By Zephyria He wasn’t good at refusing people who acted strange when they usually didn’t. Ian’s face was more serious than he thought, and he looked like he had something to say.
So, he really didn’t have any important schedules…
He didn’t know why he was hesitant to accept even though he had time. It was just that passing thoughts were catching on something, like a burr in his mind. Only thoughts were piling up on his stagnant heart. Without being able to say anything out loud.
“Okay.”
In the end, he nodded. Ian’s lips softened. He’d been smiling more often lately. It bothered him because it felt like some kind of signal. He lowered his head and slowly chewed the rice Yi-tae had made for him.
After eating, he took a light walk around with Ian. He was chewing on the vitamin jelly given by the Housekeeping fairy who lived at the company, when he started to wonder, ‘When did he buy this?’
Even though he canceled his plans and stayed home, how could a guy who only did overtime seem to have more time than him? It was truly a mysterious thing.
“Did you talk to the person who gave it to you?”
“About what?”
It was a really random topic. Of course, he was also thinking about the Housekeeping fairy, but it wasn’t something Ian would be particularly interested in. There were plenty of other stories they could share.
Ian pursed his lips. He hesitated to speak, as if there was something he wasn’t sure about. The iced Americano in his hand was dripping water onto the ground, drop by drop.
“Like, why they’re giving you this stuff. Aren’t you curious about the reason?”
“Ah, I heard.”
He heard a lot that night. Yi-tae probably didn’t remember it properly. If he remembered the mess he made, he would have cried and apologized.
He just woke up later than usual on Monday morning and stared at him with a pale face. He looked like he was about to cry. He didn’t drink much, so he could remember everything clearly.
Ian mentioned this because he wanted him to tell him the reason, but he didn’t want to. This was between the two of them. Ian could probably guess that the Housekeeping fairy was Yi-tae now. He was quite perceptive.
He swallowed the remaining jelly and said nonchalantly.
“I’m not going to tell you, so don’t ask.”
He cut him off in advance.
To explain this, he would have to reveal all of their past. He wasn’t that close to Ian. Not enough to reveal someone else’s sexual orientation. Even though they spent a lot of time together.
Suddenly, he remembered that day. The corners of his lips twitched subtly.
〈Yi-tae. I have a question.〉
〈Uh, uhm…〉
〈Why do you keep secretly leaving snacks and running away?〉
He asked Yi-tae, who was barely able to hold his head up, almost surreptitiously. He blinked slowly, his eyes red from crying. It seemed to take him a while to understand what he was saying.
He said in a voice clogged with tears.
〈I thought you looked like you lost weight… I wanted to do something for you.〉
He burst out laughing at the cuteness of his words. As if Darling was Grandmother. The way he was talking about feeding his grandson something was quite funny.
He gulped down his drink. Then he scrunched up his face and chugged water.
He definitely seemed like he could drink well when he first saw him in Manhattan. No, he was drunk and fought with him back then too. Some things never change.
〈If I act like I know… you’ll hate it, right? I don’t want to be hated.〉
He was already shedding tears. He rubbed his eyes wildly with his arm. He looked like a five-year-old, which made him feel strange. He was cute and funny. Was he that scared of him?
While he was reminiscing, Ian grabbed his wrist. It was almost lunchtime, and they had to go back to the office. It wasn’t urgent, but he was flustered by Ian’s sudden touch. What he was thinking about came to a halt.
“Don’t forget our dinner appointment. Absolutely.”
He spoke firmly, as if he was talking about something very serious. What on earth was he going to say that was so serious? He was puzzled, but he nodded.
Ian let out a sigh of relief.
When he returned to his seat, a Strawberry Frappuccino was on his desk, as if the Housekeeping fairy had visited again. Did he say he wanted to drink it? He was thinking about sweet drinks because there were a lot of salty side dishes in his lunch today.
He turned his head and looked at Yi-tae. He was working hard with a shiny face. He must have eaten a quick lunch and worked. He was busy working.
He opened a chat and left a message.
[Is being a Housekeeping fairy your dream?]
[I’ll enjoy it. Thanks. I wanted to drink it.]
[20 million won for back surgery.]
He sent the messages with a time gap, but the mark didn’t disappear, indicating he hadn’t read them. He was usually slow to reply, but he was relatively quick to check.
He thought he should just get to the point and focus on his work. He didn’t have that much work to do overtime for a while, but that didn’t mean he had the luxury to play around.
It was ambiguous to explain in detail, so he said it concisely. This was a basic rule between roommates.
[I’m going to be late tonight. Don’t worry about me.]
The 1 disappeared the moment he sent it. As expected, he didn’t get a reply right away. He was about to close the window and read the data when a reply came from Yi-tae really quickly.
Sirius
[Why?]
[Are you busy tonight? Will you be late?]
The first chat seemed to be sent by mistake, and the second chat followed immediately. He usually said everything at once, but he could see that he was flustered. He held back his laughter at the typo-filled message.
He turned his head again and looked at him. He was frantically typing on the keyboard with a look of panic on his face.
Sirius
[Sorry for the typos. I didn’t mean to interfere with your personal life. I was just wondering if you were going out for dinner too. The Frappuccino was because there was a coupon with a short expiration date. You used to like it. Your back is okay since you get up from your seat sometimes. I’ll pay attention.]
A long message came back. Seeing this, he felt like he was treating him like a superior. Was he difficult to him?
He rested his chin on his hand and read the chat several times. He imagined Yi-tae’s voice speaking quickly. In reality, he would only leave a short word and not know what to do.
[I think I’m going to eat out. What was for dinner today?]
If he was going out after work, the only place to go was a restaurant. So he would inevitably eat, and if the conversation got longer, he might go to a bar.
He must have been keeping the chat window open without working, because the mark disappeared immediately.
Sirius
[Soybean paste stew and spicy pork. I’ll make it for dinner and you can eat it for breakfast tomorrow. I’ll warm it up for you. My brother said the soybean paste he sent will arrive today.]
[I thought you would like it for dinner tonight.]
This was really disappointing. Not being able to eat freshly made, warm soybean paste stew. He wanted to postpone the appointment right away, but he couldn’t, considering Ian’s attitude.
Suddenly, his right cheek felt prickly, so he turned his head. Ian was staring at him. His eyes were indifferent, and he couldn’t tell what he was thinking.
“Is there something on my face?”
“You look happy.”
“Me?”
He hadn’t had anything fun until just now. He didn’t understand and expressed his doubt, so Ian tapped his lips.
“Gyeoul. You’re smiling. Even now.”
He touched his lips after him and felt the subtle upturn of his lips. When was he smiling? He blinked. He was just exchanging trivial words. Was he having fun chatting while slacking off? Well, anything was fun as long as it wasn’t work.
He composed himself. Showing off that he was playing around was amateurish, and he got caught by his boss.
“I must have been excited about choosing what to eat for dinner.”
“Is there anything you want to eat?”
Ian’s tone became subtly affectionate. He wanted to eat soybean paste stew when he mentioned it, but it was an inappropriate menu for a serious conversation.
He liked Western food like steak. It was also a safe choice.
“Shall we go to the steakhouse we went to last time? It was good.”
“Okay.”
Ian smiled. He seemed quite satisfied. Being a yes-man wasn’t easy either. He left the conversation window with Yi-tae open and reopened the file. He had already been caught, so he had to show that he was working hard for the time being.
He finished writing the proposal that had to be submitted by today and looked out the window, and the sun was slowly setting. Seeing that the days were getting longer, he realized that the long winter was over. It was already 10 minutes before quitting time.
He was about to close all the windows and turn off the computer when the chat window he had left on the desktop caught his eye. Now that he thought about it, he hadn’t given him a proper answer.
Judging from the fact that he was going to make dinner, it must have been a rare day for him to leave on time. As expected, he still felt disappointed even after seeing it twice. Because Yi-tae was busy.
It seemed too late to reply, so he closed the window. It wasn’t a conversation that needed a reply.
“Shall we go now?”
Ian, who had finished preparing, got up from his seat. He turned off the computer and got up from his seat. The clock was pointing to exactly 6 o’clock.