Chapter 34

‘Kwon Mieon?’

Even with his face covered by a mask, there was no way Yeonhoo could fail to recognize him.

That distinctive bluish cast to his curly hair, the kind of height that made passersby glance over at least once, even the mole faintly visible beneath his eye despite the mask.

Kwon Mieon was the kind of person packed full of features too distinctive to mistake.

Maybe it was because he had to lower himself to meet the eyes of the seated Yeonhoo, but Kwon Mieon bent down, then slowly rolled his eyes over him, looking him up and down.

“What the...?”

Startled out of his mind, Yeonhoo instinctively leaned back a little.

Anyone could have seen how shocked he was. His lips parted slightly, and every time he blinked slowly, his eyelashes fluttered faintly. Kwon Mieon couldn’t take his eyes off him, but then, as if he’d never been staring at all, he stepped away from the window and pushed open the café door in one swift motion.

Jingle!

With that bright chime, his huge frame strode inside, seeming to fill the doorway.

“Welcome—oh?! Why are you back so fast—”

Miyoung’s startled voice came from the counter.

Of course, Kwon Mieon did not spare her even a glance.

His eyes were fixed solely on the café’s one and only customer sitting by the window.

Seeing him coming straight toward him in an instant, Yeonhoo flinched.

‘What the hell, why is he coming over here—’

Ignoring the fear plain on his face, Kwon Mieon dropped heavily into the seat across from him.

And that wasn’t all. As naturally as if it belonged to him, he slipped the mask off one ear and downed the glass of water Yeonhoo had poured for himself in a single swallow.

“......?”

The whole thing was so natural it almost made it look like they had come together.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

Kwon Mieon spoke first.

“Anyone watching would think I’m a loan shark.”

His voice was teasing.

But what good was a light tone when his expression was anything but light?

When Yeonhoo had met him that night, there had been something unfair and desperate about him. Now...

Now he looked maybe a little angry, and in any case, completely different from then.

But what did that matter?

‘What’s a druggie doing here.’

Yeonhoo straightened his posture with a face gone cold and spoke firmly to the man sitting across from him.

“Why are you sitting here....”

But the voice that came out was not firm in the slightest....

Seeing him in broad daylight, Yeonhoo was freshly struck by just how huge Kwon Mieon was. He must have worked out a lot too, because even under the T-shirt, his body looked solid.

“...sir.”

Which meant that this was survival instinct.

Kwon Mieon blinked and continued staring at him.

Because of the loose fit of his clothes, Yeonhoo’s shoulders looked especially round. He had clearly dressed up in his own way, but his hair was puffed up slightly, and the eyes behind those round glasses looked soft.

“Please just go where you were going....”

His face looked cold and guarded, but his tone stayed round and awkward.

“Ah.”

The sharpness vanished from Kwon Mieon’s gaze in an instant, and laughter burst out of him.

“This is insane.”

The corners of his eyes and lips curved.

The pointed edge disappeared from his whole manner, leaving nothing but laughter all over his face.

At that expression, Yeonhoo’s hand twitched on its own.

How could a face change this much from one smile alone?

When he was expressionless, he had that chilly look of someone who could drag a body into the water without blinking.

But the instant he smiled, his whole image softened completely.

And what the hell was with those eyes?

Why was he looking at him with such a ticklish gaze, and why couldn’t Yeonhoo look away from it?

“You can drop the formal speech.”

Still smiling all over his face, Kwon Mieon spoke.

“Yeonhoo.”

At the fact that he knew his name, Yeonhoo’s eyes widened all over again.

‘I vaguely remember seeing him at that party, but did we really get all the way to introducing ourselves?’

On that rainy day, he had called him by name right out of nowhere, so Yeonhoo had wondered, and apparently they really had become acquainted that night.

‘What the hell happened?’

The problem was his memory. No matter how hard he tried to bring it back, nothing surfaced, and it was driving him crazy now.

“There’s something I want to ask you.”

“That works out. I had something I wanted to ask too.”

The moment Yeonhoo opened his mouth, Kwon Mieon answered right away.

“You ask first.”

His voice was gentle.

It was the exact opposite of that night.

Unlike then, the one with no room to breathe now was Yeonhoo.

At least, that was only what he thought.

There was no way Yeonhoo could know that beneath the table, every last hangnail on Kwon Mieon’s clasped hands had been torn to shreds.

“When we first met, do you remember?”

“That night?”

Well, if it had been at a party, of course it would have been at night.

“...Yeah.”

“I remember it perfectly. That night was pretty long.”

The answer came immediately, but Yeonhoo’s expression did not ease.

‘What’s with that loaded way of putting it?’

Did that mean he hadn’t just been drunk and sprawled somewhere useless that night?

“What exactly happened that ni—”

At that moment, a tray holding bread and drinks came down between the two of them, who had been staring into each other’s eyes.

“Ah!”

Yeonhoo startled violently.

He had been so focused on Kwon Mieon that he had not even noticed someone approaching.

“Whoa, did I scare you? I’m sorry.”

He had wondered who had interrupted them, but thinking about it, there was only one other person in this café besides the two of them.

“There was only one occupied table anyway, so I just brought the tray over myself... I guess I really startled you.”

At Kang Miyoung’s cautious voice, the expression on Yeonhoo’s startled face melted at once.

“No, not at all! You were just being thoughtful....”

How could she be this kind?

If anything, Yeonhoo felt bad for having looked so overly startled.

But when he looked at the tray, there was not only the sandwich and drink he had ordered, but an extra croissant too.

His gaze landed on it, and Kang Miyoung rubbed her cheek awkwardly and smiled.

“I was grateful for the gift you gave me.... Do you happen to dislike croissants?”

Good lord.

“No, I don’t.”

Was she an angel?

Yeonhoo managed, barely, to tear his gaze away from Kang Miyoung and look at the croissant. In his mind, wings sprouted from it, and it flew away into the sky alongside Ms. Miyoung.

The wary expression he had been wearing while facing Kwon Mieon had vanished without a trace, and Yeonhoo smiled softly.

“...I like them.”

Wouldn’t it be better not to eat this and just take it home?

He wanted to preserve it as a family heirloom.

A ticklish sort of atmosphere spread between Kang Miyoung and Mo Yeonhoo, as if they were the only two people in the room.

But they were not the only two people in the café.

Thunk!

At that sudden sharp sound, both of them turned toward the source of it.

The tray.

‘Huh?’

Right in the middle of the cream croissant Kang Miyoung had given as a free extra, a fork had been stabbed into it.

As Yeonhoo stared blankly at the misshapen pastry, crushed in on itself, the large hand that had driven the fork down dragged in a straight line.

—SKREEEECH!

The fork piercing the croissant made a shrill, ear-scraping noise.

By the time it reached the edge of the plate, the croissant looked as if it had been run over by a car.

The fork lifted, the croissant dangling from the end of it, and its owner shoved the massive thing into his mouth in one go.

Crunch, crk-crunch.

The sound of the croissant being crushed came from inside his mouth.

‘Why is bread making that kind of noise?’

At that point, didn’t it mean there had to be rocks inside it?

Not only Yeonhoo, but Kang Miyoung too stared at Kwon Mieon with wide, startled eyes.

In the silence, with nothing but the sound of him chewing echoing out, Kwon Mieon swallowed after only a few bites, then wiped a bit of cream from the corner of his mouth with his fingertip and said,

“There’s something I’m curious about.”

Kwon Mieon smiled.

“Are you two close?”

If you looked only at his bright smiling face, there was nothing strange about it.

But Yeonhoo saw it.

The fork clenched in Kwon Mieon’s hand...

‘It bent?’

Its neck was twisted backward.