Chapter 42 Part 1

I wasn’t unaware of the possibility of sleeping over. Although I hadn’t told Chaeheon, Haein had asked me where I was going when I left the house earlier. The moment I said it was Chaeheon, as there was no need to hide it, Haein said I might not come back tonight. So, although I kept pushing Chaeheon away, saying no, it wasn’t as if I hadn’t anticipated this situation.

However…

Lee Jun looked at the bed with a complicated feeling.

Having sex right after our talk today… isn’t that a bit hasty?

“Don’t just stand there, go sit down.”

Chaeheon, who had changed clothes and come out of the dressing room, glanced at Lee Jun and muttered something like, “You don’t need to change clothes.” As he then headed to the living room, Lee Jun looked back at Chaeheon, puzzled.

“You said you had outsourced work, right?”

“…Yeah.”

“No work today?”

“There is.”

Lee Jun, who had been answering Chaeheon’s questions with short replies, subtly turned his feet. When he followed him into the living room, Chaeheon opened the refrigerator and looked inside, then clicked his tongue and only grabbed a water bottle.

“We’ll have to order food. If you have work, do it. I won’t disturb you.”

“Do… work?”

As Lee Jun kept asking suspiciously, Chaeheon, who was drinking water, wiped his wet lips with the back of his hand and asked.

“If you’re not going to work, should we go to bed now?”

Chaeheon, who acted as if it didn’t matter, soon frowned and placed the water bottle with a thud on the island table.

“If it were up to me, I’d want to pull you into my arms and roll around right now, Senior, but I’m holding back.”

Chaeheon roughly rubbed his still warm lips with the back of his hand several times, then went and sat on the sofa.

“I’m going to set the trap very slowly. Then I’ll snatch you in an instant, so don’t worry. Not right now.”

“Don’t you know it’s stranger that you’re not hiding it?”

“Whatever it is, I’m not doing anything right now. Didn’t you feel it when we kissed earlier? I’m holding back because I’m afraid I won’t be able to control myself and get rough.”

“Should I say thank you?”

“No, just don’t complain later that it was unfair.”

As Chaeheon picked up his phone and muttered while looking at something, Lee Jun no longer paid attention to the bed. He thought it was funny that Chaeheon was being so upfront, but there was also a sense of relief.

Lee Jun picked up the laptop he had set aside and approached the table. It was fortunate he had brought it for his assignment. As he opened the laptop and immediately launched the program, Chaeheon put down his phone and went to the kitchen, starting a conversation.

“Are you going on a trip?”

Lee Jun, finding it uncomfortable to work on the sofa, had moved to the floor and was pulling the table closer. It seemed like he was referring to the graduation trip…

“No.”

Instead of adding unnecessary details, Lee Jun cut him off concisely. In the meantime, Chaeheon brought out coffee and cookies to go with it, and asked.

“Because it’s a waste of time and money?”

“Yeah.”

Lee Jun drank the coffee Chaeheon had made for him and replied half-heartedly. Chaeheon observed Lee Jun, his eyes half-closed. It was fine if he didn’t go on the graduation trip, but cutting it off without even considering it strangely made Chaeheon stubborn.

He also didn’t like the idea of Lee Jun enjoying freedom alone while he wasn’t around.

“It would be nice to go on a trip, wouldn’t it?”

Lee Jun immediately replied.

“Right. Go see good things and eat delicious food. Once you graduate, who knows when you’ll be able to travel freely again? Go.”

It felt like they were having a proper conversation, unlike usual, but it subtly wasn’t connecting.

“First, I’m going to work a bit.”

Lee Jun gave Chaeheon a look asking for time, and focused back on his laptop. Work had piled up a bit, and the amount of outsourced work he was getting done had noticeably decreased.

As much as his mind had relaxed, he should have been squeezing his bank account dry, but perhaps his body remembered comfort, as he kept coming to Chaeheon’s house more often.

‘Pheromones.’

The pheromones he smelled only when he came to the nest Chaeheon had made must also be having an effect.

In the room where only the sound of typing echoed for a while, Chaeheon quietly looked at his phone. Lee Jun, who had finished his work and sent the email, subtly watched Chaeheon.

It was hard to talk to him, fearing that if he said he was done with work, Chaeheon might bring up the graduation trip again. He couldn’t close his laptop, so he idly scanned search terms on a portal site before picking up his coffee.

“Last time, I happened to see your wallet at the cafe.”

“When?”

Lee Jun drank his coffee without looking at Chaeheon.

“The first week of the semester.”

“Oh.”

That would be when he went to the cafe on Friday then.

“There was a lot of cash in it then…”

While wondering why he was curious about that, Lee Jun answered honestly.

“Many baby fairs are held in March. I withdrew cash in advance, thinking there might be something good there.”

Chaeheon smiled as if he wasn’t surprised anymore. If anything had changed for Lee Jun, there was only one reason for it. He had probed, just in case, and got the answer he expected.

Then he decisively closed Lee Jun’s laptop.

“Huh?”

“You’re done with work, aren’t you?”

“…How did you know?”

“How could I not know when you keep glancing at me like that?”

Chaeheon placed his phone on top of it. At the signal, as if telling him to look, Lee Jun, though puzzled, obediently lowered his gaze.

What appeared on the screen were baby products that didn’t suit Chaeheon at all.

“What stroller are you using now?”

“A deluxe one.”

“Don’t you need a convertible one too?”

He had intended to last with the deluxe one until he couldn’t anymore, then switch to a convertible. But Chaeheon seemed to know a lot about it, so Lee Jun, though bewildered, answered conscientiously.

“They say this one is good. You don’t have a car, so you’re not buying a car seat separately, right? Then what about this one?”

What Chaeheon showed him ranged from a complete set of books for babies turning one, to chairs, toilets, and even a wooden play kitchen.

“You need all of them, don’t you?”

“That’s true, but…”

Lee Jun sensed something strange in the oddly flowing atmosphere, and immediately became wary of Chaeheon. He couldn’t possibly misunderstand the meaning of this conversation.

“If I go on a trip, will you buy me one of these?”

“Not just one.”

Chaeheon took his phone back.

“I’ll give you all of them.”

“Do you think I’d accept something like this?”

“The old Lee Jun wouldn’t have accepted them.”

A confident smile appeared on Chaeheon’s lips.

“But now isn’t the old you.”

Was this why he mentioned the cafe?

“Because I want to hang out with you.”

Chaeheon said it as if it were obvious.