Chapter 72: A Night Like the Old Days

Even so, the drinking session with their parents that started in the afternoon was genuinely enjoyable.

Han-geon spent a long-awaited, comfortable time eating, chatting, and laughing to his heart’s content with his parents.

The first topic of conversation, unsurprisingly, was Han-geon’s job change and the drama Heart for Love, which was about to air.

“So how is Han-geon doing these days?

Is Eun-gyeol treating him well?”

When Eun-gyeol’s father asked with a worried look, Han-geon’s father lifted his soju glass with an expression that said what nonsense are you talking about.

“Why are you worrying over nothing?

Of course he’s treating him well.”

“You know how it is.

He’s my son, sure, but Eun-gyeol’s got quite the temper, you know?”

“That’s true, but whenever it comes to Han-geon, Eun-gyeol’s always been completely smitten.”

“Well… that’s true, but still.”

“Uncle, don’t worry.

Eun-gyeol really treats me well.”

Han-geon smiled awkwardly and waved his hand.

Eun-gyeol, sitting beside him, chuckled softly, only to get a sharp poke in the arm from Han-geon’s elbow.

At that moment, his mother seized the timing perfectly, her eyes sparkling as she held out her phone.

On the screen, the Heart for Love teaser they’d filmed during the reading session was playing on YouTube.

As expected, the teaser had become a hot topic the moment it dropped, racking up views in an instant.

“Eun-gyeol, you know this video?

I showed it to my monthly savings group friends, and they all fell head over heels for it.

They loved Chocolate Scandal and Beautiful Sun too, you know.”

“Ha-ha, really?”

“Mm-hmm.

They’re all making a fuss asking me to get autographs.

Could you do that later?

There’s quite a few—my friends and their daughters too.”

“Of course I should.

Naturally.”

“I’m so lucky.

To think such a handsome boy is my son’s friend.”

His mother gently stroked Eun-gyeol’s cheek.

Watching with a smile, Han-geon politely lifted the soju bottle.

“Dad, Uncle, let me pour you each a drink.”

“Oh-ho, alright.”

“Ahh, drinking with handsome sons on either side—this liquor tastes like honey, pure honey.”

The fathers clinked their glasses and laughed heartily.

Beside them, Han-geon’s mother, who had been watching the Heart for Love teaser with Eun-gyeol, suddenly lifted her head with a serious expression.

“Son.

By the way… are you really okay?

I saw that too.”

In an instant, the atmosphere grew solemn.

She must have seen the video of him struggling with the stalker….

Since she never missed a single Cha Eun-gyeol video, it was only natural that the algorithm would deliver it straight to her.

Han-geon forced an awkward smile.

“…You saw it?”

“How could I not?

It was plastered all over YouTube.

I was so upset, I swear….”

His mother, who’d been smiling brightly all along, placed her phone down on the table with a troubled look.

“Son, do you really have to keep working as a bodyguard?

I’ve always worried so much about you doing that job.

Can’t you just be Eun-gyeol’s manager instead?

I almost collapsed watching that.

My blood pressure shot up—I was shaking and crying so badly.”

“Mom, I’m fine.

It’s not like it only happened once or twice….”

The words slipped out as he tried to comfort her, but his mother’s face only filled with greater shock.

Han-geon hurriedly corrected himself.

“…No, that’s not what I meant.

Things like that hardly ever happen.

So please don’t worry, okay?”

“Haah… I really don’t know….”

“Honey, I worry too, of course.

But let’s trust Han-geon.

It’s a dangerous job, yes, but it’s a path he chose with his own sense of duty.”

After gently soothing his wife, Han-geon’s father suggested another toast.

The atmosphere quickly returned to warmth and cheer.

With his face flushed red, Han-geon took small sips of alcohol.

The drinking went on for hours, stretching into the evening.

At one point, they even ran out of alcohol, and Han-geon went out to buy more.

Even Eun-gyeol, who usually abstained, drank slowly tonight.

The boisterous chatter eventually led to them pulling out every old photo album they could find.

“Oh my, look at this, look.

Eun-gyeol was handsome even when he was this tiny.”

“No, at that age, ‘pretty’ fits better.

You’d believe it if someone said he was a girl.

When he was even younger, everyone called him a princess wherever we went.”

“Well, even now on the internet, fans call Eun-gyeol a princess or a cat, don’t they?

What do they call your fans again?

Right—Chaollers.”

At his mother’s laughter-filled remark, Han-geon, who’d been nodding absentmindedly, felt his earlobes turn bright red.

If she’d seen those posts too… had she also seen the recent ridiculous shipping of him and Eun-gyeol?

Thankfully, she didn’t say anything further.

“Han-geon was cute too.

Even as a kid, he looked like a future general.”

“Whoa, is this Han-geon’s first birthday photo?

Let’s see—what a chubby little rice-cake toad, solid everywhere….”

“U-Uncle!

Please don’t look that closely!”

“What, are you embarrassed?

We’re both men.”

At Eun-gyeol’s father’s hearty laughter, Han-geon, his face blazing, gulped down cold water.

The pleasant drinking session continued late into the night.

Eventually, Eun-gyeol’s father was the first to stagger to his feet, yawning.

“Ugh, I’m drunk.

Cha Eun-gyeol!

You sleeping here?”

“Yes.

You head back and rest, Dad.”

“Alright, then.

We’re having breakfast together tomorrow, got it?”

“Yeees.”

“Good night, Uncle.”

Only then did the lively gathering finally come to an end.

Everyone, faces flushed, moved about clearing the table.

While his mother packed away side dishes and his father ran the vacuum, Han-geon stood side by side with Eun-gyeol washing dishes.

Their mother tried to shoo them out, saying it was fine, but both stubbornly stayed and kept washing.

“This really brings back memories, doesn’t it.”

Han-geon let out a small laugh as he scrubbed a plate.

He wasn’t sure how much beer he’d had.

Maybe because he was pleasantly drunk, he just couldn’t stop smiling.

“Back in middle school or high school, we always did the dishes together like this after meals.”

“Yeah.

We did.”

Back then, before Eun-gyeol started serious acting training and before Han-geon went to prep academies for physical education, the two of them were inseparable—together as naturally as breathing.

They went to school together, stuck together all day, walked home together, and even at home they ate, studied, and did homework side by side.

Even after coming back from taekwondo or hapkido practice, Eun-gyeol would still be waiting in Han-geon’s room.

Sometimes reading, sometimes gaming, sometimes studying alone.

Other times, sprawled across Han-geon’s bed, wearing his clothes at random, taking an early evening nap.

Now that both of them had shot up in height and bulk, so many things were different from back then.

Eun-gyeol no longer had to wash dishes with his own hands, and Han-geon’s anxious feelings—once worried Eun-gyeol might notice his heart—had become meaningless.

And yet, why did the flutter he felt standing beside Eun-gyeol doing dishes feel exactly the same as before?

Everything else had run forward with time, but Han-geon’s heart alone had stayed right here.

Back in the days when his school uniform pants suddenly grew too short, when his sun-darkened face only flushed red in front of Eun-gyeol, when he washed obsessively with soap every day and hand-washed his uniform just to smell nice for him—his heart was still standing there.

Ah.

I really do love Cha Eun-gyeol, obsessively so.

Watching Eun-gyeol washing dishes in comfortable clothes, his flushed face relaxed, Han-geon found himself wanting to kiss him.

Realizing he’d been sneaking glances, Han-geon quickly turned his head, afraid his improper thoughts might be discovered.

Was it the alcohol?

His ears, hot since earlier, showed no sign of cooling down no matter how much time passed.

“Good night.”

“Alright, kids.

Sleep well.”

After finishing the cleanup, showering, and brushing their teeth, Han-geon and Eun-gyeol greeted the parents as they headed into the master bedroom.

As they entered their room, a familiar scent rushed out to greet them.

Eun-gyeol flopped down onto the neatly made bed first and shot him a sly look.

“Hurry up and come.”

“I’ll sleep on the floor—”

“Want to die saying nonsense?”

Mischief gleamed in Eun-gyeol’s eyes.

Suddenly, he lunged forward, wrapping his arms tightly around Han-geon’s waist like a wrestling move, trying to knock him onto the bed.

The ticklish sensation all over made Han-geon giggle.

Refusing to lose, he hooked a leg and flattened Eun-gyeol instead.

They rolled back and forth, fooling around, the bed creaking as if it might break.

Laughter and ragged breathing filled the room.

“You’re all flushed from being drunk.”

“You’re drunk too.”

Sweat began to bead lightly on their bodies again.

After wrestling and laughing for a long while, the two finally collapsed, sprawled out.

The bed was narrow, their limbs and torsos overlapping everywhere.

As they lay side by side catching their breath, Eun-gyeol suddenly nodded toward the bookshelf.

“What’s that?

Don’t tell me that’s it.

The one I gave you?”

“…Yeah.”

Curiosity sparked in his eyes as Eun-gyeol sat up.

Reaching easily, he pulled down the box from the top shelf.

When he slowly opened it, a pristine pair of sneakers—carefully kept—came into view.

They were shoes Han-geon hadn’t seen in a long time either.

Seeing the spotless white sneakers, Eun-gyeol raised an eyebrow.

“What the hell.

Why didn’t you ever wear them?

What a waste.”

“….”

“I paid extra to get those.

Why didn’t you wear them?”

With a faint smile, Eun-gyeol placed the sneakers back into the box.

Feeling awkward for no reason, Han-geon sharply turned his head away.

“…How could I have worn them.”

He muttered it under his breath.

And immediately regretted it.

Was that too honest?

Heat crept up the back of his neck, and he couldn’t bring himself to look at Eun-gyeol.

Scratching his nape, he hurriedly put the box back on the shelf.

Before he realized it, Eun-gyeol had moved right up behind him, close enough to touch, gently ruffling his short hair as he teased him.