While skillfully turning the steering wheel with one hand, Won-hyeok glanced toward the passenger seat. He could see Han-gyeom carefully fussing over the cake box resting on his lap as if it were precious. A smile naturally spread across Won-hyeok’s face as well.
“You like it that much?”
It wasn’t as if something like that even cost much, and if Han-gyeom wanted, he could buy the entire café for him.
“Yes, because you gave it to me, sunbae. I’m really happy.”
Taking advantage of the red light, Won-hyeok reached out and gently stroked Han-gyeom’s hair. The soft texture that clung pleasantly to his palm sent a deep sense of satisfaction spreading through one corner of his heart. It had only been five days. Not even a week—just five days. During that time, he hadn’t been able to see Han-gyeom up close like this, nor touch him, and it had left him constantly thirsty for more. On top of that, Han-gyeom seemed to be adapting disturbingly well to that damned part-time job, which made him all the more uneasy.
“I feel like ever since I met you, sunbae, I keep getting gifts.”
“Keep? It’s just cake.”
He still hadn’t even given him the real gift yet. For no reason, Won-hyeok looked into the rearview mirror and cast his gaze toward the back of the car. The back seat was piled with souvenirs he had prepared for Han-gyeom.
“Getting to see you even one day earlier is a gift to me. I was waiting, assuming I’d see you tomorrow, of course.”
At that blunt, straight-shot comment, Won-hyeok swallowed down his fluster yet again today. He was a complete romance novice who knew nothing, so where on earth did he keep coming up with lines like that so perfectly?
“If I’d known you were coming tonight, I would’ve said I couldn’t go to that dinner either.”
“Ah… I didn’t tell you on purpose because I thought you might do that, Han-gyeom. You know, as a surprise?”
Won-hyeok was a little surprised by his own quick thinking. Coming back a day early had absolutely not been for some romantic reason like wanting to surprise him. The trigger had been Han-gyeom’s text saying it looked like they were going to have a staff dinner.
While being nagged by his mother for sending Cha Woo-hee back just like that, Han-gyeom’s message had struck like a bolt from the blue. Hearing that there would be three of them eating together—the café owner, plus someone who came to help with work—had left Won-hyeok so consumed by anxiety that he nearly gnawed his fingernails to bits.
The owner, at least, he knew from hearing about him a few times. But who the hell was this guy coming to help with work? He couldn’t shake the feeling that gnats kept swarming around Han-gyeom. So he found the fastest flight possible and flew straight back.
But he never imagined Do In-seok would show up there.
“Was Singapore fun?”
“Mm, I only went because I followed my mother, so it was whatever. It wasn’t my first time there either.”
“You’ve traveled abroad a lot, haven’t you, sunbae?”
“Not a crazy amount. Just a few places, I guess?”
As they talked, they had already entered the alley where Han-gyeom’s one-room apartment was located. Around here, the roads were all narrow and there were plenty of illegally parked cars, so he had to pay close attention while driving.
Still, since he’d come by a few times now, he was more practiced than before and made his way through the alley faster. Not long after, Won-hyeok’s car smoothly slowed and came to a stop in front of the building.
“What about you, Han-gyeom?”
Won-hyeok asked as he shifted gears.
“I’ve never been abroad even once.”
There was nothing especially strange about not having any overseas travel experience. Plenty of people had never gone abroad for all kinds of reasons—money, time, and so on.
But Won-hyeok found it hard to let Han-gyeom’s answer just pass by. It felt the same as the last time, when Han-gyeom had said it was his first time at the aquarium, or when he’d said he didn’t have a single childhood photo.
Meanwhile, Han-gyeom, both then and now, had no particular regret over lacking experiences that most other people had, nor did he seem reluctant to reveal it. He was simply stating the facts as facts.
“……”
“Sunbae?”
For some reason, something inside him stung sharply. It wasn’t anger, and it wasn’t that something displeased him. It just felt uncomfortable and sore, like a thorn had lodged somewhere deep inside him.
“Later.”
After staying silent for a long time, Won-hyeok finally spoke.
“Let’s go together sometime. Overseas. With me.”
As if he’d heard something completely unexpected, Han-gyeom slowly blinked both eyes. And Won-hyeok was shaken no less. He hadn’t known himself that those words would leap out of his mouth. Before he could even recognize it, he was already saying them.
But there was no helping it. It felt like only by saying this—only by getting this across—would that uncomfortable sensation disappear.
“O-okay. If… if you’re really okay with taking me, sunbae….”
Han-gyeom nodded. When he’d said he’d never been abroad, his face had been merely blank and unaffected, but now flowers seemed to bloom across it. Only then did Won-hyeok steady his breathing, as if finally relieved. It felt like the thorn pricking painfully at his heart had at last disappeared.
“Ah, Han-gyeom. Wait a second.”
Only then remembering the souvenirs, Won-hyeok reached behind him and handed Han-gyeom several shopping bags. Han-gyeom’s eyes widened at the considerable amount.
“I bought a few souvenirs.”
“This is way more than just a few. Is it really okay for you to give me this much?”
“They were made as souvenir items, so it’s not like they were that expensive.”
Of course, mixed in among them were a few things that cost several hundred thousand won. But if he mentioned that, Han-gyeom would probably faint on the spot given his personality.
“Go home and open them slowly.”
“Sunbae… Thank you so much.”
“That’s enough thanks.”
Won-hyeok lightly pinched Han-gyeom’s cheek.
“You must be really tired too, coming by plane and all, sunbae. I’ll get out right away.”
Han-gyeom, clutching the cake box and the shopping bags full of souvenirs securely, was about to get out of the car when Won-hyeok suddenly grabbed his hand.
“Uh, Han-gyeom.”
“Yes?”
“Well… aren’t you forgetting something?”
Forgetting something? Han-gyeom tilted his head. Had he said he’d give him something? But no matter how he searched his memory, there was nothing he had promised Won-hyeok. If there had been, there was no way he would’ve forgotten. When it came to Won-hyeok, he remembered everything without fail.
While Han-gyeom rolled his eyes around in obvious thought, Won-hyeok only fidgeted with his lips anxiously for no reason. He looked torn over whether he should just say it himself or not.
“I’m sorry. I can’t think of anything. Did I promise you something, sunbae?”
After failing to remember, Han-gyeom finally asked him cautiously.
“…No. I misspoke. Go on inside.”
Won-hyeok, too, stopped struggling with himself and shook his head. Only after Han-gyeom gathered his things and got out of the car did he let out the sigh he’d been holding, collapsing heavily over the steering wheel.
“Ah, how am I supposed to get him to kiss me on the cheek again?”
***
“Enjoy.”
Smiling, Han-gyeom took the vibrating pager and slid the prepared drink toward the customer. Maybe because he’d gotten much more used to the café work now, he was finding it pretty fun. Of course, that was thanks to Hae-jun and In-seok too.
While wiping down the blender he had used to make drinks, Han-gyeom found himself thinking again about what Won-hyeok had said yesterday.
“Let’s go together sometime. Overseas. With me.”
When he’d heard those words, his heart had pounded wildly. But it had felt subtly different from the fluttering he always felt when he was with Won-hyeok. It was more like something inside him had become completely full, packed tight without a single gap left empty. He had kept turning those words over and over in his mind so much that he’d even lost sleep over them.
“Excuse me.”
Just then, a voice came from near the pickup counter. Han-gyeom quickly pulled off his rubber gloves and ran over to where the customer was.
Standing there was a man dressed neatly in a suit, unmistakably someone who looked like an office worker, holding a tray. He was the customer Han-gyeom had handed coffee to earlier.
“Ah, you can just leave that here when you’re done.”
At Han-gyeom’s words, the man set down the tray, but strangely, instead of leaving, he remained standing there.
“If it’s okay with you, then this….”
After seeming to hesitate over something, the man abruptly held out a business card, trying to hand it to Han-gyeom.
“Huh? Why would I….”
To anyone else, it was obvious he was trying to give his contact information to someone he was interested in, but unfortunately, Han-gyeom still had absolutely no sense for that sort of thing. The man was about to add some explanation when In-seok came up behind Han-gyeom.
“Sir, I’m sorry, but according to café policy, we can’t accept things like that.”
Immediately grasping the man’s intent, In-seok politely refused on Han-gyeom’s behalf with an easygoing smile.
There was obvious regret in the hand that tucked the business card away again, but the man didn’t add anything else and turned to leave.
“Why did that customer suddenly hold out a business card?”
“What else? He’s interested in you, so he wanted you to contact him.”
Only then did Han-gyeom seem to understand the man’s intention, because he gasped and clapped a hand over his mouth. Since it hadn’t been a note asking him to get in touch, and had instead just been a business card shoved at him out of nowhere, he’d had no idea at all. Come to think of it, the employee at that restaurant he’d gone to with Won-hyeok before had handed over a business card like that too. So that was what it meant.
“But the café had a policy like that too?”
If that were true, then hadn’t In-seok received quite a lot of those kinds of notes from customers until now?
“Yeah, it does. For you only.”
“M-me only?”
“Of course.”
What he really wanted to say was, ‘Your boyfriend’s personality is beyond repair, after all.’ But In-seok barely forced the words back down his throat.
He still wasn’t sure exactly what Won-hyeok was thinking, but for some reason, he felt like he absolutely had to keep watch over this ridiculously innocent Han-gyeom. In-seok once again fell into thought over how exactly he was supposed to educate him.
“It’s not for you, hyung, just only for me… I’ve never heard of something like that before.”
“…Han-gyeom.”
At that moment, as if he had made up his mind about something, In-seok grabbed both of Han-gyeom’s shoulders.
“Let me ask you one favor.”
“Ask me anything. What is it?”
“From now on, could you stop calling me hyung? I want to live a long life.”
