Harmonious Love

First Kiss (13)

He seemed quite shocked. His stiffened face tried to force a smile but then froze again.

“Are you really ending it like this?”

Soon after, a bewildered voice was heard.

Faced with this unfamiliar Tae Young-won, Mo Yeon had no choice but to avoid his gaze. He didn’t have the courage to meet those unbelievable eyes.

It was surprising, and he thought that such a situation probably never existed in his life. Tae Young-won being rejected. And by someone like him who, under normal circumstances, would never have even spoken to him. Moreover, by another man. Even to himself, the current situation seemed difficult for Tae Young-won to accept.

“Are you confident you won’t come looking for me? Last time, after leaving the hotel, you said you lost all interest, but you couldn’t hold out long before coming back. Though the situation is very different now.”

“…”

“Are you really confident you won’t come looking again this time?”

If asked if he was confident, honestly, he wasn’t.

Ending things with Tae Young-won meant cutting off the first life he had experienced without being tormented by ghosts. Mo Yeon’s lowered eyelashes blinked rapidly. Even now, dark ghosts were lurking all around except near Tae Young-won, so was ending it really what he wanted? Even he was confused now.

But above all, what was certain was that he didn’t want to get hurt. It was already a bit overwhelming now.

He was scared just thinking about how he would have felt if the period had been longer.

The deliberation wasn’t long. Mo Yeon calmly nodded.

“Yes, I want to end it here.”

“I don’t understand. I can’t accept this.”

It was strange. Tae Young-won’s voice felt strangely calm.

“It feels like there’s something more.”

“…”

Those words felt as if he was saying that Mo Yeon would inevitably need him. Whether it was his mood or not, at times like this, his eyes always seemed to pierce through people’s hearts. For a moment, he felt something welling up inside him.

“Then what are you going to do?”

“…”

“I feel wronged for being deceived by you all this time, so I don’t want to be sex partners with you either. In this situation, there’s nothing you can do. Are you going to cling to me? If so, let me think about it.”

He lightly shook off the arm that Tae Young-won had grabbed. Surprisingly, Tae Young-won backed off easily.

“Why do you dislike it this much?”

Yet, it seemed the questions still hadn’t disappeared. That he, who liked men and even followed Tae Young-won first, would reject such a proposal.

“I think even I don’t understand it. There’s no reason for anyone to reject you, I suppose.”

“Yeah, that’s why I don’t understand. I’m quite intrigued because I really don’t get it.”

“…”

“In my common sense, there’s no reason for you to reject me this much.”

“You know I’m originally a strange person. It’s the same this time. I guess I’m acting irrationally because I’m a strange kid.”

Common sense, he says. Anyway, his world was outside of other people’s common sense, and that’s how people saw him. A strange child.

“No, you’re not that strange. I’ve told you many times. The more I got to know you, the more I felt that way.”

“I am strange.”

“Then I guess I’m just as strange as you, is that a problem?”

“Don’t say nonsense.”

As Mo Yeon spoke stubbornly, Tae Young-won sighed.

“I didn’t suggest stopping this for no reason. Even if our relationship started with deception, neither of us was forcing or lying every moment. Do you think I wouldn’t know that?”

“…”

“So I can’t believe your words, Mo Yeon. What are you hiding?”

“Believe it or not, that’s up to you.”

Mo Yeon hastily cut off his words. At the question of what he was hiding, his heart pounded as if he was a thief caught red-handed.

“Do as you please. I’m ending it.”

“…”

After taking a step back, he turned around. Knowing that Tae Young-won would be watching his back, Mo Yeon left the alley as if fleeing. His steps grew faster.

Didn’t he think from the beginning that it was a truly strange relationship?

The end of that absurdly strange relationship just came earlier than expected. Although his last words were meaningful.

“What are you going to do if you can’t trust yourself…”

He tightly closed his eyes, disliking even more the things visible to him today.

A small sigh scattered into the air.

A Perfect Lie (1)

There were times when the more turbulent one’s mind, the more one needed to move their body. In that sense, this vacation wasn’t very welcome to Mo Yeon in terms of timing.

Still, thanks to Hye-jung’s request to open the store for just a month or two, he could work part-time every late morning during the vacation period. As it was a neighborhood dining restaurant, they also sold coffee during the day, but aside from a few regular customers who came to drink coffee, it was quite empty during the day.

Even though it wasn’t busy, there were plenty of places to clean as they used the entire two-story building. For Mo Yeon, who was thinking about wanting to move his body for the first time in his life, it was a really good situation.

After wiping all the windows, he came down to the flower bed in front of the building. After moving the flowerpots to where the sun was shining well, Mo Yeon looked at the empty soil in front of the building with narrowed eyes.

It was called a flower bed, but the empty space that wasn’t being used now could be considered just bare soil. It was the least noticeable part of an otherwise well-maintained garden. Except for dandelions blooming here and there, there were only stones and soil.

Mo Yeon’s eyes narrowed even more as he looked at that place.

“…”

As they say, you see as much as you know, and since finding the dead dog’s belongings last time, he had been noticing similar things. Although it wasn’t there now, he remembered seeing a round black ghost digging up the flower bed yesterday.

“I’m a bit curious though…”

Mo Yeon approached the spot with a trowel that Hye-jung used for gardening. Then he looked around for a while.

This was all because he had finished his work early and was bored.

Moreover, perhaps because it was broad daylight now, he couldn’t see anything ghost-like when he looked around. If he was going to dig anyway, now was the safest time.

‘I don’t want to get involved at all, but I’m curious.’

If something really comes out, I’ll just leave it on the soil for a few days.

Mo Yeon crouched in front of the ground and started digging the spot he had been eyeing.

Unlike last time when he dug with just twigs and his hands, this time it was much easier with a tool. As he persistently dug in one spot, large stones kept hitting the shovel. Mo Yeon was momentarily disappointed when he thought something had come out, but he dug the ground even using his hands to remove the stones.

As he did so, he saw a black form approaching from afar. Wondering if he should stop, he looked at it, but strangely, the ghost that was probably an animal, unlike the one he met last time, didn’t come close to Mo Yeon. It seemed to hesitate as if it was going to come, but eventually turned and disappeared in another direction.

“…What’s this.”

Maybe it’s an unnecessary item? Mo Yeon, who muttered very quietly, decided to continue digging since he had already started. After all, this was started out of curiosity.

How much time had passed while he was crouching on the ground? Later, he focused solely on digging the ground, grunting in a trance-like state.

“Why isn’t it coming out, huff, puff…”

Whether there was a reason why that ghost just left earlier, nothing came out even though he had dug quite deep. He carefully wiped his forehead, which was now beaded with sweat, with the back of his hand that wasn’t covered in soil.

Is there nothing?

Perhaps because he had done labor with a body that usually moved very little, he was out of breath and his body, which had been crouched for a long time, ached all over. Was it just for fun that he dug, not because there was actually something he was looking for?

Mo Yeon quietly examined the hole he had made. It did seem like a spot he wanted to dig because there was less grass here compared to the surrounding ground. It would be good if it wasn’t like Ttol-i who had lost something…

Feeling somewhat deceived by a small ghost, he plopped down on the ground.

“This is annoying.”

He sat down to catch his breath, not caring if his bottom got dirty, and then threw the trowel he was holding onto the ground. The ridiculously deep hole he had dug seemed to make him feel more and more self-deprecating as he looked at it.

He started messing up the pile of soil next to him with his hands and putting it back into the hole, then just caught his breath again.

Suddenly, he had an ominous feeling. Mo Yeon raised his head.

The balcony on the second floor, which wasn’t very high, was really nice for drinking coffee when the weather wasn’t cold. It was also great for observing people passing by occasionally on the quiet alley or stray cats climbing over the walls.

His premonition was correct. A very familiar face was looking down at Mo Yeon blankly. When their eyes met, he even waved casually.

“Hah…”

Where and for how long had he been watching? No wonder the ghosts were particularly absent. That means he must have seen everything from start to finish.

And then a familiar voice was heard from above.

“I didn’t know Mo Yeon was good at shoveling… You seem very talented.”

A regular customer who comes to drink coffee at this restaurant.

These days, one of them was Tae Young-won.