Chapter 25: The Lark’s Secret

My mind went blank. I had even forgotten the Shine Muscat grape I held in my mouth, only realizing it belatedly before swallowing.

‘Of course, I know it’s one of the three.’

Yet, the owner of the cup remained a complete mystery. The paper merely stated that the date partner would use the character cup, with no further instructions.

‘Was it truly left entirely to chance?’

However, Lee Dohwa suspected that their date partner was also unaware they would be going out with him.

While unsure how to proceed, he lacked the courage to simply ask who owned the cup. He observed them with a hawk’s eye, hoping someone would pick up and use the cup.

“It’s already the last day,” Jae-hyun murmured to himself.

“Today seems like it will be fun.”

Chaeyeon-woo, responding to Jae-hyun’s quiet remark, replied calmly, his usual high spirits replaced by a subdued tension.

A bag rested on his lap, making it seem as though he was ready to leave at any moment. His pink lips glistened under the lights.

His light blue short-sleeved dress shirt and shorts suited Chaeyeon-woo perfectly. It was an undeniably cool outfit, perfect for the height of summer.

‘I don’t think I own a single pair of shorts,’ he mused.

He briefly recalled his own wardrobe; Lee Dohwa was always sensitive to the cold, invariably wearing long pants in summer and always carrying an outer layer, even with short sleeves.

“Looks like someone’s coming down now?”

Since only one person was missing, it had to be Woo Sori. A sound drifted from the second-floor stairs, suggesting someone had finished preparing and was descending.

‘Clothes truly make a difference,’ he thought.

Woo Sori, dressed in a surprisingly street-style outfit, presented an image somewhat contrary to what Lee Dohwa had seen before. ‘His ears are quite adorned,’ Lee Dohwa noted.

“Oh, who washed this fruit?”

“I did.”

“How thoughtful.”

Woo Sori, immediately flopping onto the sofa upon reaching the first floor, popped two Shine Muscat grapes into his mouth.

Just yesterday morning, everyone had been dressed casually, with Lee Dohwa even sitting there in his pajamas. Clearly, they all looked different now compared to when they were simply lounging at home.

“What time did you go to bed last night?”

“One AM? I think I washed up and went straight to sleep.”

“That’s good. Waking up after a deep sleep definitely leaves you feeling exceptional.”

Their light conversation continued until, at some point, silence descended upon them. It wasn’t that the atmosphere suddenly grew cold; rather, a period of quiet contemplation emerged as they all simply looked at one another.

“So, are we supposed to go on our dates now?”

“Yes. Let’s all decide on our own departure times.”

“Hmm, should we say our goodbyes beforehand, then?”

Chaeyeon-woo seized the moment to ask. It was Sunday, the final day of their two-night, three-day stay.

When they had heard from the production team, they were told that once all activities concluded, they were free to return home. They could take their luggage or leave it behind.

Since everyone would finish at different times today. For a fleeting moment, Lee Dohwa witnessed a flicker of disappointment cross Jae-hyun’s face.

“Then, see you all in five days!”

“Have fun, eat well, rest well, and then we’ll see each other.”

“……Good luck with work.”

As everyone naturally began to bid their farewells, Lee Dohwa uttered his words with a bewildered expression.

‘Is this another hidden camera prank?’

He diligently turned his head, observing everyone, and found them all looking remarkably relaxed. Meanwhile, he still didn’t know who his date partner was.

A sudden anxiety gripped him, wondering if he was the only one in the dark. When Chaeyeon-woo excused himself to go upstairs for a moment, one or two others began to rise and clear the table.

Before they all left like this.

‘I’ll just ask whose cup that is,’ he decided.

Since all three were present, he intended to directly ask who owned the bear cup.

“Lee Dohwa.”

“Yes?”

“Once you’re ready, please come down to the first floor.”

Until Kang Hae-il, who had been subtly smiling, spoke to him. Because both of them were standing, Lee Dohwa, who had to look up due to their height difference, froze in place upon hearing his words.

He then slowly lowered his gaze, looking down. In Kang Hae-il’s hand, a cup was held, and through a tiny gap created by his large hand, the bear peeked out.

Only then did Lee Dohwa finally realize who his date partner was.

“Phew.”

‘I should probably take this,’ he thought.

Lee Dohwa, having ascended to the second floor, picked up the light pink cardigan that lay on his bed. As his clothes lacked pockets, he also took a small bag, one he hadn’t used before, and slung it on.

The reflection in the mirror beside him looked unfamiliar. In truth, just moments ago, while everyone else moved naturally, he had found himself unable to act, hovering near Kang Hae-il until a single remark from him sent him scurrying upstairs.

‘Do you wish to depart later?’

Thinking back now, it seemed like a simple inquiry about his preference. At the time, however, he had been so startled that he quickly shook his head, asked them to wait a moment, and then fled upstairs as if escaping.

After meticulously closing the door in the empty room, he descended to the first floor.

“Oh… everyone left?”

“They all just departed.”

His eyes met Kang Hae-il’s, who stood alone in the cool, empty living room. Come to think of it, Chaeyeon-woo and Woo Sori had carried all their bags with them when they came down earlier.

“Shall we go now?”

“Yes…”

He felt a pang of guilt for having made Kang Hae-il wait. He hurried towards the entrance, only to find that all the many shoes were gone, leaving just two pairs.

The significant difference in their sizes was visible to the naked eye. On the first day, when they had gone grocery shopping, he recalled a brief conversation with Kang Hae-il about shoes in this very entrance, just the two of them.

Lee Dohwa’s shoes remained the same, yet Kang Hae-il’s seemed subtly different.

“Are those different shoes?”

“……”

“They seem different from the ones you wore on the first day.”

“That is correct.”

Since Kang Hae-il had been staring at him without a word, Lee Dohwa added a clarifying remark, and Kang Hae-il immediately nodded.

Emerging from the house, they headed towards the parking lot, where once again a single car sat waiting. Lee Dohwa, having already revealed his lack of a driver’s license during their previous outing, immediately climbed into the passenger seat.

This time, he didn’t forget to fasten his seatbelt right away.

“Where are we going?”

“You’ll know when we get there.”

With one hand on the steering wheel and his eyes fixed straight ahead, Kang Hae-il began to drive, once again without setting the navigation.

After watching him for a moment, Lee Dohwa soon asked another question that had been bothering him.

“Did you know from the start that I was your date partner?”

“No, I found out this morning.”

“How did you know?”

Kang Hae-il, who usually answered without hesitation, remained silent for a moment. Then, as the traffic light changed and the car came to a stop, he looked at Lee Dohwa and spoke.

“Because you were the only one who reacted to the cup.”

“Ah.”

“My paper instructed me to use that cup the following morning.”

As the light changed again, the car began to move forward. ‘So everyone’s instructions were similar,’ he realized.

The revelation that Kang Hae-il had figured it out purely through observation made Lee Dohwa feel a little deflated. Unaware of Lee Dohwa’s feelings, Kang Hae-il fiddled with something beside him, and soon music emanated from the car’s speakers.

A specific piece came to mind immediately upon hearing it, but he hesitated before finally speaking.

“Is that a string quartet, Haydn?”

“That is correct.”

“What’s the title?”

Given the style of the string quartet, only Haydn came to his mind. Relieved that he was correct, Lee Dohwa inwardly sighed.

“It’s ‘The Lark’.”

Without a single cloud in sight, the bright midday sun streamed into the car. The air conditioning kept the interior cool, but outside, it was likely a sweltering furnace.

Unlike their previous journeys, listening to this refreshing piece of music made his heart feel at ease.

“How long will it take to get there?”

“We’ll arrive in just a little while longer.”

‘But how many minutes, exactly, is “a little while”?’ he wondered.

A flicker of annoyance arose at Kang Hae-il, who refused to disclose their destination or the travel time, but Lee Dohwa kept it hidden. He simply gazed out the window.

The dynamic was always the same: he asked questions, and Kang Hae-il’s replies were invariably terse.

‘I’m not talking to him anymore,’ he decided.

Since they weren’t far from their destination, and with music playing, he initiated a comfortable silence. Just as the movement of Haydn’s string quartet was about to change.

“Is there anything else you cannot eat, besides shellfish?”

“……No.”

Startled by Kang Hae-il’s softly spoken question, Lee Dohwa glanced over, only to see Kang Hae-il driving, his eyes fixed on the road, not looking at him.

‘I’ve never mentioned having an allergy,’ he thought. While he had discreetly avoided certain foods during his two-day stay at the mansion, he had never explicitly stated he had an allergy.

‘Then how did he know?’

Pondering it, he suddenly recalled that although it hadn’t been shown in the edited video, he had mentioned his shellfish allergy at the omakase restaurant.

“That’s a relief.”

And in Kang Hae-il’s typically blunt words, Lee Dohwa thought he caught a fleeting glimpse of tenderness.

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