"Uh..."
At some point, the counter had become crowded with far more than just the wine the man had brought over.
Having worked part-time at convenience stores since he was a student, Eunwon had never seen anyone buy this much before.
The countertop was completely covered.
"...Are you really buying all of this?"
"Yeah. Ring it up."
"...All right..."
Lifting the plastic basket from beneath the register, Eunwon scanned each item and transferred it into the basket one by one.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
The steady sound of the barcode scanner echoed through the quiet store.
Watching Eunwon work silently with his eyes lowered, Cha Sejin smiled.
"So... I can ask now, right? I bought a shitload."
"...Just because you bought a lot doesn't mean you can ask me personal questions."
"It's not like I'm asking anything hard."
He shrugged.
"It's not as if I asked what kind of sex you're into... or where you like being touched the most."
Eunwon froze in the middle of scanning a barcode and looked up at him, startled.
Good thing I classified him as a perverted nuisance.
"Do you go to college?"
Technically, the question itself wasn't difficult to answer.
He simply had no reason to answer it.
But there were still dozens of items left to scan, and if he refused to respond, this strange customer would probably keep saying increasingly inappropriate things.
It would be easier to treat it as meaningless small talk.
"...Yes."
"Got a boyfriend?"
"...No."
"What about marriage?"
Beep.
The wine bottle paused halfway across the scanner.
Eunwon slowly looked back up at Sejin.
He'd already told him he was twenty.
He'd admitted he was in college.
He'd even answered that he didn't have a boyfriend.
Why was this man suddenly asking whether he'd thought about getting married?
And with such an earnestly curious expression, too.
It should have been an easy question to answer.
But the truth was...
He'd never thought about marriage even once.
The question itself caught him completely off guard.
Especially coming from a stranger he'd only met twice in his life.
"I haven't."
Does he work for a matchmaking agency...?
If that were his job, maybe asking things like this had become second nature.
Of course...
Nothing about the man looked remotely like someone who worked in that profession.
"I guess nobody gets married at twenty these days."
"..."
Then why ask?
Unable to make sense of him, Eunwon stole another glance before scanning the final item—the expensive bottle of whiskey.
Even before that, the total had already exceeded two hundred thousand won.
One more beep...
...and it shot well past seven hundred thousand.
"I'll pay with this."
"Would you like everything bagged?"
"Yeah."
"You'll probably need several bags..."
"Add however many you need."
Eunwon selected several extra bags, enough to hold everything, accepted the black credit card, inserted it into the reader, and found himself asking something he almost never had to ask.
"Would you like to pay in installments?"
"In... what?"
"...There's a promotional event right now. You can get up to five months interest-free."
"Five months... interest-free?"
"Yes..."
For a brief moment Sejin looked genuinely bewildered.
Then he burst out laughing.
Not seventy billion.
Not seven billion.
Not even seven million.
Installment plans...
For seven hundred thousand won.
He rubbed at the tears gathering in the corners of his eyes.
"No."
He was still laughing.
"I don't need installments."
"...All right. Then I'll process it as a single payment... Please sign here."
Still unable to suppress either his laughter or the tears in his eyes, Sejin let out another breathless chuckle and scribbled his signature.
"Would you like your receipt?"
"Yeah."
He grinned.
"It's the first thing you've ever given me. Of course I want it."
"...Pardon?"
"Hm? Nothing."
He held out his hand.
"I'll take the receipt."
The long receipt was folded neatly into thirds and placed in front of him together with his card.
Eunwon had definitely heard the word you, spoken with an intimacy that didn't belong between strangers.
Yet perhaps because it seemed too absurd to be real, he simply lowered his head and continued carefully packing each item into the plastic bags.
Watching him, Sejin tilted his head, thoroughly entertained.
"I think I'm getting married before the year's over."
It was every bit as strange as asking whether Eunwon wanted to get married.
Carefully arranging the wine bottles so they wouldn't break, Eunwon turned the statement over in his mind.
...Am I supposed to congratulate him?
Is that why he asked me about marriage? Because he's thinking about his own?
He spent the time it took to pack five bottles trying to decide how he should respond.
Finally, as he opened another plastic bag with a soft rustle, he spoke.
"...Um... congratulations."
"Congratulations?"
Sejin doubled over, folding his tall frame across the counter as he laughed.
Whether he was laughing or crying became difficult to tell.
By the time Eunwon had filled a third bag, Sejin finally managed to speak.
"God... you're killing me."
He wiped at his eyes.
"Thanks for the congratulations."
Then he grinned.
"Want to hear something funny?"
"..."
"I know exactly who I'm marrying."
He paused.
"But the other person has no idea who they're marrying."
"...What?"
"I wonder when he'll find out."
He smiled to himself.
"I kind of hope it's soon..."
"Then again, maybe it's better if he stays in the dark a little longer."
He looked down at Eunwon, who listened without understanding any of it.
Picking up the five bulging shopping bags with one hand, Sejin started toward the door.
Then he stopped.
As if remembering something, he set the bags back down.
Turning around, he looked over the counter.
His gaze settled on the tower of lollipops near the register.
He pulled out a strawberry-flavored one and held it toward Eunwon.
Confused, Eunwon looked from the candy to Sejin and back again.
"Ring it up."
"...Oh..."
After all the strange questions and stranger behavior, this was the last thing he'd expected.
He'd been standing there blankly before suddenly remembering he actually needed to charge for it.
He found the lollipop in the register.
"How much?"
"Five hundred won."
"Just charge me ten million."
"...I'll ring up five hundred won."
Taking the familiar black card with both hands, Eunwon processed the tiny purchase and returned it with the receipt.
"I've never bought anything that cost five hundred won before."
Sejin slipped his wallet back into his pocket.
"Thanks to you, today's been full of firsts."
Installment plans.
Cheap liquor shopping.
A five-hundred-won lollipop.
He picked up the pink candy from the counter.
Then, very slowly, he began peeling away the wrapper.
He wasn't particularly good at it.
Eunwon deliberately looked away, trying not to watch.
But eventually...
His eyes drifted back.
"..."
A tall man.
Large hands.
Heavy, intoxicating Alpha pheromones that seemed completely at odds with a tiny pink lollipop.
And yet...
He was concentrating with surprising seriousness because he couldn't unwrap it properly.
...That's kind of...
Cute.
Eunwon immediately shook his head.
Cute was the word he used for the tuxedo cat that often wandered in front of the convenience store.
Not for the enormous man standing in front of him.
He shook the thought away again.
Just then—
Rustle.
The wrapper finally came off.
Looking absurdly pleased with himself, Sejin smiled at Eunwon.
Then he gently pressed the pink lollipop against Eunwon's closed lips.
"I thought you'd like it."
"..."
"Come on."
Maintaining eye contact, he continued pressing the candy lightly against Eunwon's lips.
Then, with one foot, he casually tapped the panel beneath the counter.
The sudden sound startled Eunwon.
His lips parted ever so slightly.
Sejin didn't miss the opportunity.
He slipped the round candy into Eunwon's mouth.
The white stick remained in his own hand.
"..."
"..."
Slowly...
Sejin moved his hand.
The white stick slid a little farther into Eunwon's mouth before drawing back again.
In.
Out.
Watching the stick shorten and lengthen, Sejin felt heat coil low in his abdomen.
The sight before him was far more obscene than it had any right to be.
Each time the hard candy moved, he could feel Eunwon's soft tongue brushing against it.
He wasn't touching him directly.
Even so, the faint sensation was enough to make pleasure gather beneath his skin, as though he might get hard from that alone.
To hell with the candy.
I'd rather put my fingers in that mouth... rub them over his tongue... then suck on that tongue until every trace of sweetness was gone.
But...
This was entertaining too.
Eunwon had just congratulated him on his upcoming marriage without realizing that he himself was the person Sejin was going to marry.
Sejin liked that far more than he expected.
He liked how quickly Eunwon became wary, yet somehow relaxed without noticing, obediently answering his questions.
And he liked the fact that Eunwon had absolutely no idea how beautiful he was...
...or how effortlessly adorable he could be.