By Zephyria 
===
“I have prepared the steak medium-rare. I recommend having the first bite with a touch of Maldon salt.”
The chef, having rested the perfectly grilled meat on a wooden cutting board, sliced it smoothly and placed it on everyone’s plates, starting with Cha Se-jin’s. Only then did Cha Se-jin step away from Eun-won and return to his seat to take a bite. After seeing Cha Se-jin eat, Eun-won’s friends followed suit, dipping their meat in salt before putting it in their mouths.
The moment they chewed, the trapped juices burst out with a savory richness, and the meat melted away without the need for chewing. The three of them widened their eyes and looked back and forth between Eun-won and Cha Se-jin.
“Hyung-nim! Ah, no. Hyung! This is seriously delicious!”
“It melts the moment it hits my tongue!”
“Wow, this is insane.”
Exclaiming in excitement, the three began to eat combatively, though they tried their best to remain polite. Cha Se-jin smiled and nodded to the chef.
Normally, the chef would explain each course as it was served and encourage the guests to eat slowly, but today was not an occasion for such formalities. It was a setting where focusing on enjoying the food was more appropriate than listening to explanations about the cuts of meat or cooking methods.
Therefore, Cha Se-jin had spoken to the restaurant in advance. He asked them to give the explanation only once at the beginning and then prepare the meat at a faster pace than usual. To ensure the flow wasn’t interrupted, the chef placed five pieces of meat on the grill and served sliced shrimp meat to each plate.
“Try this one with just a bit of salt, too.”
Cha Se-jin placed a few more pieces of his own portion onto Eun-won’s plate. He smiled as he watched Eun-won’s eyes widen in delight after following his advice.
As the meat continued to arrive in succession, Cha Se-jin spent more time diligently checking on and taking care of Eun-won than eating himself. He told him which sauces tasted best and what sides paired well, smiling every time Eun-won said it was delicious. The gesture was incredibly natural.
Yoon Ji-woon, who was eating the endless supply of meat with a passion that almost brought tears of joy to his eyes, shifted his gaze from Cha Se-jin to Eun-won. No matter how he looked at it, they didn’t seem like people in an arranged marriage. Thinking that he must tell Eun-won about what he was seeing and feeling later, Yoon Ji-woon dipped a freshly grilled piece of meat into a truffle-scented sauce and popped it into his mouth.
The meal ended after the five of them had consumed about 15 servings of meat. Cha Se-jin and Eun-won combined for about 3 servings, while the other three very satisfyingly demolished the remaining 12.
Cha Se-jin lightly paid a sum that would have left Eun-won and his friends shocked—perhaps even giving them indigestion if they knew—and let out a breathy laugh as he watched Eun-won’s friends leave, looking happy after eating their fill of dessert.
It took about 20 minutes to reach the hotel, as there was no traffic. As the car stopped at the main entrance, the manager, who had been waiting, approached to open the door and bowed politely.
“Good evening, Executive Director. It is an honor to welcome you.”
“Just bring everything in the trunk up.”
The manager, giving instructions to another employee via walkie-talkie, politely greeted Eun-won and his friends and guided them to the penthouse-exclusive elevator.
The room they entered after ascending the elevator was far larger and nicer than expected. Eun-won’s friends marveled at the sprawling living room and the sparkling night view pouring through the floor-to-ceiling windows as they explored the rooms. Meanwhile, Cha Se-jin looked down at Eun-won, who remained by his side.
“Feel free to order whatever you want from room service, so don’t worry about anything and just have fun. I’ll have a few bottles of alcohol sent up later. Just don’t drink until you’re completely wasted.”
“Yes, I will. Thank you, Executive Director…”
“I’ll be going then.”
Now that Cha Se-jin was actually leaving, a sense of lingering regret settled in Eun-won’s heart. As he watched Cha Se-jin take a step back, Eun-won unconsciously reached out and grabbed the hem of his suit.
Cha Se-jin’s gaze slowly dropped. Seeing Eun-won clutching his clothes made him feel that he needed to get home quickly. If he stayed any longer, he felt he might kick out the three Beta brothers exploring the room and end up laying Eun-won down in every corner of the penthouse.
Barely maintaining his composure, Cha Se-jin smiled, gently rubbing Eun-won’s cheek with his fingertips.
“Have a great time, and contact me before you come home, whether it’s tomorrow night or dawn. I’ll come pick you up.”
“Okay… Drive safely, Executive Director.”
“Yeah. I’m off.”
As he reached up to stroke Eun-won’s hair, the three friends, having finished their tour, quickly approached Cha Se-jin, sensing he was leaving.
“Hyung, are you leaving?”
“Yeah. Have fun, guys. It’s fine to eat and drink whatever you want, but don’t drink until you lose your minds.”
“The room is too nice to just pass out in! It would be a waste to spend it like that. Thank you so much!”
Following Yoon Ji-woon’s greeting, Ju Yi-deun and Jung Woo-min also bowed deeply. Cha Se-jin glanced at the spirited Beta trio before his gaze locked deeply onto Eun-won and then released. He then turned and left the room.
“Hey, you brought your swimsuit, right? Let’s go swim. I heard the heated pool here is fucking amazing.”
“Hey, it says here that each penthouse has its own private pool. We’re in the Owner’s Penthouse, so we just have to go one floor up.”
“Wow, insane. So it’s just for us? That’s legendary. Crazy. Let’s go, hurry.”
After telling Eun-won to get ready quickly, Ju Yi-deun grabbed his bag from the living room and entered the room he wanted to use. Eun-won, holding the bag from the living room table, turned his head to look at the door Cha Se-jin had exited one more time. The touch on his cheek, the voice saying he would pick him up whenever—night or dawn—and the smiling face lingered before his eyes.
He felt as if he missed him already.
* * *
Upon arriving home, Cha Se-jin showered and headed to the pool for a long swim, something he hadn’t done in a while. As he warmed up his body while looking at the blue, clear water, he heard footsteps. The only people in this house obsessed with swimming were him and his brother. Cha Se-jin stretched his arms and looked back at his approaching brother.
“It’s been a while since you’ve been here.”
“Right? I’ve had so much work, I think it’s been about a month.”
“I feel like I’m dying to loosen up if I go even a week without it.”
“It can’t be helped if there’s no time. Do you want to do my work instead? You’d probably be better at the resort business than I am. Communication with Baum would be easier for you, too.”
“It wouldn’t be easier. I don’t really like that place.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know. When I think about it, I wonder if there’s a reason to hate it that much, but I just do. They’re pretentious.”
Having finished warming up, Cha Se-jin dove into the water first. Following him, Cha Se-gyu put on his goggles and entered the water, gliding through the current as if competing with Cha Se-jin.
The only things cutting through the silent air were the rhythmic sound of breathing and the harsh friction of water being sliced. As if there were an invisible finish line, Cha Se-jin and Cha Se-gyu checked each other’s movements and swam back and forth from one end of the pool to the other until they were exhausted. Every time the cold current pressed against his heated muscles, the accumulated fatigue and complex thoughts were slowly washed away.
With the final touch, the two of them raised their heads above the surface almost simultaneously. Emerging from the water, Cha Se-jin gasped for air and laughed out loud as he looked at the exhausted Cha Se-gyu.
“Shower and then a glass of wine?”
“Is that okay?”
“Ah, Eun-won went out with his friends today. I gave him a hotel room as a thank you for coming to the wedding and for helping during his cycle.”
“Ah, so he’s not home. No wonder. I wondered why the guy who usually sticks to the annex like glue would suddenly do this.”
“So, are you drinking or not?”
“I’m in. Should we drink in the courtyard? Or the main house?”
“Let’s do the courtyard. Bring one bottle each. You bring the glasses, Hyung.”
“Okay.”
Water droplets streamed down his toned body, leaving a trail of spots on the floor as he walked. Cha Se-jin dried himself with a large towel, threw on a robe, and left the pool for the annex.
Entering the quiet annex and climbing the stairs, Cha Se-jin headed straight for the bedroom. Normally, this was the time Eun-won would be moving around somewhere in the house. He could be in the living room, the study, or the bedroom. But today, Eun-won was not here, but somewhere else entirely. Even knowing that, Cha Se-jin found the bedroom, which was not just quiet but practically silent, to feel strange.
It felt different from when he entered after Eun-won had fallen asleep. It had been quiet then too, but Eun-won had been in the room. If he listened closely, he could hear a small breath, and there was a place for his gaze to linger long enough for time to slip away just by staring.
But not now. It felt as if he had returned to the time when he used the annex completely alone. The time when he would return home late, exercise until he was breathless and exhausted to release everything that had built up, and then return to the naturally quiet house to shower and spend time with his brother, parents, or sibling.
They say that when people have this kind of alone time after getting married, they cherish it and feel excited, wondering how to spend their free time productively, but he didn’t feel that way. Far from cherishing it, it felt awkward and empty because it was too silent.
“…….”
Staring at the empty bed, Cha Se-jin took his phone out of his robe before going to wash and opened the message window with Eun-won. He hesitated for a moment, wondering if he should ask if he was having fun or what he was doing, and wrote a few words, but soon deleted everything and tossed the phone onto the bed.
Since he had told him to have a good time with his friends, he thought it would be better not to disturb him until they met again. He felt that if he sent a message and then kept asking what he was doing as if monitoring him, he would hate it if it happened to him.
If I were drinking with Kang Seo-hoo and Do Hae-jun, and Eun-won kept asking what I was doing or where I had moved to…
Entering the bathroom, Cha Se-jin stripped off his clothes and stepped into the shower booth, imagining as he turned the lever. What if Eun-won did that? What if he sent messages and called, persistently asking because he wanted to know what he was doing?
Yeah, who would like that? Where in the world is there someone who likes that…
Executive Director, have you had a lot to drink?
Executive Director, where are you?
You said you were moving locations, where did you go?
Are you just drinking the whole time?
Can you take a call right now?
…Fuck, that would be so fucking hot. If he asked where I was and what I was doing with that face, if he used those hands to type and send those messages, if he asked with that voice… fuck, it would be so fucking good.
Doesn’t that mean he’s thinking of me? Doesn’t it mean he’s so preoccupied with thinking of me that he can’t do anything else right now? That he’s bothered by me, curious about where I am and who I’m with, and that even while apart, his senses are tuned only to me.
A strange sensation spread as tension gathered in his lower abdomen. His member, which had become hard before he knew it, stood erect. Fuck, really, all sorts of things. Cursing under his breath, Cha Se-jin gripped his erect member under the pouring water. It was the discovery of a preference he hadn’t known he had.