Soul fire

The bright moonlight illuminated the night sky.

Deep in the night, the two-story house at the foot of the mountain was quiet. The sliding window in the living room connected to the floor was firmly closed. A cricket landed on the floor and chirped faintly, 'Can I come in?". Mesani nodded at the question that came through the window.

Mesani reached out and opened the sliding window halfway.

"By the way, can you cry a little more quietly? My lord is sleeping."

Mesani covered his mouth with his hand and spoke in a whisper. i will look around and leave soon, the cricket gave a small thank you and jumped into the living room. Mesani was sitting on his knees on one side of the living room with the lights off. The twilight moonlight colored his cell phone in his lap. Mesani, who was fiddling with his phone, swallowed hard as he pressed the numbers in the order Jeongju told him the other day.

He brought the phone to his ear. Turr, turr, a sound similar to the cricket's cry came out, and then he heard a familiar voice. Mesani's expression immediately brightened when his name was called.

"Je- Jeongju!"

His voice came out quite loud due to his heart. Mesani glanced back with a startled expression, worried that he had been heard beyond

the tightly closed door. Fortunately, Jaegyeom's room was quiet with no sign of anything. He let out a sigh of relief and politely held the phone.

"Oh, there's nothing. Yes. He fell asleep earlier."

Today, Mesani waited for Jaegyeom to come back from school.

Jeongju comforted Mesani, telling him not to worry, but his heart broke down again and again. All day long he paced the yard, his worries and fantasies replaying. What if he didn't say it just out of anger, and it was actually sincere?

He felt ambivalent about wanting to know more clearly about

Jaegyeom's intentions, but at the same time not wanting to know.

Mesani thought for a long time about what to say to Jaegyeom first.

However, the time he spent worrying about it was in vain, and the moment he saw jaegyeom open the gate and enter, Mesani

stiffened on the spot.

He couldn't even open his mouth and just stood there staring.

Jaegyeom's first words made Mesani's heart sink. 'Did you play well?', it was his usual greeting.

Jaegyeom didn't indicate anything about what happened yesterday.

As usual, his lord nagged at him, ate, watched daily dramas, played his game console, and then went to bed.

Seeing Jaegyeom act as if nothing had happened, Mesani was bewildered. Could it be that he had a dream yesterday? He went to the kitchen just in case. As expected, there was one less rice bowl. It was an ordinary and calm day, embarrassed when Jeongju asked him to check on Jaegyeom.

From time to time, Mesani glanced at the closed door and told Jeongju about jaegyeom's daily life. Jeongju, who had been quietly listening to the conversation, blurted out, "Okay, I see." The voice was heavy. Since Jaegyeom's intentions were unknown, Jeongju seemed to feel as complicated as Mesani. After briefly exchanging regards, the two concluded the call by setting up another call at the same time tomorrow.

After sitting down for a long time, his legs were numb. The cell phone he was holding was tucked deep in his pocket. Mesani stealthily headed to the front of Jaegyeom's room. He hesitated for a moment, then carefully turned the doorknob. The moonlight that filled the living room softly illuminated the pitch-black room.

Relying on the moonlight, he stepped into the room. When he looked up, he saw his lord on the bed. Jaegyeom was fast asleep with his stomach out. Mesani looked down at his sleeping face. The expression on his always cold expression was relaxed. Mesani spread his palm over Jaegyeom's face.

"My lord."

It was a small whisper, like a breath.

"Do you regret taking me?"

A faint halo of light leaked from Mesani's palm as the area near his palms lightened slightly. However, Jaegyeom was still in a sound sleep without even a slight movement. Due to the aftermath of yesterday, Mesani didn't have the courage to offer to heal him earlier. A halo of light clung to Jaegyeom's face and his injured hand.

The blood scabs on his lips fell off, and the mottled bruises gradually faded.

"Do you hate me?"

Asking a question that would not be answered, Mesani withdrew his hand. To make it look like normal natural healing. It was just one night's worth, no more, no less. Part of him wanted to heal him completely right now, but this was the best way for his lord not to arouse suspicion at school. If all wounds were healed in one day, it would look strange to ordinary humans.

Knowing that he would not die, Jaegyeom had always treated his body roughly from the beginning. Ever since he started going to school, he had gotten hurt. He bit off his finger, thrusted a knife into his palm, and broke his nose, causing him to bleed. Each time, Mesani was upset and healed him, and Jaegyeom habitually said, '1 won't die.' Mesani hated Jaegyeom for saying that.

Still. Even if he did not die, even if he cannot die,

"It hurts when you get injured."

Even the immortal body felt pain. A normal person would suffocate driving a knife through his throat. When the breath stopped, the pain ended. Even if his lord was wounded to the point of losing his life, he must fully feel the pain equivalent to that. In addition, his lord healed very slowly compared to others, even for the smallest scratches. Mesani couldn't bear to see Jaegyeom in pain.

"I will not leave my lord."

Mesani whispered weakly.

He quickly wiped away the tears that had gathered in the corners of his eyes. Mesani stared at the sleeping face in the darkness, then carefully pulled down Jaegyeom's T-shirt, which was about to leave his stomach exposed. He left the room only after he had adjusted the disheveled blanket as well. The door closed without a sound, and heavy darkness filled the room where the moonlight receded.

"..."

Jaegyeom's eyelids, which had been tightly closed, slowly opened up.

***

The next day and the day after that, the young man handed over the notebook.

"What about cleaning?"

"I did everything earlier."

"Why? You could just tell me to do it."

"I forgot my friend was coming."

Jaegyeom looked at the young man intently, and the young man smiled innocently. Even if it's not just cleaning, he could make him do whatever work he wanted, but the young man made the same excuse for several days and asked jaegyeom to write book reports.

In the meantime, they often had short, everyday conversations.

It was the young man who always spoke first. For example, 'Did you enjoy your lunch?, I'm glad I could get yogurt today, 'Is the class enjoyable to take?', The days are getting hotter, etc. The topics were simple and trivial, so Jaegyeom was able to talk quite comfortably.

At first, he wanted to do some physical work. However, the young man gave generous evaluations to the rough scribbled reflections.

Technically, he came here to be punished, but something was strange. No matter how he thought about it, it didn't feel like being punished.

In any case, Jaegyeom had nothing to lose. He picked a book and sat down at the reading table. At first, he read the book casually as a way to pass the time, but after he had been flipping through the book for the third day, at some point he naturally began to concentrate on reading.

Of course, whenever unfamiliar foreign words appeared one after another, he was puzzled because he did not know what they meant.

Still, it was fun to read in his own way as he roughly guessed the meaning of the words and looked over the sentences. Most of all, following the sentences cleared his mind of distractions. It seemed to be true that humans were animals of adaptation.

Jaegyeom rested his chin on the back of his crossed hands. Now he had a slight sense of the comfortable reading position.Just when he opened the book wide and read the sentences one by one, the young man who was looking at the monitor asked softly as he pushed back his chair.

"Interesting?"

"Mm."

Jaegyeom, who was turning the page while answering inadvertently, suddenly felt his gaze and raised his head. The young man was staring at him with a strange look in his eyes.

"..."

"..."

A moment of strange silence passed. In a flash, Jaegyeom hurriedly corrected his answer.

"Oh, no. Um, yes."

The young man laughed silently.

"What is it? So, is it interesting or not?"

"... It's interesting."

"Is that so."

Jaegyeom, a little embarrassed, cleared his throat for no reason. He glanced at him for a moment, then pretended to look into a book, but the young man clicked his mouse a few times before getting up from his seat. Stretching out his long arms, he came to the reading table. Jaegyeom raised his eyes.

"I thought l'd read something too."

The young man flipped through the book in his hand. Seeing the bookmarks sticking out all over the place, it seemed that he had been reading it for some time. He approached the reading table and pulled out a chair. Jaegyeom was the only one in the reading room, so there were many empty seats, but the young man obstinately sat across from Jaegyeom.

As the distance between them narrowed, the scent of that perfume wafted out. Maybe that's why, he couldn't help but keep noticing it.

The young man sat with his legs crossed at an angle, and he read quietly with one hand holding the edge of the book. The young man, who usually dressed to fit his body, wore a loose khaki linen shirt today. Jaegyeom pretended to be reading a book and stole glances at the young man.

The young man kept his gaze fixed on the book and asked plainly.

"What is it?"

Jaegyeom quickly lowered his eyes.

"Nothing. I was trying to look at the title of the book."

After replying like that, Jaegyeom pretended to be indifferent like he didn't really care. As he turned the pages while pretending to read the book,

"The moon always shows us the same side." Jean Grenier, Islands

At the sudden remark, Jaegyeom raised his head.

"People's lives are like that too. About the hidden side of life we know only by guess, but that's the only side that matters."

After the young man finished speaking, he stared at Jaegyeom.

"This is the sentence I'm reading right now, and I like it."

So what...

It was when jaegyeom looked at the young man with an indifferent expression.

"What do you think?"

The young man smiled and asked.

"What."

"About the back side of the eclipsed moon."

"I've never thought about it."

"I am very, very curious."

The young man added, tapping the desk with his fingertips like a keyboard.

"What could be in a tightly hidden place?"

Jaegyeom replied in an apathetic tone.

"If you're that curious, ask it yourself."

"Oh, directly?"

The young man's eyes widened with amusement.

"That is the way. I hadn't even thought of it."

'Ask the moon directly. It was a line he said without much thought, but when the young man nodded his head innocently, Jaegyeom almost laughed involuntarily. The expression on the young man's face, deep in thought, was quite serious. The young man who was staring at jaegyeom with his chin resting on him seriously asked.

"Do you know its phone number?"

"Who?"

"The moon."

"..."

What? Jaegyeom, who was turning the page, raised his head.

"It's too far, so I'll have to ask over the phone."

The young man drove a wedge in.

"..."

"..."

Jaegyeom clenched his fist so hard that his hand turned white. In the strange silence, the two's gazes collided head-on. Tick tock, only the sound of the second hand of the clock was unusually loud.

"Pfft..."

Jaegyeom finally couldn't hold back the laughter that leaked out and lowered his head. Yoon Taehee, who had maintained a calm face at aegyeom's reaction, also quietly smiled as he was resting on his chin. First of all, he said something stupid, so he responded moderately, but he didn't expect to laugh like that.

Jaegyeom, who had been snickering, raised his head. Two faces with a slight smile lingered facing each other. As soon as their eyes met, Jaegyeom was embarrassed for nothing, so he quickly managed his expression. He hurriedly erased the smile, but jaegyeom's ears were stained reddish.

"Ha. I'm dumbfounded. I... can't help but laugh."

He felt embarrassed because he felt like he had lost face by laughing. Jaegyeom awkwardly lowered his gaze and pretended to scribble on a notebook. In the meantime, Yoon Taehee was looking at jaegyeom's ears with a rather strange feeling. The moment when the boy's face, which had always been sullen, became defenseless, made a strange impression on Yoon Taehee. The refreshing sound of laughter, the slightly crinkled nose, the shaking shoulders...

Inexplicably, Yoon Taehee opened his mouth.

"When you laugh like that, it's infallibly..."

Yoon Taehee, who was muttering as if possessed, stopped halfway through. Jaegyeom glanced at him, raising his eyes. While waiting for the next words, Yoon Taehee just stared at Jaegyeom with a calm face. Then he picked up the book, put it down again, and suddenly looked at the clock hanging on the wall.

"Are you done with the reflection yet?"

The words that followed after a long time were out of the blue.