“Dangerous?”
“Huh?”
His lips trembled slightly. Cheong-o missed not even that small thing.
“Stay… the night.”
Unable to meet his eyes, Se-hyeon bowed his head, his ears burning red. Cheong-o twisted his chin, scanning the quiet hallway. Moving nimbly, he confirmed with certainty that no one was eavesdropping. The absence of the noise that usually felt so tiring suggested as much.
After confirming no one was there, he stepped forward, and the barefoot guide stepped back. Cheong-o could already picture him realizing he’d been barefoot and being horrified.
“There’s no spare blanket.”
“I have another one.”
Catching up in one stride to Se-hyeon, who stepped back like a fleeing person every time he was spoken to, Cheong-o asked.
“The bed’s small too.”
“Sleep on the floor.”
“That’s harsh treatment for a guest.”
“…I can’t sleep on the floor, can I?”
“And I have nothing to sleep in?”
“Wear the clothes I gave you earlier.”
“The pants are a bit…”
He’d meant the rest as teasing, but the pants were sincere. Thinking of the firm thighs and the all-too-assertive center, Se-hyeon mumbled his answer.
“That… that…”
His gaze, with nowhere to go, was pitiable. Knowing he should go easy, Cheong-o’s resolve crumbled whenever he looked at Se-hyeon. Today too, he lightly ignored his resolve to take it easy.
“Isn’t this sexual harassment…?”
“Wh-what did you say?”
“What were you thinking, with a person right in front of you…”
His face was about to burst. Though the tone was clearly teasing, Se-hyeon only avoided his gaze. Time to really stop. If he teased any more here, he might get shown the door. And this might be a chance that would never come again.
Not wanting to miss the chance to get closer to Se-hyeon, Cheong-o held the open door for him.
“I’ll stay, so let’s go in. And wash your feet.”
Blink, blink. The big eyes disappeared and reappeared. Instead of telling him with words, Cheong-o lowered his gaze, and following it down to the floor, Se-hyeon was startled and fled into the house as if running away.
The fact that he’d been standing barefoot on the floor all this time must have been quite the shock—Se-hyeon stood in the entryway, unable to even put on his slippers, flinching anxiously. Watching Se-hyeon, frozen and unable to move forward with the sound of the closing door behind him, made Cheong-o laugh.
Standing in the narrow entryway, wondering what he was even doing. If it was a floor he’d already stepped on, he could just step on it once and wipe it clean, couldn’t he? But if he didn’t step in now, Se-hyeon looked ready to stand there until morning, so Cheong-o moved a little closer to him.
“I’ll carry you, so say something if you don’t like it.”
“…”
“There’s no other way. Are you going to stand here until morning?”
“Carry me.”
Wondering whether to scoop him up with hands under his arms and legs, then deciding that might be a bit much, Cheong-o simply lifted him by the buttocks and left the entryway.
While the flustered Se-hyeon swallowed his breath, Cheong-o arrived at the bathroom, barely exerting himself at the expected weight.
He’d lifted many men, but this weight was a first—quite the feeling. He didn’t seem to eat little, but he didn’t seem to gain weight easily either. Since it wasn’t hard at all, idle thoughts floated through his head.
“…I’ll just wash my feet and come out, so you wash first.”
“Go ahead and wash first while you’re in there.”
“I have to tidy up, and get the bedding out… you wash first.”
“You have a pointless stubborn streak, you know.”
“I’ll wash quickly and come out.”
Going in to wash one foot and still insisting on closing the door. Cheong-o waited, leaning against the wall, until the sound of water stopped.
While Cheong-o showered with the clothes and things he’d brought, Se-hyeon wiped the entryway clean and ran the vacuum. The house was small, so cleaning was quick. After proudly admiring the clean floor, he took out the iron and pressed Cheong-o’s clothes neatly.
Hung on a hanger, they looked like clothes displayed for sale in a shop, which pleased him. It was his daily routine, so it took no time. After putting the iron away, Se-hyeon spread bedding on the floor, and only after setting out a pillow did he nod in satisfaction.
The fact that he’d invited someone home for the first time in his life—and that it was Cheong-o—made his heart tickle.
Having another person in the house, his stomach didn’t churn at all; instead his heart kept pounding and heat kept rising. Se-hyeon lowered the air-conditioning a touch and waited quietly for Cheong-o.
Washed with the products Se-hyeon normally used, his body gave off an unfamiliar scent. Lifting his shirt to smell it, Cheong-o spotted the owner sitting with a strangely flushed face and pressed the towel into his damp hair.
“Do my clothes smell?”
“Yeah.”
“Oh—what kind of smell? I did all the laundry, though…”
“Your smell,” Cheong-o said flatly. “I tidied the bathroom as best I could.”
Listening blankly to the flat voice, Se-hyeon pressed his lips together and hugged the clothes he’d set out in advance.
“Use this lotion, and I already laid out the bedding. If you’re tired, you can sleep first.”
“I’ll use it.”
“I ironed the clothes you took off and hung them up, in case you were looking for them later…”
“Like a hotel. Thanks.”
“And…”
“I won’t steal anything.”
“There’s nothing worth taking anyway.”
Pushing his bangs back and applying lotion, Cheong-o burst out laughing at Se-hyeon, who had been caught peeking and hid his body behind the bedding.
Cheong-o rubbed the leftover lotion into the back of his hand and looked around the house. The items arranged at right angles in front of the mirror spoke of the owner’s personality. There ought to have been dust in such a space, but it was simply clean.
Cheong-o browsed Se-hyeon’s things as his hands led him. Even the pens were lined up by color, and the books sorted by size or color were quite a sight. It was his first visit, but he felt as comfortable as in his own home. If he had to name something uncomfortable, it would be the sleepwear he’d been lent?
His index finger tracing the books stopped abruptly. Cheong-o pulled out a book with an utterly ordinary title and flipped through it casually.
The contents were obvious from the title alone. So he reads books like this. Losing interest, he was flipping the pages idly when his hand gained strength.
“What’s this, a flower—”
A dandelion, maybe? The identity of the flower pressed flat between the pages was a dandelion. He wasn’t sure, but it was probably a dandelion. It was an honor to learn one more new taste of Se-hyeon’s. The dandelion, spinning round and round in his rough hand, was tucked back into place.
Cheong-o shelved the trite book and pulled out another. Before long, he found another flat-pressed maple leaf between the pages. This time there was small writing with it.
[Stay happy, always.]
It didn’t look like Se-hyeon’s handwriting at all. Cheong-o stared for a long while at the bookmark—writing on paper, a maple leaf laid over it and laminated—then pulled out another book and flipped through it.
Checking every book from the first to the last, each held similar flowers. Some books had only a flower, and some had a short note with it.
Feeling a strange sense of déjà vu from the identical handwriting throughout, Cheong-o tilted his head, shelving the book. It was definitely handwriting he’d seen somewhere. Looking around to check for anything else, his eyes were drawn to neatly arranged letters in the corner of the bookshelf.
He was aware he was snooping through someone else’s home, but he didn’t stop. Picking up a letter that came to hand and examining the front and back, there was the same handwriting he’d seen earlier.
[To the guide.]
Most of the envelopes read [To the guide.] Cheong-o realized at once what the déjà vu from the handwriting was. He’d seen a letter in similar handwriting in Se-hyeon’s guiding room.
His gaze lingered a moment on the firmly shut bathroom door. From the sound of water still running, it would be a little longer before Se-hyeon came out.
The decision was quick. The hand unfolding someone else’s letter showed no hesitation.
Unlike someone who had showered in nothing but cold water the whole time, Se-hyeon poured warm water over himself to the very end. Thanks to that, Cheong-o got an eyeful of the reddened flesh. Back home, Se-hyeon applied lotion under the guest’s watchful eye, then stood, scanning the room with anxious eyes.
“You suspect me…”
“…Hmph…”
Embarrassed, he rubbed his cheek with the towel. Watching the hand wiping away the lotion he’d just applied, Cheong-o looked for the hair dryer. Se-hyeon handed him the dryer he’d taken from the drawer and hovered nearby.
The noisy sound cut off abruptly, and as Cheong-o left the bathroom, Se-hyeon went in as if he’d been waiting and dried his hair thoroughly.
His heart was in a hurry but his hair wouldn’t dry, which made him anxious. Drying his hair until no dampness remained, Se-hyeon tidied the dryer and the hairs fallen in the bathroom.
“Are you hot?”
“Why?”
“You were red before you showered, and you’re still red.”
“I’m fine.”
In truth, rather than hot, the air-conditioning—lowered a touch for his sake—felt a little chilly.
But seeing him with his sleeves rolled up, arms all bared, as if he were hot despite the low temperature, Se-hyeon sat on the bed without touching the remote.
By the time they were both showered and ready for bed, it was nearly midnight. Usually in bed by ten, eleven at the latest, Se-hyeon’s eyelids were heavy. Suppressing the yawns that kept coming, Se-hyeon glanced at Cheong-o sitting on the floor.
He was calmly looking at his phone, as if the floor weren’t uncomfortable at all. Unable to bear the silence at last, Se-hyeon picked up his phone and fiddled with his fingers for no reason.
He had no one to exchange messages with, and he didn’t play games on his phone. When the screen went dark he’d tap it awake with his thumb, dip into the empty message inbox, then in and out of the album with no photos.
“Shall I turn off the light?”
“Ah, I’ll do it.”
“Lie down.”
“I can do it…”
“Tsk.”
Cheong-o stood, setting his phone down, and raised his hand with a stern face. He wasn’t that much older, but he often treated Se-hyeon like a child. Contrary to his disgruntled insides, his body obediently covered itself with the blanket and lay down. Cheong-o laughed silently and turned off the light.
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