Even when he speaks… No matter how much I try to view it favorably, he grates on my nerves.
“Stop saying such fucking nonsense.”
“You’re the one who should stop cursing.”
“You keep saying things that deserve cursing.”
“This deserves cursing? I don’t get it.”
At his strangely calm attitude, Woojae couldn’t even get angrier and just bit his lips hard. Since Gye Sajun was being so gentle, it was embarrassing to get angry. He really couldn’t figure him out.
“…Do you need someone else to tell you that?”
“If you don’t tell me, I won’t know. I’m not a mind reader.”
“You’re ridiculous, really.”
“I’m ridiculous? In what way am I ridiculous?”
“Let’s not talk.”
Maybe that bastard isn’t such a bad guy after all. Look at him saying such stupid things. Not all alphas are bad, right? Woojae, having washed away his gloom with water, thought positively. Right, Bang Minwook and Jang Yeonju are alphas too, but they’re good people. He knew that. Gye Sajun’s first impression was fucking terrible, but… In the first place, his behavior was stubbornness and self-righteousness. Just that kind of defensive wall. Thin armor he wore out of fear of getting hurt, fear of discrimination.
“But what did you do to me back then…? You know, that day. My clothes were all wet.”
Now that he’d taken off the armor, Woojae asked something he’d been curious about. Gye Sajun answered matter-of-factly.
“I splashed water on you. Because you were too dirty.”
“You should’ve just left me there in the first place!”
“On the street? After vomiting? What if someone carried you off?”
At his attitude of acting like it was obvious, Woojae bit his lip.
“Hey, what the… Who would carry me off?”
“There seemed to be plenty of guys who’d want to. I just don’t have a hobby of abandoning collapsed people.”
Is he kinder than I thought? Was it a misunderstanding? Woojae rubbed his face with his palm to hide his confused expression.
“So tell me what happened with Jeong Minho.”
“No. I’m not some tattletale.”
“What did that bastard do?”
The conversation coming back to square one was frustrating.
“…Hey, let’s say something happened. It has nothing to do with you.”
Woojae drew a line.
“I’m grateful for today, but anyway… Mind your own business. You decided not to acknowledge me anymore, remember?”
He’d never specifically said that, but remembering how Gye Sajun had drawn a line back then made him angry for no reason, so he said it. Since you drew a line, I won’t cross it.
“That day—”
“Don’t make excuses. We’re not even friends in the first place, so I’m not hurt by something like that.”
“Go Woojae.”
“I said it’s fine?”
The desire to ask why he suddenly changed his attitude like flipping his palm, why he acted that way toward him, and why he was acting like this now flooded in like high tide, but Woojae held it in. Because he felt like he’d opened his heart to Gye Sajun without realizing it. It was absurd. It couldn’t be possible.
“This isn’t supposed to happen, but…”
Gye Sajun sighed, saying something incomprehensible. Whether he did or not, Woojae decided to convey his position.
“It’s fine. Thanks for today. The clothes—I’ll wash them and bring them back later.”
“Where are you trying to go? Sleep here.”
As soon as he put down the towel, Gye Sajun grabbed Woojae’s wrist. The feeling of a hot palm wrapping around his cold wrist was strange. At the sensation like being held over fire, Woojae roughly shook off his wrist. Gye Sajun’s eyes became fierce.
“If you really pity me, lend me an umbrella. And I’d be more grateful if you’d open the door for me.”
“…Umbrella? What are you talking about?”
“I have to go out and find my key. With that, I can sleep in my room even if Bang Minwook doesn’t come in. I can take off these clothes right away too.”
And save some pride. At those words, Gye Sajun took another step closer and whispered low. Hot breath dampened his ear.
“You’ll take off your clothes in front of me? That’s a dangerous thing to say.”
Gye Sajun, who had come close, was giving off a dangerous atmosphere. Woojae also gritted his teeth in battle mode.
“Are you crazy?”
“Listen to me. I can buy you a hundred keys, so sleep here and don’t talk to Jeong Minho anymore.”
“This fucker is grating on me again…”
His attitude of speaking high-handedly like he was doing a favor, like giving orders, was so natural that Woojae’s fist clenched. He’d thought well of him for a moment, but his nature was definitely rotten. Curses came from Woojae’s mouth.
Gye Sajun instead chuckled at Woojae’s words and warned him. He too was going crazy.
“You’re the one who should stop grating. Why do you keep acting so dangerously and driving people crazy?”
“Hey. Just because I got a little help from you today, do I have to prostrate myself at every word you say? Did you help me for this?”
“Don’t you know I’m doing this thinking of you?”
“Thinking of me? Who asked you to think of me?”
His quivering lips were red and plump. Gye Sajun stared at Woojae’s lips intently and swallowed his saliva. This is why I tried to distance myself, but here he is crying over another man without knowing how I feel. Blinking his pretty eyes while giving off the scent of my shower cologne. I keep getting drawn to Go Woojae. I kept my distance because I knew this would happen, but it’s useless. When that smooth face fills my vision, my reason seems to become paralyzed.
The lust that surged even though it wasn’t rut felt abnormal. Gye Sajun took a step back and turned his head, avoiding looking at Woojae.
“I won’t touch you, so sleep in that bed.”
“No, you bastard. You think I don’t know you’re helping me so you can lord it over me again?”
“I won’t lord it over you, so just sleep. I’ll leave.”
Gye Sajun left only those words and tried to pass by Woojae. He definitely intended to. If only Go Woojae hadn’t grabbed his wrist. Gye Sajun looked back at Woojae with bewildered eyes.
“…You—”
“It’s your room, so why are you leaving? Aren’t you crazy? What kind of person is like this?”
Go Woojae also seemed quite flustered, looking back and forth between his own hand that had grabbed him inadvertently and his face, starting to argue in confusion. More than the ice-cold hand, the eyes swollen from crying felt like shackles. Gye Sajun pulled the wrist that Woojae had grabbed, keeping his lips pressed tight, and sat him down on his bed.
“Wh-what!”
“Then you sleep here like I said. I’ll sleep on the bed next to you.”
Gye Sajun gestured toward the empty bed that only had a bare mattress. Woojae, who was suddenly being held by the wrist, just blinked and objected.
“No, why should I sleep in your bed? You sleep here. I’ll sleep over there.”
When Woojae said he’d sleep in his room, Gye Sajun’s fierce eyes softened.
“Then at least take the pillow and blanket. You’ll catch a cold like this.”
“…”
“It’s the same either way, isn’t it? Hm? Don’t bother moving things and just lie down here. I’ll come back after washing up.”
Because the two eyes that met overflowed with affection, Woojae had to keep his mouth shut tight. Where did that pale face and cold gaze from that day go—now his entire face was filled with hot, affectionate energy. Woojae put his back against the bed and buried the back of his head in the pillow as Gye Sajun laid him down, as if under hypnosis. Gye Sajun, who had tucked the blanket tightly up to his neck as if dealing with a child, went into the bathroom with only the mood light left on.
“What the hell is that bastard really…”
He lay in the guy’s bed as if possessed by a ghost. Woojae let out an exclamation mixed with a hollow breath. They say the new humanity is excellent externally too, but that bastard must be a newer new human. Because the face he saw closely was enough to bewitch a person and more.
***
“Jeong Minho bought you a meal?”
From above his head, Minwook asked in a dazed voice. Do you know Jeong Minho? Woojae roughly nodded and applied medicine to Minwook’s palm and knee.
“Ow!”
“Stay still for a bit.”
“Ugh, it stings. Gently, Woojae-ya. Why are you so rough?”
“Don’t be a baby. A guy who left just one measly text and stayed out all night…”
Looking at Minwook making crying sounds, Woojae clicked his tongue with a slightly resentful heart.
It was unfortunate for Minwook, but his touch wasn’t gentle to begin with. The guy who came in with his knee completely scraped and blood dripping told him that he’d drunk alcohol and fallen last night.
As soon as Woojae heard that, he shoved Minwook into the room and went down to the security office on the first floor to get ointment and bandages. He wanted to ask how one could scrape their knee from drinking, but since he was someone who had vomited on someone else’s face after drinking, it wasn’t something he could say, so he kept his mouth shut. Minwook’s wound wasn’t deep, but it was messy because it had scraped against stone pavement. It must hurt terribly.
“How did you fall?”
“…I was drinking for a while and got drunk, and Juhee noona texted me saying she missed me. I got so excited I was running and rolled.”
It was a reason he hadn’t expected. Woojae asked with a shocked face.
“You like that noona that much?”
“Yeah.”
Woojae couldn’t understand Minwook dying of happiness at one word from someone he’d only just met. But in Minwook’s voice answering whether he liked her that much, he could feel the power of conviction. Really impressive. When he pressed the bandage on firmly, Minwook made some pained sounds but soon smiled ear to ear.
“Thanks. It’s the first time since I was little that someone’s taken care of my injuries like this.”
“What, over something like this.”
“Look at you being shy. Try being this friendly in front of other people too.”
“No thanks.”
When was I ever friendly? Looking at Minwook, who was happy over a small kindness, Woojae felt a little envious. He envied his bright and cheerful nature. Most of all, he most envied the way he accepted others’ kindness without suspicion.
“But how did you lose your key?”
“I guess it fell out of my bag somehow.”
“What about sleep? Where did you sleep? Where did you sleep to end up with such dark circles?”
Woojae, recalling last night, closed his mouth. Last night, he’d fallen asleep using the sound of Gye Sajun washing as a lullaby. He slept soundly as if knocked out, and when he opened his eyes, no one was there. Because he’d slept like the power had been cut off, even in the morning when he opened his eyes, he had to look around for a while. The fact that Gye Sajun wasn’t there was both a relief and somehow uncomfortable. Where did he go? Did he even sleep in that bed last night?
