Best Friend X Swap

“…What. How are you awake?”
Even without turning around, the familiar scent made all the strength drain from Seo-eul’s body. Normally, he woke up around noon, so Seo-eul asked in genuine bewilderment. He had made sure Sa-heon was completely unconscious before coming down. He had even reset the temperature he’d raised by three degrees because of him.
So why was he awake?
Feeling a twinge of guilt, he quietly set down the knife he was holding.
Without giving any real answer, Sa-heon—leaning against him—spoke in a low, sleep-drowned voice, just one syllable.
“…Ah.”
That alone was enough for Seo-eul to understand. He picked the knife right back up. In a different context, this could have been a thriller scene, but of course nothing melodramatically violent happened. He simply finished peeling the apple he held in his left hand and cut it into bite-sized pieces. Then he offered one over his shoulder.
Without opening his eyes, Sa-heon accepted it as if it were the most natural thing.
Crunch, crunch.
When the crisp chewing slowed, another piece automatically followed.
And again. And again. Eventually, once the final slice was fed into his mouth and held between his lips, Sa-heon slowly leaned away and said:
“I’ll be back. One hour.”
“Okay.”
Right on cue, the moka pot began to boil. Seo-eul washed the juice from his hands, quickly turned off the induction, and turned around to get ice. By then, Sa-heon was already gone through the front door, and only a dumbfounded Ye Ju-yeol remained behind. As Seo-eul walked casually to the freezer, Ju-yeol’s confusion only grew.
What did I just witness…?
His lips parted and quivered uselessly as he replayed the scene.
He had been on his chair, fidgeting like a dog needing a walk, restraining the desperate urge to go stand beside Seo-eul just like Seo-eul had predicted. He thought he heard a door somewhere, turned toward the stairs—and soon, long legs appeared, taking forever to end. When the legs finally stopped and revealed a waist, torso, and face, Ju-yeol thought:
Wow. Okay, I get it. Models really are chosen by heaven.
He had never once in his life been made to feel small by height, but this guy was built at an entirely different ratio.
Just sweatpants and a thin cotton tee, and somehow he still looked like a spread from a magazine. Some joke he’d heard before surfaced in his mind: that being “too handsome” was actually a flaw for a model, since the outfit needed to shine, but if someone was “ridiculously good-looking,” there was nothing you could do about it. Turned out that joke was true.

Yesterday, he had been too excited about filming with Seo-eul to even notice Sa-heon. But today, seeing him properly, he understood how that haughty Car-de luxury brand picked him as their ambassador.
Sending silent respect his way, Ju-yeol bowed to the approaching Sa-heon. And that was it.
“…….”
“…….”
Yes. That was exactly what was weird.
Normally, if someone admired him this openly, Ju-yeol would be running over excitedly, saying hi, talking, touching, doing anything. But strangely, he couldn’t with Seo Sa-heon. His heart didn’t move in that direction at all; on the contrary, something about him was… unsettling.
Was this that “psycho-meter reading” thing people talked about?
He couldn’t speak openly since they were surrounded by cameras and mics, but he suspected Yoon Hyuk felt the same. Just what happened last night alone—thinking about that eye contact that felt nightmare-inducing made cold sweat run down his back.
In any case, with Seo Sa-heon entering the living room, any chance of a one-on-one talk show with Seo-eul had evaporated. He regretted not choosing to keep chatting instead of drinking coffee. Knowing regret was useless, he complained inwardly—
“…?”
It was one thing for both of them to greet each other silently.
But seeing how close Sa-heon leaned behind Seo-eul—too close—was something Ju-yeol could not overlook.
Since the guy was well over 190 cm, from this angle it looked almost like a back hug. Thankfully, with the hands still in his pockets and only his upper body leaning to rest his face on Seo-eul’s shoulder, it wasn’t as dire as it appeared… but still. No matter how you looked at it, it was not an innocent scene—and soon enough, a chewing sound echoed.
No way… not what I’m thinking, right? He stared, eyes wide—
Slowly, Sa-heon pulled back, shoving the last apple piece into his mouth, eyes half-lidded with sleep, chewing lazily. Then he walked straight toward the entrance and left without giving anyone a chance to speak.
While Ju-yeol sat frozen, eyes bouncing between the two—
Seo-eul placed a cup filled to the brim with iced coffee and a plate holding two freshly sliced pieces of apple on the table.
“I figured drinking on an empty stomach would upset it. Eat these two pieces first.”
“Uh….”
“Why? You don’t like apples?”
Like them? Please. In Ju-yeol’s dictionary there were foods he was shy around, but none he disliked. He shook his head vigorously and declared he could eat a whole box. Seo-eul chuckled softly, assuming it was a joke.
“Um… but why did he leave just now?”
Was it “Sa-heon-ssi”? “Sa-heon hyung”? Nothing felt natural in his mouth, so he just omitted the subject entirely. Popping one of the beautifully sliced pieces into his mouth, he pointed toward the door with his chin. Seo-eul took a sip of his coffee, smiled, and said:
“Morning jog. When he wakes up, he always runs for an hour. His schedule used to be irregular, so I thought he’d wake up late today, but surprisingly he got up early. When he gets back, let’s wake Hyuk and eat together.”
“…….”
“…Why? Is there something you want for breakfast?”
Is this what nine years of living together does to people?
Watching the unaffected, relaxed Seo-eul, Ju-yeol fell into deep thought. If he imagined doing the same thing with Yoon Hyuk… even imagining it led straight to disaster. They wouldn’t feed each other; they’d recoil in disgust and jab each other in the solar plexus. And Hyuk couldn’t even reach his shoulder to lean on it in the first place.
While he was dropping these useless thoughts like fallen leaves, Seo-eul noticed his expression and suddenly asked:
“Ah, now that I think of it—did you guys have those too? Ddu-du and Dda-dda.”
Gasp.
Ju-yeol, who’d been stuck thinking for five minutes, shot his head up. He had just /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ been traumatized by those yesterday. His serious face crumpled into indignant panic as he burst into words at high speed—a topic shift worthy of a short-form clip.
“Yes! You have them too? We thought they were just cushions and got tricked, turned the lights off and—ugh…! We both screamed in the middle of the night. You didn’t hear it, right?”
“Huh?”
“We stayed up a bit late yesterday. So we didn’t know anything and just turned the lights off to sleep and—wow. Their faces suddenly glowed in the dark and I almost passed out. They look so normal no one would suspect it, I swear, it’s unfair…!”
“Cushions? Ours are dolls.”
Realizing they were describing different items, Seo-eul corrected him. Ju-yeol blinked like a startled rabbit and quickly pulled out his phone. He had been terrified, thinking the cushion was possessed. Especially Ddu-du’s villainous grin—he had even taken a picture.
He showed this horror snapshot to the confused-looking Seo-eul.
“See? Look at this…! I’m sure this isn’t for sale. The production team definitely made this just to scare us!”
Just like he said—the dark screen displayed a glowing ghostly version of Ddu-du and Dda-dda. If you encountered it in the dark without warning, it really would terrify you. Later, these two would proudly enter the top ranks of “Top 5 Useless Gift Recommendations” and sell like crazy, but Ju-yeol had no idea yet.
After studying the picture, Seo-eul unlocked his own phone.
“Ours are cute though.”
“Gasp. You took pictures? I want to see, I want to see!”
Sure, they could just visit each other’s rooms later, but right now what mattered was building rapport with his favorite senior. Peeking at Seo-eul’s bright smile, Ju-yeol eagerly looked toward the screen. Just how cute could they possibly be—
“See? Cute, right.”
“…….”
…What is that?