By Zephyria 
Grayson sat across the table with a face full of discontent. A red handprint still marked one of his cheeks. He rubbed his cheek and grumbled.
“Your hand is too spicy.”
“I told you to stop…….”
Dane clenched his fists on the table, his body trembling as he gritted his teeth. He hadn’t gone out to the balcony the day before, so he didn’t know. That the space was connected to the next room.
What was the point of locking the room when the balcony was wide open?
The thought of that bastard shamelessly pretending not to know and moaning about locking the door yesterday, even though he must have known the truth, made Dane’s anger surge.
Grayson, who had been about to say something, shut his mouth at Dane’s fierce glare, but his dissatisfied expression didn’t change. Where did this bastard learn to be so brazen? Dane was dumbfounded but soon calmed himself. That was just a reaction he was creating. There was no need to respond to it. Above all…
If he reacted to everything, he wouldn’t die of old age.
But even as he thought that, the words came out involuntarily.
“What’s with that balcony?”
Grayson immediately replied to the grumbling question.
“Romeo and Juliet…….”
“Shut up.”
Grayson clamped his mouth shut at Dane’s fierce gaze. He still looked dissatisfied, but Dane ignored him and looked down at the table, his face turning pale.
Even if he were invited to a dinner banquet, there wouldn’t be this much food. There were five kinds of fruit juice: tomato, lemon, kiwi, orange, and blueberry, even kale, and yogurt and milk were standard, and there were ten kinds of bread, from pastries to sliced bread. The jams for the pancakes were in various colors, and Dane couldn’t even bring himself to count how many syrups were placed with them.
The bacon was cooked in various ways: lightly cooked, blanched, and crispy, and the same went for the eggs. And how many kinds of omelets were there? Seeing several steaks lined up according to how they were cooked made him sick of it before he even ate.
Grayson smiled brightly at Dane, who was just staring at the enormous amount of food filling the table with a pale face.
“It’s your first morning after coming to our house, so I prepared something special.”
“Hey…….”
Dane felt dizzy from the headache. Who eats this much food in the morning? So far, he had only eaten a piece of toast and coffee at most, and sometimes he skipped that too.
Dane couldn’t help but sigh repeatedly. He didn’t know where to start. It hadn’t even been an hour since he woke up, but he already felt like he had run through five fire scenes. He opened his mouth in a tired voice.
“Coffee is enough.”
“Espresso? Decaf? Americano? Which beans do you like? Brazil, Kenya…….”
“Coffee.”
Dane gritted his teeth and replied. The only advantage of Grayson that Dane liked was that he was quick-witted. This time, he didn’t waste any time and quickly got up and brought back a strong cup of coffee. Dane inwardly admired the fragrant aroma he had never smelled before and brought the cup to his lips.
Haaa.
He felt the tension in his body melt away and his nerves relax. He couldn’t help but think that this was what good coffee was like. Until now, he had been too lazy to use a coffee machine and drank instant coffee, or at most used a drive-thru cafe on his way to work. He thought that coffee was just for waking up, and that enjoying the aroma and taste was just bullshit.
“What is this coffee?”
Grayson replied happily when Dane asked in wonder.
“Cat poop…….”
“Stop.”
Grayson’s face quickly filled with discontent when he was forbidden to speak again, just when he was finally able to talk. Dane looked down at the coffee he had just enjoyed with a distorted face, but soon gave up and drank the coffee again. He hesitated for a moment before putting the cup to his lips.
He always slept in old cotton pants or training pants, and this time he was shirtless as usual. Dane, who was sitting at the table with only his lower body clothed, drinking coffee and waking up his brain, suddenly frowned when he realized that Grayson was staring at him.
“What? Why aren’t you eating and just looking at me? No, never mind.”
Dane immediately regretted speaking. Seeing Grayson’s reaction, his eyes flashing for a moment before fading, he was convinced that his thoughts were correct.
That bastard, what was he trying to eat?
Even as he thought that, Dane subtly sat sideways and covered his chest with his arms as much as possible as he drank his coffee. It was so hot it felt like his mouth would burn, but he didn’t care and poured the rest of the drink in at once before jumping up. He was about to turn around and head to his room when Grayson suddenly spoke.
“Ah, there’s something I didn’t tell you yesterday.”
Dane turned his reluctant gaze to him as if to say, ‘What is it now?’ Grayson added in a light tone.
“There’s a dog in the garden.”
“A dog?”
“Yeah.”
Grayson nodded and continued.
“Alex is getting old now, so he’s not as fast as he used to be. He looks scary, but he’s gentle, so you don’t have to worry. Darling will be inside anyway, and Alex will be outside.”
Dane stood there for a moment. Grayson waited, wondering at his attitude, as if he had something to say but was hesitating whether to say it or not.
Looking at Grayson, Dane was inwardly conflicted. He thought that if he was old, he would need a lot of care, so it wouldn’t be good to keep him in the garden, but he wasn’t sure if it was okay to say that. If it were someone else’s business, he would have ignored it, but since it was an animal, he couldn’t help but feel concerned.
He has a lot of money, so he must be taking good care of him, so why should I……
He won’t be staying long anyway, so it’s not good to get involved. Thinking that far, he made up his mind and nodded.
“Okay. Is there anything else you forgot?”
“Um, not now.”
Dane turned his gaze again. As if to say, ‘What does that mean?’ Grayson smiled nonchalantly and replied.
“I mean, there’s nothing I can think of right now. I’ll tell you if there’s anything else.”
“……Okay.”
Dane stopped there and retreated for now. It was already approaching his work time. He didn’t have time to linger, so he immediately returned to his room and started getting ready. It seemed that Darling had taken care of his business and eaten his food during the night while Dane was asleep. After stroking the cat, who was curled up in the pet carrier again, he filled it with food and water and left the room. Before leaving, he made sure to close all the windows and doors, including the room.
After checking the closed doors several times, he turned around and immediately met Grayson’s eyes. Dane felt himself automatically stepping back and opened his mouth.
“Don’t tell me you were waiting for me?”
“Why not? We’re lovers, so of course we should go to work together.”
Seeing Grayson respond as if he had been waiting for it, Dane felt his vision darken. This wouldn’t do. He had to come up with a plan.
Right now.
“Wait a minute, I need to set some conditions for staying in this house.”
Grayson, who had been about to approach excitedly, stopped when Dane held out one hand and spoke. Dane declared to him in a stern tone.
“Separate commutes, and don’t follow me around for more than 3 hours a day. That’s my condition.”
Grayson looked down at him with a blank face. Silence flowed between them.
“Are you kidding?”
Grayson was the one who broke the silence first. With a smiling face as usual, but with the very expression that Dane always found awkward. Of course, Dane’s answer was firm.
“Of course I’m serious, you idiot. Have I ever joked with you?”
Immediately after spitting out the words irritably, he paused. It was because Grayson had a devastated expression as if the world had collapsed.