* * *
Even after watching for several days, it was the same. Since that day, Song Hanyeong hadn’t laid a hand on Surim. No, strictly speaking, there were various things like touching his earlobe or the nape of his neck, or looking at him with sexual eyes, but still, nothing progressed beyond that.
After futilely sending Song Hanyeong off until Friday’s quitting time, Surim finally admitted that it might all have been his own wild fantasies.
He’d never been like this in his entire life, but when it came to matters concerning Song Hanyeong, it felt like both reason and self-control disappeared. He also felt like he became incredibly stupid.
Surim, sitting with his knees hugged in front of the living room sofa, let out a low sigh. On the coffee table in front of him were Song Hanyeong’s cup and chopsticks, pen, and yellow memo pad. Since the day he almost dropped the cup on the floor while eating at the dining table, Surim had moved his precious objects of worship to a safer location.
The fact that the quantity had increased a bit had somehow ended up that way. The fortunate thing was that the memo with Song Hanyeong’s handwriting saying ‘Today’s meal is at 1 o’clock’ wasn’t stolen. Since Song Hanyeong had handed it to him directly, it was Surim’s possession with ownership transferred through normal means.
Staring at the memo and drinking tea from Song Hanyeong’s cup, Surim let out a deep sigh. He was even beginning to think that perhaps none of it had happened at all. That everything was just situations in his own wicked imagination of dreaming about Song Hanyeong, and that nothing had happened between them.
Ding-.
Surim, who checked his phone with an annoyed expression, opened his eyes wide.
“It’s Song Hanyeong!”
The two had just exchanged phone numbers a few days ago. Surim had subtly broached the subject, and Song Hanyeong had readily entered his number into his phone.
Still, he hadn’t expected him to contact him first. Surim, who hurriedly checked, could see that the text was about resuming the meals they had previously agreed upon starting this weekend.
“…Hotel buffet? Hotel?”
Surim’s head became complicated with new thoughts that connected tail to tail in one second, but he soon snapped to his senses and shook his head vigorously. Thinking of Song Hanyeong over the past few days, it was an absurd imagination.
He just needed to enjoy a date-like meal as before and return. Rather than having pointless expectations with sexual and shameless thoughts and being disappointed, he should give up everything and just enjoy what there was to enjoy.
Surim took it lightly. He dismissed that day’s events as if they hadn’t happened. Fortunately, it wasn’t as difficult as he thought.
Thanks to that, at 11 o’clock on Saturday, when he met Song Hanyeong in the hotel lobby at the appointed time, he had completely escaped his anguish and returned to being his original self.
“Manager Song!”
Surim, who had been sitting on a sofa in one corner of the lobby, jumped up delightedly as soon as he spotted Song Hanyeong. But the place Song Hanyeong came from was strange. He had walked from the direction where the hotel elevators were, not the lobby.
Ignoring Surim’s puzzled face, Song Hanyeong jerked his chin at him.
“Aren’t you coming?”
“I’m coming!”
Surim, who ran to Song Hanyeong’s side, asked cautiously.
“But did you stay here today?”
“Yes. I did.”
“I see…”
Was he alone? Surim couldn’t help the reflexive question that arose. Song Hanyeong, apparently seeing that Surim kept glancing at him as they got on the elevator moving to the floor with the restaurant, made eye contact with him with perfect timing. Startled, Surim quickly directed his gaze to the ground and politely clasped both hands together.
“Is there some problem?”
“N-no… I was just thinking that your face has improved a lot.”
“Ah. Of course it should be better than back then.”
Than that day when that paper knife had been right in front of him. At those words, Surim felt his already sensitive guilt being pricked.
“I’m not telling you to apologize.”
“Yes, I know. I just… still feel sorry.”
“If you’re sorry, eat a lot at today’s meal.”
“Today’s meal? Ah, because it’s a buffet. Don’t worry. I’m going to eat 100,000 won worth.”
100,000 won was far short of the lunch price at this hotel buffet. Song Hanyeong looked at Surim, who was boasting to see how much he would eat, with a chuckling expression.
“Why, why are you laughing?”
“Just because. Why, am I not allowed to laugh?”
“No, that’s not what I mean…”
While Surim was fumbling about how to respond, the elevator stopped. Taking advantage of that opportunity, Surim quickly changed the subject.
“Ah, I’m hungry. Manager-nim, did you have breakfast?”
“I didn’t eat.”
“Then you must be hungry too, Manager-nim.”
“Yes. Quite a lot.”
“You shouldn’t be hungry. Let’s hurry.”
Surim, who didn’t notice Song Hanyeong’s greedy gaze, pulled him by the wrist. Going inside, people could be seen sparsely. The restaurant seemed to have just started operating.
As he had boasted, Surim ate with the momentum to accomplish a meal worth about 100,000 won. Starting from salad, he carefully avoided dishes with meat and covered all kinds of menus.
Of course, he couldn’t avoid his eyes going to meat dishes here and there. That was natural. If you compared things without meat and things with meat among the numerous menus, there were far more with meat.
Surim, who was filling his fifth plate, was blankly watching the sight of steak sizzling and cooking on the iron plate when he felt the chef’s gaze and turned around. Returning to the table with labored steps, Surim picked up an avocado sandwich with a gloomy touch.
“Jin Surim-ssi.”
Song Hanyeong, who had been watching the scene while drinking wine for a moment, suddenly spoke.
“You can eat at least broth.”
“…Really? It won’t cause problems later, will it?”
“I’ll permit it.”
Was it okay to expand the range of meals this easily? A sense of injustice surged up, then settled down again the moment he saw Song Hanyeong’s face. Half aggrieved and half delighted, Surim got up from his seat and got new food.
“This is my first time eating rice noodles.”
“Oh my.”
“Wow… it looks delicious.”
When he was young, he had never eaten out, and from when he got a bit older, he had no opportunity to eat because he was bound by contract. Surim didn’t even have memories of eating things like galbi-tang or seolleongtang.
To such a Surim, the rice noodles before his eyes now approached him with great significance. Although it was a simple appearance with only noodles and bean sprouts in the broth because he couldn’t get meat toppings, to Surim it felt like an incomparably luxurious menu. It was a ray of light in his vegetarian life that had seemed like it would continue infinitely.
It was when Surim had eaten a few bites of rice noodles and was about to put cilantro, which he’d brought out of curiosity, into the broth.
“Leave out the cilantro.”
“But cilantro is a vegetable.”
“Even so.”
Although he made a puzzled face, Surim obediently nodded. He had only wanted to try the vegetable that supposedly tastes like shampoo, and didn’t particularly like it.
The rice noodles were perfect even without putting in cilantro in the first place. Surim, who scooped up broth with a spoon and drank it, let out a slow sigh at the sensation of that hot broth going down into his stomach.
Song Hanyeong, who made a chuckling sound, propped his chin on the table and asked.
“Is it that delicious?”
“This is meat broth I’m eating after several years. If Manager-nim couldn’t eat like this and then ate, you’d eat frantically too, right?”
“That is true.”
“Manager-nim, did you not eat meat before too?”
At that question, Song Hanyeong smiled gently.
Well, since he was a man who could only eat vegetarian blood, it wouldn’t be strange even if there had been a time when he himself was a vegetarian.
Surim, convinced on his own, nodded, then suddenly asked as if remembering.
“Can I eat meat broth from now on?”
“Only eat it when I’m around.”
“Aww…”
Surim pouted his lips in disappointment. If he could eat meat broth, the range of meals would increase tremendously. He could try seolleongtang, galbi-tang, or gomtang too.
He looked at him with slightly pleading eyes, but Song Hanyeong didn’t budge.
“Okay. Only with Manager-nim.”
“Good boy.”
At the affectionately coaxing tone, Surim opened triangular eyes and looked at Song Hanyeong. He felt aggrieved at the thought that maybe he kept having mistaken feelings because he acted so affectionately like that.
“I think you’ve only eaten 50,000 won worth yet, so hurry up and eat more.”
“No. I’ve eaten about 80,000 won worth.”
Surim retorted sullenly and then swiftly went to the dessert corner. Surim, who brought back whole wheat bread that didn’t use butter and eggs with plenty of various jams, continued to make excuses.
“And do you know how hard it is to eat that much without meat? Then let me eat meat…”
“……”
“Can’t I eat just a little bit?”
When Song Hanyeong seemed to be indulgent, Surim subtly asked. If meat broth was okay, why couldn’t meat be okay? Now that he knew Song Hanyeong could change the rules this way and that, he wanted to eat meat even more for no reason.
Song Hanyeong, who had been staring at the pleading Surim for a moment, reached out his hand. When he showed his palm, Surim reflexively extended his hand over it. It was dog-like behavior. He belatedly thought this wasn’t it and tried to pull his hand back, but it was already after Song Hanyeong had grabbed it.
