So He Stayed

Upon careful thought, there were surely ways to avoid Jeong-yeon other than the ones Beomwoo proposed.

Yet, frustratingly, he wasn’t in a normal state of mind to think clearly.

Moreover, on another note, the idea of Beomwoo felt more comfortable to him.

A bodyguard would be a stranger, while Beomwoo was someone he knew.

Not just an acquaintance, but someone who had been his husband in his past life, even sharing a bed.

Being with someone he had experience with seemed less burdensome than spending all day with a stranger.

And both he and Beomwoo genuinely had no ulterior motives, only wanting safety…

Haejin hesitated, gauging his reaction, then cautiously asked.

“But if I choose this… how long would I have to do it?”

“It’s hard to set a definite deadline. I think we can decide that once you’ve made up your mind about how to handle Jeong-yeon.”

“Hmm…”

If there were a set period—a week or two—he could prepare himself mentally, knowing it was temporary.

But there was no set duration.

However, as he thought earlier, with Jeong-yeon’s unpredictable nature and unknown intentions, setting a fixed period was impossible.

“So, what will you do?”

He hadn’t yet reached a conclusion in his pondering when Beomwoo asked again.

He knew he needed to answer quickly, but wasn’t this too rushed…?

Even as that thought crossed his mind, his heart pointed to only one answer.

Whether it was because the incident left him feeling insecure, or due to the pressure of being asked to choose immediately, he felt he had to give an answer, even though he knew this wasn’t a decision to be made on the spot.

“Shall we go with… the third method?”

“You mean living together?”

“…Yes. I-I think that would be the safest, as you said…”

“……”

“The other options… entrusting things to a bodyguard, since I’ve never experienced that, I don’t really know how safe it would be… So…”

The choice he made was one of the methods Beomwoo proposed, nothing strange about it.

But for some reason, Haejin found himself earnestly explaining his reason for choosing that method, as if justifying himself…

He realized belatedly that Beomwoo hadn’t said anything odd or looked at him strangely, and he seemed to have overreacted like someone with a guilty conscience.

There’s a saying that strong denial equals strong affirmation—he probably looked exactly like that.

…It’s really not like that.

He wanted to explain it wasn’t that kind of meaning, but since Beomwoo hadn’t said anything, adding more words would only make him seem more suspicious.

Knowing this, Haejin tightly shut his mouth.

Beomwoo remained silent.

Earlier, he had been urging for an answer, but now his quietness felt strange.

Haejin glanced at him to gauge his reaction, but he didn’t seem surprised or find it odd.

…Then why is he silent? It’s awkward.

Not knowing what he was thinking made him more nervous.

Just as his palms were getting clammy with sweat, Beomwoo, who had been still, finally spoke.

“Alright. Then I’ll prepare and come back soon.”

“Ah, okay…”

For the long silence that had preceded it, the answer was surprisingly concise.

Then why did he stare at me without saying anything…?

It seemed like he was surprised by his unexpected choice, but if that was the case, he didn’t seem startled.

Was he thinking about what he needed to prepare to live here?

Haejin couldn’t understand why Beomwoo had been silent, but it wasn’t something he could ask about.

He might have had no particular thoughts, and Haejin was the one being overly self-conscious.

Haejin told himself Beomwoo probably didn’t find his choice strange and tried to calm his oddly fluttering heart about living with him.

****

“Wh-what’s with all this?”

Haejin stared wide-eyed as Beomwoo entered the house and asked.

On the night they decided to live together, Beomwoo returned from work, and his belongings started arriving one by one.

Since they had agreed to live together without a set period, it was natural he would have a lot of things.

But what Beomwoo carried in, his hands full, wasn’t his usual belongings but items he had just purchased.

As someone with money, he might have bought daily necessities thinking to use and discard them, but that wasn’t the case.

The bags were clearly filled with groceries.

It wasn’t strange for Beomwoo to buy food since he would also want to eat while living here, but while he was picky about food, he wasn’t particularly passionate about it.

Moreover, the bags contained not only long-shelf-life instant foods like ready-made rice, canned goods, and ramen but also vegetables, meat, fruit, and snacks piled high, making it inevitably surprising.

When Haejin looked at him with a bewildered face, asking what this was, Beomwoo replied nonchalantly.

“It seemed like there wasn’t much to eat at home. I’ll use the fridge.”

Saying this, he passed by Haejin and began filling the fridge one by one with the food he had brought.

While Haejin ate relatively well for someone living alone, his habits were geared toward a single person.

Buying too much often led to expiration or spoilage, so buying small amounts had become a habit, aided by his naturally frugal personality.

Now that there were two mouths to feed, they would need about twice the groceries, but even considering that, this was a lot.

And since he was a very busy person, they likely wouldn’t have many meals together at home.

Worried they would end up wasting so much, Haejin spoke to him with slight embarrassment.

“But… isn’t this too much? I don’t think we can eat all this.”

“I eat more than you, so this much should be necessary.”

“Even so… You don’t often have meals at home, do you? At most, you’d eat maybe one or two meals like breakfast or dinner here.”

“That’s not the case. Today, I finished work late after sorting things out and shopping, so we couldn’t even have dinner together. But starting tomorrow, I’ll be at home. We’ll have all three meals together.”

“…Huh?”

Starting tomorrow, he’ll be at home? He’ll have all three meals with me every day?

What does that mean?

This statement was more bewildering than when he arrived with bags of groceries.

Haejin froze for a moment before snapping back to reality and quickly asking.

“B-but if you have all three meals here… won’t you go to work?”

“I’ve arranged to work remotely for the time being. The whole point of being with you is for safety; if I’m absent from morning till evening, there’s no reason to choose this method.”

“Ah…”

That’s true, but…

The idea of assigning him a bodyguard was for 24/7 close protection, since they didn’t know when or what Jeong-yeon might do.

If the goal was to give the impression they were living together and make Jeong-yeon act cautiously, they needed to be together all day.

So, he understood the reason… but Beomwoo opting for remote work was an unexpected move in itself.

He had worked remotely in his past life too, but that memory wasn’t particularly good.

Back then, it felt like he was doing it to keep an eye on him.

Of course, this time the reason was clear and different; it wasn’t for surveillance…

But for Haejin, the memory of his remote work wasn’t pleasant, so he felt both bewildered and somewhat uneasy.

Unable to hide his emotions, Haejin’s expression likely gave him away.

Beomwoo, noticing this, smiled wryly and spoke.

“I know being together all day might feel burdensome and stifling. But this is just to show we’re living together in this house; I’m not planning to be together all day or monitor you. Even with remote work, I’ll still be working, so we won’t be together much during the day.”

“Huh? No, I-I wasn’t thinking that.”

Had he been making an expression that clearly showed dislike?

Realizing his rudeness belatedly, Haejin hurriedly composed his expression and said it wasn’t that he disliked it.

But judging by Beomwoo’s unchanged expression, he seemed to think Haejin was just making excuses.

Ah, this shouldn’t have happened…

Moreover, he started living together to help him; if the person receiving help reacted like this, wouldn’t he feel upset?

As Haejin watched his reaction, Beomwoo looked at him for a moment before changing the subject as if remembering something.

“And, I should have asked before coming in. Can I use that room, the study? I’d like to stay in that room.”

“Huh? Ah, of course…”

“Thank you for understanding. Then I’ll unpack my things.”

Since he was living in a house under Beomwoo’s name, as the owner, Haejin had no reason to refuse if he wanted to use it.

When Haejin answered immediately as if it were obvious, Beomwoo nodded slightly as if thanking him.

His reaction made Haejin feel awkward, as if he were flaunting something that was Beomwoo’s to begin with.