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Join the Server‘I probably shouldn’t ask to see his bedroom right away, should I? His mother isn’t even back yet.’
Since he fully intended to spend the night here anyway, he had more than enough time.
While Lee Chae and Lee-jung caught up and blossomed into deep conversation, Hae-jin simply sat back and smiled. Seeing a prickly little hamster and an adorable little hamster sitting face-to-face—talking, laughing, and playfully glaring at each other—made him feel as though he could watch them bicker all day without a single moment of boredom.
Just then, his mother walked through the front door, her hands completely full of grocery bags. Hae-jin immediately rose from his seat to take the heavy burdens from her.
“Mother, we’re here.”
“Ah, yes. Welcome. Representative Cha.”
“Oh, Mother. You call me Hae-jin so comfortably over the phone, so why the sudden awkward formality?”
As Hae-jin intentionally initiated a warm, familiar tone, his mother’s tension visibly melted away, and she reached out to clasp his hands.
“Of course, Hae-jin. I’ve missed you. Go wash your hands quickly and take a seat at the table. I’ve prepared so many delicious things.”
“Thank you.”
The four of them sat side-by-side at the dining table. A steaming bowl of Samgyetang (ginseng chicken soup) sat in front of each person, and the center of the table was practically groaning under the weight of a massive feast—ranging from a bubbling beef bulgogi hot pot to an endless array of side dishes. It looked like a banquet.
“I told you we only needed to add a single spoon to the table, Mother. We’re going to be visiting very frequently from now on.”
“It’s not hard at all to prepare a meal whenever you come, so just make sure you visit often.”
The moment Hae-jin picked up his spoon, his mother tore off a tender chicken leg and placed it directly into his bowl, telling him to eat plenty. Watching the interaction, Lee Chae piped up in a playfully whiny tone.
“Mom, what about me? It’s been ages since I last had a home-cooked meal.”
“Of course, my son needs to eat plenty too.”
With a chuckle, she placed a chicken leg into Lee Chae’s bowl as well.
“Thank you for the meal.”
Hae-jin expressed his gratitude and took a large bite of the chicken leg his mother had given him. A rich, savory flavor bloomed across his palate.
“This is truly incredible. I don’t think I’ve ever tasted chicken this delicious in my entire life.”
“Right? Your father’s culinary skills are quite exceptional.”
Hae-jin was genuinely startled; he had taken it for granted that his mother had prepared the entire spread, but it turned out to be his father’s handiwork.
“Since you mentioned he had to go out to work today, I naturally assumed you cooked everything, Mother.”
“He prepared the entire meal before he left the house. He mentioned that once his urgent business is resolved and he returns, he wants to sit down and have a drink with you.”
“Oh, absolutely! I brought some excellent liquor with me for exactly that.”
A beautifully warm, domestic atmosphere enveloped the room. It was a perfectly ordinary, everyday routine for a family to gather and share a meal, yet witnessing Lee Chae existing within his own family dynamic triggered a profound emotion within Hae-jin that he couldn’t quite articulate. The realization struck him that the reason Lee Chae—despite his prickly exterior—could never truly hide his innate warmth was entirely due to being raised in an environment like this.
Suddenly, his mother called out to him.
“Hae-jin.”
As Hae-jin raised his head, he met a gaze that was swimming with an overwhelming depth of unspoken emotion.
“Thank you.”
“What? Ah… No, I should be the one thanking you, Mother. For raising Lee Chae to be so healthy and wonderful…”
His mother looked as though she had a mountain of words locked behind her lips, but instead of speaking, she simply kept piling food into Hae-jin’s bowl, pouring him water, and gently stroking his back. Her touch carried a deep sense of aching sorrow and profound apology.
In reality, when it came to gratitude and apologies, Hae-jin harbored far more of both than she ever could. Because of Director Kim, Lee Chae’s family had suffered immense emotional distress, and Hae-jin himself had repeatedly dragged Lee Chae into dangerous, life-threatening battles.
Yet, regardless of the objective facts, the person who loves more is always destined to feel more grateful and more apologetic, so he understood his mother’s heart completely. Having thoroughly polished off his first bowl, Hae-jin stood up on his own to scoop more rice from the cooker.
“You should have just told me to get it for you.”
“I have hands too, Mother. Would you like some more as well? What about you, Lee Chae? Lee-jung?”
“I’m full.”
“Me too.”
“Hyung, I’m good too.”
Hae-jin packed his bowl tightly, pressing the rice down, and proceeded to clear that one out completely as well. It wasn’t that he was ravenously hungry or that his heart felt hollow; rather, a strange, profound comfort made the food slide down effortlessly. Just as he reached to refill his bowl for a third time, Lee Chae deftly snatched the bowl out of his hands.
“You still have to drink with Dad when he gets home later. Hyung, you’re already overeating.”
“Am I?”
Watching the bickering pair, his mother let out a hearty laugh, remarking on how wonderful they looked together. Hae-jin rolled up his sleeves and announced, “Thank you for the wonderful meal. I’ll handle the dishes.”
“I let you scoop your own rice, but I draw the line at the dishes. I’ll take care of it, so go ahead into the bedroom and get some rest. Once your father gets back later, you might not get any sleep at all.”
Despite pushing the offer a few more times, his mother remained entirely steadfast in her refusal, forcing him to yield and step into Lee Chae’s bedroom.
It was a perfectly ordinary room, furnished with a simple bed, a desk, and a small wardrobe. Even though a significant amount of time had passed since Lee Chae had relocated to Seoul, the space was so thoroughly saturated with his essence that it felt as though its master had been sleeping here up until yesterday.
“What are you doing just standing there like a statue?”
“What do you think? Should I lie down on the bed?”
“You can lie down if you want. Why are you acting so formal all of a sudden…?”
If he were to lie down on the mattress right now, pull Lee Chae down by the arm, and tuck him securely into his embrace, would the younger man truly remain this casual? Absolutely not. While the burning urge to do exactly that was practically screaming inside him, Hae-jin resolved to behave himself today.
Restrain yourself, Cha Hae-jin. Acting up in his parents’ house makes you nothing but a beast.
In an effort to subdue his simmering desires, Hae-jin tore his gaze away from Lee Chae and forced himself to look elsewhere.
His eyes began to trace the contours of the furniture he had already noted. Scanning the bed, the desk, the bookshelf, and finally the wardrobe, his gaze suddenly hitched on the very top of the closet. Resting in the upper clearance of the neat room was a cardboard box that looked entirely out of place.
What could possibly be hidden inside that box?
An old security blanket or a favorite childhood toy? Or perhaps a high school graduation yearbook featuring a thoroughly awkward photo? Or… could it be a collection of sappy love letters packed with embarrassing declarations of affection?
…Wait. Love letters?
Lee Chae explicitly told me that I was his very first…
The moment that thought crystallized, an overwhelming, uncontrollable urge to verify the contents of that box seized Hae-jin entirely.
“Hyung, you asked if you could lie on the bed, so why are you just staring blankly?”
“Ah… I think I might have eaten a bit too much for dinner. Do we happen to have any digestive medicine?”
As Hae-jin delivered the lie with practiced nonchalance, a deeply concerned expression washed over an innocent Lee Chae. He immediately stepped closer, placing a hand over Hae-jin’s abdomen and gently massaging it in slow circles. Yet, with every rhythmic pass of that palm, instead of soothing his stomach, a tight, electric friction coiled deep in Hae-jin’s groin. If this continued for a moment longer, his member threatened to tear straight through his zipper. Hae-jin quickly caught him by the wrist.
“Your hand works like magic, Honey, it’s wonderful… but right now, I think I genuinely just need actual medicine.”
So hurry up and go outside. I need to check this box. Masking his hidden agenda, Hae-jin directed a thoroughly pitiful, suffering expression toward Lee Chae, causing the younger man to murmur, “Just wait a moment,” before quickly exiting the room.
The very instant the door clicked shut, Hae-jin moved with lightning speed, pulling the cardboard box down from the top of the wardrobe. Desperately praying that Lee Chae would take a long time to locate the medicine, he frantically pried the box open.
Resting right at the top were several notebooks. Initially assuming it was a collection of old diaries or meticulously kept study notes, Hae-jin let out a soft chuckle, thinking, ‘He really is so detail-oriented.’ But the moment he lifted the notebooks out of the way, his hand froze mid-air.
“This is…”
Packed inside the box was a living record of almost every single moment they had shared during their brief, initial time together.
The Guide Studies textbook that had served as the catalyst for all their complications; a meal coupon from the cafeteria for a combo plate of hamburger steak, pork cutlet, and bulgogi; the transit card they used to ride the bus together; a pair of ticket stubs from a movie they had watched; a weapon collection catalogue Hae-jin had mindlessly flipped through while secretly staring at Lee Chae studying in the library; an empty smartphone box alongside its user manual; a tiny metal emblem from a car key ring that Hae-jin couldn’t even remember losing; a uniform name tag bearing the three distinct characters of his name: Cha Hae-jin; a crumpled wrapper from an ice cream bar they frequently enjoyed; and…
A photograph, taken from behind without his knowledge, capturing Hae-jin standing entirely alone while staring out at the vast sea.
A silhouette captured from behind is almost destined to look profoundly lonely, yet within the frame captured through Lee Chae’s lens, Hae-jin looked more radiant, warm, and deeply happy than ever before.
Moments of their shared daily routine—so profoundly trivial that Hae-jin hadn’t even retained a memory of them—had been carefully preserved, organized, and rendered incredibly beautiful through Jung Lee Chae’s deeply affectionate gaze.
While an intense wave of absolute euphoria crashed over him, an agonizing knot simultaneously tightened at the base of Hae-jin’s throat, forcing him to bite his lower lip hard to master the sudden surge of emotion.
It meant that even during those dark, painful days when Hae-jin was drowning in bitter doubt, utterly convinced that Lee Chae harbored no feelings for him, the younger man had been quietly pouring his heart out in his own silent way—safeguarding every fragment, chewing over the memories, and letting his love grow in the shadows.
“You absolute fool… how can I not love you?”
Hae-jin murmured under his breath, pressing a soft kiss against the cover of the Guide Studies textbook, just as he had done once before. In that instant, a turbulent cascade of conflicting emotions hit him all at once.
Because Lee Chae had invested so much of his heart into these items, the agonizing period of their separation must have been an absolute living hell for him. The sheer heartache of knowing he should discard them, yet choosing instead to carefully wipe away the dust before nestling them back into hiding; the agony of knowing that looking at them would trigger a lacerating pain, yet finding himself utterly incapable of burying them away out of sight, leaving them instead resting right above his head—the realization that Lee Chae had mirrored the exact, excruciating torment Hae-jin had endured during their time apart cut deep into his soul.
“Ah… f*ck.”
Swallowing a bitter curse, he began carefully returning the items to the box one by one, when his fingers brushed against a tiny USB flash drive wedged deeply between the articles.
Hae-jin picked up the newly discovered drive, a sudden conflict tearing through his mind over whether he should dare to look at its contents.
Since I’ve already crossed the line to verify everything else, it’s probably better to see it through to the end, right?
His hesitation was remarkably short-lived. Given that the box was already brimming with such deeply endearing secrets, the sheer anticipation of what hidden, illicit confession might be locked inside the USB drive was simply too tantalizing to resist.
Fired up by that burning curiosity, Hae-jin reached out to grab his tablet, when Lee Chae’s voice suddenly echoed from right outside the bedroom door.
“Hyung.”
Hae-jin instantly vaulted to his feet and slipped out into the hallway, moving instinctively to block Lee Chae from walking into the bedroom and catching him red-handed.
“Ah, did you find the medicine?”
“I searched everywhere but we’re completely out. I think I’ll have to run down to the local pharmacy to grab some.”
“Thank you. I can’t believe I managed to give myself indigestion like an idiot…”
“It happens to the best of us.”
Utterly devoid of suspicion, Lee Chae instructed him to lie down on the bed if his stomach hurt before quickly heading out the front door. The living room was entirely deserted, suggesting his mother and Lee-jung had retired to their respective rooms.
Feeling a heavy lump of adrenaline coat his throat—as if he were committing a high-stakes crime—Hae-jin swallowed hard, hurried back into the room, and plugged the USB drive into his tablet. Upon accessing the drive, he found that it contained a single, isolated audio file.
He clicked play, and an entirely unfamiliar male voice began to echo through the speaker.
The excitement doesn't stop here! If you enjoyed this, you’ll adore The Moon Reflected In The Water. Start reading now!
Read : The Moon Reflected In The Water
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