Putting the baby to sleep and then seeing each other… That’s just like a married couple…
If it were any other day, I would have made a joke about it, but this time, for some reason, I couldn’t bring myself to say a word.
『“If you’re not tired, let’s go to your place, Sunbae. I want it, too.”』
Because of the unspoken promise we made when we left Myeonghaeri, Yoon Jooho’s words naturally sounded meaningful.
After suddenly bringing the cat home, Song Hyunsoo had honestly forgotten about that promise at some point.
It was much later than expected— no, it was already dawn, so maybe it was too early instead? Either way, today didn’t feel like the right day…
Yoon Jooho, who had tidied up the blanket, got up while placing a hand on Song Hyunsoo’s shoulder.
“I’ll take a shower first, so keep an eye on the baby.”
He’s telling me to watch the baby because he’s worried, right? Yes, sir.
Even if it hadn’t been a direct order from Yoon Jooho, Song Hyunsoo had no intention of leaving the front of the cage.
Just watching the cat lying there with those big round eyes was so impossibly cute that he felt he could stare all day and never get bored.
When the little one walked out for a moment and drank a bit of water, Song Hyunsoo silently made a big fuss.
As if the kitten had accomplished something grand and monumental.
After drinking a little water and returning to its spot, the kitten curled up, resting its face on the water pouch like a pillow.
He’d heard that on their first day, some cats don’t even drink a sip of water if they’re too stressed. Seeing that this one wasn’t that stressed put his mind at ease.
“Hey, do you know where you are, and who that person is?”
Song Hyunsoo, lying in front of the cage, spoke to the little one.
“There are people all over the country— no, all over the world— who’d love to get in here, you know that, punk?”
Yoon Jooho’s house. And not just anywhere, but the deepest bedroom of the Master Zone, protected by a password-locked door.
How many of the world’s “Yoon Gyeolho” would envy this tiny cat?
Ah… Come to think of it, I’m the same, lying here right now.
In my case, if people found out, I’d probably get stabbed to death out of jealousy before anyone admired me.
Even if it’s a man in Yoon Jooho’s bed, the “Yoon Gyeolho” of the world wouldn’t let it slide.
Even though I’m nothing more than “someone who does this kind of thing” with him.
With a bitter chuckle, Song Hyunsoo peered into the cage again.
“Ddakji, you little punk. Your life’s about to take off. Our golden spoon kitty.”
“Why do you keep calling the baby ‘Ddakji’ since earlier?”
Yoon Jooho entered the bedroom, one towel draped over his head and another precariously wrapped around his hips.
Momentarily distracted by the R-rated sensuality of that body, Song Hyunsoo pointed at the cat and then tapped his own left cheek.
“Didn’t you see the spot? The black fur right here— doesn’t it look just like a booger?”
Sitting down heavily on the carpet, Yoon Jooho pulled off the towel covering his head, frowning.
“Still, naming the kitten ‘Booger’ is a bit much. What kind of naming sense is that?”
“Then why don’t you name it, Sunbae?”
Leaning back on his hands and tilting his head toward his shoulder, Yoon Jooho looked into the cage at the kitten with a crooked smile, as if both amused and tickled. It was a smile that looked a little happy.
“If it’s a spot on the left cheek, it’s Marilyn Monroe.”
From Ddakji to Marilyn Monroe.
From the Gukine vacant lot to the Cheongdam-dong Han River View Penthouse.
It was a dramatic reversal of fortune.
And the butler is Yoon Jooho.
『“Hmph, I guess when it comes to naming our future kids, my wife should do it.”』
The words Aunt Kurin had said, clicking her tongue at Song Hyunsoo’s naming sense, suddenly came to mind. Then, Sunbae, you’d be my wif…
“Why are you grinning suspiciously by yourself?”
Sitting close by, Yoon Jooho’s cool dampness could be felt. Droplets of water clinging to the tips of his wet hair fell onto his broad shoulders and thick chest.
Just as Song Hyunsoo was tempted to kiss the edge of that shoulder, their eyes met.
Feeling as if his ulterior motives were exposed, Song Hyunsoo quickly averted his gaze and got up.
“It’s nothing. I’ll, uh, go wash up now.”
“Wash up in my bathroom.”
“Huh?”
As he hurried out of the bedroom, Song Hyunsoo stopped and turned around, thinking he’d misheard.
Yoon Jooho acted like it was nothing, not even glancing over, just keeping his eyes fixed on the kitten in the cage as he repeated,
“Wash up in the Master Room’s bathroom. I’ve put out a change of clothes for you there.”
“…Okay.”
It was his first time showering in Yoon Jooho’s private bathroom instead of the guest one. Did this mean we’d gotten closer?
Was this a hint that I might be promoted from “someone who does this kind of thing” to something more? But he said he doesn’t date men…
With his head nearly pressed to the luxuriously lavish bathroom wall, Song Hyunsoo washed and “prepared” himself thoroughly and carefully.
When he returned to the bedroom, Yoon Jooho was still on the carpet.
He’d swapped the towel around his waist for pajama bottoms and was lying face down, looking especially long and lean.
Using a cushion from the sofa as a pillow, right in front of Ddakji’s— no, Monroe’s— cage, he’d fallen asleep just like that.
Suppressing a smile, Song Hyunsoo squatted down next to Yoon Jooho.
“Hey, you said we’d see each other after putting the baby to bed.”
Watching him fall asleep in front of the kitten made him laugh.
“You were so stubborn about not bringing it home, and now you’re this happy…”
Well, he must’ve been tired.
It was already past seven in the morning. Even in winter, the world behind the blackout curtains was starting to brighten with a blue glow.
With long eyelashes casting shadows, his face, peacefully asleep like a fairy-tale Sleeping Beauty, didn’t stir at all.
Song Hyunsoo felt like he could watch both the cat and Yoon Jooho all day long.
It was then.
Monroe carefully walked out of the cage.
Song Hyunsoo clamped a hand over his mouth to keep from screaming and waking Yoon Jooho.
Video, video… phone, phone…
He wanted to capture this on video to show Yoon Jooho later.
When he got back after pulling his phone from the pocket of the jumper hanging in Yoon Jooho’s dressing room, Monroe was circling near Yoon Jooho’s face, around the cushion.
The kitten would approach cautiously, then startle and jump back on its own, even though no one was doing anything— just like it did at Gukine.
Damn… So freaking cute…
Yoon Jooho’s face and a baby kitten together…
Twisting his face in a strange way to keep from screaming, Song Hyunsoo filmed the kitten from all angles as it wandered around Yoon Jooho’s face.
“Right? No matter who your butler is, even you have to admit he’s ridiculously handsome, huh? You little rascal, already into faces just like me.”
Whispering in a low voice, Song Hyunsoo suddenly froze as he noticed something in the phone screen.
A tear was running down from the corner of Yoon Jooho’s eye, where he lay with his head on the cushion. It felt like his heart stopped.
“I’m sorry…”
With lips so dry they seemed to groan, Yoon Jooho muttered an apology.
“I…”
His forehead and brow furrowed in pain, he looked tormented. Like someone condemned to burn at the stake in a dream.
“Don’t… go… Ah, don’t…”
In his dream, Yoon Jooho was desperately clinging to someone. If he was like this in reality, then in his dream, he was probably sobbing in anguish.
Setting his phone aside, Song Hyunsoo gently stroked his hair. Hoping his voice would flow into Yoon Jooho’s dream, he whispered into his ear.
“It’s okay. It’s just a dream. It’s all a dream, Sunbae.”
Maybe it was thanks to Song Hyunsoo’s comforting, or maybe he’d escaped the dream. His muttering gradually faded, and the twitching in his face settled down.
Maybe, like Song Hyunsoo, he also had nightmares that visited him again and again.
Just as Song Hyunsoo kept regretting turning down Choi Hongseo’s offer to have a drink, returning to that moment over and over in his dreams.
Maybe Yoon Jooho, too, kept getting dragged back to that moment— when he couldn’t hold on to someone.
He could guess who it was that the mighty Yoon Jooho was so desperately calling out to in his dreams.
The one person Yoon Jooho had truly wanted. But the one who ultimately rejected him.
The tear that slid from the corner of his eye wet the high bridge of his nose and trickled to the other side.
“Who is it? The person who keeps you from sleeping, Sunbae.”
Song Hyunsoo carefully wiped away the tear with his fingertip.
“Can’t I… help you forget?”
And then he tasted it. Yoon Jooho’s tear was sweet and bitter.
Monroe, who had been sniffing around on the carpet, looked up at Song Hyunsoo.
Holding back the urge to pet and hug the kitten, he gave a wry smile. The kitten tilted its head and went back into the cage.
Song Hyunsoo was just as exhausted as Yoon Jooho.
But his mind was too clear, and he didn’t think he’d fall asleep easily.
He turned the dial to dim the lights as much as possible. Taking the blanket from the bed, he covered the shirtless Yoon Jooho and lay down beside him.
He opened the search bar on his phone and typed in a phrase.
How to seduce an INTJ man
I’d always made fun of Jung Ho for believing in MBTI stuff, saying it was outdated. But now, backed into a corner, I wanted to grab at any straw. Sorry, Jung Ho.
As soon as he clicked on the top post, Song Hyunsoo muttered curses in frustration.
You have to be pretty. If you’re not his type, he won’t even look at you.
What the hell… If that’s the number one condition for seducing him. No wonder… Yoon Jooho also once said he “prefers beautiful things.” Who else but an INTJ man…
But hey, even if I’m not in the beautiful category, I’ve got a face worth looking at, right?
Even today at the hospital, people said I was handsome. I was even famous for my looks back home.
Show your intellectual side. INTJs value logical understanding over emotional expression and are attracted to people who can discuss interesting topics as equals.
Intellectual side? You have to have one to show it.
Wait, I even gave him a famous philosopher’s book as a gift. Isn’t that a kind of intellectual gesture?
Ah… But I gave it together with a notebook illustrated with cats and an eleven-color pen set with cat drawings…
Never confess first to an INTJ man. Make him confess.
This is getting more and more ridiculous… Would Yoon Jooho ever confess to me first?? The only reason I’m looking this stuff up is because I can’t make him confess, damn it! Who wrote this crap??
Feeling nothing but a deep sense of defeat, Song Hyunsoo turned his head to look at Yoon Jooho’s sleeping face.
At a distance close enough to touch, right beside me, Yoon Jooho was sleeping soundly, under the same blanket.
If there were any way to make him mine right now, I’d do anything.
But how?
He’s obviously still hung up on that person from before.
Someone so beautiful, so sophisticated, who can speak several languages— someone I can’t even compare to.
Song Hyunsoo adjusted the blanket over Yoon Jooho’s bare shoulder. It really felt hopeless. Whatever the internet experts said, he decided not to care.
Song Hyunsoo typed a new sentence into the search bar.
How to successfully confess to your crush