Sunshine Shower

He was taken aback by the sudden contact, trying to push the hand away, but it was not an easy task to outmuscle the stronger grip of the man before him.While Woo Yeonjae possessed an imposing stature that looked intimidating to anyone beyond just being sturdy, Moon Seoyoon was always on the slimmer side. Thanks to years of playing the piano since childhood, he maintained a straight posture, and his overall figure was sleek and neat. Despite being taller than average and having good proportions, people tended to think he was even taller than he actually was. However, standing next to Woo Yeonjae, his head just about brushed against his chin. With such a noticeable difference, it was impossible to easily shake off the firmly grasping hand.“Looks like a wound from being pricked.”Furrowing his straight eyebrows, Woo Yeonjae casually brought the finger stained with blood to his lips. Moon Seoyoon stared dumbfounded at his finger pressed against his lips. Only belatedly did he feel the tingling sensation.“Ow. What are you doing?”As he jerked his hand away in alarm, his nail, which had hastily retreated, brushed against his lips, eliciting a low groan from Woo Yeonjae. His expression seemed to convey utter confusion as if he couldn’t understand why this was happening so suddenly.“What am I doing? You suddenly sucked on my finger.”“It’s bleeding, what else can I do? This is what people normally do when they bleed.”“Since when is that a normal thing?”Recalling his childhood, Moon Seoyoon absentmindedly wiped the saliva-stained finger on his pants. A sensation of warmth spread throughout his body, starting from where the tongue touched his skin. Worried that his pale cheeks might soon flush red and become noticeable, he felt a bit uneasy.“Why. I remember everything we did together. By the way, what pricked you?”“Oh… an earring.”Only now did Moon Seoyoon bend down to pick up the earring that had fallen to the ground.“Earring? Ah, Sunjoo’s.”With a slight grimace, Woo Yeonjae immediately uttered the unfamiliar name.“Your girlfriend’s name is Sunjoo?”Handing over the earring, Moon Seoyoon asked.“Yeah.”Even though the earring was sharply cut, it wasn’t enough to cause a wound on the palm, yet strangely, the palm that was holding the earring stung.As Woo Yeonjae took the earring, he grabbed Moon Seoyoon’s wrist again.“You’ve been pricked badly. It hasn’t been long since we moved here, so I’m not sure if there’s any antiseptic around.”“What antiseptic? It’s fine. I just need to wash the earring. It’s covered in blood.”However, Woo Yeonjae inspected the deep wound as if the earring were of no concern. He cautiously probed beneath the nail where blood was visible. While it was just a simple contact to check the wound, to someone else, even this level of contact was an ordeal. Eventually, Moon Seoyoon withdrew his hand subtly and changed the subject.“It’s okay. I’ll wash off the blood. You go put on some clothes. Aren’t you cold?”“Take care of yourself first.”“No, still, your girlfriend—”“What about her, Seoyoon?”Woo Yeonjae cut him off.“You’re more important than some earring.”Moon Seoyoon closed his mouth. This was why he couldn’t let go of his unrequited love for Woo Yeonjae.“What? Did you do this?”A decent breakfast was set on the table. Moon Seoyoon glanced down at the multigrain rice and dried pollack soup, then looked up at Woo Yeonjae.“Surely not.”Woo Yeonjae chuckled and took a seat at the table.“I help out with the side dishes and stuff at home about twice a week. I asked for this morning’s meal. You like this, don’t you? It’s got eggs in it.”“I’ll enjoy it.”Only then did the egg hidden beneath the dried pollack become visible. It seemed like the yolk would ooze out if pierced with chopsticks, indicating it wasn’t fully cooked.Moon Seoyoon scooped up some soup with a spoon and put it in his mouth. Though there were no symptoms to call it a hangover, the warm broth made him feel more comfortable.“I drank a lot yesterday.”“You finished the whole bottle.”“Alone? I must have gone crazy.”I thought the tension had eased in the middle, but seeing that I couldn’t remember anything even after finishing a whole bottle of wine, it seemed that wasn’t the case. I must have drunk more due to the tension.As I reached that conclusion, my hand, which was moving the spoon, suddenly stopped.“I didn’t say anything stupid, did I?”“Something stupid?”Woo Yeonjae, who had been looking at me as if there was nothing to make a mistake about between us, seemed to recall something and dragged out the end of his sentence.“Ah.”I reflexively bit the inside of my cheek. I wouldn’t have made a confession or anything like that. If I had made such a mistake, I wouldn’t even be at Woo Yeonjae’s house right now.I had never heard any homophobic remarks from Woo Yeonjae, but I had never heard him speak positively about homosexuality either. It seemed more appropriate to say that I didn’t know his reaction because we had never had a conversation about it. Maybe he wouldn’t care. Like it was a story from a different world that didn’t concern him. Most people would probably be like that.But I suddenly got scared at the thought of making a mistake.“You talked a lot about someone I don’t know.”Fortunately, it seemed that I hadn’t made any major mistakes. I asked, hiding my relief.“Who?”“So many people said nice things about you that I can’t remember.”I wondered if he was talking about military life. One of the reasons why my peers avoided those who had just completed their military service was because they would talk about the military as soon as they got drunk, but I felt embarrassed because I fit that stereotype.“Sorry. I don’t remember anything.”“Making me jealous.”Without touching his food, Woo Yeonjae, who had been leaning on the dining table with his chin, casually uttered words that could be misconstrued. His slightly raised cheek, pressed by his hand, and his drooping eyebrows gave him a mischievous expression like that of a mischievous child. I tightened my grip on the spoon in my hand.“You have a lot of friends. What’s there to be jealous about?”“I don’t have friends besides you. You’re the only one.”“What do you mean?”Knowing well that it was a pretense, Moon Seoyoon chuckled.“Kim Hyunseung could also be considered your friend.”Most of Moon Seoyoon’s close connections were formed through Woo Yeonjae. There were always people around Woo Yeonjae, and Moon Seoyoon had known him since a very young age, so it was quite natural for his friends to become Moon Seoyoon’s friends as well.It was amusing to argue about who was friends with whom first in the group, but nonetheless, saying that Woo Yeonjae didn’t have friends was an absurd statement.“Your friend? Moon Seoyoon is drawing the line. Seriously petty.”“I’m just saying. Okay, you’re the closest to me. Happy now?”“I was kidding. I couldn’t sleep a wink every night for the two years you were gone, crying myself to sleep.”Woo Yeonjae crying. Moon Seoyoon had known him since childhood, but had never seen him cry. Back then, even if he pretended to be weak, he would overlook any mistake, so it was clear that he was still pretending to be weak.On the other hand, upon hearing that he was bored, Moon Seoyoon suddenly remembered the day he coincidentally ran into Kim Hyunseung after his discharge. It was a chance meeting when Kim Hyunseung came to the cafe where Moon Seoyoon was working.“How’s Woo Yeonjae doing?”“Why didn’t you contact that punk Yeonjae?”“I haven’t contacted anyone.”“Damn, what a tough guy.”Moon Seoyoon chuckled coyly as he passed the perfectly cooked meat as an apology. His friend, who was discharged a few months later than him, still seemed like a big baby.After swallowing a mouthful of food, Kim Hyunseung finally spoke.“It’s been quite a while since I saw that guy’s face. He’s probably doing fine. Woo Yeonjae isn’t the type to starve to death anywhere.”“Yeah.”“He had nothing to worry about, right? He’s American, so he didn’t even go to the military when we all did. Oh, right. After I went to the military… I didn’t see him at all the next semester.”“Woo Yeonjae? He took a leave of absence?”“Yeah.”“Why?”“He said he went on a trip because he was bored with school. I think it was England.”Was he really that bored?Moon Seoyoon glanced at Woo Yeonjae. The comment about being bored for the past two years seemed sincere and yet like a joke. After a brief hesitation, he asked the question he had been curious about.“Hyunseung said you took a leave of absence after I went to the military.”“Yeah.”“Why?”“Because you weren’t there.”The answer came out naturally, as if it was obvious, and a heavy feeling settled in one corner of Moon Seoyoon’s chest. It was always difficult for him to judge how to react whenever Woo Yeonjae expressed such trivial affection. Knowing better than anyone else that it stemmed from their friendship made it even more challenging.So Moon Seoyoon couldn’t bring himself to say, “But you have a girlfriend.” It would have seemed just as jealous as it sounded, and it was delicate to say such things among friends. He felt he needed to censor and re-censor whatever he said in front of Woo Yeonjae.“What does it matter to me…”Muttering, Moon Seoyoon absentmindedly poked at the boiled egg in the soup.“Why.”Woo Yeonjae smiled, lifting the corners of his mouth in a posture not much different from before.“I thought I was going to die missing Moon Seoyoon?”“…Just eat your food.”Unable to meet his gaze with his neatly folded eyes, Moon Seoyoon shifted his gaze to the dishes in front of him. The runny yolk flowing out looked just like his heart.