By Zephyria 
‘Why is Ms. Mi-yeong here?’
The moment he realized she was there, Mo Yeon-hu snapped awake as if he had been splashed with ice water. Only then did he notice that he was sitting on Kwon Mi-eon’s lap. Mo Yeon-hu stood up abruptly, almost pushing Kwon Mi-eon away.
“Uh, oh… sorry.”
Flustered, Mo Yeon-hu looked like someone who had just been caught cheating. Kwon Mi-eon, whose expression darkened slightly, stood up along with him.
“Kwon Mi-eon! Where are you? Is he not home…?”
Kang Mi-yeong was still searching for him in the living room. At the sound of her voice, Mo Yeon-hu gestured subtly toward the door and began to speak.
“Ms. Mi-yeong is outside right—”
At that moment, Kwon Mi-eon’s large palm covered Mo Yeon-hu’s mouth.
“Shh.”
Why on earth are you covering my mouth? While a bewildered Mo Yeon-hu blinked in confusion, Kwon Mi-eon removed his hand and headed toward the door.
‘Is he going out?’
Mo Yeon-hu followed awkwardly behind him, only to bump his nose against Kwon Mi-eon’s back as the other came to a dead stop with his hand on the doorknob.
“I’m here.”
That was all he said. Before Mo Yeon-hu could even respond, the door opened and then slammed shut again with a thud, leaving Mo Yeon-hu staring blankly at the scene with a perplexed face. Then, the conversation between the two could be heard through the coldly closed door. Mo Yeon-hu held his breath and pressed his ear tightly against the door.
“What are you doing?”
“You were in here? Why aren’t you answering your phone?”
“Why did you suddenly come over?”
“I didn’t want to come either, okay? Mom told me to bring you some side dishes!”
“Give them to me, I’ll put them away. Tell her thank you.”
“Aren’t you thankful to me? What on earth have you been doing lately that you’re not answering your phone like this?”
“I was busy.”
“You don’t even have a job…”
“Anyway, I’ve got them, so we’re done, right? Leave.”
“Why are you pushing me!”
He heard footsteps going to the kitchen and then returning toward the entrance. Kang Mi-yeong’s grumbling voice continued.
“Oh, right! Since I’m here, let me take the bag I left behind.”
“Bag?”
“I think I left the bag I used to bring the side dishes last time. No doubt it’s still in the storage room…”
—Click.
“Hey, Kang Mi-yeong. Wait a second!”
Before Kwon Mi-eon could stop her, the door opened.
“I don’t want to see your face either, so I’m going to find it quickly and leave, okay? But it’s inconvenient when I go grocery shopping without it… so…?”
The chattering Kang Mi-yeong paused and blinked slowly.
“…Huh?”
Because inside the room she thought was a storage room stood Mo Yeon-hu, looking awkward as he hadn’t been able to find a place to hide.
Like the shocked Kang Mi-yeong, Mo Yeon-hu was frozen, staring at her. While the two, who had encountered each other in an unexpected place, were swept over by bewilderment, only Kwon Mi-eon’s hand, unable to stop the situation in time, remained suspended in mid-air.
“A guest…?”
It was Kang Mi-yeong who broke the silence first.
“Hello…”
“Why are you here?”
How should I explain this? Mo Yeon-hu’s lips trembled as he glanced behind him. There were two computers turned on side-by-side and game screens.
“Were you playing a game with Kwon Mi-eon? But why… here? No, were you two this close? What is this?”
Mo Yeon-hu’s mouth went dry at the barrage of questions pouring out of her in surprise.
‘How do I explain this…?’
He couldn’t exactly say, “I followed Kwon Mi-eon around in a game thinking he was Ms. Mi-yeong and ended up getting caught, and these days we’re catching spies…”
“I told you to leave.”
While Mo Yeon-hu stood frozen, unable to answer, Kwon Mi-eon moved. He quickly grabbed Kang Mi-yeong’s shoulder and tried to pull her out.
“Kwon Mi-eon! Wait a minute…!”
—Thud!
Kang Mi-yeong tried to resist being pushed, but Kwon Mi-eon was incredibly fast. In an instant, he snatched Kang Mi-yeong away, closed the door, and disappeared.
Left alone in the room, Mo Yeon-hu rubbed his chest.
‘That scared me.’
Both Kang Mi-yeong’s sudden appearance and the abrupt opening of the door. Because neither situation had been predicted, his heart was still pounding from the shock.
“Why are you in such a rush? I said I’d leave on my own! Hey, hey, hey, my shoes—!”
Clatter, the sound of the two bickering at the entrance could be heard. After the shock subsided, a curious Mo Yeon-hu leaned toward the door again, and Kang Mi-yeong’s urgent question burst out.
“Let me just ask this before I go! Were you and that person close?”
“You’ve got your shoes on, right? So now stop…”
“How did you two meet?”
Then, Kang Mi-yeong spoke with a laugh, sounding excited.
“Actually… I was a little curious about him.”
At that moment, it became quiet as if Kwon Mi-eon had stopped moving. Only Kang Mi-yeong’s chatter, her voice slightly lowered, echoed through.
“It’s my first time having these kinds of feelings for a guest, and since we’re practically strangers, I couldn’t bring myself to approach him. But if you’re close with him… doesn’t that mean he’s a pretty decent person? You don’t get close to just anyone.”
“…….”
“So, can’t you introduce us?”
Mo Yeon-hu, learning for the first time that Kang Mi-yeong had feelings for him and had been hesitating, froze with wide eyes.
‘Ms. Mi-yeong was interested in me?’
It was a fact he hadn’t noticed at all. There hadn’t been much in the way of conversation, and since he was the only one who had been nervous while Ms. Mi-yeong had always spoken to him quite easily, he thought it was a one-sided feeling. To think that Ms. Mi-yeong had a crush on him.
“Huh? Introduce us.”
Perhaps this was the situation he had longed for. The woman he had fallen for the moment he first saw her was asking for an introduction, but why was he…
‘Not happy?’
He wondered if he was the same person who said he would do anything for Kang Mi-yeong, because he wasn’t happy, he wasn’t fluttering… he felt nothing.
‘Even though I’m looking at her face, why don’t I feel the same as before?’
Moreover, even if it was a sudden appearance, in the past, love serenades and wedding bells would have rung incessantly in his head.
‘Not just now, but at some point, Ms. Mi-yeong became very comfortable to be around.’
At some point, Mo Yeon-hu had stopped thinking about her. Rather, it was more accurate to say he had completely forgotten about her. Even now.
“Hey! Kwon Mi-eon! I really want an intro—”
Rather than thinking he should say something to her…
“You’ve got your shoes on, right? Leave.”
At that moment, he heard the sound of the front door slamming shut, followed by the sound of returning footsteps. The presence of someone approaching the door was felt, and the door opened.
Mo Yeon-hu, who had been thinking while looking at the floor, looked up as if drawn.
And the moment his eyes met Kwon Mi-eon’s, the uncertainty in his mind turned into conviction.
‘Yes. I’m concerned about Kwon Mi-eon.’
Mo Yeon-hu didn’t know if this feeling was the same kind of attraction he had felt for Kang Mi-yeong, or if it was simple curiosity. It was his first time being this concerned about another man, and he had never felt such a strange emotion before. But one thing was certain.
Right now, he was more conscious of Kwon Mi-eon than anyone else.
‘Much more than Ms. Mi-yeong.’
He had developed some kind of feeling for Kwon Mi-eon, who was now standing before him, enough to push aside his 46th passionate unrequited love. He didn’t know what it was, but…
‘Somehow, it’s embarrassing.’
Mo Yeon-hu’s face turned red in an instant, to the point where it wouldn’t be strange if it exploded. Because he hurriedly turned his head away, Mo Yeon-hu couldn’t see.
“Hyung.”
Kwon Mi-eon, calling him in a low voice.
“…Uh, yeah. Did you see Ms. Mi-yeong off well? Ah, that surprised me. Right. Should we finish the game first? That…”
As he watched Mo Yeon-hu babbling, not even knowing what he was saying, and turning red, Kwon Mi-eon’s expression was gradually hardening.
“Yeon-hu Hyung.”
The rambling Mo Yeon-hu paused. Before he knew it, Kwon Mi-eon had closed the distance and grabbed his shoulder. Feeling a strange flutter at the sound of Kwon Mi-eon calling his name without the surname, he shut his mouth tight.
‘…Uh, what is this?’
The strength gripping his shoulder was slightly different from Kwon Mi-eon’s usually gentle touch.
Feeling pain from the grip that seemed as if it would crush his shoulder, Mo Yeon-hu frowned slightly and looked up, only to gasp.
Kwon Mi-eon’s expression was strange. To say it was the first time he had ever seen it would be accurate. Eyes filled with a coldness he had never seen before were directed at Mo Yeon-hu. He scanned Mo Yeon-hu’s face thoroughly, and then.
“…Ha.”
He let out a hollow laugh mixed with cynicism.
“Hyung, seriously…”
And then, one final sentence.
“You must be so head-over-heels for Kang Mi-yeong that you’re about to die, huh?”