TGMND 137

Beep, beep, beep, beep.

“What’s that?”

Yoon Ji-gu, who was sitting in front of the computer with the door open, raised his head at the sound of someone sporadically pressing the door lock. Soon after, a warning sound indicating the wrong password was heard, and someone was trying to intrude again by entering the password.

Yoon Ji-gu approached the intercom while dialing 112 on his phone. Soon, the phone in his hand dropped to the floor.

“Hyung?”

Without even picking up his phone, he hurriedly approached the front door and opened it. The sound of the lock turning was clear. As soon as he opened the door, he felt a cold sensation and the smell of alcohol. Yoon Ji-gu supported Yeo-woon, who was falling into his arms.

“W-what’s going on? Why are you like this, hyung?”

“Who are you?”

“What?”

“Who are you to be in my house?”

Yeo-woon asked with a puzzled face. His eyes were half-closed as if he were sleepy. He raised his hand and felt around Ji-gu’s body as if examining him, and then, as if he finally recognized him, he smiled broadly with his cheeks flushed from the alcohol.

“Ji-gu-ya.”

“Ugh, you reek of alcohol…”

“Were you waiting for me?”

“You’re coming now? That’s funny. You just asked who I was a moment ago.”

Not only did he mistake this place for his own house, but he was so drunk that he couldn’t even recognize Ji-gu’s face at first. Lee Yeo-woon wasn’t someone who was weak to alcohol. Unlike Ji-gu, who would get a bright red neck and feel the world spinning after just a couple of mixed drinks, Yeo-woon always seemed fine no matter how much he drank, as if he was drinking water. Although he had never drunk to the very end with him, Ji-gu estimated Yeo-woon’s drinking capacity to be at least three bottles.

“Why… did you drink so much?”

“Mmm.”

He gently stroked Ji-gu’s hair with his raised hand, completely relaxed. When Ji-gu scrunched his eyes at the ticklish sensation, Yeo-woon chuckled and nuzzled his cheek slightly while burying his face in Ji-gu’s shoulder.

“You said you’d contact me after the company dinner.”

“Mmm.”

“Stop saying ‘mm’ to everything.”

There was laughter in Yeo-woon’s voice. How could he be in such a good mood when he was so drunk he couldn’t even find his own house? It seemed his drunk habit was to laugh and talk nonsense.

“Let’s go inside first.”

Ji-gu practically carried the heavily intoxicated Yeo-woon into the house. While forcibly removing his shoes after seating him at the shoe rack, Yeo-woon kept mumbling to himself while kneading Ji-gu’s cheeks. This was a rare, even unprecedented sight. With flushed cheeks and a completely relaxed atmosphere, Yeo-woon hugged Ji-gu’s neck and asked:

“But why are you in my house?”

“…This is our house.”

“Our house? …Are you asking to live together?”

“W-what are you saying, really! No, I mean it’s really my house! My house!”

“Okay, okay. I’ll think about it.”

“What do you mean ‘okay’? Really, I can’t communicate with you.”

Even though he knew it was just the ramblings of a drunk person, Ji-gu turned his head away with an even redder face, having finished imagining living together at lightning speed from just one comment. The body temperature of the drunk Yeo-woon was much warmer than usual. Thinking about how he must have been wandering the streets like this all the way from the company dinner venue to here made Ji-gu sigh. To Ji-gu, it seemed like everyone in the world except himself was after Yeo-woon. It was a crime to have such a friendly and pretty boyfriend.

“The battery’s dead.”

Yeo-woon was nodding off. Seeing that the screen of the phone he was preciously holding was completely black, Ji-gu felt somewhat relieved to know that Yeo-woon hadn’t contacted him because he couldn’t, not because he didn’t want to. Ji-gu took the phone from Yeo-woon’s hand, tossed it roughly onto the living room sofa, and carried Yeo-woon to the bedroom. As he carefully laid Yeo-woon down on his bed, he felt strangely nervous. Despite being soaked in alcohol, Yeo-woon’s neat appearance without a single button undone made Ji-gu feel blood rushing downwards.

“I-it’s not anything else. It’s just uncomfortable to sleep like this.”

After making this self-justification, Ji-gu tried his best to think of other things as he reached for Yeo-woon’s neck as he was sleeping like an angel with his head resting on the pillow. Click, click. With each button he undid, it revealed bare skin underneath, as Yeo-woon wasn’t wearing anything under his shirt.

“…?”

What was this? Yoon Ji-gu lowered his head and gently touched Yeo-woon’s skin. There was a red mark below Yeo-woon’s neck that hadn’t been there a few days ago. Ji-gu, who had stopped in the middle of taking off Yeo-woon’s shirt, shifted his gaze. Come to think of it, he realized that the same mark had appeared on the inside of Yeo-woon’s right wrist.

He couldn’t understand why marks he hadn’t seen until last week had appeared. Ji-gu stared intently at Yeo-woon’s bare upper body, then hurriedly began to remove his pants as well.

“Ow!”

After roughly throwing the gray suit pants on the floor, he lifted Yeo-woon’s legs and examined his body here and there to see if there was anything strange on his lower body, but ended up getting hit in the forehead by Yeo-woon’s foot as he fussed.

“Damn, that really hurts…”

Ji-gu took off his own T-shirt and put it on Yeo-woon, who was shrinking from the cold air, and covered him with a blanket. Even while asleep, Yeo-woon instinctively crawled into the warm blanket. Ji-gu stared at the scene for a while before leaving the room with Yeo-woon’s clothes.

“…What is this?”

In Yeo-woon’s pants pocket, he found a note with a phone number written on a yellow post-it. The handwriting was neat and pretty. Don’t people usually give out business cards at work? It meant that someone had written down their phone number, and Lee Yeo-woon had kept it preciously and secretly in his pants.

For a moment, Ji-gu’s heart sank at the thought that crossed his mind. No way… The self-denial that Yeo-woon couldn’t possibly do such a thing swelled up and filled his head. He kept shaking his head even as he hung Yeo-woon’s clothes on a hanger. Suddenly, his breathing quickened and his mind became complicated.

The sudden increase in company dinners over the past few days. The infrequent contact. The unfamiliar marks on his body, and Lee Yeo-woon coming home uncharacteristically drunk. And… a strange phone number.

‘This can’t be happening.’

A siren blared in his mind. Ji-gu hurriedly walked to the living room without even putting on his T-shirt and connected Yeo-woon’s phone, which had been thrown on the sofa, to the charger. He called his own phone from Yeo-woon’s now-powered-on phone to check how Yeo-woon had saved his name. Even if it wasn’t ‘honey,’ he thought Yeo-woon might have at least added a heart after his name.

‘Even so, he would have saved his boyfriend’s name without the surname, right?’

However, the name that appeared on the screen as the phone vibrated wasn’t ‘babe,’ ‘honey,’ or ‘our Ji-gu♥,’ but just three characters:

‘Yoon Ji-gu’

Shouldn’t he be saved under a more affectionate name, if not for others, at least for himself? He thought it might have changed by now, even if it wasn’t like that before. The phone was locked with a password, so he couldn’t change the saved name on his own.

That’s when it happened.

010-****-****: Your phone seems to be off? I think I can make time on the 29th~

“…?”

What is this message? A preview window briefly appeared and disappeared repeatedly on the phone screen as a message arrived from an unknown number.

010-****-****: But shouldn’t you tell your lover?

Tell? What should he tell me?

010-****-****: They’ll be angry if they finds out later lol

“…Damn it, who is this?”

Yoon Ji-gu’s blood ran cold and he was wide awake. There was only one situation he could think of. He wanted to wake up Lee Yeo-woon right away and ask. Who sent this kind of message to him, why wasn’t the number saved, what was he supposed to tell him, and… why did they say he would be angry if he found out about something.

Ji-gu trembled with anxiety as he stared at Yeo-woon’s phone for a long time, but no matter how long he waited, no other messages came. Overnight, something unbelievable had happened to him. All the strength drained from his body.

‘This is definitely a situation where I should be angry, right?’

That night, he couldn’t sleep at all because he had so much on his mind.

***

It’s in Lee Yeo-woon’s nature to be affectionate. In the past, there were times when he had greatly misunderstood because Yeo-woon kept giving him openings. However, once they actually became lovers, it was embarrassing to think that he had thought Yeo-woon liked him and had been hanging around him before. Because of that, whenever Yoon Ji-gu recalled the nonsense he had said to Yeo-woon at the time, he wanted to die. Even after a year had passed, Yoon Ji-gu would beat his pillow in embarrassment whenever he recalled those moments.

Yeo-woon was still kind to others. However, the way Yeo-woon treated others and the way he treated Yoon Ji-gu were quite different. It wasn’t difficult to become friends with him once, but it was difficult to become someone he truly cared for and liked. Even Lee Yeo-woon had his own boundaries.

Once they became close, Yeo-woon became more playful than when they were just barely friends, suddenly holding hands without hesitation, and often saying he liked Ji-gu without reservation. From the day Yeo-woon accepted him as a lover, he had never been negligent towards him.

But they say emotions have an expiration date. Even the beautiful feelings of truly loving and cherishing something can become dull or fade with time. That’s what it means to become familiar. Things once treasured become trivial, and the effort to nurture them wanes.

In that sense, Yeo-woon was always new to Yoon Ji-gu. He just couldn’t get used to him. He hoped Yeo-woon felt the same way, but people’s hearts don’t always work the way they want them to.

“Damn it, even so, it hasn’t even been a year since we started dating…!”

Suddenly, a fiery emotion welled up from inside, and Yoon Ji-gu closed his mouth and buried his face in his arms. It’s unfair. The more he thought about it, the more he didn’t get over it and instead felt more miserable. He wished Yeo-woon loved him as much as he loved Yeo-woon. He wouldn’t ask for more, it would be good if it was just about the same as his love.

By now, Lee Yeo-woon had become like a habit for Yoon Ji-gu. If Yeo-woon wasn’t at the swimming pool, the hour of swimming wasn’t enjoyable at all. When he saw an interesting article, he bookmarked it to show Yeo-woon later. Yeo-woon’s belongings were scattered all over his house.

‘What really is that phone number…?’

Yoon Ji-gu didn’t want to doubt him.

‘Why did they say I would get angry if I found out about it?’

No matter how much he thought about it, only ‘that situation’ came to mind. Lee Yeo-woon’s… affair.

Of course, he already knew that Yeo-woon wasn’t the type of person to do that. But he couldn’t trust the flies buzzing around him. Given that the number wasn’t saved, it could be a misdirected message or a crazy person unilaterally approaching Yeo-woon. He desperately hoped that was the case.

He wanted to go and ask him directly, but he was hesitant too. What if, although unlikely, he told him he wanted to break up? What if he said he wanted some distance? What if he said it was creepy that he went through his pockets… He had no idea what he should do if that happened.

Yoon Ji-gu, who had been in a daze all day, opened the front door to get some fresh air. Just then, the elevator arrived at the 9th floor, and thinking the timing was good, he looked up and ended up face to face with Yeo-woon.

“…!”

Yeo-woon, who had just looked up and seen him, was startled and stepped back. If it had been his usual self, he would have smiled nonchalantly and said, “What a coincidence meeting you here.” But today’s Yeo-woon was a little different. As if he had something to feel guilty about. Was it because he had been thinking all day that Yeo-woon was acting strange?

‘No.’

He even slightly avoided Ji-gu’s eyes as if flustered. It wasn’t just his imagination. This was definitely strange.

“Hyung.”

“Ah, yes. Ji-gu.”

“Aren’t you going to ask where I’m going?”

“…Where are you going?”

Even this conversation felt unnatural. Yoon Ji-gu didn’t get into the elevator that had just arrived and instead pulled Yeo-woon’s hand to lead him outside. There was a messenger window open on the phone in Yeo-woon’s hand. As soon as he felt Ji-gu’s gaze, he quickly hid both hands behind his back.

“Who are you texting?”

“A friend.”

“Which friend?”

“…Seon-young.”

It was a name Ji-gu had heard from Yeo-woon before. Now that he heard it, it seemed familiar, probably one of the guys he thought was Yeo-woon’s sl4ve. Seeing Yeo-woon obviously hiding his hands behind his back and looking nervous made Ji-gu’s stomach churn.

Ji-gu knew Yeo-woon had no relationship with that friend. Yeo-woon wasn’t the type of shameless, unscrupulous person who would cheat on him. If he had found someone else, he would have cleanly ended things with Ji-gu before meeting them.

“Hyung.”

“Yes?”

But why was he so tense today? Just like… someone who’s hiding something.

“Did you leave well in the morning?”

“Ah, you were sleeping, so I left without waking you.”

“Do you remember what happened yesterday?”

“Roughly. Thanks for putting me to bed. I must have been a handful, right?”

“…Why have you been so busy lately?”

“It’s the end of the year.”

“Even so, were you so busy that you couldn’t make even one call to me today?”

“…”

“While you can casually contact that friend. Is it so hard to send me even one message saying you’re heading home?”

Ji-gu’s throat tightened with each word. Should he just ask outright? What that phone number was about. What those red marks on his body yesterday were about. What that text message that arrived at dawn was about. If he had something to tell him. This morning… why he left for work without even giving him a kiss, as if running away. How could he go to work again after drinking so much yesterday, did he really go to the company?

“…”

“…”

Yeo-woon’s eyes wavered as they met. Anxiety knotted in Ji-gu chest, blocking it tightly. It felt like he shouldn’t speak. He didn’t want to make things worse and face the worst-case scenario. Just thinking about it made him feel like crying, so he clenched his fists and muttered.

“Am I too clingy with you? Am I contacting you too often without reading the room…?”

“Ah, no. What clingy! That’s ridiculous. It’s just… I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

“I had something to ask Seon-young. And about what I was going to tell you…”

“…”

“…Never mind, Ji-gu. I’ll answer your calls properly from now on. I didn’t think it was worth mentioning since I was heading home soon. Sorry for making you worry.”

If he wasn’t mistaken, it seemed like Yeo-woon had something he wanted to say to him, but he mumbled his words and just apologized. The lingering discomfort didn’t go away, and it gnawed at Ji-gu.

“Hyung. Do you really have nothing to tell me?”

“…”

Yeo-woon looked up at him, maintaining eye contact for a while before turning away first.

“No.”

…Liar.

“I’m going to head inside first. I’m feeling a bit tired.”

Yeo-woon smiled awkwardly and shuffled into the house. His face, constantly watching Ji-gu’s reactions, was suspicious. The doubt soon turned into certainty. Yeo-woon was definitely hiding something from him.