Chapter Text  章节正文

“Dokja-ssi, that looks amazing. Did you make it yourself?”
“独子先生，那看起来真棒。是你自己做的吗？”

Kim Dokja angled his head towards his right, swallowing the last bit of food in his mouth. “Hm? Oh no, I didn’t make this.”
金独子把头偏向右边，咽下嘴里的最后一口食物。“嗯？哦不，这不是我做的。”

His coworker inhaled deeply. “What restaurant is it from then? It smells really good, I might take my boyfriend there.”
“他的同事深吸了一口气。“这是哪家餐厅的？闻起来真香，我可能会带我男朋友去那里。””

“Oh.” Glancing back at his remaining honey garlic glazed salmon sitting atop a bed of fluffy white rice, he explained, “My roommate made this.”
“哦。”他回头看了一眼剩下的蜂蜜蒜香三文鱼，放在蓬松的白米饭上，解释道：“这是我室友做的。”

After jokingly bribing him to convince his roommate to make her some lunch as well, she waved him goodbye and walked away.
在开玩笑地贿赂他，让他说服室友也给她做点午饭后，她挥手告别，转身离去。

“I don’t think Joonghyuk-ssi will be pleased to know he’s been relegated to ‘roommate’ status.”
“我不认为中赫先生会高兴知道他已经被降级为‘室友’身份。”

He watched Yoo Sangah chug the last of her water. Scoffing, he waved his chopsticks. “You think that guy would care about something like that?”
他看着刘尚雅一口气喝完了最后的水。他嗤之以鼻，挥了挥筷子。“你觉得那家伙会在乎这种事吗？”

“Yes,” she answered without hesitation. “Much more than you at least, Dokja-ssi.”
“是的，”她毫不犹豫地回答。“至少比你更在乎，独子先生。”

He dug his chopsticks into the salmon, easily tearing off a piece. “In the words of Yoo Joonghyuk, talking about something this trivial is ‘a complete waste of my time’.” When the salmon entered his mouth, it practically melted upon contact, leaving Kim Dokja to think how unfair it was for one human being to possess so many talents.
他用筷子戳进三文鱼，轻松地撕下一块。‘用刘众赫的话来说，谈论这种琐事完全是‘浪费我的时间’。当三文鱼进入他的口中时，几乎在接触的瞬间就融化了，让金独子不禁感叹一个人拥有如此多才华是多么不公平。

“But I’m sure Yoo Joonghyuk would agree that any topic related to you would be anything but trivial.”
‘但我相信刘众赫会同意，任何与你相关的话题都不会是琐事。’

“Nonsense.” His nonchalant tone was betrayed by the tinge of pink dusting his cheeks.
‘胡说。’他漫不经心的语气被脸颊上的一抹粉红出卖了。

Yoo Sangah smiled, deciding to spare him from further teasing. Pivoting topics, she asked, “Did you hear about Minhwan-ssi and Soomin-ssi?”
刘尚雅笑了笑，决定不再继续逗他。她转移话题问道：“你听说民焕先生和秀敏小姐的事了吗？”

“No?” They were in another department so he’d only ever had brief interactions with them. He once bumped into Park Minhwan when he exited the restaurant and caught him taking a quick smoke break. When he opened his mouth, it was clear his arrogant tone was a pathetic way to compensate for his shortcomings. “What about them?”
“没有？”他们在另一个部门，所以他只和他们有过短暂的接触。他曾在餐厅外碰到朴民焕，看到他正在快速抽根烟。当他开口时，明显能听出他那傲慢的语气是为了掩饰自己的不足。“他们怎么了？”

“Apparently Minhwan-ssi cheated on Jiwon-ssi with her.”
“据说民焕先生背着智媛小姐和她出轨了。”

“What?” Gaping, he said, “I thought they were engaged?”
“什么？”他张大嘴巴说道，“我以为他们已经订婚了？”

She nodded. “They were. Naturally, she called off the engagement.”
她点点头。“他们确实订婚了。自然，她取消了婚约。”

“Wow.” That man was more of a scumbag than he thought. “I thought those two were best friends though?”
“哇。”那个男人比他想象的还要渣。“我以为那两个人是最好的朋友呢？”

She hummed, tapping her finger against her chin. “Supposedly. But that doesn’t sound like something a friend would do, no?”
她哼了一声，用手指轻轻敲了敲下巴。“据说如此。但这听起来不像是朋友会做的事，对吧？”

“Not unless they were crazy.” He secured the lid atop his glass container. Glancing at the clock, he realized they still had some time remaining on their lunch break. “Sangah-ssi, wanna get some coffee?”
“除非他们疯了。”他把玻璃容器的盖子盖好。瞥了一眼时钟，他意识到他们的午休时间还有一些剩余。“尚雅小姐，想喝点咖啡吗？”

Hopping off her chair, she stretched her arms. “That sounds like a great idea, Dokja-ssi. My lunch is already making me sleepy.”
她从椅子上跳下来，伸了个懒腰。“这听起来是个好主意，独子先生。我的午餐已经让我有点困了。”

Swinging open the door for them, he chuckled as she stifled a yawn. “Wanna go to the café down the street? We should have enough time left on our break.”
他为他们打开门，看到她忍住哈欠时笑了起来。‘想去街边的咖啡馆吗？我们的休息时间应该还够。’

“Did you say you two were getting coffee?”
‘你说你们俩要去喝咖啡吗？’

Unfortunately, Kim Dokja recognized that grating voice. Turning on his heel, he mustered a tight-lipped smile. “Manager Han.”
“不幸的是，金独子认出了那个刺耳的声音。他转过身，勉强挤出一个紧绷的微笑。‘韩经理。’”

“Sangah-ssi,” he said, blatantly ignoring his greeting, “I have some comments on the proposal you submitted last week. I put it on your desk but it was rather decent for your first big project.”
“‘尚雅小姐，’他直接无视了对方的问候，‘我对你上周提交的提案有一些意见。我把它放在你桌上了，不过作为你的第一个大项目，还算不错。’”

Kim Dokja resisted giving him the biggest eye roll. Han Myungoh was a barely competent manager who relished in terrorizing his subordinates any chance he got. Yoo Sangah was the only one relatively immune to his attacks because he had been trying to woo her since day one with zero success.
“金独子忍住了翻白眼的冲动。韩明吾是个勉强称职的经理，一有机会就喜欢恐吓下属。只有柳尚雅相对免疫他的攻击，因为他从第一天起就试图追求她，但从未成功。”

“Thank you. I’ll take a look in a bit.”
“谢谢。我稍后会看一下。”

“As for you, Kim Dokja-ssi,” Kim Dokja noted the subtle shift in his prickly tone, “the presentation you prepared was sloppy at best.”
“至于你，金独子先生，”金独子注意到他尖刻语气中的微妙变化，“你准备的演示文稿充其量也只是马虎。”

Attention to detail wasn’t his best attribute and he was fairly used to Han Myungoh’s scathing remarks but this seemed uncalled for as he thought back to the number of hours spent working on said presentation.
注重细节并不是他的强项，他也习惯了韩明吾的尖酸刻薄，但这次似乎有些过分了，尤其是当他回想起自己在那份演示文稿上花费的时间时。

“I expect you to redo it and send me the revised version by tonight.”
“我希望你重新做一遍，并在今晚之前把修订版发给我。”

There went his hopes for leaving on time today. With a tight grimace that barely passed as a polite smile, he answered, “Yes, sir.”
他今天准时下班的希望破灭了。他勉强挤出一个礼貌的微笑，回答道：“是的，先生。”

“And since you’re already on your way, I’ll take an iced americano. You can charge it to the company card later.”
“既然你已经在路上了，我要一杯冰美式。你可以稍后用公司卡支付。”

His forehead twitched, his hands balled at his side. If only he didn’t care about being fired, Han Myungoh would already be flying across the hall by now.
他的额头抽搐了一下，双手在身侧握成拳头。如果他不在乎被解雇，韩明浩现在早就飞过大厅了。

“I think adding a healthy pinch of salt to his drink would do him some good. He could use the extra pick-me-up.”   
“我觉得在他的饮料里加一小撮盐对他有好处。他需要额外的提神。”

Kim Dokja laughed, the annoyance dissipating from his shoulders. “Might as well substitute it for fish sauce. It’ll blend in better.”
金独子笑了，肩膀上的烦恼消散了。“不如换成鱼露。这样会更融合。”

Her eyes sparkled. “Wonderful idea, Dokja-ssi.”
她的眼睛闪闪发亮。“好主意，Dokja-ssi。”

>> Where are you  >> 你在哪里

>> Dinner’s almost ready  >> 晚餐快准备好了

It was close to seven in the evening, and Kim Dokja was somehow the only person left in the office. Yoo Sangah had offered to stay behind to help with his presentation but that would just make him feel worse.
快到晚上七点了，金独子不知怎么成了办公室里唯一剩下的人。刘尚雅提出留下来帮他准备演示文稿，但这只会让他感觉更糟。

Work. Have to work overtime today too. :( <<
工作。今天也得加班。:( <<

On the way out the door this morning, he vaguely remembered telling Yoo Joonghyuk he would definitely be back by dinnertime because he promised to make omurice for him.
今天早上出门时，他隐约记得告诉刘众赫他一定会赶在晚饭前回来，因为他答应给他做蛋包饭。

His fingers aggressively tapped against the keyboard. Damn you to hell, Han Myungoh.
他的手指在键盘上猛烈地敲击着。该死的韩明悟。

>> Why  >> 为什么

Because my manager is a lazy piece of shit. <<
因为我的经理是个懒鬼。<<

>> Report him  >> 举报他

Sometimes he wished he was as straightforward and blunt as Yoo Joonghyuk.
有时他希望自己能像刘众赫那样直率和坦率。

Unfortunately, working overtime is the inevitable fate of an office worker. <<
不幸的是，加班是上班族不可避免的命运。<<

>> I’ll report him then
>> 那我就去举报他

That’s not how this works, Yoo Joonghyuk-ssi. <<
事情不是这样的，刘众赫先生。<<

>> We’ll see about that
>> 我们走着瞧

Quiet laughter bubbled from his chest. With his shoulders shaking, he typed back a response.
他胸口涌出轻轻的笑声。肩膀颤抖着，他打出了回复。

You and Mia should go ahead and eat. <<
你和米娅应该先去吃饭。<<

I’ll be done around 8 maybe? <<
我大概 8 点左右能完成？<<

>> I’ll pick you up
>> 我会来接你

When Yoo Joonghyuk picked him up from his workplace a month ago, they bumped into a group of high schoolers who recognized him and basically chased after them until they got a picture with him. He sometimes forgot that Yoo Joonghyuk was a celebrity especially when this annoying jerk put minimal effort into his disguises. But because of that incident, Kim Dokja became more cautious and often forbade him from picking him up as a result. 
一个月前，当刘众赫从工作地点接他时，他们遇到了一群认出他的高中生，基本上追着他们直到拍了一张合影。他有时会忘记刘众赫是个名人，尤其是当这个讨厌的家伙在伪装上几乎不花心思的时候。但正因为那次事件，金独子变得更加谨慎，经常因此禁止他来接自己。

Wait at home patiently, Joonghyuk-ah. <<
在家耐心等着吧，Joonghyuk-ah。<<

>> I don’t want to
>> 我不想

Be good now. <<  现在要乖。<<

>> Stop treating me like a dog
>> 别把我当狗一样对待

When did I ever call you a dog? <<
我什么时候说过你是狗了？

>> Shut up  >> 闭嘴

He snickered, fondness spilling out of his gaze.
他窃笑着，目光中流露出满满的喜爱。

But seriously, you don’t need to come pick me up. <<
但说真的，你不用来接我。<<

I’ll be home soon. <<
我很快就到家了。<<

When he didn’t text back, Kim Dokja assumed Yoo Joonghyuk reluctantly agreed to his words but was too petty to deign him a response. Smiling to himself, he shelved his phone to the side and resumed his work at a faster speed, eager to leave this office as soon as possible.
当他没有回复短信时，金独子认为刘众赫勉强同意了他的话，但太小气以至于不屑于给他一个回应。他暗自笑了笑，把手机放到一边，加快了工作速度，渴望尽快离开这个办公室。

Of course, with his rotten luck, the escalators weren’t operating tonight.
当然，以他的霉运，今晚自动扶梯没有运行。

Despite the efficiency of Seoul’s metro system, he hated how the stairs to the top seemed neverending but he was also too lazy to walk to the other end of the platform for the elevators.
尽管首尔的地铁系统很高效，但他讨厌通往顶层的楼梯似乎永无止境，但他也懒得走到站台另一端的电梯那里。

Sighing, he slowly trekked his way to above ground.
他叹了口气，慢慢地朝地面走去。

At the top, he glanced at the time. It was nearly nine, which was late even for him. Still, he was glad it was at least the weekend tomorrow. He strolled through the station, making a beeline for the exit he took every night.
在顶层，他瞥了一眼时间。已经快九点了，即使对他来说也很晚了。不过，他庆幸明天至少是周末。他漫步穿过车站，径直走向每晚都会经过的出口。

A couple of women passed by him, their giggles reaching his ears.
几个女人从他身边经过，她们的笑声传到了他的耳朵里。

“Do you think he’s a model?”
“你觉得他是个模特吗？”

“He’s definitely got the height for it at least.”
“他至少身高是够的。”

Glancing up from his phone, his eyes immediately zeroed in on an individual dressed in casual black clothing accompanied by a matching black face mask. To top off the mysterious ensemble, an oversized set of sunglasses concealed half his face.
他从手机上抬起头，目光立刻锁定了一个穿着黑色休闲服装、戴着配套黑色口罩的人。为了增添神秘感，一副超大号的太阳镜遮住了他半张脸。

Raising his eyebrows, Kim Dokja approached the man.
金独子挑了挑眉，朝那个男人走去。

“What are you doing here?” Another woman passed by them, her gaze lingering on the man in front of him for several beats. “I said you didn’t have to come.”
“你在这里做什么？”另一个女人从他们身边经过，目光在他面前的男人身上停留了几秒。“我说过你不用来的。”

“I wanted to.”  “我想来。”

He should’ve known better than to trust this stubborn man. “Why are you wearing sunglasses?”
他早该知道不该相信这个固执的男人。“你为什么戴着太阳镜？”

“Because you always tell me to put more effort in my disguises.”
“因为你总是让我在伪装上多下点功夫。”

“Who wears sunglasses at night?” Clicking his tongue, he removed his frames and placed them in his pockets. “That just makes it more obvious.” He lifted his hood over his head and brushed some loose strands from his eyes. “See, this is more natural.”
“谁会在晚上戴墨镜？”他咂了咂舌，取下眼镜放进口袋。“这样只会更显眼。”他把兜帽拉过头顶，拨开眼前的几缕碎发。“看，这样更自然。”

Yoo Joonghyuk watched him, quiet anger simmering beneath the surface. “Your manager should be fired for abusing his subordinates.”
刘众赫看着他，平静的愤怒在表面下翻涌。“你的经理应该因为虐待下属而被解雇。”

“It’s not like I’m the only one who goes through this.” Though sometimes, it felt like Han Myungoh disliked him the most in his office. “Were you waiting long?”
“又不是只有我一个人会经历这种事。”虽然有时候，他觉得韩明浩在办公室里最讨厌他。“你等了很久吗？”

Yoo Joonghyuk followed his lead, exiting the station. “It’s not like I was doing anything else.”
刘众赫跟着他，走出了车站。“反正我也没别的事可做。”

Guilt washed over him. He told Yoo Joonghyuk he would likely be done around eight, and he knew this damn sunfish would’ve gotten there even earlier to make sure he didn’t miss him.
愧疚感涌上心头。他告诉刘众赫他大概八点能结束，他知道这条该死的翻车鱼肯定会提前到，以确保不会错过他。

Kim Dokja stared at the ground, noting how Yoo Joonghyuk matched his pace with ease. “If someone were to recognize you—”
金独子盯着地面，注意到刘众赫轻松地与他保持同步的步伐。“如果有人认出你——”

“That’s what the sunglasses were for.” He shifted closer, their arms brushing each other with each step. At his unimpressed face, he sighed. “I’ll just be more careful.”
“这就是为什么戴墨镜。”他靠得更近了些，每走一步他们的手臂都会轻轻擦过。看到他无动于衷的表情，他叹了口气。“我会更小心的。”

They entered a more secluded part of the neighborhood, signaling the midway point of their journey back to their apartment. Few passerbys hurried past them, their eyes glued to their screens as they rushed home.
他们进入了社区中一个更为僻静的区域，标志着他们回公寓的路程已经过半。几个路人匆匆从他们身边走过，眼睛紧盯着屏幕，匆忙赶回家。

Kim Dokja wondered why Yoo Joonghyuk was so stubborn about this issue. Since the start of their relationship, he always took the time to drop him off or pick him up from school/work whenever he was able to. Kim Dokja thought he would grow out of this habit within a few months as it became more cumbersome but he never did. He never minded of course but he would hate it if fans caught wind of this and began following them every day, jeopardizing their privacy.  
金独子不明白为什么刘众赫对这个问题如此固执。自从他们开始交往以来，只要有机会，刘众赫总是会花时间接送他上下学或上下班。金独子以为几个月后，随着这个习惯变得越来越麻烦，他会逐渐改掉，但他从未改变。当然，金独子并不介意，但如果粉丝们得知此事并开始每天跟踪他们，危及他们的隐私，他会非常讨厌这种情况。

Warmth slithered along his palm, weaving through his fingers in a firm grip.
温暖沿着他的手掌滑过，紧紧缠绕在他的手指间。

“Coming home together with you,” Yoo Joonghyuk brought their conjoined hands to his lips, pressing a soft kiss to the back of his hand, “it’s one of my favorite parts of the day.”
“和你一起回家，”刘众赫将他们紧握的手带到唇边，轻轻吻了吻他的手背，“这是我一天中最喜欢的时刻之一。”

Kim Dokja felt like someone was squeezing all the air from his chest as his heart rate rapidly accelerated.
金独子感觉有人正在挤压他胸腔中的所有空气，心跳迅速加快。

“So let me have this one thing, Kim Dokja.”
“所以让我拥有这一件事吧，金独子。”

Any lingering concern was smothered by those words.
任何残留的担忧都被这些话压了下去。

Fine, Kim Dokja thought as he squeezed his hand, rubbing a small circle over the back of his hand just like how Yoo Joonghyuk would often do, I’ll agree to it this one time.
好吧，金独子一边想着，一边握紧了他的手，像刘众赫经常做的那样，在他的手背上轻轻画了个圈，这次我就同意吧。

Because the last thing Kim Dokja would ever do was take away anything that made Yoo Joonghyuk happy.
因为金独子最不愿意做的事，就是夺走任何让刘众赫快乐的东西。

Kim Dokja had moved in to Yoo Joonghyuk’s new apartment after graduating from university. The decision was rather expected—though it wasn’t like Yoo Joonghyuk would allow ‘no’ for an answer—given that his commute to MinoSoft would be unnecessarily long if he didn’t move. It was a spacious three-bedroom apartment—the both of them shared the master bedroom, Yoo Mia had her own bedroom, and the spare room was converted into an office for Yoo Joonghyuk to stream.
金独子大学毕业后搬进了刘众赫的新公寓。这个决定并不出人意料——尽管刘众赫不会允许他说“不”——因为如果不搬过去，他去 MinoSoft 的通勤时间会变得不必要地长。这是一套宽敞的三居室公寓——他们俩共用主卧，刘美雅有自己的卧室，而空余的房间被改造成了刘众赫用来直播的办公室。

Though they were practically living together prior to officially moving in, Kim Dokja felt awkward getting used to their new home. In the mornings, he used to roll out of bed and hastily yet groggily get ready for class and he was out the door in less than five minutes. Now, Yoo Joonghyuk usually functioned as his alarm clock, and there would be breakfast plated prettily on the kitchen table. In the evenings, he used to pass the time scrolling through social media or webnovels. Now, he often helped with making dinner (and was surprisingly becoming more adept at it) or roamed the streets aimlessly with Yoo Joonghyuk on the weekends.
尽管在正式搬进来之前他们几乎已经住在一起了，但金独子还是觉得适应新家有些尴尬。以前早上，他会从床上滚下来，迷迷糊糊地匆忙准备上课，不到五分钟就出门了。现在，刘众赫通常充当他的闹钟，厨房的桌子上还会摆着漂亮的早餐。晚上，他过去常常通过刷社交媒体或网络小说来打发时间。现在，他经常帮忙做晚饭（而且出乎意料地越来越熟练），或者在周末和刘众赫一起漫无目的地在街上闲逛。

Kim Dokja yawned as he stepped out of the shower. Massaging his neck, he glimpsed at his reflection and grimaced at how his eyebags appeared worse with each passing day. He surveyed the assortment of skincare products on the counter—most of which were PR packages that Yoo Joonghyuk received—and reached for the eye cream. His hand paused as he glanced towards the pair of toothbrushes—one black, the other white—resting inside a glass cup on the countertop. To the side, there was a matching set of black and white towels hanging off to the side.
金独子从浴室里走出来，打了个哈欠。他揉了揉脖子，瞥了一眼镜子里的自己，看到眼袋一天比一天严重，不禁皱了皱眉。他扫视了一下台面上各种各样的护肤品——大部分是刘众赫收到的公关礼包——然后伸手去拿眼霜。他的手顿了顿，目光转向台面上玻璃杯里的一对牙刷——一支黑色，一支白色。旁边还挂着一套黑白相配的毛巾。

Now, Kim Dokja couldn’t imagine going back to living alone. He had become far too accustomed to living with Yoo Joonghyuk.
现在，金独子无法想象回到独自生活的日子。他已经太习惯和刘众赫一起生活了。

Kim Dokja toweled off the excess water from his damp hair, feeling much more refreshed. Ambling toward the couch, he practically collapsed onto the cushion beside Yoo Joonghyuk.
金独子用毛巾擦干湿发上多余的水分，感觉清爽了许多。他慢悠悠地走向沙发，几乎瘫倒在刘众赫旁边的坐垫上。

“What are we watching tonight?”
“今晚我们看什么？”

“Haven’t picked one yet. None of them look good.”
“还没选好。没有一个看起来不错的。”

“That’s what you say every time.”
“你每次都这么说。”

Yoo Joonghyuk abruptly tossed him the remote before gesturing him to sit closer. “You can pick this time.”
刘众赫突然把遥控器扔给他，示意他坐近点。“这次你来选。”

“I always pick,” he responded, sidling closer and handing him the towel to let him continue drying off his hair.
“我总是选，”他回应道，靠近并递给他毛巾，让他继续擦干头发。

Friday nights were always their designated “date” time. When Kim Dokja became a full-time employee, it was also around the time Yoo Joonghyuk’s career skyrocketed even more as he firmly established his status as the undefeatable Supreme King in the esports industry. But their schedules often didn’t line up—whenever Kim Dokja was off work, Yoo Joonghyuk would be starting his streams or he’d be away at competitions. After barely spending time together for a few months, Yoo Joonghyuk practically demanded that Namgoong Minyoung change his schedule so that their schedules overlapped better.
周五晚上总是他们指定的“约会”时间。当金独子成为全职员工时，也是刘众赫的职业生涯更加腾飞的时候，他稳固了自己在电竞行业中不可战胜的至高王地位。但他们的日程经常对不上——每当金独子下班时，刘众赫要么刚开始直播，要么去参加比赛。在几个月几乎没有时间在一起后，刘众赫几乎要求南宫敏英改变他的日程，以便他们的日程更好地重叠。

“Maybe a thriller,” Kim Dokja mused, flipping through the extensive selection before him, “or else I think I’ll fall asleep.”
“也许选个惊悚片吧，”金独子沉思着，翻看着面前的大量选择，“不然我觉得我会睡着。”

“The last thriller you picked sucked.”
“你上次选的惊悚片烂透了。”

“That’s because you hated the lead actor.”
“那是因为你讨厌那个主演。”

“Because he can’t act.”  “因为他不会演戏。”

Tilting his head backward, he glared at his boyfriend. “Stop hating on actors I like.”
“别讨厌我喜欢的演员。”他仰起头，瞪着男朋友说道。

“Hurry up and pick one,” he grumbled, deciding this wasn’t a topic worth debating.
“快点选一个吧。”他嘟囔着，觉得这个话题不值得争论。

What a petty sunfish. Kim Dokja shook his head, eventually selecting one that apparently topped the box offices a couple years ago.
真是个小心眼的太阳鱼。金独子摇了摇头，最终选了一部几年前票房大卖的电影。

“If I hear any complaints,” Kim Dokja got up from the couch to turn off the lights, “I’m never picking again.” As ominous music introduced the first scene, he plopped back onto the couch, hugging a pillow to his chest.
“如果我听到任何抱怨，”金独子从沙发上站起来关灯，“我再也不选了。”随着不祥的音乐引入第一个场景，他重新倒在沙发上，抱着一个枕头在胸前。

But before he could get even more comfortable, large hands encircled his waist and he was abruptly hoisted into the air. Letting out a surprised yelp, he landed between Yoo Joonghyuk’s thighs, tucked against his broad chest.
但在他还没来得及更舒服地躺下时，一双大手环住了他的腰，他猛地被举到了空中。发出一声惊讶的尖叫后，他落在了刘众赫的大腿之间，紧贴着他宽阔的胸膛。

Twisting his neck around, he frowned. “What are you doing?”
他扭过头，皱起眉头。“你在干什么？”

“This will be more comfortable.”
“这样会更舒服些。”

“For me or you?”  “为我还是为你？”

Yoo Joonghyuk reached over and grabbed one of the blankets from the basket on the floor. He fluffed the blanket and set it atop both their laps. “Both.”
刘众赫伸手从地板上的篮子里抓起一条毯子。他把毯子抖了抖，然后盖在他们俩的腿上。“都有。”

Kim Dokja narrowed his eyes in suspicion but didn’t press further.
金独子怀疑地眯起眼睛，但没有继续追问。

The movie panned to a lone house in the middle of the woods, amidst a thick layer of fog. The woman entered the house with her daughter, their footsteps creaking along the floorboards.
电影镜头转向树林深处一座孤零零的房子，周围笼罩着厚厚的雾气。女人带着女儿走进房子，她们的脚步在地板上发出吱吱声。

“This is why I would never live in the woods. It’s too creepy.”
“这就是为什么我永远不会住在树林里。太吓人了。”

“Mn.” Yoo Joonghyuk rested his chin on his shoulder.
“嗯。”刘众赫把下巴搁在肩膀上。

There was a hole in the corner of the room, and the camera panned to the daughter kneeling down to shine a flashlight down the hole.
房间的角落里有一个洞，摄像机转向女儿，她跪下来用手电筒照向洞里。

Kim Dokja tensed up, bracing himself for a jump scare but it never came.
金独子紧张起来，准备迎接一个跳吓，但它始终没有出现。

Warm breath ghosted over his ear. “Scared?”
温热的呼吸拂过他的耳朵。“害怕吗？”

“No,” he responded coolly, ignoring the goosebumps that formed along his arms.
“不，”他冷静地回答，无视手臂上冒出的鸡皮疙瘩。

Yoo Joonghyuk wrapped his arms around his torso, planting kisses up the slope of his neck. “It’s okay to be scared.”
刘众赫用双臂环抱住他的身体，沿着他的脖子一路亲吻。“害怕也没关系。”

Kim Dokja angled his neck away, hating how this simple action was enough to make his whole body warm. “Mia’s going to have an aneurysm if she sees us like this.” Even though she was now in high school with a slightly more mature attitude, she never failed to remind them that her vision was sacred and shouldn’t be defiled by their “activities.”
金独子侧过头，讨厌这个简单的动作足以让他全身发热。“如果米娅看到我们这样，她会气疯的。”尽管她现在上高中，态度稍微成熟了一些，但她从未忘记提醒他们，她的视线是神圣的，不应该被他们的“活动”玷污。

“She’s not here.” He nibbled on his earlobe and Kim Dokja let out a small squeak, perfectly timed as the villain of the movie makes his first appearance on the screen. “She went over to Shin Yoosung’s for a sleepover.”
“她不在这里。”他轻轻咬了一下他的耳垂，金独子发出了一声小小的尖叫，正好与电影中反派首次出现在屏幕上的时间吻合。“她去申宥胜家过夜了。”

“What?” Kim Dokja squirmed in his spot but felt like it only made things worse as his face heated up in both embarrassment and arousal. “When?”
“什么？”金独子在座位上扭动了一下，但感觉这只会让事情变得更糟，他的脸因尴尬和兴奋而发热。“什么时候？”

Yoo Joonghyuk tightened his grip around him, preventing him from slithering out of his grasp. “When you were in the shower.”
刘众赫紧紧抓住他，防止他从自己的掌控中滑脱。“你在洗澡的时候。”

“Oh.” He tried to focus all his attention on this movie but it was incredibly hard to do so when Yoo Joonghyuk’s lips traveled south. “That’s unfortunate. She won’t be able to witness you screaming like a banshee at every jump scare.”
“哦。”他试图把所有的注意力都集中在这部电影上，但当刘众赫的嘴唇向下移动时，这变得异常困难。“真可惜。她将无法见证你在每个跳吓时像女妖一样尖叫。”

Hot breath fanned his ear, and Kim Dokja could only laugh at how palpable his exasperation was. Teasing him about his supposed fear of horror movies never got old. Taking this chance to create some space, he bent forward to grab the remote from the table but was propelled back to a firm chest.
炽热的呼吸拂过他的耳朵，金独子只能笑着感受他那显而易见的恼怒。拿他所谓的对恐怖电影的恐惧开玩笑永远不会过时。他趁机向前倾身去拿桌上的遥控器，却被推回了一个坚实的胸膛。

“The only person who’ll be screaming tonight,” His fingers snaked their way up his chest, grazing his nipples with just enough pressure that caused him to writhe in his spot, “is you.”
“今晚唯一会尖叫的人，”他的手指滑上他的胸膛，轻轻擦过他的乳头，施加的压力刚好足以让他在原地扭动，“是你。”

“I thought it was supposed to be movie night,” he somehow grit through his teeth, when he felt another hand slither underneath his shirt.
“我以为今晚是电影之夜，”他咬着牙说道，感觉到又一只手滑进了他的衬衫下。

“It’s not like we can’t multitask.” His mouth gnawed at the side of its neck before licking the area in deliberately slow strokes.
“我们又不是不能一心多用。”他的嘴啃咬着对方的脖子一侧，然后用故意缓慢的动作舔舐着那个地方。

“Yoo Joonghyuk,” he breathed. A sharp screech echoed from the TV, which only reminded him of Yoo Joonghyuk’s earlier comment—and a fresh wave of heat rippled through his body at the memory.
“刘众赫，”他喘息着。电视里传来一声尖锐的尖叫，这让他想起了刘众赫之前的话——回忆涌上心头，一股新的热流在他体内涌动。

“Kim Dokja,” His left hand continued to traverse his chest as his other hand traveled lower, snaking under the elastic band of his sweatpants, “don’t hold back.”
“金独子，”他的左手继续在他的胸膛上游走，另一只手则向下探去，滑入运动裤的松紧带下，“别忍着。”

“Joonghyuk-ah, wait—”  “Joonghyuk-ah，等等——”

Kim Dokja arched his back and craned his head back against his shoulder, releasing a stuttering breath as he completely forgot about the movie and succumbed to Yoo Joonghyuk’s touch, his senses wholly overwhelmed by the onslaught of pleasure.
金独子弓起背，头向后仰靠在肩膀上，发出一阵断断续续的呼吸，完全忘记了电影，屈服于刘众赫的触摸，他的感官完全被愉悦的冲击所淹没。

“Dokja-ssi, are you okay? That’s already your third cup.”
“独子先生，你还好吗？这已经是你的第三杯了。”

Kim Dokja glanced past his shoulder and noticed Yoo Sangah heading into the breakroom. Turning his attention back to the coffee machine, he remarked, “It’s actually my fourth.”
金独子瞥了一眼肩膀后面，注意到刘尚雅正走向休息室。他将注意力转回咖啡机，说道：“其实是第四杯。”

“When’s the deadline for your project?”
“你的项目截止日期是什么时候？”

“Tonight.” He sighed. “Originally, I had more time but Han Myungoh suddenly told me yesterday that I was going to be transitioning to another project tomorrow.”
“今晚。”他叹了口气。“本来我有更多时间，但韩明浩昨天突然告诉我，我明天要转到另一个项目。”

“Who’s going to take over your current project then?”
“那谁来接手你现在的项目呢？”

“That’s the thing. He wants me to basically have it finished before handing it off to the next person.”
“问题就在这里。他基本上希望我在交给下一个人之前完成它。”

Yoo Sangah set her coffee mug in the sink. “…So that means that person will just take all your credit then.”
刘尚雅把咖啡杯放在水槽里。“……所以这意味着那个人会抢走你所有的功劳。”

Kim Dokja took a sip of his coffee, frowning at how bitter it was. “Pretty much.”
金独子喝了一口咖啡，皱着眉头觉得它太苦了。“差不多吧。”

“Even for Manager Han, that’s excessive of him to ask that of you.”
“即使是韩经理，他那样要求你也太过分了。”

“It’s probably because of the new project. I heard they were hiring celebrities or something to advertise the product.” Earlier, Kim Dokja had passed by the spare break room being turned into a makeshift office space for tomorrow’s guests. He was shocked when he saw Han Myungoh personally move the furniture around instead of making one of them do it.
“可能是因为新项目吧。我听说他们正在聘请名人什么的来为产品做广告。”早些时候，金独子经过备用休息室时，看到它被改造成了明天客人的临时办公室。当他看到韩明吾亲自搬动家具而不是让其他人来做时，他感到非常震惊。

“I heard the higher-ups were planning their next round of promotions, and his name is on the list.” She rinsed her mug with soapy water, scrubbing at the remnants of caffeine. “So this will likely decide if he gets the promotion or not.”
“我听说高层正在计划下一轮晋升，他的名字在名单上。”她用肥皂水冲洗杯子，擦去残留的咖啡渍。“所以这很可能会决定他是否能得到晋升。”

“If he does, I’m quitting.” A thought crossed his mind, causing him to frown. “Though I don’t know if I can do job hunting again. Once was already tiring.”
“如果他这么做了，我就辞职。”一个念头闪过他的脑海，让他皱起了眉头。“不过我不知道我还能不能再找工作了。一次就已经够累的了。”

Laughing, she hung her cleaned mug on the dish rack. “What about joining Joonghyuk-ssi’s company?”
她笑着把洗好的杯子挂在碗架上。“那加入中赫先生的公司怎么样？”

He violently shook his head. “Absolutely not. The whole company will know we’re dating within an hour.”
他猛烈地摇了摇头。“绝对不行。整个公司一小时内就会知道我们在约会。”

She chuckled softly. “That’s very true. I didn’t realize Joonghyuk-ssi was the type but it’s very cute how he never wants to let go of your hand whenever you’re together.”
“她轻声笑了笑。“确实如此。我没想到 Joonghyuk-ssi 是这种类型，但每次你们在一起时他都不愿意放开你的手，这真的很可爱。””

“Stop exaggerating,” he grumbled, the tips of his ears growing hot.  
“别夸张了，”他嘟囔着，耳朵尖变得通红。

“But wouldn’t it be nice to see each other at work?”
“但在工作中见面不是很好吗？”

Kim Dokja set his mug back on the countertop, drumming his fingers against the surface. He’d be lying if he said he didn’t imagine what it would be like for Yoo Joonghyuk to be another office employee at his company. They could have lunch together on the rooftop with Kim Dokja airing out his grievances while Yoo Joonghyuk listened intently as he always did. They could work on the same project together, poring over files late into the night. If they were tired, they could venture to the workroom for a coffee break. Or perhaps, if there was no one nearby and they happened to cross each other’s paths at just the right moment, Yoo Joonghyuk would drag him to a storage room that no one ever walked by and slam the door shut, smothering him against the wall, his lips grazing his neck before they—
金独子将杯子放回台面，手指在桌面上轻轻敲击。如果他说自己没想象过刘众赫成为他公司另一名办公室员工的情景，那一定是在撒谎。他们可以一起在屋顶上吃午餐，金独子倾诉他的不满，而刘众赫则一如既往地专注倾听。他们可以共同参与同一个项目，深夜埋头于文件之中。如果累了，他们可以冒险去工作间喝杯咖啡休息。或者，如果周围没人，恰巧在合适的时刻相遇，刘众赫可能会把他拉到一个无人经过的储藏室，猛地关上门，将他抵在墙上，嘴唇轻触他的颈项，然后——

Kim Dokja slammed the brakes on that train of thought, grabbing the front of his shirt and billowing it against his chest.
Kim Dokja 猛地刹住了那列思绪的火车，抓住衬衫前襟，让它拍打着胸膛。

“Dokja-ssi?”  “Dokja-ssi？”

“Huh?” At her inquisitive gaze, he blubbered, “I should get back to work.” Snatching his now half-empty mug of coffee, he pointedly ignored Yoo Sangah’s mirthful laugh that eventually faded as he scrambled out of the break room.
“嗯？”在她好奇的目光下，他结结巴巴地说：“我该回去工作了。”他抓起已经喝了一半的咖啡杯，故意忽略了柳尚雅那逐渐消失的欢快笑声，匆匆离开了休息室。

When Kim Dokja arrived to work that morning, he was already in a foul mood. He had to stay up most of the night finishing up his work and ended up getting less than four hours of sleep. While he’d admit that it was sweet that Yoo Joonghyuk tried staying up with him, he also started to annoy him when he kept insisting that his manager will be fine if he works on it in the morning. He obviously didn’t know how unforgiving corporate managers were.
那天早上，金独子来上班时心情已经很糟糕。他几乎熬了一整夜才完成工作，结果只睡了不到四个小时。虽然他觉得刘众赫陪他熬夜很贴心，但当刘众赫一直坚持说他的经理早上处理工作也没问题时，他开始感到恼火。显然，刘众赫不知道公司经理有多么苛刻。

Though Kim Dokja wondered if he was being too sensitive last night because Yoo Joonghyuk was acting a bit strange this morning before he headed off to work.
尽管金独子怀疑昨晚自己是不是太敏感了，因为刘众赫今天早上上班前表现得有点奇怪。

Shrugging away that thought, he opened the doors to his department’s office space. Mornings were usually hectic as people settled into their workspaces but today seemed more frantic.
他甩开那个念头，打开了部门办公室的门。早晨通常很忙乱，大家都在安顿自己的工作空间，但今天似乎更加慌乱。

“Dokja-ssi, what are you doing just standing there?” Han Myungoh hissed, speedwalking past him. “Our clients are coming in 30 minutes.”
“独子先生，你站在那里干什么？”韩明吾快步走过他身边，低声说道。“我们的客户 30 分钟后就要到了。”

He’s acting like the fucking President of South Korea is coming. Tossing his bag onto his chair, he began helping out his coworkers as Han Myungoh continued to bark out orders.
他表现得像是韩国总统要来一样。他把包扔到椅子上，开始帮助同事们，而韩明吾继续大声发号施令。

Forty-five minutes later, Kim Dokja was lugging two heavy boxes in the elevator. Steadying it against the handrails to allow his arms—and more importantly his back—some respite, he bitterly watched the elevator numbers increase towards his designated floor.
四十五分钟后，金独子正拖着两个沉重的箱子在电梯里。他将箱子靠在扶手上，让手臂——更重要的是他的背——稍微休息一下，苦涩地看着电梯数字逐渐上升到他指定的楼层。

Why was I even brought onto this project? While Kim Dokja wasn’t the worst employee, claiming that he was a decent employee was being generous. He was surprised he didn’t recruit Yoo Sangah, who was objectively the best employee of the entire department.
为什么我会被拉进这个项目？虽然金独子不是最差的员工，但说他是个不错的员工已经算是客气了。他惊讶自己没有招募刘尚雅，她显然是整个部门最优秀的员工。

When the elevator doors opened, he sighed and lifted the heavy boxes into his arms once again. He could barely see past the boxes so he relied on memory to guide himself to the workspace. As he approached the room, he could hear voices drifting past the open door.
当电梯门打开时，他叹了口气，再次将沉重的箱子抱在怀里。他几乎看不到箱子前面的路，只能依靠记忆引导自己走向工作区。当他接近房间时，他听到声音从敞开的门里飘出来。

“…each get a computer?”  “……每人一台电脑？”

“Duh. How else are we going to test the game individually?”
“废话。不然我们怎么单独测试游戏？”

Kim Dokja nearly paused in his tracks at how familiar those voices sounded. Where did he know them from?
金独子差点停下脚步，因为那些声音听起来太熟悉了。他从哪里听过这些声音？

“Ah, Dokja-ssi. You can place them on the table to the right.”
“啊，独子先生。你可以把它们放在右边的桌子上。”

Though before he could take another step forward, the weight he was carrying was suddenly lifted and his arms cried out in relief.
然而，在他能再迈出一步之前，他背负的重量突然被卸下，他的手臂如释重负地松了一口气。

“Oh, thank y—” Kim Dokja froze, left utterly speechless when he caught a glimpse of the person who took the boxes away from him. “What are you…”
“哦，谢——”金独子愣住了，当他瞥见那个从他手中接过箱子的人时，他完全说不出话来。“你在……”

“Yoo Joonghyuk-nim, there’s no need for you to do that!” Han Myungoh scrambled across the room to grab the boxes from him.
“刘众赫大人，您不必这么做！”韩明吾慌忙穿过房间，试图从他手中夺回箱子。

“It’s fine.” Setting the cardboard boxes onto the table, Yoo Joonghyuk turned back towards Kim Dokja and responded, “It’s a lot for one person to carry.”
“没关系。” 刘众赫将纸箱放在桌子上，转身对金独子说道，“一个人搬这么多东西确实有点多。”

“Well, your manners certainly live up to your reputation. Namgoong Minyoung-nim is lucky to have someone like you on the team.”
“嗯，你的礼貌果然名不虚传。南宫敏英前辈能有你这样的人在团队里真是幸运。”

“What are you doing here?” Wide-eyed, Kim Dokja openly stared at Yoo Joonghyuk as his brain tried to reconcile that his boyfriend was somehow at his company. He was even wearing a suit, and he knew how much he hated wearing them.
“你在这里做什么？” 金独子睁大眼睛，毫不掩饰地盯着刘众赫，大脑试图理解为什么他的男朋友会出现在他的公司。他甚至穿着西装，而金独子知道他有多讨厌穿西装。

Han Myungoh forced out a maniacal laugh, clapping a hand on his shoulder. Leaning in, he maintained his wide grin and hissed, “What are you talking about, Dokja-ssi? StarStream agreed to help promote our product, and Yoo Joonghyuk-nim and his team graciously decided to take time out of their busy schedules to do so.”
韩明吾勉强挤出一声狂笑，拍了拍他的肩膀。他凑近了些，保持着那夸张的笑容，低声说道：“你在说什么呢，独子先生？StarStream 同意帮我们推广产品，而刘众赫先生和他的团队也慷慨地决定从他们繁忙的日程中抽出时间来帮忙。”

Kim Dokja let the words slowly sink in as he came to a very belated realization that the celebrity guests he was referring to before was Yoo Joonghyuk and the rest of his team.
金独子慢慢消化着这些话，终于意识到他之前提到的明星嘉宾就是刘众赫和他的团队。

Yoo Joonghyuk, who would be working alongside him at his company.
Yoo Joonghyuk，将与他一起在公司共事。

Yoo Joonghyuk, who would be coming to work every day with him.
Yoo Joonghyuk，那个每天都会和他一起来上班的人。

Yoo Joonghyuk, his boyfriend.
Yoo Joonghyuk，他的男朋友。

What the fu—  什么鬼——

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Yoo Joonghyuk take a step towards him so Kim Dokja did the most plausible thing anyone would do in that situation.
他用余光注意到刘众赫朝他迈了一步，于是金独子做了任何人在那种情况下都会做的最合理的事情。

He bolted out of the room.
他冲出了房间。

“If there’s anything you think could be improved upon, just let me know.”
“如果你觉得有什么可以改进的地方，尽管告诉我。”

“Ahjussi, this coffee sucks.”
“大叔，这咖啡真难喝。”

“Yeah, are there no snacks either? Minyoung-ahjumma always has some in the lounge for us.”
“是啊，难道连零食也没有吗？Minyoung 阿姨总是在休息室给我们准备一些的。”

“Lee Jihye, Kim Namwoon,” Yoo Joonghyuk said, his tone low.
“李智慧，金南云，”刘众赫说道，声音低沉。

“Sorry,” they chorused, ducking their heads like reprimanded children.
“对不起，”他们齐声说道，像被训斥的孩子一样低下了头。

“I’ll ask Manager Han if I can borrow the company card to buy something for you guys later.” Kim Dokja gestured at the row of computers on the opposite side of the room. “I’ll be sitting over there if you need anything.”
“我会问问韩经理能不能借公司卡给你们买点东西。”金独子指着房间对面的一排电脑说道。“如果你们需要什么，我会坐在那边。”

A hand shot out to grab his arm, preventing him from taking another step.
一只手突然伸出，抓住了他的手臂，阻止他再迈出一步。

“You can just work at this computer.”
“你可以直接在这台电脑上工作。”

The adjacent cubicle to Yoo Joonghyuk’s was empty, and he wondered if his other team players purposely left it like that when they decided on seating arrangements.
刘众赫旁边的隔间是空的，他怀疑其他队员在决定座位安排时是否故意把它留成这样。

Normally, he wouldn’t even think twice about this. But being the petty man that he was, Kim Dokja offered an apologetic smile in a true customer service fashion and remarked, “I apologize, Yoo Joonghyuk-ssi, but I don’t want to distract you from analyzing the game.”
通常情况下，他根本不会多想这件事。但作为一个小心眼的人，金独子以真正的客户服务方式露出了歉意的微笑，说道：“抱歉，刘众赫先生，但我不想打扰您分析比赛。”

His eyebrow twitched. “You won’t be distracting me.”
他的眉毛抽动了一下。“你不会打扰我。”

“As it turns out, I came onto this project rather suddenly so I have other work to tend to over there.” He pointed to the computer that was farthest from him. Flashing him a cordial smile, he waltzed over to his workspace without glancing back.
“事实上，我是突然接手这个项目的，所以我还有其他工作要处理。”他指了指离他最远的电脑。对他露出礼貌的微笑后，他径直走向自己的工作区，没有回头。

After recovering from his initial shock (and Han Myungoh essentially hauling him back to the room), Kim Dokja learned that StarStream was contracted to test their newest game for the next few months. What surprised him more was the fact that Yoo Joonghyuk would only sign the contract on the stipulation that Kim Dokja join the project’s team.
从最初的震惊中恢复过来后（并且韩明浩基本上把他拖回了房间），金独子得知 StarStream 签约让他们在未来几个月内测试他们最新的游戏。更让他惊讶的是，刘众赫只有在金独子加入项目团队的前提下才会签署合同。

Originally, Kim Dokja was only a bit salty that Yoo Joonghyuk kept something like this a secret from him but after hearing this revelation, he grew increasingly irritated. Yoo Joonghyuk’s desire to surprise him was inadvertently the cause of his recent sleepless nights as he finished all the work that Han Myungoh demanded of him. Not to mention this was his co-workers would undoubtedly find out about their relationship because Yoo Joonghyuk had zero self-awareness out in public.
原本，金独子只是对刘众赫把这种事情瞒着他感到有点不爽，但在听到这个真相后，他变得越来越恼火。刘众赫想给他一个惊喜的愿望无意中导致了他最近几晚的失眠，因为他完成了韩明浩要求的所有工作。更不用说他的同事们无疑会发现他们的关系，因为刘众赫在公共场合完全没有自我意识。

Shaking his head, he logged onto the computer. He could hear the rest of the team boot up the game and getting ready to play. He could practically feel the burning gaze on the back of his head but he refused to turn around because he was not in the mood to engage in civil discussion. Giving Yoo Joonghyuk the silent treatment may be childish but if there was anyone who excelled in pettiness, it was him.
他摇了摇头，登录了电脑。他能听到团队的其他成员启动游戏并准备开始玩。他几乎能感觉到背后那灼热的目光，但他拒绝转身，因为他没有心情进行文明的讨论。对刘众赫采取冷处理可能有些幼稚，但如果有人擅长小气，那就是他。

However, if there was someone who excelled in something, there was always someone else who was even better.
然而，如果有人擅长某件事，那么总有另一个人更胜一筹。

The first time Yoo Joonghyuk called him over, it was because the game allegedly would not load. After double clicking on it, he watched the game load normally. He watched Yoo Joonghyuk nod in understanding, stating that he didn’t know he had to double click it to launch the game.
刘众赫第一次叫他过来，是因为据说游戏无法加载。双击后，他看到游戏正常加载了。他看着刘众赫点头表示理解，说他不知道需要双击才能启动游戏。

A few minutes later, Yoo Joonghyuk claimed that he couldn’t find the store to purchase skills. Then, he was asking about the different demon kings he had to defeat and what special skill they each possessed.
几分钟后，刘众赫声称他找不到购买技能的商店。然后，他开始询问他需要击败的不同魔王以及他们各自拥有的特殊技能。

Kim Dokja wanted to throttle the man.
金独子想掐死这个男人。

For the fifth time this past half hour, a low baritone voice spoke up.
这是过去半小时里第五次，一个低沉的男声响起。

“My computer’s glitching.”
“我的电脑出故障了。”

Kim Dokja slowly rose from his chair, stomping down the familiar path towards the Supreme King. He took control of the mouse, pressing a few icons on the screen. Confused, he watched as the game executed each step as intended.
金独子慢慢从椅子上站起来，踩着熟悉的路径走向至高王。他握住鼠标，在屏幕上点击了几个图标。他困惑地看着游戏按照预期执行每一步。

“Oh, I guess it’s working now.” He tilted his head back to face him, the corner of his lips lifted slightly. “Seems to work fine when you’re around.”
“哦，看来现在可以了。”他仰起头面对他，嘴角微微上扬。“你在的时候似乎一切正常。”

Resisting the urge to roll his eyes, he answered, “If there’s nothing else wrong, I’ll return to my desk.” He tapped a finger against the side of the monitor. “Don’t forget to write down what we can improve upon in the game.”
他忍住翻白眼的冲动，回答道：“如果没什么其他问题，我就回我的座位了。”他用手指轻轻敲了敲显示器的侧面。“别忘了写下我们可以在游戏中改进的地方。”

He stalked back to his desk, sighing loudly as he looked at the presentation file that looked the same as it did half an hour ago. No thanks to Yoo Joonghyuk, Han Myungoh was still pestering him about the presentation he hurriedly put together from his previous project.
他大步走回自己的办公桌，大声叹了口气，看着那份和半小时前一模一样的演示文件。多亏了刘众赫，韩明吾还在纠缠他匆忙从之前的项目中拼凑出来的演示文稿。

He heaved a long sigh. Yoo Joonghyuk’s distractions were one thing but he had zero motivation to do anything right now.
他长叹一口气。刘众赫的干扰是一回事，但他现在完全没有动力做任何事情。

“Hey, ahjussi, where do I get more coffee?”
“嘿，大叔，我在哪儿能再弄点咖啡？”

Kim Dokja swiveled in his chair and faced Kim Namwoon, who was leaning his head over the back of his chair. “I can go get some.”
金独子转了一下椅子，面对着把头靠在椅背上的金南云。“我可以去拿一些。”

“I’ll come with you.” Yoo Joonghyuk stood up from his seat.
“我跟你一起去。”刘众赫从座位上站了起来。

Narrowing his eyes, he glanced at his awfully empty notepad. Han Myungoh would no doubt blame him and just dump extra work on him as retaliation.
他眯起眼睛，瞥了一眼他那空得离谱的记事本。韩明吾毫无疑问会责怪他，并把额外的工作丢给他作为报复。

“I can handle it. Just work on playing the game, Joonghyuk-ssi.”
“我能处理。你专心打游戏吧，Joonghyuk-ssi。”

Perhaps his tone came out harsher than intended for Yoo Joonghyuk flinched slightly, his eyebrows knitted in confusion.
也许他的语气比预期的更严厉，因为 Yoo Joonghyuk 微微退缩了一下，眉头困惑地皱起。

He was an extremely petty man but as he strolled over to the break room, Kim Dokja replayed that same expression over and over again. The genuine hurt on his features made his heart ache, and he wondered if he went too far with his cold front.
他是个极其小气的人，但当他走向休息室时，Kim Dokja 一遍又一遍地回放着那个表情。他脸上真实的受伤让他的心隐隐作痛，他不禁怀疑自己是否在冷漠的态度上做得太过分了。

With yet another heavy sigh, he made several cups of coffee and headed back. Juggling a few cups of instant coffee on his left palm, he began setting down the paper cups for each team member. As he passed by Lee Jihye to drop one off for Yoo Joonghyuk, she abruptly thrusted her chair backwards. His feet tripped over the legs of the chair, and he watched in horror as the cup of coffee tipped over, its contents spilling onto Yoo Joonghyuk’s right hand.
他又一次重重地叹了口气，泡了几杯咖啡，然后往回走。他左手掌上托着几杯速溶咖啡，开始为每个团队成员放下纸杯。当他经过李智慧，准备给刘众赫放一杯时，她突然把椅子往后一推。他的脚被椅子腿绊了一下，惊恐地看着咖啡杯翻倒，咖啡洒在了刘众赫的右手上。

“Ahjussi, are you okay? Oh my god, Master, are you okay?!”
“大叔，你没事吧？天哪，师父，你没事吧？！”

Gasping, Kim Dokja quickly set aside the other cup of coffee and rushed over to his side. His stomach dropped at the sight of the back of his hand, already flushed red. Grabbing his forearm, he quickly dragged him to the break room. Thankfully, it was empty so he didn’t have to deal with his coworkers’ nosy questions. Kim Dokja immediately turned on the faucet to the coldest setting and dunked Yoo Joonghyuk’s hand under the water.
金独子喘着气，迅速放下另一杯咖啡，冲到他身边。看到他的手背已经泛红，他的心沉了下去。抓住他的前臂，他迅速将他拖到休息室。幸好，里面空无一人，所以他不必应付同事们的好奇问题。金独子立即将水龙头调到最冷的位置，将刘众赫的手浸入水中。

“It didn’t spill onto your other hand right?” When he didn’t immediately answer, panic bubbled within. His eyes darted to his left hand which seemed unscathed but nonetheless, he brought that hand under the continuous stream as well. “Just to be sure, we’ll do this too.”
“没有溅到你的另一只手吧？”当他没有立即回答时，恐慌在他心中涌起。他的目光迅速扫向他的左手，看起来似乎没有受伤，但为了以防万一，他还是将那只手也放到了持续的水流下。“为了确保安全，我们也这样做。”

“Are you worried?”  “你在担心吗？”

His eyes darted upwards, meeting his gaze finally. A languid smile hung around his lips, and the sight of it left him completely baffled and outright angry. “Worried? Why are you asking such a stupid question? You literally had boiling hot coffee spill all over your hand, you sunfish bastard!”
他的目光迅速向上移动，终于与他对视。他的嘴角挂着一抹慵懒的微笑，这景象让他完全困惑且愤怒不已。“担心？你为什么要问这么愚蠢的问题？你刚刚被滚烫的咖啡泼了一手，你这个白痴！”

“I’ll take that as a yes then.” He averted his eyes, watching the rivulets of water streaming down his skin. “I thought you’d still be too mad.”
“那我就当你是同意了。”他移开视线，看着水流顺着他的皮肤流下。“我以为你还在生气。”

At the subtle dejected tone, Kim Dokja eventually relented. “A heads up would’ve been nice.”
听到那微妙的沮丧语气，金独子最终让步了。“提前打个招呼会更好。”

“I wanted to surprise you.” With a sideways glance, he continued, “Though this wasn’t the reaction I was expecting if I’m being honest.”
“我想给你一个惊喜。”他斜眼瞥了一眼，继续说道，“不过老实说，这不是我期待的反应。”

He scoffed. “Did you think I’d announce to the whole company that the Supreme King was my boyfriend?”
他嗤之以鼻。“你以为我会向全公司宣布至高王是我的男朋友吗？”

“I wouldn’t mind if you did.”
“我不介意你这么做。”

“Do you have zero consideration for your career?”
“你一点都不考虑自己的事业吗？”

“At least then,” He shut off the water, examining his hand, “everyone will know you’re already taken.”
“至少那样，”他关掉水，检查着自己的手，“大家都会知道你已经有主了。”

“Yes because there’s clearly a line of people waiting to date me.”
“是啊，因为显然有一大堆人等着和我约会呢。”

“Fool.” He gingerly touched the burned area of skin, testing to see how sensitive it was. “I’ve been here less than a day, and I’ve already seen two people try to hit on you.”
“傻瓜。”他小心翼翼地碰了碰被烫伤的皮肤，试探着看看有多敏感。“我来这里还不到一天，就已经看到两个人试图勾搭你了。”

His eyebrows nearly rose to the ceiling. “Who?”
他的眉毛几乎要翘到天花板上了。“谁？”

“That woman who came into the room earlier to give you cookies.”
“就是之前进房间给你送饼干的那个女人。”

“You mean Kang Jiwon-ssi? I’m pretty sure she has a boyfriend.”
“你是说姜智媛小姐吗？我敢肯定她有男朋友。”

“Doesn’t seem like it.”  “看起来不像。”

He flicked him on the forehead, earning him a glare. “That’s just you being unnecessarily jealous, you sunfish.” He returned his attention to his hands, gently brushing his fingers over the erythematous area. When Yoo Joonghyuk hissed quietly, Kim Dokja winced.
“他弹了一下他的额头，换来一个瞪眼。“这只是你无谓的嫉妒，你这个太阳鱼。”他将注意力转回自己的手，轻轻用手指抚过那片发红的区域。当刘众赫轻声嘶嘶时，金独子皱了皱眉。”

“Sorry, I should’ve been more careful. I’ll go to the pharmacy and see what I can find.”
“抱歉，我应该更小心的。我去药店看看能找到什么。”

Yoo Joonghyuk extended his arm to block him and then maneuvered it to settle against the counter, effectively trapping Kim Dokja between his arms.
“刘众赫伸出手臂拦住他，然后巧妙地将其放在柜台上，有效地将金独子困在他的双臂之间。”

“I don’t need all that. You can just kiss it all better.”
“我不需要那些。你只要亲一下就好了。”

Kim Dokja smacked his fist against his chest. “You did not just say that.”
金独子用拳头捶了捶胸口。“你刚才没这么说吧。”

Yoo Joonghyuk smiled, the one that never failed to send butterflies straight to Kim Dokja’s heart. Swooping down to plant a soft kiss on his forehead, he said, “It’s almost time for your lunch break, right?”
刘众赫笑了笑，那笑容总能直接让金独子的心跳加速。他俯身轻轻吻了吻他的额头，说道：“快到你的午休时间了，对吧？”

Kim Dokja pushed against his rock-solid chest, which didn’t budge even a millimeter. “Idiot, what if someone comes in?”
金独子推了推他坚如磐石的胸膛，却连一毫米都没动。“笨蛋，要是有人进来怎么办？”

“I locked it on the way in.”
“我进来的时候锁上了。”

“That makes it even more suspicious!”
“这反而更可疑了！”

“Let’s go to the rooftop. I brought lunch for us.”
“我们去屋顶吧。我带了午餐。”

The gears in Kim Dokja’s mind slowly whirred to a belated realization. He refrained from slapping his forehead in annoyance as he said, “I should’ve known something was up when you said you didn’t have time to prep lunch this morning.”
金独子脑海中的齿轮缓缓转动，终于迟来地意识到了什么。他忍住拍额头的冲动，说道：“早上你说没时间准备午餐时，我就该知道有问题。”

“Did you really think I’d let you eat whatever crap your cafeteria served?”
“你真的以为我会让你吃食堂那些垃圾吗？”

“Too late, I’ve already tried it a few times.” At his baleful glare, he laughed out loud. “Instead of the rooftop, let’s go somewhere else. I know a spot that barely anyone goes to.”
“太晚了，我已经试过几次了。”面对他恶狠狠的目光，他大笑起来。“别去屋顶了，我们去别的地方吧。我知道一个几乎没人去的地方。”

“Hm,” he hummed before sneaking in a quick peck on the lips. “I guess that’s a better idea.” Another kiss. “Means I can keep doing this without you worrying about others watching.” Another one, one that nearly made Kim Dokja weak in the knees.
“嗯，”他哼了一声，然后迅速偷亲了一下嘴唇。“我想这是个更好的主意。”又一个吻。“这样我就可以继续这样做，而不用担心别人看着。”又一个吻，几乎让金独子腿软。

“I hate you,” he muttered bitterly, his face already a rosy pink.
“我恨你，”他苦涩地嘟囔着，脸已经变成了玫瑰粉色。

A low chuckle was accompanied by yet another peck on the cheek. “Mn.”
“嗯。” 一声低笑伴随着又一次在脸颊上的轻啄。

Mesmerized, Kim Dokja watched as Yoo Joonghyuk deftly handled his opponents on the screen without a single drop in HP. It was moments like these that he almost forgot why his boyfriend maintained the title of “Supreme King” all these years.
金独子着迷地看着刘众赫在屏幕上熟练地对付对手，一滴血都没掉。正是这样的时刻，他几乎忘记了为什么他的男朋友多年来一直保持着“至高王”的称号。

“Joonghyuk-ssi, I feel like you’ve gotten better if that’s even possible,” Lee Hyunsung remarked, leaning over the edge of the cubicle to observe his play.
“众赫先生，我觉得你变得更厉害了，如果这还有可能的话。” 李贤成靠在隔间的边缘，观察着他的操作。

Yoo Joonghyuk continued playing, his eyes darting across the screen. Though a few moments later, he tapped the same key repeatedly, a slight frown forming.
刘众赫继续玩着，眼睛在屏幕上快速扫视。不过片刻之后，他反复按着同一个键，眉头微微皱起。

“There’s an issue with using this weapon.”
“使用这个武器有问题。”

Kim Dokja stepped closer, his eyes narrowing. “What do you mean?”
金独子走近了些，眯起眼睛。“你什么意思？”

It had been almost a month since the StarStream team began working at MinoSoft. After that initial day, Yoo Joonghyuk had been surprisingly diligent in his duties. He thought he would slack off but he ran a tight ship, keeping Lee Jihye and Kim Namwoon in check whenever they became too distracted. As a result, they found several bugs in the system that Kim Dokja helped troubleshoot. Admittedly, he liked working with Yoo Joonghyuk more than he thought.
自从 StarStream 团队开始在 MinoSoft 工作以来，已经快一个月了。自那天起，刘众赫出乎意料地尽职尽责。他原以为自己会偷懒，但他管理得井井有条，每当李智慧和金南云分心时，他都会及时制止。结果，他们发现了系统中的几个漏洞，金独子帮助解决了这些问题。不得不承认，他比想象中更喜欢与刘众赫一起工作。

In terms of their relationship, Kim Dokja told Yoo Joonghyuk that he wanted them to keep it a secret from the company. As far as anyone knew, they were childhood friends who kept in touch through the years. Miraculously, Yoo Joonghyuk listened well, maintaining a professional attitude near others.
关于他们的关系，金独子告诉刘众赫，他希望他们能对公司保密。在其他人看来，他们只是多年来一直保持联系的童年好友。令人惊讶的是，刘众赫听得很认真，在他人面前保持着专业的态度。

But when they were alone—
但当他们独处时——

“Here?” Kim Dokja hissed, craning his neck back to make sure the door was securely locked. “Are you crazy?”
“这里？”金独子嘶嘶地说，扭过头确认门是否锁好了。“你疯了吗？”

“I’ve never been saner,” he murmured, his lips pressing soft kisses against his earlobe.
“我从未如此清醒过，”他低声说道，嘴唇轻轻吻着他的耳垂。

—it was a completely different story.
——这完全是另一回事了。

“We’re at work.”  “我们在工作。”

“I see that.”  “我看到了。”

“Someone could easily come in.”
“随时可能有人进来。”

Yoo Joonghyuk nipped at his collarbone, his arms wrapped around his back with his fingers clinging onto his shoulder blades. “Then you’ll just need to keep quiet.”
刘众赫轻咬着他的锁骨，双臂环抱住他的后背，手指紧紧抓住他的肩胛骨。“那你就得保持安静。”

“This is hardly work-appropriate behavior,” he spat out, biting his lip to suppress a moan as his lips grazed a sensitive spot.
“这可不是工作场合该有的行为，”他咬着嘴唇，压抑住一声呻吟，因为对方的嘴唇擦过了一个敏感的地方。

“Stop worrying so much.” His arms slithered down to his thighs and abruptly hauled him up from the ground. Kim Dokja gasped, instinctively wrapping his legs around his torso as he was brought over to the empty table in the room. “You already made sure the door was locked, and no one comes down here.”
“别担心那么多。”他的手臂滑到他的大腿上，突然将他从地上抱了起来。金独子惊呼一声，本能地用双腿环住他的腰，被他带到房间里的空桌子上。“你已经确保门锁好了，而且没人会来这里。”

“How would you know when you’ve only been here a few weeks?” he snapped, ready to smack him at the nonchalance in his tone but was derailed when his lips traversed lower in the shallow valley of his chest. When did he unbutton his shirt?
“你怎么会知道？你才来了几周而已。”他厉声说道，准备在他那漫不经心的语气中给他一巴掌，但当他的嘴唇滑向他胸前的浅谷时，他的思绪被打断了。他什么时候解开了他的衬衫？

“Kim Dokja,” Yoo Joonghyuk wrapped his arms around his thighs and dragged him to the edge of the table, “stop overthinking.” 
“金独子，”刘众赫用双臂环住他的大腿，将他拖到桌边，“别想太多。”

His retort never made it past his lips, replaced instead by whimpers as Yoo Joonghyuk took his time unraveling him.
他的反驳还没来得及说出口，就被刘众赫慢慢解开他时的呜咽声所取代。

Surprisingly, true to Yoo Joonghyuk’s words, no one ever found out about their escapades nor their relationship—every morning, Kim Dokja would brace himself, expecting judgmental gazes from every single co-worker but it hadn’t happened yet, much to his relief.
令人惊讶的是，正如刘众赫所说，没有人发现他们的冒险或他们的关系——每天早上，金独子都会做好准备，期待每个同事投来评判的目光，但至今为止还没有发生，这让他松了一口气。

Weeks passed by and soon, everyone felt satisfied about the final product, knowing they did everything they could to make it the best it could be. On launch day, Yoo Joonghyuk held a special stream of him playing the game. Kim Dokja observed from the side, away from the camera, feeling a sense of pride swell within his chest whenever Yoo Joonghyuk commented about changes to the game that he was personally involved in troubleshooting.
几周过去了，很快，每个人都对最终产品感到满意，知道他们已经尽了一切努力使其成为最好的。在发布当天，刘众赫进行了一场特别的直播，亲自试玩游戏。金独子在一旁观察，远离镜头，每当刘众赫提到游戏中他亲自参与解决的改动时，他的心中涌起一股自豪感。

As expected, MinoSoft’s first-day sales easily topped the record of the previous title owner. To celebrate the extremely successful launch of their new game, the company was sponsoring a barbecue dinner for all team members involved. Normally, Kim Dokja hated attending company dinners because it just felt like an extension of work but now that Yoo Joonghyuk would also be there, he didn’t mind going.
不出所料，MinoSoft 的首日销量轻松超过了前作记录。为了庆祝新游戏的极其成功发布，公司为所有参与的团队成员赞助了一场烧烤晚餐。通常，金独子讨厌参加公司聚餐，因为这感觉像是工作的延伸，但现在刘众赫也会在场，他并不介意去。

Except the dinner was panning out differently than what he initially envisioned.
只是晚餐的发展与他最初的设想有所不同。

“To Ways of Survival, to Yoo Joonghyuk-nim and his team,” Han Myungoh raised his glass of beer towards the ceiling, its contents sloshing about, “and to me, your fearless and competent leader for spearheading this whole project, cheers!”
“为了《生存方式》，为了刘众赫大人和他的团队，”韩明吾举起他的啤酒杯朝向天花板，杯中的液体晃动着，“也为了我，你们无畏而能干的领导者，带领整个项目前进，干杯！”

Kim Dokja grimaced, wringing his hand free of the droplets of beer that originated from Han Myungoh’s glass.
金独子皱了皱眉，甩掉手上从韩明吾杯子里溅出的啤酒滴。

“How can someone’s ego be that big?” Yoo Sangah whispered as she pretended to cheerfully clink her glass against their coworkers’.
“一个人的自我怎么能这么大？”柳尚雅假装愉快地与同事们的杯子碰杯时低声说道。

He shrugged. “It’s in his nature.”
“他耸了耸肩。‘这是他的本性。’”

“By the way, where’s Yoo Joonghyuk-ssi?” She quickly glanced around the room. “Is he late?”
“对了，刘众赫先生在哪里？”她迅速环顾了一下房间。“他迟到了吗？”

“No,” he responded, in a more acidic tone than he intended, “he’s sitting a couple tables down.”
“没有，”他回答道，语气比他预想的更尖刻，“他就坐在几桌之外。”

Kim Dokja had arrived somewhat early but made sure to save at least a couple seats at his table so that Yoo Joonghyuk and someone else from his team could come sit. He defended their spots up until the start of dinner, which was when he finally showed up—only to be dragged away by two female coworkers to another table.
金独子早到了一会儿，但他特意在自己的桌子上留了几个座位，以便刘众赫和他的团队中的其他人可以来坐。他一直守护着他们的座位，直到晚餐开始，那时他终于出现了——却被两位女同事拉到另一张桌子去了。

Kim Dokja chugged a whole glass of beer before slamming it back down on the table. Wasn’t he the one complaining that he was too standoffish at work? His eyes wandered back to his table, eyeing the two women vying for his attention. That stupid sunfish made zero attempt to even reject them.
金独子一口气喝下了一整杯啤酒，然后重重地把杯子放回桌上。他不是一直在抱怨自己在工作中太冷淡吗？他的目光又回到了自己的桌子，盯着那两个争相吸引他注意的女人。那个愚蠢的翻车鱼甚至没有试图拒绝她们。

“Maybe he can come join us later? There’s a free spot at our table.”
“也许他稍后可以来加入我们？我们桌子上有个空位。”

“He can stay there however long he wants, I don’t care.”
“他想在那儿待多久就待多久，我不在乎。”

Yoo Sangah wordlessly stared at him.
刘尚雅无言地盯着他。

Frowning, Kim Dokja muttered, “What?”
“什么？”金独子皱着眉头嘟囔道。

He couldn’t tell because she chose this moment to take a sip of her beer but he swore she was smiling. “Nothing.”
他无法确定，因为她选择在这个时候喝了一口啤酒，但他发誓她在微笑。“没什么。”

He furrowed his eyebrows but jolted out of his thoughts when a fresh glass of beer landed in front of him.
他皱起眉头，但当一杯新鲜的啤酒放在他面前时，他从思绪中惊醒。

“Bottoms up, Dokja-ssi!”  “干杯，Dokja-ssi！”

He weakly accepted his coworker’s thoughtful gesture and started chugging yet another glass. He always avoided work gatherings at all costs, and tonight was another reminder why he remained resolute in his decision.
他虚弱地接受了同事的体贴举动，开始又灌下一杯。他总是尽量避免工作聚会，今晚再次提醒了他为什么他坚持这个决定。

After finishing it all in one go, he wiped his lips with the back of his hands, ignoring his coworker hyping him up for more alcohol.
他一口气喝完所有酒后，用手背擦了擦嘴唇，无视同事怂恿他再喝更多的酒。

His eyes couldn’t help but wander over towards Yoo Joonghyuk. The person beside him was practically clinging onto him, serving him another drink. Yoo Joonghyuk’s scowl remained permanent as always but he also made no move to fling her away.
他的目光不由自主地飘向刘众赫。旁边的人几乎贴在他身上，又给他倒了一杯酒。刘众赫的眉头一如既往地紧锁着，但他也没有任何动作要把她推开。

And not once did he glance over his way.
而他一次也没有朝他的方向瞥一眼。

Kim Dokja gripped his glass, his fingernails blanching.
金独子紧握着玻璃杯，指甲都发白了。

“Ahjumma, can we get some more beers over here!”
“阿姨，能再给我们来几瓶啤酒吗！”

“Dokja-ssi?”  “Dokja-ssi？”

Ignoring Yoo Sangah, he swiped the soju bottle from the middle of the table. With a swift flick of the wrist, the cap flung off the bottle. He poured the contents into several shotglasses, passing one to his coworker.
他无视了柳尚雅，从桌子中间拿起了烧酒瓶。手腕轻轻一抖，瓶盖便飞了出去。他将酒倒入几个小酒杯中，递给同事一杯。

“We won’t need any more beer.” Clinking their glasses together, he smiled. “Cheers.”
“我们不需要再喝啤酒了。”他碰了碰杯，微笑道。“干杯。”

Kim Dokja hobbled over to the alleyway adjacent to the restaurant, his legs collapsing like a stack of cards. Yoo Sangah, who was steadying him the whole time, quickly shot her arm upwards so that his head wouldn’t bump into the brick wall.
金独子一瘸一拐地走向餐厅旁边的小巷，双腿像一叠纸牌般瘫软下去。一直扶着他的刘尚雅迅速抬起手臂，以免他的头撞到砖墙上。

He hiccupped, shutting his eyes as a headache was starting to form.
他打了个嗝，闭上眼睛，头痛开始发作。

“Dokja-ssi, do you want me to call you a taxi?”
“独子先生，要我帮你叫出租车吗？”

He vehemently shook his head. “No, I’m fine.”
他猛烈地摇了摇头。“不，我没事。”

“You’re definitely not fine,” she answered, giving him a onceover. “You barely made it five steps out of the restaurant.”
“你绝对不好，”她回答，上下打量了他一番。“你刚走出餐厅五步就差点不行了。”

He waved his hand in front of him. “That’s not,” A hiccup, “true.”
他在面前挥了挥手。“那不是，”一个嗝，“真的。”

Kim Dokja lost count of how much he drank after emptying two soju bottles. At one point, he felt this competitive desire to outdrink his colleague sitting across from him, who tipped back shot after shot with ease. It was only when Yoo Sangah practically yanked the bottle from his hand and hauled him up to his feet did he realize their table was littered with green bottles.
金独子在喝完两瓶烧酒后，已经记不清自己喝了多少。有一刻，他感到一种竞争欲望，想要胜过坐在对面的同事，对方轻松地一杯接一杯地喝着。直到刘尚雅几乎从他手中夺过瓶子，把他拉起来，他才意识到他们的桌子上堆满了绿色的酒瓶。

“I think we’re all about to leave anyway. You can probably slip out now before they head for another round.”
“我想我们差不多都要走了。你可以在他们再来一轮之前溜出去。”

“I’ll join them then,” he said, bending his knees towards himself to propel himself up.
“那我就加入他们吧，”他说着，弯曲膝盖准备站起来。

She steadied his weight when he spectacularly failed. “Dokja-ssi, I don’t think that’s a good idea. Do you want me to get Joonghyuk-ssi to take you home? I can text—”
当他明显失败时，她扶住了他的身体。“独子先生，我觉得这不是个好主意。要我让中赫先生送你回家吗？我可以发消息——”

“No,” he gritted, pushing against her arms, “don’t call for him. I don’t need him.”
“不，”他咬着牙，推着她的手臂，“别叫他。我不需要他。”

“Kim Dokja.”  “金独子。”

Craning his head back, he winced when his eyes faced the bright lights from outside the alleyway. A tall figure loomed over them, closing the gap between them. He saw the person mutter something to Yoo Sangah, who gently set him against the wall before leaving the two of them alone.
他仰起头，当眼睛面对小巷外刺眼的灯光时，他皱了皱眉。一个高大的身影笼罩着他们，逐渐拉近了距离。他看到那人对刘尚雅低声说了些什么，刘尚雅轻轻将他靠在墙边，然后离开了，留下他们两人独处。

The figure knelt down beside him.
那身影在他身旁跪了下来。

Kim Dokja tilted his head back, cracking one eye open. The slur in his words became more prominent as alcohol washed through his veins. “Now you finally decide to come talk to me?”
金独子仰起头，睁开一只眼睛。随着酒精在血管中流淌，他话语中的含糊变得更加明显。‘现在你终于决定来和我说话了？’

Fingers brushed his hair out of his eyes, and Kim Dokja leaned into the cool touch. “If it were up to me, we wouldn’t even be here by now.”
手指拨开他眼前的头发，金独子靠向那冰凉的触感。‘如果由我决定，我们现在根本不会在这里。’

“Really? Because,” He swallowed down another hiccup, “it looked like you were having a blast in there.”
“真的吗？因为，”他咽下另一个嗝，“看起来你在里面玩得很开心。”

With a quiet sigh, he grasped his wrist. “Come on, let’s go home.”
他轻轻叹了口气，抓住自己的手腕。“来吧，我们回家。”

“I don’t want to though?”
“可我不想回家？”

Kim Dokja felt him tighten his grip on his arm.
金独子感觉到他握紧了自己手臂。

“You’re clearly too drunk right now.”
“你现在明显喝得太醉了。”

“I’m not drunk,” he snapped, ripping his arm away from his grasp. To prove his point, he quickly rose to his feet and instantly regretted it when a wave of nausea hit him with full force. Blinking away the dizziness, he stumbled back towards the front entrance of the restaurant.
“我没醉，”他厉声说道，猛地甩开对方的手。为了证明自己的观点，他迅速站了起来，但随即感到一阵强烈的恶心，立刻后悔了。他眨了眨眼，试图驱散眩晕感，踉踉跄跄地朝餐厅的前门走去。

“Dokja.”  “Dokja。”

His head collided into something firm. Craning his head back, he met Yoo Joonghyuk’s gaze, noting the wrinkle between his brows. With a frown, he raised his arm to smooth it out with his thumb.
他的头撞到了什么坚硬的东西。他仰起头，对上了刘众赫的目光，注意到他眉间的皱纹。他皱了皱眉，抬起手用拇指轻轻抚平了那道皱纹。

“I told you not to make that face or you’ll get—” Kim Dokja hiccupped once more, disrupting his balance and causing his feet to fumble.
“我告诉过你别做那个表情，否则你会——”金独子又打了个嗝，打乱了他的平衡，导致他的脚步踉跄。

Two arms shot out to grip his shoulders, preventing him to fall face-first onto the concrete.
两只手臂迅速伸出，抓住他的肩膀，防止他脸朝下摔在水泥地上。

“See?” he replied, with a satisfied grin, continuing to rub circles between his brows. “No more wrinkles.”
“看到了吗？”他带着满意的笑容回答，继续在他的眉间画圈。“没有皱纹了。”

Warm fingers interlaced with his own and brought them to a pair of lips. A muted sigh dusted the back of his hand, inadvertently causing a shiver to ripple down his spine.
温暖的手指与他自己的手指交织在一起，并将它们带到一对唇边。一声低沉的叹息轻拂过他的手背，不经意间引起一阵颤栗顺着他的脊椎蔓延。

“Let me take you home.” 
“让我带你回家。”

It took a monumental effort to lift his gaze against his increasingly heavy eyelids. When their eyes eventually met, Kim Dokja felt his skin warm further as he perceived the concern in those dark orbs.
他费了极大的力气才抬起目光，对抗着越来越沉重的眼皮。当他们的目光最终相遇时，金独子感觉到自己的皮肤更加温暖，因为他从那双漆黑的眼眸中察觉到了关切。

“Joonghyuk-ssi, there you are! We thought—Kim Dokja? What are you doing out here with him?”
“Joonghyuk-ssi，你在这里！我们还以为——金独子？你怎么会和他一起在这里？”

Kim Dokja snatched his hand back before whirling around, nearly losing his balance if it weren’t for Yoo Joonghyuk steadying him at the small of his back.
金独子迅速抽回手，转身时差点失去平衡，幸好刘众赫在他背后扶住了他。

“Manager Han,” he answered, squinting as he tried to make out his silhouette, “I just came out for some fresh air and happened to bump into Joonghyuk-ssi.”
“韩经理，”他回答道，眯起眼睛试图看清对方的轮廓，“我只是出来透透气，碰巧遇到了 Joonghyuk-ssi。”

“Everyone’s wondering where you went, Joonghyuk-ssi,” he said, already losing interest in his response as he strolled towards them. Patting Yoo Joonghyuk on the back, he urged him forward. “We’re going to have another round of drinks before we head to the next spot.”
“大家都在找你去了哪里，Joonghyuk-ssi，”他说着，已经对对方的回答失去了兴趣，一边朝他们走去。他拍了拍 Yoo Joonghyuk 的背，催促他前进。“在去下一个地方之前，我们还要再喝一轮。”

“I don’t—”  “我不——”

“Ahjumma! We’ll take more soju!” he yelled, pushing the both of them inside.
“阿姨！我们再来点烧酒！”他喊道，把两人推了进去。

Kim Dokja half-expected Yoo Joonghyuk to return to his table but Han Myungoh didn’t give him the chance, already gesturing to the seat beside him with Kim Dokja flanking his other side. However, the same female coworker from before must’ve been observing them because two seconds later, she was squeezing into the spot between Han Myungoh and Yoo Joonghyuk.
金独子半期待着刘众赫会回到他的座位，但韩明吾没给他这个机会，已经示意他旁边的座位，金独子则坐在他的另一侧。然而，之前那位女同事一定在观察他们，因为两秒钟后，她就挤进了韩明吾和刘众赫之间的位置。

Kim Dokja wanted to snap at her, What is your fucking deal?
金独子想对她吼，你到底有什么毛病？

As it turned out, the last round of drinks naturally involved a drinking game. Every time anyone lost, they would have to take a swig of beer. The ultimate punishment drink was basically a pitcher of somaek and just looking at the quantity of alcohol made Kim Dokja want to throw up.
结果，最后一轮酒自然涉及到一个喝酒游戏。每次有人输了，他们就得喝一口啤酒。终极惩罚酒基本上是一壶烧酒混合啤酒，光是看着那酒量就让金独子想吐。

While he hated alcohol, he was surprisingly okay at drinking games. Though maybe it was because he already drank way more than he usually did, but he kept making mistakes left and right.
虽然他讨厌酒精，但在喝酒游戏上却出奇地擅长。不过，也许是因为他已经喝得比平时多得多，但他还是不断地犯错误。

“Dokja-ssi, bottoms up!”  “Dokja-ssi，干杯！”

Frowning, he reached for the glass of beer in front of him, thankful that it wasn’t at least the punishment drink.
他皱着眉头，伸手去拿面前的啤酒杯，庆幸至少这不是惩罚酒。

A familiar hand intercepted his drink, and Kim Dokja openly stared as Yoo Joonghyuk downed the whole thing in one go.
一只熟悉的手拦住了他的酒杯，金独子眼睁睁地看着刘众赫一口气喝光了整杯酒。

“Whoa, look at Joonghyuk-ssi go!”
“哇，看看 Joonghyuk-ssi 的表现！”

Cheers erupted from some of his coworkers as they encouraged him to keep drinking. Yoo Joonghyuk slammed the glass down, his jaw tight. With a glare icy enough to sober everyone in an instant, they awkwardly resumed the game.
一些同事欢呼起来，鼓励他继续喝。刘众赫重重地把杯子放下，下巴紧绷。他那冰冷到足以让所有人瞬间清醒的目光，让他们尴尬地重新开始了游戏。

Kim Dokja glanced up at Yoo Joonghyuk, muttering a quiet, “Thank you.” Even in his drunk-addled mind, he knew how much Yoo Joonghyuk also disliked the taste of alcohol.
金独子抬头看了刘众赫一眼，低声说了句“谢谢”。即使在他醉醺醺的头脑中，他也知道刘众赫有多么讨厌酒精的味道。

Yoo Joonghyuk took a sip of his water, hiding the smile forming on his lips.
刘众赫喝了一口水，掩饰着嘴角浮现的微笑。

Luckily for Kim Dokja, the game was relatively over sooner than he thought. The loser of the game ended up being that female coworker who had been pestering Yoo Joonghyuk all night, and Kim Dokja couldn’t help but relish in her misery.
幸运的是，对金独子来说，游戏比他想象的要早结束。游戏的输家是那个整晚都在纠缠刘众赫的女同事，金独子忍不住对她的不幸感到幸灾乐祸。

Someone slid the pitcher of alcohol towards her, and she scrutinized the beverage with thinly-veiled disgust. Kim Dokja watched as she picked up the drink with two hands, unable to hide his satisfaction that karma truly existed in this world.
有人把酒壶推到她面前，她带着几乎不加掩饰的厌恶审视着这杯饮料。金独子看着她用双手拿起酒杯，无法掩饰自己对这世界确实存在因果报应的满足感。

“Joonghyuk-oppa,” She placed the drink to her right, in front of Yoo Joonghyuk, “would you drink this for me please? I don’t think I can handle it.”
“中赫欧巴，”她把酒杯放在右边，放在刘中赫面前，“你能替我喝吗？我觉得我可能受不了。”

Kim Dokja’s eyebrows nearly reached the ceiling. Who on earth would believe such a bald-faced lie like that?
金独子的眉毛几乎要碰到天花板了。谁会相信这种明目张胆的谎言呢？

Yoo Joonghyuk silently stared at the drink in front of him. A moment later, his eyebrow twitched and he was lifting his hand towards the drink.
刘众赫默默地盯着面前的饮料。片刻之后，他的眉毛微微抽动，手伸向了那杯饮料。

I can’t believe this—
我简直不敢相信——

Kim Dokja snatched the glass from her hand, spilling half its contents as he downed the whole thing within seconds. When the familiar taste of soju filled his tastebuds, he almost regretted being this impulsive. But when his eyes zeroed in on her hands resting on Yoo Joonghyuk’s arm, he slammed the glass on the table in front of her and mustered a nasty glare in her direction.
金独子从她手中夺过杯子，洒出了一半的酒，几秒钟内就把剩下的酒一饮而尽。当熟悉的烧酒味道充斥他的味蕾时，他几乎后悔自己如此冲动。但当他的目光锁定在她搭在刘众赫手臂上的手时，他将杯子重重地放在她面前的桌子上，朝她投去一个恶狠狠的眼神。

“Stop pretending like you can’t handle alcohol when you’re always the most sober at any work dinner.”
“别装得好像你喝不了酒似的，每次工作聚餐你都是最清醒的那个。”

She gaped at him, her face flushed. Stuttering, she said, “Dokja-ssi, I don’t know what you’re talking about. Besides, all I did was just ask if Joonghyuk-oppa wanted to—”
她目瞪口呆地看着他，脸涨得通红。结结巴巴地说道：“独子先生，我不知道你在说什么。而且，我只是问了一下中赫欧巴要不要——”

Kim Dokja leaned over Yoo Joonghyuk, roughly shoving her hand away from his arm. He nearly tumbled over them if it weren’t for a steadying hand on the small of his back. Not dwelling on whose hand that may be, he sluggishly but firmly said, “Stop calling him oppa because he’s not your fucking oppa.”
金独子俯身靠近刘众赫，粗暴地把她的手从他的手臂上推开。要不是有人在他背后扶了一把，他差点就摔倒了。他没有去管那是谁的手，慢吞吞但坚定地说道：“别叫他欧巴了，因为他不是你他妈的欧巴。”

“I think this is the first time I’ve seen Dokja-ssi like this,” a coworker of his remarked, bursting out laughing as if this entire situation was pure entertainment. “You’re acting as if you’re his lover or something.”
“我觉得这是我第一次看到独子先生这样，”他的一个同事评论道，笑得前仰后合，仿佛整个情况纯粹是娱乐。“你表现得好像你是他的恋人一样。”

The room was spinning and he wasn’t sure if that was because he was swaying back and forth, the gaudy color of Han Myungoh’s shirt was actively making his eyes sting, his eardrums felt like they were submerged underwater as everyone around him faded into the background.
房间在旋转，他不确定这是因为他在前后摇晃，还是因为韩明吾衬衫的艳丽颜色让他的眼睛刺痛，他的耳膜感觉像是被淹没在水下，周围的人都渐渐消失在背景中。

Yoo Joonghyuk was watching him with widened eyes, his lips parted slightly.
刘众赫睁大了眼睛看着他，嘴唇微微张开。

Kim Dokja grabbed onto his arm, pulling him up from his seat.
金独子抓住他的手臂，把他从座位上拉了起来。

“That’s because he is.” Snapping his head towards the female coworker, he snarled, “So stop flirting with my fucking boyfriend.”
“那是因为他就是。”他猛地转过头，对着那位女同事咆哮道，“所以别再他妈勾引我男朋友了。”

Without waiting for a response and ignoring how the background noise fizzled to silence, he stumbled around the tables towards the exit, his hand wrapped securely around Yoo Joonghyuk’s wrist. But after nearly tripping over his feet after a few steps, he felt Yoo Joonghyuk adjusting his grip so that his fingers interlaced with his, finding their way home.
不等回应，也忽略了背景噪音逐渐消失的寂静，他跌跌撞撞地绕过桌子朝出口走去，手紧紧握住刘众赫的手腕。但走了几步后，他差点被自己的脚绊倒，这时他感觉到刘众赫调整了握法，让他们的手指交错相扣，仿佛找到了归途。

“Wait a minute, Kim Dokja.”
“等一下，金独子。”

Kim Dokja frowned, wondering why he stopped them from leaving. He watched Yoo Joonghyuk lean down close to Han Myungoh to whisper something in his ear. He craned his neck in an attempt to eavesdrop but Yoo Joonghyuk was already done, straightening his posture and leading them outside the restaurant.
金独子皱起眉头，不明白自己为什么要阻止他们离开。他看着刘众赫俯身靠近韩明悟，在他耳边低语了几句。他伸长脖子试图偷听，但刘众赫已经说完，直起身子，带着他们走出了餐厅。

The summer breeze instantly caressed his flushed cheeks. It was much quieter outside, and Kim Dokja wondered if Yoo Joonghyuk could hear his erratic heartbeat if he didn’t already feel it through their joined hands.
夏日的微风立刻轻抚着他泛红的脸颊。外面安静了许多，金独子不禁想，如果刘众赫没有通过他们紧握的手感受到他急促的心跳，他是否能听到。

Yoo Joonghyuk continued dragging him down the street and showed no signs of stopping so Kim Dokja skidded to a halt, glaring up at the man.
刘众赫继续拖着他沿着街道走，丝毫没有停下的意思，于是金独子猛地停下脚步，抬头瞪着那个男人。

“Are you mad at me or something? You’ve been ignoring me,” He hiccupped, his vision slightly hazy as he attempted to focus his vision, “during the whole dinner and didn’t even bother coming to my table even once.” A fresh wave of irritation bubbled to the surface, leading him to weakly punch his chest. “You bastard. Were you seriously going to just drink that for her? You hate alcohol! Seriously, what is up with—”
“你是在生我的气还是怎么了？你一直在无视我，”他打了个嗝，视线有些模糊，试图集中注意力，“整个晚餐期间，你甚至一次都没来我的桌子。”一股新的恼怒涌上心头，让他无力地捶打自己的胸口。“你这个混蛋。你真的要为她喝那个吗？你讨厌酒精！说真的，到底是怎么回事——”

A tiny huff of laughter reached his ears.
他听到了一声轻微的轻笑。

Peering up, he squinted at Yoo Joonghyuk’s face. “You stupid sunfish, what are you smiling for?”
他眯起眼睛，抬头看着刘众赫的脸。“你这个蠢太阳鱼，你在笑什么？”

Warm fingers brushed his bangs back. “No reason.”
“温暖的手指拂过他的刘海。‘没什么。’”

His eyelids grew heavier with every stroke as his gentle touch nearly lulled him to sleep. “Liar.”
“随着每一次轻抚，他的眼皮越来越沉重，那温柔的触摸几乎让他入睡。‘骗子。’”

A low chuckle filled the space between them. “Let’s head home, Kim Dokja.”
“低沉的笑声在他们之间回荡。‘我们回家吧，金独子。’”

Before Kim Dokja even opened his eyes, the first thing he felt was the throbbing pain in his head. Groaning, he rolled over onto his side, throwing the comforter over his head.
金独子还没睁开眼睛，首先感受到的是头部的阵阵疼痛。他呻吟着，翻了个身，把被子拉过头顶。

What the fuck, why does my head hurt so much?
妈的，为什么我的头这么痛？  

“You’re awake?”  “你醒了？”

He immediately recognized whose voice that was. “No, I’m not.”
他立刻认出了那是谁的声音。“不，我不是。”

A heavy weight sank into the bed beside him. “I got some water for you.”
“一个沉重的重量在他身旁的床上陷了下去。‘我给你拿了点水。’”

Kim Dokja re-emerged from under the covers, wincing when the rays streaming past the curtains hit his eyes. Yoo Joonghyuk gently helped him sit up, handing him the glass of water that he quickly chugged down.
“金独子从被子里重新钻出来，当窗帘缝隙中透过的光线照到他的眼睛时，他皱了皱眉。刘众赫轻轻地扶他坐起来，递给他一杯水，他迅速一饮而尽。”

“Holy shit,” he said, setting the glass down on the nightstand, “my head is pounding.”
“天哪，”他说，把玻璃杯放在床头柜上，“我的头好痛。”

“That’s what happens when you go through four soju bottles by yourself.”
“这就是你一个人喝完四瓶烧酒的后果。”

“…Are you sure it wasn’t only two?”
“…你确定不是只有两瓶吗？”

“It was four. I counted every single one.”
“是四杯。我每一杯都数了。”

His piercing gaze nearly made Kim Dokja cower back in admonishment but then he remembered why he drank so much in the first place. Meeting his stare, he rebutted, “How were you able to count when you were having so much fun with my coworkers?”
他那锐利的目光几乎让金独子因责备而退缩，但随后他想起了自己为何喝得那么多。他迎上对方的目光，反驳道：“你和我的同事们玩得那么开心，怎么可能数得清？”

Memories of that woman trying to flirt with Yoo Joonghyuk rekindled his anger towards the whole situation and frustration that Yoo Joonghyuk didn’t do anything to reject her advances.
那个女人试图与刘众赫调情的记忆重新点燃了他对整个情况的愤怒，以及对刘众赫没有采取任何行动拒绝她的挫败感。

Bristling, he sat up, ignoring how that just made his headache worse. “If you wanted to flirt with her then go ahead. See if I care.” Turning his head, he mumbled sarcastically, “Just gives me an excuse to flirt with other guys then.”
“他怒气冲冲地坐起来，无视这只会让他的头痛更严重。‘如果你想和她调情，那就去吧。看看我是否在乎。’他转过头，讽刺地嘟囔道，‘正好给我一个借口去和其他男人调情。’”

The weight on the bed shifted, and Yoo Joonghyuk was suddenly looming over him, his arms perched beside him, entrapping him within his cage.
床上的重量移动了，刘众赫突然笼罩在他上方，双臂撑在他身旁，将他困在自己的牢笼中。

“I advise you to rethink that,” he murmured, his tone dangerously low, inadvertently sending goosebumps down his neck, “unless you want me to completely lose my shit.”
“我建议你重新考虑一下，”他低声说道，语气危险地低沉，不经意间让他颈后起了鸡皮疙瘩，“除非你想让我彻底失控。”

Kim Dokja scooted backwards to give himself more space but Yoo Joonghyuk simply followed his lead. When his back hit the headboard of their bed, he realized there was nowhere else to escape. He forced himself to look away from his intense gaze, willing his heartbeat to calm down because an irrational part of him was partially tempted to do just that, just to see how Yoo Joonghyuk would react.
金独子向后挪动，试图给自己更多空间，但刘众赫只是跟着他的动作。当他的背碰到床头的木板时，他意识到无处可逃。他强迫自己避开那炽热的目光，试图让心跳平静下来，因为内心深处有一丝不理智的冲动，想要看看刘众赫会如何反应。

A quiet sigh was heard, and Yoo Joonghyuk hung his head, resting his forehead against Kim Dokja’s shoulder.
一声轻轻的叹息传来，刘众赫低下头，将额头靠在金独子的肩上。

“Sorry. I just…” Yoo Joonghyuk breathed deeply, tilting his head so that his lips faced his neck. “Just don’t suggest something like that again.”
“抱歉。我只是……”刘众赫深吸一口气，侧过头，嘴唇靠近他的脖子。“别再提那样的建议了。”

Kim Dokja nodded slowly in response. “Only if you promise to do the same.”
金独子缓缓点头回应。“只要你答应也这样做。”

Yoo Joonghyuk lifted his head, heaving another sigh as he glanced the other way. “I wanted to tell you after dinner about everything but I didn’t expect you to get this drunk.”
刘众赫抬起头，又叹了口气，瞥向另一边。“我本想晚饭后告诉你一切，但没想到你会醉成这样。”

“Tell me what?”  “告诉我什么？”

“That woman somehow took a picture of us holding hands while we were on the rooftop. She threatened to upload the picture on the internet if I didn’t listen to her request.”
“那个女人不知怎么拍到了我们在屋顶上手牵手的照片。她威胁说如果我不听她的要求，就把照片上传到网上。”

“What?” Kim Dokja was always on the lookout for probing gazes and refrained from any physical contact if he even had an inkling that someone was watching. “What request?”
“什么？”金独子总是提防着窥探的目光，只要有一丝被人注视的感觉，他就会避免任何身体接触。“什么要求？”

“To go on a date with her.”
“和她约会。”

“What?”  “什么？”

“Obviously, I told her no. But then she continued with her threats and if she really did mean what she said, I realized I couldn’t take that risk.”
“显然，我告诉她不行。但她继续威胁我，如果她真的说到做到，我意识到我不能冒这个险。”

Kim Dokja quieted, his shoulders deflating just slightly. “I… guess that’s true. If people were to find out about us, I don’t think StarStream could control the media enough and your image would definitely take a—”
金独子安静下来，肩膀微微塌下。“我……我想这是真的。如果人们发现了我们的事，我不认为 StarStream 能控制住媒体，你的形象肯定会受到——”

“I don’t care about all that.” Yoo Joonghyuk cupped his hand, stroking various circles along the back of his hand. “Your face was visible in that photo. If she uploaded that, I was afraid the company would fire you or worse, if people on the internet tried to find you and hurt you somehow.”
“我不在乎那些。”刘众赫用手捧住他的手，轻轻抚摸着他的手背。“那张照片里有你的脸。如果她上传了，我担心公司会解雇你，或者更糟，如果网上的人试图找到你并伤害你。”

“Joonghyuk-ah.” Kim Dokja flipped his hand around so that he could easily weave their fingers together.
“中赫啊。”金独子翻过手，轻松地将他们的手指交织在一起。

“I thought that if I could somehow get a hold of her phone, I could delete the photo and be done with it. So I lied to her, saying that I would go on a date with her at some point. But she never let her guard down and was always glued to her phone so I kept stalling for time whenever she pestered me about choosing a date.”
“我以为只要我能拿到她的手机，就能删掉照片，事情就结束了。所以我骗她说，我会在某个时候和她约会。但她从未放松警惕，总是紧握着手机，所以每当她催促我选日期时，我就一直拖延时间。”

Thinking back to how he downed shot after shot because he completely misunderstood the situation, Kim Dokja wanted to run his nonexistent car off a cliff.
回想起自己因为完全误解了情况而一杯接一杯地灌酒，金独子真想开着那辆不存在的车冲下悬崖。

“But when we had the company dinner last night and she pulled me to her table, I realized that was the perfect chance. And I eventually did. Thanks to you, actually.”
“但昨晚公司聚餐时，她把我拉到她的桌子旁，我意识到那是个绝佳的机会。最终我做到了。其实还得感谢你。”

He furrowed his brows. “Me? What did I do?”
他皱起眉头。“我？我做了什么？”

“You distracted the entire restaurant when you suddenly declared that I was your boyfriend.”
“你突然宣布我是你男朋友时，分散了整个餐厅的注意力。”

Kim Dokja blinked a few times, initially not understanding. But his words soon triggered memories from last night to flood his brain, and he could only hang his mouth open in pure horror as he relived every single moment that transpired.
金独子眨了眨眼，起初并不理解。但他的话很快触发了昨晚的记忆，涌入他的脑海，他只能张着嘴，纯粹地感到恐惧，重新体验每一个瞬间。

“Stop pretending like you can’t handle alcohol when you’re always the most sober at any work dinner.”
“别装得好像你喝不了酒似的，每次工作聚餐你都是最清醒的那个。”

“Oh my god.”  “我的天啊。”

“Stop calling him oppa because he’s not your fucking oppa.”
“别再叫他 oppa 了，因为他不是你他妈的 oppa。”

“What did I…?”  “我做了什么……？”

“You’re acting as if you’re his lover or something.”
“你表现得好像你是他的恋人似的。”

Kim Dokja buried his face in his palms, swallowing an agonizing shriek of sheer mortification.
金独子把脸埋在手掌中，咽下了因极度尴尬而发出的痛苦尖叫。

“That’s because he is. So stop flirting with my fucking boyfriend.”
“那是因为他就是。所以别再他妈勾引我男朋友了。”

“Please tell me I didn’t announce to everyone that we’re dating.”
“请告诉我我没有向大家宣布我们在约会。”

A low chuckle reached his ears. “Unfortunately for you, it seems you did. I wish I could’ve recorded that.”
“一声低沉的笑声传入他的耳朵。‘对你不幸的是，看来你确实这么做了。我真希望我能录下来。’”

Throwing his hands down, he delivered a menacing scowl towards him. “You’re not helping at all.”
“他猛地放下双手，朝他投去一个威胁性的怒视。‘你一点忙都没帮上。’”

“Well, I think two good things came out of that. Right before your declaration of love—”
“‘好吧，我觉得有两件好事从那件事中产生了。就在你表白之前——’”

“It was not a declaration of love, you bastard!”
“那不是爱的宣言，你这个混蛋！”

Yoo Joonghyuk laughed, and Kim Dokja was annoyed at how this simple sound was enough to instantly melt away his anger. “Right before everything happened, I had actually gotten a hold of her phone while your manager was trying to get her to do the punishment drink. I had just deleted it off her phone when you suddenly came into the picture.”
“刘众赫笑了，金独子对这个简单的声音竟然能瞬间融化他的愤怒感到恼火。‘就在一切发生之前，我其实已经拿到了她的手机，当时你的经纪人正试图让她喝惩罚酒。我刚从她手机上删掉那段视频，你就突然出现了。’”

“…isn’t that illegal?”  “……这不是违法的吗？”

“She was the one who blackmailed me first so I’d say we’re even.”
“是她先勒索我的，所以我觉得我们扯平了。”

“That’s not how the law works.”
“法律可不是这么运作的。”

He shrugged, reaching up to play with a lock of Kim Dokja’s hair. “Now she can’t make any more ridiculous demands, and I can sleep better knowing that your photo isn’t in her phone anymore.”
他耸了耸肩，伸手玩弄着金独子的一缕头发。“现在她不能再提出任何荒谬的要求了，而且知道你的照片不再在她的手机里，我也能睡得更安稳了。”

The tips of his ears grew hotter. Pivoting direction to a topic that hopefully didn’t accelerate his heartbeat, he asked, “What’s the second good thing then?”
他的耳尖变得更烫了。为了转移到一个不会加速心跳的话题，他问道：“那第二件好事是什么？”

The corner of his lips twitched upward. “The fact that everyone knows you’re taken.”
他的嘴角微微上扬。‘大家都知道你名花有主了。’

Kim Dokja resumed his scowl, grabbing a pillow to repeatedly smack him upside the head. “How’s that supposed to be a good thing!”
金独子重新皱起眉头，抓起一个枕头反复拍打他的头。‘这算什么好事！’

Yoo Joonghyuk forcefully yanked the pillow towards him, sending Kim Dokja toppling over onto his chest. “Now I won’t have to worry about others trying to ask you out.”
刘众赫用力把枕头拉向自己，导致金独子倒在他的胸口上。‘这样我就不用担心别人想约你了。’

“I still don’t get why you’re so concerned about something that’ll never happen,” he mumbled irritably, sitting upright. Groaning, he squeezed his eyes shut as he felt his headache returning with full force. “How am I supposed to face everyone at work now? Every single employee at MinoSoft will know by Monday morning.”
“我还是不明白你为什么这么担心一件永远不会发生的事情，”他烦躁地嘟囔着，坐直了身子。他呻吟着，闭上眼睛，感觉头痛又猛烈地袭来。“我现在该怎么面对工作上的每个人？周一早上，MinoSoft 的每个员工都会知道。”

“That won’t be a problem.”
“那不会是个问题。”

“What?”  “什么？”

“I had a talk with your manager. He’ll take care of things.”
“我和你的经理谈过了。他会处理好的。”

Kim Dokja narrowed his eyes. “Since when would Han Myungoh listen to someone who wasn’t his boss?” And besides, when did he even find the time to talk to Han Myungoh?
金独子眯起眼睛。“韩明吾什么时候会听不是他老板的人的话了？”再说了，他什么时候有时间去和韩明吾谈话了？

“Trust me. He will.” Yoo Joonghyuk rearranged the pillow back at the head of the bed. “You can ask Yoo Sangah yourself if you’re so worried.”
“相信我。他会的。”刘众赫把枕头重新放回床头。“如果你这么担心，你可以自己去问刘尚雅。”

“…I thought you didn’t care if everyone knew.”
“……我以为你不在乎别人知不知道。”

“You’re not wrong.” Yoo Joonghyuk’s gaze flickered back to his, his orbs a warm chocolate brown as the morning glow seeped past the curtains. “But I know you care. That’s why I took measures to make sure none of this will be leaked to the rest of the company and to the media.”
“你说得没错。”刘众赫的目光闪烁了一下，他的眼眸在晨光透过窗帘的映照下呈现出温暖的巧克力棕色。“但我知道你在乎。所以我才采取措施，确保这一切不会被泄露给公司其他人或媒体。”

“How?”  “怎么做到的？”

“I have my ways. Namgoong Minyoung also helped.”
“我有我的办法。南宫敏英也帮了忙。”

While the two of them have developed a bond that extended beyond a typical boss-employee relationship, Kim Dokja knew that Yoo Joonghyuk was still incredibly stubborn when it came to asking his boss for help with anything.
尽管他们之间已经发展出超越普通上下级关系的纽带，金独子知道，当涉及到向老板寻求帮助时，刘众赫仍然非常固执。

Kim Dokja wearily sighed, feeling guilty that Yoo Joonghyuk had to resort to that in order to clean up his mess. Glancing down towards his lap, he mumbled, “I’m sorry you had to do all that. It won’t happen again.”
金独子疲惫地叹了口气，感到内疚，因为刘众赫不得不采取那种方式来收拾他的烂摊子。他低头看向自己的膝盖，喃喃道：“对不起，让你做了这么多。不会再发生了。”

“I didn’t mind.” Yoo Joonghyuk cupped the sides of his face, tipping his head back slightly. “It was worth seeing you jealous.”
“我不介意。”刘众赫捧住他的脸，轻轻将他的头向后仰。“看到你嫉妒的样子，值得。”

Kim Dokja swatted his hands away, petulant. “I wasn’t jealous.”
金独子拍开他的手，赌气地说：“我才没有嫉妒。”

“Says the person who told that woman that I wasn’t her oppa.”
“说这话的人可是告诉那个女人我不是她的欧巴。”

He groaned, burying his face in his hands, wanting to crawl back under the covers. “Why couldn’t I have blacked out so I wouldn’t have to remember any of this?”
“他呻吟着，把脸埋进手里，想要爬回被窝里。“为什么我不能晕过去，这样我就不用记住这一切了？””

Yoo Joonghyuk pried his fingers away, shaking his head in amusement. “Don’t worry. It was cute.”
“刘众赫掰开他的手指，好笑地摇了摇头。“别担心，很可爱。””

Kim Dokja spluttered, unable to gather an intelligible response but it didn’t matter—Yoo Joonghyuk was already sealing their lips together. Kim Dokja timidly hooked his arms around his neck which prompted Yoo Joonghyuk to gently drop him down towards the mattress.
“金独结结巴巴，无法组织出一个清晰的回答，但这并不重要——刘众赫已经将他们的嘴唇封在了一起。金独怯生生地用手臂环住他的脖子，这促使刘众赫轻轻地将他放倒在床垫上。”

Yoo Joonghyuk was the first to break the kiss but he didn’t stray far as he whispered against his lips, “But I think I deserve a reward for all my hard work.”
刘众赫是第一个结束亲吻的人，但他并没有走远，而是贴着他的嘴唇低语道：“但我觉得我应该得到一些奖励，毕竟我这么努力。”

“What kind of reward?” he breathed, his eyelids dropping to stare at his lips. “Do you want a pat on the head? I don’t have much else to offer unfortunately.”
“什么样的奖励？”他轻声问道，眼皮垂下，盯着他的嘴唇。“你想要拍拍头吗？可惜我没有其他东西可以给你。”

“Mn,” He stole another peck on the lips which didn’t help the butterflies swarming around in Kim Dokja’s stomach, “I’m sure we can work something out.”
“嗯，”他又偷了一个吻，这让金独子胃里的蝴蝶更加翻腾，“我相信我们可以想出办法的。”

Yoo Joonghyuk shivered, balling his fists in his jacket pocket as another gust of wind blasted through his thin layer of clothing. It had been reasonably warm in the afternoon so he wrongly assumed the temperatures wouldn’t drop too much that night.
刘众赫打了个寒颤，将拳头紧紧攥在夹克口袋里，又一阵风穿透了他单薄的衣物。下午时天气还算暖和，所以他错误地认为晚上的温度不会下降太多。  

But maybe it was better this way—it gave him something to distract himself with.
但也许这样更好——这给了他一些分散注意力的东西。

It had been little less than a year when he began sneaking out of the house. Initially, he would return after fifteen minutes but now, he would stay out for hours at a time. He wondered if his parents knew—and if they did, would they even care?
他开始偷偷溜出家门还不到一年。起初，他会在十五分钟后回来，但现在，他一次会在外面待上几个小时。他想知道他的父母是否知道——如果他们知道，他们会在意吗？

Wispy puffs of air trailed behind him as he jogged up the hill to a secluded area with a large lone tree. He found this place a few months ago and it was the perfect spot as a hideout—no one ventured out here especially at night, it was only a thirty-minute walk from his house, and it overlooked the entire city.
他慢跑上山，来到一个僻静的地方，那里有一棵孤独的大树。几个月前他发现了这个地方，这里是一个完美的藏身之处——尤其是在晚上，没有人会来这里冒险，离他家只有三十分钟的步行距离，而且可以俯瞰整个城市。  

He slumped down to the ground, leaning his back against the tree trunk. His eyes blocked out the various bright dots of lit up buildings as he focused his vision among the twinkling stars above. There wasn’t a cloud in sight so it made it even easier to discern each constellation.
他瘫坐在地上，背靠着树干。他的眼睛挡住了建筑物发出的各种明亮光点，专注于头顶闪烁的星星。天空中没有一丝云彩，这使得辨别每个星座变得更加容易。

He breathed in the crisp air, his eyes closed.
他深吸了一口清新的空气，闭上了眼睛。

“Yoo Joonghyuk, why are you getting into fights all the time? You’re old enough to know better.”
“刘众赫，你为什么总是打架？你已经够大了，应该知道不该这样。”

Remnants of the tree’s branches rustled in the wind.
树枝的残余在风中沙沙作响。

“Even for you, there’s only so many times I can let you go with just a warning. Other parents will surely complain at some point.”
“即使是你，我也只能给你这么多次警告。其他家长迟早会抱怨的。”

It was even chillier up here but he didn’t actually mind it that much.
这里更冷，但他其实并不太在意。

“I’m kicking you out of this house if you continue this childish nonsense.”
“如果你继续这种幼稚的胡闹，我就把你赶出这个家。”

Yoo Joonghyuk’s eyelids fluttered open, his irises mirroring the pitch-black sky.
刘众赫的眼皮微微颤动，他的瞳孔映照着漆黑的天空。

“Well, this is unexpected.”
“嗯，这真是出乎意料。”

Yoo Joonghyuk immediately straightened his spine upon hearing the voice of the person he had been wanting to see. The woman in front of him pulled her chair back, taking her time to settle into a comfortable position.
听到那个他一直想见的人的声音，刘众赫立刻挺直了背脊。面前的女人拉开椅子，不慌不忙地调整到一个舒适的姿势。

Lee Sookyung folded her hands over the table. “I don’t see Dokja around.”
李淑京双手交叉放在桌上。“我没看到独子。”

“He’s not here.” Not letting the slight twitch in her eyebrow deter him, he continued, “I came alone.”
“他不在这里。”他没有被她眉毛的轻微抽动所动摇，继续说道，“我一个人来的。”

“Alone,” she reiterated as she sat straighter, a spark of interest igniting in her irises.
“一个人，”她重复道，坐得更直了，眼中闪过一丝兴趣的火花。

Yoo Joonghyuk made it a point to free up his schedule whenever Kim Dokja visited his mother. Often times, he would wait outside until he was finished but occasionally, he would join him. Though they have met at least a few times already, he still couldn’t get a read on her. She rarely directed questions towards him during those visits, and when she thought he wasn’t looking, he would catch her staring at him with this indiscernible gaze—just like what she was doing now.
刘众赫总是会在金独子来看望他母亲时腾出时间。通常，他会等到他结束后才离开，但偶尔也会和他一起进去。尽管他们已经见过几次面，但他仍然无法读懂她。在这些拜访中，她很少向他提问，而当他以为她没有注意时，他会发现她用一种难以捉摸的目光盯着他——就像她现在所做的那样。

“He’s out with his friends right now,” he clarified.
“他现在和朋友出去了，”他澄清道。

She hummed, the first hint of genuine emotion emerging through the walls she built. “Is that so.”
她哼了一声，这是她筑起的墙后第一次流露出真实的情感。“是这样啊。”

Yoo Joonghyuk clasped and unclasped his hands, hidden from sight.
刘众赫握紧又松开双手，动作隐藏在视线之外。

“So.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “What brings you here today?”
“所以。”她双臂交叉在胸前。“今天是什么风把你吹来了？”

Yoo Joonghyuk had been planning this visit for months. He had a very specific reason for meeting her, and he even stayed up the past three nights to draft up what he wanted to say to her. The neatly-folded speech he prepared was easily within reach in his pockets—but now, it just felt like an enormous weight, one that smothered the air from his lungs.
刘众赫为这次见面已经计划了几个月。他有一个非常具体的理由要见她，甚至在过去的三天里熬夜起草了他想对她说的话。他准备好的整齐折叠的演讲稿就在口袋里触手可及——但现在，它感觉就像一块巨大的重物，压得他喘不过气来。

“Kim Dokja learned how to make omurice recently.”
“金独子最近学会了做蛋包饭。”

The second those words left his mouth, it was like a dam, his brain too slow to filter what he actually wanted to tell her.
那些话一出口，就像决堤的洪水，他的大脑太慢，无法过滤他真正想告诉她的话。

“He started volunteering at the library and sometimes on the weekends, he would go and read books to the children there. In the beginning, it was just for an hour because there were only a few kids who listened. But now, he would sometimes be there the whole day, just reading all the books these children requested.”
“他开始在图书馆做志愿者，有时周末会去那里给孩子们读书。起初，他只待一个小时，因为只有几个孩子来听。但现在，他有时会待上一整天，只是读这些孩子们要求的书。”

She watched him wordlessly, without so much as a twitch of the lips that would give him a glimpse into her mind. 
她默默地看着他，连嘴唇都没有动一下，让他无法窥探她的心思。

“He’s doing well in his new position at MinoSoft. He still doesn’t like it that much but he’s been helping edit Han Sooyoung’s new book, and she told me she’d make her company hire him as her editor if he ever quit.”
“他在 MinoSoft 的新职位上做得很好。他仍然不太喜欢这份工作，但他一直在帮忙编辑韩秀英的新书，她告诉我如果他辞职，她会让她的公司聘请他做她的编辑。”

Lee Sookyung leaned back against her chair, a hint of a smile emerging from her otherwise stoic expression. “He didn’t tell me that bit.” At his questioning gaze, she continued, “Dokja stopped by a few days ago and told me the exact same things.”
李秀京靠在椅子上，原本严肃的表情中浮现出一丝微笑。“他没告诉我那部分。”面对他疑惑的目光，她继续说道，“几天前独子来过，告诉了我一模一样的事情。”

Yoo Joonghyuk never delved into what they talked about unless prompted, allowing Kim Dokja to disclose as much or as little as he’d like so upon learning that he indeed talked about him, it was rather endearing to say the least.
刘众赫从不主动探究他们谈论的内容，让金独子自己决定透露多少。因此，当得知他确实谈到了自己时，至少可以说，这让人感到相当温馨。

She regarded him for a moment before averting her gaze. “You know, when Dokja first started going to school, there was one time I took a break from work and went to his school because I wanted to check on how he was doing.”
她看了他一会儿，然后移开了视线。“你知道吗，当独子刚开始上学的时候，有一次我放下工作去他学校，想看看他过得怎么样。”

The correctional officer bobbed his head as he continued dozing off.
狱警点了点头，继续打瞌睡。

“It was recess time so everyone was outside playing and goofing around. But no matter where I looked, I couldn’t spot him.”
“那是课间休息时间，所以大家都在外面玩耍嬉闹。但无论我往哪里看，都找不到他。”

Yoo Joonghyuk observed the side profile of her face, noting how her features have aged compared to the photos Kim Dokja showed him of his childhood.
刘众赫观察着她侧脸的轮廓，注意到她的容貌与金独子给他看的童年照片相比已经老了许多。

“But then I saw little boy all by himself under the tree, poking at the ground with a stray piece of branch he picked up.” A weary smile appeared. “It was still early in the school year so I thought he would open up to his peers sooner or later. But as time passed and he grew older, I realized nothing had changed.” Her unwavering gray eyes met his. “And it only got worse after I came here.”
“但后来我看到一个小男孩独自一人坐在树下，用捡来的树枝戳着地面。”她露出了疲惫的微笑。“那时还是学年初，我以为他迟早会向同龄人敞开心扉。但随着时间的推移，他长大了，我发现什么都没有改变。”她坚定的灰色眼睛注视着他。“而在我来到这里之后，情况只会变得更糟。”

A memory of his first meeting with Kim Dokja crossed his mind, and he recalled how frail his fingers looked as they weakly gripped his backpack.
他脑海中闪过与金独子初次见面的记忆，回想起他那虚弱的手指紧紧抓住背包的样子。

“Fourteen years have passed since that day. If I could go back in time to that moment in the living room with my husband holding the blade charging towards my son,” She took a shuddering breath, “I would’ve made the same exact decision. Because all I wanted was to protect that boy.”
“自那天起已经过去了十四年。如果我能回到那个时刻，回到客厅里，看到我丈夫拿着刀冲向我的儿子，”她颤抖着吸了一口气，“我依然会做出同样的决定。因为我只想保护那个男孩。”

Yoo Joonghyuk thought back to all the whispers that surrounded Kim Dokja when he first transferred to his school.
刘众赫回想起金独子刚转学到他们学校时周围的所有窃窃私语。

“But when I think about how much Dokja suffered in the aftermath, I realized I completely failed in protecting my son.” Lee Sookyung smiled though her eyes remained downcast. “And that is something I will regret for the rest of my life.”
“但当我想到独子在事后所受的苦难时，我意识到我完全没能保护好我的儿子。”李淑京微笑着，但她的目光依然低垂。“这是我一生都会后悔的事情。”

Yoo Joonghyuk remembered the myriad of scars that littered his limbs, barely concealed by his tattered school uniform.
刘众赫记得他四肢上遍布的无数伤痕，几乎被他破旧的校服所掩盖。

“But some time in the middle of college, I noticed there was a change—he was a bit more expressive, a bit more talkative, a bit brighter. He would talk about how he stayed up late to finish up a group project, how he saw a movie with his friends, how he went to a farmer’s market with the people he knew at that bakery.”
“但在大学期间的某个时候，我注意到他有了变化——他变得更有表现力，更健谈，更开朗了。他会谈论他熬夜完成小组项目，和朋友们一起看电影，以及和那家面包店认识的人一起去农贸市场的事情。”

The smile on her lips grew a fraction wider, accompanied by the crinkling at the corner of her eyes.
她嘴角的微笑微微扩大，眼角也随之泛起皱纹。

“He also talked a lot about you, Joonghyuk. He told me about your gaming career, about your sister Mia, about how you’re rather skillful in the kitchen.”
“他也经常提起你，中赫。他跟我讲了你的游戏生涯，你的妹妹米娅，还有你在厨房里相当熟练的手艺。”

Yoo Joonghyuk widened his eyes at her words.
刘众赫因她的话瞪大了眼睛。

“Thinking about becoming a book editor, spending his weekends volunteering at the library instead of staying at home, learning how to make his favorite dish—all of that was possible because of you.”
“考虑成为一名图书编辑，周末去图书馆做志愿者而不是待在家里，学习如何做他最喜欢的菜——这一切都是因为你才成为可能。”

Yoo Joonghyuk tightened his hand into a fist. His lips were dry, along with the words he wanted to say from the start.
刘众赫握紧了拳头。他的嘴唇干燥，连同他从一开始就想说的话。

“Whether it was in the past, the present,” Lee Sookyung stared at the hand in his pocket, hidden from view, with an amused smile, “or the future, I’m glad that Dokja has someone like you by his side.”
“无论是在过去、现在，”李秀京盯着他藏在口袋里的手，带着一丝愉悦的微笑，“还是未来，我很高兴独子有你这样的人在身边。”

“Why aren’t you bowing?”  “你为什么不鞠躬？”

“Why should I?” Yoo Joonghyuk nonchalantly tossed a cracker to the ground, watching the deer bow its head to the ground to nibble on the snack. “It’s not like I’m not feeding it.”
“我为什么要鞠躬？”刘众赫漫不经心地把一块饼干扔到地上，看着鹿低下头去啃食零食。“我又不是没喂它。”

“You don’t have any manners.”
“你一点礼貌都没有。”

“They’ll bow regardless if I—!!”
“不管我——！！他们都会鞠躬的！”

Kim Dokja whirled around at the uncharacteristic higher-pitched grunt. He slapped a hand over his mouth in a horrible attempt to suppress his laughter, earning him a glare.
金独子听到那不同寻常的高音咕哝声，猛地转过身。他用手捂住嘴，试图压抑笑声，结果却换来了一记瞪视。

“Did that deer just bite your butt?”
“那只鹿刚刚是不是咬了你屁股？”

Pretending that he was dusting off his pants, Yoo Joonghyuk spat out, “Don’t be ridiculous.”
“别开玩笑了。”刘众赫假装拍掉裤子上的灰尘，吐出一句话。

Kim Dokja laughed out loud, feeding the deer the rest of his crackers. “Good boy.”
金独子大声笑了起来，把剩下的饼干喂给鹿。“好孩子。”

It had already been a couple days since they arrived in Japan, and they were adjusting fairly well. When Yoo Joonghyuk suggested taking a vacation in Japan a few months ago, Kim Dokja thought he was straight-up lying. It wasn’t like they hadn’t taken vacations before but they had all been domestic primarily because Kim Dokja liked saving money and Yoo Joonghyuk was perfectly content with staying at home if given the option.
他们到达日本已经几天了，适应得相当不错。几个月前，当刘众赫提议去日本度假时，金独子还以为他在开玩笑。他们以前也度假过，但都是国内游，主要是因为金独子喜欢省钱，而刘众赫如果有选择的话，更愿意待在家里。

“Let’s go check out the stores. I think that mochi store should still be open.”
“我们去看看商店吧。我觉得那家麻糬店应该还开着。”

“Sure,” he answered, following his lead with a slight skip in his step.  
“好啊，”他回答道，跟着他走，脚步轻快。

Once Kim Dokja realized he was not kidding and eventually agreed to the trip, Yoo Joonghyuk spent an egregious amount of time looking up the most comfortable yet convenient hotels, flights with the best departure/arrival times, restaurant recommendations from locals, and hidden spots in addition to the typical tourist sites.
一旦金独子意识到他不是在开玩笑并最终同意了这次旅行，刘众赫花了大量时间查找最舒适又方便的酒店、最佳出发/到达时间的航班、当地人推荐的餐厅，以及除了典型旅游景点之外的隐藏地点。

“Wow,” Kim Dokja said, observing the workers pound the mochi at breakneck speeds, “how do they not have back pain and joint problems from doing this every day?”
“哇，”金独子看着工人们以惊人的速度捶打年糕，说道，“他们每天这样做，怎么不会背痛和关节出问题呢？”

“Here. Try some.”  “来，尝尝这个。”

Kim Dokja frowned at the piece of mochi that was offered to him. “Joonghyuk-ah, I said I would pay today. You’ve already contributed enough to this trip.”
金独子皱着眉头看着递过来的麻糬。“中赫啊，我说了今天我来付钱。你已经为这次旅行贡献得够多了。”

He all but shoved the mochi into his mouth, effectively shutting him up. “You can pay for dinner then.”
他几乎是把麻糬塞进了他的嘴里，有效地让他闭嘴。“那你可以付晚餐的钱。”

“So stubborn,” he said, his voice muffled by the sticky treat.
“真固执，”他说道，声音被粘稠的甜点弄得含糊不清。

“Did you want to head back to Kyoto? We also have some time to walk around here if you’d like.”
“你想回京都吗？如果你想的话，我们也可以在这里逛逛。”

Kim Dokja swallowed the rest of the mochi, dusting the powder off his lips. “Let’s go with what you wanna do.”
金独子吞下剩下的麻糬，擦掉嘴唇上的粉末。“就按你想的做吧。”

“I’m fine with anything.”
“我什么都行。”

He shook his head. “That’s not a real answer.”
他摇了摇头。“这不是一个真正的答案。”

Yoo Joonghyuk brushed his thumb against his cheeks, wiping the last remnants of the mochi powder away. “Let’s stick around for a bit longer then. Didn’t you want to get some souvenirs for Persephone, Hades, and Uriel?”
刘众赫用拇指擦了擦脸颊，抹去了最后一点麻糬粉。“那我们再待一会儿吧。你不是想给珀耳塞福涅、哈迪斯和乌列尔买些纪念品吗？”

His eyes lit up. “You’re right, I’m sure Uriel would love all the deer-themed gifts here.”
“他的眼睛亮了起来。“你说得对，我相信乌列尔一定会喜欢这里所有与鹿有关的礼物。””

Pressing his hand against the small of his back, Yoo Joonghyuk gently urged him forward. “Let’s go then.”
“刘众赫将手轻轻按在他的后腰上，温柔地催促他向前走。“那我们走吧。””

Yoo Joonghyuk swerved to the right, narrowly avoiding a tourist from knocking over his strawberry daifuku. Grumbling to himself that it was absurd how packed this place was when it wasn’t even peak vacation season, he carefully maneuvered his way through the crowd, taking care to balance the food he was holding.
“刘众赫向右急转，勉强避开了差点撞翻他手中草莓大福的游客。他一边抱怨着这个地方在非旺季时竟然还这么拥挤，一边小心翼翼地穿过人群，小心翼翼地平衡着手中的食物。”

He originally didn’t want to come here but as it was one of the must-see tourist spots, Kim Dokja felt like it would be a waste if they didn’t go. But everyone was packed in the alleyway like sardines and it took several minutes to walk even one block.
他原本不想来这里，但既然这是必去的旅游景点之一，金独子觉得不去的话就太可惜了。但小巷里挤满了人，像沙丁鱼一样，走一个街区都要花上好几分钟。

There were long lines everywhere so to make things more efficient, the two of them waited in line at the respective shops they wanted to try and then planned to meet up somewhere to share the food they bought.
到处都排着长队，为了提高效率，他们俩分别在自己想去的店铺排队，然后计划在某个地方碰头，分享买来的食物。

Another individual nearly knocked his food over onto the dirty ground. He didn’t even have time to glare when another person brushed past him, knocking him off balance. Cursing to himself, he tried to shift his weight in an attempt to catch himself and to not spill the food he bought after standing in line for 30 minutes.
另一个人差点把他的食物撞翻在肮脏的地上。他甚至还没来得及瞪眼，又一个人从他身边擦过，让他失去了平衡。他暗自咒骂，试图调整重心，以免摔倒，也不想把排了 30 分钟队才买到的食物洒出来。

A steady arm wrapped around his torso, preventing his fall.
一只稳健的手臂环住了他的腰，防止他摔倒。

“Joonghyuk-ah, are you okay?”
“Joonghyuk-ah，你还好吗？”

He peered down at Kim Dokja, surprised to see him there. “How’d you find me?”
“他低头看着金独子，惊讶地发现他在那里。‘你怎么找到我的？’”

“You’re kinda hard to miss.” He observed the food in his hands curiously. “Wow, these all look really good.”
“‘你很难被忽视。’他好奇地看着手中的食物。‘哇，这些看起来都很好吃。’”

He hoped they were because these were the kinds of foods he knew Kim Dokja would like. “What did you end up picking?”
“他希望这些食物是金独子喜欢的类型。‘你最后选了些什么？’”

“Dumplings.” Smiling, he said, “I thought you would like this. I wanted to get other food too for you but the lines were getting too long.” He glanced around, frowning. “Hm, maybe we should just eat here? Doesn’t look like there’s a lot of tables anywhere.”
“饺子。”他微笑着说，“我想你会喜欢这个。我本来还想给你买其他吃的，但队伍太长了。”他环顾四周，皱了皱眉。“嗯，也许我们就在这里吃吧？看起来其他地方也没什么空位。”

Yoo Joonghyuk watched as Kim Dokja delicately unboxed the steaming portion of dumplings, handing him a pair of chopsticks. Though when he saw his hands were full, he gestured for the food.
刘众赫看着金独子小心翼翼地打开那盒冒着热气的饺子，递给他一双筷子。但当他看到他的手已经满了时，便示意他把食物递过来。

“Let’s trade. You should try it while it’s still hot.” The steam billowed in the air as he held the box in front of him. “The owner was really nice. He wrapped it with extra tinfoil when I told him I wanted it to stay hot as long as possible.”
“我们交换吧。你应该趁热尝尝。”他拿着盒子，热气在空中升腾。“老板人很好。我告诉他我想让食物尽可能保持热度时，他还特意多包了一层锡纸。”

“Kim Dokja.”  “金独子。”

“Hm?”  “嗯？”

Yoo Joonghyuk opened his mouth.
Yoo Joonghyuk 张开了嘴。

“…What are you doing?”  “……你在做什么？”

“Waiting for you to feed me.”
“等你喂我。”

Kim Dokja balked at the man. “Excuse me?”
金独子对那个男人愣住了。“你说什么？”

“Is there something wrong?” Unperturbed, he widened his mouth further, patiently waiting.
“有什么问题吗？”他毫不在意，嘴巴张得更大了，耐心地等待着。

“…This is a bit much, even for you.”
“……这有点过分了，即使对你来说。”

“Will you just let me stand here and starve then?”
“你就让我站在这里饿死吗？”

He arched an eyebrow incredulously. “Did you hit your head this morning, Yoo Joonghyuk?”
他难以置信地挑起眉毛。“你今天早上撞到头了吗，刘众赫？”

Yoo Joonghyuk snapped his mouth shut, turning his head to the side. “It’s fine if you don’t want to then.”
刘众赫闭上嘴，把头转向一边。“如果你不想的话，那就算了。”

There was a brief pause before he heard an extremely long sigh. Stifling the smile creeping onto his features, he saw Kim Dokja pick up a dumpling in his peripheral vision.
短暂的停顿后，他听到了一声极长的叹息。他忍住脸上浮现的笑容，余光看到金独子夹起了一个饺子。

“If people stare, that’s your fault.”
“如果人们盯着你看，那是你的错。”

“Let them stare then.” Yoo Joonghyuk accepted the dumpling, chewing it slowly and savoring the juices that flowed.
“那就让他们看吧。”刘众赫接过饺子，慢慢地咀嚼，品味着流出的汁水。

“Is it good?”  “好吃吗？”

Yoo Joonghyuk observed the expectant look on his face.
刘众赫观察着他脸上期待的表情。

There was one time he inadvertently eavesdropped on a conversation between Kim Dokja and Han Sooyoung. Staring at the spread of food in front of them, she made an offhanded comment that he was lucky to have someone like Yoo Joonghyuk as his boyfriend. He remembered Kim Dokja readily agreeing, listing off other instances of how Yoo Joonghyuk would take care of him.
有一次，他不小心偷听到了金独子和韩秀英之间的对话。看着面前摆满的食物，她随口说他有像刘众赫这样的男朋友真是幸运。他记得金独子毫不犹豫地同意了，还列举了其他刘众赫照顾他的例子。

“Yeah.”  “是啊。”

But they both couldn’t be more wrong.
但他们俩都大错特错了。

“It’s really good.”  “真的很好。”

Kim Dokja broke out into a wide smile, already forgetting all about the embarrassment he was subjected to just moments prior. “I knew you’d like them! Do you want me to buy more?”
金独子露出了灿烂的笑容，已经完全忘记了刚才的尴尬。“我就知道你会喜欢的！要我多买一些吗？”

Because even now, years into their relationship, Kim Dokja still always thought of Yoo Joonghyuk first before himself.
因为即使现在，在他们关系的多年后，金独子仍然总是先想到刘众赫而不是自己。

“Mn, maybe after finishing all this food.”
“嗯，也许吃完这些食物之后。”

“Ah, you’re right. We can also walk around some more too after eating this.”
“啊，你说得对。吃完这个我们还可以再四处走走。”

Yoo Joonghyuk handed him one of the containers he was holding. “Do you want me to feed you too?”
刘众赫递给他一个他拿着的容器。“你要我喂你吗？”

“No,” he answered immediately, whipping out a plastic fork from the bag he was holding.
“不用，”他立即回答，从拿着的袋子里掏出一把塑料叉子。

Yoo Joonghyuk laughed, his smile lingering as they both tried the food together.  
刘众赫笑了，他的笑容在他们一起品尝食物时久久不散。

“Whoa,” Kim Dokja breathed, taking in the scenic view of Mount Fuji, “this is incredible.”
“哇，”金独子深吸一口气，欣赏着富士山的壮丽景色，“这太不可思议了。”

Today was perhaps the first major hiccup of their trip. They woke up a bit later than intended and missed the train they were supposed to take. When they tried to rebook the next one, it was completely full. They weren’t able to take a train until two hours later and then had to wait an hour for the bus to take them to the lake.
今天可能是他们旅行中的第一个重大挫折。他们比预期晚起了一点，错过了原本要乘坐的火车。当他们试图重新预订下一班时，发现已经完全满员了。他们直到两小时后才坐上火车，然后又不得不等了一个小时才坐上前往湖边的巴士。

Yoo Joonghyuk couldn’t help but keep glancing at his watch, upset that they were wasting so much time waiting around for transportation when they should’ve already been heading back to Tokyo at this point.
刘众赫忍不住一直看表，对他们浪费了这么多时间等待交通工具感到恼火，因为此时他们本应该已经在返回东京的路上了。

“Yoo Joonghyuk, don’t you think so too?”
“刘众赫，你不也这么认为吗？”

“Hm? Yeah.”  “嗯？是啊。”

Kim Dokja watched him for a moment before tugging on his arm. “Come take a closer look. Just in case your vision is going bad from streaming so much.”
金独子看了他一会儿，然后拉了拉他的胳膊。“过来仔细看看。以防你因为直播太多视力变差。”

He obediently followed though frowned at his accusation. “My vision is still way better than yours.”
他顺从地跟了过去，但对他的指控皱了皱眉。“我的视力还是比你好得多。”

“That’s a shame.” Patting away his bangs, he contemplated for a moment before continuing, “I think you’d look good in glasses.”
“那真是可惜。”他拍了拍他的刘海，沉思了一会儿，然后继续说道，“我觉得你戴眼镜会很好看。”

Yoo Joonghyuk briefly wondered if he should invest in a pair of blue light glasses when they returned home.
刘众赫短暂地思考了一下，回家后是否应该投资一副防蓝光眼镜。

“Anyway, I’m glad we were able to make it here.” Kim Dokja squinted out at the lake, smiling. “It really is pretty.”
“不管怎样，我很高兴我们能来到这里。”金独子眯着眼睛看向湖面，微笑着。“真的很美。”

Though appreciative of the view, his comment brought a fresh wave of irritation as he thought back to their transportation issues once again.
尽管欣赏着眼前的景色，他的话却再次让他想起了他们的交通问题，带来了一股新的烦躁。

As if reading his mind, Kim Dokja added, “I heard the weather was kinda bad this morning anyways. It looks like it cleared up a lot though.”
仿佛读懂了他的心思，金独子补充道：“我听说今天早上天气不太好。不过现在看起来已经放晴很多了。”

“…I suppose.”  “……我想是吧。”

Kim Dokja quickly glanced around before timidly interlacing their fingers together. “Joonghyuk-ah.”
金独子迅速环顾四周，然后怯生生地将他们的手指交织在一起。“中赫啊。”

He squeezed his hand in acknowledgement, replying with a distracted, “Hm?”
他握紧了他的手以示回应，心不在焉地答道：“嗯？”

“What did you have planned for the rest of the night?”
“你今晚剩下的时间有什么计划？”

Pursing his lips, he furrowed his brows. “Originally, I wanted us to go to this museum but by the time we get back, it’ll probably be closed. And then for dinner, I found this restaurant online.” As an afterthought, he quickly added, “It doesn’t take reservations but if we go there early, there shouldn’t be a long line.”
他抿了抿嘴唇，皱起眉头。“本来我想带你去这个博物馆的，但等我们回去的时候，它可能已经关门了。至于晚餐，我在网上找到了这家餐厅。”他想了想，又迅速补充道，“它不接受预订，但如果我们早点去，应该不会排太长的队。”

Kim Dokja readjusted his cap, brushing through his locks when he did. “Joonghyuk-ah. Would it be okay if we changed those plans?”
金独子重新调整了一下帽子，整理了一下头发。“中赫啊。我们可以改一下计划吗？”

At the unexpected question, he stiffened. Glancing towards him with a downcast gaze, he questioned, “Is it because of what happened this morning?”
听到这个意外的问题，他僵住了。他垂下目光，瞥向他，问道：“是因为今天早上发生的事情吗？”

Kim Dokja tilted his head back, gazing into his eyes. “Yes, but not in the way you’re thinking.” Reaching his hand towards his head, he gently patted his hair. “You’ve been stressed about what happened this morning ever since we got here. I understand you want us to see everything and do as much as we can but I’m also fine if we don’t get to it all.”
金独子仰起头，凝视着他的眼睛。“是的，但不是你想的那样。”他伸手轻轻拍了拍他的头发。“自从我们到这里以来，你一直在为今天早上发生的事情感到压力。我理解你想让我们看到一切并尽可能多做，但如果我们没能全部完成，我也没关系。”

Yoo Joonghyuk subconsciously leaned into his touch, focusing on his voice.
刘众赫下意识地靠向他的触碰，专注于他的声音。

“If you’re okay with it, why don’t we just walk around Shibuya and then maybe go to an arcade? For dinner, we could go to the supermarket—” When his face immediately soured, Kim Dokja couldn’t help but roll his eyes. “It’s not convenience store food. Sangah-ssi told me about this one underground supermarket with a ton of food and even fancy snacks for souvenirs.”
“如果你不介意的话，我们不如就在涩谷逛逛，然后也许去游戏厅？晚餐的话，我们可以去超市——”当他的脸立刻变得不悦时，金独子忍不住翻了个白眼。“不是便利店的食物。尚雅小姐告诉我有一家地下超市，里面有很多食物，甚至还有精致的零食可以当纪念品。”

Yoo Joonghyuk was absolutely opposed to grocery store food but this was the first time Kim Dokja took the initiative in suggesting what he wanted to do so he couldn’t even say no.
刘众赫绝对反对超市的食物，但这是金独子第一次主动提出他想做的事，所以他甚至无法拒绝。

“Besides, it’ll be like what we usually do in Seoul.” Smiling, he commented, “I kind of miss that.”
“而且，这就像我们在首尔时经常做的那样。”他微笑着评论道，“我有点想念那种感觉。”

With those words, how could he bear to say no?
听到这些话，他怎么能忍心拒绝呢？

“Okay,” he said, easily relenting. “But no onigiri.”
“好吧，”他轻松地让步了。“但不要饭团。”

Kim Dokja whirled his head to the left and right once more. Satisfied, he then stood up on his tiptoes to plant a swift kiss to his cheek. His eyes shone brighter than the reflection glistening along the lake. Laughing, he agreed, “I think that’ll be doable.”
金独子再次左右转动了一下头。满意后，他踮起脚尖，迅速在他的脸颊上亲了一下。他的眼睛比湖面上闪烁的倒影还要明亮。他笑着同意道：“我觉得这应该可行。”

He started to back away but Yoo Joonghyuk didn’t let him get that far, wrapping his arm around his waist, pressing him against his chest. With his free hand, he tipped Kim Dokja’s hat over, letting it fall to the ground as he swooped in to seal their lips together. When Yoo Joonghyuk felt familiar arms wrap around his neck, his lips couldn’t help but curl upwards as his hand combed through Kim Dokja’s locks. He nibbled on his lower lip, earning him a muffled whimper that only fueled his desires.
他开始后退，但刘众赫没有让他走远，用一只手臂环住他的腰，将他按在自己的胸前。他用另一只手掀翻了金独子的帽子，让它掉在地上，然后俯身封住了他们的唇。当刘众赫感觉到熟悉的双臂环住他的脖子时，他的嘴角忍不住上扬，手梳理着金独子的头发。他轻咬着他的下唇，换来了一声压抑的呜咽，这只会更加激发他的欲望。

The sound of a twig snapping caused Kim Dokja to jolt away, his head swiveling towards the sudden noise.
树枝断裂的声音让金独子猛地跳开，他的头转向了突然传来的声响。

“Sorry, we didn’t mean to interrupt!”
“抱歉，我们不是有意打扰的！”

Yoo Joonghyuk glanced behind him. It was a couple of young foreigners, likely from the United States based on their accent alone.
刘众赫回头看了一眼。那是一对年轻的外国人，单凭口音判断，很可能来自美国。

“What did we just—”  “我们刚刚——”

Luckily, the two travelers didn’t pay further attention as they trekked towards the edge of the lake to soak in the views.
幸运的是，两位旅行者没有进一步注意，他们继续向湖边走去，欣赏风景。

Yoo Joonghyuk glanced down at his frazzled lover. “I’m sure they’ve seen worse.”
刘众赫低头看了一眼他那疲惫不堪的恋人。‘我相信他们见过更糟的。’

Kim Dokja shot him a glare. “Joonghyuk-ah!”
金独子瞪了他一眼。“中赫啊！”

“Well, I suppose we could continue this later tonight.” Pondering for a moment, he leaned in and whispered, “Or we could go straight home right now and pick up where we left off. I wouldn’t be opposed to that either.”
‘好吧，我想我们可以今晚继续。’他沉思片刻，俯身低语道，‘或者我们现在就直接回家，继续刚才的事。我也不反对那样。’

Kim Dokja picked up his discarded cap, angrily shoving it back onto his head. “No. Exploring. Arcade. Then supermarket for dinner.”
金独子捡起他丢掉的帽子，生气地把它重新戴在头上。“不。去探索。游戏厅。然后去超市买晚餐。”

Yoo Joonghyuk tapped the rim of his cap. “Seems like you’re not opposed to continuing this after all that then.”
刘众赫轻轻敲了敲帽檐。“看来你并不反对在那之后继续这件事。”

His face flushed a deep red as he spluttered, “When did I say that!”
他的脸涨得通红，结结巴巴地说：“我什么时候说过那种话！”

“Um, excuse me?”  “呃，打扰一下？”

Turning towards the same couple who interrupted them, Yoo Joonghyuk saw the woman step forward. In English, they asked, “Would you mind taking a picture of us?”
转向那对打断他们的情侣，刘众赫看到那位女士走上前来。他们用英语问道：“你介意帮我们拍张照片吗？”

“Did they say they want a picture?” Kim Dokja mouthed.
“他们说想要拍照吗？”金独子用口型问道。

Yoo Joonghyuk nodded. “I can do it.”
Yoo Joonghyuk 点了点头。“我可以做到。”

Kim Dokja shook his head, walking towards them as he threw back a quick, “You’re not good at taking pictures, Joonghyuk-ah.”
金独子摇了摇头，朝他们走去，同时迅速回了一句：“你拍照技术不行，众赫啊。”

He scoffed, watching Kim Dokja take multiple pictures of the couple from different angles with a soft gaze.
他嗤之以鼻，看着金独子从不同角度为那对情侣拍下多张照片，目光柔和。

“Thank you so much,” he heard the man say. “Would you two like a picture as well?”
“非常感谢，”他听到那个男人说。“你们两位也想拍张照片吗？”

“Mm? Picture? Um…” Flustered, Kim Dokja turned towards Yoo Joonghyuk for help. “I’m fine, thank you and you…?”
“嗯？照片？呃……”金独子有些慌乱，转向刘众赫求助。“我没事，谢谢，你呢……？”

“Sure, that’d be great,” Yoo Joonghyuk enunciated perfectly, handing his phone to the woman.
“当然，那太好了，”刘众赫清晰地发音，把手机递给那个女人。

Kim Dokja’s jaw dropped. “When did you learn how to speak English?”
金独秀的下巴都快掉下来了。“你什么时候学会说英语的？”

“It helps when you have international fans.”
“有国际粉丝的时候，这很有帮助。”

He faced the camera, scoffing. “Are you bragging right now?”
“你这是在炫耀吗？”他对着镜头嗤之以鼻。

Yoo Joonghyuk pressed his palm against his hips, tucking Kim Dokja closer to his side. “Maybe.”
刘众赫将手掌按在腰间，把金独子拉得更近了些。“也许吧。”

His cheeks flushed at their close proximity but before he could make a comment, his warmth was already gone.
他因两人近距离的接触而脸颊泛红，但还没来得及发表评论，那份温暖就已经消失了。

“Thank you,” he said, retrieving his phone.
“谢谢，”他说着，拿回了他的手机。

“Of course,” she said, with a bright smile. “You two make a lovely couple.”
“当然，”她灿烂地笑着说，“你们俩真是天造地设的一对。”

Yoo Joonghyuk smiled, nodding towards her as they waved them goodbye.
刘众赫微笑着，朝她点了点头，他们挥手告别。

“What was the last bit she said?”
“她最后说了什么？”

Yoo Joonghyuk contemplated what answer to give him based on the reaction he wanted to see.
刘众赫思考着该给他什么样的回答，以看到他想看到的反应。

“She said we make a perfect couple.” As expected, the tips of his ears instantly turned red, causing Yoo Joonghyuk to break out into an amused smile. Kissing his forehead, he murmured, “Let’s stay a little longer.”
“她说我们是完美的一对。”不出所料，他的耳尖立刻变红了，这让刘众赫露出了一个愉悦的微笑。他吻了吻他的额头，低声说道：“我们再待一会儿吧。”

Kim Dokja merely nodded as he hid his rosy cheeks against his chest.
金独子只是点了点头，将泛红的脸颊埋在他的胸前。

“Where are we going?”  “我们要去哪里？”

“You’ll see.”  “你会知道的。”

When Kim Dokja noticed that the scenery was becoming more populated with trees than with houses, he sent Yoo Joonghyuk a quizzical look.
当金独子注意到周围的景色逐渐被树木而非房屋占据时，他向刘众赫投去了疑惑的目光。

“Are you planning on taking me to the mountains and leaving my body there?”
“你是打算把我带到山里然后丢下我的尸体吗？”

Yoo Joonghyuk sighed, gripping the steering wheel in annoyance. “No.”
刘众赫叹了口气，恼怒地握紧方向盘。“不。”

“That’s unfortunate.”  “真不幸。”

“Kim Dokja, you—!”  “金独子，你——！”

At his outburst, Kim Dokja could only throw his head back and laugh.
面对他的爆发，金独子只能仰头大笑。

There were only a few days left of their trip. They already spent a lot of time exploring the bigger cities of Japan so Yoo Joonghyuk suggested that they take a short trip away from the bustling city. He rented a car for the next couple days and started making their way just a couple hours prior. To Kim Dokja, this was more of a spontaneous decision as he thought they were a bit wearied from all the travel and this would set a more relaxed pace.
他们的旅行只剩下几天了。他们已经花了很多时间探索日本的大城市，所以刘众赫建议他们远离喧嚣的城市，进行一次短途旅行。他租了一辆车，准备在接下来的几天里使用，并在几小时前出发。对金独子来说，这更像是一个即兴的决定，因为他觉得他们已经被旅行弄得有些疲惫，而这次旅行会让他们放慢节奏，更加放松。

To Yoo Joonghyuk, he had been planning this ever since he bought the plane tickets.
对刘众赫来说，自从他买了机票后，他就一直在计划这件事。

Kim Dokja rolled down the windows, resting his head atop his perched arm as he soaked in the sunset. “The wind feels really nice.”
金独子摇下车窗，将头靠在支起的手臂上，沉浸在夕阳中。“风感觉真舒服。”

Yoo Joonghyuk glanced at the setting sky. “Kim Dokja.”
刘众赫瞥了一眼渐暗的天空。“金独子。”

“Yeah?” he languidly responded, closing his eyes.
“嗯？”他懒洋洋地回应道，闭上了眼睛。

“The place that I’m taking you to, I want it to be a surprise.”
“我要带你去的地方，我想给你一个惊喜。”

He turned to look at him. “A surprise?”
他转过头看着他。“惊喜？”

“Once the sunset is almost over,” he trailed off, gripping the steering wheel and clearing his throat, “can you cover your eyes with the cloth in my bag?”
“一旦日落快要结束，”他顿了顿，握紧方向盘，清了清嗓子，“你能用我包里的布遮住眼睛吗？”

Complete silence took over.
完全的寂静笼罩了一切。

“You want me to put on a blindfold?”
“你想让我戴上眼罩？”

“…Essentially, yes.”  “……基本上，是的。”

“…I think that may be the strangest thing you’ve asked of me yet, Joonghyuk-ah.” Another pause. “Outside of the bedroom at least.”
“……我觉得这可能是你迄今为止向我提出的最奇怪的要求了，中赫啊。”又是一阵停顿。“至少在卧室之外是这样。”

At that, he cracked a smile. “I know it’s a ridiculous request but—”
听到这话，他露出了微笑。“我知道这是个荒谬的请求，但是——”

“Okay.”  “好的。”

Yoo Joonghyuk twisted his neck towards him, shocked that he agreed without pestering him for more answers. “You will?”
刘众赫扭过头看向他，惊讶于他竟然没有纠缠着要更多答案就同意了。“你会吗？”

Kim Dokja nodded, digging out the piece of fabric from his bag. “It makes me more curious about what you want to show me.” Folding the cloth in half, he threw him an amused smirk. “Expectations are high, Yoo Joonghyuk.”
金独子点点头，从包里掏出一块布料。“这让我对你想要给我看的东西更加好奇了。”他将布料对折，朝他投去一个有趣的微笑。“期待值很高啊，刘众赫。”

Nodding to himself, he merely answered, “Right.”
他点点头，只是回答道：“对。”

Unbeknownst to Kim Dokja, those words held a double meaning for Yoo Joonghyuk.
金独子不知道的是，那些话对刘众赫来说有着双重含义。

“Kim Dokja.” Yoo Joonghyuk gently shook him awake. “We’re here.”
“金独子。”刘众赫轻轻摇醒他。“我们到了。”

Kim Dokja yawned, stretching his arms out. “That was a good nap. What time is it?”
金独子打了个哈欠，伸了个懒腰。“这一觉睡得真香。现在几点了？”

He activated the moonroof before turning off the engine. “Almost 10.”
他打开天窗，然后关掉了引擎。“快 10 点了。”

“Can I take this off now?” he asked, pointing to his blindfold.
“我现在可以把这个摘下来了吗？”他指着自己的眼罩问道。

In the dark, Yoo Joonghyuk quietly regarded Kim Dokja as the weight in his pocket grew with each passing second. “Not yet. Let me recline your seat first.”
在黑暗中，刘众赫静静地注视着金独子，口袋里的重量随着每一秒过去而增加。“还不行。让我先帮你把座椅放倒。”

Kim Dokja fumbled for the handle on the side of his seat. “That’s okay, I got—”
金独子摸索着座椅侧面的把手。“没关系，我自己来——”

Yoo Joonghyuk reached over, placing his hand over his as he pulled the handle forward. The seat catapulted backwards, and Kim Dokja gasped as he was now nearly horizontal.
刘众赫伸手过去，将手覆在他的手上，拉动了把手。座椅猛地向后倾斜，金独子惊呼一声，几乎平躺了下来。

“You could’ve done it more gradually, you sunfish,” he grumbled, rubbing the back of his head.
“你可以做得更循序渐进一点的，你这个笨蛋，”他抱怨道，揉着后脑勺。

“You can take off the blindfold now.”
“你现在可以摘下眼罩了。”

Kim Dokja immediately reached to untie the fabric, letting it fall onto the ground. He blinked rapidly, adjusting to the change in vision. Smiling up at Yoo Joonghyuk, he remarked, “This whole setup, it was all just to see your face?”
金独子立刻伸手解开布料，让它掉在地上。他快速眨了眨眼，适应着视觉的变化。抬头对刘众赫微笑，他说道：“这整个安排，就只是为了看你的脸？”

Yoo Joonghyuk, who was still leaning over from his seat and essentially blocking his vision with his head, softly laughed. “No.” Taking a quiet breath, he reclined back in his seat, finally allowing Kim Dokja an unobstructed view. “You can look now.”
“刘众赫仍然从座位上俯身过来，几乎用他的头挡住了他的视线，他轻轻笑了。“不。”他静静地吸了一口气，重新靠在座位上，终于让金独子有了一个无阻碍的视野。“你现在可以看了。”"

He watched as Kim Dokja’s went wide as he soaked in the vast night sky that was littered with every constellation imaginable. Streaks of starlight starkly contrasted the dark canopy.
他看着金独子的眼睛睁得大大的，沉浸在布满各种星座的广阔夜空中。星光划过的痕迹与黑暗的天幕形成了鲜明的对比。

“Is that the Milky Way?” he breathed, his eyes glistening with awe. “This is my first time seeing so many stars.”
“那是银河吗？”他屏住呼吸，眼中闪烁着敬畏的光芒。“这是我第一次看到这么多星星。”

Yoo Joonghyuk had been planning this for a long time, ensuring it was a moonless light for the best views and obsessively checking the weather throughout their trip to choose the night with the clearest skies.
刘众赫为此计划已久，确保选择一个月光暗淡的夜晚以获得最佳视野，并在整个旅程中不断检查天气，只为挑选出天空最为清澈的那一夜。

“Do you like it?”  “你喜欢吗？”

Kim Dokja adorned this dazed smile, unable to tear his eyes away. “I do.” Though he briefly glanced his way, his eyes brimming with unspoken emotions as his voice wobbled just slightly. “Thank you for taking me here.”
金独子带着恍惚的微笑，无法移开视线。“我愿意。”尽管他短暂地瞥了他一眼，眼中充满了未言的情感，声音也微微颤抖。“谢谢你带我来这里。”

Yoo Joonghyuk watched as he craned his neck this way and that, continuing to admire the scenery.
刘众赫看着他左右转动脖子，继续欣赏着风景。

“Kim Dokja.”  “金独子。”

“Hm?”  “嗯？”

“There’s a story I want to tell you about.”
“有个故事我想告诉你。”

“What kind of story?” he responded, appearing distracted.
“什么样的故事？”他回应道，显得有些心不在焉。

“I read a book recently.”
“我最近读了一本书。”

At this, Kim Dokja tore his eyes away from the constellations. “I’ve never seen you hold a book.”
听到这话，金独子将目光从星座上移开。“我从未见过你拿书。”

“When will you ever stop exaggerating?”
“你什么时候才能不再夸大其词？”

“I speak nothing but the truth, Yoo Joonghyuk.”
“我说的都是实话，Yoo Joonghyuk。”

Even in the darkness, he could easily see how his eyes were filled with mirth and how his lips were drawn upward, as if coaxing him to begin his story. Swallowing down the apprehension that was squeezing his throat, he took a quiet breath.
即使在黑暗中，他也能轻易看到对方眼中充满的笑意，以及那微微上扬的嘴唇，仿佛在诱使他开始讲述他的故事。他咽下那挤压着喉咙的紧张感，轻轻吸了一口气。

“This story,” Yoo Joonghyuk folded his hands across his stomach, hoping the fine tremor wouldn’t be noticeable, “is about this boy. He lived in a big house with his parents. They were prolific in their fields, and they would often take this boy to various corporate events, showing everyone what a happy family they were. They hired people to do all the cooking and cleaning and everything about the house was spotless. His classmates were envious of the life he lived and the fact that he could have anything he wanted. That’s what people saw on the outside—but for this boy, that place was anything but home.”
“这个故事，”刘众赫双手交叉放在腹部，希望那细微的颤抖不会被察觉，“是关于一个男孩的。他和父母住在一栋大房子里。他们在各自的领域里都非常成功，经常带这个男孩参加各种公司活动，向所有人展示他们是一个多么幸福的家庭。他们雇人做饭、打扫，家里的一切都一尘不染。他的同学们羡慕他过的生活，羡慕他可以拥有任何他想要的东西。这就是人们从外面看到的——但对这个男孩来说，那个地方根本不是家。”

Kim Dokja turned his head to the side, away from the dazzling stars.
金独子将头转向一边，避开了那耀眼的星光。

“When he was five, he witnessed his father having an affair with one of his secretaries. When he was eight, he watched as his mother brought another man home. Compared to his parents, he received more affection from the chef, who often cooked him something extra on the side on the weekends.” With a wry smile, he continued, “When he was around ten, he began sneaking out at night as he realized it was his best way to cope at the time—to just temporarily escape from it all.”
“他五岁时，目睹了父亲与一位秘书的婚外情。八岁时，他看到母亲带另一个男人回家。与父母相比，他从厨师那里得到了更多的关爱，厨师经常在周末额外为他做些吃的。”他苦笑着继续说道，“大约十岁时，他开始在晚上偷偷溜出去，因为他意识到这是当时最好的应对方式——暂时逃离这一切。”

Yoo Joonghyuk gripped the object in his pocket, oddly finding solace in this small action.
刘众赫紧紧握住口袋里的东西，奇怪地从这个小小的动作中找到了安慰。

“And then his sister was born. When he held her in his arms, he made a promise that day—to not let her grow up in the same environment that he did. But perhaps he ended up spoiling her too much because even years down the road, he could never quite say no to her.”
“然后他的妹妹出生了。当他把她抱在怀里时，那天他许下了一个承诺——不让她在与他相同的环境中长大。但也许他最终宠坏了她，因为即使多年以后，他也始终无法对她说‘不’。”

“With that kind of determination,” The breeze carried the soothing voice to his ear, “I’m sure he kept that promise.”  
“带着那样的决心，”微风将安抚的声音送到他的耳边，“我相信他遵守了那个承诺。”

Yoo Joonghyuk continued staring straight ahead at the stars but his lips curled upwards. “And then when he had to transfer to a new high school, he only had one goal in mind—to pass the time as quickly as possible so that he could graduate and be officially free from his parents. But somewhere along the way, he met this guy at school who completely derailed his plans.”
刘众赫继续直视着前方的星星，但他的嘴角微微上扬。“然后当他不得不转学到一所新高中时，他只有一个目标——尽快度过这段时间，这样他就能毕业并正式摆脱父母的束缚。但在某个时候，他在学校遇到了一个家伙，彻底打乱了他的计划。”

The wind picked up slightly, meandering through the open windows of their car.
风稍微大了一些，蜿蜒穿过他们车子的敞开的窗户。

“He didn’t know what to make of this person initially. He would always be scrolling on his phone, he would be doodling in his notebook during the whole class, he would often escape to the library to take naps, and he would never seem to shut up once you bring up any webnovel he’d ever read.”
“他一开始不知道该如何看待这个人。他总是刷手机，整节课都在笔记本上涂鸦，经常逃到图书馆打盹，而且一旦你提起他读过的任何网络小说，他似乎就停不下来。”

“I feel like he’s being a little too harsh on him,” Kim Dokja grumbled, throwing him a glare, his cheeks flushed.
“我觉得他对他有点太苛刻了，”金独子嘟囔着，瞪了他一眼，脸颊泛红。

“But soon enough, the boy gravitated towards him, curious to know more about him. He would wonder what new webnovel chapter came out that day as he scrolled through his phone, he would doodle and devise alternate storylines with him, he would play games on his console while he napped in the library, and he would sit and listen intently to whatever story he wanted to share that day. It didn’t take much for the boy to realize how quickly this person became an important part of his life. Time was passing and for once, the boy wished time would flow slower so that he could savor every moment—because he realized how precious time was when he spent it with this person.”
“但很快，这个男孩就被他吸引，好奇地想要更多地了解他。他会想知道那天新出的网络小说章节是什么，一边刷手机一边和他一起涂鸦并构思替代的故事情节，他在图书馆打盹时，他会玩他的游戏机，他会坐下来专心听他那天想分享的任何故事。没过多久，男孩就意识到这个人多么迅速地成为了他生活中重要的一部分。时间在流逝，这一次，男孩希望时间能流得更慢一些，这样他就能珍惜每一刻——因为他意识到，和这个人在一起时，时间是多么宝贵。”

Yoo Joonghyuk grabbed Kim Dokja’s hands, weaving their fingers together, rubbing the back of his hand as he usually did.
刘众赫抓住金独子的手，将他们的手指交织在一起，像往常一样轻轻摩挲他的手背。

“When they started dating, the boy learned what happiness truly looked like. It was waking up every morning with that person sleeping soundly in his arms, it was taking walks at the park late at night with no one else around, it was making routines together like their biweekly grocery trips, it was knowing that someone would be waiting up for him at home, no matter how late.”
“当他们开始约会时，男孩才真正明白了幸福的模样。那是每天早上醒来时，那个人在他怀里安然入睡的样子，那是深夜在公园里散步时，周围空无一人的宁静，那是他们一起制定的例行公事，比如每两周一次的购物之旅，那是知道无论多晚，家里总有一个人在等他。”

“Joonghyuk-ah.”  “Joonghyuk-ah。”

He watched as Kim Dokja tried to say more through his trembling lips. Wordlessly, he continued stroking the back of his hand before bringing it to his lips. Yoo Joonghyuk maintained his gaze, noting how his orbs glistened in the starlight.
他看着金独子颤抖的嘴唇试图说出更多的话。他无声地继续抚摸他的手背，然后将它带到自己的唇边。刘众赫保持着他的目光，注意到他的眼眸在星光下闪烁着光芒。

“Growing up, the boy often fantasized about the ‘homes’ of other people and what made up an ideal ‘home’.”
“在成长过程中，这个男孩常常幻想着别人的‘家’，以及什么构成了一个理想的‘家’。”

He slumped down to the ground, leaning his back against the tree trunk. His eyes blocked out the various bright dots of lit up buildings as he focused his vision among the twinkling stars above. There wasn’t a cloud in sight so it made it even easier to discern each constellation.
他瘫坐在地上，背靠着树干。他的眼睛挡住了建筑物发出的各种明亮光点，专注于头顶闪烁的星星。天空中没有一丝云彩，这使得辨别每个星座变得更加容易。

Slipping his hand into his pocket, Yoo Joonghyuk pulled out a small black velvet box. He readjusted his position so that he could properly face Kim Dokja.
刘众赫把手伸进口袋，掏出一个黑色天鹅绒小盒子。他调整了一下姿势，以便能正对着金独子。

It was even chillier up here but he didn’t actually mind it that much.
这里更冷了，但他其实并不太在意。

“After years of being together with this person, the boy eventually realized he no longer needed to fantasize about the ‘ideal home’.”
“在与这个人共度多年后，男孩终于意识到他不再需要幻想‘理想的家’了。”

Yoo Joonghyuk’s eyelids fluttered open, his irises mirroring the pitch-black sky.
Yoo Joonghyuk 的眼皮轻轻颤动，睁开了眼睛，他的虹膜映照着漆黑的天空。

Kim Dokja blinked, a silent stream of tears falling down his cheek.
金独子眨了眨眼，无声的泪水顺着脸颊滑落。

“Because what they shared was something beyond his imagination—this person embodied everything he ever wanted in a ‘home’ and more.”
“因为他们所分享的东西超出了他的想象——这个人体现了他对‘家’的一切渴望，甚至更多。”

Yoo Joonghyuk smiled, gazing down at the person in front of him. He wiped away the tears that continued to cascade down his face.
“刘众赫微笑着，低头看着面前的人。他擦去了不断从脸上滑落的泪水。”

“In the past, in the present, and in the future, the boy wants to remain by this person’s side—because to him, he is where his home is.”
“在过去、现在和未来，这个男孩都希望留在这个人身边——因为对他来说，他就是他的家。”

Kim Dokja glanced down at the two silver bands, sniffling. Messily wiping his tears away with the back of his hand, he could only utter, “What the heck is all this, you stupid sunfish. When did you even plan all this?”
“金独子低头看着那两枚银色戒指，抽泣着。他用手背胡乱擦去眼泪，只能喃喃道：‘这到底是怎么回事，你这个笨蛋翻车鱼。你什么时候计划好这一切的？’”

“For a while now.” He palmed his cheek, lightly brushing the tears away from his eyes. “Your answer?”
“有一阵子了。”他用手掌轻轻擦去他眼角的泪水。“你的回答呢？”

“You already know what it is.” He weakly smacked his shoulder. “Of course I want to stay by your side.”
“你已经知道是什么了。”他轻轻拍了拍他的肩膀。“我当然想留在你身边。”

“Forever and ever?”  “永远永远？”

Kim Dokja burst into a part-laugh, part-sob at his antics, momentarily diffusing the serious moment. “Forever and ever.”
金独子被他逗得又笑又哭，瞬间缓解了严肃的气氛。“永远永远。”

His shoulders felt significantly lighter as he said the words he had been waiting to hear for a long, long time now. Sporting a carefree grin, Yoo Joonghyuk took the ring out of the box and carefully placed it over his fourth digit. “If it’s forever and ever, you have to promise to wear this forever and ever.”
当他说出那句等待已久的话时，他的肩膀感觉轻松了许多。带着无忧无虑的笑容，刘众赫从盒子里取出戒指，小心翼翼地戴在无名指上。‘如果是永远，你必须答应永远戴着它。’

It was the perfect fit. One night, he waited until Kim Dokja was deeply asleep before whipping out the measuring tape from the nightstand drawer and surreptitiously measuring the circumference of his ring finger.
它完美地贴合了。一天晚上，他等到金独子熟睡后，从床头柜抽屉里拿出卷尺，偷偷测量了他无名指的周长。

Kim Dokja gaped at the ring in wonder as he held his hand up against the night sky. There was a sliver of diamonds that wrapped around the center, its brilliance even more stunning beneath the stars.
金独子惊讶地盯着戒指，将手举向夜空。戒指中央镶嵌着一圈钻石，在星光下更加璀璨夺目。

“It’s beautiful,” he breathed.
“真美，”他轻声说道。

“Yeah,” Yoo Joonghyuk caressed the side of his face, “it really is.”
“是啊，”刘众赫抚摸着他的脸颊，“确实很美。”

Kim Dokja peered up at him, his eyes filled with unshed tears. Yoo Joonghyuk shifted his hand so that it cradled his neck, allowing him to pull him in for a kiss. Rivulets of salty tears filled his tastebuds as he pulled away, their foreheads still connected.
金独子抬头看着他，眼中含着未落的泪水。刘众赫将手移到他的后颈，轻轻托住，将他拉近，吻了上去。当他退开时，咸涩的泪水滑过他的味蕾，两人的额头依然紧贴在一起。

“No more crying, Dokja.” He cupped both his cheeks, swiping away the tears.
“别再哭了，独子。”他双手捧住他的脸颊，擦去泪水。

“That’s your fault,” he blubbered.
“这都是你的错，”他抽泣着说。

Chuckling, he said, “I suppose so.”
他轻笑着，说：“我想是吧。”

Kim Dokja quietly stared for a moment before he said, “Joonghyuk-ah.”
金独子静静地凝视了一会儿，然后说道：“中赫啊。”

“Hm?”  “嗯？”

“This person…” Kim Dokja grasped onto both his wrists, sniffling once more, “is he happier now?”
“这个人……”金独子抓住他的双腕，再次抽泣道，“他现在更幸福了吗？”

Whenever Yoo Joonghyuk was feeling down, he always found solace in peering up at the stars. Perhaps it began from when he started sneaking out at night and found company in the twinkling constellations above. But even as he got older, he often found himself sitting in the living room, gazing out at the starry sky whenever the nights felt just a bit too suffocating.
每当刘中赫感到低落时，他总是通过仰望星空来寻找慰藉。也许这始于他开始在夜晚偷偷溜出去，并在头顶闪烁的星座中找到陪伴。但即使随着年龄的增长，每当夜晚感觉有些窒息时，他常常会坐在客厅里，凝视着星空。

“Yes.”  “是的。”

The sky he used to lay under as a child was vast and filled with clusters of stars. This sky was notably more impressive as it was the first time he had come across such a sky that held legions of shimmering stars with untold stories.
他小时候躺在其下的天空广阔无垠，布满了星群。这片天空尤为壮观，因为这是他第一次见到如此多的闪烁星辰，每一颗都蕴藏着无尽的故事。

Yoo Joonghyuk squeezed his hand, noting how easily their fingers intertwined as they found their rightful place.
刘众赫握紧了他的手，注意到他们的手指如此自然地交织在一起，仿佛找到了彼此应有的位置。

And yet, both of them paled in comparison to the stars in front of him right now—the ones that illuminated deep midnight orbs.
然而，他们俩都无法与此刻他面前的星辰相比——那些照亮了深邃午夜眼眸的星辰。

With a smile, Yoo Joonghyuk said, “Because of you.”
刘众赫微笑着说道：“因为你。”