CH 18

It wasn’t the peak season, so after passing through the quiet hotel lobby, the two of them walked slowly along a slightly dark road. The wind felt chilly even for spring, and Cho-seung removed his hand and wrapped his arms around Ha-hyun’s shoulders as soon as he put on his cardigan.

“Is it very cold?”

“No. It’s just that the wind is strong.”

Ha-hyun answered with a frown at the wind blowing his hair and pressed himself to a place where he could feel the warmth.

“Should we walk like a penguin?”

“Don’t talk nonsense.”

Then what were you going to do if you fell.

When he stabbed his side with his elbow, Cho-seung let out an embarrassing laugh and brushed the nape of his neck.

“Then do you want to wear another cardigan?”

“Not to that extent.”

Cho-seung, who gently embraced Ha-hyun, brought his body closer. Then, as Ha-hyun’s skin was colder than he thought, so he raised his head to look at the remaining path and stopped his moving feet.

“Let’s go back.”

“Why? Let’s enjoy something fun since we came all the way to Busan.”

“Still. I hope you don’t catch a cold. It’s good to go to a cafe and rest.”

The road was darker than he thought, so it might be dangerous.

Cho-seung added his words quietly and turned his body around. Ha-hyun, who turned around because he was hugged by him, moved as he led him.

“Can I really not go for a walk?”

“We can do it tomorrow when the sun rises. What is urgent. It’s cold.”

Cho-seung urged him to go in quickly. Ha-hyun, who was worried, shook his head saying that it was okay and walk a little longer, but when the sea breeze blew hard, his body trembled.

Cho-seung hurriedly blocked the wind blowing and hugged Ha-hyun.

“Ha-hyun-ah, are you very cold?”

“Uung. It seems a little cold.”

“We can’t do this.”

Worried that he might catch a cold like this, Cho-seung hugged him tighter and stroked his cold cheek with a worried face.

“As expected, let’s go quickly. They say you can’t even take medicine if you’re sick when you’re pregnant.”

Hearing that, Ha-hyun didn’t insist anymore. As he said, he was in trouble when he caught a cold and he wasn’t alone.

Cho-seung carefully led Ha-hyun to the cafe he had found in advance.

Ha-hyun, who followed his lead and covered his mouth with his sleeve, suddenly noticed that the strong pheromone had faded and stabbed Cho-seung in the side. At that, Cho-seung pushed his body back and touched his stabbed side.

“This hurts a little bit.”

“Sorry. But the pheromone has weakened.”

It was cute to see Ha-hyun waving his hand with his arms outstretched, saying, “Look at this.” Cho-seung watched it and came to his senses with the gesture asking him to do something quickly.

“Ung? Ah—I guess the wind must have been strong.”

Cho-seung looked around and confirmed that no one was there, took off the cardigan he was wearing and handed it to Ha-hyun.

Ha-hyun took off his outerwear and changed into a cardigan he had just received. Ha-hyun, whose hands were covered with loose sleeves, buried his face in his clothes that were heavily scented with pine trees.

As expected, Cho-seung’s pheromone had a corner that made people feel drowsy. Cozy, soft, and refreshing at the same time. Ha-hyun, whose eyes were relaxed in an instant with a dreamy feeling, slowly closed his eyes.

“The sea breeze makes the pheromones fall faster.”

While muttering in a troubled tone, Cho-seung put pheromones on his cardigan to the extent that he thought it was excessive. Ha-hyun, who had buried his face in his soft fabric, suddenly raised his face at the slightly more fragrant scent of pine trees.

“What’s the matter?”

“No…”

Reflexively taking a step closer, Ha-hyun buried his lips in the nape of Cho-seung’s neck, which had the thickest pheromone. Tiptoeing his feet while resting on his shoulder, he naturally leaned on Cho-seung.

Cho-seung, who was holding his hand with the cardigan awkwardly, first wrapped his arms around Ha-hyun’s waist to keep him stable.

“It’s been a while since I’ve felt such a strong pheromone up close.”

“Um. You have to make it that strong to be buried in a cardigan.”

He said he cared, but he thought it was still not enough. Cho-seung reflected on what had happened and calmly released the pheromone until Ha-hyun was satisfied.

Ha-hyun, who received Cho-seung’s pheromone until he was satisfied, arrived at the cafe in a good mood. When he entered the moderately warm and bright room, his shrunken body relaxed.

Ha-hyun followed Cho-seung to the counter and nodded his head in satisfaction as he listened to the menus he ordered.

“Ah… What should I do?”

And that fuzzy feeling began to be broken by the ominous preface, and Ha-hyun shook his head without realizing it. He really wanted to deny it…

“There is no strawberry cake.”

As Ha-hyun stepped aside from the checkout counter, his expression changed to an unfair one and Cho-seung stretched out his arm and then wrapped his arms around him, comforting him.

“How about strawberry milk?”

“Yes. That is possible.”

“Then one croffle, one strawberry milk, and one iced americano please.” (크로플, here)

Cho-seung, who led the depressed Ha-hyun to sit down, wondered how to soothe him. He didn’t expect it would be out of stock.

“It was served with croffle and strawberries.”

“There is only a little.”

“Shall we buy strawberries before entering the hotel?”

“No.”

Ha-hyun shook his head and buried his face in his sleeve. He exhaled, feeling the pheromone that was still there to appease his sad heart.

“Should I make strawberry syrup? Then you can easily eat at home.”

“Can you make it?”

“It comes up if you search for it these days.”

Hearing that he was making strawberry syrup, Ha-hyun raised his head and nodded quickly. He was so excited about having fresh strawberry milk at home that he forgot his gloom over no cake.

In the meantime, Cho-seung, who had received the prepared drink, placed a strawberry drink in front of Ha-hyun.

“How is it. Are you okay?”

“Uung. It’s delicious.”

But he couldn’t even eat half of it. It wasn’t that it was tasteless, it was really delicious, but…

The problem was that Cho-seung’s pheromone was thin, so he thought he was going to get morning sickness. Obviously, the pheromone remaining on the clothes was thick, but it didn’t have much effect because it wasn’t the pheromone flowing out of the body.

When Ha-hyun felt deep regret, Cho-seung spoke to him in a soft tone as if soothing him.

“Let’s grab a takeout drink when we go out. It will be fine if you drink it at the hotel.”

“Ung.”

He didn’t want to be so depressed because he couldn’t drink just one drink, but it was so unfair because there were beans in his stomach, no, Bo-reum and Geum-eum. Seeing the tearful eyes, Cho-seung was taken aback.

“…are you crying?”

“I’m not crying.”

Hearing that the croffle was ready, Cho-seung quickly brought it and took a strawberry next to it and put it in Ha-hyun’s mouth.

Ha-hyun, who reflexively chewed the strawberry in his mouth slowly, enjoyed the sweet syrup and the sour taste of the strawberry.

Cho-seung drank the coffee he had left behind, feeling relieved at the slightly brighter expression on his face.

“This syrup is delicious.”

He raised a knife to cut the bread, smeared it with fruit and syrup on it, and ate it with a satisfied smile. Ha-hyun carefully checked the condition every time he ate a strawberry and put the fork down after finishing it until the end.

“Shall I order more?”

“No. I can’t eat strawberries anymore.”

He ate strawberries this morning too, but he guessed that wasn’t enough.

Ha-hyun, who repeated eating again after subduing it with a pheromone on his sleeve whenever he felt sick, felt embarrassed for nothing. Originally, he was proud that he wasn’t greedy for food, but that was gradually changing. Especially with strawberries.

“It wasn’t like this before…”

“It’s okay. It doesn’t matter.”

“I feel like I get obsessed with small things.”

There were many times when he travelled on impulse. When he was at home with nothing to do, he suddenly felt the urge to leave somewhere and Ha-hyun didn’t suppress that feeling.

Therefore, it was just like him leading the bewildered Cho-seung down to Busan. However, it was strange that he was sad because he hadn’t eaten gukbap due to morning sickness and that he felt unfair because he didn’t receive strawberries.

It was normal to pass it on, saying that he could come back next time and eat it when he could eat again—

“As expected, it’s strange.”

“There’s no one like this.”

Doing this and that.

It said that even though mountains and rivers changed after 10 years, humans couldn’t stay the same. Cho-seung said in a nontrivial way that the time had come for his personality to change.

“Is that so?”

“Ung. That’s right.”

While Cho-seung looked away for a moment, Ha-hyun took a sip of the coffee in front of him and habitually bit the straw.

“Caffeine.”

“Ung. Just one sip.”

After finishing his mouthful, he passed the coffee back to Cho-seung without regret and stirred the remaining drink with a straw.

“See.”

“Ung.”

“Shall we go to Jeonju?” (전주, here)

The weather was fine and Cho-seung reflexively tried to nod at the words that came out naturally as if they were giving daily greetings, but soon realized the meaning and showed a dumbfounded expression.

“Where?”

“Jeonju.”

“…are you going to eat bibimbap?” (Jeonju bibimbap is a well-known, traditional local food)

Probably. He wasn’t really sure.

Even as he said it, he thought that if it was Ha-hyun, that would be the case for some reason. When he woke up today, he didn’t expect he was going to come to Busan, but they were here now anyway.

“Not that. Um, there’s a gukbap restaurant I saw on TV.”

“You want to go eat it there?”

“Ung.”

Ah. Cho-seung let out a sigh and sensed it.

Apparently, when Ha-hyun was pregnant, it was such an intuition that sudden food trips like today would continue endlessly.