I held it close to my chest and turned away without a word. Tilting his head in confusion, Cha Jae-woo quietly fell in step beside me, as if naturally assuming we would look through it in the living room.
But I still remembered what the lady had told me. Which meant, I was planning to look through it in my room.
So when Cha Jae-woo found the album and headed into his own room, I didn’t follow. Because if I did, I might end up staying there.
I had a duty to uncover the reason why the lady had gone out of her way to tell me to check it myself.
“Where are you going?”
Even as he asked, Cha Jae-woo seemed to already know the answer. I could feel a faint ripple of unease seeping from him.
Feigning innocence, I smiled brightly.
“To my room. It’s more comfortable there.”
“Ah.”
At the same time, Cha Jae-woo let out a short sigh. His lips twitched, as if he was about to say something. He even reached out toward me, trying to grab my arm.
For reference, Cha Jae-woo never initiated physical contact with me unless it was for guiding. Even during guiding, if I held his hand, he would just quietly accept it without grabbing back. He treated me like some ancient artifact that would trigger a disaster if touched the wrong way.
The fact that he—though he ultimately didn’t—unconsciously reached out to grab me was undeniable proof that there was something in my room he didn’t want me to see.
I couldn’t stop my steps from quickening. What on earth was in there? With curiosity mounting, I sped up—until,
“Wait.”
Startlingly, Cha Jae-woo blocked my way.
I was just about to open the door when it happened. Only then did I get a proper look at his face. He was no longer even trying to hide his awkward expression.
“There’s something I need to tidy up. Just wait a moment.”
His words sounded suspicious, thanks to the look on his face.
Besides, there shouldn’t be anything to tidy up. This house was always impeccably clean. It wasn’t like they would’ve neglected an unused room. Every room in Cha Jae-woo’s house was so spotless that you’d have a hard time finding a speck of dust.
In short, he picked the wrong excuse. His words only fueled my curiosity even more.
I swiftly grabbed his wrist as he tried to slip past me into the room. Cha Jae-woo flinched and froze on the spot.
‘…….’
Normally, when we made contact, I would hear Cha Jae-woo’s voice in my head. But this time, there was nothing.
It might be an exaggeration, but it felt like his mind was completely blank. Or he was intentionally forcing himself to think about absolutely nothing, so I wouldn’t catch on.
Either way, it was weird.
“Is it dirty? I’m fine with that.”
“It’s not that—.”
“Then, are you hiding something? Maybe… another Guide?”
I knew it wasn’t the case and joked about it, but Cha Jae-woo’s brows instantly furrowed.
‘Of course not.’
The answer leaked straight from his mind. His voice was so firm that it was almost embarrassing.
After quickly composing himself, Cha Jae-woo opened his mouth, clearly trying to come up with some excuse to persuade me.
“It’s just…….”
But no real explanation followed. It really did seem like his mind had gone completely blank. He couldn’t even come up with a proper excuse.
I pretended to listen but then swiftly slipped past him. It seemed faster to just check for myself than to keep standing here going back and forth.
Of course, if Cha Jae-woo wanted to, he could’ve easily caught me, but he didn’t go that far. He just let out a deep sigh.
“Uh……”
Thanks to that, I was able to open the door to my room without any trouble. And my first thought was a little disappointing.
I must’ve been expecting something like Pandora’s box with how hard he tried to stop me. But the room was no different from before. Of course, there was something odd.
All the clothes and items I used were gathered on the bed. And at the center of the bed, there was a slight dip—just enough to guess that someone, roughly Cha Jae-woo’s size, had been lying there regularly.
“Cha Jae-woo. Don’t tell me… have you been sleeping here?”
The question slipped out the moment the thought crossed my mind.
Cha Jae-woo didn’t answer. His silence was a clear admission.
At the same time, my disappointment vanished—and was replaced by a swirling wave of new questions.
Thinking about it, there was no reason for my belongings to be scattered around like this. If someone had done it, it had to be Cha Jae-woo. It definitely couldn’t have been the lady.
But why?
Unable to make any sense of it, I turned to look at Cha Jae-woo, silently waiting for him to explain.
“…….”
But as expected, Cha Jae-woo remained silent. A heavy, uneasy atmosphere rolled off him. He couldn’t even manage the perfect mask of indifference he was usually so good at. He looked just like someone who had been caught doing something wrong.
Not that I would ever scold him. Even if he had been sleeping with my belongings like this, I wouldn’t have minded. It wasn’t like he stole them or anything… they were things I had left behind.
“Uh, um. So… did you take them out to organize them…?”
I barely managed to string together the most plausible excuse I could think of.
I knew it wasn’t the truth. It was obvious now that Cha Jae-woo had been sleeping among my things. There was no way this was for the sake of tidying up.
In that moment, Cha Jae-woo’s shoulders lifted, then sank. Maybe he finally decided to explain, or maybe he just gave up — either way, his lips parted slowly.
“…It felt like you were beside me.”
But that didn’t explain anything at all.
I tried hard to guess what he might have been thinking, but nothing came to mind. While I just blinked at him, Cha Jae-woo rubbed his brow in frustration.
“There’s still a lot of your scent… on your stuff, your clothes, and the bedding.”
His tone was relatively calm, but his emotions were anything but. Anxiety and nervousness clashed wildly beneath the surface.
I couldn’t understand why he was so nervous. Maybe that was why it was so hard to grasp what he was thinking.
“When I stay close to it all… it feels like you’re next to me. So, I ended up staying here.”
“Ah.”
Cha Jae-woo’s explanation continued. After much deliberation, the words he finally spoke were much simpler than I had imagined.
In the end, it meant that he spread my belongings around and slept among them… because it made him feel like I was there with him.
Because it felt like I was by his side.
“Aaah…”
A long sigh slipped out of me. Rather than feeling relieved to hear the reason, a strange emotion welled up inside me.
So, Cha Jae-woo missed me that much? Even though we saw each other every single day, he still wanted to feel even closer?
Even though he always rushed back home as soon as we parted. Even though it was always me who suggested we eat together, or spend a little more time — I had once thought maybe he didn’t want those things.
But I had been completely wrong. Far more than I had wanted him, he had wanted me.
“…Pervert.”
The words fell from my lips naturally. But I couldn’t stop the corners of my mouth from curling up mischievously. Knowing that he wanted me made my heart feel light and happy.
Cha Jae-woo, not realizing how I was feeling, was still nervously gauging my reaction. Leaving him there, I broke into a wide grin and walked over to the bed. I cleared off the items piled there and made a space for myself to sit.
Who would’ve thought the things I left behind in my rush would be used for something like this? The thought was both surprising and made my heart flutter.
“Pretending like you don’t care in front of me… while thinking about me the whole time.”
My fingertips trembled slightly as I fiddled with the blanket. I knew Cha Jae-woo loved me. His energy — his resonance — told me everything.
But resonance was only a kind of illusion. No matter how much I sensed it, it always felt just out of reach. Now, for the first time, the empty spaces inside me were being filled. This room, made a mess by his longing for me, showed his feelings even more clearly than his resonance ever could.
I flopped down onto the spot where he must have lain.
“Maybe I should leave even more of my scent here. Although… would it even stick?”
The teasing words came out without thinking. Up to that point, Cha Jae-woo still hadn’t said a word. Finally, he let out a short breath — a sign of relief.
“What were you so worried about?”
I turned toward him and asked.
