Sunshine Shower

‘You… like men?’‘I don’t think it’s true that I wasn’t interested in you enough to not notice your habits until now.’Even if the fact that he liked men was discovered, he had to ensure that his affection for Woo Yeonjae remained hidden.‘Is it normal for a guy to get aroused by another guy?’Despite reacting that way, he acted towards him as usual, so it didn’t seem like he intended to sever ties. If he had such intentions, he wouldn’t have attended this event or mentioned coming to his family home.So as long as his unrequited love wasn’t discovered, wouldn’t it be fine?“Seoyoon.”Moon Seoyoon snapped back to his senses at the somewhat stern voice. He felt his father’s sharp gaze.“Oh, yes.”“You seem very tired.”It seemed he had missed part of the conversation.“I’m sorry. I’ve been studying a lot and overdid it a bit, so I guess I’m tired.”Moon Seoyoon made an excuse. It wasn’t entirely untrue since he hadn’t been sleeping well due to the issue with Woo Yeonjae.“If you’re very tired, why not quit your part-time job? They say it’s good to work hard when you’re young, but I don’t agree. There’s no need to suffer unnecessarily.”“I’ll think about it.”“Hm, alright. My son handles things well on his own.”Their conversation was excessively formal for a father and son. Only after his father’s gaze shifted away could Moon Seoyoon let out his tense breath.“It would be nice if the chairman could join us for a meal sometime.”“Sure.”Unlike his own, Woo Yeonjae’s response was smooth. Hearing his voice, Moon Seoyoon took a sip of water to catch his breath.“If our fathers meet, it would almost feel like a family gathering.”“Cough, cough!”Startled by the frivolous joke, he choked and coughed. Moon Seoyoon stood up reflexively, not even feeling the hand patting his back.“Sorry… I’ll just go to the restroom for a moment.”“Do you want me to come with you?”“No, it’s okay. Keep eating.”After Moon Seoyoon left, a short silence filled the room. Just as Professor Moon awkwardly laughed, the waiter brought in the food. The clattering of dishes and the food descriptions followed for a few minutes, then silence fell again after the waiter left.“Ah.”Woo Yeonjae, who had been scanning the food, let out a low exclamation as if he had just remembered something. Professor Moon’s gaze naturally followed.“Congratulations on your marriage, Professor.”His warm voice conveyed the congratulations.“I should have mentioned it as soon as we met, but I forgot since it’s been so long.”“Haha. It’s a bit embarrassing at this age.”“There’s nothing to be embarrassed about.”Woo Yeonjae smiled and picked up his chopsticks.“I heard you’ve been seeing each other for a long time.”The word “long” was subtly emphasized as his voice elongated.“Just don’t let Seoyoon find out.”His calm tone slipped between his lips. It was too gentle a voice for giving orders to someone much older. His gaze was fixed on Moon Seoyoon’s place setting, as if there was no need to make eye contact with the person he was speaking to.Don’t you know Moon Seoyoon’s tastes yet? Woo Yeonjae’s lips moved slowly as he looked over the food Moon Seoyoon would surely leave behind.“If the kid gets hurt over something so trivial…”His long eyelashes fluttered up as he faced forward.“I wouldn’t feel great about it either.”His slightly curved eyes seemed kind.“Come on in.”“Yes. Do visit home more often. No matter how busy you are, you should still see your son.”A large hand patted his shoulder a couple of times. To avoid appearing awkward, Moon Seoyoon straightened his posture and barely managed to say, “Yes.”“Yeonjae, let’s meet again.”“Of course. Next time, let’s make it a family meeting.”“That kid, with his jokes. I’ll head in now.”Moon Seoyoon stood rooted to the spot until his father’s car completely disappeared.He only relaxed once the black sedan vanished from sight. As he released the tension from his stiff shoulders with a short sigh, a familiar arm wrapped around his waist.Startled by the unexpected touch, Moon Seoyoon instinctively stepped back.“What, do you think I’m going to eat you?”Woo Yeonjae laughed, making a hissing sound as if he hadn’t expected Moon Seoyoon to avoid him so blatantly. Though his lips were loosely parted, the edges of his eyebrows were slightly furrowed. The arms extended to embrace him slowly withdrew.Only then did he realize he had overreacted. Even without Woo Yeonjae’s long-standing habit, no one would have been this startled by such a small touch between friends.“Why do you keep saying things like that, even earlier upstairs?”Moon Seoyoon subtly turned his body and deflected the conversation, as if he had moved to face Woo Yeonjae rather than to avoid his hand. Fortunately, he had something to say to Woo Yeonjae.“Things like what?”Even though it was a simple word, his lips wouldn’t move as he tried to bring it up.“Oh, the family gathering.”Woo Yeonjae lightly spoke, as if he had figured out the answer himself.While casual physical affection was one thing, mentioning a family gathering in front of elders seemed like an excessive joke. Not being able to gauge his father’s reaction made him even more worried.He hadn’t had the chance to observe his surroundings because he was busy recovering from the sudden coughing fit and going to the restroom. Thinking about his father’s subtly stiffened demeanor afterward, he worried that the joke had offended him.‘My father isn’t the type to be like that, though.’In truth, his father was just an excuse. The stiffness in his father’s eyes behind his glasses was likely due to his own mood.Surprised by Woo Yeonjae’s mention of a family gathering, Moon Seoyoon momentarily imagined something that wouldn’t happen and then felt foolish for doing so. Yet, he wanted to blame Woo Yeonjae, so he used his father as an excuse.As soon as he realized this, he felt a rush of embarrassment.“Why are you so worried about it?”But Woo Yeonjae just chuckled lightly as if it was no big deal.“The professor mentioned marriage plans lightly when we were kids, so I just made a casual joke.”He playfully touched Moon Seoyoon’s waist and walked towards a car parked nearby.Caught off guard, Moon Seoyoon only realized after the slight warmth left that another person’s arm had been around his waist. The movement had been so natural.“I should have been born as a girl, right?”Woo Yeonjae, now on the driver’s side of the car, smiled over the roof.“Then we might have had a real family gathering and gotten married.”Unable to find words to respond, Moon Seoyoon eventually just got into the passenger seat. He found it hard to meet Woo Yeonjae’s staring eyes. Even when he heard the click of the door opening on the other side, he stiffened his neck to avoid turning his head.As Woo Yeonjae got into the driver’s seat and grabbed the steering wheel, he playfully continued.“Moon Seoyoon, you don’t seem to like that idea.”Why does he keep asking difficult questions? Moon Seoyoon bit his tongue. He kept grappling with the dilemma of how to handle Woo Yeonjae’s way of speaking. He wasn’t in a position to demand why he spoke that way.‘It’s only with you that I act like this, so what’s the problem?’Even without hearing it, Moon Seoyoon could guess what Woo Yeonjae would say. He would tilt his head and ask, genuinely puzzled. He would become someone who was nitpicking a lifelong friend’s habits.“We’re not kids anymore… besides, we’re both guys, so what’s the point of imagining that?”His throat felt rough when he said the words “we’re both guys.”Moon Seoyoon gripped his bag tightly. Given that Woo Yeonjae had already noticed he liked guys and was just waiting for Moon Seoyoon to admit it, saying such a thing felt shameless. But he couldn’t think of anything else to say.“I was just reminiscing about when we were kids. We used to play house a lot in kindergarten. Moon Seoyoon would go to work, and I would cook.”Was he pressuring him to confess quickly? The thought pricked him but was soon diluted by Woo Yeonjae’s playful tone.As he cautiously glanced at the driver’s seat, he saw a faint trace of mischief on Woo Yeonjae’s profile. It seemed he was genuinely just reminiscing.“Do you still remember that?”“Why wouldn’t I? It’s not like we were infants.”Moon Seoyoon faintly remembered their childhood together. While the memories of playing house were vague, he did recall gathering grass and berries in the backyard. They stuck together all day, finding it endlessly fun even though it was just the two of them.“I remember getting grass stains on our hands while playing at your house. Or was it from the berries?”Recalling those carefree times quickly dispelled the intrusive thoughts in his mind. Finally, Moon Seoyoon relaxed into his seat and murmured.“I think we were pretending to cook and crushed them with rocks.”“Yeah. There were red berries, too… I still don’t know what they were called. But I remember my hands got stained. I was scared that you were bleeding from your hands.”“You cried.”“Did I?”Given the faint recollection, he probably did cry. The memory was likely still there because it had been shocking enough to stick with him. In the memory, he was holding Woo Yeonjae’s hand tightly, examining his fingers. As a child, he did his best, clumsy though it might have been.As the memories intertwined, Moon Seoyoon’s brow furrowed slightly.“Wasn’t there a time when you really did bleed? Or not?”