14
“Is your stomach naturally weak?”
While walking toward the dorm, I turned my head at the sudden question.
Jin Woohyeon, who had been walking with a slightly casual attitude, gestured with his eyes toward my hand. More precisely, toward the medicine bag I was holding.
“People with gastritis are often chronic cases. They say it’s stress-related. Our manager hyung also lives on antacids.”
“Ah.”
I nodded slowly.
“I’m that type. But I don’t get stomach cramps often.”
“You shouldn’t get stomach cramps often…”
Jin Woohyeon’s steps, which had been muttering, came to an abrupt halt.
“You had stomach cramps too?”
“Yes, well…”
“What a completely harmful bastard. As if making you cry wasn’t enough, he made your stomach hurt too. Do you know I want to see what kind of human being he is, even just his face?”
I hadn’t said anything yet, but he seemed to think all of this was because of Lee Chan. But when you really think about it, he wasn’t wrong.
He probably didn’t mean he genuinely wanted to see Lee Chan, but it still felt good that he was taking my side. I smiled to show my gratitude.
“I got IV fluids too, and I’m really okay now. I just need to take my medicine regularly for a while.”
“Don’t get sick, hyung.”
He spoke like he was whining as he started walking again.
“It’s twice as unfair if you’re both upset and sick. I think that person should be the one feeling wronged, not hyung.”
The afternoon spring sunlight poured down on Jin Woohyeon. Maybe that’s why his face looked particularly dazzling as he smiled at me.
“Aren’t you thinking of meeting someone else?”
He didn’t forget to point at himself with his index finger when he said “someone else.”
“They say you forget one person with another person. Well, even if that’s not the case, there’s no need for hyung to be clinging on pathetically by yourself. Show him the same thing. That you have someone good too, that you don’t need him.”
Meeting someone else besides Lee Chan. It was something I had never even imagined.
After hesitating for a moment, I answered honestly.
“I don’t have confidence in liking anyone. I guess you could say I can’t bring myself to do it.”
“What kind of amazing love are you having that you need to ‘bring yourself’ to do anything? You just meet casually.”
“……”
“Ah, don’t misunderstand. I don’t mean being easy and casual about everything. So, what I want to say is that the beginning doesn’t need to be that heavy and serious.”
Hyung’s shoulders are too tense, he added. His large hand patted my shoulder. Like when he had tapped the back of my hand during our meal, it was a playful yet affectionate touch.
“Serious relationships are good. But if you’re solemn every moment, it gets tiring.”
Maybe his words were right. There’s no need to be serious every moment. Just because you start lightly doesn’t mean it has to be a frivolous and fickle relationship.
But I still couldn’t really imagine it. His suggestion to just start casually somehow sounded unrealistic. Yet at the same time, it was strangely tempting, making it difficult to get my bearings.
“You don’t need to decide right away.”
A gentle voice tapped at my ears.
“What I need from you right now isn’t an answer, but an opportunity.”
“Are you…”
After clearing my throat briefly, I asked.
“Are you always this bold? Just, going after someone you like… saying let’s meet even when you don’t know them well…”
“No?”
Jin Woohyeon let out a small laugh.
“Not at all. These are words I’m saying for the first time in my life.”
“What?”
“Do you know what my ex said to me? That being with me made them feel lonelier. That being together was more desolate than being alone.”
“Lonely? Even when they were with you?”
“Not ‘you’—”
“I got it. Jin Woohyeon-ssi. Anyway, you don’t seem like that type of person at all…”
I guess you could say he seemed like he’d take really good care of someone. That’s the feeling I got. Come to think of it, he had been good to me from the first time we met.
“Maybe you just weren’t meant to be with that person. So it can’t necessarily be said that it was Jin Woohyeon-ssi’s fault.”
“Wow.”
Jin Woohyeon, who had been listening to me quietly, smiled refreshingly.
“Sanho hyung. Are you taking my side right now?”
“Of course I’m taking Woohyeon-ssi’s side. I can’t take the side of someone you’ve already broken up with. I don’t even know that person’s name, let alone their face…”
“Hey.”
He giggled like a mischievous kid and patted my shoulder.
“You should say you’re on my side even if you knew them. I’d take hyung’s side even if I knew who hyung’s ex was.”
“What if it turns out I was just packaging things to make myself look good?”
“Hmm.”
He shrugged.
“They say you need to hear both sides to understand relationship problems, but at least hyung doesn’t seem like the type to drag someone else’s image through the mud just to feel sorry for yourself.”
“You can tell that just by looking?”
“You can tell at a glance.”
“……”
“Wow. You look like you don’t believe it at all.”
At his words, I couldn’t help but burst into laughter.
Jin Woohyeon seemed like a good person. As he said, it felt like you could tell just by looking. He was clear, bold, honest, and even generous. These were qualities I didn’t have, ones I had always admired, and they seemed to make him look even more dazzling.
If I ever wanted to escape Lee Chan’s shadow and meet someone new, if I had to meet someone casually like we had discussed, wouldn’t someone like Jin Woohyeon be the best choice? I even found myself thinking that carelessly.
But, unfortunately.
“I can’t date for a while.”
“Huh? Why?”
“There are… circumstances that make it so.”
Since I was currently filming a dating program, it was right to refrain from relationships with outsiders.
“Anyone would think someone issued a dating ban or something. Like a code of conduct.”
I had been moving slowly up the hill when I flinched.
‘…He got that right?’
Of course, it didn’t seem like he knew anything specific, but it was quite a coincidence.
“What a coincidence. I also can’t do anything for a while, something similar. So when can hyung start dating?”
“……”
“Until then, can I be hyung’s dongsaeng?”
I was wondering whether I should answer honestly or give a vague response.
“Uh…”
Beyond Jin Woohyeon’s shoulder, I saw familiar faces at the bottom of the stairs. It was Lee Chan and An Lei.
“Wait, wait a minute.”
Flustered, I quickly hid behind him.
“Hyung?”
“Please hide me for a moment.”
Actually, who I met outside had nothing to do with those two, but somehow I didn’t want to show them this scene.
And of all people, An Lei had to be there too. Since I had only found out yesterday that the two were dating, I wasn’t confident I could manage my expression well yet.
As I stood there not knowing what to do, Jin Woohyeon looked back and forth between the bottom of the stairs and me, then stood to shield me with his body and asked in a small voice.
“Do you want to avoid those people?”
“Yes.”
“Hmm.”
Even while he was looking around, the two people were chatting and walking up the stairs.
Right now there was some distance and they were too busy enjoying themselves to notice, but if they came up just a little more…
Screw it, I don’t know. I grabbed his arm firmly.
“Follow me!”
I decided to take Jin Woohyeon and make a run for it.
We frantically ran away along the path between houses. I had to hurry, and in the midst of that, I didn’t want to show myself limping, so I was focused on my movements and couldn’t think straight at all.
Only when we reached an alley so narrow that sunlight barely penetrated did I let him go.
“…Huff, sorry. It’s okay now.”
Just like when I had tried to run away from Jin Woohyeon earlier, and now too. I thought there were really many occasions to hurry today.
It had been a really long time since I’d moved so urgently that I was out of breath. Maybe ten years?
“Huff, I just dragged you along suddenly. But it doesn’t seem like we came very far, huff…”
“That doesn’t matter… First, catch your breath. You’re struggling even though we didn’t even run.”
Of course that was natural. For me with my uncomfortable ankle, this was no different from a full sprint. I leaned my back against the wall and caught my breath for a moment.
“Are you secretly weak physically?”
Jin Woohyeon, who stood guard at the alley entrance, tilted his head. Unlike me, he looked completely fine. That sight was enviable to the point of being a little annoying.
“But, Sanho hyung.”
I was looking up at him with my waist slightly bent and only my head raised, when Jin Woohyeon touched his chin and said.
“Hyung, you’re releasing a lot of pheromones right now.”
“……”
“It’s lemon scent, right?”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
