Chapter 101
With a click, the door closed, and Seo-jung stopped in his tracks. He tilted his head back to look at the sky for a moment before turning to walk towards the dormitory. As he was slowly descending the downhill path, he heard the sound of a door opening and closing not far away.
At the thudding sound, Seo-jung reflexively turned around and halted his steps as Cha Yoon approached.
“…How did the interview go?”
“I said I’d escort you to the front gate.”
Seo-jung let out a dry laugh at the response. It was nonsensical. The distance from the building with the talking room to the X House was less than a 2-minute walk. Moreover, he was a man. Even if it were a 20-minute walk, there was no need for Cha Yoon to escort him.
Perhaps reading Seo-jung’s expression, Cha Yoon made a sullen face and spoke in a gruff voice.
“Why do you look like that?”
“Wouldn’t you find it absurd if you were me? Stop talking nonsense and go inside quickly.”
“No.”
“What?”
Seo-jung frowned at the firm voice that came back as soon as he finished speaking. But Cha Yoon didn’t back down.
“Isn’t it natural to want to spend a little more time with the person you like and want to take care of them?”
“Cha Yoon.”
“If you want me to go in quickly, then go. That’ll do it, right?”
“…”
“I don’t mind standing here. What are you going to do?”
Seo-jung stared at Cha Yoon, who was nodding his head, without saying anything, and then turned around.
Cha Yoon, who had been gazing at Seo-jung’s retreating back, swallowed a small sigh. Do you want to be away from me that badly? Looking at Seo-jung’s back as he walked ahead towards the X House, he felt a bitter taste in his mouth. Nevertheless, Cha Yoon followed Seo-jung without any grumbling.
He quickly caught up with Seo-jung with his long strides. Their footsteps soon fell in sync. With each step, the sound of Seo-jung and Cha Yoon’s footsteps echoed on the quiet street.
“Hyung, you’re going to sleep early today, right?”
“Yes.”
Cha Yoon nodded as if he had expected the brief answer. Soon after, they reached the front gate of the X House.
“We’re here, so you can go now.”
With those final words, Seo-jung turned his back to Cha Yoon and put his hand on the gate, as if he had nothing more to say. He looked ready to go inside immediately.
“Still, sleep after 11 o’clock.”
Cha Yoon hurriedly spoke after checking the watch on his wrist. Seo-jung slightly turned his body at the unexpected words. His eyes, once again meeting Cha Yoon’s, were filled with puzzlement. Cha Yoon took another step closer to Seo-jung.
“I sent you a message today too, so check that before you sleep.”
Seo-jung slightly furrowed his brow at the mention of the message again from Cha Yoon’s lips. This was something he had been mulling over since this morning, after Cha Yoon had left his house. But the conclusion he ultimately reached was that it couldn’t be possible.
How could it make sense to be able to send messages to a same-sex contestant in a dating program featuring both men and women? Seo-jung recalled the conclusion he had drawn just hours ago.
“Stop talking nonsense. How…”
“You mean how can a man send a message to another man?”
Seo-jung closed his mouth tightly, having had the words he wanted to say stolen.
“If you put it that way, what about me seeing your NEW room? Does that make sense?”
“That’s…”
He wanted to say something in response, but couldn’t think of anything to refute. Just as Cha Yoon said, what had just happened was as implausible as him sending a message. As Seo-jung was just moving his lips without speaking, Cha Yoon shrugged his shoulders.
“So, check for yourself today. Whether I’m lying or not.”
Because I really did send it. Cha Yoon spoke with a voice full of confidence. In response, Seo-jung, who had been acting as if he would go in right away, couldn’t take a step forward.
Observing the hesitating Seo-jung, Cha Yoon eventually pushed the gate open instead. As the tightly closed door opened, the hidden garden was revealed.
“There are still a lot of mosquitoes outside. Go in now.”
Cha Yoon nodded towards the garden. Seo-jung glanced at the open gate and then stepped inside.
Cha Yoon couldn’t take his eyes off until Seo-jung was no longer visible. After some time had passed, the sound of a metal door slamming shut was heard from far away.
“…He really didn’t look back even once.”
Cha Yoon muttered while looking at the empty garden, then took a step away, seemingly disappointed. Once again, the sound of footsteps echoed on the quiet street.
***
Returning to his room, Seo-jung sat on the bed. As he lifted his head, he could see the dark room where the lights hadn’t been turned on.
As he stared blankly at the ceiling, thoughts of Cha Yoon began to creep up in the thick darkness. From his apology to the confession that followed, and the conversation they had just now. It was hard to believe that all of this had happened in just one day.
Seo-jung, who had been retracing the day, suddenly burst into laughter.
“…He really did do it after all.”
Was it because he had already prepared for the worst? Somehow, rather than feeling angry at Cha Yoon’s actions that had caused such a big incident, he found himself laughing.
Of course, it was true that he was upset with Cha Yoon for acting on his own and turning all his efforts into bubbles. But Seo-jung knew. That no matter what he had done, he couldn’t have stopped Cha Yoon.
The fortunate thing was that he still had a chance left. As long as he didn’t fall for it, no matter what Cha Yoon did. Then he could get past all of this, treating it as just a passing incident.
Having steeled his resolve, Seo-jung picked up the phone placed on his bed. At the top of the screen, a notification that had arrived 30 minutes ago was blinking. He hurried to check the contents of the notification.
! Message transmission for Day 14 is now available
Who made your heart flutter today? Express your feelings to that person through a message.
* Messages will be delivered anonymously.
It was a notification about the message transmission time. At this, Seo-jung, who was about to enter the application and write Shin Da-bin’s name as always, suddenly paused. It was because of Cha Yoon’s words he had heard in front of the gate.
Seo-jung, who had been staring at the screen for a long time, slowly moved his fingers as if possessed by something.
Recipient │Cha ㅇ22.gif
Just as he was about to enter his full name, Seo-jung blinked his eyes in time with the blinking cursor. As his darkened vision brightened again, he suddenly came to his senses. There was a trace on the screen that absolutely shouldn’t be there. He quickly erased the incomplete letter.
Seo-jung rubbed his face dry. How long had it been since he thought he would get a grip on himself? Seo-jung let out a deep sigh. Please, get it together. Recalling those words he had repeated countless times like a habit, Seo-jung filled in the now clean box with a name again.
Recipient │Shin Da-bin
Seo-jung felt a little relieved only after seeing Da-bin’s name written on the screen. It felt like things had finally found their right place. Having regained his composure, Seo-jung wrote down formal words that a former lover who had visited the X room might say. Finally, when he pressed the send button, a notification appeared saying that the message had been sent successfully.
Seo-jung put down the phone after completing his task and sighed. Looking at the neatly arranged bedding, Seo-jung chose to fall asleep quickly. He didn’t know what kind of accident he might cause if he stayed awake any longer.
Seo-jung, who had immediately changed into his home wear, lay down on his bed. After the sound of him flopping down, a quiet stillness settled in the room.
How much time had passed like that? Seo-jung, who had been closing his eyes, finally lifted his eyelids.
Haah, Seo-jung exhaled deeply. Whether it was because of the excessive fatigue that had built up, or because so many things had happened in one day, or maybe both. He just couldn’t fall asleep.
Seo-jung glanced at the clock visible on one wall. The long hand had already passed ’10’. It meant that there were less than 10 minutes left until 11 o’clock.
This isn’t good, I need to sleep quickly… But as urgency was added, his body reached a state of complete wakefulness. He tried counting sheep with his eyes closed, tried counting crickets, repeated this several times, but the situation didn’t improve at all.
At that very moment, a vibration sounded in the quiet room. It was the sound announcing 11 o’clock. Seo-jung’s body twitched.
But that was all. Despite the vibration shaking the bed mattress, he only closed his eyes tighter. He followed the voice of reason that constantly persuaded him that he should pretend not to notice anything, as if he hadn’t felt anything.
However, as time passed, the instinct that had been suppressing itself gradually raised its head.
He wanted to check if Cha Yoon’s words were true. Even knowing that it was useless whether it was true or false, that nothing would change either way, Seo-jung couldn’t easily give up. Reason and instinct fiercely clashed.
After a while, Seo-jung opened his eyes. In the end, instinct had won. He sat up and grasped the phone he had turned face down. On the brightly lit screen, there was a notification to check the arrived message.
When he launched the application, there was a number next to the mailbox indicating the arrival of a message. Unlike his resolve, he couldn’t check the mailbox readily. After hesitating for a long time, Seo-jung slowly moved his finger. His trembling fingertip touched the screen. At the same time, the screen changed.
Seo-jung, unable to take his eyes off the screen, could no longer say anything.
Have breakfast with me tomorrow too.
I’ll make what you like.
Sleep well.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
