7MOH SS 1 Part 2

2. Couple of Problems

The alarm went off.

Before even opening his eyes, Chase reached out and fumbled over the bedside table. As soon as the cold metallic touch met his fingertips, he quickly pressed the screen to turn off the alarm.

The dawn seeping through the window blinds was still dyed in hazy dawn light without yet holding the sun. One morning in late November, the air that had become even drier and colder despite being indoors drove away the remaining sleepiness and slowly drew Chase to reality.

He quietly pushed back the blanket, then sat on the edge of the bed and slowly stood up. Then he pulled the blanket up to just below Jeong-in’s chin to cover him and carefully left the room.

A while later, dressed in light workout clothes, he stood in front of the condo where he lived.

The sun hadn’t fully risen yet, and Harvard Square was submerged in dark blue light. Aside from the occasional passing car’s headlights making the sidewalk blocks ripple, the street was empty with few passersby.

Chase, who’d lightly stretched to loosen his body, tapped the sidewalk twice with his toes then kicked off the asphalt and took his first step.

Crossing Harvard Bridge, he naturally turned his gaze to the side. The city’s outline spreading beyond the Charles River was faintly revealing itself. The river was so calm it seemed almost still, and hazy mist rose thinly over the water’s surface.

Running 5 miles from the front of his condo to the midpoint of the riverbank every morning wasn’t simply exercise, it was how he started his day.

Harvard’s pre-med curriculum was far more intensive than he’d thought. Most weekdays he had to move according to a fragmented schedule going back and forth between lab, library, and hospital corridors, and had to stick with review papers or reports until late at night.

However, Chase stubbornly maintained his early morning workout routine. He agreed with the saying that studying ultimately requires physical stamina, and unfailingly came outside tying his running shoes at 6 AM.

After running for a while, the sleeping city awakened with him. Students going to school early appeared sporadically, and sanitation workers began sweeping fallen leaves on the sidewalk. At his regular cafe on the last corner before going home, the savory smell of freshly baked bread spread.

Chase stopped by that cafe almost every day to buy a cup of hot Americano.

The barista with her brown hair neatly tied up now knew what Chase wanted without taking his order. She nodded with familiar eyes and handed over a takeout cup along with a scone he hadn’t ordered.

The alley he walked through while biting into the scone wrapped in wax paper was still quiet. Fallen leaves occasionally scattered between the red brick townhouses. He could feel winter approaching through his tingling nose.

When he carefully opened and entered the front door, the interior was still submerged in silence. On the dining table, Jeong-in’s notes, textbooks, and highlighters from last night lay scattered messily. He must have studied late and only gone to bed at dawn, he seemed to still be sleeping.

Chase, who’d finished showering in the living room bathroom, came out to the kitchen roughly drying his hair. Then he took out the waffle maker from the cabinet.

He who’d only known how to pour milk on cereal for cooking had now become expert enough to gauge the doneness of pancakes or waffles just by the sound of them cooking.

Just as he was buttering the pan, the bedroom door opened and Jeong-in appeared in pajamas.

“Oh my God, I overslept.”

His hair was completely disheveled and sleep still lingered around his eyes. Jeong-in’s face was slightly puffy in the mornings, which made him look particularly pale and soft.

Chase poured water into a cup and held it out, and Jeong-in, naturally receiving it, slowly blinked while moistening his throat that had dried overnight.

“Go wash up. Let’s eat breakfast.”

Jeong-in nodded with a blank face and went back into the bedroom, and Chase poured the prepared batter onto the pan. Then while the batter cooked, he took out fruit from the refrigerator to serve with it.

Now it was Chase’s turn to take care of Jeong-in.

From last spring through summer, Chase had poured all his energy into preparing for the MCAT. It was a high-intensity exam with four sections total, the exam time alone close to 8 hours. It was a gateway every pre-med student had to pass through, and Chase was no exception.

Preparing for the exam while juggling regular schedules like lab activities, hospital shadowing, and team projects was something the word “tough” alone couldn’t fully describe.

What allowed him to endure that time was Jeong-in, who’d supported him whenever things were hard.

Jeong-in visited the library with coffee and snacks whenever he had time, and when memorization subjects began, he made flashcards himself to help with review. When Chase got stuck solving practice problems, Jeong-in would sit beside him and think through the problems together, and when scores were poor, he stayed by his side, encouraging him with kind words.

These days when Chase had received his passing result and finished submitting medical school applications and was somewhat free, conversely Jeong-in had become busy.

The intensity of experiments in Jeong-in’s major classes had sharply increased, and the lab he was participating in was in the midst of organizing data ahead of the year-end conference.

On top of that, he’d been assigned to train junior assistants at the lab, and was even preparing a draft for a life sciences society presentation. Everything was precious achievements that would go on Jeong-in’s resume.

Chase thought this was the perfect opportunity for him to take care of Jeong-in. And he was strangely happy that he could do so.

The waffle removed from the pan at just the right timing had a perfect shape with golden grid patterns evenly puffed up. Just as he was transferring it to a plate, the bedroom door opened once more.

With a toothbrush in his mouth, Jeong-in appeared again holding books, notes, and even a tablet in both hands. He dumped the things to pack in his bag onto the sofa and disappeared back into the bedroom. And when he reappeared, Jeong-in had finished getting ready to go out.

Today too, Jeong-in was being Jeong-in.

The white t-shirt he wore over beige cotton pants had a circle rolling down over a right triangle drawn on it, with the sentence “This is how I roll” printed below.

He’d said it was a t-shirt made by the Mathlet Society in high school. At one time, that t-shirt had even gotten Jeong-in being paired with Chase in English composition class.

Jeong-in wore a checkered shirt over that t-shirt and topped it with a camel-colored corduroy jacket. It was nerd fashion that would make Vivian foam at the mouth in criticism if she saw it.

Chase looked at Jeong-in with eyes that seemed to say he was dying of cuteness. Chase truly loved that stubborn selfhood unique to Jeong-in.

“Hurry and eat.”

“Looks delicious. But it’s too much.”

Jeong-in barely ate one piece then got up from his seat.

“Then at least eat more fruit.”

Chase picked up an apple slice beside the waffle and pushed it into Jeong-in’s mouth as if handling a picky child.

One thing he’d learned since living together was that while Jeong-in did have breakfast, he was only faithful to the act of “eating” itself. Nutrition and balance were outside his concern, he was done once he just filled his stomach.

He’d even eaten Pop-Tarts for breakfast in high school, he said. Chase was shocked. He hadn’t known the person right next to him had started days eating such processed carbohydrate lumps he wouldn’t eat even if paid.

Jeong-in packed his bag while chewing. The cute sound of crunching the apple came out.

Chase looked at Jeong-in, who obediently ate whatever he put in his mouth, with proud eyes.

“Oh, Jeong-in. Should we go to Norfolk Street today? I heard there’s a farmers market every Monday.”

Thanksgiving was just around the corner. The two, who’d always gone to Bellacove to spend the holiday, would for the first time be spending the holiday alone together in Boston.

Chase had boldly declared he’d cook himself, and for the past few days had been quite seriously absorbed in planning the menu.

“I might not be able to today. It’s the day we’re running samples in the new qPCR machine for the first time. Watching the fluorescence curves rise in real-time will really be… as moving as watching ’Space Odyssey’ for the first time, I think.”

Watching Jeong-in’s eyes light up, Chase lightly shook his head.

“…You should be grateful you were born pretty.”

“I should go quickly. What if someone touches it before me?”

“You’re going to take the machine’s virginity?”

“Yeah. That’s exactly it.”

Chase, who clicked his tongue briefly, flopped onto the sofa and propped his head on his arm. Then he slyly pulled up his t-shirt to reveal his abs. The clearly defined abs, the pelvic line continuing below naturally disappearing inside his waistband, caught Jeong-in’s gaze.

“Are you really going to leave me like this?”

“…I can’t do that.”

In the end, Jeong-in approached Chase. Lowering himself to kiss Chase’s forehead with a peck, he opened Chase’s laptop on the coffee table.

“You answer the email from the management office. Check whether we’re participating in the residents’ meeting.”

“That’s mean.”

Chase, who sat up speaking sullenly, suddenly spoke as if something had occurred to him.

“You have molecular biology class today, right?”

“Yeah.”

“The class with Andrea Sherman?”

“Yeah. We’re lab partners.”

Andrea Sherman was a junior majoring in MCB, Molecular and Cellular Biology, like Jeong-in, and perhaps because their career directions were similar, they’d taken several classes together since sophomore year. In the lab course they were taking this semester, they’d also become partners.

“I don’t like it.”

Chase grumbled with his arms crossed.

“What?”

“Andrea definitely likes you, Jeong-in.”

Jeong-in paused for a moment but soon calmly shook his head.

“It’s not like that.”

“It is. Every time we run into each other, there’s subtle glaring.”

Jeong-in burst out laughing. Chase was still the jealous type. That aspect of him was annoying, cute, and somehow reassuring.

When Jeong-in shouldered his bag and left, Chase jumped up and followed him out.

“What time do you finish? Should we have lunch together? Take a walk for the first time in a while.”

“I don’t know. It’s a lab class. It ends when it ends.”

Chase’s lips twisted slightly. His displeasure showed plainly. Jeong-in lightly patted Chase’s hair, then turned the doorknob and said,

“Don’t wait, eat first.”

As he opened the door and went out, almost simultaneously the door next door opened and an elderly couple came out into the hallway. It had been empty all along, but a couple had moved in last weekend. They were people who looked cultured somehow, with neatly groomed white hair and tidy dress.

The couple, who spotted Jeong-in first, nodded lightly in greeting, and Jeong-in returned the greeting.

“Hello. You moved in last weekend, right?”

That’s when it happened. Chase, who was inside the door, spoke loudly as if deliberately wanting to be heard.

“What kind of irresponsible owner doesn’t walk their dog?”

Flustered, Jeong-in whipped his head around.

“Chae!”

A subtle bewilderment crossed the elderly couple’s faces. Jeong-in smiled awkwardly and made excuses.

“My friend is joking. We don’t have a dog.”

Only after finishing speaking did he think “oh no.” Chase didn’t like it when Jeong-in referred to him as a “friend.”

Chase wasn’t one to just let it go. Sure enough, hiding behind the door, he imitated a dog barking sound: “Woof!”

The gentleman, whose expression had hardened, took his wife’s arm and walked toward the elevator. Jeong-in pushed open the door and scolded Chase as if disciplining a dog.

“You’re a bad dog!”

Chase made whimpering sounds to play along. He’d tried to act angry but laughter kept leaking out. The man a span taller than him felt unbearably cute.

When he took the next elevator down, Henry the concierge, who was sitting at the lobby desk, recognized Jeong-in and stood up.

“Mr. Lim.”

“Good morning, Mr. Fryer.”

“Mr. Lim, you know that in our building, if you want to keep a pet, you need to notify the residents’ council in advance, right?”

He could roughly guess what had happened.

“Ah… We don’t have a dog. What happened was…”

When he roughly explained the situation, Henry, who knew Chase’s playful nature well, burst into hearty laughter and nodded.

Cold wind brushed past Jeong-in’s cheek as he exited the building entrance. Jeong-in reflexively closed his collar. The moment he was about to move forward, pulling his backpack strap with one hand, he heard a whistle sound.

Jeong-in’s brow narrowed. Brief displeasure crossed his face, thinking someone from a nearby construction site was catcalling.

The moment he was about to take another step, the whistle sounded again. The sound came from above.

When he raised his head, he could see Chase leaning against the penthouse terrace railing. At the sight of him lightly waving his hand, Jeong-in felt somewhere in his chest tickle.

Years had passed, but Chase remained the same. As if it was hard to take his eyes off him for even a moment, he still loved him.

Jeong-in waved back and turned to start walking toward school. He could tell without needing to turn his head to check that Chase would be watching him until he disappeared around the corner.

* * *

When Jeong-in pushed open the lab door, Andrea Sherman, his lab partner, was already sitting at the large experimental table used by pairs.

Her curly brown hair flowed softly over her lab coat, which shone even whiter under the fluorescent lights.

“Hi, Andrea.”

When Jeong-in greeted her, Andrea raised her head. She stared at Jeong-in as if momentarily at a loss for words. Her brown eyes were unfocused and blank.

“Andy?”

When Jeong-in called again, only then did Andrea flinch and come to her senses.

“Oh, yeah. H-hi.”

Jeong-in sat at the table while taking out his laptop. Then, flipping through the data sheet placed in the middle of the table, he asked about last time’s sample purification records. But Andrea was looking at Jeong-in’s face and didn’t properly hear what he’d actually said.

From tiny fungi under microscopes to large mammals. Among the many life forms the aspiring biologist had seen, the most beautiful was undoubtedly this man sitting before her eyes. The moment she’d seen the male student named Jay Lim during Introduction to Biology in her freshman year, she’d been completely captivated.

“I’m talking about the re-purified RNA. Did you record it?”

“Uh, huh?”

Andrea responded belatedly.

“Oh, I transferred that to the lab notebook.”

While Jeong-in bowed his head to review the notes, Andrea’s gaze once again lingered on Jeong-in’s profile.

“But Jay, do you know this? They say Gemini and Libra are the best couple. You’re a Gemini, right?”

Jeong-in raised his eyes to look at Andrea.

“Yeah. But Libra would be… that’s September, isn’t it?”

“R-right!”

A light sparkled in Jeong-in’s eyes. And it was the same for Andrea. Her cheeks slightly flushed, she continued.

“Libra is from September 23rd to October 22nd. Actually… I’m a Libra too.”

Chase’s birthday was September 12th. The moment he learned he didn’t fall under Libra, the interest immediately disappeared from Jeong-in’s face.

“Andy, we’re scientists. You don’t actually believe in zodiac signs, do you?”

“Haha, right. Of course…”

Andrea’s shoulders drooped dejectedly.

Then Zachary Wise, wearing a puffy vest over his lab coat, pushed open the lab door.

“It’s Thanksgiving season now.”

Zachary was a graduate student research assistant who always appeared with a tumbler of strong coffee in one hand and files in the other. As he said, the campus these days had an overall excited atmosphere ahead of the holiday.

“Everyone going home?”

At Zachary’s question, those in the lab lightly shook their heads. Most were upperclassmen or students preparing for graduate school, research tracks, or job hunting, so they didn’t seem to have the leisure to leisurely enjoy the holiday.

A certain solidarity flowed among the people in lab coats inside the lab. It was a small sadness that while everyone was spending the holiday with family, they alone were analyzing peptides.

Zachary, who aspired to be a life sciences professor, had been Jeong-in’s proctor during his freshman year. Thanks to that connection, when the two met again in a lab course, they quickly became close. They sometimes had lunch together and consulted about careers or academics.

While the machine ran making noise in a steady rhythm, Zachary brought up a story about arguing with his live-in girlfriend this morning.

“It’s not about buying milk. At least you can take out the empty carton.”

Andrea responded as if she didn’t understand.

“Can’t you just throw it away yourself? I don’t know if that’s worth getting angry about.”

“If it wasn’t in the fridge, I would’ve thought, oh there isn’t any, and eaten something else. But the feeling when you’ve already poured cereal in a bowl and pick up a milk carton that’s completely empty… Ah, Lim! You tell her. You said you’re living with your partner too, right?”

“Yes.”

Jeong-in answered somewhat briefly while putting down the microtube he was holding onto the rack. Andrea beside him looked gloomy.

“How long has it been?”

“A bit over two years since we’ve lived together.”

“Then you understand how I feel. Right? Problems you don’t see when dating start appearing one after another.”

“Um… I’m not sure.”

After thinking for a moment, Jeong-in tilted his head slightly and answered. Zachary frowned.

“Don’t tell me you’re going to say no. Every couple has problems.”

Jeong-in shrugged and smiled with a somewhat confident expression.

“I guess we’re an exception.”

It was an answer that felt not like simple bragging, but quiet conviction.

After the experiment ended and Jeong-in went outside, he encountered an unexpected face. Chase was standing in front of the Northwest Building where Jeong-in took most of his classes.

He was wearing a charcoal-colored beanie, a gray henley shirt under a casual black work jacket, and black jeans on the bottom.

Standing in front of the modern building made of glass and steel, he looked like a model in a fashion pictorial. It was a sight enough to make people passing by glance.

“Chae? What are you doing here?”

“I came to pick you up.”

“How did you know when I’d finish? Have you been waiting long?”

Chase glanced over Jeong-in’s shoulder, toward the back. As if looking for something or someone.

“Where’s Andrea Sherman?”

“Hm?”

“Isn’t she coming out with you?”

“She’s on cleanup duty this week.”

On Chase’s face, which looked regretful as if he’d missed something, Jeong-in quickly caught on to his intentions.

“Chae. Is that why you dressed up and came out like this?”

Chase was wary of Andrea.

In fact, his target of wariness changed from time to time.

At first it was Aiden Han. Aiden and Chase unexpectedly communicated well. They had the commonality of liking sports, rooted for the same NFL team, and their tastes oddly overlapped. However, even after becoming friends, Chase didn’t completely let down his guard.

Then after Aiden graduated and left for England for employment, Andrea Sherman naturally took that place. It was from when they suspiciously took many classes together and spent a lot of time working together as lab partners.

Last spring to summer, the three had run into each other a couple times at Harvard Square. Coincidentally, Chase had been roughly wearing a t-shirt with jogging pants or shorts and a baseball cap pulled low. It was a time when he was swamped with medical school entrance exam studying, so grooming was a luxury.

Recalling Andrea Sherman’s expression as she looked at him standing next to Jeong-in, Chase said,

“Jeong-in, you should’ve seen Andrea Sherman’s expression then. Like ’that bum has my prince?’ That kind of expression.”

“That can’t be. You look like a model no matter what you wear.”

“In Andrea Sherman’s eyes, I probably looked like King Kong climbing the Empire State Building holding her precious prince in my hand.”

Then the entrance door opened and Zachary appeared. Spotting Chase, he approached with a pleased face.

“Prescott, how’ve you been? Wow, still looking great.”

The two exchanged greetings with a light handshake. They’d been acquainted since Jeong-in’s freshman year, when Zachary was a dorm proctor.

During casual small talk, Chase heard that Zachary couldn’t go home for Thanksgiving. The conference schedule got tangled, and his girlfriend was also doing practicals for her doctorate.

Chase unhesitatingly invited him to holiday dinner. He said he was planning to cook himself and didn’t forget to tell him to come with his girlfriend.

“Will that be okay?”

Jeong-in asked as soon as they parted from Zachary. Chase nodded confidently. He tended to handle most dishes well if he had a recipe. So he might be overconfident in his skills.

However, cooking the traditional Thanksgiving dishes known to be tricky and labor-intensive might be much harder than he thought. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Chase’s confidence, but he somehow felt worried.

“It’ll be a different dimension from barbecue or pasta.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll do well.”

Saying that, Chase quietly held Jeong-in’s hand.

The two walked toward the mart, lightly swinging their clasped hands. Walking holding hands with Jeong-in like this was one of Chase’s favorite times.

Chase asked in a soft voice.

“How was today?”

“Professor McAllister said she’s having a silver anniversary with her husband.”

“Silver anniversary?”

“The thing they do on their 25th wedding anniversary, renewal of wedding vows or something, anyway that.”

“Ah.”

In America, couples sometimes held events to renew the vows they made at their wedding after several years. Some couples did it grandly in the form of a remind wedding.

“Maybe because they’re people with years of experience, even hearing stories about their marital fights, they’re really mature. Like intellectual debates.”

“Wasn’t what we did last night mature enough?”

“…That was closer to beasts than intellectuals.”

“That’s true.”

While conversing, the two had already arrived at the neighborhood mart they often went to. Chase boldly headed to the meat section. It was to buy a turkey.

However, the moment they arrived in front of the display, a deflated sigh burst out. The display case was completely empty, and where frozen turkeys should have been placed, a paper with “SOLD OUT” written in large letters was stuck.

“Oh no…”

Chase muttered like a sigh. Having been excited about preparing Thanksgiving dinner himself for the first time, he couldn’t hide his disappointment.

Watching him, Jeong-in felt like a parent who couldn’t buy a toy their child wanted because it was sold out. If he could, he felt like climbing a mountain to hunt one himself.

Jeong-in suggested an alternative in a soothing tone.

“Should we try Norfolk Street?”

“That place focuses on produce, so they probably won’t have any either. Haa… There are five days left, but I guess I should’ve bought it earlier.”

As Jeong-in was thinking if there was any way, something from several years ago flashed in his mind.

It was around the time Suzy had just opened “Suzy Nail.” Swamped with the characteristic busyness of a new opening, she’d missed the time to buy a turkey that year.

After briefly making a troubled expression in front of the empty display, she soon approached a female employee who appeared to be around her age with a determined look. Then she discreetly slipped out a discount coupon for her shop and whispered secretly in the employee’s ear.

Then the employee looked down at the coupon, nodded, and went into the cold storage without a word.

Taking advantage of the employee’s absence, Jeong-in quickly approached Suzy and asked in a hushed voice.

“Mom! What was that suspicious conversation just now? It’s like you’re smuggling something.”

“Just wait.”

A while later, the employee who reappeared handed Suzy a turkey packaged like a ball.

It was something he only learned later, but large marts had quantities set aside separately for employees. Regular customers couldn’t receive special discounts like employees, but if circumstances allowed, purchases were possible.

Finishing his recollection, Jeong-in looked around and spotted a mart employee wearing a sanitary cap working beyond the meat section counter. She was a female employee who appeared to be in her late twenties.

Jeong-in looked at Chase, who happened to be well-dressed, up and down. He had an appearance sufficient to give a good impression to anyone, regardless of age or gender.

Jeong-in rummaged through his wallet, pulled out a beverage coupon usable at a nearby cafe, tapped Chase’s forearm and whispered.

“Here. Go slip this to that employee and ask if there are any turkeys.”

“It says sold out.”

“That’s based on customers. There’s definitely stock set aside for employee purchases.”

Chase burst into a small laugh.

“Jeong-in, you’re like some kind of turkey mafia.”

“Right. Now go make the deal and bring back the goods.”

Chase, who shrugged lightly, approached the employee with a dubious expression. Then, just as Jeong-in had instructed, he held out the cafe coupon and quietly asked if there were any remaining turkeys.

The female employee, who’d been busily doing other work, turned her head as if annoyed, then half-opened her mouth upon seeing the blond man standing before her.

“Y-yes? What do you need?”

“I was wondering if I could get a turkey.”

“A turkey? Actually, there is some left reserved for employee sales…”

She looked around once, then carefully added,

“It’s a 22-pound premium organic one fed corn feed and raised on pasture.”

“You’re my savior!”

Chase grabbed her hand and thanked her, then turned to look at Jeong-in standing a few steps behind and smiled brightly.

“She has one! Thank goodness, Jeong-in.”

The employee naturally looked toward Jeong-in. It was a questioning gaze wondering, who’s that person?

If she found out he had a lover, wouldn’t she retract the favor she’d just shown? At the elderly woman’s intuition that briefly crossed his mind, Jeong-in tapped Chase’s forearm with his fist and acted cocky in a way that didn’t suit him.

“Yo! Nice, bro.”

The employee, who’d been looking at them with narrowed eyes for a moment, disappeared behind the counter. Chase turned to Jeong-in with an incredulous expression.

“What? ’Yo! Nice, bro?’”

When Chase repeated what he’d said, Jeong-in’s face turned bright red.

“Sh-shut up. Don’t say anything!”

Jeong-in escaped as if running away. After walking for a while, when he turned around, he could see Chase receiving a turkey thickly wrapped in plastic.

Chase, who’d been looking around, spotted Jeong-in, raised his hand high and shouted.

“Let’s go together! Bro!”

* * *

“So in the end, they didn’t reveal who killed them?”

— Yeah. The problem is next season got cancelled.

“That’s the worst.”

Sitting on the living room sofa, Jeong-in was video calling with Suzy with his laptop on his lap.

The conversation topic was a Netflix drama. Watching dramas together and spending a leisurely holiday was a long Thanksgiving tradition for the mother and son. Originally, they would’ve been sitting side by side on the sofa, eating fried chicken that was either hard or slightly burnt instead of turkey while chatting.

Jeong-in asked Suzy as if suddenly remembering.

“What about dating? Did you go on any dates?”

He recalled a few months ago when he’d pushed his mother’s love life, even directly installing a dating app for her. On the screen, Suzy shook her head.

— I’m tired of people sending dick pics now. I’ll handle it myself. How’s Chase?

Jeong-in glanced toward the kitchen. Chase was seriously stirring something in a silver mixing bowl.

“He says he’s going to make cranberry sauce himself.”

— Oh my… That kid has a competitive spirit in the strangest places. Remember when he mowed our lawn last time?

Last summer, Chase, who’d visited Jeong-in’s house, saw the front yard that busy Suzy hadn’t managed to take care of and said he’d mow the lawn. Of course, it was something he’d never done once in his life.

And that day became a day when Willow Street had good entertainment.

Chase’s bronze skin glistened in the sunlight as he ran the lawn mower shirtless. Neighbor ladies with whom they’d had no particular interaction brought over several glasses of lemonade with floating ice.

Of course, his skill wasn’t proficient, the grass was uneven and the lines were a mess. He even broke the lawn mower.

— Later he made a fuss about wanting to fix the lawn mower himself too. If I’d left him alone, he would’ve been stuck on it for days.

“Right, he would have.”

Jeong-in smiled softly, recalling that time.

Somehow one side of his chest felt warm. He liked that Suzy knew Chase well. He liked that family-like memories were gradually accumulating.

— Is it okay for you to be doing that? People are coming soon, right?

“You’re right. I should go prepare now.”

— Have a happy Thanksgiving, son.

“You too, Mom.”

Jeong-in, who closed his laptop with the greeting, quietly got up and went to the kitchen.

Chase, standing in front of the stove, turned around and asked.

“Did the call go well?”

A hint of bitterness flickered across Jeong-in’s face as he nodded.

It was the first holiday spent apart from Suzy. And if he ended up settling down on the East Coast, there would be more such days ahead.

As if reading Jeong-in’s heart, Chase quietly extended his hand. He lightly pulled Jeong-in’s wrist to stand him in front of himself and put a silicone spoon in his hand. Then, covering that hand, he slowly stirred the red sauce in the milk pan together.

“Let’s definitely go to Bellacove for Christmas. I don’t want to spend it here. It might snow. Snow in the middle of winter, does this weather even make sense?”

Chase spoke in a whining tone. It was his own way of comforting Jeong-in, who was feeling homesick.

“You just have one more family member now, me. And family is forever family. No matter where we are.”

“…Yeah, you’re right.”

“So stop getting sentimental and keep stirring this.”

The two prepared Thanksgiving dinner harmoniously.

They slowly roasted the turkey that had been thawing in the refrigerator for four days over 5 hours. So the herbs and vegetables stuffing it would cook evenly, Chase didn’t leave the front of the oven and kept checking the thermometer needle.

Because they hadn’t known the turkey would require this much work, they prepared side dishes with semi-prepared products. Still, once transferred to plates, they looked quite presentable.

Around when the oven timer went off, the front doorbell also rang.

“Wow, smells good.”

The first to enter was, of course, Justin. Following him, Mikey, who’d been Jeong-in’s roommate in freshman year, and Mikey’s long-time lover Hannah Brooks came in side by side. Both were holding wine bottles or paper carriers with six-packs of beer.

Finally, Zachary and his girlfriend Maisie Callahan arrived. Maisie, who’d only exchanged greetings with Jeong-in when passing by but was meeting the others for the first time, was holding a paper box containing tarts from a famous bakery.

Even after exchanging greetings and sitting down, Maisie’s gaze couldn’t leave Chase as if fixed. She couldn’t even answer Hannah’s question about what she did for work. Eventually her boyfriend Zachary snapped his fingers in front of Maisie’s eyes.

“Whoa, Maisie. Stop staring and participate in the conversation a bit, will you?”

“Sorry. The host’s looks were too distracting, I couldn’t hear. What did you say?”

Jeong-in nodded as if understanding her feelings one hundred percent.

“I understand. People seeing him for the first time all have that reaction.”

“He’s really a Harvard student? Pre-med?”

After admiring Chase’s appearance for a round, Maisie grabbed Jeong-in and advised him in a joking tone to never let Chase go. At her words, Chase shook his head.

“I’m the one who needs to hold tight. Jeong-in will probably make much more money than me.”

“What? Such a gold digger!”

People burst into laughter, but it wasn’t a completely baseless joke.

In the American pharmaceutical industry, it wasn’t rare for talented scientists to earn much more money than doctors. And while he hadn’t accepted yet, Jeong-in had received a research position offer from a famous pharmaceutical company.

The group moved and sat around the dining table. In the middle of the table was a nicely browned turkey and glistening gravy sauce. Thanks to the careful roasting, the turkey cut as smoothly as butter as soon as the knife touched it.

After lightly clinking glasses for a toast, Chase expressed his gratitude.

“Thank you for coming to eat my first turkey. Wonderful couples… and Justin.”

“I have a girlfriend too.”

At Justin’s words, Jeong-in turned his head in surprise.

“What? Is that true?”

Justin nodded nonchalantly.

“Yeah. Her name is Wally. She’s hard to find.”

“Ah…”

Sighs flowed from here and there.

Wally was a character from the “Where’s Wally?” series who wore a red and white striped shirt, blue jeans, and a knit cap with a pompom. The concept was that readers had to find him hidden in complex scenes full of people.

Justin let out a heavy sigh.

“I don’t know why it’s so hard. I just need someone who likes Star Wars, understands the Marvel Universe, and will match costumes with me and go to Comic-Con.”

The atmosphere became somewhat solemn. Listening to it, those seemed like quite difficult conditions to find.

Justin continued with a self-deprecating expression.

“But even if there’s such a person, so what? I have no idea how to talk to them or what kind of actions to take.”

To Justin, who seemed deeply troubled, Chase offered his own advice.

“It’s not difficult. Just be confident and natural, show your true self.”

“Chae, just stay quiet. Honestly, you shouldn’t be giving dating advice.”

At Jeong-in’s words, Chase tilted his head. Jeong-in told an example to support his claim.

“There’s a barista who works at the cafe in front who always gives Chase freshly baked scones as a service. But he just thinks she’s being nice.”

As everyone clicked their tongues and shook their heads, Justin interjected.

“There’s a barometer for determining a cafe customer’s hotness. First, hot enough to remember their name and usual order. Second, hot enough to draw a heart next to their name on the cup. And the highest point is hot enough to give free scones.”

Chase, who applied to all three, shrugged and stepped back, and this time Zachary advised.

“The problem starts with trying to find a perfect person. Perfect partner, perfect relationship, those things don’t exist. Right?”

Zachary spoke to Jeong-in and Chase as if seeking agreement, but the two had expressions as if hearing a story they knew nothing about or that had nothing to do with them.

“No way. Not a single problem? That’s impossible. That’s too inhuman!”

His expression was somehow desperate. It was an expression hoping there would be at least one problem.

“Um… there isn’t any.”

At Chase’s answer, Justin quickly seized on it.

“You hesitated!”

People who’d caught the opportunity booed in unison.

“Boo! Give us at least one! Who doesn’t have a single flaw! Chase, you start.”

Chase took a sip of beer, thought for a moment, then said,

“If I had to find something… Jeong-in has a bit of a strong competitive spirit?”

Jeong-in’s eyes widened.

“Me? That’s ridiculous.”

“Baby…”

Chase often called Jeong-in that these days. This time it was in a slightly soothing tone.

“Remember when Mikey and Hannah came over last time and we played Charades?”

As if guessing what Chase was going to say, Jeong-in defended himself first.

“Then should I have lost on purpose?”

“12 to 1 was a bit much. And…”

“And?”

“At the end you asked how it tasted. To Hannah.”

“…I, I did?”

Jeong-in reflexively turned to look at Hannah, and Hannah, who’d been silently sipping wine, grinned and slowly nodded.

“While we’re at it, Jay, you say one too.”

Jeong-in, whose insides had been secretly boiling, opened his mouth as if he’d been waiting.

“Yesterday, the grandfather next door was struggling to get on the elevator carrying stuff, but you just looked at your phone.”

“I did?”

“The elevator door was closing and you didn’t even press the open button, so I pressed it from behind.”

“Wow, that’s a bit…”

Justin reacted exaggeratedly. A flustered look rose on Chase’s face.

“That’s because I didn’t see!”

“You just don’t care about others.”

A bit of triumph mixed into Jeong-in’s face. But Chase shook his head.

“I can’t accept that.”

“Then what’s the name of the person who cleans our house?”

“…What?”

“It’s been the same person for two years.”

It was someone he’d encountered several times and even wrote checks for once a month, but Chase couldn’t remember the name. Only a vague impression that they seemed Latino came to mind, but even that wasn’t certain.

“…Camila?”

“Ha! Wrong. It’s Marta! Her son’s name is Jose. He’s still in Mexico, and she’s preparing to bring him over. How about that! I won…”

By this point, Jeong-in couldn’t help but admit he had a strong competitive spirit. People burst into laughter, and the two headed to the kitchen side by side to prepare dessert.

Jeong-in subtly gauged Chase’s reaction. Everyone seemed to know he was competitive, but he thought bringing up their private story in front of people was a bit reckless.

“Chae, sorry.”

“For what?”

“Just now. For talking about our story in front of other people.”

“Well, it’s not wrong though. I am not interested in others. The only thing I’m interested in is you.”

Chase approached, hugged Jeong-in, and spoke as if whispering in his ear.

“Ask me about you. I’ll answer everything.”

After thinking for a moment, Jeong-in asked.

“My… first homeroom teacher in junior high?”

“Mr. Richardson.”

“Favorite movie?”

“Space Odyssey.”

“My favorite… dessert?”

“Ice cream. Ben & Jerry’s Cherry Garcia.”

Every answer came out without the slightest hesitation. Chase really knew everything about Jeong-in.

“How’s that? I got them all right?”

“…Yeah.”

“Then you should give me a prize.”

“Prize?”

Chase spoke naturally as if he’d thought about it beforehand.

“Show me your chest.”

“…What?”

Just as Jeong-in stuck his head out to look at the living room in case anyone heard, Chase’s hand approached. As soon as his large, warm hand grabbed his wrist, the next moment Jeong-in was pulled into the pantry.

“Chae!”

“Shh. Quickly.”

Chase was usually very obsessed with Jeong-in’s chest. Once he’d told Jeong-in,

“Your chest is so secretive it’s like dick. You never show it to other people. Not even at the beach.”

What he said was true.

The clothing culture at swimming pools or beaches in America was quite different from Korea. At beaches, regardless of body type, most women wore bikinis, and it was natural for men to take off their tops and wear only swim shorts. People wearing regular clothing-like rash guards were mostly Asian tourists.

Jeong-in, who felt awkward revealing his thin build, didn’t take off his t-shirt even at the beach. Other friends found it a bit strange, but Chase seemed to secretly like it.

“You know what? On days when you wear thin t-shirts, I secretly lower the house temperature by about 3 degrees. Then your nipples stick out pointedly.”

“That was you? I thought the thermostat was broken and even called a repairman!”

As if saying what could be done about it now, Chase shrugged. Jeong-in let out a deep sigh, then grabbed the hem of his t-shirt and lifted it up to his neck.

“Look quickly for five counts.”

Chase stared at the exposed white chest. Instantly his eyes lost focus and he had a dazed expression as if seeing someone else’s chest for the first time in his life.

“5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Done, right?”

Jeong-in lowered his t-shirt without the slightest delay. Chase smacked his lips as if disappointed.

“Let’s go now.”

“You go first.”

Chase picked up a large bag of nachos next to him and covered his important parts. Whether it was a joke or serious, Jeong-in burst into helpless laughter.

After everyone sprawled on the sofa eating dessert, a game naturally began. Jeong-in always thought American party culture was excessive, but he quite liked how much they played games.

This time it was “Heads Up.” It was a game originating from an American TV talk show with a dedicated app that made it easy to enjoy. The difference from charades was that verbal explanations were allowed.

Each couple became a team, and they decided to do categories randomly—food, culture, people, animals, etc. Justin, who was alone, took on the role of referee and helper again today.

Mikey tapped Hannah and pointed at Jeong-in.

“Hannah, Hannah. Look at Jay.”

Hannah looked toward Jeong-in and smiled softly.

“He’s starting again.”

Without realizing it, Jeong-in had begun burning with competitive spirit again. Ahead of just a quiz game, like an athlete going to the Olympics, he was cracking his neck side to side to loosen it and stretching his arms long.

The two who ended up solving problems in the last turn drew the food category. Chase would give the problems and Jeong-in would answer.

From the start, the two solved problems at an incredibly fast pace. They communicated with just eye contact, and for some problems, Jeong-in said the answer right away without hearing the full explanation.

“Green, when making guacamole…”

“Avocado!”

“The thing you like, the sound of tearing the bag of!”

“Ramen?”

“Froot Loops, Lucky Charms…”

“Cereal!”

“Black, the vegetable you hate!”

“Black vegetable? What’s that…”

“It’s closer to purple than black.”

“Beets?”

Then the phone rang, signaling timeout. Chase said the answer to the last question as if disappointed.

“The answer was eggplant.”

Justin tilted his head and asked Jeong-in.

“Eggplant? Jay, you don’t hate eggplant though.”

Chase looked at Justin shaking his head as if to say don’t you know that.

“Jeong-in hates eggplant. Whenever it comes out in cooking, I always eat it.”

Jeong-in rolled his eyes with a troubled expression for a moment. Justin, who didn’t see that, continued.

“What are you talking about, dude. I clearly saw with my own eyes him eating fish-flavored eggplant like crazy at our house.”

Chase turned to Jeong-in with a bewildered face.

“Jeong-in?”

“Well…”

Jeong-in made a belated confession.

It was from the day when he’d just come to Harvard and went to a casual French restaurant near Harvard Square with Chase.

The steak plate he ordered came garnished with assorted vegetables like grilled eggplant, asparagus, and Brussels sprouts.

Jeong-in was originally someone who ate delicious things later. He had a habit of always setting aside his favorite things to one side of the plate. That day too, without much thought, he just pushed the eggplant to the edge of the plate with his fork, but Chase smiled as if it were cute and said,

“I guess we’re really a perfect couple.”

Along with saying there was a theory that if one person in a couple dislikes a food the other person likes, they’re soulmates, he said he really loved eggplant.

At his offer to eat it instead, Jeong-in nodded and pushed over the plate. From then on, Jeong-in couldn’t eat eggplant. It was because he didn’t want to break Chase’s fantasy.

“Is that true? Jeong-in, you like eggplant?”

Jeong-in nodded with an embarrassed expression. Chase, who let out a short hollow laugh, looked at him with the most loving eyes.

“It’s been an honor to eat your eggplant all this time.”

Hearing that, Zachary leaned slightly toward Mikey and whispered.

“Is that only sounding dirty to my ears?”

Eggplant was also a word sometimes used in America to refer to a man’s genitals. Mikey giggled and answered “No way.”

Chase continued with an incredulous laugh.

“Want me to tell you something funny? Actually, I don’t like eggplant. I actually lean toward hating it. I pretended to like it because I wanted to say we were soulmates.”

“…Really?”

“So from now on, you eat my eggplant.”

This time Hannah whispered to Mikey.

“I think that is dirty talk.”

Justin, who’d been shaking his head while listening to the story, tapped Mikey.

“Mikey, see that charging cable behind you? Give me that.”

“Need to charge your phone?”

“No, can you strangle me with it? I can’t stand watching them, it hurts my eyes.”

Watching Jeong-in and Chase, completely smitten with each other, Justin lamented.

“You know what? The reason I can’t date might be because of you guys.”

At those words, complaints burst out from here and there as if they’d been waiting.

“Watching you guys makes us reflect on our own relationships for no reason.”

“That’s true.”

“You raise the standards too high.”

“Makes me think something’s lacking in my relationship.”

“Right!”

Jeong-in and Chase were also a couple with their own problems. They were also a couple that unintentionally spread problems among the people around them.

* * *

It was on the way back up after seeing off the people who’d shared Thanksgiving dinner and throwing out the trash.

Just as Chase and Jeong-in got on the elevator, someone could be seen hurrying toward them. Chase raised his hand to keep the door from closing and waited. He didn’t forget to turn his head slightly toward Jeong-in with a grin as if to say ’look at me caring about others.’

“Thank you.”

The one who got on the elevator expressing gratitude was the gentleman who lived next door, Anderson Whitmore.

Jeong-in naturally introduced him to Chase.

“This is Mr. Whitmore. Our neighbor.”

Chase extended his hand to offer a handshake and greeted him.

“I’m Chase Prescott.”

Jeong-in stepped forward to add an explanation.

“The puppy that barked that time.”

“Aha.”

Thanks to concierge Henry, the misunderstanding about neglecting the dog was naturally cleared up. Since then, they’ve become the kind of neighbors who exchange brief greetings whenever they run into each other.

It turned out that Anderson Whitmore had worked as a researcher at a pharmaceutical company for a long time before retiring, and was now continuing to work occasionally in an advisory capacity.

It wasn’t a particularly remarkable coincidence. Boston, and Cambridge in particular, is one of the world’s largest biotech clusters, and one could easily meet such people anywhere in the neighborhood, from active researchers to retired scientists.

They were from different generations but shared the same major, so naturally, their conversations flowed effortlessly. Every time they met, they would stand there for minutes on end, talking endlessly about experiments, papers, and the implicit competitive structures between pharmaceutical companies.

The conversation in the elevator was natural. After being invited to a weekend dinner party, the two returned home and finished cleaning up the remnants of the party.

As Chase was putting the dishes into the dishwasher and just standing up, Jeong-in was standing a few steps away. As if asking what was wrong, Chase raised his eyebrows and asked with his expression instead.

“What we were talking about earlier.”

“What about?”

“That you know everything about me.”

Jeong-in said, stepping a little closer.

“I know you well too, Chae. You like Pablo Neruda’s poetry. You’re the type to watch the credits until the very end when you see a movie, and you prefer blueberries to strawberries. When you exercise, you listen to Neil Diamond’s ’Sweet Caroline’.”

“No way! Did you see my playlist?”

“You sang along loudly while wearing headphones.”

“It was our anthem in junior high! Everyone sang it at the pep rally! Don’t you remember?”

Chase looked flustered, like someone whose hidden secret had been revealed. Jeong-in chuckled and took another step closer, placing his palm flat on Chase’s chest.

“The important thing is… even though we pride ourselves on knowing each other best, we don’t know everything. Just like you didn’t know I liked eggplant.”

“That’s not because we’re lacking. It’s because we love each other too much.”

Jeong-in shook his head.

“I want to know everything, every little detail… I want to do everything with you. But…”

“But?”

“You’ve always eaten my eggplant… but I haven’t tasted yours yet.”

As he said that, Jeong-in’s gaze drifted down to Chase’s lower body.

“Mother…”

Chase muttered involuntarily, then quickly covered his mouth with his hand before the ‘f’ sound could fully form. It was the worst curse Chase had ever uttered since he was born.

Jeong-in moved closer to Chase. He had a determined look, as if he had made a big decision.

“I want us to be a couple who has done everything.”

Jeong-in’s hand, which had been on his chest, slowly moved down and gripped Chase’s belt.

“I’ve always just received from you.”

“J-Jeong-in? What on earth is this…”

Chase, covering his mouth with his hand, invoked a god he didn’t even believe in.

Jeong-in slowly lowered himself, knelt on the floor, and sat in a half-crouch. Chase’s front, visible just inches away, was already bulging as if about to tear through his clothes.

The belt buckle and button were undone one by one, and then came the sound of a zipper being pulled down.

Chase looked down with a dreamlike expression as Jeong-in’s pale, delicate fingertips, trembling slightly, approached the space between his legs. His hands, gripping the marble countertop behind him, showed bulging veins on the back.

As the pointed fingertips grasped and pulled down the band, the trapped dick sprang out as if bursting free. Jeong-in swallowed dryly without realizing it. What he saw often somehow felt unfamiliar.

Jeong-in carefully cupped the pillar of flesh with both hands. He felt its heat, its hardness, its heavy weight.

Its length and girth were truly like a child’s forearm. It was unbelievable that something so massive could be attached to a human body, that it could enter that narrow space all the way to the root, and that his own underside wouldn’t tear or split.

“It’s really… big.”

“Crazy…”

Chase ran a hand over his flushed face. He tried not to show how excited he was, but the corners of his mouth kept twitching.

To him, Jeong-in was an overwhelmingly precious being. Chase would never have dared to ask Jeong-in to suck his dick.

Of course, Chase had dreamed of Jeong-in opening his small lips wide and taking him deep into his throat, but he had never shown it. On the bed, he believed that no act should be a burden to the other.

Was he being rewarded for that quiet patience? Now, on a day that wasn’t his birthday or Christmas, an unexpected gift awaited Chase.

“Jeong-in… are you serious?”

Chase’s mental exhilaration reached its peak at the sight of Jeong-in carefully cradling his dick as if they were a precious object. The skin around Chase’s eyes slowly flushed red.

Instead of answering, Jeong-in lowered his eyes and slowly moved closer. Finally, soft, yielding lips touched the tip of the glans.

“Ngh…”

Chase’s dick throbbed as if about to burst, and he ejaculated pre-cum. Jeong-in seemed momentarily taken aback by the sticky liquid moistening his lips, but he pressed his lips to the glans and slowly moved his head from side to side. The pre-ejaculate from Chase wet Jeong-in’s lips like lip gloss.

“Hngh… Jeong-in…”

Just by rubbing his lips on the glans, Chase’s thighs twitched, and he let out a pained groan. Jeong-in bravely opened his mouth wide and took the entire glans into his mouth.

“Ugh…”

Chase immediately leaned down, cupping Jeong-in’s head with both hands.

“I like it so much… Haa, Jeong-in…”

Just having his dick in Jeong-in’s mouth made Chase feel like he was about to ejaculate, so he had to tilt his head back and stare at the ceiling. It was too obvious that he would come immediately if he looked at Jeong-in’s face with his mouth on him.

Meanwhile, Jeong-in held the shaft with one hand and his thigh with the other, slowly pushing his face forward. The protruding glans scraped against the bumpy roof of his mouth as it pushed in, pressing firmly against the back of his throat.

“Ah…”

Beneath his palms, Chase’s thighs felt hard and firm. Jeong-in pursed his lips and sucked the glans in his mouth forcefully.

“Haa… Jeong, Jeong-in…”

Chase, who had been bewildered by the overwhelming erogenous sensation, lowered his gaze like a child unable to contain his curiosity. Jeong-in’s eyes, filled with tears from having his dick in his throat, met his. His dark, moist pupils were like glass beads.

The edges of his lips, stretched wide as if about to tear, were reddish. Jeong-in’s slender shoulders trembled as if he were sobbing, yet his hands held Chase’s thighs tightly, like gripping a lifeline. All of it rapidly evaporated Chase’s reason.

“Ugh…”

With a short groan, Chase’s penis throbbed once more inside Jeong-in’s mouth.

Jeong-in felt greatly praised by Chase’s strong reaction to his clumsy actions. He wrapped his tongue around the shaft, swallowed once to create a near-vacuum in his mouth, and then moved his head back and forth.

“Haa… I think I’m going to cum.”

Chase’s body trembled. His sharp canines scraped against the shaft, but even that felt like pleasure.

His eyes, originally clear and blue, were now clouded with instinct. He tightened his grip on Jeong-in’s head with both hands and pressed down towards his groin. And then, far sooner than it normally took him to ejaculate, he neared his climax.

With the glans buried deep in Jeong-in’s tender throat, Chase thrust his hips and urgently pulled his dick out of Jeong-in’s mouth. A long strand of transparent mucus, mixed with saliva and pre-cum, stretched between Jeong-in’s lips and Chase’s glans.

As the suffocating pressure of the massive flesh receded, Jeong-in coughed, gasping for air.

He tried to turn his head, but was immediately stopped. Chase held Jeong-in’s chin to fix his face and quickly stroked his dick with his other hand.

“Ah… Hngh… Khh…”

Hurriedly fumbling for a kitchen cloth, Chase brought it in front of his ejaculating glans. However, a stream of cloudy fluid, which shot out with force and missed his hand, was sprayed directly onto Jeong-in’s face.

“Ah!”

“Ngh, Jeong-in! I’m sorry!”

The hot, heavy fluid slowly dripped from Jeong-in’s forehead to his eyebrows, the sides of his nose, and his lips.

Chase, flustered, wiped Jeong-in’s eyes with his bare hand.

“Are you okay? Did it get in your eyes?”

One eye was stuck shut as if glued, and his lips stung. His lips might have been chapped, as there was a faint metallic smell. But Jeong-in burst into laughter.

He found his own state, covered in Chase’s semen like sauce, as well as Chase’s bewildered expression with a crumpled kitchen cloth stuck to his groin, utterly hilarious.

“Jeong-in? Are you alright?”

Seeing Jeong-in suddenly burst into laughter, Chase looked even more worried.

“Lift me up for a second.”

Chase slipped his hands under Jeong-in’s armpits and lifted him up. Then, he gently stroked Jeong-in’s reddened lips and mouth with a regretful expression.

“Your lips… they’re torn. They look painful.”

“It’s fine.”

Chase changed his position, leaning Jeong-in against the counter. He then roughly crumpled the kitchen cloth, sticky with fluid, into the trash can and adjusted his front.

It felt like a storm had just swept through.

Chase gently stroked Jeong-in’s cheek and asked,

“So, how did it feel to eat eggplant for the first time?”

“Hmm…”

Chase waited for Jeong-in’s answer with a hint of nervousness.

“It was edible.”

Seeing Jeong-in smile sweetly, Chase let out a sigh that sounded like a gasp.

“Haa… This won’t do. Let’s go to the bedroom.”

Jeong-in was immediately lifted into the air. Carrying Jeong-in lightly, Chase walked towards the bedroom without hesitation.