By Zephyria 
“Your accommodation voucher has been confirmed. I’ll assign you to a sweet room. I’ll proceed with your check-in right away.”
The front desk employee handed over the room key.
Their shadows overlapped side-by-side on the semi-transparent room keycard placed on the counter.
Instead of answering, Cha Jeong-won let out a short breath. Haon, standing beside him, listened to that sound.
Even so, he pretended to be nonchalant and signed his name on the document the employee offered.
There was no time to collect himself. As soon as check-in was over, Haon found himself in front of the elevator, holding Cha Jeong-won’s hand again.
Walking down the carpeted corridor, they were soon in front of the sweet room.
Cha Jeong-won opened the door with the keycard. As the heavy-looking door opened, warm lighting poured down from above.
The first thing that caught Haon’s eye was the spacious, open living room. A low table and sofa, and behind them, a floor-to-ceiling window.
The city nightscape he’d seen from the restaurant was visible. But perhaps because Haon’s reflection was visible in it, it created a subtly different, more intimate atmosphere.
As he looked at the night view and shifted his gaze, he saw a neatly made bed. A snow-white duvet was spread perfectly flat on the bed.
“Wow……”
Haon let out a sigh of admiration.
No wonder it’s a sweet room. Everything was splendid and beautiful.
While Haon was looking around, Cha Jeong-won took off his cardigan and hung it on the back of a chair. Instead of the stiff sound of fabric crumpling, there was the soft sound of the garment settling.
“You’re so excitable.”
His blunt tone was still the same, but unlike before, his eyes seemed a bit more relaxed.
Haon sat on the edge of the bed and, without hesitation, thrust out his hand.
“Senior. We’ve come this far, we should hold hands again.”
Cha Jeong-won’s gaze briefly fell on the offered hand. He hadn’t even realized they’d let go as soon as they entered the room, busy looking around.
Cha Jeong-won just watched Haon’s hand moving about without taking it. Then, a low sigh mixed with a breath passed between them, and eventually his hand slowly came to rest on top of Haon’s.
“Feels like I’m wearing shackles.”
“If they’re shackles like these, I could wear ten of them.”
Haon’s reply was light, but the sensation of their fingers naturally intertwining was not light at all.
“What do you want to do first.”
A dry voice came from beside him. The tone wasn’t devoid of interest. It was closer to a feeling of ‘you started this, so you decide what to do.’
“Hmm……”
Haon tilted his head slightly, pretending to think, then lifted the corners of his mouth.
“Looking around.”
The long-awaited entry into the sweet room!
He proceeded to look around the interior.
It was like a gallery with generous empty space, perhaps?
Looking, there was a sofa and decorative items. It had everything, but it evoked a strangely leisurely feeling, reminding him of empty space.
“I could die happy.”
Haon bit his lip but eventually couldn’t hold back and laughed. He couldn’t miss this. It was his hobby, his major, and the material for his future livelihood.
He began mapping out the circulation in his head. He planned the flow so that instead of going straight from the entrance to the bedroom, one could look around the lounge and bar. It wasn’t a layout to extend the stay, but a sequence to ease tension.
It felt as if the space itself was saying you need to relax your body first to truly rest.
“They deliberately made you go around, but it’s not annoying. On the contrary, you naturally end up looking around everywhere.”
Cha Jeong-won, for his part, also looked around the sweet room.
It wasn’t his first time either, like Haon, but his eyes held a fresh curiosity.
“The circulation itself is a kind of rhythm.”
“Ah, I see.”
Being in the same interior architecture and design major was so convenient at times like this.
Since they both noticed similar focal points, they understood without lengthy explanations, and when one spoke, the conversation flowed immediately.
Haon lightly ran his fingertips along the table edge, guessing the cutting method and coating thickness, and Cha Jeong-won listened, then casually added another perspective.
He spoke, not limited to just one thing but encompassing everything—hotel, sensibility, the angle of receiving light.
Haon unconsciously looked back at Cha Jeong-won. I always think of visible things first, but Cha Jeong-won thinks of everything in its completed form. The scope of their vision was clearly different.
He was already a capable person, but at times like this, he seemed impressive all over again.
But it seemed Cha Jeong-won felt something similar.
“You know your expression changes when you look at things like this?”
Haon tried to answer but his throat caught for a moment. Even while marveling at the nice space, his heart seemed to race wildly at words that cut in like this.
Hiding that emotion with effort, Haon pretended nothing was wrong and smiled again.
“All of this is laying the groundwork for the future, so I should enjoy looking at it.”
“Look to your heart’s content.”
As if he had no intention of stopping him, Cha Jeong-won stood beside Haon.
There was the excuse of holding hands, but it seemed he was deliberately accompanying him.
Sensing Cha Jeong-won’s intention, Haon found himself looking not at the sweet room, but at his face.
“Looking at my face won’t lay any groundwork for your future.”
Cha Jeong-won chided him, but Haon didn’t turn his head away.
“I’ve already seen the room, so I’m just looking at something else now.”
“And that’s me?”
“Since we’re dating, we should act like people who are dating.”
“We’re already doing that.”
“We should make it a bit more obvious.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Haon pulled Cha Jeong-won towards him. Then he lightly pushed him down onto the sofa.
And he himself sat down and leaned against Cha Jeong-won. Their arms touched, and their shoulders and thighs naturally came into contact as well.
It was much closer than when they sat side-by-side at the restaurant earlier. The pheromones also seeped out more naturally.
The Alpha’s scent mingled naturally with the indoor air. There were various smells mixed in—the hotel’s unique fabric softener scent, furniture smell, etc.—but piercing through all of that, the first thing to reach him was still his scent.
“Let’s take a picture.”
Haon skillfully took out his phone and turned on the camera.
He turned the screen towards himself, then adjusted the angle so both their faces fit in one frame.
“A couple selfie for keepsake.”
As he spoke and tried to press his face closer, a hand reached out from beside him and lightly pushed the phone away.
“Don’t take it.”
“Why not?”
“It’s only a week.”
So, there was no need to leave behind memorable mementos. Such a typical Cha Jeong-won thing to say.
“That’s exactly why we should leave at least a photo. The only thing we’ll have to remember that we really dated is photos.”
Even after saying this much, what if he still said he didn’t want to take a picture?
What else, I’d have to keep persuading him.
Cha Jeong-won said nothing.
He still seemed bothered, but he didn’t snatch the phone away or put it aside.
This is an okay signal, right?
Haon framed Cha Jeong-won’s face in the screen and whispered.
“Two, three!”
Click!
Checking the photo, Haon muttered with a serious face.
“I smiled way too brightly.”
In contrast, Cha Jeong-won was showing off his distinct features, but his expression was still vague.
Meaning he didn’t smile. If it’s like this……
Haon showed the photo to Cha Jeong-won.
“Doesn’t it look like only I’m too into it?”
Cha Jeong-won’s gaze fixed on the photo.
“It’s true I asked to date, and I asked to take the picture. But could you at least pretend to like it a little?”
If he showed that he was the only one enjoying it like this, he wondered if this really counted as dating. Of course, Haon was the one who proposed the limited-time dating, but dating is still dating, right?
“Should we take one more?”
Haon casually asked once more.
“Since we’re at it, we could smile together, or even frown together. Ah! How about a video where when I give a signal, we both smile brightly or pretend to sleep at the same time?”
Cha Jeong-won lightly pushed Haon’s phone away.
“Should we order room service?”
Then, as if to say he’d do it himself, he let go of his hand and stood up. The regret of the pheromones and warmth moving away was brief as Haon watched Cha Jeong-won.
“Do you like food that much?”
Whenever anything happens, you look for food.
For the record, Haon had eaten his fill at the restaurant.
＊ ＊ ＊
They turned on Etflix and laid out the food ordered from room service. It didn’t look much different from the restaurant, but the only difference was they could sit a bit closer together on the sofa.
Haon scanned the food Cha Jeong-won had ordered.
“Um……”
A crème brûlée that looked like the sugar crust would crack with a light tap, a tiramisu piled high with cocoa powder, bite-sized pastel-toned macarons, and even a rich chocolate mousse topped with toasted marshmallows.
Just looking at it made his mouth water. He was already starting to miss kimchi stew.