Eunho laughed out loud at Doyun’s words.
Seeing Eunho’s face light up with a bright, relieved grin, Doyun felt utterly exasperated.
“Then why did you even go on the blind date? If it was uncomfortable, you should’ve just told Minjun you didn’t want to do it.”
“Does the thought of growing old together as a couple of singles make you happy?”
Doyun poked Eunho in the stomach with his finger as he replied bluntly.
The abdominal muscles he felt under his fingertip were firm.
Any other time, he would’ve just been impressed and left it at that — but today, he wasn’t in the best mood. Ever since seeing Eunho shirtless last time and feeling motivated by it, Doyun had been consistently working on his core, and yet there was zero progress to show for it. All he felt was a pointless resentment toward his own stomach.
“Of course it does. Did you two not even get coffee before parting ways?”
Doyun silently nodded.
Eunho made a show of going “Oh no, what are we going to do with our Doyun,” feigning concern, then broke into a bright grin again.
“Then have coffee with me.”
Eunho moved to Doyun’s side and casually slung an arm around his shoulders.
Any other time, Doyun would’ve grumbled, “You’re stunting my growth. Get your arm off me,” — but he stayed quiet this time.
Eunho gave Doyun’s cheek a little pinch with the hand draped over his shoulder.
“Let’s go over there. You like that café, don’t you?”
“I mean… it’s just decent.”
Being a busy commercial district, cafés were everywhere you looked. Out of all of them, Eunho pointed to the one Doyun frequented most. It wasn’t particularly notable for its drinks or any unique menu items — it was a franchise café, the kind that was quiet, with consistent taste across locations.
Doyun had expected Eunho to drop his arm once they walked inside, but Eunho still had a firm grip on his shoulder. If anything, he seemed to be pulling Doyun even closer.
The two stood a little apart from the counter, side by side, looking up at the menu.
“I think I’ll get an Americano. What about you, Doyun?”
“Iced for me.”
Despite the enormous variety on the menu, the two, as always, went with the most straightforward options.
After ordering, Eunho turned to Doyun and said:
“Were you planning to pay for coffee on the blind date?”
“Yeah.”
Doyun nodded.
Eunho seemed to think about something for a moment, then ruffled Doyun’s hair and said:
“Saved yourself some money then. Buy that coffee for me instead.”
Unlike the other three who came from ordinary backgrounds, Eunho was wealthy — both his parents ran large businesses overseas. He had substantial financial assets and real estate passed down to him, and Eunho’s name occasionally came up in economic news articles.
He had never once flaunted his financial situation, and whenever they ate out together as a group, he would stubbornly insist on picking up the tab. That made it all the more surprising when that same person was asking to be bought a five-thousand-won coffee.
“Since when do you ask for things? That’s new.”
“I’m trying to set the mood — like we’re on a date.”
“Oh, please.”
“I’ll sip it slowly and savor every drop.”
Doyun snorted at Eunho’s ridiculous comment, then paid for the coffees.
At that, Eunho leaned close to Doyun’s ear and quietly whispered, “Thank you for the coffee. I’ll drink it slowly.”
When the buzzer went off, Eunho got up and retrieved the drinks right away.
He took the straw Doyun had been holding, peeled off the wrapper, and stuck it into Doyun’s cup for him.
When Doyun was thirsty, he had a habit of unconsciously licking his lips — and Eunho was watching those lips with a quiet, lingering gaze.
Doyun took a long, deep sip of his iced coffee and said in a relieved voice, “Ah, I needed that.”
“You’re not angry at me, are you?”
“…Me? No, I’m not.”
He couldn’t bring himself to meet Eunho’s eyes, so he looked away and answered awkwardly.
Eunho held his gaze steadily as he continued.
“You went quiet after that day, so I was wondering if I’d done something wrong. No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t figure out why. But after talking to Suhyeok, it clicked.”
“……”
“That I said I wanted to be inside you.”
Doyun had been nodding along as he listened, but at that, he almost spat out the coffee in his mouth.
The large franchise café in the city center was packed with people.
Doyun’s eyes went wide as he quickly glanced around, worried someone at the next table might have heard.
Thankfully, the people nearby didn’t seem to have caught it.
“Hey, there are people around, watch what you — keep your voice down.”
Eunho rubbed the back of his neck and said:
“That I said I could imagine being inside you. I was going to apologize if that rubbed you the wrong way.”
“I told you I was fine that day. Why are you apologizing again?”
Doyun set his coffee down and out of embarrassment, started mindlessly stirring it with his straw.
“Sometimes I… forget that you’re a beta. So I slipped up.”
“What are you on about. Come on, I said it’s fine.”
He had been the one to cut off contact unilaterally — but that was because he’d felt guilty on his own, not because he was angry at anything Eunho had said. And now, receiving a formal apology like this, embarrassment piled on top of the guilt.
“After hearing what Suhyeok said, I understood how you felt a little better. The first time you told me to go fuck myself, I was taken aback too — I wasn’t sure if you meant to literally drop your pants and show your dick, or if you actually meant go fuck yourself. But as you know, I’ve already got a dic—”
“Hey. Please, just — keep your voice down… We are in a public place in a Confucian country right now. And I already told you I’m fine.”
Doyun dropped his head and raked both hands through his hair.
He glanced around again — thankfully, no one seemed to be eavesdropping on them.
Whether Doyun looked anxious or not, Eunho wasn’t about to stop talking so easily.
“Although — if it had been the first meaning, you’d have said ‘drop your pants,’ not ‘show your dick,’ right?”
“I’m not going to say stuff like that anymore. And I’m not angry. I said I was fine that day.”
Doyun scratched his head in frustration.
Really, really fine. Over and over Doyun kept insisting, and seeing that, Eunho slowly broke into a smile too.
“If you’re fine, then you’ll start talking to me again, right?”
Eunho’s hand suddenly reached across the table toward him.
“Okay, okay, I’ll reach out… but I was never really the type to text first anyway.”
Eunho took the hand Doyun had been wrapping around his cold glass, dried the moisture off his palm with a napkin, and then placed his own palm on top.
The warmth from Eunho’s hand transferred to Doyun’s chilled fingers, and they grew warm.
“I know — it’s always me who texts first… So from now on, can’t you be the one to reach out to me first? Us singles have to stick together.”
Eunho kneaded Doyun’s hand as he spoke.
Us singles. The description didn’t suit Eunho at all, and Doyun snorted.
He pulled his hand free from Eunho’s grip and made a fist.
“Fine.”
Doyun extended his clenched fist toward Eunho.
Eunho looked down at it.
Seeing that small, neatly balled-up fist, a laugh escaped him without thinking.
Eunho slowly made his own fist, and gently bumped it against Doyun’s.
“Deal.”
The moment their knuckles met, laughter burst out of both of them at the same time.
“Want anything else?”
“No.”
Eunho asked, glancing at Doyun’s cup — already empty, nothing left but ice.
Doyun shook his head, tidied up his cup, and stood up from his seat.
“You always get a sandwich when we come to a café.”
“I ate too much during the blind date. Oh — Minjun’s been losing his mind trying to crack open the drinks. Let’s all hang out this weekend.”
At Doyun’s mention of getting together on the weekend, Eunho smiled again.
Now Doyun launched into a full passionate account of how much grief Minjun had been giving him.
Eunho watched him and smiled, satisfied.
He hadn’t brought the whiskey as a calculated move — the timing had just worked out well. Minjun and Suhyeok, apparently desperate to crack it open, must have been seriously hounding Doyun.
“Alright. Weekend it is.”
Eunho and Doyun walked together toward Eunho’s car, parked in a shopping mall in the commercial district.
As they walked, exchanging playful jabs without saying much, Eunho asked:
