It was a breakfast table prepared for Eunchan, who had returned heavily drunk. The dining table prepared only with things good for hangovers made Eunchan feel guilty.
“I’m sorry…”
Eunchan conveyed his apology once more to Miro, who was ladling out dried pollack soup for him. As the warm broth entered his dizzy stomach, he finally felt like he might live. He hurriedly drank the refreshing broth and received the fish meat Miro picked out for him.
“Miro-ssi, you eat too.”
Eunchan also deboned a large piece of mackerel and placed it on top of Miro’s rice bowl. Once his head and stomach calmed down, his mind cleared up. After gulping down cold water, Eunchan asked Miro.
“I’m taking the day off work, so let’s do what you want to do today, Miro-ssi. Together.”
His physical condition still wasn’t good, and he’d overdone it and worked a lot yesterday. Eunchan made plans to throw a tantrum if necessary to get back the vacation days he’d returned.
“Really?”
“Yes, after we finish eating, shall we go check if the cherry tomatoes outside have grown?”
“Yeah, let’s go now.”
“Let me wash up first.”
It seemed like his body still smelled of alcohol. When Miro smiled brightly with a happy face, Eunchan’s mood improved as well. When the man was flirting with him yesterday, he’d felt as disgusted as if he’d been shoved into a muddy pit, but with Miro, just having him smile made his heart flutter.
I’m going to fall too hard at this rate. No matter how much you can’t stop a heart that’s already going, he had to maintain some boundaries. Eunchan stood up first and cleared away his rice bowl and chopsticks.
As Eunchan entered the bathroom to shower, he soon realized again the fact that he was currently wearing pajamas. Had he changed by himself? He really wished someone would tell him he’d put them on himself. Since he’d recently been avoiding exercise and only eating, he had a bit of a belly.
What’s the big deal about guys changing each other’s clothes, but Eunchan, who had wanted to show Miro his good side and cool side as much as possible, threw a punch into the air out of embarrassment.
When he finished showering and came out, Miro was waiting for Eunchan with clothes in hand. Since he’d taken comfortable sportswear with him before washing, Eunchan answered while drying his hair with a towel that he’d already changed.
“I’m going to keep wearing this since we’re not even going out anyway.”
The clothes Miro had chosen were a suit he didn’t even wear to work.
“If you go up to the second floor and put it on, w-won’t you?”
At those words, Eunchan finally caught on to Miro’s intention. The second floor. The place where the dressing room was, where Miro kept everything he wanted to dress Eunchan in and give him. Just like he’d done at the hospital, he was planning to make him do another fashion show.
Miro had changed Eunchan’s wardrobe several times a day. It seemed like the clothes inside would be completely replaced again this time.
“I’ll just dry my hair and go.”
“On the second floor…”
“Alright, alright.”
At the continued urging, Eunchan raised both hands and walked toward the stairs. Miro followed behind him but soon remembered he’d left the flower bed watering unfinished.
“Eunchan, go up f-first. I’ll water and c-come up.”
“The garden? Let’s go together.”
“No, go.”
The hose used in the garden was long and heavy. Miro, who was stronger than Eunchan, was mainly in charge of watering, but he hadn’t finished the work because he’d hurriedly prepared honey water in the morning. Eunchan nodded and climbed the remaining stairs.
Most of the second floor had many empty rooms. Since they mainly lived on the first floor, there was no particular reason to come up. Instead of going to the dressing room, Eunchan slowly looked around the second floor.
Unlike the first-floor rooms that showed signs of habitation thanks to being decorated, the second floor maintained the same appearance as when Eunchan had first visited Miro’s house. It was like an empty model house with not a single piece of furniture. Opening the doors one by one to check inside, Eunchan soon discovered a study full of books.
As if neglected for a long time, the bookshelves were full of hazy dust. Perhaps this had also been used as a storage room, as half-opened boxes were piled near the bookshelf. Eunchan looked over the titles of the books on the shelves. <Principles of Economics>, <The Wealth of Nations>, <Microeconomics>, <Mankiw’s Economics>… The titles alone looked sufficient to induce sleep.
After losing interest in the difficult-looking books, Eunchan opened one of the boxes placed in front. Old record discs, glass bottles, wooden toys… It was full of miscellaneous items. However, there was one item among them that stood out the most. Eunchan took out a picture frame and carefully observed the family photo inside. A couple sitting in chairs and a son standing with his hand on his father’s shoulder. It was the appearance of a harmonious family of three. Whether it was from his student days, Jang Heewoo’s face looked like a fresh-faced adolescent boy.
Looking at it this way, Jang Heewoo really resembled his parents a lot. There was a reason only Miro was pretty. Eunchan searched through the box more to find photos of Miro, but he couldn’t find any other photos besides this one.
“Eunchan, wh-where are you?”
He heard a voice looking for him from outside the room. After organizing everything back to its original state, Eunchan quietly closed the door and came out.
“I’m here. I used the bathroom for a moment.”
Not wanting to advertise that he’d been rummaging through someone else’s house, Eunchan lied, saying he’d urgently needed to use the second-floor bathroom.
“Does your stomach hurt?”
“No, let’s hurry in. I think you bought a lot of clothes this time.”
“Yeah, they’ll l-look good on Eunchan.”
Miro grabbed Eunchan’s arm and led him to the dressing room.
Under the guidance of Miro, who was the fashion show’s coordinator, director, and sole audience member, Eunchan had to put on and take off numerous outfits. He’d certainly volunteered to be a model out of feeling sorry toward Miro, but after changing into about twenty outfits, that sorry feeling gradually diluted into annoyance.
When Eunchan lay down flat saying he couldn’t do any more, only then did Miro lower the curtain on the show. Watching Miro sort through and organize the clothes that suited Eunchan best, Eunchan thought that somehow he looked even prettier today.
“What did you do today? You look a bit different.”
He was always neatly dressed, but today he seemed to have taken extra care with his appearance. Eunchan touched the stiff collar of Miro’s shirt and inhaled the deep rose scent.
“I didn’t r-really do anything…”
So he had done something. Even while organizing Eunchan’s clothes, Miro had been checking his appearance in the mirror from time to time. Had he suddenly realized his own beauty or something?
“Are you going to a matchmaking meeting?”
He threw out the joke intending to tease, but the moment the words ended, Eunchan ended up hurting himself. If he went to a matchmaking meeting, they would definitely become lovers. No one would try to let Miro go.
“I only have Eunchan…”
“…”
“Eunchan feels the same way, right?”
Round eyes like transparent glass marbles stared intently at Eunchan. Eunchan somehow felt embarrassed and turned to lie on his side, avoiding Miro’s gaze.
“…Is there someone?”
When Eunchan hesitated to answer, Miro grabbed Eunchan’s ankle and asked.
“No, there isn’t.”
“It’s Hyungsik.”
At the momentum of catching an innocent person, Eunchan hurriedly turned around. Miro stroked Eunchan’s ankle with a stiff face.
“No! I also, Miro-ssi…”
Only have you. The latter words were whispered very softly. Nevertheless, Miro, who understood well, smiled broadly and lay on top of Eunchan’s stomach. When Eunchan started laughing from the ticklishness, his stomach jiggled in response and Miro’s head also began to shake up and down.
Only having each other, what kind of talk is that? Both Miro, who dressed complete strangers in clothes, and himself, who ended up giving affection to a client, were both foolish. However, because this time was so enjoyable, because the words “only having each other” were so sweet, Eunchan laughed loudly.
After the time of dressing Eunchan that only Miro enjoyed ended and the two became leisurely, they headed to the garden. With just a little touch to cultivate it, the garden had now transformed to the point where it wouldn’t be lacking anywhere. After confirming that the rose seedlings had firmly taken root in the ground, Eunchan felt regretful about the fact that it was now autumn. Winter would come soon, and he didn’t know if the children could endure well.
For Miro’s sake, Eunchan had planted various flowers in the flower bed as much as possible. Among them was a camellia tree for winter. It’ll be more brilliant in spring. Eunchan imagined the garden in spring.
On the rocking chair, Eunchan and Miro sat side by side, swinging on the swing while enjoying the cool autumn breeze.
“When spring comes, many flowers will bloom.”
If they endure winter well. Eunchan said while patting Miro’s knee.
“Yeah, they’ll be pretty.”
Would he really be able to remain by Miro’s side until spring? When he actually thought about parting, he became melancholy. It was sad that if they separated, he wouldn’t be able to see the house they’d decorated together or the garden they’d cultivated again.
“Wh-when spring comes, the cherry blossoms Eunchan likes will also bl-bloom.”
Pointing to the cherry tree planted in a corner of the garden, Miro promised he would take photos of Eunchan when the cherry blossoms bloomed. He liked that Miro naturally expected they would greet spring together.
“We haven’t caught the stalker.”
“Mm-hmm. But it’s o-okay. Eunchan is here.”
That’s why he wanted to be even greedier. Even without the stalker, he wanted to naturally stay with Miro. Eunchan rubbed his forehead and carefully brought up the contract they’d made again. He was also afraid that if there was no stalker, Miro would no longer look for him.
“Th-the contract, you know.”
“Yees.”
“The stalker work, can I leave it to Hyungsik instead of me?”
He wanted to remove himself from the contract bound by money. That didn’t mean he intended to completely let go of the work of catching the stalker. He just wanted to help by Miro’s side without any compensation.
“Why?”
Miro asked, tilting his head. Somehow his eyes looked ominous.
He knew he needed to answer well here, but he didn’t know what to say. Instead of going around in circles for no reason, Eunchan, who chose to go straight, closed his eyes tightly and answered.
“I want to keep staying by your side, Miro-ssi, without that.”
