One-Shot Transmigration: Sorry I'm Here To Ruin Your Happy Ever After Chapter 19: Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten how to live?

Min-jae ignored him, happily alternating between the Wellington and the sides, chasing it all down with a gulp of claret that made his cheeks flush warm.

He was halfway through the pudding by the ti he finally slowed, slumping back in his chair with a groan.

"Gods above..." he muttered, patting his stomach. His belly strained against the fabric of ical’s shirt, round and full, and he swore he could feel it pressing against the table.

"I think I’m about to explode."

ical’s gaze dipped, lingering at the way the fabric stretched across his belly. His smirk was rciless. "You’re not exploding. You’re just a little piggy who couldn’t stop eating."

Min-jae’s head snapped up, eyes wide. "P-piggy?!"

"Mm." ical plucked the empty pudding plate from in front of him and set it aside. "Greedy little piggy. Snorting over beef like you’ve never seen food before."

Min-jae’s cheeks burned hotter than the wine. "That’s—! I was hungry, okay?!"

ical leaned in, voice dropping, playful and low. "You were more than hungry. You were devouring it. I thought you might chew through the plate next."

Min-jae groaned, burying his face in his hands. "Ugh, shut up..."

ical chuckled, rising smoothly from his chair. He hooked an arm under Min-jae’s and pulled him upright, ignoring his halfhearted resistance. "Co on, piggy. If you stay planted here, you’ll roll back to bed and never wake up."

"I will not roll!" Min-jae snapped, though his words lost their bite as ical steadied him, his hand warm against the small of his back.

"Mm. We’ll see.." ical murmured, leading him toward the hall.

Min-jae waddled beside him, one hand pressed to his swollen belly as though holding it together. "You’re cruel.." he muttered. "Mocking a man in his ti of suffering."

ical’s lips twitched. "Suffering? You looked ready to cry from happiness with every bite."

"That’s because it was good!" Min-jae snapped, then hiccupped, his face going crimson. "I wasn’t— I wasn’t...a piggy."

"Mm." ical’s gaze lingered deliberately on the shirt stretched taut across his stomach. "You’re sure about that?"

Min-jae huffed, turning away, but the heat climbing his neck betrayed him. "I hate you."

"No, you don’t." ical’s hand pressed gently at the small of his back, guiding him down the hall with ease. "If you did, you wouldn’t be leaning on like this."

Min-jae froze, only to realize, mortified, that he was leaning, shoulder brushing ical’s arm, steps syncing unconsciously to his. He jerked upright with a scowl. "That’s because I’m stuffed. If I let go, I’ll topple over."

"Ah. Of course." ical’s agreent was far too smooth, his smile lurking in the corner of his mouth. "Then lean all you want. I’ll keep my little piggy from rolling away."

Min-jae groaned, hiding his face in both hands as they reached the doors. "You’re so fucking annoying.."

"And you.." ical said, pushing open the doors to the gardens "are far too easy to tease."

The cool night air swept over them, scented with roses and damp grass, and Min-jae could finally breathed again.

His eyes flicked around, scanning the shadows between hedges and under benches.

"Punz?" he called softly. No answering wl. He sighed. The little troublemaker must have slipped off sowhere.

Resigning himself, his gaze shifted to the garden itself. The flowerbeds were immaculate, every bloom neat as though painted into place.

He wasn’t particularly interested in flowers, but the sight of ical stooping to inspect a cluster of lilies, his broad fra haloed by their colors, made Min-jae’s lips curl despite himself.

"You look like you belong here. Handso man, perfect flowers. It’s almost insulting."

ical straightened, one brow arched. "Insulting?"

"Yeah." Min-jae stuffed his hands in the pockets of his borrowed trousers, kicking at a pebble. "Makes the rest of us look bad."

The governor’s smirk was faint but unmistakable. "Rest of us? You an piggies who nearly cried over beef Wellington?"

Min-jae let out a strangled groan. "You’re never letting that go, are you?"

"Not when you make it so easy."

Min-jae tore his gaze from ical and tilted his head back. The sky stretched wide and endless above them, streaked with clouds that glowed faintly in the moonlight. His lips curved as a thought slipped out unbidden.

"...Was the sky always this beautiful?"

He didn’t know if it was the place, the night air, or simply the company, but for the first ti in a while, his chest felt light.

ical walked over, as if to speak, but before words could form, a drop of water splashed onto Min-jae’s nose. He blinked, then another hit his cheek.

Soon, the patter of rain stitched itself into the night air.

Min-jae’s lips twitched. "What awkward timing..."

"Inside.." ical said imdiately, his hand closing firmly around Min-jae’s wrist. "You’ll catch cold."

But Min-jae shook his head, squeezing his hand tighter instead.

"No, let us stay here and play.."

-_-

"Play?"

For a mont, ical simply stood there, watching him. The rain was falling harder now, drenching them both, plastering Min-jae’s dark hair against his face and soaking the oversized shirt until it clung to him like a second skin.

Any other man would have hurried inside, cursing the storm and demanding dry clothes.

But Kaizar... Kaizar was smiling. His grin was wide and unrestrained, his eyes bright even through the rivulets of water dripping down his lashes. He held out his hand as though offering the simplest thing in the world.

"When was the last ti you danced in the rain?" he asked. His voice was clear despite the thunder in the distance. "Co on, Governor. Don’t tell you’ve forgotten how to be alive."

The words struck harder than they should have. ical’s life had been nothing but duty, expectations, and responsibility for as long as he could rember.

He was a man who asured every action, every glance, every decision, because the world demanded perfection from him.

And yet here stood Kaizar, tugging at that rigid order with reckless laughter, as if the storm itself had given him permission to misbehave.

"...You’re impossible.." ical muttered, though his voice had already softened.

Min-jae only laughed, tilting his face up into the rain as if it were sunlight. "That’s not a no."