Chapter 22

As much as Chaeheon, his drunken self was also crazy. The person in the video was acting so strangely that Lee Jun wondered if he should even watch more. Lee Jun pushed his phone aside.

“It’s almost over anyway.”

Chaeheon said there wasn’t much left and lightly skipped the latter part. Even after the video disappeared from his sight, Lee Jun remained frozen with his mouth agape.

Chaeheon, barely suppressing his laughter, cleared his throat and feigned a serious expression. His heavily furrowed brows created a look that was hard to tell if he was smiling or crying, but Lee Jun, preoccupied, didn’t notice.

Lee Jun stared blankly into the air as if in despair. In reality, he wasn’t looking at nothing. His focus blurred, Lee Jun remained dazed, then muttered with a look of coming to his senses.

“…Is that really me?”

“Then would it be someone else with your face, Senior?”

“I filmed that?”

“Yeah. You held your phone, filmed the video yourself, and even kissed me.”

“I… when I’m drunk, this is weird. You said I just sleep when I’m drunk. You told me that.”

“I did.”

“Then what is all this?”

When Lee Jun asked, unable to understand, Chaeheon thought for a moment and then offered the most likely explanation.

“Maybe you missed me?”

“What?”

“We acted like we were dating again.”

“Who did?”

“You did, Senior.”

“…”

As Lee Jun fell silent, a natural quiet descended between them. Of course, Lee Jun’s mind was louder than ever.

“You were happy when we were dating.”

Chaeheon subtly opened the topic.

“What nonsense are you talking about?”

“Because when you’re drunk, your true feelings come out.”

Chaeheon tossed his phone aside and turned his body sideways towards Lee Jun. He propped his head on his arm and watched Lee Jun’s serious expression.

“It’s strange that you say you hate me so much, yet you end up doing everything I suggest.”

The more Chaeheon spoke as if he had seized an opportunity, the more Lee Jun’s expression hardened. Drunk words are sober thoughts?

“If you want to drink again next time, just say so.”

Lee Jun cut him off sharply, as if there was nothing more to hear.

“I’m going to abstain from alcohol.”

“But what if something makes you want to drink?”

You never know what the future holds.

Chaeheon, who had been teasing Lee Jun, stopped even that, feeling sleepy. Yawning widely, Chaeheon gently stroked Lee Jun’s arm.

“Let’s sleep a little longer. We can just go to school together after we wake up, can’t we?”

Chaeheon burrowed into the blanket. His broad shoulders created a high mound. Lee Jun watched it and laughed emptily. Everything had gone wrong since he got drunk yesterday. He had nothing more to say because he couldn’t blame Chaeheon for it. He even found himself wanting to lie down too, looking at Chaeheon, who was now suggesting they go back to sleep.

“If we don’t sleep, we’ll keep talking. You know, the more spaced out I am, the more unpredictable what I say can be. For example, what you’re hiding from me, Senior…”

Hearing Chaeheon’s mumble, Lee Jun pulled back the blanket. As he lay back down in bed and closed his eyes, he heard Chaeheon chuckle.

“I really…”

Lee Jun’s lips barely moved, his eyes squeezed shut.

“I never once thought I wanted to get back together with you after we broke up.”

Chaeheon burst into laughter at his lament-like words.

“You’re saying that yesterday’s actions weren’t sincere?”

Lee Jun squeezed his eyes even tighter, as if he wouldn’t turn back no matter what bomb exploded beside him. He heard nothing and remembered nothing. As Lee Jun silently chanted to himself, Chaeheon’s voice flowed into his ears.

“Sweetheart. Sleep well.”

Lee Jun’s eyebrows drooped.

Far from trying to find something out from Chaeheon, the time had drifted into a strange direction.

Lee Jun, having showered, wiped the water from his face with a towel, an awkward expression on his face. The clothes he was wearing now were Chaeheon’s. He didn’t even know when he had changed.

“Finished showering?”

Chaeheon, who was in the kitchen, came to the table holding the frying pan. Tipping the pan to put scrambled eggs on a plate, Chaeheon gestured for him to sit. Lee Jun docilely sat in the chair, and in his awkwardness, he wiped the remaining water from his chin with the towel.

“Where are my clothes?”

Chaeheon, who had brought chopsticks and sat opposite him, repeated, “Clothes?”

“There’s no time to go home and then to school, so I need to wear the clothes I wore yesterday, but…”

Lee Jun explained the situation in detail. But Chaeheon answered plainly.

“You don’t have any clothes, Senior.”

“Why not?”

He asked, implying that he wasn’t a fairy who could hide his clothes anywhere. Chaeheon handed him buttered toast and pushed the jam towards him. While Lee Jun was showering, Chaeheon had prepared it, and a savory aroma filled the air.

“I put them in the washing machine.”

Chaeheon calmly said, gesturing for him to pick up his chopsticks.

“Washing machine?”

Lee Jun tilted his head. He hadn’t asked Chaeheon for details about yesterday, so he only knew what he’d seen in the video. After swallowing his portion of bread, Chaeheon paused his words while drinking coffee. Lee Jun wasn’t sure if it was intentional, but he stared intently at Chaeheon, waiting for an answer.

“I washed them because I thought you couldn’t wear them.”

“Didn’t you think I’d be looking for them?”

“For now, I’ll lend you my clothes. Wear those.”

Chaeheon took another sip of coffee, then furrowed his brows. His eyes lightly swept over the table, across to some part of Lee Jun.

“Wear my clothes, and you have your underwear, Senior. Wear that.”

“…”

“I didn’t throw away a single one of yours.”

“You can stop talking now.”

Lee Jun didn’t want to use his underwear as an excuse to confirm Chaeheon’s feelings. However, Chaeheon was precisely the kind of person who would talk more if Lee Jun told him to stop.

“Did you know we were really natural yesterday? As if the time we’d been broken up had completely disappeared, you treated me kindly, and you kissed me…”

Lee Jun clattered his chopsticks onto the table.

“Why are you talking about that?”

“Because we need to get back together.”

“What would we do if we got back together?”

Lee Jun frowned and asked Chaeheon why he brought it up. Even after their brief conversation in the early morning and going back to sleep, he hadn’t felt this down. In fact, he had woken up well-rested and in good condition. It was a relaxed morning, with school nearby, but Chaeheon had spoiled it.

Chaeheon poked at his scrambled eggs. They hadn’t looked pretty to begin with, and no matter how much he stirred them, they remained the same, but Chaeheon didn’t care and stuck his chopsticks into the fluffy bits.

“I think it’s time you gave in. We’ve met again, and we’ve both laid bare our true feelings, so isn’t that enough?”

It sounded like he was talking to himself, and yet also speaking to Lee Jun. After making that loaded statement, Chaeheon gave a refreshing smile, as if he knew nothing.

“You still have feelings for me, don’t you?”

“How can you be so sure of that…”

“I’m not going to study abroad anymore, and I’ve told you I still have feelings for you, Senior. After yesterday, it seems you do too, so isn’t that reason enough to get back together?”

At Chaeheon’s coaxing proposal, Lee Jun stood up from the table.

“I don’t want to.”

“Why?”

“Because I don’t want to be attached to you.”

“Yet you’re so good at attaching your lips to mine.”

Lee Jun had just turned his back to the table when he turned back to Chaeheon. Chaeheon lifted his head towards Lee Jun, still holding his chopsticks.

“Do you hate dating that much? Then, should we be partners?”

“I’ll get my clothes myself and wear them.”

Lee Jun spoke his mind, pretending not to have heard.

Lee Jun, pretending to be unconcerned, entered the dressing room from Chaeheon, leaned against the door, and sighed.

“This is ruined.”

He couldn’t say anything because he was the one who made Chaeheon act this way. He shouldn’t have drunk so much that he got drunk.

Covering his face with both hands, he couldn’t see anything. That darkness felt like his future. Alcohol had scattered his mind. So, when he saw Chaeheon, he thought they were still dating, and he tore down the wall he had carefully built against him with his own hands.

“Isn’t that reason enough to get back together?”

When Chaeheon suggested they start over, simply because they had feelings for each other, Lee Jun struggled with all his might to suppress the urge to do so. He clenched his fists until his fingernails dug into his palms and bit the soft flesh inside his mouth.

He endured it. Even if their feelings aligned right now, reality was not so forgiving to just start dating. It was right to sort out this situation before Chaeheon became even more curious about Hae Sol.

“Senior!”

As soon as he entered the classroom, Kim Gyeong-hun’s voice boomed towards Chaeheon. Kim Gyeong-hun, who had shouted loud enough for others who had arrived earlier to turn around, waved his arms enthusiastically.

Chaeheon clicked his tongue and approached Kim Gyeong-hun.

“Why are you calling?”

“Senior, you went to ‘Good Time’ yesterday, right?”

The name Kim Gyeong-hun mentioned was the place where Lee Jun and he had gone for drinks. Chaeheon looked at him with a gaze that asked how he knew, without giving another answer.

“A classmate contacted me saying they saw you passing by, Senior.”

That classmate must have thought Chaeheon and Kim Gyeong-hun went together.

“They asked if I went with you, and I said no, but who did you go with, Senior?”

Kim Gyeong-hun asked, with a mix of regret that he hadn’t been invited and curiosity about who Chaeheon had gone with. Chaeheon looked around, considering ignoring him and leaving. He hadn’t even found a seat in the classroom yet, and as he pondered where to sit, Lee Jun entered through the back door.

Chaeheon’s eyes met Lee Jun’s, and he saw Lee Jun’s eyes narrow.