Looking at people around me who enjoy ball games, they generally seem to like the team ace…
“That… I’m not sure. He curses every player that comes up.”
“Well, that can happen. I hear there are many coach fans these days.”
“He curses the coach too. Even the referee, team owner, and interpreter…”
I almost said I didn’t understand why he watches baseball if he just curses, but I caught myself and closed my mouth.
I was too honest this time.
“That’s how baseball fans are. Huigyeom also says he switches personalities when watching baseball. He says it’s chaos when his team plays against his father’s team since they support different teams.”
“I guess I should definitely avoid watching baseball.”
After saying it’s harmful to both mind and body, Jaehyuk threw his empty water bottle in the recycling bin and turned around. She spoke to him.
“The Honorary Chairman would like it. Why don’t you go to a baseball game together? He’s been disappointed that no one in the family is interested in baseball.”
Of course, grandfather would really like it, but I was saving that for a pre-divorce event.
The timing matches well too.
“When the season starts.”
“Alright. Well, go shower and come out together. Since you’re going to work early, I’ll prepare everything. Would you like coffee for your drink?”
“Yes. Both.”
“Okay.”
I let my guard down too much with someone who knows me so well.
Reflecting on the overly emotional words he had just spoken, Jaehyuk decided to drop the sweet couple act.
His attitude just now was too aggressive. It would seem unnatural to act affectionate after speaking that way.
No, it would actually seem extremely unnatural.
Since he was going to marry someone fun anyway, and had said he’d rather hold a comedy contest than go on blind dates, he decided to just be himself.
Comfortable and natural.
With Junghyun as his partner, that reason was the most plausible.
Honestly, it’s not boring being with him. The problem is that it’s too chaotic and tiring.
Come to think of it, maybe that’s why he sleeps so well—the possibility that he falls asleep immediately because dealing with that guy is so mentally exhausting.
Yes, that’s it.
Having solved the greatest mystery of the morning, Jaehyuk entered the bedroom to wake Junghyun up.
As expected, Junghyun was still sleeping in exactly the same position as yesterday, completely motionless.
It was subtly creepy.
Of course, being sensitive, he disliked people tossing and turning, snoring, or grinding teeth beside him, but this guy sleeps like a corpse.
No sound or movement at all.
It’s ironic that the noisiest person in the world when awake is unprecedentedly quiet when asleep.
Perhaps another reason for his own sound sleep was due to Junghyun’s corpse-like sleeping habits. With this thought, he called Junghyun’s number using his smartwatch.
Fortunately, today his phone was on the side table.
Since he’d said he wakes up when he gets a call, Jaehyuk waited, thinking he would eventually get up, but only the ringtone sounded while the guy still didn’t move at all.
At this point, he started to feel slightly annoyed, but he tried to stay patient.
Junghyun had said one call wouldn’t wake him up.
So he called again.
But again, the guy didn’t wake up. Even until the call went to voicemail.
So he called a third time, but with the same result.
He’d said he’d hear the ringtone when he couldn’t even hear emergency alert sounds, but as expected, that wasn’t the case.
Jaehyuk needed to shower soon to get ready for work.
“Hey.”
“……”
“I need to go to work. Wake up.”
“……”
“Lee Junghyun?”
But no matter how many times he called, there was still no answer.
Seeing that he absolutely wouldn’t get up by normal means, Jaehyuk had no choice but to end the call and approach the bed.
And carefully, really very carefully, he placed his hand on the shoulder of the sleeping guy.
“Hey…”
Having never woken anyone up in his life, and never having been woken up by anyone either, he awkwardly and clumsily shook the shoulder.
Trying not to startle him, as gently as possible…
He knew this wouldn’t be enough to wake him, but it seemed rude to shake hard from the beginning, so he planned to gradually increase the intensity.
But it took less than a second to realize that was a huge mistake.
* * *
“If there’s anything you haven’t told me yet, tell me everything now. Your habits, temperament, mannerisms, each and every one without exception… No, write a report. Without omitting a single thing. Especially your sleeping habits, drinking habits, and hand habits!”
“……”
“No, actually, you weren’t sleeping, right? No matter how I think about it, that’s not a speed that could come from being asleep.”
“……”
“You, you were actually awake yesterday too, pretending you couldn’t get up, weren’t you?”
To Jaehyuk’s unceasing, one-sided accusations delivered like a rap with precise diction, pleasant voice, and outstanding vocalization, Junghyun stood beside him with a face of enlightenment that suggested ‘this too shall pass,’ holding an ice pack to his left temple.
“Yesterday you made me jump out of my skin with emergency alert sounds, and today it’s punching? Tell me honestly. You planned this, didn’t you?”
After performing hip-hop with that good voice, and now showcasing a diss rap with slander, Junghyun, who had been silent due to a guilty conscience about Jaehyuk’s musical talent, finally opened his mouth.
“People call that paranoia or an inferiority complex. If I were awake, I would have gotten up. Why would I pretend to be asleep?”
“How could you throw a punch so quickly and accurately while sleeping? Without giving me time to dodge?”
Jaehyuk pushed away the ice pack excitedly, saying how could it be that he—who had never laid hands on others even by accident, with professional-level reflexes, dynamic vision, and athletic ability that everyone envied—couldn’t dodge the punch, and told Junghyun to look at the bruise. Junghyun examined the bruise in detail.
“This means it actually missed. If it had hit properly, it would have been serious.”
“That’s because I dodged quickly.”
“Exactly… Thanks to that, it stopped at this level, but if it had connected properly, you would have been carried out.”
“That’s why I’m asking. A straight punch usually gets its power from the hip’s rebound, so how does that happen while sleeping?”
“I told you I’m good at martial arts.”
Saying he knew injuries well and comforting Jaehyuk that this bruise would disappear in about a week, Junghyun again placed the ice pack on Jaehyuk’s left temple.
“You dodged well, though. Most people can’t dodge it.”
“Most people?”
Noticing that Junghyun’s tone suggested this wasn’t the first time this had happened, Jaehyuk immediately pointed this out, and Junghyun shrugged.
“During sparring. This is truly the first time I’ve hit someone while startled from sleep. Living alone for so long, I think my fist reflexively shot out when someone suddenly shook my body.”
Don’t lie saying this is the first time. How does someone who doesn’t wake up after all those phone calls suddenly get up and throw a punch just because a hand was placed on their shoulder? And is it true that no one has touched you before, someone who doesn’t wake up? If no one touched you, how do they wake you up? As Jaehyuk questioned with a look that could devour him, Junghyun calmly explained the situation.
“Most people who wake me up either kick me out of bed or push me off. So I thought it might be a burglar because you tried to wake me too quietly.”
“You should have told me that in advance!”
“Well, you said you’d fix my habit, so I thought you had another method.”
“That’s…”
Jaehyuk had been confident when he said that. He would somehow wake this guy and correct his habit.
Since most people around him were either afraid of him or found him intimidating, they would fix their habits as soon as he said something, so he thought he could handle it somehow… but that was his arrogance.
This guy wasn’t afraid, intimidated, or uncomfortable with him at all.
That’s why they got married, but that’s also why he wanted a divorce.
Feeling tired already from the morning, he continued with the ice compress when Junghyun, glancing at the bruised area, casually remarked:
“More importantly, if you go to work with that face, you’ll become a star today.”
Despite the seemingly concerned content of his words, the corners of Junghyun’s mouth were slightly raised.
Though he was holding back out of consideration for Jaehyuk’s situation, his face clearly showed he found it hilarious.
That was irritating.
“Lower your mouth corners.”
“My facial muscles are just too honest… Anyway, since you need to go to work, want to have lunch together?”
At this sudden leap in conversation, Jaehyuk looked up at Junghyun with a face that said, what nonsense is this?
“If you’re asking why lunch is being brought up in this situation?”
“If you have lunch with me, there won’t be rumors that you got beaten up while fighting with me.”
If he showed up with a bruise on his face just one day after getting married—especially a nearly 190cm tall dominant Alpha with a blue bruise on his face—people would definitely think it was a domestic dispute. Junghyun’s solution, thinking one step ahead to block such rumors, made Jaehyuk sigh.
“Damn it…”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
