By Zephyria 
Haon said playfully.
“What if I forget?”
“I’ll teach you again.”
Cha Jeong-won replied calmly.
“But next time, don’t teach me by whispering in my ear.”
He hadn’t even said how he would teach him, but it probably wouldn’t be an ordinary method. Haon gulped.
I better remember this well.
＊ ＊ ＊
Haon’s finger trembled slightly as he pressed the password.
With a beep, the door opened, and he felt strangely odd for no reason.
It felt real that this space, where he used to have to ring the doorbell and wait to enter, was now a place he could enter alone by typing the password.
Of course, it was only for a short while.
“…I’m coming in.”
He muttered softly as if talking to himself and stepped inside.
A little sunlight remained in the empty living room.
Perhaps because Cha Jeong-won wasn’t there, the house felt even more spacious. It felt like if he took a deep breath, it would echo off the walls.
‘Let’s not waste time spacing out.’
Haon immediately took off his shoes and went inside.
Cha Jeong-won had told him to go in first and gave him the password. He could have refused, saying it was burdensome, but Haon gladly accepted.
‘I need to find the box first.’
It had been his goal, lingering in his mind since yesterday.
He first scanned the living room.
Under the display cabinet, behind the sofa, every nook and cranny.
He opened each one, then quickly closed them again.
‘Not here.’
Haon went to Cha Jeong-won’s dressing room.
He opened the drawers one by one, then his hand stopped.
There was one drawer with a slightly stiff handle.
“……”
Carefully applying more force to open it, he found two storage boxes stacked inside the drawer.
He first lifted the storage box placed on top and set it on the floor. Then he examined the items underneath.
Document envelopes, a few old-looking photos, memo pads and worn-out tickets tied together with a rubber band.
‘Are these like souvenirs?’
He hesitated to touch them.
That day, he ended up mostly looking around the drawers and bookshelves, wasting a lot of time.
He had to somehow put everything back the way it was before Cha Jeong-won returned.
Standing in front of the bookshelf, Haon straightened his back and took a deep breath.
＊ ＊ ＊
He had been lucky for a few days. Haon entered his house before Cha Jeong-won again.
The luck that started on Monday had already lasted until Thursday.
Their one-week limited-time relationship had started on Saturday. Tomorrow, Friday, was the last day.
Meaning, there were almost no opportunities left to enter the house before Cha Jeong-won.
“I’m home.”
He greeted in a tone slightly more familiar than yesterday and went inside.
This time, he decided to search deeper.
The high shelves he had deliberately avoided, the insides of the wardrobe. Then, his eyes casually drifted towards Cha Jeong-won’s room.
“There’s a pretty high chance it’s in there, you know.”
Putting other places aside, entering Cha Jeong-won’s bedroom was something he hesitated to do.
Just as he had repeated coming to the front of Cha Jeong-won’s bedroom several times without entering, his phone rang.
“Whoa.”
Being in the middle of rummaging through someone else’s house, Haon couldn’t be confident. Feeling guilty, he picked up his phone.
“You’re on your way home?”
It was a message from Cha Jeong-won.
Haon slowly raised his head and looked at the door.
Then, there wasn’t much time left.
“Excuse me.”
With determination, Haon opened the door and flinched at the intense pheromones of Cha Jeong-won that instantly wafted over.
He stood still for a moment, then belatedly fumbled over his own body.
“It feels like something’s smeared all over my body right now.”
Was it a misunderstanding?
He must have been surprised because the pheromones were so incredibly strong.
It felt like downing a shot of espresso in one go.
“Now’s not the time for this.”
Haon hurriedly stepped into the bedroom.
He had searched everywhere he could. He even looked into every corner.
Then, he bent down completely, reached under the bed, and felt the floor with his fingertips until his hand touched a hard edge.
‘There’s something.’
He pulled it out while holding onto it.
It was a box, neither too big nor too small.
He looked at it from all angles.
What did they say about the box in the original work?
“They said it didn’t suit this house.”
If that was the case, this one definitely stood out.
Actually, even ignoring all those descriptions, this ominous-looking talisman was just too suspicious!
A couple of ominously large talismans were stuck to the box as if wrapping it.
“Finally……”
Haon held the box with both hands and stayed still for a while.
He would know what was inside just by opening the lid, but what came next was also a problem.
“What should I do with this?”
He couldn’t think of anything other than that he had to separate it from Cha Jeong-won.
If he opened the lid, the talisman would also be damaged. What if Cha Jeong-won came looking for it?
That’s when it happened.
Beep, beep.
Short, consecutive electronic sounds came from the direction of the entrance.
It was the sound of the password being entered.
His heart sank.
Strength surged into the hand holding the box.
“He came earlier than I thought.”
Haon reflexively hugged the box, then pushed it back under the bed.
He tried to be careful not to let the box corner hit the floor, but perhaps because his fingertips were trembling, he kept feeling like he would drop it.
Still, he somehow managed to push the box deep inside. Only then did Haon straighten his back. He felt a slight cold sweat forming on his forehead.
The sound of the lock being disengaged came from the entrance.
The door closed, followed by the sound of shoes being taken off.
At the sound of someone moving around the living room as if looking for him, Haon quickly opened the door.
And with that, he came face to face with Cha Jeong-won.
Gulp.
Because Haon was startled, a hot surge rose from within his body.
His heart beat two or three times faster, a slight heat rose to his skin. His breathing became shallow, his throat grew warm, and he thought, ‘Oh no.’
‘Not now.’
This reaction at this timing.
It seemed his feelings of surprise and urgency had directly stimulated his pheromones.
The air in the room subtly changed.
With each inhale, a sweet scent subtly carried in.
It didn’t take long for Cha Jeong-won to notice the change.
He paused his words for a moment and took one step closer. His gaze deepened just a little.
“Right now.”
“It’s a misunderstanding.”
Haon spoke first.
The words jumped out quickly, as if cutting off speech.
“I was just surprised because you came suddenly. Really.”
He tried to nail it down decisively, but the very end of his words trembled ever so slightly.
Cha Jeong-won didn’t nod right away.
“What could have surprised you?”
His voice was calm, but a strangely hot energy could be felt.
The distance between the two had narrowed ambiguously, making it feel like their breaths were tangling.
Haon opened his mouth, then closed it.
Whatever he said, he felt he would only make himself more suspicious.
“It’s really a misunderstanding.”
In the end, Haon repeated the same words.
“The bed……, I was just curious about your bed, sunbae.”
“……Bed?”
Even though the bed he mentioned and the bed Cha Jeong-won mentioned were clearly the same word, why did they sound so different?
“Anyway, so, you came in suddenly and I got startled, so that’s why.”
It was a forced excuse, but it wasn’t entirely wrong either.
It’s just that he, saying those words in this room right now, felt extremely awkward.
“I’ll leave now. Ah, or should I just go outside? Since today is Thursday, now……”
Haon gradually couldn’t distinguish what words he was spouting. His pupils seemed to be spinning too.
“Alright.”
Although his words were those of agreement, Cha Jeong-won’s gaze didn’t lighten at all.
A brief silence passed.
But the words that came next were something Haon hadn’t expected.
“Want to go to a hotel?”
The air in the room changed once again.
A different kind of heat mixed in compared to before.
“……What?”
Haon was flustered by the unexpected suggestion.
“Why, did you win another prize somewhere?”
Instinctively starting with a joke, Cha Jeong-won let out a light laugh.
“No.”
He shook his head slightly.
“This time, I just want to go.”
The memory from a few days ago rose vividly.
“You said it. That it’s Thursday.”
That tomorrow is the last day meant that now is the last chance to spend the night together and greet the morning.
Cha Jeong-won paused as if choosing his words, then added.
“Don’t you want to go?”
With that one sentence, all reasons not to go vanished.
“……Sure.”
Haon didn’t stop the smile from leaking out.
“Sure, but……”
An answer so honest it surprised even himself jumped out.
‘This actually works out better.’
The box was still under the bed.
Whether he knew or not, now that he knew, he didn’t want to let Cha Jeong-won sleep here.
“Alright. Let’s go.”