Harmonious Love

Yang Qi Thief (11)

It might have been a misconception, but for a brief moment, Mo Yeon felt a flash of contempt in Tae Young-won’s eyes.

Suddenly, his heart sank without him realizing it.

“Looks like you fell pretty hard. Are you not hurt?”

“…Ah, no, I’m fine.”

It wasn’t disgust, but a look of concern. He had received such looks so often that he had unconsciously become sensitive to them. It was then that he belatedly felt relieved.

“Alright, I’ve saved us seats outside. Go sit down. I’ll order.”

“Oh, I can’t drink coff-“

“Two iced Americanos with an extra shot, please.”

Just eat what you’re given.

Mo Yeon closed his mouth and obediently went to the terrace, finding a place to sit where Tae Young-won’s bag was. This was the first time he had sat in the on-campus cafe that he had only seen in passing while attending school. It seemed he was experiencing many firsts with Tae Young-won. Sitting on the terrace and quietly watching people pass by the campus was not bad, better than he had expected.

While he was enjoying the view outside, Tae Young-won came with the coffee.

“You said you haven’t been here before, right? Try it quickly. The coffee here is better than you’d expect.”

“…Thank you for the drink.”

Mo Yeon bowed slightly and carefully placed the dark coffee in front of him.

“From what I saw in the last class, we seem to be starting earlier than most. We still have time until the presentation, so today we should just decide on our direction.”

“…”

“I heard this professor is famous for giving a lot of assignments. That means the exam scores count for less, so our presentation will be much more important.”

He’s said to be top of the class… Is he really more diligent than he looks?

“It seems the professor intentionally arranged the topics by difficulty. I think it’s better if we choose between these two. What do you think, Mo Yeon?”

Though he didn’t show it, he was quite surprised.

The broad topics presented by the professor in class ranged from long-established philosophical theories to complex content closely related to recent international affairs. Between content that could be found in books and content that needed to be applied to reality, the latter was clearly more complex and difficult. Mo Yeon pointed to the latter.

“This one seems more advantageous for scoring.”

“I think so too. Shall we go with this then?”

“Yes.”

In such cases, Mo Yeon tended to choose the more difficult option, and he had already briefly looked up some materials related to these two topics last night.

“This is going more smoothly than I expected. I was prepared to persuade you if you wanted to do the easier one…”

Tae Young-won smiled brightly. Then he muttered as if puzzled.

“It’s not that strange, why do they all say that?”

“…”

Although he muttered quietly, his words were clearly audible. There was no need to ask what he meant because Mo Yeon could understand. As expected, Tae Young-won was indeed aware of the not-so-good rumors about Mo Yeon.

Of course, there was no need to mutter it loud enough for Mo Yeon to hear.

“But Mo Yeon, why aren’t you drinking your coffee?”

“…”

Having achieved the goal of selecting a topic, Tae Young-won rested his chin on his hand and stared at the coffee in front of Mo Yeon.

“…Ah, I was just about to.”

“Hmm.”

He didn’t take his gaze away while staring intently. Mo Yeon, startled, finally carefully picked up the coffee he hadn’t touched yet.

“Have you been here before?”

“No. It’s my first time.”

He had seen Tae Young-won enter the student union building countless times. However, Mo Yeon had only followed him to places he frequented and knew well, like the School of Business building or the student cafeteria, never coming up here.

“I see. I asked because I don’t think I’ve ever seen you here. You didn’t come last week either.”

“Last week?”

“I usually come here almost every day when I have classes. I wondered if we might run into each other.”

Mo Yeon remembered how Tae Young-won had sent messages asking where he was every day. He had wondered why he was asking such things, but now he somewhat understood the reason. Mo Yeon rolled his eyes briefly before speaking.

“…I don’t really go to cafes much.”

“I see. Well, try it now.”

He seems to have a persistent side to him, this Tae Young-won. Is that why he brought and placed his handkerchief with such persistence?

He even picked up the glass that Mo Yeon had subtly put down again and handed it to him. He carefully turned the straw to a more convenient position for drinking.

“…”

“Right? Honestly, I didn’t expect much since it’s on campus, but it tastes better than you’d think. They must use good beans.”

“Yes, *cough*, it’s really delicious.”

“I’m glad it suits your taste, Mo Yeon.”

Given that he had bought it for him and mentioned the good beans, there was no choice but to say it was delicious.

“Thanks to you, sunbae, I got to taste such delicious coffee.”

Now that he thought about it, flattery didn’t seem much different from irony. He thought it might not be bad to get used to such flattery.

Mo Yeon put down the coffee cup, feeling completely drained.

“I’ll buy you more, so just tell me whenever you want some, okay?”

“…”

Such a day would probably never come in his lifetime.

Oblivious to Mo Yeon’s thoughts, Tae Young-won smiled brightly. Then he turned his attention back to the assignment.

It might have been his imagination, but Tae Young-won’s mood seemed better than before.

It was a situation that made his earlier hope of avoiding drinking the coffee seem foolish. He had lived for quite a long time rejecting things he disliked outright, disregarding his reputation.

Should I just say I won’t drink it?

As he was thinking this, he received the cold cup, and their fingertips unintentionally brushed.

“I’ll enjoy it…”

“Mm-hmm.”

For the greater benefit, this much was bearable.

He carefully put the straw to his lips and took a sip. While the bitter and cold coffee spread in his mouth, Tae Young-won’s half-lidded eyes never looked away. Mo Yeon concentrated all his effort on not spitting out the coffee rushing into his mouth.

Indeed, even poison probably wouldn’t be more bitter than this.

“…”

Thud. After putting down the frosted glass, Mo Yeon barely held back a cough that threatened to burst out and glanced at Tae Young-won. He had an expression as if expecting Mo Yeon’s reaction.

“How is it? Tasty?”

“…Yes.”

As he nodded slowly, Tae Young-won’s face brightened even more.

About 10 minutes later, after discussing the project a bit more, Mo Yeon felt Tae Young-won’s gaze on him.

Feeling somewhat pressured, Mo Yeon picked up the coffee again and took another sip as if to show him.

He had wanted to just pretend to drink, but the bitter taste really hit his mouth. However, perhaps because his mouth was already tainted, it was a little less painful the second time. He was truly grateful that his hair covered his furrowed brow.

Tae Young-won clearly smiled as he watched Mo Yeon enjoying the coffee.

And whenever Mo Yeon tried to put the cup down, Tae Young-won’s face seemed to become a little gloomy.

With no other choice, Mo Yeon drained the iced Americano in one go, feeling as if he was downing poison. He tried to think that all this suffering was the price for receiving yang energy…

“Is the coffee good?”

“It’s deli- delicious.”

*cough*

He barely finished speaking, but finally, a cough burst out. Mo Yeon forced a smile with a slightly reddened face.

Finally satisfied, Tae Young-won raised the corners of his mouth and went a step further by standing up with his wallet.

“What? Why?”

“I feel like you drank it quickly because of me, so I’m going to buy another one.”

“I’m fine, I’m not thirsty at all. Really, I’m okay.”

“I’m fine too. You’re drinking it so well, I’ll get you more.”

Mo Yeon grabbed Tae Young-won’s wrist as he was about to leave.

“T-then, rather something else…”

Mo Yeon wanted to prevent drinking that poison again at all costs. Tae Young-won rolled his eyes for a moment, then smoothly raised the corners of his mouth.

“What else?”

“…”

What else should I say? After pondering for a moment, Mo Yeon spoke hurriedly, fearing Tae Young-won might bring more poison.

“Strawberry juice…”

“…”

Tae Young-won looked at Mo Yeon for a moment, then nodded.

It might have been his imagination, but the corners of Tae Young-won’s mouth seemed to twitch very slightly as he turned away.

Despite drinking the cold coffee, Mo Yeon felt like he had broken into a cold sweat. All this for yang energy… Although an opportunity to be close had arisen, the yang energy gained from it wasn’t that much more than before. Except for when he stayed at Tae Young-won’s place, the harvest was actually less than when he used to secretly snatch it, and ghosts were starting to gather around him again.

And in situations like just now, he felt like his energy was being drained instead.

‘At this rate, I’ll just have to hope to get through safely until the presentation preparation is over…’

Indeed, in life, nothing goes as planned or comes easily. Mo Yeon sighed and rummaged through his bag for materials.