenever the contact tried to deepen, Eunchan had to push Miro away. Eunchan had a relatively more conservative mindset than others, so if they weren’t in a relationship, he didn’t want to do anything.
More than anything, the most important problem was that the relationship between the two wasn’t defined. Miro and Eunchan weren’t family, friends, or lovers. Since the stalker no longer appeared after they started living together, the request Eunchan took on also fizzled out.
Hyungsik watched Jang Heewoo for a few days, but the younger brother’s route was also either the hospital or home, so there was no particular reason to suspect him, and he gave up. Nothing was resolved, but it felt like things were going well. Eunchan tried to erase the anxious feeling and arrived at the bus stop.
The reason for refusing Miro’s offer of a car and deliberately taking the bus was simple. If he drove around an expensive car, he’d only attract attention, and it was obvious the boss and Hyungsik would take the car keys saying they wanted to drive it once.
And he didn’t want to receive anything more from Miro here. It was also pride, and the more he received, the more uncomfortable he felt as if he became aware of his insufficient self.
Eunchan got on the bus that soon arrived. Eunchan, who found a seat at the very back, naturally sent a text to Miro.
[I got on the bus. See you later.]
Looking at the pile of boxes still blocking the front of the office, Eunchan let out a long sigh. Since he rested for a long time, he missed this too. Eunchan pushed them aside and went up the stairs. Since Hyungsik had already come to work, Eunchan didn’t take out his key and immediately turned the doorknob.
“I’m here.”
“Hyung!”
It was a vacation that wasn’t even two weeks, but when he actually entered the office, it felt like old times. Eunchan greeted Hyungsik who welcomed him and found his seat to sit down. Leaning comfortably on the familiar chair, his mind was at peace.
“If you haven’t had breakfast, do you want to order hamburgers with me?”
As soon as he sat down, Hyungsik, as if familiar, recommended hamburgers only sold in the morning. Since he always came to work without eating breakfast, he used to have late breakfast and early lunch together with Hyungsik in the office.
“I already ate, don’t eat instant food like that, order a proper meal. It’s not good for you.”
Unlike Eunchan who had lived eating roughly anything, Miro managed Eunchan with a thorough diet. Thanks to that, Eunchan had to face greens and berries he’d never seen in his life. Even grandmother didn’t feed him like this. Just this morning, the number of side dishes exceeded seven.
“Hyung, but did you gain weight?”
“Why? I haven’t weighed myself so I don’t know. Do I look like it?”
“You just look good. You were kind of thin, hyung. I think you have some muscle too? What did you do on vacation?”
He just drank the green juice Miro squeezed for him from time to time and dug some ground. Eunchan scratched his head and answered that he didn’t do anything.
While Hyungsik ordered his share of breakfast, Eunchan wiped off the dust piled on the desk with a dry cloth. It seemed like he was organizing the desk for the first time in a while. He wiped the monitor and keyboard once and also polished the nameplate placed on the partition. Even though there were only two employees, Hyungsik and Eunchan, it was a nameplate the boss forcibly made to keep up appearances.
Come to think of it, it reminded him of when he first met Miro.
‘I’m late with introductions. I’m Kim Eunchan, the team leader here.’
‘Planning, Team Leader. Kim Eunchan.’
He remembered greeting in a small voice because it was embarrassing to introduce himself as team leader when the only team member was Hyungsik. Miro had deliberately read the nameplate out loud. And the beautiful man greeted Eunchan as if pleased. Since he’d never seen such a pretty person, he was very flustered. The rose scent lingering at his nose tip was as vivid as yesterday’s.
Eunchan, who finished organizing even the drawer, rinsed the cloth and hung it by the window. Wanting to give Hyungsik time to eat breakfast, Eunchan turned on the computer.
“The work you want help with, let’s do that after you eat.”
“Yes, hyung, but do you know what it is? Did the boss tell you?”
“No? I haven’t heard yet. What is it?”
At most it would be something like find the money that was withheld or help collect evidence of an affair. If it was the former, it would be enough to threaten by phone, and if it was the latter, it would be sufficient to follow them around and take pictures.
“Do you remember Choi Hanul I mentioned before?”
“Choi Hanul? Who’s that?”
“An idol, Uju Daebak Boys.”
Is he talking about the idol Hyungsik was interested in? If that’s it, it seems like quite a long time ago. Eunchan crossed his arms and asked with an indifferent face.
“Isn’t that the kid you liked? Why, didn’t the work get resolved well?”
“Yes……. Ah, I don’t like him. The boss was so pissed off he cursed a lot.”
Hyungsik let out deep sighs and revealed a tired face.
“I heard he was picky. Didn’t he ask you to find someone?”
“He asked us to find a friend who was in the same class, so we found them, but the problem is what came after.”
According to Hyungsik’s explanation, Choi Hanul wanted to find and meet again a friend who was in the same class. Hearing up to here, it wasn’t that difficult a job. However.
“He said he wants to meet his friend and get revenge, so…….”
“What, he wants us to hit them? He’s a celebrity. What if it makes the news?”
Eunchan’s errand center in the outskirts would obviously be going up and down in the news too. Eunchan shook his head with an absurd face. He really can’t keep up with young kids’ thinking these days.
