Harmonious Love

A Perfect Lie (2)

“You were working so hard, I couldn’t bring myself to interrupt.”

“…”

Mo Yeon ignored his words and stood up from where he had been sitting. Looking at himself briefly, he realized his clothes and hands were already a mess. Since Tae Young-won had already seen everything, he decided not to worry about it and just focus on filling in the hole he had dug.

As he crouched down again to refill the pit, Tae Young-won’s voice was heard once more.

“Why are you doing that?”

“…”

Mo Yeon’s hands paused involuntarily at those words. He couldn’t possibly answer that he was digging because he thought there might be something a ghost was desperately looking for.

“Just trying to check something.”

Glancing up, he saw Tae Young-won nod. His gaze remained fixed, chin resting on his hand.

“I’ll order when you’re done playing, so take your time.”

He even gestured for Mo Yeon to continue.

Mo Yeon thought Tae Young-won might be mocking him, but judging by his expressionless face, that didn’t seem to be the case. Fortunately, he didn’t appear to find it strange.

“Who’s playing…”

He doesn’t seem to have any intention of helping. Not that Mo Yeon had expected it. Frowning, Mo Yeon silently focused on the task at hand. Though he tried to concentrate, his mind remained in turmoil.

Somehow, it now seemed very suspicious that the ghost approaching earlier had suddenly changed direction and disappeared. That should have been a hint that Tae Young-won was nearby, but he hadn’t realized it.

Even in broad daylight, it had been unusually pleasant around here with no ghosts in sight, unlike usual.

He should have noticed right away. Mo Yeon felt he had become quite dull during the short time he had spent with Tae Young-won. He used to live always watching out for ghosts. Lately, it seemed he had learned to ignore ghosts somewhat, even without thick glasses.

Mo Yeon paused from digging and glanced up at Tae Young-won again.

“…”

Tae Young-won was still calmly waving at him. After staring blankly at him for a moment, Mo Yeon simply lowered his gaze again.

Unlike Mo Yeon, who was sweating profusely, Tae Young-won looked perfectly composed as usual today. No, perhaps it was his mood, but Tae Young-won seemed to look even more handsome these days. Every time he appeared, his hair and clothes were so nicely done.

What a contrast they made. Mo Yeon felt like a slave tilling the fields while Tae Young-won was a young master resting in the shade.

Despite being firmly rejected, Tae Young-won came to see Mo Yeon whenever he had the chance.

He would sit like that, observing Mo Yeon while drinking coffee and doing his own work. Sometimes they would eat together, and other times he would just go home.

Even when they ate together occasionally, they didn’t talk about anything special.

Most of their conversations were trivial, and it was actually awkward how they never talked about being partners or anything like that. Tae Young-won would only occasionally check on Mo Yeon’s well-being.

<…>

At times like this, Tae Young-won seemed like a clingy ex-lover. His eyes were particularly filled with longing when asking about Mo Yeon’s condition.

Honestly, Mo Yeon knew better than anyone what Tae Young-won missed and was curious about most. Since there was nothing he couldn’t tell, Mo Yeon tended to answer well each time.

When Mo Yeon answered like that, Tae Young-won would nod and finally seem relieved.

‘Surely he doesn’t suspect anything.’

Although Tae Young-won had watched him dig and refill the hole, Mo Yeon was relieved that he didn’t seem to suspect anything. 

He might consider it strange behavior… but both of them had gone through many stages to reach a point where such things were no longer particularly odd.

***

Mo Yeon was in a very bad mood from the morning. It was because he had dreamed of having sex with Tae Young-won all night.

Once at dawn, waking up as he reached climax while riding Tae Young-won, and once in the morning with Tae Young-won’s organ blocking his throat.

The common point both times when he opened his eyes was that his pajama pants were so wet they were soaked.

“This is really annoying.”

It was the first time he had experienced two wet dreams in one night. This had never happened even in his teens. Mo Yeon had to writhe in self-loathing for quite a while after waking up.

The effects of being apart from Tae Young-won were starting to show.

Somehow knowing when to come, Tae Young-won, who hadn’t shown up yesterday, was waiting today at Mo Yeon’s quitting time.

Exhaling cigarette smoke, he beckoned. Come to think of it, it seemed like it had been a long time since Mo Yeon had seen Tae Young-won smoking.

“Have you eaten dinner?”

“I just got off work.”

“Want to eat before going home?”

He was truly a persistent person. Well, he was someone who had decided to have sex with a man and date him out of stubbornness. This much probably wouldn’t hurt his pride.

Because of the morning incident, Mo Yeon couldn’t help but treat him more coldly than usual today.

Now, the only thing Mo Yeon wanted to hide from Tae Young-won sunbae was that he could see ghosts. Since that was something Mo Yeon tried to hide from everyone, it meant he no longer had to make extra efforts just for Tae Young-won.

“But wait… look at this?”

However, Tae Young-won didn’t seem to have any intention of leaving Mo Yeon alone. He came right at quitting time and immediately started finding fault. After looking Mo Yeon up and down seriously for a while, he asked as if he was heated:

“Why are you wearing the clothes I gave you? You’re really giving mixed signals here.”

“Then give me back my clothes. I had to wear these because I had nothing else to wear.”

“Come to my place. I’ll give them back.”

“Just throw them away, please.”

He was really such a hindrance while walking.

Mo Yeon’s body was already weak from lack of positive energy these days… Having Tae Young-won constantly appearing before his eyes was more annoying than anything else. He needed to go home, but this was really bothersome.

“Move aside.”

Mo Yeon pretended to push Tae Young-won away while subtly touching his arm. For a brief moment, his hand kneaded Tae Young-won’s arm before reluctantly letting go.

Success. As he started walking again, Mo Yeon pressed his lips together to keep from smiling. He felt indescribably satisfied.

“Mo Yeon, Mo Yeon.”

“What?”

Even as he answered casually, he felt incredibly satisfied inside. Although it was a very brief and natural contact that Tae Young-won shouldn’t have noticed, Mo Yeon used to be quite content with just this much in the past. It made him feel like he had gotten his money’s worth, leaving him both satisfied and slightly regretful.

“Why did you touch me? Do you want to die?”

“…”

However, it seems Mo Yeon was mistaken about it being brief and natural.

“What was that just now? Why did you touch me like that?”

He’s scarier than ghosts. Though very surprised inside, Mo Yeon maintained an expressionless face as he walked.

“Why are you touching other people’s arms like that?”

“What did I do? I don’t know why you’re suddenly acting like this…”

“Why are you groping people so erotically?”

Groping erotically? Tae Young-won followed closely, complaining as if he had been let off a leash. Although Mo Yeon had indeed kneaded his arm, he felt wronged too.

“Groping erotically? When did I do that? Sunbae, now you’re really saying strange things.”

“…”

At that moment, Mo Yeon witnessed Tae Young-won’s face turn very grim in real-time. Startled, Mo Yeon walked even faster.

Did he really knead it like that? Honestly, he was so focused on getting positive energy that he hadn’t paid attention to such details.

Ah, in the past, he wouldn’t have even cared.

Looking at it this way, it seemed he could never steal positive energy again, even if he were to die and come back to life. If he had known this would happen, he should have stolen at least one item from Tae Young-won’s house before breaking up. Although he wasn’t sure if it would have been effective, at least he would have felt less wronged…

“Stop for a moment.”

Suddenly, Tae Young-won grabbed Mo Yeon’s hand and placed it on his own arm. Mo Yeon stared blankly as the hand covering his own moved. The muscular arm he had touched earlier was now being kneaded firmly under Mo Yeon’s hand as Tae Young-won moved it.

“Like this, you kneaded it just like this. What is this? What does this mean? Huh?”

For a moment, Mo Yeon unconsciously licked his lips, regretting the brief hold on the arm. As his tongue touched his lips, Tae Young-won spoke more menacingly.

“Wow, look at this, you’re openly seducing someone. Do you really want to die?”

“What are you talking about? And what meaning? There’s no meaning at all…”

“Ha.”

Tae Young-won messed up his hair as if he was going crazy. Mo Yeon silently watched him for a moment.

“…”

Certainly, he was now doing something that didn’t suit him. Because of that place of his that he had forcibly cut off before losing interest. And Mo Yeon could only guess that this was Tae Young-won’s stubbornness, stimulated for the first time in his life by a strong blow to his pride.

“What you’re doing now, there’s another reason you can’t talk about, right?”

“…”

“I’ve been thinking, and that’s my guess.”

Mo Yeon bit his lip hard. Tae Young-won’s eyes darkened once again.