Side Story 2: Déjà Vu : Part 10

“I’m going to make Monroe pizza today.”

Iyaang?

“Yes, pizza. Your dads order it to eat sometimes. Try saying pi, zza, Monroe. Pi, zza.”

Yoon Jooho, who was kneading the dough, chuckled as if he found it ridiculous.

“Isn’t it too simple to act like you’re doing something big?”

“Well, actually… your dads are handsome, but they aren’t very good at cooking. Even if it’s a meal kit, it’s all healthy stuff, okay? Your dads are doing this with you in mind… Hey, Yoon Marilyn, are you listening to your dad?”

Barely listening to Song Hyunsoo’s excuses, Monroe kept his eyes fixed on the Bowl Yoon Jooho was working with and struggled to be let go.

“Not yet. Just wait a bit? I’ll make it look nice and give it to you soon.”

Song Hyunsoo put the little fellow back down on the floor.

Seeing him cry repeatedly in a high-pitched voice, it seemed like he had a lot of complaints, but it couldn’t be helped.

Just as he was about to put his Hand back into the Bowl, Yoon Jooho shook his head.

“It’s fine, there’s no need for both of us to do it.”

“Then I’ll go get the snacks Monroe likes.”

“Why that?”

“They say they eat it better if you mix in the snacks they usually like into the dough.”

After washing his Hand and bringing out Monroe’s favorite snack, Song Hyunsoo squeezed the wet treat into the dough in the Bowl.

Yoon Jooho’s gaze fixed on Song Hyunsoo’s Hand.

He had been bothered by it for a while, but having held it in while waiting for the right timing, he casually threw out a question as if it were nothing.

“By the way, what is that?”

“What is?”

“On your wrist.”

“Ah.”

Song Hyunsoo lifted his left wrist.

A simple silver bracelet jingled on his wrist.

“This is nice, right? Jang-woo Hyung gave it to me yesterday.”

“Why did he?”

“He said it was a Birthday Gift.”

Yoon Jooho fell silent, but he had an expression that suggested he was unhappy about something.

“If you have something to say, say it.”

“What thing to say.”

“You have an expression that says you have a lot to say.”

“The dough is done, so start shaping it.”

It was an obvious attempt to change the subject.

While tearing off pieces of dough from the Bowl to make small pizza crusts, Song Hyunsoo studied Yoon Jooho’s reaction.

“Why are you sulking again?”

“Don’t say I’m sulking.”

“If it’s not sulking, then what is it?”

“It’s not sulking, I’m pissed off.”

“Geez. Fine, then what are you pissed off about?”

Yoon Jooho stopped his Hand and turned around.

Resting the back of his Hand on his waist, he leaned crookedly against the counter.

His expression silently pressed him, asking if he really didn’t know.

“An Accessory is a bit much, don’t you think?”

Song Hyunsoo looked down at the bracelet on his left Hand.

“Why? It’s not flashy and it looks okay, doesn’t it?”

“If I were wearing a bracelet or necklace I received from some other guy, would you feel good?”

“Ah…”

Only then did Song Hyunsoo realize what Yoon Jooho meant, and he hurriedly added an excuse in embarrassment.

“This wasn’t given with that kind of intention…”

“Whether it was that intention or not, would you feel good if I was the one wearing it?”

“I… don’t think I would feel good.”

Song Hyunsoo, muttering with a dejected face, took off the bracelet and placed it on the counter.

Watching this, Yoon Jooho let out a sigh.

Then he approached and pressed his forehead against Song Hyunsoo’s.

Thump, as if lightly scolding him.

“Don’t shrink back. It doesn’t suit you. It’s better when you’re squawking.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t think. It’s just… since he gave it as a Birthday Gift… I didn’t think much of it…”

“I know. I’m not scolding you.”

“Then what?”

“I don’t know. I guess I’m just narrow-minded.”

Yoon Jooho turned around after letting out a self-deprecating sigh.

Song Hyunsoo grabbed his arm, which was exposed under his rolled-up sleeve.

“That’s not it!”

“What’s not it.”

“I mean that I wouldn’t feel good either.”

“If Sunbae went around wearing an Accessory given by someone else…”

Yoon Jooho stared down at Song Hyunsoo.

As his head lowered, Song Hyunsoo’s voice also trailed off.

He added in a mumble.

“So, I’m saying that Sunbae isn’t narrow-minded.”

“So, don’t wear it even if someone gives it to you. Okay?”

Yoon Jooho, who had been silently watching, burst into a dry laugh.

“Don’t just laugh, answer me. Why aren’t you answering?”

Song Hyunsoo urged him while pulling his arm.

Even so, Yoon Jooho just kept laughing.

He looked to be in a good mood.

“You’re trying to avoid answering right now, aren’t you?”

“Even though you were angry at me. That’s cheap.”

As Song Hyunsoo lunged at him with the determination to get an answer, Yoon Jooho gave him a sudden, quick kiss.

While he was dazed, their lips overlapped more deeply this time.

Song Hyunsoo became quiet as if he had been injected with a sedative.

“W-what was that suddenly… I really don’t know what triggers you?”

Yoon Jooho smiled while looking into Song Hyunsoo’s bewildered face.

It was a face that looked Happy.

Monroe, who had been playing in a box, looked up at the two and tilted his head.

■

“Oh, he’s eating well.”

As soon as the Bowl was placed on the floor, Monroe rushed toward the pizza like a hound unleashed on its prey.

Stepping on the pizza with his front paws, he frantically buried his nose in it and ate it all up.

Yoon Jooho clicked his tongue and held the fellow’s belly, pulling him away from the Bowl.

“Calm down. Is someone going to steal it from you?”

“He didn’t have much of an appetite at first. Right?”

“Because you’re like this, Sangho Hyung always suspects us of starving you. Excuse me, Yoon Marilyn, can you hear me?”

Yoon Jooho teased him while scratching the little fellow’s head with his fingertips.

However, it seemed the Cat, completely absorbed in the new snack, couldn’t hear a thing.

Song Hyunsoo captured Monroe’s profile as he wolfed down the cat pizza with the Camera.

“It feels like a lie that there was a time when he wouldn’t even come out of his Room.”

“Now, it’s completely his world.”

“Except for the Bathroom.”

The two giggled as they looked at each other.

Yoon Jooho, looking down at the back of Monroe’s small head that moved as he ate the pizza, stroked his back.

“It feels like just a few days ago when he was sitting on the wall in the snow. He’s grown a lot. We even got him neutered.”

The two were silent for a moment.

Naturally, the events of that night came to mind.

The night they brought Monroe here.

Song Hyunsoo had been working at ‘Jessica’, and a Message had arrived from Yoon Jooho.

Saying that the location for ‘Myeonghaeri’ had been decided.

Asking if he wanted to go see it together right then.

A spontaneous meeting in the middle of the night.

A short, spontaneous trip.

The excited anticipation for the Movie they would create together.

The connection, more thrilling than sex, felt as they spontaneously exchanged Yeongi without even a rehearsal.

Every moment shared with Yoon Jooho that night was as vivid as a Movie.

A night when snow was falling heavily.

Also the profile of Yoon Jooho, who could hardly concentrate on driving at the thought of the Cat left alone in the Empty Lot next to the restaurant without a Mother or other Siblings.

Having finished the pizza completely, Monroe licked around his mouth with his tongue and looked up at the two.

Ppiyang.

Ppiyaang.

“What, you want more?”

Ppiyaang.

The little fellow approached Yoon Jooho, who was stroking his head, and placed his front paws on his knee.

It was a face and voice that desperately wanted something.

Yoon Jooho picked up the fellow, who was still tiny, and brought him face to face.

“You ate a lot. Look at how full your belly is, you.”

Niyaang.

It sounded as if he were begging that he still wanted more, that he could eat more.

Song Hyunsoo this time captured the Video of Yoon Jooho rubbing his cheek against Monroe’s small face.

“Doesn’t it sound like he’s chirping ppiyak ppiyak?”

“It’s a strategy to get more snacks by acting cute and pitiful. Right?”

Ppiyaang.

Ppiyang.

Monroe, who had been crying loudly as if something were unfair, struggled.

When Yoon Jooho put him down on the floor, he looked up at him as if in protest, cried two or three more times loudly, and then trotted away toward the Hallway.

Yoon Jooho, watching Monroe’s receding figure, stood up holding the empty Bowl.

“Shall we start getting ready to go out?”

“Already? You said we could stay for another hour or two.”

In the evening, a Promise was scheduled with the other two Actors of <Dissolve>, Shin Hyojin and Han Jooyoung.

They had met once after returning from Paris to deliver souvenirs, and this was their first meeting in about two months since then.

“I was thinking of heading out a bit early.”

Yoon Jooho, who got up first, reached out his Hand toward Song Hyunsoo.

Song Hyunsoo also stood up, holding his Hand and relying on the force pulling him.

“Is there somewhere you need to stop by?”

“Should we go to a Department Store or maybe a select shop?”

Song Hyunsoo, following Yoon Jooho, faltered in his steps.

“Why… there?”

“You’re trying to buy something for me again, aren’t you?”

Yoon Jooho, placing the Bowl in the sink, shrugged and denied it.

“I’m not?”

“Yes, you are. I really have nothing more to buy now. Stop buying things.”

“Because you don’t have a bracelet, you’re wearing one given by another guy.”

From behind Yoon Jooho’s back, as he opened the Refrigerator door and rummaged through the drinks, Song Hyunsoo muttered to himself.

“He said he wasn’t sulking, but he’s really holding a grudge.”

Yoon Jooho, holding a small carbonated water, strode over and grabbed Song Hyunsoo’s cheeks with one Hand.

“What did you just say.”

“I-I said Sunbae is… a truly amazing man.”

Only after giving a quick kiss to Song Hyunsoo’s lips, which were pouting like a goldfish, did Yoon Jooho let go of his cheeks.