Chapter 26: The next step.

Hyeyoon was eating noodle in the kitchen as Jiyong showed up. The designer dressed black t-shirt and ripped jeans.

“Hi, Jiyong-ah” she said enthusiastically to her brother in law “Are you hungry?”

“Yes”

“Let’s have lunch!” she reached the saucepan and served noodle for Jiyong.

“Lunch?” Jiyong replied as he seized the bowl.

“Yes, it’s late, you’ve slept for hours”

“I was tired from the flight” Jiyong replied, embarrassed.

“Eat” she demanded.

“Thanks…” he nodded his head heartily and sat down by her side and tried the noodle.

They ate in silence; Hyeyoon kept looking at him, studying him.

Why all the guys with hot body and gorgeous face are gays? I want to be Seunghyun right now. At last I’ll have designer clothes. I can’t believe Seunghyun slept in the living room with this man on his bed! My brother is so stupid.

“Thanks for the noodle, it was lovely” Jiyong said bringing her to reality.

“There’s more” she showed the saucepan to him.

“No, I’m full, thanks”

“I guess I’ll take some to Seunghyun” she looked at the leftovers.

“Where is he?” Jiyong asked curiously.

“Work”

“Is he working?”

“Of course”

“Why? He has 200.000”

“Ah… Ask him” she replied awkwardly.

“I’ll take the noodle to him” Jiyong said “Just tell me where I find him”

 “He’s working at neighborhood’s pet shop” she said packing the meal inside a tiffin carrier “Go with Charlie, he knows the way”

 “Who is Charlie?”

Suddenly, Jiyong heard barking, he turned around and met a cocker spaniel running towards him.

“You’re Charlie” Jiyong replied and spread his hand in front of him.

Charlie sniffed his hand and looked up at him.

 “You handsome” Jiyong slowly Charlie’s neck under his jaw, then he moved his hand across the dog’s back and gently scratched his fingers there.

“Charlie likes you” Hyeyoon handed the tiffin carrier with noodle to Jiyong “Take Jiyong-ah to Seunghyun-ah” she said to the dog.

Charlie wiggled his entire body in eager and ran to the door, Jiyong smiled and followed him. They walked the streets covered with snow.

The pet shop was nearby, Charlie came into a big building with glass doors and Jiyong followed him. The place was full of cats, birds, bunnies, fishes, iguanas, dogs...

Jiyong went ahead looking for Seunghyun who was singing and bathing a chow chow in the backyard.

“Old Macdonald had a farm E-I-E-I-O and on his farm he had a cow E-I-E-I-O with a moo moo here and a moo moo there, here a moo, there a moo, everywhere a moo moo…” Seunghyun got the dog as wet as possible, then applied shampoo.

“Old Macdonald had a farm E-I-E-I-O and on his farm he had a pig E-I-E-I-O with an oink oink here and an oink oink there, here an oink, there an oink, everywhere an oink oink…” He washed the dog’s paws, armpits and up under his neck. And took time to exfoliate and wash the dead skin away. He rinsed all the soap and residue off the dog.

“Old Macdonald had a farm E-I-E-I-O and on his farm he had a duck E-I-E-I-O with a quack quack here and a quack quack there, here a quack, there a quack, everywhere a quack quack…” Seunghyun kept singing and drying the chow chow off with a towel and since it was snowing, he covered the dog with a blanket to keep him warm once he finished the job.

“You’re fine-looking now” Seunghyun said to the dog and placed him on the ground carefully “Old Macdonald had a farm E-I-E-I-O and on his farm he had a horse E-I-E-I-O with a neigh neigh… Aaaaah!!!” Seunghyun cried out when he realized Jiyong’s was standing at the door’s sill “What are you doing here?”

“Hyeyoon asked me to take the lunch to you” Jiyong said trying to not laughing loudly.

“Did you listen to…?”

“Your singing?” Jiyong chuckled “Old Macdonald had a farm E-I-E-I-O… That’s nice”

“Don’t laugh at me”

“I didn’t know how much you like dogs”

“I like them and they like me, I bet you that Gaho and Jolie miss me”

“Maybe” Jiyong followed Seunghyun to the office.

It was a small place with a big fireplace that didn’t work, so Jiyong stayed cold. The desk was messy and had a big and scary stuffed toy with parrot shape.

They sat down on the couch and Jiyong gave the carrier to the black haired man.

“I miss you too…” he said hiding from the writer’s staring.

“You don’t have to miss me anymore, we’re together now” Seunghyun replied.

Oh God, that’s sweet what he said! It’s the perfect time to tell him how much I love him. Yes. Jiyong thought.

“Seunghyun, I want to say… I should have said…”

“I MISS YOU TOO!!!”

Jiyong freaked out by the exclamation.

“Sorry, it’s Larry” Seunghyun pointed the green parrot rested on the desk.

“Is it real? I thought it was a weird stuffed toy”

“It’s real”

“IT’S REAL” Larry repeated.  

“I’m not in the romantic mood anymore” Jiyong said.

“ROMANTIC MOOD ANYMORE” Larry said.

Jiyong stayed with Seunghyun for hours. They left at night. It was snowing hard and Charlie chased the snowflakes while Seunghyun and Jiyong walked back home.

“Are you cold?” Seunghyun asked Jiyong who only wore t-shirt and ripped jeans “Of course you’re cold” he took off his jacket and offered to the designer.

“But you’ll be cold”

“No, I’m big…  I mean, you’re small… I mean, you’re tiny… I mean… eh… I’m not saying you’re a hobbit… I mean, you’re cute…”

“So cute I’d fit in your pocket?” Jiyong took the jacket and put it on.

“Yes? No? I’m saying weird things?”

“No. it’s cute, I can picture myself inside your pocket, going everywhere”

“We’ve had weird moments, but this one is weirder…”

“We’re flirting”

“Are we?”

“Yes”

“So what’s the next step?”

“Asking me out”

“I see” Seunghyun walked ahead leaving Jiyong behind.

“What I see means?” Jiyong ran after him.