“You always disappear at this hour,” he said.
Haneul grunted.
“It’s not random, is it?”
“No.”
A pause.
“You don’t have to tell me why.”
“I know.”
Another pause.
“But you want to.”
Haneul’s eyes flicked toward him. Then away. He breathed out his nose. Sharp. Bitter.
“There’s something about twilight,” he said finally. “Like… you could step off the world and no one would notice.”
Seungho’s voice was quiet. “I’d notice.”
That earned him a glance. Then, very softly—
“I still don’t need a fucking sugar daddy.”
“I know.”
“And I’m not staying forever.”
“I know.”
A pause. Haneul looked down at the mug in Seungho’s hands. “Is that tea?”
Seungho held it out.
Haneul took it.
And that night, when Seungho walked past the couch at midnight, Haneul didn’t snarl.
He just mumbled, barely audible:
“…Don’t leave the light off. I get weird dreams.”
And Seungho, without a word, dimmed the hallway light instead of switching it off.
The nest had been built.
Not with feathers.
But with silences. And burnt pancakes. And the smell of fire learning how to hold ice again.
??????
Chapter 20 – Velvet Return
The sun hadn’t risen. Just a dull gray smear bleeding over the city. Enough to make silhouettes, not color.
