Chapter 69: The Memory of a Proposal

Yoonwoo couldn’t help but smile at Yeon-chae’s suddenly serious, yet adorable, expression. He gently pulled Yeon-chae’s hand, leading them to sit on the emergency staircase.

“You were eating cake here, you know. You even gave me a bite. It was so delicious that…”

Yoonwoo slowly traced the distant past. Even then, seven-year-old Yeon-chae had been lovely and beautiful.

“Perhaps that’s why I said it to you back then.”

Yeon-chae looked up sharply, their light brown pupils wavering. They seemed surprised by the mention of a memory they didn’t share. Yoonwoo reached out and poked Yeon-chae’s cheek.

Each time Yeon-chae blinked in surprise, their long eyelashes trembled faintly.

“Let’s get married…”

It felt like it had been summer then, too. The scent of summer sunshine drifted through the faint recesses of Yoonwoo’s memory.

Yeon-chae’s bright cheeks flushed crimson. Yoonwoo chuckled, watching their face stiffen momentarily, as if a sliver of the memory had returned.

How fortunate it was to share such a memory. Yoonwoo had never imagined that having a cherished memory to lean on would bring such profound reassurance, especially as they were being propelled towards a wedding ceremony, fraught with vague anxieties.

He marveled at this incredible coincidence, his gaze fixed on the hallway before him.

Everything was exactly as it had been in his childhood memories. The main entrance, the emergency staircase, and even Yeon-chae and Yoonwoo sitting on the steps.

A warmth spread through his chest. With a nostalgic expression, Yoonwoo gazed at the emergency staircase and asked,

“You said you would, too… Do you remember?”

‘Of course I remember, you idiot!’

Eun Yoonwoo truly didn’t remember anything properly. Yeon-chae seethed internally, unable to show his intense frustration.

Yeon-chae hadn’t been *eating* the cake; he’d been holding the entire box. Yoonwoo had devoured the massive cake all by himself and suffered from a stomachache for several days afterward.

‘I was the one who proposed here. Liar.’

Yoonwoo’s memory manipulation had truly gone too far. Yeon-chae remembered bribing Yoonwoo with an entire birthday cake, pleading for his hand in marriage, as vividly as if it had happened yesterday. The injustice of it all made him seethe.

“Hyung remembers the strangest things.”

The words came out crooked and filled with complaint. Yet, he couldn’t deny the hint of excitement mixed into that sulky tone.

Even if the memories in Yoonwoo’s little head were jumbled, they hadn’t completely vanished. Yeon-chae was glad that even fragments remained.

Yoonwoo, oblivious to Yeon-chae’s internal thoughts, merely shrugged.

“Of course. I was all grown up back then. You were just a little kid.”

“Yes, well…”

‘Let’s just say that.’ Resigned, Yeon-chae silently opened the front door. He had heard that the interior renovation, done after the previous tenant moved out, had just been completed.

The empty house, devoid of furniture, smelled distinctly of a new home.

Yoonwoo walked around, opening windows throughout the house. While Yeon-chae checked the list of furniture due to arrive today, the doorbell rang at the entrance, and electronics and furniture were delivered in quick succession.

After several hours of people coming and going, the house, though dusty, began to take on the ambiance of a newlywed home.

Having worked continuously in the hot interior, Yeon-chae felt sticky all over. He turned on the newly installed air conditioner. Yoonwoo, drenched in dusty sweat, let out a groan and sprawled out in front of the cold air.

He lay directly on the bare floor where the delivery personnel had just walked with their shoes on.

Yeon-chae, horrified, tried to pull Yoonwoo up. However, he couldn’t resist Yoonwoo’s playful tug on his wrist and ended up falling beside him.

As he fell, his fingertips brushed against Yoonwoo’s soft skin. Yeon-chae felt the tips of his ears redden and grumbled for no real reason.

“The floor’s dirty… How can you lie here?”

Yoonwoo placed a hand on Yeon-chae, who was bustling about, insisting they needed to clean first. The pressure on Yeon-chae’s chest was surprisingly firm.

Yeon-chae froze.

The hand patting his thick chest felt warm. The heat rising through his body seemed impervious even to the air conditioner’s cool blast. Yeon-chae lay rigid, staring only at the ceiling.

After counting to 100 the pattern on the new wallpaper, which had supposedly been finished just the other day, Yoonwoo, eyes half-closed, mumbled,

“Let’s rest a bit. Hmm?”

The coaxing voice was incredibly gentle.

It felt like a kindness granted specifically to him, so Yeon-chae relaxed his gaze from the ceiling wallpaper and meekly nodded.

“…Yes. Okay.”

Lying side-by-side with Yoonwoo in the dusty center of the room, amidst scattered packing boxes and Styrofoam, felt surprisingly pleasant.

Yeon-chae completely shed the urge to fussily get up and clean, relaxing every muscle in his body. Cleaning could wait until later.

After all, this was their home now.

“This house is really nice. With the interior done, it feels like a new apartment.”

Yoonwoo’s breath brushed against Yeon-chae’s neck. Yeon-chae’s chest kept tingling, so he pressed his palm firmly against it. The pounding of his heart echoed in his ears. Cold sweat beaded on his forehead as he tried to appear nonchalant.

“It really does.”

“To think we’ll live here now. It feels like a dream.”

“…It really does.”

“Decorated like this, it truly looks like a newlywed home. It’s amazing.”

Yeon-chae hadn’t needed a house like a new apartment. It didn’t matter if it was the officetel he’d lived in alone or the house Yoonwoo had occupied. Yet, hearing it called by this name through Yoonwoo’s lips gave him a novel feeling.

A newlywed home. He would live with Yoonwoo in a house with a name that softened his heart just by its pronunciation. The immediate future, now so close, felt like a dream.

“It’s so cool, I’m getting sleepy. Should we take a short nap and then finish cleaning…”

It was the height of summer, with the heat in full force. Yoonwoo, slumped beneath the air conditioner with his eyes tightly shut, showed no intention of getting up. Yeon-chae nodded enthusiastically.

“Yes, sleep well.”

“Mmm…”

Hoping that this moment would remain real even if he woke up from a deep sleep, Yeon-chae closed his eyes too. The late afternoon nap was as sweet as honey.

Time vanished in an instant. It felt as though he had only closed and opened his eyes, yet when he came to his senses, it was the day of the wedding. Yoonwoo stood blankly before the hotel where the ceremony was to be held.

The heat was intense. In the mere few minutes it took to get out of the car and walk to the hotel entrance, sweat beaded on his forehead. Although it was a small family meal, a wedding was still a wedding.

He had been dressed in a suit since morning, making him stiflingly hot. Perhaps the tension also caused his body to generate more heat.

“Hyung…”

However, upon arriving at the banquet hall where the ceremony would take place, Yoonwoo encountered Yeon-chae, who was searching for him with a drained face. He could no longer hide behind excuses of heat or nerves.

Yoonwoo hurried over to Yeon-chae and gently stroked his broad shoulders. Yeon-chae’s usually vibrant complexion was transparently pale.

“What’s wrong? Are you okay? Are you nervous?”

“Yes…”

Yoonwoo wasn’t entirely calm either, but he wasn’t trembling with a faint-inducing expression like Yeon-chae, who was two years his junior. Yoonwoo barely managed to suppress the laughter that threatened to escape his lips.

Instead, he patted Yeon-chae’s back, reassuring him that it would all be over after just one meal. As he did so, even his own remaining tension dissipated. Yeon-chae reached out with a trembling hand and clutched Yoonwoo’s.

“Are you really marrying me?”

“Huh? Oh, yes. Today we’re getting married.”

Strictly speaking, it was closer to an MOU signing ceremony for a childcare alliance, but Yoonwoo nodded. It was because Yeon-chae, with his bangs swept back to reveal a bright, neat forehead, finally looked relieved.

A dimple appeared at the corner of Yeon-chae’s mouth as he gave a small smile. Yoonwoo poked the dimple with his finger and smiled back.

Only then, with a bit of newfound composure, did Yeon-chae look around. Yoonwoo’s family had not yet arrived. Only Yeon-chae’s mother, seated at one side of a large table, was visible.

“Your mother’s here, Yeon-chae. Did she come alone?”

Thinking he should go greet her, Yoonwoo tugged Yeon-chae’s hand. Surprisingly, Yeon-chae didn’t follow willingly. His expression, when he turned, no longer held the earlier tension but rather a somber awkwardness.

Yeon-chae’s mother had remarried a few years prior. His stepfather couldn’t attend the family meeting due to overlapping business trips, but Yoonwoo had recently visited and greeted him with Yeon-chae.

He was a kind man with a gentle demeanor. Yoonwoo had naturally assumed he would attend the wedding, but the stepfather was nowhere to be seen.

“Um, well…”

Yeon-chae’s expression, as he glanced sideways at his mother, seemed troubled. He hesitated, uncharacteristically. Yoonwoo gently prompted him, holding his arm. However, Yeon-chae only bit his lip and lowered his head.

After waiting in silence, Yeon-chae finally looked up. His slender cheeks were still devoid of color.

“My stepfather couldn’t make it.”

“Huh? Why?”

Yeon-chae’s mother and stepfather had a very harmonious relationship. Yoonwoo had heard that ever since they first started dating, their excessively good relationship sometimes made Yeon-chae pout out of spite.

‘Aren’t you annoyed anymore?’ When Yoonwoo had playfully asked, Yeon-chae had shrugged and replied, “I’m all grown up now, you know.” Yoonwoo had found it a bit absurd then; Yeon-chae had already been grown up when his mother started a new relationship.

But for his stepfather not to come? Yoonwoo worried, wondering if he and Yeon-chae’s mother had argued. Was that why both Yeon-chae and his mother looked so downcast? Despite his attempts to act tough, Yeon-chae was secretly soft-hearted. It was obvious he had been preoccupied with his mother’s affairs all day.