“Are you okay?”
Hyowoo, who had been sitting blankly, raised his head.
“Do you have some worry? You’re not eating at all.”
“Ah, no, I am eating…”
However, Hyowoo only moved his chopsticks without touching the food.
The noodle dish he hadn’t taken a single bite of had swollen up like udon.
He tried forcing himself a few times but eventually gave up and put down his chopsticks. When Lee Seohee said he’d order something else if it didn’t suit his taste, Hyowoo shook his head slightly.
“…I think I got heat exhaustion. I have no appetite, so I can’t eat.”
“That’s when you need to eat well. Want to try something cold? They have cold noodles.”
“No, it’s okay. Don’t worry about me and eat.”
He couldn’t think of a proper excuse, so he blamed it on the heat.
It sounded plausible at first hearing, but he couldn’t hide his sharply sunken mood.
It was a situation where anyone could tell something was off. There was no way Lee Seohee, whose intuition was several times better than ordinary people, wouldn’t notice.
Still, the reason he didn’t particularly ask why was because he knew he didn’t want to talk about it.
Watching Hyowoo, who had fallen silent again, he quietly put down his chopsticks.
“I’ll go somewhere for a bit. Sorry, but can you wait just a moment?”
Did he receive a message or something?
He was curious about what it was, but Hyowoo just nodded silently without asking anything.
“I’ll be right back.”
Saying that, he left the private room.
Left alone, Hyowoo took a sip of the tea that had gone cold.
The food remained on the table as it was. Thinking that maybe he couldn’t eat properly because of him either, Hyowoo let out a small sigh.
He was usually good at hiding his true feelings, but for some reason, he couldn’t do it well today.
‘Seohee-ssi must like children, right? He was so affectionate even to a child he was seeing for the first time…’
Suddenly, his lower abdomen hurt as if being stabbed. It was a pain he had forgotten about for a while.
He hugged his stomach with both hands and curled up. Even though it wouldn’t be felt through his clothes, he felt as if the surgical scar was touching his fingertips.
‘Seohee-ssi will definitely become a good husband, a good father. Because he’s a more affectionate and warm person than anyone…’
Seohee’s face as he smiled and talked with the child in front of the restaurant was dazzling.
Usually, he liked his smiling face the most, but right now, that smile came to him so painfully.
‘If a child were born from Seohee-ssi, it would really be a pretty and kind child like an angel…’
For a moment, his heart sank.
Child… baby… child…
Taking out his mobile phone from his pocket with trembling hands, Hyowoo began typing a message saying he wasn’t feeling well and would leave first.
Even knowing it wasn’t polite, he didn’t have the confidence to go around choosing a birthday present with him in this state. He just wanted to disappear from this place—no, from in front of him.
But before he could even finish writing the message, the door opened. Lee Seohee had returned.
Startled by the sound, Hyowoo dropped his mobile phone on the table.
“Why are you so surprised? Were you looking at something you shouldn’t be looking at?”
“N-no, it’s nothing…”
Hyowoo hurriedly hid his mobile phone, worried the message might be discovered.
“It doesn’t seem like nothing though? Were you perhaps looking at something dirty?”
“What? N-no, nothing like that…”
“If there’s something like that, don’t look at it alone and show me too.”
“I’m telling you, it’s really not…”
Lee Seohee didn’t go to his seat but came straight to Hyowoo. He was holding a wine-colored shopping bag in his hand.
It was a brand he’d never seen, so he had no idea what was inside.
‘What was so urgent that he left in the middle of eating? Could it be that he bought his father’s present alone because I looked unwell?’
When he looked at the shopping bag with curious eyes, he took out a small box from inside.
When the wrapping was removed and the lid opened, a sweet scent gently spread.
“Can you eat this?”
Inside the box that looked like an elaborate jewelry case were luxurious-looking chocolates.
“…Don’t tell me you went to buy this?”
“You said before that when you have no appetite, you eat chocolate. I didn’t know what you’d like, so I bought what they said was most popular. I don’t know if it’ll suit your taste though.”
Hyowoo stared blankly at his face as he smiled, saying the one he tasted was delicious.
‘Because I said I had no appetite… he went to buy chocolate on purpose…?’
While not knowing how to react, a corner of his chest ached.
“The one in the middle is white chocolate raspberry cheesecake. It’s a limited flavor this season, and everyone was buying a lot of it.”
After rambling on with explanations, he picked up a chocolate and held it out in front of Hyowoo.
“Wh-what are you doing?”
“Can’t you tell by looking? Come on, say ah~”
“What?”
“You need to eat something to have energy. Then you can pick out a present with me too.”
As the chocolate approached right in front of his lips, Hyowoo flushed and flustered.
“Y-you can’t. If we eat food brought from somewhere else, they won’t like it here…”
“Don’t worry about that. I already asked for permission when we came in earlier. They said chocolate was fine.”
“Even so… that’s not polite…”
“They said it’s okay as long as we don’t leave trash, so come on. Hurry and say ah~”
No matter what he said, it was useless.
At his strong will to feed him no matter what, he finally gave up his feeble resistance.
“A-alright. I’ll eat it, so give it here.”
“I want to feed you, can’t I?”
“No. You can’t… you can’t, so just give it to me.”
Before Lee Seohee could retort, Hyowoo snatched the chocolate wedged between his fingers and put it in his mouth.
The harmony of sweet white chocolate and tart raspberry spread throughout his mouth.
“Is it delicious?”
When he nodded, he said that was a relief and lightly stroked his head. As if the spot where the touch landed tickled, Hyowoo inadvertently flinched his shoulders.
But even after feeding him the chocolate, he didn’t return to his seat. He just stopped in place and stared intently at Hyowoo.
When he asked while covering his mouth why he was doing that, he spoke as if it was amusing.
“Because you look like a rabbit.”
“What?”
“The way you’re eating so diligently, nibbling away, is exactly like a rabbit eating grass. You really resemble one!”
So surprised, Hyowoo ended up swallowing the chocolate chunk that was only half melted. The sound of it going down his throat with a ‘gulp’ rang out unusually loud.
“Why… why do you keep saying such strange things?”
“What’s strange about it? I only spoke the truth.”
“I don’t look like a rabbit. It’s already troublesome enough that noona calls me ‘little rabbit’ because of Seohee-ssi…”
“That’s a cute nickname. Can I call you that too?”
“Of course you can’t!”
His face heated up again in an instant.
Covering his warm cheeks with both hands and grumbling, he instead put down the chocolate box and shopping bag with a satisfied expression.
“Let’s eat this here together, and take this home. You can share it with your family too.”
When he gently pulled the shopping bag and looked inside, there were two large boxes in it.
“Why did you buy so much…”
“It’s going to keep being hot, so take them out one by one whenever you have no appetite. Ah, but you can’t just eat chocolate. Make sure to eat meals too.”
“Why are you nagging when even my mother doesn’t?”
Only then did Hyowoo finally smile comfortably.
“I’ll eat well. And… sorry for making you worry.”
“What are you sorry for? I was going to buy it for you anyway.”
Saying hadn’t he forgotten that he was the one who first coaxed him to go shopping together saying he’d buy chocolate, he smiled brightly and returned to his seat across from him.
“The food must all be cold, can you eat it?”
“It’s fine. I eat cold food well too.”
Watching Lee Seohee pick up his chopsticks, Hyowoo also put a new chocolate in his mouth.
After chewing a couple times, worried he might tease him again about looking like a rabbit, he quickly covered his mouth.
“I can see everything even if you cover it with your hand.”
At his teasing full of playfulness, Hyowoo turned his head away with a sulky expression.
Like that, the two quietly ate the food in front of each of them.
“Is your mood a bit better?”
Hyowoo looked at him, stopping mid-reach for the third chocolate from the box.
Lee Seohee was looking this way with very warm eyes.
Whether it was thanks to his teasing, the depressed feelings that had sunk to the bottom just moments ago had already disappeared without a trace.
“Yes… I feel much better thanks to Seohee-ssi.”
“Then, can I ask you just one favor?”
“What… is it?”
“Don’t suffer like that alone.”
At those words, Hyowoo’s eyes widened round.
“I won’t ask what happened. But I hope you won’t agonize alone in pain and severely drive yourself hard and torment yourself.”
It’s okay not to force yourself to smile in front of him. It’s okay to say you’re struggling if you’re struggling, to say it hurts if it hurts. Lee Seohee smiled with an endlessly affectionate smile.
‘…Why do you keep being so good to me? What am I…’
I don’t want to cry, but I feel like tears will come at his warmth.
Forcibly swallowing his tears, Hyowoo, who had been silently fidgeting with his fingers for a long while, carefully opened his mouth.
“…Seohee-ssi… do you like children?”
At the unexpected question, he showed a puzzled expression for a moment, but soon smiled gently and answered.
“Yes, I like them.”
“Then… what about babies?”
“I like them. Kids are all cute and pretty, aren’t they?”
Having finished answering, he asked back.
“What about you, Hyowoo-ssi? Do you like children?”
Unable to face him directly, he stared at the edge of the table for a moment. Then slowly raising his head, he said.
“I also… like them.”
Though he had been told just a few minutes ago ‘not to force a smile,’ in the end, Hyowoo tried hard to smile brightly to hide his true feelings.
‘Seohee-ssi must be dreaming of a happy family. He’ll want children too…’
Hyowoo steeled his resolve, saying he shouldn’t drag this out any longer and should let go as soon as possible, even if just a day sooner.
‘Don’t be greedy, let’s let go now. With this kind of body… I can’t give this person what he wants…’
