By Zephyria Food……? Ryu Jeong moved his lips soundlessly. His plump lips opened and closed several times to pronounce a word that was only one syllable long.
“I figured you wouldn’t have eaten anything if you just got off work. It’s mealtime anyway, and I came early because I wanted to have a meal with you before looking around the neighborhood.”
“Food? With me?”
“Yes. Ah… do you usually not eat breakfast?”
Lee Do-hyeon frowned slightly, as if he hadn’t thought that far. Ryu Jeong quickly shook his head, worried that he might have upset him.
“I do eat. …Though not every day……”
Feeling guilty about lying, Ryu Jeong subtly averted his gaze from Lee Do-hyeon. Although he said he ate, Ryu Jeong rarely had breakfast. After working almost starving all night, his appetite would disappear, so even if he vowed to make ramen before leaving work, it would all be in vain. He thought it was better to spread out a blanket and close his eyes than to set and clear the table.
Seeing Ryu Jeong stammering, slightly embarrassed, Lee Do-hyeon immediately recognized his lie. He can’t even lie convincingly, he’s too innocent. He glances at me, worried that I might notice. Do Hwon decided to pretend not to notice, as there was no need to point it out.
“Then let’s go out to eat. I know a good place that opens in the morning.”
“Go out?”
“Yes. Is there anything you don’t eat? There are many options, so tell me when you order if there’s anything you can’t eat.”
“I don’t… really have anything I can’t eat……”
“Let’s go, then.”
Lee Do-hyeon led Ryu Jeong to his parked car. As he did so, he naturally reached out towards Ryu Jeong’s back. Even through the fabric, his warm body temperature was so palpable that Ryu Jeong flinched slightly, but Lee Do-hyeon paid no mind and moved even closer.
A bitter scent emanated from the approaching Lee Do-hyeon. It was the smell of cigarettes, completely different from the pheromone scent he thought was perfume. The moment he smelled it, Sae-na’s words came to mind. The handsome man smoking in the alley in front of the laundry. Ryu Jeong, finally realizing that the person Sae-na saw was Lee Do-hyeon, blinked his slightly widened eyes silently.
He smokes…
While kids his age were memorizing English words, he was thoroughly memorizing cigarette brands, so as soon as he learned that Do Hwon was a smoker, he wondered what kind of cigarettes he preferred. But he didn’t ask. Before he could even move his lips, Lee Do-hyeon led him to the passenger seat.
Lee Do-hyeon kindly opened the door for him and even closed it after making sure Ryu Jeong was seated properly. Ryu Jeong, feeling like a helpless child, followed Lee Do-hyeon with his eyes as he walked around the hood. It was his first time riding in someone’s car other than public transportation, so he felt awkward just sitting there and neatly folded his hands on his lap.
Soon, Lee Do-hyeon, sitting in the driver’s seat, naturally fastened his seatbelt. Ryu Jeong stared at Lee Do-hyeon doing this, then pulled the seatbelt as he had done. Lee Do-hyeon, glancing at the white hands fidgeting, smiled as if he found it cute and started the engine.
“Should I open the window?”
“Ah… are you hot?”
“In this weather? It’s not that, it’s just that it smells like cigarettes. I smoked a bit here while waiting.”
It’s okay……. Honestly, who would like the smell of cigarettes on someone else, but Ryu Jeong was really okay. The customers who came to buy cigarettes all carried unpleasant smells. He learned that the unique stale smell came from people who had been smoking for a long time after hearing the students who came as customers grumbling about it.
But Lee Do-hyeon didn’t smell like that. If he hadn’t smoked a cigarette a little while ago, he might not have noticed it today either. That’s not to say the cigarette smell was unpleasant. It was very faint, not pungent, and you could even say it had a subtle sweetness. It was strange even to him that cigarettes had a sweet smell, but it suited Lee Do-hyeon well, so it was really okay.
“If you don’t want me to open the window, I could cover it with pheromones.”
While Ryu Jeong was hesitating, Lee Do-hyeon’s car smoothly exited the narrow alleyway. Although it was the weekend, there were many cars on the main road. Lee Do-hyeon, glancing at the mirror and skillfully turning the steering wheel, said casually. Ryu Jeong turned to him with a look that said, What did I just hear?
Cover with pheromones. His eyes widened at the unexpected idea. Because he had so little pheromones, he didn’t know how to control them properly, so the method he suggested was something he had never heard of before. Rather than the cigarette smell disappearing, the fact that he might be able to smell that good scent again made him swallow hard. His pheromones, which were like the cool scent of the sea, had no shape when he tried to recall them, so he had to inhale only air with no scent every time.
Would he do it if I asked? Ryu Jeong gripped the seatbelt that crossed his chest diagonally and chewed the words he wanted to say inside his lips. He couldn’t just tell Lee Do-hyeon, who seemed so concerned about the cigarette smell, to just leave it, and he couldn’t just ask him to release his pheromones.
Lee Do-hyeon, glancing at Ryu Jeong who was hesitating with his lips tightly pursed, stretched the corners of his mouth as if he was watching something interesting. Having heard countless times that a businessman should know how to hide his true feelings, he found every minute and every second interesting when he saw someone like Ryu Jeong, whose every thought was revealed on his face. Tap, tap. Do Hwon tapped the steering wheel with his fingernails. The sound was like the ticking of a clock.
“But then something terrible will happen.”
Ryu Jeong turned his head. He said something terrible would happen, but there was no detailed explanation of what would happen. Fear of the new and unknown made Ryu Jeong nervous. But curiosity took precedence over fear. After all, the pheromones he had experienced from Lee Do-hyeon were not dangerous at all. Rather, Lee Do-hyeon had saved him with those pheromones.
“It’s not just terrible… it could be dangerous. No, it’s not that it could be, it is dangerous.”
Lee Do-hyeon, who had been looking straight ahead, turned his head and met Ryu Jeong’s gaze. He pretended to worry about Ryu Jeong, but Do Hwon was imagining what might happen and scrutinizing Ryu Jeong. He twisted the corners of his mouth as if mocking himself for the mischievous imagination that stemmed from his difficult personality, then smiled kindly, even curving his eyes, as if he had never had such an imagination.
“I wouldn’t want that to happen.”
“……”
“So, it’s better to open the window now, right?”
He felt Ryu Jeong’s disappointed gaze, but Do Hwon pretended not to notice and opened the window. The rushing wind ruffled Ryu Jeong’s bangs. The cool autumn breeze blew away not only the remaining cigarette smell, but also Ryu Jeong’s curiosity and Lee Do-hyeon’s damp imagination. All that remained was one thing: a sense of disappointment that belonged to no one.
The car, which had been running along the main road for a while, slowed down and changed direction. As the direction changed smoothly, Ryu Jeong’s head, which had been nodding off, tilted towards the car window. The cold sensation of the glass touched his temple. Ryu Jeong, startled, opened his eyes wide and straightened his posture.
“Are you awake? I was going to wake you up when we arrived.”
He didn’t know what was going on, so he just blinked blankly, and Lee Do-hyeon chuckled and spoke to him. Only then did Ryu Jeong realize that he had fallen asleep. When did I fall asleep? He was so embarrassed that his butt wiggled as if he was about to jump up.
“You must have been tired. You were sitting quietly and then suddenly fell asleep.”
“Ah… I’m sorry. I didn’t even know I was falling asleep.”
“I didn’t wake you up on purpose. You looked tired.”
“You should have woken me up……”
“We’re here. Shall we get out now?”
He felt bad that he had been sleeping soundly while Lee Do-hyeon was driving so diligently, but Lee Do-hyeon smiled as if he didn’t care and got out first after unfastening his seatbelt. Ryu Jeong had no idea that Lee Do-hyeon had been openly watching him sleeping defenselessly with his eyes closed and his lips slightly parted.
The heavy drowsiness disappeared in an instant, but his dazed mind didn’t return, so Ryu Jeong, blinking with a blank face, got out of the car in surprise when he saw a man other than Lee Do-hyeon getting into the driver’s seat. He quickly stuck close to Lee Do-hyeon, and Lee Do-hyeon explained as if he knew what he was surprised about.
“They’ll take care of the parking, so let’s go up.”
Only then did Ryu Jeong breathe a sigh of relief. He had seen Valet parking from afar whenever he worked part-time as a parking attendant at a department store. It wasn’t the first time he had been embarrassed by customers handing him their car keys when he didn’t even have a driver’s license, but he felt a little embarrassed that he had been so surprised and ran away even though it wasn’t his first time seeing it.
Lee Do-hyeon was the only one he could rely on, so he unconsciously stuck close to him. Ryu Jeong, who was unconsciously following, was conscious of the close distance where their hands were about to touch, so he subtly widened the gap while following Do Hwon.
“Welcome, President Lee Do-hyeon.”
He took the elevator in the unfamiliar building to the top floor. Ryu Jeong, hesitating and following Lee Do-hyeon, looked around with curious eyes at the lavishly decorated appearance from the hallway, then turned his head towards the voice of a stranger. A man in a black suit behind a long counter was looking at them with a polite and friendly smile.
Lee Do-hyeon approached him and offered a handshake first. Unlike the man who politely bowed and shook hands, Lee Do-hyeon shook hands in a rather crooked manner with one hand in his coat pocket.
“It’s been a while, Manager.”
“It’s been exactly two years. You haven’t come once since we opened.”
“Has it already been that long? Well, you have to be moderately busy to come or not.”
They seemed to know each other. Ryu Jeong clung to Do Hwon, feeling a sense of distance from the adults’ conversation.
“Anyway, I was surprised that you contacted me so suddenly. And in the morning, too.”
“Ah, I just wanted to have a meal after a long time. Just give me a decent room.”
“You’re with the person behind you, right? You don’t have any other companions?”
Lee Do-hyeon turned his head and looked at Ryu Jeong. The manager, with a beaming smile, was also looking at Ryu Jeong. Ryu Jeong, receiving two pairs of eyes at once, looked embarrassed. Ryu Jeong, who thought they were going to a regular restaurant to eat, was quite nervous about stepping into a place that was completely different from what he knew, with not only the interior but also the polite staff.