By Zephyria 
“You look pretty with your hair tied up, too.”
“…….”
It was a compliment delivered with utter indifference. Gyu-oh, who had been meticulously applying hand cream to those rough hands, froze mid-motion. Though their fingers remained entwined, the strength of a reciprocal grip was nowhere to be felt.
“I thought you were pretty back then, too. Looking at her now, Ju-hae definitely has an impression that draws the eye.”
Even the subtle scent of apples drifting through the air failed to lift Gyu-oh’s mood. With his head bowed and frozen in place, Gyu-oh stole a glance upward.
“Isn’t that the perfume brand you use? You’ve used it ever since Ju-hae bought it for you.”
The question was directed at him, but Min-ho’s gaze remained fixed on the window. More specifically, he was staring at an outdoor billboard on the building across the street—a shot of a rookie actress looking down with a blue-tinted perfume bottle held close to her cheek.
If it had been a complete stranger, Gyu-oh would have flipped out and demanded to know if he liked her, but he wasn’t in a position to do that.
“……Did she?”
“Yeah. Why don’t you remember?”
“…….”
“It’s been years since you broke up. Ju-hae would be disappointed.”
The reason was that the model for the perfume brand—and the woman plastered across the billboard opposite the office—was his ex-girlfriend. They had dated for about a year and broken up relatively cleanly, but she seemed to have become quite famous on social media since then. Seeing as she had landed a perfume brand deal only two years after debuting, she was clearly on a roll.
“Oh, come on, Hyung. Four years? That’s practically the ancient past.”
Two weeks ago, when he first discovered that advertisement, Gyu-oh had honestly been so horrified he almost wanted to push the opposite building over. How common was it for an ex-girlfriend to be perched right across from one’s current partner’s office? A man who usually lived with his blinds drawn had, since discovering the ad, been keeping his view wide open.
At first, Gyu-oh had been cautiously reading the room, but seeing Hyung act like he cared was secretly a turn-on. Eventually, he even started encouraging the jealousy. When he told Min-ho he could pour out whatever came to mind without filtering, Min-ho had surprisingly been quite good at voicing jealous sentiments.
That went on for a day, then two… Gyu-oh had enjoyed Cha Min-ho’s jealousy for over a week. But by now, he was confused as to whether it was a joke or sincere. He started feeling like the atmosphere was shifting into something unsettling.
He finally managed to move his hands, meticulously rubbing in the remaining hand cream. Even after that, he spent a long time fiddling with Min-ho’s hand, trying to divert his attention.
“But Hyung, isn’t the sun coming in too strong here? I think we should live with the blinds down.”
“Why? You told me to live in the light.”
“……No, I mean! If we’re doing that, you should have applied sunscreen. Did you? You didn’t. If you underestimate UV rays, your skin will go downhill fast, okay? Right now, your skin is practically at a teenage level, so you have to take care of it.”
With the corners of his mouth forced up awkwardly, his expression was likely a sight to behold. But right now, blocking Min-ho’s view was more important than his own face. Just as he was about to move toward the blinds, speaking frantically on purpose, Min-ho’s arm suddenly blocked his path.
“Leave it. When my vision is blurry, looking at it feels like my eyesight is improving. It’s good.”
“……U-um, Hyung, your fortune—you have a lot of water in your Saju. Right? People like that, anyway, need to be close to the earth. In that sense, how about working on the first floor? We could grab coffee together.”
He even brought up fortune-telling, which he knew nothing about, as he subtly positioned himself in front of the window. He even pressed down on Min-ho’s shoulder to force him back into the chair so the billboard wouldn’t be visible. As he blocked the pouring sunlight, a shadow fell over Min-ho’s body and face. Perhaps because the season was leaning toward spring, the sunlight felt exceptionally stinging. He even had the illusion that sweat was trickling down his back.
“Go to the first floor?”
“Yeah. At the cafe—”
“You want me to look up at Ju-hae? Like I should admire her from below, is that what you mean?”
Based on his fair amount of dating experience… something was seriously wrong. Hyung, who had started by voicing jealousy as a joke, seemed to be becoming genuinely sincere. In a moment like this, one wrong breath and… he was definitely fucked.
As Gyu-oh stood there with his mouth open, stammering, Min-ho, who had been staring at him expressionlessly, let out a smirk.
“…….”
Seeing him smile, he didn’t look angry or genuinely upset. But those few words kept bothering him. Min-ho lightly tapped Gyu-oh’s thigh—which was awkwardly blocking the window—with his fist and leaned back completely into the chair. A smile formed on his previously stiff face.
“Ah, seriously. Why are you so intimidated? It doesn’t suit you.”
“……Huh?”
“You told me to be jealous, to be possessive. Now that I’m doing it, why are you acting so stiff?”
He had been happy to elicit jealousy by poking at Min-ho’s side, but considering the blinds had been up for days… he wondered if this really was a joke.
“……What’s the truth? Are you angry or not?”
“I’m not. I actually like that I’ve caught the eye of someone with such high standards.”
“…….”
Min-ho wasn’t the type to be skilled at empty platitudes, so it wasn’t something to be dismissed. Still, Gyu-oh couldn’t help but feel uneasy.
“But even back then, Ju-hae was way too good for you.”
“Excuse me, why are you suddenly taking someone else’s side?”
Gyu-oh, who had been cowed the entire time, narrowed his eyes. No matter if she was an ex-girlfriend, he didn’t want to hear Cha Min-ho praising another person.
“Then, shall we keep going as we were? You walk on eggshells, and I point things out every time I see Ju-hae?”
Min-ho shrugged at the hesitating Gyu-oh and stretched out his leg. Then, he stepped firmly on Gyu-oh’s sneaker.
“……Or, is it not me, but you who’s bothered?”
“No way! If that were true, I wouldn’t even be human!”
He jumped and waved his hands dismissively before he even finished the sentence. He was finally enjoying a stable newlywed life; there was no way he would sprinkle salt on that.
“Because you’re afraid you might waver if you see her every day?”
“No. I bet my entire fortune on ‘no’.”
“Then what, would she even take your call if you contacted her?”
“Absolutely not.”
Anyway, they were no longer in a position where they even had each other’s contact information. Min-ho looked up at Gyu-oh, who was scratching his eyebrow, and stood up with a light movement. As he stretched his arms wide, his lean waistline was fully revealed. Without realizing it, Gyu-oh reached out and hugged his waist. With Gyu-oh clinging to his back, Min-ho continued to walk forward.
“So, I’ll stop now. The jealousy and all that……. It’s pitiful seeing you shrivel up and walk on eggshells.”
He hadn’t shriveled up mentally; he had actually looked crumpled in Hyung’s eyes. Still, he was relieved that it seemed to stop here thanks to him showing how much he’d been agonizing. He could have just said okay and stepped back, but even in this situation, Won Gyu-oh added a condition.
“……Lower the blinds, then.”
“I kept them up because I was worried the plant would die.”
Gyu-oh’s gaze shifted to the potted plant sitting in a corner of the desk. It was a plant Gyu-oh had bought recently for the bleak space. Min-ho hadn’t given it a glance when it first arrived, but it seemed he was cherishing it because Gyu-oh had gifted it.
“Really because of the plant?”
“Yeah. I looked it up on the internet, and it said photosynthesis is more important than water.”
Come to think of it, the plant had originally been on the table in front of the sofa, soaking up the long stretches of sunlight with its whole body.
Which meant he was just a guilty man who had been groveling and agonizing for nothing.
“Then you weren’t actually annoyed, right? I only did it because I liked it when Hyung was jealous. I was actually regretting pushing you into it.”
He rested his chin on Min-ho’s shoulder, trailing off. He even pretended to be on the verge of tears, acting pitiful. In response, Min-ho raised a hand, lightly patted his cheek, and stepped away.
“Well, honestly, it is a bit distracting. But you said you wouldn’t waver, right? Then it’s fine.”
“Mm-hmm, that’s right.”
Clinging to him from behind, Gyu-oh rubbed his cheek vigorously against the nape of Min-ho’s neck. He felt his hair getting messily disheveled, but he pressed his cheek even more intensely against him. Meanwhile, Min-ho continued walking. When they finally reached the door, Gyu-oh pressed his lips close to Min-ho’s ear.
“Wait.”
“What.”
“……Are you going out? Isn’t the mood kind of good right now?”
“You told me to go to the first floor. To grab coffee together.”
Min-ho’s hand quietly gripped the back of Gyu-oh’s hand that was wrapped around his waist, then let go. It was a signal to slowly detach since he was opening the door. If he stayed clung to him without reading the room, an elbow might fly his way.
“Hmm. The current flow is perfect for a reconciliation kiss.”
His selfish desires ended there. Now he had to tactfully withdraw his regret. He loosened his grip on the waist and stepped back. Just as he did, Min-ho, who had just gripped the door handle of the office, slowly turned around.
“You always say the exact same thing.”
Muttering as if scolding him, Min-ho gently smoothed down Gyu-oh’s messy hair. The touch was so tender that Gyu-oh’s heart fluttered for no reason.