Ji Se-min stared blankly at Cha-hyeon, who’d just blurted something out of nowhere, and replied a bit sourly.
“Eh?”
Starting married life in some old, run-down house as a newlywed dream—what was that even supposed to mean? It wasn’t easy to grasp at once. Se-min had to sit there and puzzle out what Cha-hyeon was getting at. The two ideas just wouldn’t connect.
Because, come on, when you hear newlywed dream, you think of things like: cooking together, grocery shopping, matching dishes, buying a fluffy bedding set, shuffling out late at night in slippers for a beer… that kind of cute day-to-day.
But “old, shabby house” on top of that? What popped up right away were those old-timers’ stories about starting out as newlyweds in a single room with nothing but love to live on.
Sure, somebody might have that sort of dream, but with a place more than big enough—honestly, too big—for just the two of us, why would we…?
Right about then, a thought flashed through Se-min’s head.
Half disbelieving, he asked,
“…Hyung, did you gamble?”
“What are you even talking about?”
Maybe he hadn’t expected that, because Cha-hyeon let out a disbelieving laugh. The faint tension on Se-min’s face relaxed in embarrassed relief.
“No, it’s just… you suddenly bring that up, so I wondered if you’d blown all your money on gambling or crypto behind my back and the house got put up as collateral…. They say there’s no cure for gambling addiction. It’s the fast track to ruin. Just ’cause you make a lot doesn’t mean there’s any guarantee you won’t crash and burn…?”
Mortified, Se-min muttered like he was nagging, but that only made Cha-hyeon look even more dumbfounded. Taking that look head-on, Se-min shifted his eyes away. At least he could be relieved Hyung hadn’t secretly lost their money—but he still had no idea why this had come up.
With an arm looped around his waist, drawing slow, uneven circles over his T-shirt, Cha-hyeon finally spoke.
“Good. I don’t have that kind of dream either.”
“…Then why’d you ask?”
Se-min shot back, baffled. Or was this… a test? Like, even if Sung Cha-hyeon had no money, no house, totally hit rock bottom, would Ji Se-min still love him?
Honestly, he probably would. He was young and healthy—he could find a way to support himself and Cha-hyeon both. But pulling a test like that right before getting married felt kind of… cheap….
Thankfully, before the misunderstanding could spiral, Cha-hyeon continued.
“The kitchen cupboards are jade green, the gas valve is purple, the furniture’s cherry. Next to the kitchen there’s a sliding door that separates the living room.”
“…Huh?”
“The white plastic faucet is a little cracked. The floor’s yellow linoleum. Outside the window, other houses are crammed right up next to each other—an old place that looks like it’s never been renovated. I could see it as clearly as if I’d been there myself.”
His cool gaze narrowed, studying Se-min through half-lidded eyes, but his voice was faintly wistful.
“It’s unfamiliar to me, yet somehow… it felt warm, like I knew it. And I could picture living there with you like it was the most natural thing in the world.”
“Mm, ah. I mean, that happens. Yeah….”
Not sure how to respond, Se-min let his voice trail off and bobbed his head. People say you get all kinds of thoughts before marriage—maybe it was some kind of marriage blues. And when you get older, you do start to miss old things….
As Se-min kept nodding, Cha-hyeon’s eyes flashed. Probing, he tossed a question at Se-min, who’d fallen quiet trying to understand Hyung’s sudden sentimentality.
“So… I wondered if it was one of my lost memories. Do you have any guesses?”
The nodding stopped. It was the first time Cha-hyeon himself had brought up a question about his “old memories.”
“…Huh?”
Blinking, Se-min started seriously digging through his memory. But conjuring up some vague space on command was hard.
“Uh, I dunno…? What is it? If it’s one of your lost memories, then it’s connected to me, right. …Uh, ah. When I was really little, I lived in a villa-style apartment. Is that it? But I don’t really remember the inside, so I can’t tell if it looked like what you said….”
As he groped for memories, Cha-hyeon’s gaze grew more intent. But when it became clear that Se-min truly didn’t know, he lifted one eyebrow and glanced at the photo album.
“Hm.”
His eyes narrowed to slim slits. Rubbing the back of his neck, he fell silent. For an instant the whites showed beneath his pupils as he stared into space.
~Unclaimed Rewards List~
♦ …Clear Reward… (1/3)
“Guess that wasn’t it….”
“Hm?”
At the barely audible murmur, Se-min responded, but all Cha-hyeon did was lower the hand that had been rubbing his neck. Pressing his tongue against the inside of his cheek, he spoke.
“It’s nothing. If you don’t remember, well, it can’t be helped.”
“No, still… Ah!”
While straining to recall babyhood memories, the photo album slid into Se-min’s view. So that’s why Hyung had been looking through the pictures like he was checking something—thinking that, he reached toward the album.
“If we look at the photos, we can at least—”
But he never got the chance, because Cha-hyeon lifted one leg and nudged the album away with his toes. The gesture was like clearing something bothersome out of the way, and it made Se-min freeze without meaning to.
“…Uh….”
As if it had been an unintentional slip—or like the album had just gotten in the way as he moved—Cha-hyeon casually crossed his leg toward Se-min. Catching on the odd feeling that had brushed past, Se-min hesitated, and Hyung pulled him in tighter and murmured in his ear.
“I couldn’t find anything in the album either—that’s why I asked. I must’ve been mistaken. Thinking about it again, it looks a lot like the place I lived when I was a kid.”
“…Oh, really?”
A beat late, Se-min cleared his throat and spoke.
“If you had your own albums, we could’ve checked. Come to think of it, where are yours, Hyung?”
“They disappeared during the Gate Flood. Everything got stolen.”
Unlike Cha-hyeon, who treated it like no big deal, Se-min went rigid—so much so that his earlier reluctance didn’t even register anymore. The reason Cha-hyeon had ended up living with him came back to him at once.
“…Oh—sorry. I didn’t know….”
Seeing him flustered, Cha-hyeon let out a soft, airy laugh. For some reason, he looked a little pleased.
“You’ve got nothing to be sorry about. It’s not like you stole them. Anyway, since neither of us has a thing for old houses, we don’t need to look into that kind of villa.”
The corner of his mouth hitched up. At still-apologetic Se-min, he pinched a smile at the outer corners of his eyes and asked:
“Then where should we look? Do you like this neighborhood?”
Again, it was a question Se-min couldn’t parse on the spot. This time, though, it was the kind of thing he couldn’t understand no matter how hard he tried, so he decided to give up fast.
“Hyung, sorry, but I’ve got no idea what you mean.”
“Ah.”
Cha-hyeon made a short sound. His eyes flicked, as if thinking of something, and he gave a dry little laugh. The self-mocking smile soon softened into a sheepish, gentle one, but it still felt a touch unnatural.
“I mean our newlywed place. Where do you think would be good? We should move.”
At the unexpected appearance of the words “newlywed place,” Se-min’s eyes went wide. His emotions, bouncing all over the place, suddenly shot up. He felt as giddy as he had while buying things for the proposal, his pulse thundering all over again.
“Newlywed place?”
The words he’d just spoken barely sounded like his own voice. Pitch rising, disbelieving, he asked,
“We’re moving? Why?”
“Aren’t we going to share the master bedroom?”
Se-min looked up at him with round eyes, then slipped right out of his arms. His heart thudded even faster.
“Together…! Of course we are, yeah. I mean, I already sleep in your room anyway…. But sharing the master bedroom is different, right?”
Even trying to act cool, his rambling made it obvious how excited he was. Cha-hyeon’s smile deepened. Se-min pressed hard at the corners of his lips, but he couldn’t quite stop them from creeping up.
“…But, Hyung. If we’re sharing the master, couldn’t I just move my stuff into your room?”
Even he could tell he sounded giddy, so he deliberately tossed out a contrary opinion to play it off—but, thinking it through, it did make sense. Moving would be nice, sure, but part of him still thought, Do we really need to?
Cha-hyeon gave him a frank look, then glanced around the place again as if scouting some unfamiliar location.
“That’d work too. But, Se-min….”
His eyes, which had been taking in the room detail by detail, came back to him. Under the light, his dark pupils gleamed faintly.
“This house was chosen when it was ‘Sung Cha-hyeon and Ji Se-min.’”
The corner of his mouth twitched; the muscle near his dimple tightened into a smile at his eyes. His warm, gentle voice slipped into Se-min’s ear like a tickle.
“If we move into a newlywed home, it’ll be a place chosen by husband Hyung and Se-min—by us as a married couple.”
