Muyeon smiled brightly.
“From now on, you just need the unpleasant things to disappear.”
Seungju couldn’t help but laugh. It was an impressively ticklish answer. Seungju retorted playfully.
“When you say it like that, Muyeon, it’s kind of chilling.”
“Why?”
“Because it seems like you’ll really make them disappear….”
“Hahaha….”
Muyeon, who found the object deleted from Seungju’s sentence, burst into laughter. That’s genuine laughter from finding something funny. As always, Seungju felt good when he made Muyeon laugh.
The restaurant was a private room-style establishment like the one they’d gone to when they first ate together. After the side dishes, grill plate, and charcoal were set up, Muyeon requested two glasses. He must be planning to call a driver today too. Seungju tried not to think seriously about the wealthy lifestyle Muyeon led. Being surprised every time makes him look a bit pathetic.
They filled each other’s glasses with alcohol, toasted, and drank it down. Perhaps because he was in a good mood, the alcohol went down smoothly. The alcohol tastes sweet today. Seungju put down his glass happily.
That’s when Muyeon took something out.
“This.”
“Huh?”
It was a new phone box. Company A’s high-end model released a few months ago. Among the various colors, Seungju quite liked the blue one and had considered switching. However, for a contract slave, changing a phone that hadn’t even been two years was nothing but a luxury.
Seungju, surprised to see the box Muyeon held out to him, was surprised once more when he pulled out an identical phone from his pocket.
“Open it.”
With a slightly excited heart, and a half-doubting heart wondering if what he was thinking was really correct, Seungju opened the box. He didn’t know how Muyeon knew his taste, but inside the box was really a blue model. At this point, Seungju tilted his head, wondering if this was a dream.
“What’s this? Did you change your phone, Muyeon?”
“No, I bought one. Yours too.”
Seungju tilted his head a bit more and stared at Muyeon. It meant to explain. Muyeon smiled brightly and answered.
“It’s exclusive for you and me.”
“Huh?”
“Because you keep getting calls from other people.”
Muyeon pulled in his chin and looked at Seungju with his gaze upward. With his big eyes looking up, he was so handsome it was burdensome to look at him directly. He knew it meant to praise him, but Seungju couldn’t react quickly. In the end, Seungju brought up something not very important first.
“When did you buy it?”
“I went out during lunch today.”
“I, I see… this is really… uh….”
“Uh, what.”
“Thank you.”
In the end, Seungju overcame his embarrassment and said what he needed to say. Watching Seungju take out the phone and fiddle with it, Muyeon smiled as if satisfied. Because it had only been three minutes since he’d tried not to think about the wealthy lifestyle, Seungju wondered whether Muyeon’s way of thinking in readily buying two more phones was normal or exceptional by rich person standards.
However, no matter how much he tried to focus his thoughts on common sense, the novelty of the experience of suddenly getting a new phone interfered with Seungju’s concerns. He couldn’t ignore the feeling of excitement. Is this what it’s like to have a rich boyfriend?
“Set it up initially. I’ll give you my number.”
Seungju nodded. While he was setting up the basic settings, a store employee came in and started grilling the meat. Seungju thought about when he’d eaten meat with Muyeon before. It was the first day they’d eaten alone together. Back then, the silence between conversations was mortally awkward.
But now the aspect of their relationship is the complete opposite of back then. He felt anew that this development in their relationship was amazing. Still, anyway, the most amazing thing is this phone in his hand and Baek Muyeon who suddenly bought it.
When Seungju finished setting it up, Muyeon called with his phone. After Muyeon hung up confirming the call went through, Seungju saved the missed number in his contacts.
The meat happened to be fully cooked. Good timing. Seungju, who put down the phone, planned to express his gratitude once more and have a conversation about this gift. But Muyeon was a bit faster. He reached out his hand.
“Let me see your phone for a second.”
“Why?”
“Just give it to me for now.”
When he handed over the phone, Muyeon entered the contacts app. And he pointed at the screen with his finger.
“I knew it would be like this.”
“What?”
“‘Sales Team General Manager Baek Muyeon’. You did it like this again.”
Muyeon held up the phone screen and sent a clearly reproachful look at Seungju. He immediately corrected the saved name. ‘Muyeon’. Seungju spoke with both embarrassment and puzzlement.
“No… that… no, what do you mean ‘did it like this again’?”
“When I first gave you my number, you wrote it like this. So I changed it to Baek Muyeon, and told you not to call me General Manager when we’re alone together.”
“Ah… I see….”
“What do you mean ‘I see.’ Do you really not remember that day?”
“No, I don’t remember.”
“That’s serious.”
This time Muyeon pouts. His constantly changing expressions are cute. Moreover, one of the mysteries Seungju had felt the morning after the company dinner was solved.
Now Seungju had released almost all the embarrassment that remained. A pleasant feeling filled that space. Now it was Seungju’s turn. He brought up what he was going to say earlier.
“It’s the first time I’ve received a phone as a gift, uh… thank you. Really. I was surprised to suddenly receive such a nice item. It’s also something I wanted. And… I was really surprised that it’s the color I like.”
“It has to be something good since it’s the first gift after we started dating. It means to answer my calls well. Also, the color, well.”
“How did you know the color I like?”
“It’s the same color as the tumbler, isn’t it?”
Ah, that’s right. The tumbler Muyeon gave him was the same color too. He didn’t know Muyeon had such a delicate side. When Seungju rolled his eyes as if he hadn’t thought that far, Muyeon smiled brightly.
Seungju, who smiled back, poured alcohol into Muyeon’s empty glass. Muyeon pointed at the glass filled to overflowing and asked.
“What’s this?”
“As much as I love you.”
At Seungju’s shameless answer, this time Muyeon made an incredulous face. Seungju burst into laughter.
***
After the meal ended, Muyeon said he’d take Seungju home. Instead, he said to wait a bit until the driver came. Seungju shook his head.
“Why are you calling someone again in the middle of the night?”
“It’s okay.”
“I’m not okay with it.”
Seungju, who finished paying and stepped outside the store, looked up at Muyeon following behind him. Muyeon had no answer for a moment. His footsteps also stopped. When Seungju blinked once, Muyeon held out his hand.
“What.”
“Eat it.”
It was candy from the store counter. Seungju burst into laughter seeing the small plum-flavored candy placed on his palm.
“Wow, you really don’t look like someone who’d eat this kind of thing.”
“Why? It’s delicious.”
“I mean I didn’t know the president’s son also likes free candy.”
“If they’re giving it to eat, you should eat it.”
Seungju chuckled. Instead of getting in the car, the two sat down on a bench placed in one side of the parking lot. Seungju turned on the phone screen in his hand. Not the one Muyeon bought, but Seungju’s original phone.
“Should I call a substitute driver?”
“I’ll call one.”
While Muyeon called a substitute driver, Seungju read the messages that had piled up. In the past, even after work, work talk would sometimes come up in the team group chat room. But since becoming independent as a one-person team, that doesn’t happen. If anything, unexpected phone calls come instead. Being able to look at his phone without work worries is a good thing.
“Did you call one?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Your driver should rest too since it’s nighttime, Muyeon.”
“You can’t call them at night?”
Seungju looked at Muyeon. Even when things are good, at times like this he really thinks this guy talks nonsense. Muyeon was taking out cigarettes from his pocket.
“Who would like working at night?”
“I didn’t know the driver would be uncomfortable… He’s never said anything like that. He’s also someone who’s been with me since I was really young.”
“I misspoke. Even if there are people who like working at night, you shouldn’t make people work outside their set hours.”
“I see.”
Muyeon lowered his head. Watching his profile as he inhaled the cigarette, Seungju thought. Did I scold him for no reason? To be honest, the gap between the appearance of carefully eating free candy from the store and the appearance of a young master with an attached driver was cute. The latter is just a bit frustratingly realistic.
Muyeon soon opened his mouth.
“I don’t think I’ve really thought about how it would be hard for the driver to come at night.”
“Really? So you thought about it now?”
“Yes. I think what you said is right, Seungju.”
“In what way?”
Muyeon leaned his body on the chair armrest. Thanks to his tilted body, his face is close. Seungju looked at him while leaning his back against the chair.
“When we went on that field trip, I asked you to eat dinner but you went back into the company saying you had to work overtime.”
“Yeah.”
“I was hurt then, you know?”
“You were even hurt?”
“Of course. Anyway, I thought that if you’re always tied to work, the driver and the people around the driver would hate it too.”
Seungju smiled. He reached out his hand and stroked Muyeon’s hair. It’s probably something he wouldn’t have done if he hadn’t been drinking. But Seungju had drunk and was in a good mood and the man before his eyes looked extremely cute.
“You’re kind.”
“Really?”
Muyeon raised his eyes. His big eyes looked a bit surprised. But the light reflected in his eyes soon changed to satisfaction. Seungju looked at those eyes and smiled back at him. While doing so, he let slip a joke.
“From now on, there might be times when we can’t meet because of work, whether it’s me or you, but you were hurt from the start?”
“Well, it’s okay since I see you at the company.”
“That’s true too.”
“No, thinking about it, I don’t think it’s okay.”
