By Zephyria 
===
“Darling, you’re not hiding your expression very well, are you?”
“…Ah, I’m sorry….”
I must have looked like I couldn’t understand at all. As I hurried to fix my expression, I saw Cha Se-jin bow his head, burying his lips in the hand propping up his chin, his shoulders shaking. Wondering why he was doing that, Eun-won soon realized that Cha Se-jin was holding back laughter.
As he realized Cha Se-jin had lied just to tease him, a strange sense of relief spread through him. It wasn’t relief that the family he had to meet weren’t scary people, but relief that the label ‘softie’ didn’t actually suit Cha Se-jin.
“Does it really not suit me? The idea of me being a softie?”
“…Yes….”
“Why? Did I do something scary? I’m fucking kind to you, Darling.”
He couldn’t really argue with that either. To say he wasn’t kind would be a lie, because there wasn’t a single part of him that wasn’t kind. Then again, calling him simply ‘kind’ felt a bit off.
“Am I not?”
“…You are.”
Satisfied with Eun-won’s answer, Cha Se-jin gave a thin smile and cast an indifferent glance toward the door as it opened with a knock.
“I will bring the welcome drinks and amuse-bouche. The welcome drink is a Royal Blue Sparkling Tea.”
The bottle looked exactly like a champagne or wine bottle, but the drink inside was tea, not alcohol. Eun-won took a sip of the drink, watching Cha Se-jin lift his glass.
Behind the subtle carbonation, an incredibly dense floral scent filled his mouth. The taste was strange yet pleasant, and as he took a few more sips, the staff member smiled and refilled his glass.
“There are three types of amuse-bouche. A sweet shrimp tart topped with caviar, scallop carpaccio with truffle oil, and finally, oak-smoked beef tartare.”
After explaining the dishes and how to eat them, the staff member bowed politely and left the room. Eun-won looked at the presentation, which was so exquisite it felt like a waste to eat it, and then picked up a sweet shrimp tart and put it in his mouth. It was delicious—sweet, salty, and savory all at once.
“Eat plenty.”
“Yes…. Uh… please eat plenty too, Executive Director….”
“What’s this? Is that what you decided on after all that thinking? ‘Executive Director’ wasn’t on the menu. Why call your husband ‘Executive Director’?”
“…Ah, we’re… not married yet…. I’ve just… never said anything like that before….”
“I haven’t either. This is my first time calling you this, too.”
The moment he heard those words, numerous scandal articles under Cha Se-jin’s name flashed through his mind again. Eun-won shook his head slightly. Even though he tried not to think about it, Cha Se-jin kept saying things that forced him to remember, leaving his mind in a clutter.
“…Yes….”
“You don’t believe me?”
“…….”
“Do I look that promiscuous?”
“…It’s not that….”
“Yeah, it’s not.”
“……I looked it up yesterday…. Since you’re the person I’m marrying… I felt like I knew too little….”
At Eun-won’s words, Cha Se-jin, who had just put the beef tartare in his mouth, quickly swallowed and laughed out loud. So, he really hadn’t known anything about what kind of person he was until now. He didn’t even search for him immediately after their first formal meeting on the way home; only after the marriage was decided did he finally try to ‘study’ him by searching. He was truly a fascinating character—someone who seemed easy to read but wasn’t, and someone who caught you off guard just when you thought you had him figured out.
“Ah, so you saw that in your search? That I’m promiscuous?”
“…I don’t think of you as that much….”
“Then what?”
“……I just thought you had met a lot of people….”
“That there must have been a fucking lot of previous ‘Darlings’?”
It was the first time in his life he had encountered someone who used the word ‘Darling’ so naturally. Since the moment they met at the convenience store, Cha Se-jin had called him ‘Darling’ without hesitation, so it was only natural to assume he used that term easily with others as well.
“I am a slut, but I have a weak stomach, so I can’t call just anyone ‘Darling’.”
As expected, his way of speaking was blunt. First ‘promiscuous,’ and now ‘slut’…. They were aggressive words, but Eun-won couldn’t exactly say, ‘Aren’t you a slut?’ so he quickly put a scallop with a strong mushroom scent into his mouth.
“I’m serious.”
“…Yes….”
“You really don’t believe me.”
“…No. I believe you.”
“I don’t usually feel wronged about things, but if you don’t believe this, I’ll feel fucking wronged.”
It didn’t seem like something to be so serious about, but seeing the earnest tone, he actually looked distressed. Seeing that face, Eun-won nodded to signal that he truly believed him.
Seeing as there were so many scandals, it meant that the relationships weren’t based on sincere love to begin with. If that were the case, he thought, perhaps Cha Se-jin wouldn’t have used such cutesy terms of endearment. Well… by that logic, there would be no reason to use them with him either… but since they were to be married, it was understandable to think of it as special treatment.
“I’ll believe you, really….”
Only then did Cha Se-jin’s frustration subside. He finished the amuse-bouche and took a sip of tea.
“What were we talking about before we came here?”
“…That I called you Executive Director….”
“Ah, right. So you’re really going to call me that?”
“Yes…. After we marry… if I have to change it, I’ll try then. I’ll practice until then….”
Imagining Eun-won practicing calling him ‘Darling’ or ‘Honey,’ Cha Se-jin rested his elbow on the table and buried his eyes in the back of his hand. The image was too erotic; he felt that if he looked at Eun-won any longer, he wouldn’t be able to keep pretending to be kind.
As if giving Cha Se-jin time to compose himself, the staff member entered with the appetizers. Watching Eun-won look at the food placed before him, Cha Se-jin calmed his heart and, once they were alone again, asked mischievously.
“When can I start kissing you?”
“…….”
“You haven’t thought about that?”
After taking a bite of the tender grilled octopus topped with apple puree, Cha Se-jin looked at the flustered Eun-won with eyes full of mischief.
“…We’re having an arranged marriage.”
“Yeah, that’s true.”
“Even so… do we have to?”
Just as he was thinking that the subtle apple scent spreading in his mouth was lovely and that he had been right to change the puree, Eun-won’s answer was once again unexpected. It seemed like a fairly bold answer, but looking at his face, his ears and cheeks were flushed red, as if just talking about kissing was embarrassing.
Ah, seriously, what is with this guy?
An even greater wave of interest crashed over the already overflowing curiosity he had.
“I guess so. It’s not a love marriage, it’s an arranged one, so why bother with kissing. You’re supposed to actually like the person for that. Right?”
When he asked, matching the level of the naive youth, Eun-won nodded slightly in agreement. At that small nod, Cha Se-jin felt a strange sense of frustration. He knew he shouldn’t treat his twenty-year-old arranged partner like the one-night stands he’d had in the past, but it was deeply agonizing to have a face exactly his type right in front of him and not be able to touch a single fingertip.
Ah, fuck. Forget it, let’s just eat. What’s the point of teasing a kid who knows nothing? I’m just getting myself worked up for no reason.
Cha Se-jin shook his head and poked the octopus with his fork, but a small voice continued from across the table.
“…But after we marry… and live together….”
“…….”
“……I’ll get to know you… more… and then… later, if I, l-like you… then….”
Hearing Eun-won speak of a positive future with him felt strange. Cha Se-jin gripped his fork tightly for a moment before setting it down, sighing as he looked at Eun-won’s soft-looking cheeks, which had turned completely crimson.
He wasn’t even asking for a kiss right now; he had only spoken about a possibility in the distant future that might not even happen, yet it felt as if their tongues had just brushed against each other. His groin tingled so much that he felt he could come just by making eye contact and masturbating.
“Will you tell me if you come to like me?”
“…….”
“You have to tell me for me to know.”
He hadn’t intended to tease him, but seeing Eun-won’s distress, Cha Se-jin’s mischief rose again, and he grinned.
“Tell me everything you like, Darling.”
“Things I like?”
“Yeah. So from now on, I’ll only do things you like. That way, you’ll fall in love with me faster.”
Eun-won seemed to have something to say, but his lips only flickered without any words coming out, and he eventually dropped his gaze to the plate. Cha Se-jin smiled, inhaling Eun-won’s pheromones that were subtly spreading through the room. It seemed that what he had just said had opened something inside Eun-won. Judging by the way his pheromones were leaking out uncontrollably.
“I’ll be quiet for a bit, so eat. I think it’ll suit your taste, too.”
With red ears and unable to control his pheromones for a moment, Eun-won picked up his fork and put the octopus and apple puree in his mouth together. It was cute how his eyes widened slightly, as if he found it delicious.
As he focused on eating, he seemed to calm down, and Cha Se-jin felt the unstable pheromones being gathered back. Feeling a lingering regret, Cha Se-jin took a deep breath of Eun-won’s fading pheromone scent and slowly rolled his tongue inside his mouth.
It was the greatest crisis of his life.