Chapter 106
Cha Yoon trailed off, closing his mouth. As his voice, tinged with disappointment, stopped, Seo-jung raised his gaze and took in Cha Yoon’s face. His protruding lips were welcoming Seo-jung.
Seo-jung’s eyes wavered slightly at Cha Yoon’s upset expression. Whether he was jealous or hurt, it clearly wasn’t Seo-jung’s business. He should just ignore it like he did in the morning and enter the X House. That was certainly the right thing to do, but he found it difficult to take a step.
Whether it was because Cha Yoon would annoyingly follow him until his mood improved, or because he noticed Cha Yoon’s long-standing habit of pouting his plump lips when expressing disappointment, or because of the familiar taste of the sandwich he had eaten this morning, or perhaps because of his own desire to console Cha Yoon – the reason was unclear, but Seo-jung couldn’t bring himself to turn away and leave Cha Yoon standing there.
Seo-jung, his eyes fixed on Cha Yoon’s bright red lips, spoke softly.
“Then you hook fingers too, Cha Yoon.”
“What?”
As Cha Yoon asked in confusion, Seo-jung held up his finger.
“You’re upset because you can’t hook fingers with me, right? So do it.”
Cha Yoon blinked a couple of times, seemingly interpreting what Seo-jung had just said. Seo-jung watched him, motionless, and then made a motion to lower his hand.
“If you don’t want to, forget it.”
Acting as if he didn’t care either way, Seo-jung’s action prompted Cha Yoon to grab his hand as if he had just come to his senses.
“Who said I don’t want to? I don’t dislike it at all. I really fucking like it!”
Cha Yoon quickly refuted Seo-jung’s words and hooked his finger with Seo-jung’s. Feeling the firm grip of the pinky finger, Seo-jung rolled his eyes to look at Cha Yoon. The previously protruding lips had now returned to their normal position. But that wasn’t the only thing that had changed.
“……”
Those ears. Ears as red as his lips caught Seo-jung’s attention. Why such a reaction over just hooking fingers? As Seo-jung quietly observed the tips of Cha Yoon’s ears, he recalled the Cha Yoon from 7 years ago, who used to follow him around, determined to win his heart with a confession.
Come to think of it, it was the same back then too. Cha Yoon would follow him around, acting as if he’d do anything for him, pretending to be mature but often crumbling and sulking over trivial matters. Yet, he never left Seo-jung’s side, lingering around, and would quickly cheer up and blush at the slightest bit of attention from Seo-jung. How could Seo-jung not love such a Cha Yoon? That wasn’t something Seo-jung was allowed.
The voice declaring that he was the only Cha Yoon in this world, whether he had lost his memories or not, echoed in Seo-jung’s ears again. Seo-jung swallowed dryly. Did Cha Yoon know? That he was gradually proving his own words without even realizing it.
As Seo-jung was lost in thought, staring at Cha Yoon without blinking, Cha Yoon gently swayed their linked fingers and slightly rolled his eyes. Their gazes met in the air. All the numerous thoughts that had filled Seo-jung’s mind disappeared the moment he saw Cha Yoon’s eyes.
The two looked at each other for quite a long time. After some time had passed, Cha Yoon’s lips moved as if he was about to say something, and Seo-jung also snapped out of his daze. Seo-jung was the first to withdraw his hand.
“Alright. I’ve hooked fingers with you too, so stop grumbling now.”
Seo-jung naturally hid the hand that had touched Cha Yoon behind his back. Cha Yoon’s eyes followed Seo-jung’s hand regretfully, but that was all.
“When did I grumble?”
Even as he said this, Cha Yoon was still pouting, but Seo-jung didn’t bother to point it out. Cha Yoon cleared his throat and spoke in a subtle voice.
“Hyung, do you know what promise we just made?”
A promise? Wasn’t it just hooking fingers without any meaning? Puzzled, Seo-jung raised an eyebrow and looked at Cha Yoon, who continued as if he had been waiting for this moment.
“You promised to do everything only with me from now on. So you have to keep it. Understand?”
“When did I make such a promise?”
“You just hooked fingers with me, didn’t you?”
“Yes, we just hooked fingers.”
“It wasn’t just that, it was a symbol of our promise.”
The two went back and forth for a while, arguing whether hooking fingers once constituted a promise or not. Seo-jung was the first to turn away. He had concluded that the conversation wouldn’t end at this rate and he needed to leave.
Seeing Seo-jung suddenly distancing himself, Cha Yoon quickly moved to his side and kept chattering about how he absolutely had to keep the promise. Naturally, Seo-jung ignored him.
They had crossed about half of the garden when Cha Yoon, who had been repeating similar words like someone trying to brainwash, suddenly stopped. Soon after, with an “Oh,” Cha Yoon pointed at the shopping bag dangling from Seo-jung’s hand. At a glance, the bag looked lighter than it had in the morning. Cha Yoon peeked inside and confirmed it was completely empty.
“You ate everything I packed this morning?”
Seo-jung hesitated for a moment at the sudden change of subject. Although he hadn’t expected the topic to come up, he found it hard to speak when actually asked. After a moment’s hesitation, Seo-jung nodded.
“…Yes.”
It was a rather bland answer for the time he had taken, but Cha Yoon’s eyes sparkled as if he was pleased with just that.
“It must have been really delicious if you ate it all so cleanly.”
“……”
“You didn’t give it away to someone because you didn’t want to eat it, did you?”
Far from giving it away because he didn’t want to eat it, Seo-jung had even pulled his arm away when Seung-won asked if he could eat it. But Cha Yoon, unaware of this, looked at him suspiciously. As the pause in Seo-jung’s response lengthened, Cha Yoon asked again, wondering if that was really the case. Although he could have let the misunderstanding continue, somehow Seo-jung didn’t want to.
“I ate it. And I enjoyed it too. Thanks to you, I had breakfast for the first time in a while.”
There was no need to tell the whole truth, so Seo-jung spoke plainly, omitting as much information as possible. Seeing Cha Yoon’s face brighten at the mere mention that he had eaten it, Seo-jung brought up what he really wanted to say.
“But don’t prepare things like this anymore.”
“……”
“I took it today because you had already prepared it, but I won’t take it in the future. So don’t waste your time trying to take care of me.”
Seo-jung gave Cha Yoon a look as if asking if he understood, and Cha Yoon opened his mouth.
“I don’t want to.”
It wasn’t the answer Seo-jung had hoped for, of course. He hadn’t expected to get the answer he wanted in one go. Just as Seo-jung was about to open his mouth to persuade Cha Yoon again, Cha Yoon spoke up faster.
“Why is taking care of you a waste of time? It’s the most meaningful thing I can do right now.”
“Cha Yoon.”
Although Seo-jung called his name in protest, Cha Yoon paid no attention.
“I know how much you hate being indebted to others. But I’m not doing this because I have to, I’m doing it because I want to. So don’t make yourself uncomfortable with strange thoughts.”
With those final words, Cha Yoon naturally took the shopping bag from Seo-jung’s hand.
“Now that we’re done talking, let’s go inside. I bought dessert on my way back from getting things for you.”
“……”
When Seo-jung still didn’t move despite being told to go inside, Cha Yoon gestured towards the X House again as if asking what he was doing. Seo-jung, who had been moving his lips, finally started walking.
***
After dinner, the cast members gathered in the living room for a light drinking session. On the table were dozens of financiers and madeleines that Cha Yoon had bought on his way back from the hospital.
Cha Yoon, who had secured the seat next to Seo-jung, was the first to claim a financier.
“Eat this. It’s your favorite flavor, right?”
Cha Yoon personally unwrapped a financier covered in yellow bean powder and placed it on Seo-jung’s plate.
“But how can you like something like this?”
“It’s so fucking cute, really.” A whispered voice reached Seo-jung’s ears, low enough that others couldn’t hear. What on earth was cute about it? Seo-jung frowned at Cha Yoon, who was sitting close to him.
“Stop saying weird things and sit a bit further away.”
“I need space next to me to move away. Hurry up and try it. This flavor is the most famous at this store.”
“What? Hurry up.” Urged by Cha Yoon’s constant prompting, Seo-jung reluctantly picked up his fork.
“It’s delicious.”
“Really? Is it good? Does it suit your taste?”
“Yes, now that I’ve eaten it, you eat too and stop watching me.”
“I’m full just watching you eat.”
Seo-jung nodded at the succession of questions and tried to push Cha Yoon away again, but nothing changed. Cha Yoon was still sitting close, reaching out over the table. In his hand was an injeolmi-flavored financier that Seo-jung had said was delicious.
“You two seem to be getting along really well these days.”
“Yeah, like with the tangerines yesterday. Have you finally ended your bickering and entered a stable phase?”
The words of Sae-young and Min-wook, who were watching the two, caught their ears. Like a thief with a guilty conscience, talk of a ‘stable phase’ sounded like something you’d say to a couple. Seo-jung was about to say it wasn’t like that, but Cha Yoon’s voice immediately cut him off.
“Yes, and we’ll only get better from now on.”
Cha Yoon said this with a smile, as if he had just received a blessing. His expression seemed to say, ‘Please watch over our beautiful love!’ From Seo-jung’s perspective beside him, it was simply exasperating.
Just as he was about to say something about what Cha Yoon was doing, a ‘ding’ sound rang out, and all the cast members’ phones went off.
“What’s this? Is it already time for a message?”
“It’s not even 9 o’clock yet.”
Hearing the voices of the other cast members, Seo-jung also took out his phone. He immediately tapped on the notification from the Please Take Care of My X application at the top of the screen.
! The previously locked is now being activated.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
