“Yes, like that.”
“Understood.”
His thoughts were in such disarray that he hadn’t been able to read the menu at all, yet the order was already finished. Sensing that Song Hanyeong had ordered for two people, Surim handed the menu back to the waiter to match the atmosphere. Tapping his knees with his fingertips, Surim waited for the waiter to leave before leaning toward Song Hanyeong.
“What on earth are you thinking?”
“You asked me to let you live.”
“I meant that as in I really want to terminate the contract.”
“Yes, I know.”
Surim stared blankly at the man whose inner thoughts were difficult to read, then let out a deep sigh. He simply couldn’t read Song Hanyeong’s mind at all. There must be dozens of places his hyung had starred, yet among them all, why did he choose to come to this particular restaurant? And why, after asking him not to terminate the contract, did he bring him to a restaurant?
‘Don’t tell me he’s going to eat steak while making me eat only salad….’
Surim looked at Song Hanyeong with suspicious, narrowed eyes, then soon turned his gaze toward the window with reddening cheeks. He was too handsome to keep staring at.
“……”
In the meantime, Song Hanyeong openly observed Surim. That little brat was cutely deceiving him. Of all days, on the very morning he went to monitor him, Surim went jogging and ate salad, living perfectly normally, while in places he couldn’t see, he was throwing up everything he ate.
Even when he sneaked a look on the night of the company dinner, there were running shoes scattered in the bathroom. It was clear he hadn’t exercised at all except for that first day.
But why does he still smell so sweet?
The scent of Jin Surim’s blood that he’d smelled earlier still seemed to linger at the tip of his nose. The thick, sweet fragrance stimulated his appetite once again.
That white, smooth neck…
“…Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Just because.”
If one could bind a person with just a gaze, Surim would have become a body unable to move an inch right now. Song Hanyeong’s gaze was that intense, but he smiled brightly and answered as if it were nothing, then coldly turned his head away. Song Hanyeong rested his chin on the back of his hand and gazed at the sparkling night view.
Unable to understand, Surim blinked vacantly, then sneakily stole glances at Song Hanyeong while pretending to look away. Song Hanyeong was a bit strange today. No, it wasn’t just today. Song Hanyeong had been strange from the beginning, Song Hanyeong at the company dinner had been a bit strange, and today’s Song Hanyeong was even stranger.
But if someone asked if he disliked it.
‘It’s not that I dislike it…’
When all was said and done, since Surim was attracted to Song Hanyeong, even those aspects came across as new charms. Of course, it was different from when he thought he would be purely kind and gentle. Song Hanyeong was a much more complex person than expected, and so Surim could feel Song Hanyeong more closely. Yes, like a person.
A person, not something from his imagination. Surim suddenly felt an odd sensation and stared at Song Hanyeong.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
The man who had only turned his gaze asked with a smile curling his lips. It was the same question with only the person changed from before. His cheeks heated up for no reason, so Surim lowered his gaze and just fidgeted with his hands clasped on his knees.
“J-just because…”
He felt strangely odd for no reason. He shouldn’t be like this. If he was like this, his stalker level would rise. What if he started wanting to have Song Hanyeong’s hair or a pen he’d used?
Suddenly he became conscious of the beautiful night view spread out below his feet, the beautifully decorated flowers, and the fact that this place was a restaurant famous for proposals felt as if it had some meaning between the two of them. Even though he knew logically that couldn’t be true.
“Excuse me.”
It was then that the waiter interjected between the two of them. As he set down plates on the table, the gaze that had been connecting them was blocked, and when the view opened up again, Song Hanyeong was looking out the window again.
Surim gulped down cold water with his flushed face. After that, when he checked, the food placed before him was a hamburger steak topped with cream sauce. Saliva pooled under Surim’s tongue at the glistening meat juices.
“…Um, I’m eating this…?”
“Please do.”
“But this is meat. I’m really eating this?”
“Yes, enjoy your meal.”
After watching for a moment, Surim quickly cut a piece of hamburger steak and put it in his mouth. The rich taste of fat filled his mouth. The cream sauce paired surprisingly well with the texture and taste of meat he hadn’t experienced in a long time.
Surim didn’t even glance at the small leaves placed beside the meat and only attacked the hamburger steak. His initially cautious hand movements gradually became more rushed, and by the end, it could only be described as wolfing it down.
He felt like he could finally understand how the female students on diets in college used to be moved to tears calling it “the taste of the secular world” when they ate chicken on their cheat days. It wasn’t that he hadn’t consumed any fat at all, but the fat from meat was on an entirely different level.
After satisfyingly emptying his plate, Surim murmured slowly.
“That was delicious…”
“How much?”
“Pardon?”
“How delicious was it?”
“It was incredibly delicious. Soft and moist…. It went well with the sauce too.”
“Then you don’t need to eat meat.”
“…Pardon?”
Surim’s eyes widened in a dumbfounded expression. He’d just clearly given praise about a meat dish, but Song Hanyeong’s words sounded like the complete opposite.
Still resting his chin, Song Hanyeong smiled with his eyes crinkling.
“That’s soy meat, you know.”
“…This is soy meat?”
No way.
Surim had eaten soy meat too. Since it wasn’t vegetarianism based on his own beliefs or will but vegetarianism for the contract, there were times when he desperately wanted to eat meat. Each time, he challenged himself with different types of soy meat, so he’d probably tried about ten kinds by now.
Among them, there had never been one as moist as real meat with fat richly permeated like this.
“How is this soy meat?”
Even at his suspicious gaze, Song Hanyeong just calmly wet his throat. Come to think of it, there was no plate in front of Song Hanyeong. While he was eating voraciously, his mind blown by meat for the first time in years, Song Hanyeong had merely been watching him.
“You said the reason you wanted to terminate the contract was because you had to go to all the restaurants your hyung bookmarked. I’ll help you with that.”
“Help me, how…?”
“Everything from restaurant reservations to vegetarian dishes of the quality you just ate. In exchange, you tear up that paper.”
It wasn’t a bad proposal for Surim. After all, the reason he’d tried to terminate the contract was because he felt like he’d starve to death if he kept following the contract terms. Even while thinking it was shameless, he’d demanded contract termination thinking he had to survive.
Since Song Hanyeong was saying he’d directly solve the cause of termination, naturally he should have happily shouted okay. Moreover, wasn’t the one making this proposal Song Hanyeong? Thinking about it conversely, this seemed like an opportunity too. An opportunity to explore Song Hanyeong as many times as they shared meals together.
Just as he was about to answer, the blood that had filled the laboratory came to mind. The eerie sensation he’d felt when he was among it suddenly appeared from somewhere and slowly traced up Surim’s spine. The fact that countless attempts had been made to replicate his blood in places he didn’t know about gave him chills in a strange way.
“You can’t do it with your own strength anyway.”
A leisurely voice sharply pointed out. When Surim raised his gaze, Song Hanyeong smiled gently.
“Do you know how backed up the reservations are here?”
“…Two months?”
At that timid guess, Song Hanyeong burst into low laughter.
“One year.”
“One year?”
Surim’s eyes wavered. So originally it would have taken a year to come to this place…?
To such a Surim, Song Hanyeong delivered the finishing blow.
“And those bookmarks, there are some overseas too.”
“…Really?”
“New York, Chicago, Washington… There are quite a few just in America, didn’t you see?”
“I didn’t see them….”
What kind of appetite is this excessive! Surim growled inwardly. If he’d known there were that many, no matter how much it was a memorial for his hyung, he wouldn’t have even thought about visiting all the restaurants with stars.
Having become dejected, Surim blinked and continued his thoughts before smiling awkwardly at Song Hanyeong.
“You’ll pay for the meals too, right?”
“Of course.”
“I’ll tear it up.”
“Then let’s write a supplementary contract tomorrow.”
There was definitely no such talk! When Surim looked at him in bewilderment, Song Hanyeong smiled fiercely.
“So you can’t even dream of contract termination again.”
* * *
The next day, in the end, Surim signed the supplementary contract. It was a contract where the penalty fee for contract termination was doubled in exchange for supporting everything regarding the restaurant visits Surim desired.
After listening to the lawyer’s explanation with the existing contract in front of him, Surim learned that the penalty fee he originally had to pay was twice as much as he had thought. Doubling that amount again meant he’d have to sell not only his house but also his organs—no, it was an amount he couldn’t pay even if he sold his organs.
In the end, things turned out exactly as Song Hanyeong wanted, making it impossible to even dream of contract termination.
However, Surim’s expression after having the next six months mortgaged like that wasn’t bad. Since the original contract had no time limit but now had one, from Surim’s perspective, he felt somewhat less burdened by the supplementary contract. Of course, the most joyful point was that as a result, he’d gotten everything he wanted.
Now he could eat meals, and he could keep seeing Song Hanyeong too. After the lawyer left and only the two remained, Surim greeted him.
