Chapter 114
Cha Yoon reflexively made an “oops” expression. He had forgotten to return to the home screen. It was clearly his mistake. But he couldn’t admit the truth now.
“I, I, I don’t know.”
“……”
“…I really don’t know.”
It’s true… Cha Yoon swallowed hard as his eyes met Seo-jung’s. The longer he stared into those deep, dark brown eyes, the stronger the feeling grew that he should confess his wrongdoing. He couldn’t look away, feeling as if he were bound by Seo-jung’s gaze. What should I do? As he felt sweat gathering along his palm lines, he pressed his lips together tightly just as they were about to part.
At that moment, a vibration sound broke the silence filled only with their quiet breathing. It came from Seo-jung’s phone. Seo-jung’s gaze, which had been fixed on Cha Yoon, shifted back to his phone. Cha Yoon exhaled sharply, only now realizing he had been holding his breath.
While Cha Yoon caught his breath, Seo-jung checked his phone notification and let out a small sigh. Then, raising his head, he nodded slightly as if giving up on the interrogation.
“Alright, I’ll believe you.”
Only after hearing that he would be believed did Cha Yoon’s tense shoulders begin to relax. He unconsciously rubbed his forehead with the back of his hand. If he had been even a little later, he surely would have spilled everything like a confession. Good job holding out, Cha Yoon. He praised himself repeatedly for withstanding the pressure from Seo-jung.
As he continued his self-praise, Seo-jung walked towards the door as if to leave. Noticing this, Cha Yoon quickly ran to block Seo-jung’s path.
“Wait, wait! Where are you suddenly going, hyung? Don’t tell me you don’t want to stay with me because you think I’m lying? You said you’d believe me earlier! How can you do this now? I really haven’t done anything weird with your phone.”
It’s true, please believe me just once. Cha Yoon pleaded, still holding Seo-jung’s wrist to prevent him from leaving. Come to think of it, it wasn’t even a lie. He had only briefly checked the Please Take Care of My X application on Ki Seo-jung’s phone, not doing anything strange that would harm Seo-jung.
“I said I believe you.”
“Then why are you leaving? If you believe me, you should stay with me instead of going out. You know I’ve been waiting all day to be alone with you.”
“……”
“Am I right? Actually, you’re just saying you believe me, but inside you’re thinking ‘this bastard is lying’, aren’t you?”
“…What do you mean by ‘bastard’, that’s…”
Seo-jung let out a small sigh at the sight of Cha Yoon pouting as if telling him to stay. He didn’t want to explain everything in detail, but it seemed there was no other way to make Cha Yoon move from the doorway.
“I’m going for an interview.”
“…An interview?”
Cha Yoon blinked as if he had heard something unexpected.
“Yes, an interview. You heard the vibration earlier, right? That’s why I’m leaving.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
Look, here’s the notification message. Cha Yoon quickly scanned the phone Seo-jung held out and confirmed that he was indeed leaving for an interview. Realizing the truth, he felt a bit embarrassed for making such a fuss. Cha Yoon cleared his throat awkwardly.
“Then, I’ll stay awake until you come back.”
“Please, just go to sleep.”
“I don’t want to. I want to talk with you before sleeping. We barely talked today.”
Cha Yoon spoke with a voice full of disappointment, but Seo-jung felt differently. Not mixing words with him as much as possible was exactly what he wanted.
However, seeing that face with downturned eyes looking pitiful, he found it difficult to say “That’s what I want” to Cha Yoon’s face. Just a week ago, he had no problem saying harsher things like “Let’s stay as strangers” or “Let’s not get involved,” but why was it difficult now? It felt suffocating, as if all of this was clear evidence of his wavering heart.
“I’m going to sleep as soon as I get back. So you should sleep too, Cha Yoon.”
“Okay. Then I’ll wait and fall asleep at the same time as you. Is that alright?”
“Cha Yoon.”
“Didn’t you get a notification earlier to come for the interview? You should go now. The sooner you go, the earlier you’ll finish.”
As if he had no intention of listening to Seo-jung anymore, Cha Yoon opened the door himself and stepped aside. Seeing the second-floor living room through the open door, Seo-jung finally gave up and left the room.
Cha Yoon called out to Seo-jung’s back as he headed towards the stairs, “Hyung, you have to come back quickly!” He only closed the wide-open door after Seo-jung had completely disappeared from his sight.
Left alone in the room, Cha Yoon let out a sigh of relief. It had been a bit close, but he had managed to get through it without being caught. Now that he had safely navigated the situation, it was time to use the information he had obtained.
Cha Yoon plopped down on his bed and fiddled with his phone. As if clearing backlogged work, he sent the dating right and wrote the 19th day message.
To │ Ki Seo-jung
Let’s have fun together tomorrow, hyung.
***
The next day. Seo-jung’s footsteps as he left the X House were uncharacteristically hurried. Once outside, he immediately got into the car.
After slamming the door shut, Seo-jung reached for the seatbelt but paused to let out a heavy sigh. The air around him felt heavier than usual.
He caught his own eyes in the rearview mirror. Seeing his deeply furrowed brow, Seo-jung rubbed his face dry. He couldn’t manage his expression even though he knew cameras were installed in the vehicle for filming.
The reason Seo-jung’s mood had hit rock bottom, in contrast to the clear autumn weather without a speck of fine dust, was because of Cha Yoon. Seo-jung recalled the events of this morning, which he had already replayed in his mind several times.
Waking up to his alarm, Seo-jung noticed a message from the production team had arrived.
Today is the day of the third official date.
Please move to the location below by 1 PM today.
The message, which had arrived an hour ago, contained details about the date location along with the announcement that it was date day. After reading the content, Seo-jung reflexively glanced at Cha Yoon’s bed. The bed was neatly made, signaling its owner’s absence.
Seo-jung sighed. The night before, Cha Yoon had sent him a message expressing excitement about having fun together. But contrary to those expectations, a situation had arisen where he had to go out without Cha Yoon.
Seo-jung imagined Cha Yoon discovering him getting ready to leave. He could vividly picture Cha Yoon looking as if he had lost everything, then following him around asking where he was going until he left the house. It would be fortunate if he only followed him around the house. Considering Cha Yoon’s behavior so far, he might even insist on coming along.
“…What should I do?”
Seo-jung muttered to himself. After much deliberation, he started preparing much earlier than usual. This was his solution, considering that Cha Yoon might follow him around and interfere. Even while showering in the bathroom, drying his hair after washing, and applying lotion to his face, Seo-jung constantly thought about how to deal with encountering Cha Yoon.
However, all these thorough preparations ultimately proved useless. More precisely, there was no need for a separate solution.
It was when Seo-jung, now dressed in his outdoor clothes, was looking for a hair dryer to dry his hair. The door opened with a click. Cha Yoon, who had been absent for a while, entered the room.
Upon seeing Seo-jung, Cha Yoon stood in place and slowly looked him over. It’s about to start now. As Seo-jung felt the gaze pouring over him, he was about to recall the coping strategies he had been simulating all along.
“Hyung, you’re wearing white on top today.”
“What?”
He wasn’t asking where Seo-jung was going, nor was he making a sad face asking why he was dressed so prettily, nor was he throwing a fit saying only he should see Seo-jung like this and telling him to take it off… Just “You’re wearing white on top today.” Seo-jung was taken aback by this unexpected comment.
However, despite Seo-jung’s reaction, Cha Yoon continued speaking as if it didn’t matter.
“The knit. It’s white, right?”
“……”
“I’m wearing the same color too.”
…We’re in sync. Cha Yoon muttered in an excited voice, blinking several times with his eyes downcast. It was a face full of shyness that anyone could see. How much time passed like that? After this inexplicable behavior, Cha Yoon met Seo-jung’s eyes once before suddenly entering the dressing room.
Left alone in the room, Seo-jung blinked with a dumbfounded expression. What was that? Unlike his heightened guard, Cha Yoon’s reaction was ordinary. No, can that even be called ordinary? Finding commonalities with him in the midst of this? Moreover, the knit Seo-jung was wearing was closer to a cream color with a slight yellow tinge rather than pure white. It wasn’t even the same color.
Just as he was trying to make sense of this unfocused conversation, Seo-jung encountered another completely unexpected situation. It was about 10 minutes after Cha Yoon had entered the dressing room.
The tightly closed dressing room door slowly opened with a click. And what appeared through the gap was Cha Yoon wearing a leather jacket over a white T-shirt. Moreover, Cha Yoon had even pushed back his usually covered bangs, revealing his forehead.
Seeing Cha Yoon, who had always shown a comfortable and natural look with T-shirts or sweatshirts and jeans, now with changes from his hair to his clothes, there was only one assumption that came to mind. Cha Yoon must be going on a date today too.
As this thought crossed his mind, Seo-jung’s expression couldn’t help but harden. It was understandable. Cha Yoon’s outfit today was exactly the same as what he had worn seven years ago on their first date.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
