SMNTCERR, Special Chapter  2: Exception #2.

   Jaeyoung picked up a fork when he started the meal. After a few bites, Sangwoo asked.

   “Did you drink carrot juice yesterday?”

   “Hmm…”

   “You didn’t listen to me, I told you to drink it before bed.”

   Last month, after saying just one word about dry eyes, Sangwoo started making 500 milliliters of carrot juice every day. It seemed like a good thing, but the problem was that it didn’t taste good. In the first few times, he was still under the influence and drank what the other party gave him. But after that, it became annoying to the point where he had to find an excuse not to drink it and secretly threw it away several times.

   “Did you throw it away?”

   “…”

   “It’s okay. I can make it again.”

   Sangwoo responded nonchalantly before picking up the last piece of tomato in the salad bowl to eat.

   “I’m full.”

   After speaking, he got up from his seat, put the used utensils in the sink, then walked back to find Jaeyoung and leaned down to kiss his cheek, as a reward for the meal. Although it was a learned action, not a natural display of love, Jaeyoung couldn’t help but smile.

   He hugged Jaeyoung around his waist, but Sangwoo easily avoided him and went to brush his teeth in the bathroom. Jaeyoung took care of the remaining food before clearing the table, feeling a sense of regret.

   ‘I don’t want us to separate.’

   Sangwoo usually wakes up at the same time, eats at the same time, brushes his teeth at the same time, and leaves the house at the same time. In eight minutes, that side would have left already. Jaeyoung rushed to finish washing up so he could go out with the other person. The two men moved in and out of the bathroom.

   Sangwoo, who finished brushing his teeth and put on his backpack. Jaeyoung was wearing an oversized cardigan while Sangwoo bent down to put on his shoes at the entrance. Jaeyoung handed an old baseball cap he heard was used since high school to be worn by the other side. Then he stood waiting for Sangwoo to get up and hugged him from behind.

   “Is it okay if I resign from the company?”

   “…”

   “So that I can go to university with you.”

   The teasing words heated up Sangwoo’s neck, making it turn red. “Why did I have to ride a real bicycle? It makes me uncomfortable.” Jaeyoung hugged him tighter and whispered softly.

   “Uncomfortable? Are you sick? Maybe it’ll be better if you get an injection.

   How about taking off your pants and I will give you a physical examination?”

   “You pervert!”

   Sangwoo released his arm from Jaeyoung’s embrace and unlocked the door.

   As the door opened, the cool autumn air brushed against their cheeks.

   Jaeyoung put on his sneakers and followed Sangwoo out.

   They stood facing each other in front of the elevator. Jaeyoung adjusted Sangwoo’s bomber jacket and zipped it up to his chest. Then, he lowered his head and lightly kissed the same organ of the other party. They were about to continue, but Sangwoo turned his head, kissed him deeply, and held him tightly, while he was still unable to maintain his composure due to the passionate display of affection. As the elevator doors opened, Sangwoo withdrew his lips as if nothing had happened and led him inside.

   “…”

   They went too far. They should have enticed each other until they reached the stairs and kissed there, or they should have returned to the bedroom? These two were teasing each other almost to the point of missing the elevator, or at the very least, they should have passionately kissed each other until the elevator could go up and down twice more, right? The start and end of Jaeyoung’s love affair was too direct.

   “Won’t you come in?”

   It was clear that if left like that, the other party would have to go down first, so Jaeyoung quickly entered the elevator. Sangwoo pressed the 1st floor button and muttered.

   “Why did I have to ride a real bicycle for this?”

   “There are good ways to solve problems.”

   “No matter what, I can’t do it. It may be okay for you to be flexible with work hours, but I can’t change my school schedule. Don’t forget that I’m a student.”

   “So what? Don’t forget that I’m your boyfriend.”

   “…Whatever.”

   After exchanging a few short sentences, they parted ways. Sangwoo checked his watch before hastening his steps, while the other party went to retrieve his parked bicycle. Jaeyoung looked back briefly and made eye contact with Sangwoo.

   “I’ll go first. See you later.”

   “Take care and be safe while cycling.”

   “Focus on your studies. Eat well. Concentrate on reading. Don’t let anyone distract you. I miss you a lot…” Jaeyoung muttered to himself, gazing at the distant figure. He then walked straight to the parking lot.

   After driving to the company building, he immediately went into a meeting. Once finished, he sent a couple of emails and did some work. Soon it was almost lunchtime. Jaeyoung checked his phone, which he hadn’t looked at for several hours.

   [Ru Jihye: Nothing unusual today, oh, by the way, I can’t have lunch with Sangwoo today~ _11:51.] 

   Fate was fate, this semester Ru Jihye had the same class as Sangwoo again. It wasn’t like they consulted each other, but on Mondays and Thursdays, they took the same elective. If it had happened before, Jaeyoung would have been heartbroken, but he easily solved this problem when he made Jihye have a boyfriend. It was an opportunity to establish a platonic relationship between a crocodile and a bird[1]. In this secret operation, Jihye acted as Jaeyoung’s loving and devoted spy.

   [Why? _12:01.] 

   [Ru Jihye: I have a date with Hyojin ^-^ _12:02.] 

   I just told you to have lunch together with him twice a week, is it that difficult? 

   When Jaeyoung thought that Sangwoo would eat alone, Jaeyoung called the other party but did not expect him to answer because Sangwoo had set his phone to silent mode. Even though Jaeyoung persuaded him to set the notification sound only for his number, he still left a message, but the response came back faster than expected.

   [Chu Sangwoo♡♡: How are you doing? Eat well. _12:05]

   [Chu Sangwoo♡♡: I’m doing well. I also ate well. _12:06] Jaeyoung stared at the phone screen for a moment.

   “Jaeyoung! What are you doing? Let’s go eat together.”

   “Uh, sure.”

   After that, he couldn’t say anything because he was speechless, so he put his phone in his pants pocket.

   ‘Yesterday, after saying that, I thought I would let it go, but I didn’t.’ 

   Then, until they finished eating, until they drank coffee and chatted with other employees, until they returned to the company and used the mouse again, the frustration remained. When there were ten more minutes left to finish work, Jaeyoung decided to prove that suspicion. [Tamaraya _18:20]  – [Chu Sangwoo♡♡: What are you doing? _18:21] 

–     [Chu Sangwoo♡♡: Reading. _18:21] 

   [Yuhinai _18:22] 

–     [Chu Sangwoo♡♡: Where are you? _18:23] 

–     [Chu Sangwoo♡♡: Home. _18:23] 

–     [Chu Sangwoo♡♡: When will you come back? _18:24] 

   [Igchamchịbna telekngụn _18:24] 

–     [Chu Sangwoo♡♡: Cannot be fixed. _18:27] 

   The suspicion was correct. Chu Sangwoo was engrossed in his typography.  Jaeyoung knew well that if the other party started to focus once… no matter what he did, he would not give up. If he wanted to avoid a war, he had to make adjustments, but a corner of his mind refused.

   ‘Why is it always me who has to give in and go to him?’ 

   Is this a one sided love or not, this is a relationship where we both love each other equally. Does he have to bow his head like this? Sangwoo didn’t have to give in or try anything. It’s not like Jaeyoung. The other side always went to university at the same time, studied the same way, just used the remaining time with Jaeyoung only. The disappointment and regret that I order and contain constantly filled my heart in an instant.

   “Doesn’t anyone plan to leave work?”

   “Let’s go drink today. The team leader isn’t here.”

   “Oh, good deal! Daehyun, Jinjoo, are you okay? What about Jaeyoung?”

   Jaeyoung, who was sulking with his raised handphone, looked up, and the employees sitting next to him looked at him with hopeful faces.

   “Oh. I have to go home.”

   “Going home every day. Anyone who sees it would think you’re a small child’s father.”

   “I have not a child. But there’s something similar at home.”

   “You don’t seem to be. I thought you got a girlfriend again.”

   As he laughed without answering, the employee sitting opposite shouted.

   “I want to talk to you, Jaeyoung! Let’s go together today.”

   “What is it?”

   “I’ll tell you straight. I want a new character in the game. I’ll raise it with liquor, okay?”

   Hearing that, many people laughed. In this company, there are only a few who play <Veggie Venturer>. Sometimes, that might be normal because it became the number one game in the App Market for a whole month. The assistant Park, for example, was heard to have spent 120,000 won.

   “Update on Friday, did you release the new map and new item, assistant?”

   “As soon as it was updated, I persuaded myself to buy it.”

   “…Because I don’t have to be like that, I don’t want to.”

   “I don’t care how much, so give me a new character. Is the new character being made?”

   “I think we should talk to our developers first.”

   “Let’s not talk here. Everyone, leave together first.”

   Jaeyoung released the person who was going to have dinner together and headed towards the parking lot before calling Sangwoo. Before the third ring, he heard the voice of the other party.

   [Hello.] 

   “I am leaving the office. I was thinking of buying dinner. Do you want anything?”

   [Buy whatever you want.] 

   “There’s a newly opened restaurant near the company called Le Bonne. Let’s try it.”

   [Sure.] 

   After hanging up, he went to the restaurant, stood in line in front of the popular restaurant, bought bread with soy sauce dip, Arab dumplings, kabob, tamarind, and fried rice with strong spices inside. Then he drove back home.

   As he opened the door, he found Sangwoo cutting carrots in the kitchen. He hugged the other person from behind and rested his chin on their shoulder.

   The other person then stopped their hand.

   “I’m doing this. If you continue getting frisky I might get a wound.”

   “I miss you.”

   “I feel the same.”

   Even though the dry and rough voice almost broke his heart, he knew that the other person wasn’t saying anything meaningless. Still, Jaeyoung felt a little sad. Sangwoo stirred the carrots in the blender like someone who was working on something very important before pouring it into a large glass, then looked at Jaeyoung.

   “Drink.”

   “…”

   Jaeyoung didn’t dare to refuse, so he took the glass and moistened his lips before placing it on the table. Once the food was arranged on the plate…

   Sangwoo sat down on the chair. “So, today…”

   The other side raised its head and looked at Jaeyoung with a smirk.

   “You look like a kid, huh?”

   The other side understood that teasing a little like this, does Sangwoo look like a kid? Jaeyoung noticed that Sangwoo’s language suddenly changed after washing his hands. After sitting opposite Sangwoo, they started eating quietly.

   “Didn’t you ask today if there was something I wanted to say?”

   “Is there something?”

   “In the computer class, I received praise for having all the excellent qualities of a developer. It seems that I am the first in the past five years to get full marks for the homework.”

   “The teacher should be proud.”

   Jaeyoung tore off a piece of bread to eat. At the same time, he felt a chill in his heart. He enjoyed the time when Sangwoo told stories about his daily life in great detail. During this time, he got to listen to stories that weren’t really new, got to look into his eyes, and listen to Sangwoo’s voice while eating together.

   “But in the advanced English conversation class, it doesn’t seem high enough. I have to pair up and keep introducing myself for a long time, ‘Hi, I’m a major in computer engineering’, something like that.”

   Recently, he had been studying hard, wanting to be great. Although his abilities didn’t really match that level, Jaeyoung was still pleased.

   “Oh, that’s what you consider high? Recently, your abilities have increased a lot. It’s not only because of your abilities.”

   “That’s it. I know I shouldn’t think like that, but I think you teach better than Linsey. I enrolled because it’s an elective course. Otherwise, I would have dropped it before. Ru Jihye always acts like I’m like this and that, she can’t do it herself.”

   “Jihye is jealous, huh.”

   “Not to the point of jealousy, but she likes to gossip.”

   “Improve yourself first, being a seriously funny kid.”

   He reassured Sangwoo, trying to boost his confidence. Why is he trying to decrease trust in odd places? Jaeyoung mentally noted what he would say to Mrs-Jihye and continued chewing his fried rice.

   “After having a meal, I drank coffee and took a walk…”

   “Alone?”

   “Yes. Then I went to study the courses, Mobile Computing.”

   “Is it said that the course is too easy because you already know the content?”

   “It’s a fourth-year major course. I am a bit disappointed that I hardly learn anything new.”

   “It’s good to get an easy grade. That’s what they say.”

   “That’s what my seniors said.”

   “And then?”

   “I thought about going home… and I spent an hour reflecting on your flaws.”

   The mouth of Jaeyoung, who was chewing his food with determination, stopped moving instantly.

   “I tried to think whether personal freedom should come first, but I think for people in a relationship, it should be something to ask for.”

   Sangwoo put down his chopsticks before wiping his mouth with a tissue.

   Then, he looked into Jaeyoung’s eyes.

   “Next time, try to use proper grammar when texting.”

   “…”

   Sangwoo got up from his seat, walked into the room, and came back with thick documents in his arms. The documents were stacked and had more than two hundred pages, and the title was… 

   ________________________________________.

[1]      Crocodile and bird crocodile, a situation where both types benefit from each other, “protocooperation.” Crocodiles provide food, and the bird helps clean up food scraps from between the teeth, but there is no bondage.

   Even if they are separated, both can live normally. 

[2]      [Chu Sangwoo♡♡: How are you doing in school? Please enjoy your meal. _12:05]. Sangwoo corrected the sentence that Jaeyoung typed. 

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