Sunshine Shower Chapter 124

“Hey, little pup. Your phone is still turned off, isn’t it?”

It was right after he had just finished showering. Nam Taeun, who was lounging in a slouchy posture, sat up lazily when he noticed him. He reached for a plastic bag with a convenience store logo on it and rummaged through it before pulling out a bottle and tossing it over.

Moon Seoyoon instinctively caught the bottle thrown at him, almost missing it.

“Who just throws bottles around recklessly?”

“If you couldn’t even catch that, it’d be a problem.”

With that nonchalant reply, he chuckled and finally looked down at the bottle to see what it was. It was a fatigue-relief drink.

“A fatigue-relief drink?”

“You’ve been looking tired lately. Seems like you haven’t been getting much sleep.”

“Oh…”

Moon Seoyoon awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck.

“Was I making weird noises while sleeping?”

“You? You don’t have any weird sleep habits. I’ve been staying up late because of assignments, so I know. Someone who sleeps like a log was tossing and turning for a change.”

He was relieved he hadn’t made strange noises in his sleep. His mind had been so unsettled recently that he worried he might’ve talked in his sleep. Living in a dorm, he had been cautious not to cause trouble.

“Drink it in front of me. Right now. Immediately.”

Nam Taeun flopped back onto the bed, nodding toward the fatigue-relief drink. Knowing that he would nag until he drank it, Moon Seoyoon twisted the cap, hearing a cracking sound as it opened.

“Thanks, I’ll drink it.”

Moon Seoyoon slowly swallowed the liquid. The distinct taste slid down his throat. Even though it wasn’t the kind of fatigue that a drink could cure, the gesture itself was touching, making him wrinkle his nose for no reason.

After placing the empty bottle on the desk, he sat on the edge of the bed when Nam Taeun threw out another question.

“Why is your phone still off? I was going to ask if you needed anything when I stopped by the convenience store, but it was off.”

“It looks like it’s broken. It won’t turn on.”

Moon Seoyoon lied smoothly. It wasn’t actually broken; he had purposely turned it off. Tomorrow would be Saturday, meaning it had been off all week.

“What if you get an urgent call? Fix it soon.”

“I was planning to take it in tomorrow.”

He had turned off his phone out of fear that Woo Yeonjae might contact him. Blocking the number would have been a simple solution, but he felt more at ease just turning off the phone altogether. Even if the phone was on and the number blocked, he knew he’d still check it out of habit.

He didn’t have any group projects, and with his laptop and tablet set up with messaging apps, there didn’t seem to be any real issues. Besides, there was nothing urgent that required immediate attention.

***

Moon Seoyoon blankly stared at his leg. It was wrapped tightly in white bandages, and a brace constricted it firmly.

Why did he get hurt? With an injury this bad, he should’ve remembered, but nothing came to mind. Everything was hazy, without a clear memory. He furrowed his brows, wracking his brain until he finally recalled falling down the stairs. In an attempt to avoid putting strain on his wrist, he had recklessly fallen and ended up injuring his leg severely.

All this for piano.

He let out a half-laugh, half-sigh, pressing his toes against the bandages. The tips of his toes, peeking out between the bandages, wiggled slightly. His friends had scribbled doodles all over the brace, and Woo Yeonjae had drawn a few giggling pictures. In fact, it was so covered in random doodles and drawings that the brace was barely visible.

Didn’t I get new sneakers as a birthday gift when this came off?

“…”

Moon Seoyoon frowned slightly. How did he know that?

As soon as he realized he was dreaming, the scene shifted in an instant.

A piano appeared. Moon Seoyoon instinctively knew it was after his mother’s passing.

He stared blankly at the piano, then slowly moved toward it, the lone instrument sitting in the empty space. Cautiously, he placed his hands on it. The cold touch of the piano keys clung to his fingertips. He lifted his head, scanning the area, but it was still a quiet, empty space.

Suddenly, an impulse hit him. He sat down at the piano. As he lifted the lid, familiar keys came into view. His fingers moved on their own, pressing the keys as if to confirm they were real. A clear sound filled the air.

Moon Seoyoon pressed the keys out of habit. A familiar melody slowly flowed out. It seemed to be a piece he had practiced for a competition, though he couldn’t remember the exact title. It had been a long time ago.

When the short piece ended and he blinked, he was no longer in front of the piano but standing by a window.

The distinct smell of light summer rain wafted in, followed by the sound of gentle raindrops. Sunlight poured in from behind him as he slowly turned around. Outside the window, he saw a soft drizzle, a fox rain, familiar and comforting.

As he reached out through the open window to touch the fine rain, a jarring melody grabbed his attention. Moon Seoyoon turned sharply, startled.

Woo Yeonjae was sitting at the piano, playing with an unusually focused expression. Despite his large hands and long fingers, which were well-suited for playing the piano, his lack of skill showed in the messy performance.

After finishing his awkward playing, Woo Yeonjae turned toward him with a sly smile.

Without realizing it, Moon Seoyoon twitched his fingers. Despite Woo Yeonjae looking the same as usual, there was something subtly different about his expression.

That look, it’s as if he’s…

Moon Seoyoon opened his eyes. He gasped for breath, as though he had just been pulled from drowning.

“Hah… hah… hah…”

Even in his dazed state, Woo Yeonjae’s face from the dream remained vividly in his mind.

“Ha…”

Lying still, Moon Seoyoon mulled over that expression before absentmindedly brushing his messy hair and getting out of bed. Rather than letting unnecessary thoughts linger, he figured moving around would help clear his mind.

He had slept for quite some time, as sunlight filtered through the curtains. Just as he moved toward the bathroom, something odd caught his eye—his phone.

“…”

Moon Seoyoon hesitated before turning on his phone. Suddenly, a wave of anxiety rushed over him, and his heart began to pound rapidly. He couldn’t tell if he was anxious because he might have received a message from Woo Yeonjae or because he might not have received one. Or perhaps it was due to a fleeting intuition that passed through his mind.

As the screen lit up and a few seconds passed, numbers began to appear in the message window. Among them, there was a name that immediately caught his eye. It was someone he hadn’t expected to hear from at all, making it impossible not to notice right away.

His eyes, which had been reading the message, stopped at one point.

“Ah…”

His breath came in gasps as if he had just awoken from sleep.

Moon Seoyoon slowly closed and opened his eyes, repeating the action. He needed to pull himself together.

***

As time went on, the dream became more vivid.

Although he had been suffering from insomnia for weeks and rarely slept long enough to dream, it grew strangely detailed and disturbingly real.

At the center of the dream was always Moon Seoyoon.

‘Because that makes it even more miserable.’

Woo Yeonjae had finally succeeded in making Moon Seoyoon miserable.

Fittingly for a nightmare born of sleeplessness, there was no sight of his one and only childhood friend being happy.

It made sense, as a person who was imprisoned without knowing why, who was violated without consent, couldn’t possibly show such expressions. More than anything, a dead face wouldn’t reveal any emotions.

The grim and awful truth was that in the dream, Woo Yeonjae regretted it.

He should have done this sooner.

“Ah, shit…”

Woo Yeonjae cursed as he opened his eyes. At some point, he had fallen asleep again, only to be haunted by another wretched nightmare.

“Hah.”

The face from the dream surfaced in his mind, and he felt nauseous again. It was because of the self-loathing he harbored.

In the end, he went to the bathroom once more and stood under the cold water. He’d lost count of how many showers he had taken.

He had pondered and agonized over how to resolve things with Moon Seoyoon, but even that effort was constantly interrupted by the sound of Moon Seoyoon’s calm voice, making it hard to think rationally.

‘Woo Yeonjae. You don’t like me. Don’t fool yourself.’

‘It’s unrequited love, so it should be easy to move on.’

‘I’ll bury my feelings, so don’t let your heart be fooled by me.’

‘Because that makes it even more miserable.’

Moon Seoyoon, confessing his misery, had a composed and dignified face. His voice, too, was fittingly calm, without a hint of passion. It was monotonous and quiet, nothing more.

Facing that face, with its traces of tears but now hardened, Woo Yeonjae thought for a moment—it might have been better if he had kept crying.