AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Enjoying the view?”
Tae Hyun’s ears warmed as he turned his attention back to his sauce. “Just making sure you saw your drink on the counter.”
Jason picked up his glass, had a generous swallow, and contentedly sighed. “This is perfect. It’s like you read my mind.”
Tae Hyun playfully snorted. “Because I poured you the same thing you always drink?”
“I never said my mind was complex.” Jason walked over to stand beside him, gently kissing his neck before leaning in to smell the food. “That smells amazing. What did Seong Hyeon call it?”
“Dakgalbi. It’s chicken thighs with rice cakes, perilla leaves, cabbage, and onion in a chili sauce. It’s supposed to have sweet potatoes, too. But we don’t have any.”
“I’m sure it’ll still be great.” Jason moved directly behind Tae Hyun, wrapped his arms around his waist, and nuzzled his neck. “But I’m surprised you cooked after practicing all day. I’d planned on ordering delivery.”
Tae Hyun shivered from Jason’s touch and nearly moaned. “Stop being naughty, hyung. I need to serve this.”
Jason quietly chuckled as he ran his hands down Tae Hyun’s torso and slipped them under the waistband of his shorts. “Here, let me help.”
Tae Hyun playfully smacked Jason’s hand before picking up a pot. “How about you help me with this instead?” He handed the pot to Jason, who took it without complaint. “And I had a breakthrough working with Alex and the dancers today,” he explained as they carried the two pots to the table. “So I felt like celebrating. I hope that’s okay.”
“What? Of course, it’s okay.” Jason set his pot down and walked around to sit at the opposite side of the dining table, allowing Tae Hyun to enjoy the view. It was a sweet, thoughtful gesture that always reminded Tae Hyun of when he’d done the same thing for Jason back in Seoul. “I always prefer to eat something of yours,” he added with a wink.
Tae Hyun snorted at Jason’s incessant flirting as he spooned some of each dish on a plate and handed it to him. Jason immediately tried one of the tteokbokki rice cakes as Tae Hyun served himself.
“So, how’d the arena visit go?”
“It went well enough.” Jason stuffed a forkful of the dakgalbi into his mouth. It was so weird to see him use anything but chopsticks–another thing that made it clear he was American. But Jason’s face lit up as he chewed. “Oh, this is so good! This one goes on the menu, too.”
Tae Hyun grinned. What had once been the source of their worst fight had turned into an inside joke. Every time Tae Hyun cooked something Jason liked–which was nearly everything Tae Hyun made–he insisted that they add it to the menu of the restaurant they’d open together one day.
“I mean, you’ve already performed there before,” Jason continued. “But it’s been heavily remodeled since you were last there, so at least it feels new.” He gave a brief but surprisingly detailed rundown of everything he’d seen, down to how comfortable the furniture was in the dressing rooms. “Even Seong Hyeon gave it his seal of approval. Then he asked me if I was alright.”
“Why? Were you being difficult?”
Jason snorted. “I assure you I was on my best behavior.” He shook his head. “But that wasn’t what he meant. He basically said I didn’t seem happy.”
Tae Hyun frowned, revisiting his earlier worries. “Are you happy, hyung?”
“Well, yeah.” Jason nodded for emphasis. “I mean, I think so. I feel happy. I was just cranky from the tour. And the lighting gave me a headache.”
Tae Hyun’s eyebrows fell. “A headache? Are you okay now?”
Jason smiled and nodded again. “Of course! Once I was outside again, everything was fine.”
“Good.” Tae Hyun couldn’t deny that Jason looked and sounded fine. But he also couldn’t deny that Jason was doing a lot of things lately besides acting. “You’d tell me if you weren’t happy, wouldn’t you?”
“For sure.” Jason smiled. “I may be a Best Actor winner, but that doesn’t mean I can hide my feelings from you. Speaking of which, how was your day? You mentioned something about a breakthrough?”
Tae Hyun didn’t want to let the topic go so quickly but was also anxious to share his success. He smiled and excitedly nodded. “You know the choreo for the title track?”
“I do.” Jason grinned. “It’s super hot.”
Tae Hyun chuckled as his ears warmed. “Well, Alex kept telling me the opposite. I think she said it looked tortured.”
Jason frowned. “Wow, okay.”
“She said something was holding me back, and it turned out she was right. She had me do this free movement exercise with the dancers, where we had to just do what the song made us feel. It reminded me of when you were teaching me how to act. You know? How you had me think back to times I felt a certain emotion?”
“Oh, yeah.” Jason’s smile returned. “Is that what you did? Think of a memory to bring out an emotion?” Tae Hyun nodded. “What did you think of?”
