Chapter 3: Love That He’ll Never Taste

“Han-geon.”

But Eun-gyeol’s voice—languid and calm—was far too subdued for someone who had just come back from such a huge event.

“I’m home.”

“You worked hard. Was that the last thing on your schedule?”

“Yeah.”

To anyone else, his voice wouldn’t have sounded much different from usual.

But Han-geon had spent too many years by his side not to notice. Eun-gyeol was in a very bad mood right now.

Han-geon glanced over at Eun-gyeol’s face.

Why?

The event went smoothly, the fans’ reactions were great… so what’s wrong?

In that case, there was only one thing that came to mind.

“Eun-gyeol.”

“Mm.”

“…Did something happen with your manager?”

At Han-geon’s cautious question, Eun-gyeol raised an eyebrow.

The breath he drew in slowly came out in a couple of soundless laughs.

It was a slightly hollow laugh, but unexpectedly, his mood seemed to lift a little.

“How’d you know? Seriously, no one picks up on my mood as fast as you do, Han-geon.”

Eun-gyeol said it with a light, playful tone.

“Because of those idiot managers—what kind of nonsense is this supposed to be.”

That soft, gentle voice—so delicate it could knock fans out with just a greeting—was casually saying things the public could never even imagine coming from him.

To put it bluntly… Eun-gyeol was a little—no, somewhat—prickly by nature.

The important thing, however, was that the public didn’t know that.

Just like the nickname acting genius suggested, Eun-gyeol was exceptionally good at performing the moment a camera was on him.

The Eun-gyeol the public knew was always the one who smiled prettily and waved with that beautiful face.

But off-camera, Eun-gyeol often ran into trouble at work.

The main cause seemed to be frequent conflicts with his managers, followed by pressure from the CEO or department head because of it.

Honestly, Han-geon didn’t need to see it to know.

Eun-gyeol’s tastes were notoriously particular, and he was the type who’d get irritated easily when something didn’t go his way—like a sensitive cat.

No matter how much he loved him, Han-geon could never truthfully say that being around Eun-gyeol was relaxing.

“I’m in such a foul mood, Han-geon.”

Eun-gyeol tilted his head slightly, eyes curved in a smile.

Even with irritation clearly seeping through, he smiled as he looked at Han-geon, very obviously prodding him for a reaction.

“Why? Did your manager mess something up again?”

“No… sigh.”

His elegant brows scrunched up in an instant.

What followed was a stream of complaints—one after another—detailing all of the manager’s offenses.

“I told him at least three times this week.

I don’t eat anything with milk in it.

I don’t want anything hot.

But that Park Seong-cheol or Kim Seong-cheol or whatever—what, was he trying to screw me over? He brought me a hot café latte today.

In this heat?”

“…I see.”

“And that’s not all.

Yesterday, when it was raining, he tried to hold an umbrella over me, and he pointed that sharp end right at me, that bastard—”

Eun-gyeol’s expression twisted into something vicious for a moment.

Han-geon, realizing instantly why, waved his hands in a panic.

Just remembering it must have been upsetting for him.

“You don’t have to say it. I think I get the picture.”

Han-geon could easily imagine the scene without seeing it.

The manager probably meant no harm and simply tried to open the umbrella toward Eun-gyeol.

And in doing so, he must have pointed the tip—the part that looked like a little lightning rod on a long umbrella—straight at him.

“I told him from the start. Don’t point sharp things at me. But… haaa.”

“Ah… why would he do that…”

“Isn’t he a complete idiot? I swear, even a passing sparrow would have more brains.”

Eun-gyeol spat the words out harshly.

It might not seem like a big deal to other people, but to Eun-gyeol, it was probably a serious threat.

Since he was very young, Eun-gyeol had suffered from aichmophobia—a fear of sharp, pointed objects.

Not just knives or blades, but even a pencil, fork, or the tip of an umbrella would make him extremely anxious if aimed toward him.

Han-geon silently offered a bit of sympathy toward the manager he had never met.

The guy had reportedly only been on the job about a week—and today was probably his last day.

“So… did he get fired?”

“Yeah. I told them I’d never work with that idiot again.”

“…What did the department head say?”

“He had a fit, obviously.

Asked me if this makes any sense—going through more than twenty managers in two years.”

Speaking carelessly, Eun-gyeol lay down across the sofa.

He let out a casual ‘I’m tired’, as if nothing the department head said had anything to do with him.

Truthfully, none of this was new.

From what Han-geon had heard, both the agency CEO and the department head in charge of Eun-gyeol were constantly stressed because of him.

And yet, there was a very clear reason they couldn’t simply discard him or pressure him too harshly.

In an industry where fame and profit were everything, Eun-gyeol was a terrifyingly fast-rising rookie, receiving love calls from countless advertisers and distributors.

From the company’s perspective, he was someone they absolutely couldn’t afford to lose.

“Han-geon. I’m so pissed off. Go beat them all up for me.”

“…You don’t mean that, right?”

“I do. You’re good at fighting.”

“What? Han-geon.”

The tone Eun-gyeol used made it sound like there wasn’t a single hint of joking in his voice.

One hundred percent sincerity.

Every time he blinked slowly while looking at Han-geon, his long lashes fluttered prettily.

With a face that pretty, it made Han-geon want to grant any request—but… he had no idea how to answer that.

He cleared his throat, choosing his words carefully. He needed to calm him down somehow.

“…Well, of course I… ahem, I can do anything you ask. And you’re a really important friend to me, but… hitting people isn’t something you can just—”

“I’m joking. You still can’t tell the difference?”

Eun-gyeol withdrew his gaze, already losing interest.

Watching him wave a hand as if the whole thing was ridiculous, Han-geon could only scratch the back of his head. With a bored sigh, Eun-gyeol slowly pushed himself up.

“I’m gonna wash up.”

“Okay.”

As he walked toward the bathroom, Eun-gyeol began stripping and tossing his clothes carelessly onto the floor.

He ran hot and was extremely sensitive to heat.

The problem was that Han-geon’s studio apartment was tiny, and the bathroom was very close to the sofa where he was sitting.

The strip show happening right in front of him left him with nowhere to put his eyes.

His gaze, heated without him realizing, drifted straight toward Eun-gyeol, and Han-geon jerked his head away in shock.

He wanted to gouge his own eyes out.

Thankfully, Eun-gyeol didn’t look back and headed straight into the bathroom.

As the sound of running water filled the room, Han-geon scrubbed his face hard with his rough palms.

‘Think of something else… anything else, you perverted idiot…’

Han-geon’s penis was already half-hard, heat pooling in it.

And it wasn’t just because he’d seen Eun-gyeol naked.

Simply knowing that Eun-gyeol was showering in this tiny apartment with only a single thin door between them was more than enough to make him hard.

Desperate, Han-geon began thinking of every song he could remember.

He recited his high school anthem, then the national anthem, then even the loud department chants from his sports university.

Thankfully, after silently shouting all of that in his head, the inappropriate enthusiasm rising in his lower body finally began to subside.

Suddenly—clang—the door swung open.

He had been so absorbed in trying to cool himself down that he turned his head without thinking.

And immediately regretted it.

‘Damn…’

He had completely forgotten that of course Eun-gyeol would come out naked.

He had no right to pity Manager Seong-cheol’s cursed memory earlier.

After spending all that effort calming himself down, he was the idiot repeating the same mistake again.

Thankfully, he looked away quickly, preventing a repeat of the earlier disaster.

Eun-gyeol rummaged through the drawers with practiced ease and put on one of Han-geon’s oversized shirts, then dropped down onto the sofa with a soft thud.

“Han-geon. I…”

“Mm. Want me to make you a green-grape ade?”

Eun-gyeol must have really liked that Han-geon anticipated him and asked first. He blinked once, then let his eyes soften as he smiled.

“Thanks. My… Han-geon.”

Han-geon almost stared at that face—smiling just for him—in a daze.

‘God, he’s sexy’… Forcing back the surge of embarrassing feelings, he sprang to his feet.

“Wait just a minute.”

Clutching his pounding heart, Han-geon hurried into the kitchen. Inside the fridge’s vegetable drawer sat a box full of fresh, green grapes.

He grabbed the sparkling water and closed the fridge.

If he blended the grapes he’d already washed and peeled earlier and mixed the juice with sparkling water, he’d have Eun-gyeol’s favorite green-grape ade.

He always complained that the store-bought ones were made with purée and tasted far too sweet.

The ade, filled with ice all the way to the top, was finished in no time.

But today, that wasn’t the real goal.

Casting a quick glance at Eun-gyeol sitting on the sofa, Han-geon carefully tore open a packet of herbal medicine, poured it into a cup, and microwaved it.

Since Eun-gyeol hated anything hot, he set it for only ten seconds.

The earthy scent of the herbal tonic spread through the small space.

Predictably, a voice called out from the other side.

“What’s that? Are you drinking herbal medicine, Choi Han-geon?”

“Um… it’s not mine. It’s for you.”

Han-geon’s voice dropped a little.

“Uh… Eun-gyeol. Do you want to… try drinking this first?”

“What is it?”

As expected, Eun-gyeol frowned sharply.

Seeing his face crumple without mercy made Han-geon’s confidence shrink even more.

“You said your head keeps hurting these days.

And you’re not sleeping… so I had it made for you.

It’s a tonic.

It’s good for your body, so just…”

“You know I hate bitter stuff. Why’d you bother doing something useless?”

The cold edge in Eun-gyeol’s voice sliced clean through Han-geon’s words.

His mouth shut on its own.

Of course, it wasn’t as though he hadn’t expected this reaction.

Even while having the medicine made, he’d already worried that Eun-gyeol—who hated things like this—would naturally refuse to drink it.