Sunshine Shower

So he didn’t even come for a visit, why? Moon Seoyoon wanted to ask, but instead, he bit his lip and swallowed his words. He didn’t want to be petty about what had passed. It felt even more awkward because the other person was Woo Yeonjae.He felt like there were so many things he wanted to ask when they met, but when it came down to it, there weren’t that many words he could actually articulate. He was afraid that if he got an answer, it might hurt him even more.“Did anyone harass you in the military?” Woo Yeonjae asked suddenly, only sipping on wine without a word. The wrinkled forehead made him look irritated, as if the calculation had gone awry.“What?” Moon Seoyoon was slightly taken aback by the unexpected question. He had never experienced harassment in the military, so why harassment? Suddenly, a memory from middle school flashed through his mind.“There was no one who harbored ill feelings toward me like that from back then.”Being a closed group, incidents would often happen, and given that he reacted sensitively, it wasn’t surprising. As his thoughts reached this point, he felt the need to deny any misunderstanding to avoid confusion.“No, my military life was comfortable.”Though his body was a bit tired, military life wasn’t bad. He met good people, and most importantly, he could rid himself of unnecessary thoughts, mostly about his parents and Woo Yeonjae.“You seem to talk less. Or is it still awkward? We’ve known each other for years, why do you keep acting like strangers?”“The awkwardness was resolved a long time ago. I just remembered the old days because it’s been a while since we drank together.”Woo Yeonjae once again narrowed his eyes as if gauging sincerity, resting his chin on his hand. Despite the awkwardness fading away, tension surged with his piercing gaze. The dim lighting of the wine bar and the excessively quiet atmosphere made his nerves twitch.Avoiding eye contact was too obvious, and it was difficult to tear his gaze away directly. Moon Seoyoon once again held the wine glass in his hand. His eyelids naturally drooped. Now, he could only cling to the thin glass stem more slender than his own fingers. The characteristic chill quickly invaded his body temperature.“You’re really the same.”Unable to hold back any longer, as he brought the glass to his lips, Woo Yeonjae spoke a beat later.“What’s the matter?”“Your face is the same, but your taste is still the same too. Remember the wine we had when we last met? That one. You drank it so well, so I deliberately requested that.”“Really?” Moon Seoyoon lowered his glass and checked the label on the wine bottle. It was hard to remember since it had been a long time ago. Back then, it seemed like Woo Yeonjae hardly drank. As he checked the glass across from him according to the suddenly recalled memory, to his surprise, the red liquid hadn’t decreased at all.“You didn’t dislike this for being too sweet?”“Not really.”Whether he disliked it or not, Moon Seoyoon quickly gave up trying to interpret the meaning. Despite its sweetness, the high alcohol content of the wine made his head feel slightly fuzzy. Just as he thought it might be better to stop drinking, Woo Yeonjae lifted the wine bottle and poured the red liquid into the glass.“What are you doing? Who drinks wine like this?”Moon Seoyoon chuckled and tapped the wine glass with his fingertip. As he continued to drink, meaningless laughter kept escaping him. It seemed like the tension was relieved in an instant. As if asking when he had ever been tense, his stiff shoulders gradually relaxed in the usual conversation.Was Woo Yeonjae feeling happy to meet him? Suddenly, he had that question.“Drink up. Gotta make up for those two years you missed.”“Do I have to say thank you?”“Yeah.”Seeing his shameless expression, it was obvious he was joking. Moon Seoyoon just decided to go along with it and lifted the glass. The thin glass was surprisingly heavy, filled with more than half of the alcohol that should have been under the bowl.“I heard the professor got married while you were in the military.”(Professor being Moon Seoyoon’s father.)“…You heard?”With a vague answer, Moon Seoyoon lowered the glass. He had somewhat anticipated that news of his father’s marriage would have reached his ears. After all, becoming friends with Woo Yeonjae was intertwined with their parents, so it was natural if it was a natural topic.He had felt relieved when he couldn’t attend the wedding, partly because of Woo Yeonjae. He had feared that if they met there, he wouldn’t be able to control his expression. Fortunately, seeing how casually Woo Yeonjae talked about it, it seemed he hadn’t attended the wedding either.“Did the woman move into your house?”“She got married, so yeah.”“The professor is quite peculiar, isn’t he? Sending his son off to the military and attending his own wedding.”Even with a teasing tone, Moon Seoyoon only lifted the corners of his mouth without saying a word. The only person who could speak such words in front of him was Woo Yeonjae.“During that time, our Seoyoon must have suffered a lot.”“I said I was fine. I met a lot of good people.”“Good people?”With an unusually casual tone, his pitch-black pupils rolled around. The sound of tapping the base of the wine glass abruptly stopped.“Who are they?”“You wouldn’t know even if I told you, would you?”“Well, even if you told me, I wouldn’t know….”His words trailed off.Moon Seoyoon glanced at Woo Yeonjae, who was fiddling with the wine glass, and stole a glance. It felt somewhat chilly to see his face, half-lowered eyelids, and the wine glass untouched, as if he hadn’t looked this way before.‘Come to think of it….’When they last spoke, he had an urge to ask if he was still dating his girlfriend from back then. But Moon Seoyoon chose to keep his mouth shut. The fact that he talked about other perfumes he recognized hinted that regardless of whether it was the same person or not, there was someone else. Not recognizing the scent of a new perfume was purely because his mind was preoccupied with Woo Yeonjae.To suppress the fluttering emotions, Moon Seoyoon drank once again. Asking wouldn’t have been anything but a useless question.***“I should have been the first one to…Seoyoon.”Moon Seoyoon suddenly woke up from his sleep. He vaguely thought he heard Woo Yeonjae’s voice, but he wasn’t sure. It was unclear whether it was a dream or reality, as it had been a long time since he drank and fell asleep.He squinted his eyes against the bright light, furrowing his brows heavily, then finally raised his eyelids, and unfamiliar lighting entered his sight.“What’s going on….”His head throbbed. Hearing faint water sounds, it seemed someone was showering.Feeling disoriented, he blinked slowly, and soon realized that the bed he was lying on was in Woo Yeonjae’s space. Seeing some new items around, it was clear it wasn’t his own home.“Ugh….”A sigh escaped involuntarily. The sweetness of the alcohol indicated that he must have gotten drunk from drinking wine. Since he had left without a word, he was sure to get an earful from his father.Groaning, Moon Seoyoon buried his face in the pillow and reached towards the drawer to find his phone. After fumbling around a few times, instead of the phone he expected to find, a sharp object dug into his fingernails.“Ah.”Startled by the sharp pain, he lifted his head and saw what the object was. It was a lone earring, left behind under his fingernail. It was obviously a pearl earring that women would wear.Moon Seoyoon involuntarily held his breath. His heart sank with a thud as if it had been stabbed into a sharp knife.At the same time, the sound of water stopped. Thinking that the owner would soon come out, Moon Seoyoon hastily got up from the bed. The bloodstained earring fell silently to the floor.“Up already?”Just as Moon Seoyoon was about to pick it up to put it back, Woo Yeonjae entered the bedroom. He wore only training pants on his lower body, revealing his upper body. He already had a noticeable physique, thanks to his naturally large frame and regular exercise. With each step, his muscles, including his abs, twitched along with his footsteps. Moon Seoyoon quickly averted his gaze and cleared his throat to hide his embarrassment.“Just now. Did I get really drunk last night?”“Don’t remember? It wasn’t even close to vomiting or anything.”“Really?”His eyes widened in surprise at the description of his antics. As their eyes met in that state, Woo Yeonjae smiled mischievously, squinting his eyes.“Yeah. Just now seeing your face.”At the uninspiring joke, Moon Seoyoon’s expression tightened. His nose wrinkled at the mention of his antics. Woo Yeonjae threw the towel he had been drying his hair with into the laundry basket and approached. Feeling uneasy to be facing his bare body right after getting up, Moon Seoyoon became anxious, fearing an irreversible mistake.Moon Seoyoon discreetly lowered his head towards the drawer. The spot where the earring had been was now empty.“Where did my phone go?”“It rang at midnight, seemed like it was the professor. Moon Seoyoon, you’re not Cinderella or anything….”Upon hearing what he expected, a sigh escaped involuntarily. Moon Seoyoon splashed his face with water. He already felt disoriented.“I told you I’d met you and put you to bed in my own bed.”“Oh… Thanks. If it were your dad, I’d be dead. Luckily, it’s just yours.”A faint sense of relief washed over him. Moon Seoyoon’s father, who considered Woo Yeonjae the best friend in the world, would overlook any wrongdoing with just a word from him. Of course, any wrongdoing was just about family commitments or getting home late.“Good friend.”He wondered what kind of reaction his father would have if he knew that his only child had feelings for his childhood friend in a different sense, not just as a friend.Just the thought of the dreadful future made Moon Seoyoon instinctively press his index finger firmly against his nail. Unlike usual, he felt a dull ache.“Are you hurt?”Before he could even inspect it closely, Woo Yeonjae approached and grabbed his arm.