CH 135

Sehun and Mihee had an age gap, but Sehun tended to see things to the end once he set his mind to it, so it wasn’t an impossible relationship.

Before, Sehun had asked almost jokingly if he had rejected Yoonshin’s sister once, and now he was sparking a secret relationship with him. Sehun didn’t seem to be the type to have strict boundaries for dating, but he didn’t seem particularly gay either.

Yoonshin thought that, despite being picky about external factors, Sehun seemed to be the type to ignore invariable factors like age and gender if he liked the person and they met his standards.

“Why are you like this today?” Sehun asked, baffled.

“Answer me first,” Yoonshin held out.

“No, never. Okay, since I answered, it’s your turn now. Were you jealous?”

Yoonshin replied candidly, “Yes. I don’t like when the two of you are alone together.”

Other people aside, Yoonshin was a bit bothered by Mihee because she knew Sehun the best.

Upon answering sincerely, Yoonshin saw Sehun’s eyes narrow. There was a brief silence. Sehun must not have expected Yoonshin to acknowledge it so coolly that he was rendered speechless for a moment.

As he stared intently at Yoonshin, several thoughts and feelings seemed to cross Sehun’s face. He didn’t say anything, but Yoonshin could perceive the meaning of his expressions. Sehun looked like he was observing a child who was a handful, and he also seemed to be bracing his heart with some sort of resolution.

Staring back, Yoonshin felt a bit embarrassed at his own complaints and changed the topic first.

He thought back to the calendar he once saw on Sehun’s desk and asked, “What are you doing tomorrow? If it’s all right, we could—”

Before he even finished, Sehun turned his body toward the screen and tersely replied, “There’s a place I need to visit, so I used a whole vacation day. We’ll only see each other in the new year.”

The seats to the theater had gradually filled up. The surrounding grew darker, and advertisements started playing on the screen. Yoonshin stared at Sehun’s profile and fell into deep thought amidst the darkness. ‘We didn’t make any promises, but why did I think that he would stay with me?’

Tomorrow was December 31. Taking a leap of faith, Yoonshin put in for a half-day off. It was the first time he did so after he entered the firm.

In the morning, he was going to hold a lecture at a nearby high school to fill volunteer hours with the incorporated association in Sehun’s stead. Since it was the winter holidays, only the students who wanted to attend the small special lecture could attend on a first-come-first-served basis. After that, he was thinking of meeting Sehun in the afternoon to greet the new year together.

There was nothing new about the end of the year that fell upon the world annually, but Yoonshin didn’t want to be buried in work on a day like that. His sister said that she took her kids to a ski resort, which gave Yoonshin a pretty good excuse. If Yoonshin told Sehun that he was lonely, he felt like Sehun would stay beside him.

Even if Sehun didn’t tell him, Yoonshin had heard from Secretary Tak that this was a day that the other man always took off. Yoonshin naturally thought that they would end up spending time together. He figured that he was the only person that Sehun would meet on such a day.

But he was wrong.

‘What the heck is tomorrow anyway?” Yoonshin hesitated to ask, feeling bewildered. From the side, Sehun looked so unyielding that Yoonshin couldn’t bring himself to ask what the occasion was tomorrow and if he could stay with Yoonshin instead. Staring blankly, he turned to hide the blush that had risen on his face. He was relieved that the darkness completely shrouded them at this point.