Stranger

There were a lot of wallpapers. It was hard to tell what was what with all the similar colors clustered together. And if one looked good, the one next to it also looked good, so it was hard to choose.

But at least I had eliminated the patterned ones, so I had narrowed it down. I also eliminated the colors that were too bright because they could get grimy.

“How about that one?”

I turned my head to look at what Yeon Woojeong pointed to and frowned. He was looking at the wallpaper with colorful cars on a blue background. When I looked away from him, Yeon Woojeong put his arm around my shoulders. 

“You don’t like the ones with patterns? Then what about this one?”

This time, it was a light yellow wallpaper. It’s pretty like Forsythia. He mumbled, and I stared at him in disbelief.

“It’s too bright.”

“Well, the eye-friendly ones are sure better.”

I thought I could choose it quickly, but it took longer than I had thought. There was a lot that caught my eye. Still, we shouldn’t spend all our time here, so I touched the one that looked the most decent among them. It was a dark sky blue, which looked part gray and part sky blue. 

“You like this one?”

“Mhm.”

“Then I’ll have this.”

Yeon Woojeong chose the gray wallpaper next to it.

“Not seeing more?”

“Yeah. This should do.”

We ordered the wallpaper, and we immediately went to a furniture store. Yeon Woojeong walked to the biggest bed as soon as we got in and pushed it down with his hand. The bed was big enough for Yeon Woojeong and me and two more people to lie on.

“You choose yours.”

“Will you buy this one?”

“Mmm.”

Aren’t you just choosing randomly? I looked at Yeon Woojeong questioningly and saw that we could lie on the bed, so I sat on it. While sitting down, I pushed down on the mattress, then I took off my shoes and lay down. 

Yeon Woojeong crossed his arms and looked down at me. His eyes scanned me from head to toe. He slanted up one of his lips’ corners.

“You’re lying down on someone else’s bed.”

I looked up at Yeon Woojeong, who said something weird and sat up. This bed was acceptable. As I wore my shoes back and left the bed, he tidied up my hair.

“Choose yours and lay on it.”

I headed over to where the other beds were. They all looked the same, so I decided to just choose one after checking the size and comfortability.

I chose a bed that looked enough for me to roll to both sides without falling down. Yeon Woojeong stared at me and raised his eyebrows.

“Aha. So you’ll use it alone?”

The teasing voice somehow tickled my palms. I rubbed my palms on the bed, got up, and looked around. There was a bed bigger than this one. I walked over and sat on it, and Yeon Woojeong followed me and sat next to me.

“This is good.”

He laid back down. I also followed him to lie down. Yeon Woojeong turned his head to me and smiled at me.

“Mr. Yeon.”

“Mhm.”

“It’s nothing.”

I’m just happy. I didn’t say the rest, but Yeon Woojeong stared at me with a smiling gaze as if he knew what I was saying.

I wondered if I’d ever been so excited to see and buy something in my life. If it weren’t for the fact that this was outside, I would have hugged Yeon Woojeong tightly and savored this feeling. 

We stood up and chose other furniture as well. Yeon Woojeong suggested that we put a table and chairs in front of the living room window and have tea or study there, so we bought a glass table and some pretty chairs. I also chose a desk and dresser, and while I was looking around, Yeon Woojeong walked to a corner.

It was a display of home decor, not furniture. He touched a small doll. When I got closer, I saw a stuffed dog and cat lying down and watching TV. 

“Cute, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Shall we leave them in your room? On top of the dresser?”

I said nothing and looked around. There was a stuffed penguin playing piano. I had no idea how it would play the piano when it had no fingers, but I picked it up.

“Then this is for your room.”

“Next to the bed?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay.”

Yeon Woojeong replied coolly. It was exciting to think about filling Yeon Woojeong’s bedroom with something other than a bed. He and I stayed in the prop shop for a while. We looked at every picture frame that could be hung on the wall, every decoration that could be hung on the door, and chose what we wanted to fill our home with. 

It was evening when we left the shop. We went straight home. All we did was shopping, but I felt tired. Yeon Woojeong seemed to feel the same because he sat on the sofa as soon as we got home.

As I sat next to him, Yeon Woojeong lay down using my lap as a pillow. I stroked his hair. Yeon Woojeong blinked his eyes slowly and looked up at me.

“Mr. Yeon.”

“Mhm.”

“There’s a path for taking a stroll here.”

“Mhm.”

“Come walk with me later.”

Yeon Woojeong stared intently at me and then smiled lightly, taking my hand and kissing it.

“Mhm. How about we go now while we’re on it?”

“Aren’t you tired?”

“You like it, so what’s the big deal with being a little tired?”

He tapped on my cheek and got up. I didn’t like it much, though. I touched my cheek and followed Yeon Woojeong up. 

We walked outside. The cool night air felt good on my skin. We walked along a street lined with streetlights and trees. 

There were sounds of children playing around at this time from afar. A man taking out his big dog for a walk passed by us. When we entered a deserted path, Yeon Woojeong took my hand out of my pocket. Then he took out a watch from his pocket. It was a familiar watch. I felt both happy and emotional as I saw that watch again.

“Don’t you dare take this off again.”

“I won’t.”

“I’ve turned on the GPS, and I’ll check it whenever you don’t answer my call.”

I opened my mouth and closed it back. It only happened a few days ago, so I understood why he was like this, but I felt sad as I thought I couldn’t get his trust anymore.

“I won’t leave.”

“I know.”

“Then why?”

“You have to pay for what you did.”

Yeon Woojeong talked in a very cold tone. It wasn’t a big deal if he wanted to check my location, but… I touched my wrist and frowned.

“Then you do this too.”

“Why should I?”

“I also want to see yours.”

I looked down at the floor, averting my eyes as I knew I made no sense. Soon, I heard laughter.

“You really don’t make sense.”

“…”

“Okay. Fine.”

Yeon Woojeong squeezed my cheek and lifted my face up. I met beautifully curved eyes as I looked up. I ended up smiling as well before I knew it.

He grabbed my hand and put them inside my jacket pocket. I grabbed Yeon Woojeong’s hand tight in my pocket. Strangely, the spreading smile didn’t seem to disappear.