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Eventually, Jaekyung was pushed back inside by strong hands before he could even gather his thoughts. Being half-asleep and with everything happening so suddenly, he was simply dazed, but the uninvited guest who scanned the interior of the house with his eyes seemed rather composed. “Let’s see, this is the closet, right?” The voice sounded brazenly nonchalant.
“What are you doing right now?”
“Hmm… Where’s the bathroom? Ah. Found it.”
Moon Yeonu, who seemed to ignore Jaekyung’s curt voice, instead entered the bathroom, squeezed toothpaste onto a toothbrush, and shoved it into Jaekyung’s mouth.
“We’re late. Hurry up, brush your teeth, wash your face, and come out. I’ll pick out some clothes for you in the meantime.”
“…”
It was impossible to deal with someone who just smiled at whatever you said. Though annoyed, since he already had a toothbrush in his mouth, Jaekyung obediently went into the bathroom.
When he came out after washing up and even shampooing his hair, Yeonu was still standing blankly in the small room. It was called a closet, but it was really just a room where books, bags, clothes, and whatever else was haphazardly stuffed.
“Han Jaekyung, why do you have so few clothes? Did you leave them at the dry cleaner’s or something?”
As Jaekyung approached with a towel on his head, Yeonu was looking down at a couple of open suitcases with an uncharacteristically serious expression. When asked about clothes, he just nodded towards a chair nearby. It was a plain short-sleeved T-shirt with no pattern and light blue jeans. Not bad. Jaekyung picked up the clothes without complaint.
“This is strange… Every time I saw you, you were decked out in tailored suits and the latest seasonal fashion. Why do you have so few clothes now?”
His voice sounded quite puzzled. Indeed, anyone who knew Jaekyung’s usual style—meticulously dressed from head to toe as if to polish his already striking appearance—would naturally be curious.
There was no significant reason. When he moved, he had left behind everything Yeonhu bought him, which naturally reduced his wardrobe considerably. He had left those things behind, but he found shopping too bothersome, and buying just anything didn’t satisfy him. He had only purchased a few business suits for work to maintain appearances. He barely had any casual clothes.
The T-shirt and jeans that Yeonu had somehow managed to unearth were items he had bought during his college days and had long forgotten about, brought along just in case since he had so few clothes to bring this time.
“What does it matter to you if someone has many clothes or few?”
It was tiresome to list all those reasons in detail. Jaekyung responded irritably. If Yeonu were the type to get offended by his cold attitude, he wouldn’t have barged in without notice in the first place, so there was no need to be mindful of his feelings. Well, it’s not like Han Jaekyung was considerate of anyone else either.
“Look at that attitude… Fine. Just change your clothes. We’re really late.”
Barging in suddenly and then talking about being late from the start. Since Jaekyung was planning to leave to see his uncle anyway, he decided to change his clothes quietly.
Though the clothes were old, they were made of sturdy material with a timeless design that wouldn’t look strange to wear. He casually took off his pajama top.
Yeonu criticized him, saying he should go somewhere private to change. Thinking it didn’t matter since they were both men, Jaekyung ignored him and continued changing. Eventually, Yeonu grumbled and turned around.
As he pulled up his pants, Jaekyung glanced at Yeonu’s back. Come to think of it, he was particularly well-dressed today. A neat linen shirt with dress pants. Usually, he was always in that shabby tracksuit or plain checkered shirt.
Though he never said it out loud, Jaekyung often inwardly frowned when he saw Yeonu’s attire, wondering if this guy was trying to advertise that he was an engineering student.
“So why did you really come? And when did you make this appointment I don’t know about?”
“Oh, that. Don’t you remember? I called you earlier.”
“Earlier?”
“Yes. Earlier. Around four.”
Given the use of “earlier,” that four o’clock probably wasn’t four in the afternoon yesterday. Naturally, the only remaining option was four in the morning before dawn. With a sense of disbelief, Jaekyung cautiously broached the subject.
“The four o’clock you just mentioned… Could it be four in the morning?”
“Yes. Why?”
Is there a problem? His sharp eyes blinked in an uncharacteristically innocent manner. He seemed genuinely unaware of what the problem was.
“Ah… This blockhead… Here we go again.”
It made his head hurt just thinking about it. Apparently, he had answered a call at a ridiculous hour while half-asleep. Checking his phone, sure enough, there was a record of a call with Moon Yeonu around 4:20 AM. It was a precisely thirty-four-second call.
It had been a while since this happened, so he had completely forgotten, but Yeonu sometimes acted as if he had traded his sense of time for candy. In high school, Jaekyung had thought it was because of his night part-time job, and in college, because of all-night studying… But at this point, it seemed like his concept of time itself was different from ordinary people’s.
Better dead than suffering, better dead than sick. Not recalling how his younger self had also mercilessly ordered Yeonhu around at three or four in the morning without distinction, Jaekyung let out a deep sigh.
“No, a student from the school where I lecture recently told me about a trendy dating spot these days…”
“Dating? You and me?”
“Yes. Han Jaekyung and Moon Yeonu.”
Being in a relationship, shouldn’t we at least go on a weekend date? The even teeth visible through his grinning lips looked especially white. Seeing him put in so much effort, it seemed he might have felt guilty about disappearing without a trace when he was twenty. Jaekyung stared at Yeonu silently. By now, Yeonu was rambling on about reasons no one had asked for.
“So, hey, we should take pictures dating on the weekend and post them on social media, right?”
“…I don’t use social media.”
“Then at least change your messenger profile picture. That would make Jang Yeonhu jealous, don’t you think?”
“I haven’t changed my profile picture from the default either.”
“Ah, is that so…”
Social media was too bothersome, so he had never even thought of creating an account. As for messenger profile pictures, he hadn’t touched them in years because he disliked getting messages from all sorts of people he couldn’t even remember just by changing it.
“Still, um… photos, right. It would be nice to have photos at least. If you change your phone background, later when Jang Yeonhu sees—”
“That’s enough.”
“Huh?”
“I said that’s enough. Let’s stop.”
Last night, he had left the officetel like he was escaping, trying to calm his unsettled feelings. Han Jaekyung had lain alone in bed thinking and rethinking. Whether the option of completely giving up on Jang Yeonhu could exist in his life. He still hadn’t found a definite answer to that concern. But… at least right now, it was clear that he couldn’t win Yeonhu back from Choi Eunseong. Jaekyung decided to humbly accept that.
Why was that? Was it because Choi Eunseong, whom he had treated as a clueless kid, was actually much more mature than him and… tried to stand by Yeonhu’s side in a much more “appropriate” way?
In this state of mind, it seemed meaningless to get back his one and only pushover.
For Han Jaekyung, who wasn’t prepared to take Yeonhu away from his family who loved him dearly.
For mere Jaekyung, who felt suffocated just thinking about Madam Yu’s disappointed gaze. For Jaekyung, who had never been willing to give up any of the conveniences he enjoyed for Yeonhu’s sake. Truly.
“You can stop pretending to be my boyfriend too. I’ve decided to quit it all for real now.”
“…Are you serious?”
“Yes. I’m going to stop caring about Jang Yeonhu and Choi Eunseong.”
“Can you really do that? Really?”
“Whether I can or not, I’m going to do it no matter what. So you can stop playing the fake boyfriend role too. Thanks for your hard work, Moon Yeonu.”
Yeonu looked stunned, as if he’d been hit on the back of the head. Until now, Jaekyung had only thought about it without being able to make up his mind. Strangely, as soon as he said it out loud, a vague expectation began to wash over him that he really could do it.
He was looking down, lost in troubled thoughts. Suddenly, a light knock landed on the top of his head. Jaekyung immediately glared at Yeonu with fierce eyes.
“Look at you, look at you. I was being nice because you’re pretty, but now that you don’t need anything, you’re trying to clean your hands of me. Fine, whether as a boyfriend or whatever, just come with me today.”
“Didn’t you understand what I said? I don’t need someone to play my boyfriend anymore…!”
“If not a fake boyfriend, am I someone who means nothing to you?”
He should tell him he meant nothing and kick him out, but somehow the words wouldn’t come. Faced with Jaekyung’s sudden loss for words, Yeonu grinned, saying, “See?”
“You don’t have any friends besides Jang Yeonhu except for me.”
“Ugh…”
“I only have you, which is unfair.” The quietly added tail of his sentence hit especially hard.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
