TSG 69

It had been a while since Se-hyun came to Shin Tae-oh’s house.

“I’ll take a shower, so leave the laptop to the side.”

In response to Shin Tae-oh’s instructions, Se-hyun answered, ‘I understand.’ And placed the paper documents and laptop in his arms on the table in front of the sofa. These were all things to look into before bidding.

After sorting the documents so that Shin Tae-oh could easily recognize them, Se-hyun stood up. He waited, intending to bid Shin Tae-oh farewell when he came out.

As always, Se-hyun was looking around the house when something caught his eye and made him stop.

A box that looked just the right size to hold a fountain pen.

The box that was placed not far from the entrance was still in the same place as Se-hyun had left it before, without even opening the packaging.

“That rascal, Taenyang-i.”

No matter what, it was a gift, so he should have at least put it somewhere proper. It seemed completely untouched. Even though he knew how it felt to be rejected…

Se-hyun was about to reach for the box when he hesitated.

‘Is it okay for me to touch this?’

He had brought it here at Yoo Jin-ha’s request, but now he hesitated to actually pick it up.

He had been watching Shin Tae-oh all this time. He knew what Shin Tae-oh’s feelings were for Yoo Jin-ha. And he had been the one entrusted with making the deliveries between them.

It was a gift Yoo Jin-ha had given, saying he was grateful for all he had received daily. Se-hyun didn’t know what his intentions were when he, who had only rejected Shin Tae-oh’s gifts, did this.

‘Could there have been some change in Yoo Jin-ha’s heart that day…?’

Come to think of it, there were some clues. There must have been a private conversation between the two that Se-hyun didn’t know about…

“I’m glad you thought better of it.”

Se-hyun flinched at the voice from behind and quickly stood from his spot.

Shin Tae-oh had changed into casual clothes and stood with his arms crossed, looking down at Se-hyun.

“If you had touched it, it would have made me sad.”

His expression was cold, but his words carried a surprisingly tender emotion.

“I was going to put it away for you.”

“What stopped you?”

Se-hyun couldn’t even muster the lie that Shin Tae-oh had called for him. From the start, he had hesitated to reach for the box.

He was honestly still confused. He knew everything, but should he feign ignorance or respond nonchalantly?

“Come here.”

Shin Tae-oh’s fingers intertwined through Se-hyun’s awkwardly dangling ones. It wasn’t just holding hands, but a finger-lock, surprising Se-hyun. When he turned to look at him, Shin Tae-oh had already turned away.

Se-hyun had no choice but to follow where he went and saw the box still there.

“I’ll return that.”

Shin Tae-oh said he had been too busy lately to return it, but it seemed best not to touch it after that explanation.

“Do you want to sit down for a moment?”

Not only did Se-hyun compliantly allow himself to be led, but at Shin Tae-oh’s gentle voice, he unconsciously bent his legs to sit on the sofa. This wasn’t his intention… As he shifted his awkward gaze, he felt Tae-oh sit beside him.

“I had a question.”

Was he going to ask about that gift?

Se-hyun didn’t have much to say, but Shin Tae-oh was serious. Just looking at him intently created an atmosphere so different from his usual demeanor. Se-hyun suddenly had the thought that even Shin Tae-oh’s pheromones seemed heavy and he was startled.

It wasn’t because of Shin Tae-oh.

Rather…

‘Pheromones…’

Se-hyun was accepting them too naturally. He couldn’t pinpoint when it had started happening. Even when Shin Tae-oh came to Se-hyun’s house and his pheromones made him forget the coffee aroma, it was the same. Like his body moved before his mind could think, Se-hyun was accepting the pheromones.

“It seems like you wanted to ask me about it too, Se-hyun.”

Shin Tae-oh’s expression softened, and a smile appeared as if he hadn’t been serious just moments ago.

“Ah…”

“Are you nervous?”

“No.”

Se-hyun moistened his lips to quench the thirst that was rising. He belatedly recalled what Shin Tae-oh had said.

Of course, Se-hyun did want to ask. But he hesitated, wondering if it would be okay, and Shin Tae-oh sharply picked up on that.

“I’m going to ask you too, so you don’t have to be that nervous.”

“If you say so.”

Se-hyun glanced over after checking the situation. It was when Shin Tae-oh opened his mouth too.

“That day when you ran into Assistant Manager Yoo Jin-ha at the department store…”

“Taenyang…”

“What did you talk about?”

“What do you mean?”

Even after realizing they were curious about different things, they finished their respective sentences. A moment of silence followed their words.

‘Taenyang.’

Se-hyun had expected a conversation related to Yoo Jin-ha because of the gift. It seemed Shin Tae-oh had been watching since Se-hyun muttered to himself while looking at the abandoned gift earlier.

“It’s good that I can resolve two things I was curious about.”

Se-hyun didn’t react to Shin Tae-oh’s positive response. Rather than resolving two things, it felt like two of his secrets had been found out by him.

“I’ll go first. The nickname doesn’t mean anything special.”

Se-hyun answered Shin Tae-oh’s question calmly.

“But saying that makes me even more curious…”

I said it doesn’t mean anything special, so don’t make it into something.

“It was… shortening ‘Shin Tae-oh cat(nyang)’ into ‘Taenyang’.”

“Huh? I didn’t quite catch the middle part.”

Se-hyun intentionally lowered my voice mid-sentence, but Shin Tae-oh leaned in as if he was listening carefully.

Thanks to that, the scent wafting from his body became closer. Whether it was his body wash mixed with his natural scent or vice versa, the rich aroma caused Se-hyun to lean back.

“What about Seungnyang.”

Shin Tae-oh’s head tilted to the side. With an expression of still not understanding despite hearing it, Se-hyun blurted it out since he had already said that much.

“It’s a wild dog(Asian coyote).”

“Ah, a wild dog, I see.”

Se-hyun showed a slightly dissatisfied expression and clearly widened his distance from Shin Tae-oh as if asking if that was enough. The sofa was pretty long, so he could move away without Shin Tae-oh saying anything.

“Why ‘Seungnyang’ though?”

Shin Tae-oh was the type of person who would try to seize any opportunity that came his way.

“…Well, I don’t know. It just came to mind, I guess.”

“Your response was a bit delayed just now.”

Shin Tae-oh suspiciously glanced at the table. I should have just left right after sorting through these items initially. I ended up having to get Shin Tae-oh’s confirmation by waiting unnecessarily…

“Then it’s my turn.”

Fortunately, Shin Tae-oh didn’t ask any further. Perhaps he was letting it go for now because he wanted to share something, but it didn’t matter.

“Blushing cat(Bulnyang).”

“You mean delinquent(Bullyang)?”

“Blushing. Cat.”

Se-hyun, who had thought it was “delinquent” until now, furrowed his brows in confusion.

“Am I also ‘Seungnyang’?”

“No. A cat.”

Shin Tae-oh smiled brightly and tapped his ear.

“Ear blushing cat.”

“What does that mean?”
“Your expression doesn’t change, but your ears turn red like they’re burning. And I didn’t decide on it unilaterally like you did for me. ‘Blushing Cat(Bul-nyang)’ is what you chose.”

The guy who told him to pick without any explanation is now passing the responsibility to him?

“I did sometimes call you ‘Blushing Cat’ with a different meaning, but I won’t tell you what that was.”

He didn’t ask.

“If you want, I can give you a hint… I thought of it when I saw you didn’t have any bowls at home…”

…Could it be ‘pitiful’?

Se-hyun forcefully held back the urge to ask as Shin Tae-oh grinned.

“Now please answer my question as well.”

“Which one? Ah, about what I and Assistant Manager Yoo Jin-ha talked about when I ran into him at the department store that day we went to buy bowls?”

Shin Tae-oh tapped his cheek as if trying to remember that time. Then he stroked his chin in thought and firmly pressed between his eyebrows. His smile had disappeared, and he pondered seriously before looking back at Se-hyun.

“I think we talked about something from when we were young.”

“You don’t…remember well?”

“It just feels like we had a conversation from some time ago. Perhaps?”

Se-hyun sighed as he looked at Shin Tae-oh, who was muttering as if he couldn’t remember even now. He should have just not asked in the first place.

They could have talked a bit more about this bid instead during this time.

“About this bid. Could you take a look at this too? It’s an interior design incorporating Seongha’s style.”

Se-hyun opened his mouth with the intention of just working, and Shin Tae-oh flashed an ambiguous smile before making it disappear as if it were nothing.

‘I’m sorry for giving it back to you after receiving it as a gift from hyung the other day. I was out of my mind at that time.’

Yoo Jin-ha couldn’t keep his hands still as he mentioned that incident. Watching him smoothing down his clothes and fiddling with his coffee cup for no reason, Shin Tae-oh shook his head.

‘It’s okay. Don’t worry about it.’

‘Really? I’ve only been taking from you all this time and constantly rejecting you…’

‘It’s not like you’ve only been taking.’

‘It’s not?’

When Yoo Jin-ha opened his eyes wide, his face became quite adorable. Adorable… younger brother. After reconfirming his feelings toward him, Shin Tae-oh spoke with a much lighter expression.

‘Yeah. You made me ramyun before, remember?’

That memory helped keep Shin Tae-oh from crumbling. He had become solid enough now that even letting go of that memory wouldn’t shake him.

‘You can’t be talking about when we were kids, right?’

‘Yup. It was delicious.’

‘Really? Wow, I’m finally being properly appreciated, hyung.’

As Yoo Jin-ha smiled, Shin Tae-oh smiled too. It really felt like they had become close brothers now.

The conversation he had claimed was nothing special remained intact in his memory, but it wasn’t important now.

“Sir. Are you listening?”

“I’m listening.”

“Then shall we proceed right away?”

Shin Tae-oh was about to nod but paused. He had been working until just a moment ago…

“What if I say I didn’t hear?”

“…”

Still, it was better than making a hasty decision.

⍣⍣⍣

The next day at the restaurant for the meeting, Park Ha-seong, who had arrived first, stood up when he saw Shin Tae-oh and Se-hyun enter.