By Zephyria 
What is it… How much time has passed? It was around the time he dazedly rolled his eyes. His gaze, which had been about to scan the room, was caught on one spot. Eun-ha, who was looking at the person right in front of him with loosely opened eyes, slowly narrowed his eyes as he was.
Is this a dream…, he thought languidly, but the eyes he met softly curved.
“It’s been a while, Hyung.”
No, it wasn’t. A familiar person was sitting next to the sofa. The person with his elbow on the sofa’s armrest, supporting his head, was looking down at Eun-ha. It was someone he never expected to meet here.
Eun-ha, who had been staring at Yeon-jun’s face shadowed by the light behind him for a moment, asked displeasedly.
“…Why are you here?”
“My cousin Hyung told me to come.”
That’s right. Their circles overlapped… Eun-ha, holding his dizzy forehead, let out a long breath. He didn’t feel energetic at all because of the lingering intoxication and the weariness right after waking up.
If he came with his cousin Hyung, he should have played there and left, so why is he doing this here? Eun-ha, with his arm over his forehead, closed his eyes as if to soothe his churning stomach.
“Coincidences are frequent, aren’t they, between us.”
“I don’t think it’s a coincidence.”
What came back to the words he said with regret was an incomprehensible answer.
What do you mean, he opened his eyes and looked at him, and Yeon-jun made a low sound, “Hmm.” He subtly slid his interlocking gaze to the side.
“I originally don’t like these kinds of gatherings…”
“……”
“I thought I might be able to see Hyung.”
“So you came because of that?”
“Yes.”
“…How did you know I would be here?”
He asked suspiciously. Yeon-jun, who had opened his mouth to answer, only lightly wet his lips with his tongue as if choosing his words. Next, he closed his eyes for a long time and then opened them. As if calming something down.
A strong smell of alcohol came from him. Looking closely, his cheeks were reddish, and it seemed like he had quite a bit to drink.
“That. Hyung’s friend.”
“……”
“The person whose birthday it is….”
The fragmented memories from the art gallery came to mind with his listless, slow way of speaking. He had run away from Park Hyun-ji, who was holding him back from going home, and went to Yeon-jun.
“You remembered that Hyun-ji is my friend?”
“Yeah….”
“‘Yeah’ is informal.”
“Ah.”
He widened his eyes when pointed out. Yeon-jun, showing a slight embarrassment as if he had forgotten, covered his face with both hands and put strength into his hands as if pressing lightly. It was an action as if trying to pull himself together. Eun-ha looked at the blood vessels bulging on the back of his hand. Seeing that it impressively entered his field of vision from time to time, he wondered if he had a taste for that without knowing it.
“I’m sorry. I’m a little drunk.”
“…You don’t have to be sorry.”
At the lukewarm answer, Yeon-jun crumpled the hands that were covering his face. Only half of his face was revealed, and the eyes that were sending a still gaze were dyed with a languid smile.
“You’re kind.”
“That’s also informal.”
“Ah. Really.”
What is he trying to do. For some reason, his nape wasn’t feeling refreshed as if he was being played with in a pun. It seems like he’s not just a little drunk. His eyes are hazily unfocused, he keeps spitting out silly laughs, and although he answers every question, it seems like he doesn’t really recognize what he’s saying.
As if proving his suspicion, a friendly, pleading tone was heard.
“Please indulge me a little.”
Is his Drunken behavior being cute….
“Why would I?”
“Can’t I?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because I don’t want to.”
“…That’s too much….”
“Baek Yeon-jun, who is exhibiting Drunken behavior to someone lying down to sober up, seems to be doing too much. And you keep using informal speech.”
“You were also indebted to me last time. To me….”
“Last time? ……When?”
“When Hyung was drunk…….”
At the additional explanation, Eun-ha let out a sound of realization, “Ah,” as if he finally understood. He’s talking about the time Yeon-jun cleaned up after his drunken self and then slept with him.
A cynical remark popped out in an instant. Because it felt like he was making a strange claim.
“That’s not a debt, is it? If we’re being precise, it was mutual.”
Of course, it was true that he was grateful for taking care of him when he was about to pass out on the street. But, he didn’t know if it was to the extent of being a debt. Because it wasn’t pure goodwill.
He went to the trouble of taking care of a drunkard with a lewd purpose. And unilaterally to someone who didn’t even want it.
At the time, he spoke as if he had done everything wrong and was indebted, but that was only a matter of courtesy for a clean finish, and it would be difficult if that night was really attributed entirely to this side’s unilateral fault.
“Mutual?”
However, Yeon-jun tilted his head as if he didn’t know at all. At that reaction, which was far from the common expectation, Eun-ha, who had goosebumps for a moment, opened his mouth to say something, but he changed the direction of his answer because he thought, what’s the point of saying something unpleasant. He seemed to be out of his mind to the point where he wondered if he could even remember what was happening now.
“…Okay, go play now.”
But the drunkard didn’t listen.
“I’ll stay here.”
It was a confident declaration.
“Why?”
“Because I want to get closer to Hyung.”
“……”
“I’ve always wanted to get closer.”
It was a voice with a slightly wavering end. A gentle smile bloomed in the eyes he met. Eun-ha silently faced him and stiffened his lips with a sullen expression. He wanted to get closer, huh.
Suddenly, his gaze went behind his shoulder. The door was tightly closed. The reason for the strange sense of discomfort that had been causing him since a while ago was that. The door that the man closed when he came in. Isolation from the outside.
The quiet indoor atmosphere, in contrast to the faint noises coming from outside, felt subtly lewd for a moment. It’s an obvious plot. Eun-ha laughed derisively.
“I thought you gave up.”
“Give up?”
“Interest.”
He thought he had lost interest after doing it once, but it didn’t seem like it.
Yeon-jun moved his lips and then pressed them together for a long time. It was around the time he felt that his face, which he had been looking at with a consistently indifferent gaze, seemed to be turning white like that of someone who had sobered up. His complexion quickly became opaque again.
“…Did you know?”
“Then don’t I know?”
A hollow laugh flowed out. Is he asking seriously? Or is he acting coy and flirting? He thought it was the latter. It was a judgment based on common sense.
Yeon-jun didn’t answer. He remained silent for a while like someone lost in thought. Soon, he conspicuously fiddled with his nape and turned his gaze somewhere in the air.
“I never gave up…….”
“You haven’t come to the cafe all this time.”
“That’s…….”
Yeon-jun, who had been about to speak, let out a long sigh and dropped his head. His forehead must be throbbing from time to time. He covered his eyes largely with the palm of his hand and rubbed his eyelids, explaining as if mumbling. It was exam period, and he was busy for a while because of the assignments he had been putting off even after the exams were over.
It was a truly wholesome reason. Just as Eun-ha was about to blow air strongly through his nose, he added. And—.
“……I also had things to sort out in my own head.”
“……”
“But.”
Seeing Hyung today…….
Yeon-jun, who had blurred the end of his words, rubbed his eyes hard one last time and lowered his hand. He slyly sent a flushed gaze. Eun-ha chuckled.
“Seeing me, what?”
“Hyung.”
“Why?”
“Why is your lip injured?”
His lustrous gaze strayed to the side. It was a sudden flow. Eun-ha, who had recalled the forgotten wound, unconsciously stuck out his tongue and licked it. A tingling pain spread as he touched the scab. It was the part that had been badly bruised after being hit by the man he met at the cafe. After that, the man he had met a few times kissed him as if chewing, so it hadn’t healed properly yet.
“What. Just.”
He vaguely glossed over it. He couldn’t shamelessly explain that he had been hit by someone he had a one-night stand with. No matter how much the person listening to those words was the person he had a one-night stand with.
Perhaps reading his reluctance, Yeon-jun didn’t ask further.