Even a Lonely Squirrel Has Its Burrow - Chapter 89

Chapter 89

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Thud.

“Ugh, I’m so full….”

Having barely managed to take off his outerwear, Garam flopped onto the bed. When he rolled onto his back and looked up at the ceiling, he felt as if the food he had just eaten was pressing down on him. Eventually, frowning, he forced his sluggish body to sit up.

As soon as Garam agreed to have dinner together, Sa Muheon, as if he had been waiting for it, immediately took him somewhere. The destination was a place they had been to before. However, since that place had left a bad memory for Garam, /he became tense.

What if he ran into Ryu Beomju again? On top of that, the middle-aged man who had slapped Ryu Beomju’s cheek back then was just as terrifying. Sa Muheon, noticing Garam’s nervousness, tried to reassure him by saying that nothing would happen today. When Garam looked at him with skeptical eyes, he responded that he had already checked in advance. Amusingly enough, that statement eased Garam’s tension.

Just as Sa Muheon had assured him, there was no unpleasant encounter that day, and the food was delicious. As a result, Garam ate more than usual before finally becoming aware of the person sitting across from him. Sa Muheon, as always, had quietly devoured a large portion of food and was now resting his chin on his hand while gazing at Garam. When Garam belatedly noticed his gaze and awkwardly set down his utensils, Sa Muheon gestured with his eyes for him to eat more. However, Garam was already full.

Fortunately, instead of insisting that he eat more, Sa Muheon simply stood up, suggesting they head home. Garam also rose from his seat to follow him. Perhaps because he was so full, his movements were noticeably slower than usual, something that, once again, only Sa Muheon seemed to notice.

“What was it that he asked again?”

Leaning against the headboard of his bed, Garam mumbled softly. For some reason, the questions Sa Muheon had asked earlier felt slightly different from usual.

On the way home, their conversation had mostly consisted of Sa Muheon asking questions and Garam answering them. Sa Muheon, unusually curious, had suddenly begun asking questions he normally wouldn’t, leaving Garam bewildered. Yet Garam answered them all earnestly. That was because none of the questions were particularly difficult to answer; they were all trivial matters.

“Why would he ask how many friends I have…?”

It was a question he couldn’t quite understand. To begin with, how many friends did he have? The first thought that crossed Garam’s mind when he was asked was a simple dilemma—where should he draw the line between acquaintances and friends? However, he didn’t have the courage to voice that thought, so he simply counted a few names that came to mind and gave an answer. It was a strange question with a strange answer, but Sa Muheon, who had posed the question in the first place, simply nodded in satisfaction.

Right up until they got out of the car, Sa Muheon had continued bombarding him with trivial questions for reasons Garam couldn’t fathom. Yet, as soon as they arrived home, he merely told Garam to get some rest before slipping into his bedroom. Standing in front of his own room, Garam found himself staring at Sa Muheon’s closed door for a long time.

“He’s really weird….”

Sa Muheon had always been somewhat eccentric. But lately, he seemed to be acting even stranger. Or maybe this was just his true nature. It wasn’t as if Garam knew everything about him, so that was entirely possible.

Still, for some reason, the thought that there were sides of Sa Muheon he didn’t know left him feeling unsettled.

With a dissatisfied pout, Garam stared at the closed door for a moment before collapsing back onto the bed.

“Sigh, I don’t know.”

It wasn’t as if he could figure out Sa Muheon’s unknown sides just by pondering them. What occupied his mind more was the thought of how many more unknown sides of Sa Muheon existed.

Was it because he had realized his feelings for him?

Lately, Garam found himself wanting to know more about Sa Muheon. Staying close to him would probably be the best way to do that, yet, for some reason, Garam had been subtly avoiding him. Not because he disliked him or was scared. It was just…

“…Haa.”

Garam raised his hand to cover his face. Under his palm, he could feel the warmth of his flushed cheeks. Even without looking in a mirror, he could tell his face must have turned bright red.

He wasn’t avoiding Sa Muheon for some grand reason.

It was simply because whenever he looked at him, his heart would race uncontrollably, making him feel like it would jump right out of his chest.

It had been the same today.

Faced with Sa Muheon’s unusually cheerful smile, Garam had to work hard to maintain his composure. He had no idea how many times he had worried about his ears or cheeks turning red. Since he couldn’t check himself in a mirror, he had repeatedly touched his ears and cheeks, checking if they were warm while simultaneously fretting over whether his behavior seemed strange to Sa Muheon.

Fortunately, Sa Muheon didn’t seem to find anything odd about Garam’s actions. Throughout dinner and on the way home, he had maintained that same bright, cheerful expression.

Maybe there was something good that had happened to him that Garam didn’t know about.

“…What is it…?”

A small murmur settled in the air. Had something good happened to Sa Muheon? Garam was curious about that, and at the same time, another question arose in his mind.

Was this what it was like to like someone? He found himself wanting to know everything—what Sa Muheon had been doing, what he was thinking, what had happened to him. He wanted to learn everything about him, even the most trivial things he had never once questioned before.

Even today, he wanted to ask why Sa Muheon was in such a good mood, why he suddenly wanted to have dinner together, and in return, how many people he could truly call his friends. But he held back, afraid that his questions might wipe the smile off Sa Muheon’s face.

Having never liked anyone this much before, Garam felt a little awkward and strange about how his heart was entirely occupied by a single person. But at the same time, he found that the ticklish feeling, as if his heart were filled with blooming flowers, wasn’t unpleasant.

At times, it felt exhausting to try to find meaning in every single word and action of Sa Muheon’s. Yet, just thinking about him made his heart flutter as if he were floating, filling him with a pleasant warmth. Love, he thought, was truly a fickle emotion.

The steady flow of his thoughts was suddenly interrupted by the sound of knocking.

Knock, knock.

Startled, Garam shot up as if he had just been caught thinking about something he shouldn’t have. In his haste, his legs got tangled in the blanket, causing him to fall off the bed with a loud thud.

“Ah! J-just a moment!”

He shouted urgently, but before his words could even fully leave his lips, the door swung open.

Sa Muheon, eyes widened in surprise, stepped inside and quickly approached Garam, who was sprawled on the floor.

“What are you doing? Are you hurt anywhere?”

Before Garam could even respond, Sa Muheon reached out, his gentle hands brushing over his forehead, cheeks, and neck. It seemed like he was simply checking for a fever.

But for Garam, the embarrassment of being seen like this, the subtle scent of Sa Muheon so close to him, and the warmth of his tender touch made his face grow hotter by the second.

Completely unaware of Garam’s turmoil, Sa Muheon wore a serious expression as he cupped Garam’s cheeks, making him look straight at him.

The moment their eyes met, Garam knew his face must be flushed beyond hiding.

If he kept looking at Sa Muheon like this, he felt as if his face might explode. Panicking, he squeezed his eyes shut.

“I-I’m fine. I just got up too quickly and lost my balance.”

His excuse tumbled out in a rapid, breathless rush.

But even after he finished speaking, there was no response from Sa Muheon.

Finding the unusual silence strange, Garam hesitantly opened his eyes.

And what he saw was completely unexpected.

“…Ah.”

Sa Muheon was smiling.

Yet somehow, his expression looked as if he were about to cry.

He didn’t tease Garam for his flushed face, nor did he brush it off with his usual lighthearted laughter.

Instead, he simply looked at him with an expression that was neither a smile nor tears—just pure, quiet relief.