It’s Too Good to Forget (Part 3)
As if that excuse made any sense.
I had no pride to uphold in front of Chae Soo anyway, so I let it slide. Besides, it wasn’t just any fish—it was pufferfish. Who in their right mind would refuse? As I mixed a bit of wasabi into my soy sauce, Chae Soo sighed and handed me some vinegar.
I added a few drops, stirred my soup, and let the rising steam warm my face. My stiff expression finally relaxed. Maybe because I had used up all my energy avoiding him all afternoon, my empty stomach welcomed the hot soup like the water of life. Before I knew it, we were both eating aggressively, as if we had come here just for the food.
Wait—wasn’t the purpose of this meeting to talk? Was I getting too into the meal? To break the awkward atmosphere, I casually brought up something.
“I heard that you left work early today.”
“Yeah.”
“Senior Joo said you weren’t feeling well.”
“That’s right. I wasn’t.”
He was about to wrap a piece of fish in water parsley and dip it into soy sauce when he paused and looked up. Was he really this bad at reading between the lines? Was it that hard to figure out what I meant by asking why someone who left work sick was now here eating dinner?
“…Then why are you insisting on having dinner with me?”
“You promised.”
Chae Soo handed me a tissue with a pitiful expression, gesturing for me to wipe my mouth. He was the one who made the promise, yet he was acting like he was sacrificing his poor, sick body for me. I was really dumbfounded. I roughly wiped my lips and narrowed my eyes at him.
“I never made such a promise.”
“Fine. Just pick one—either call me ‘you’ or ‘manager.’”
“…Says the guy who keeps switching between formal and informal speech?”
“Who, me?”
…Me? I continued, a little thrown off.
“It’s unsettling how you’re suddenly acting all friendly.”
“Calling this ‘friendly’ is a stretch, Senior Han Yeon-doo.”
“It’s uncomfortable eating with you.”
“I know. That’s why I’m eating with you.”
At first glance, his words sounded considerate, but I blinked slowly, realizing how twisted his reasoning was. If there’s a talent for making unlucky comments sound vaguely nice, he’s got it.
“And you ate more than me despite feeling uncomfortable?”
“…It would be a waste to leave expensive food behind.”
“Should I order something even more expensive, Senior Han?”
“What is wrong with you? What did I ever do to you?”
At this, his once-confident gaze wavered slightly before dropping under the table, as if he had done something wrong. His eyes darted around, drawing slow parabolas, as if he was recalling last night’s events.
Ah, right—last night.
So far, it sounded like something serious had happened, but in reality, it was simple.
I had dinner with Chae Soo.
“Just because you try to avoid it doesn’t mean it never happened.”
To add a little more detail—I had dinner at his house.
“I have never avoided anything.”
To add even more—I had dinner at his house and drank soju. Of course, I was the only one drinking.
“I know you appreciate it just by showing me this much grace.”
And then, I fell asleep at his house.
…So what? It’s not like I blacked out. I woke up and left on my own feet (definitely my feet, not his). No big deal.
The problem was what happened after I woke up.
The problem was… I may have accidentally touched something I shouldn’t have.
Of course, the things that Chae Soo is talking about are the ones that happened between the moment he opened his eyes in his house and the moment I opened the front door.
In other words, the filling was taken off, and I touched his fleeting thing…
Even though he couldn’t see through the table, I forced my gaze toward Chae Soo’s pants and met his eyes.
“If you’re talking about the incident that happened at your house yesterday—”
“Incident?”
“—Or a sudden accident?”
“Hah, that must have been a planned crime.”
Crime, crime…! If you put it that way, I, Han Yeon-du, don’t even have very polite habits.
“But calling it sexual harassment is nonsense.”
“You touched me without my consent.”
“I didn’t touch… it was just a brush of the hand—”
“Don’t be ridiculous. Your hand was intentional enough, and you even felt it.”
“I didn’t feel it!”
I only slightly admired it! I couldn’t bring myself to say anything else, so I swallowed my words. Chae Soo tilted his head and showed an extremely cold expression. Then,
“I felt it.”
“What?”
“I felt really ashamed because of you.”
“So what?”
“Shameful.”
“…”
To say that he felt shame, his face was way too calm. It wasn’t even funny. Who told him to shower and come out naked? Sure, it was his house, and I do feel guilty for getting drunk and passing out there.
The corners of my mouth twitched as I tried to shift the blame onto him, the one who had casually stepped out half-naked after showering at home.
“…Who would wear something like that?”
Oh no. I covered my mouth with both hands, embarrassed by what I had just said. My eyes, blinking in disbelief, kept dropping down to Chae Soo’s belly button as if trying to recall that thing. When I thought about that—something that had a distinct presence even in the dark—my ears turned red.
“Han Yeon-du, where are you looking?”
The man who was actually wearing that thing didn’t seem particularly embarrassed. He just slightly twitched his eyebrows and tapped the table with his chopsticks as if trying to get my attention.
At this point, I’d like to turn back time and try to defend my actions last night.
The reason I went to a man’s house—no, specifically, to Chae Soo’s house—was out of a damn sense of responsibility. No matter how much I hated him, it wasn’t easy to ignore someone who had fainted in front of me. And since we just so happened to live upstairs and downstairs from each other, I simply took responsibility for getting him home.
My kind heart toward my neighbor had somehow turned into a deep grudge, and in the end, I even delivered an instant abalone porridge I had at home to none other than Chae Soo. When he saw my supposedly deep concern, he stood at the front door and said,
“Stop pretending to be nice for no reason. Since you’re already here, why don’t you just eat it with me and go?”
Seriously, who was pretending to be nice? But sure, with a good heart, I went to his place, ate the dinner he made, had some soju with it, and—thanks to the alcohol—ended up falling asleep on his sofa.
By the time I woke up, it was already past 11 p.m.
As I mentioned before, Chae Soo and I lived in the same apartment complex, in the same building line. His ceiling was my floor. Because of the identical layouts, I didn’t even realize I was in his house at first. I was just looking for the bathroom, completely unaware of the situation. I definitely had no impure intentions.
But when I opened the bathroom door, I came face to face with Chae Soo, who had just finished showering. I was startled and pushed him away. In the process, his shower gown flung open dramatically… and as the strength in my hand weakened, I ended up brushing against that thing.
Almost like a reflex, I let out a quiet wow.
So, really, we should acknowledge that Chae Soo was at least partially responsible for the incident where I accidentally touched him. For example—
“I’m sorry. In my defense, it’s my first time seeing something that big… like that.”
It honestly felt like a sin to be born with that thing—something clearly different at first glance—something that could never be mine.
“But as I said yesterday… I have absolutely no intention of approaching you rationally in that way. That wouldn’t work anyway. After all, the manager has absolutely no interest in women—”
“Who said that?”
Chae Soo put down his chopsticks and raised his right eyebrow. He seemed annoyed. Understandable. Saying something like that was basically outing him.
“Uh… no matter what, I don’t think it’s right for me to talk about such a serious topic. It’s not like I have any… prejudice against minorities.”
Yes, specifically against Chae Soo.
“Senior, it would be better for both of us if we just pretended yesterday never happened—”
“Han Yeon-du, what the hell have you been talking about since yesterday?”
So… Chae Soo is gay. As far as I know, that’s definitely the case. So even though I saw his naked body a little and accidentally touched him, I was sure there could never be anything between us.
