Thanks to that, he learned how much the snacks he ate at the company meant to him, and because that was both pathetic and pitiful…
Surim clicked his tongue and shook his head from side to side.
“Huh? Someone’s logged in… Ah.”
It was Song Hanyeong. Song Hanyeong’s name was displayed next to the blinking cursor at the end of the snack request list. Last time, he hadn’t written anything on the list, but this time it seemed he had something he wanted to eat.
Surim double-clicked on the space next to the blinking cursor and typed out text.
[Manager-nim, since you didn’t order anything last month, you can spend 100,000 won this time.]
Actually, they didn’t normally operate the budget that way, but he could handle this much flexibly.
[Yes.]
A short answer appeared and was deleted again. Surim also deleted what he had said and waited for Song Hanyeong’s order with his chin propped up.
[Almond Breeze]
That’s good. It was all thanks to the appearance of Almond Breeze that Surim could drink lattes.
[Dried sweet potato]
Surim forcibly swallowed his laughter. Thinking of Song Hanyeong tapping out the word “mallaengi” somehow seemed uncharacteristic and cute.
[Sunset cookies]
They were cookies Surim had tried a few times. For vegan cookies, they were quite moist and delicious, so he had been quite absorbed in them for a while.
[All-day nuts]
It was a snack with various nuts and dried fruit mixed together in one bag. There was talk that it was good for your health. Surim looked at Song Hanyeong’s cursor, which thought about health even when buying snacks, as if he found it admirable.
[Dried date palm]
Huh? Surim made a questioning sound without realizing it and tilted his head. Almond Breeze, dried sweet potato, Sunset cookies, All-day nuts, dried date palm… All of them were snacks Surim could eat. Especially the dried date palm was a snack Surim had ordered last time.
Song Hanyeong, who hadn’t even been interested in the snack request list, had written down a snack list for Surim for the first time—these were foods for Surim.
Surim’s face gradually flushed red as he became conscious of that fact.
‘He’s thin… Why?’
‘He doesn’t seem much different from when I first saw him.’
He didn’t know why he kept trying to fatten him up, but somehow one side of his chest tickled.
‘…Does he perhaps like me?’
Thinking about it, at yesterday’s banquet, Song Hanyeong seemed to have gotten angry in an un-Song-Hanyeong-like way. He was originally a more serious and cautious person, but hadn’t he used violence mercilessly?
Of course, the emotion of affection didn’t necessarily mean love. Since it was impossible for Song Hanyeong to love him, he didn’t even expect it. However, if Song Hanyeong liked him even a little, they might be able to remain friends going forward.
Even if the contract ended after six months, if they could become the kind of relationship where they occasionally went out to eat together or met to share trivial stories, he couldn’t ask for more.
Surim hesitated before typing.
[Are you ordering this for me to eat?]
[Yes.]
[You’re not trying to fatten me up so you can drink more, right?]
[Correct.]
Surim narrowed his eyes to protest that this was too much, but Song Hanyeong erased the text and typed again.
[I want to do it more often.]
Somehow the nuance was subtle. If it was “more often” rather than “more,” it meant something different. Because blood-sucking was followed by sex.
With a flushed face, Surim’s fingers just trembled, and in the end, he erased all the text he’d written and closed the window. Feeling somewhat annoyed, Surim sneakily raised his head above the partition and immediately made eye contact with Song Hanyeong.
Song Hanyeong smiled with a relaxed attitude as if he’d been waiting for this. Surim got flustered and hid below the partition.
He was embarrassed by the fact that his thoughts had been completely read, but strangely, the corners of his tightly pressed lips were turned up. Surim pressed his palms firmly against his cheeks to hide the corners of his mouth that wouldn’t do as he wished.
* * *
“Manager-nim, what are we going to eat today?”
Surim, sitting in the passenger seat, asked as he fastened his seatbelt.
“Let’s keep it a secret today.”
“Huh? Why?”
Song Hanyeong didn’t answer and drove the car out of the parking lot. The place the car headed to was an elegant traditional Korean restaurant in a somewhat remote location.
‘Did hyung bookmark a place like this too?’
He couldn’t remember, but it wasn’t like he remembered all of his hyung’s bookmark lists. Surim thought it would have been really hard to come to a place like this alone and followed Song Hanyeong closely into a private room.
A table was already set in the room.
“Tofu hot pot!”
Surim looked at Song Hanyeong with wide eyes. Song Hanyeong smiled and sat down, gesturing with his chin at the seat across from him.
“It’s tofu hot pot, so sit down.”
“Wow, how did you pick and reserve food I can eat?”
Surim, who hurriedly sat down in the seat across from him, stared as if entranced at the bubbling tofu hot pot.
“It looks delicious…”
“It’s already boiled and served, so you can eat it without waiting.”
Surim’s eyes sparkled as he transferred the tofu hot pot to his plate. He first beautifully filled one bowl for Song Hanyeong’s plate, then piled lots of tofu on his own plate.
“You’re only going to eat tofu?”
“Mm, tofu is food I can eat even if it’s not in hyung’s bookmarks. I’m so happy thinking that it’s not food I have to eat but food I’m choosing to eat.”
Surim, who scooped up the broth and took a bite, opened his eyes wide.
“M-Manager-nim. The broth tastes like meat…?”
“Yes. Please enjoy it.”
Meat broth that Song Hanyeong permitted. Surim was moved and gulped down the broth several more times. These days, Song Hanyeong was generous about Surim’s meat broth intake. Considering that Nasol had gone on about quality control even when his condition deteriorated just a little, the blood taste would definitely change a bit even from meat broth intake. Perhaps, like he himself had improved, Song Hanyeong’s picky eating had also improved a little.
The sight of Surim hurriedly picking up tofu to eat and mixing white rice in the broth looked somewhat voracious, but Song Hanyeong just watched the scene contentedly.
“It was really delicious.”
Surim ate so deliciously that Song Hanyeong even ordered additional soy-braised tofu and pan-fried tofu. Of course, Surim devoured all the menu items.
While drinking the warm plum tea that came out for dessert, Surim caressed his full belly.
“Will you be able to walk home like that?”
When he looked up wondering what he meant, Song Hanyeong teased him with a gentle smile.
“It looks like you’ll have to roll home.”
“It’s not that bad!”
Though of course he had eaten quite a lot. Surim tried to pull his belly in a bit while taking another sip of the sweet plum tea.
“But Manager-nim, what’s the name of this restaurant?”
“Why the name?”
“It was so delicious I want to leave a star rating on the map app.”
“It’s called Damhyeonjeong, but it won’t be on the map.”
“What? Why?”
“Because this isn’t a place that operates that way.”
Surim, who was blankly thinking about what that meant, shifted his gaze outside the round window on one side of the private room. The scenery with a small pond and maple trees was truly beautiful. That small garden was landscaping created just for this private room.
In other words, it meant this was an incredibly expensive place. What was hyung thinking bookmarking a place like this, Surim was thinking, when he realized that didn’t make sense to begin with.
How could you bookmark it if it’s not on the map? When Surim looked at him with wide eyes, Song Hanyeong calmly nodded.
“This place isn’t in the bookmarks.”
“Th-then why…”
“Because Surim-ssi said you became able to eat tofu.”
“You just… you’re saying you just came?”
“Yes. Is that not allowed?”
Surim shook his head. There was no reason it shouldn’t be allowed. Rather, it was something to be grateful for.
The speculation that Song Hanyeong had feelings for him was definitely fact. Otherwise, he wouldn’t just bring him to a restaurant that had nothing to do with the contract and buy him expensive food.
No, was it buying him food?
“Uh… I don’t have money to pay for expensive food like this.”
Song Hanyeong sent Surim a look as if he were absurd.
“Have I ever told Jin Surim-ssi to pay for the meal?”
“No, that’s not what I mean… This is the first time we’re meeting personally like this for no reason, and it’s not really a good relationship for friends to always mooch off each other…”
As he rambled on, Song Hanyeong put down his plum tea glass on the table with a thud. His mouth was twisted as if he was displeased about something.
“Does Jin Surim-ssi eat meals with friends too?”
“What? Of course I do…?”
The moment Surim answered with a confused face, Song Hanyeong’s hand, which had gone under the table, snatched and pulled Surim’s ankle. Surim, whose body was half-dragged under the table, ended up lying down, bumping his head on the floor. Song Hanyeong asked Surim, who was groaning while holding the back of his head, in a slow tone.
“And have sex afterwards?”
“…What? Whaaat? What?? I’ve never, Manager-nim, there’s no way I would!”
“Since you said we were friends, I thought Jin Surim-ssi did that.”
“No…”
“Then?”
Unlike his smiling lips, his eyes weren’t smiling. Surim half-raised his upper body and hesitantly thought of words of excuse, but couldn’t think of suitable words.
