#005
To Lee Jiwoon, Seo Yechan was like an oasis of sorts.
First of all, Seo Yechan was interesting. He was interesting just to look at, but once they started talking, he became even more interesting. It felt like his mouth was full of water.
Of course, that water was hot water that Jiwoon had never tasted before. Even though he thought he might get burned someday if he kept acting like this, Jiwoon couldn’t stop. The word “helpless” was probably meant for times like this.
Jiwoon bolted upright from where he had been lying on his bed. Then he rummaged through his dressing room. His worries continued past midnight as he spread out several pieces of clothing.
And on Saturday morning, Jiwoon, who came out of the bathroom, carefully put on the clothes he had prepared in advance. On Jiwoon’s face was a smile that wasn’t usually visible.
Yechan, who had neatly layered a shirt under his knit top and wore jeans with sneakers, arrived at the movie theater. Someone who was unmistakably Lee Jiwoon was leaning against a pillar.
With the girls around glancing and staring at him, it would have been harder not to find him. Jiwoon, wearing a pale yellow hoodie with a navy lettering jumper, oversized jeans, and white sneakers, was squinting one eye while looking at his phone.
Yechan’s steps quickened.
“Hyung.”
Jiwoon, who had put away his phone at Yechan’s face suddenly filling his vision, smiled slightly.
Yechan was dressed neatly in casual clothes. Light blue suits him well. Thinking that, Jiwoon soon placed his hands on Yechan’s arms. The muscles caught in his hands were firm.
“You look pretty today. Yechan.”
“Please say I look cool. Pretty is a bit…”
“I’m saying you’re pretty because you are pretty.”
“Yes. Hyung looks pretty too. Did you come early?”
“No. Just now. There are fucking tons of people.”
Yechan, who had been carefully examining his delicate features, grabbed the arm of Jiwoon who was smiling with raised corners of his mouth.
“That’s true. Let’s go buy popcorn.”
Even while ordering popcorn and drinks, Yechan kept observing how Jiwoon wore his clothes.
He dresses well. The style with his jet-black bangs slightly swept over seemed to emphasize Jiwoon’s characteristically light impression even more. The overall oversized outfit somehow looked carelessly youthful, but Jiwoon wore it well like a model.
Yechan, who was staring intently at Jiwoon, suddenly thought of a trendy English word. That’s right. Jiwoon was quite hip.
“I’ll buy the popcorn.”
“Okay, then I’ll buy the meal.”
The two headed to the theater holding large popcorn and colas.
“Cherry blossom?”
Yechan, who had sat down in his chair, suddenly said while holding up a piece of popcorn to Jiwoon.
At Yechan’s words, Jiwoon laughed out loud with an “ahaha” sound, then leaned over and took the popcorn with his mouth. At the warmth that touched his fingertips, Yechan’s body momentarily stiffened.
But it didn’t seem to have any particular meaning for Jiwoon. When Yechan came to his senses and belatedly looked at Jiwoon’s face, Jiwoon’s eyes, already leaning back against his chair, were fixed on the advertisements playing on the screen.
…Acting like a kid. Yechan picked up another piece of popcorn and put it in his mouth.
* * *
The movie was decent.
As the two emerged from the movie theater discussing the action, midday sunlight beat down on them. The cherry blossoms in full bloom on the street trees lining the road were abundant.
“Pretty.”
“That’s true.”
“What’s with Yechan’s reaction?”
The cherry blossom path along the stream was full of people who seemed to have come out for an outing. Yechan, who was watching couples and families gathered together taking pictures, replied.
“Hyung doesn’t seem particularly interested in flower viewing either.”
“Yeah.”
Jiwoon unwrapped a lollipop and put it in his mouth. Then he unwrapped another one and brought it to Yechan’s lips.
Yechan, who had become accustomed to Jiwoon’s habit of constantly putting things in his mouth, opened his mouth and bit the candy.
“Flowers or whatever, lately you’re the most interesting thing to me.”
Yechan blinked and pushed the candy to one side of his cheek. Cherry blossom petals scattered in the wind.
Jiwoon grabbed the arm of Yechan, who had been briefly wondering if he had an interesting personality.
“Let’s go over there.”
The place Jiwoon pointed to was an arcade. Yechan nodded.
“What are you good at, hyung?”
“I’m good at everything.”
The place Yechan headed to after entering the arcade was in front of a game machine where you throw basketballs into hoops.
“I don’t lose.”
“Yeah, me neither.”
Jiwoon and Yechan threw balls for a while. As he said he was good, Jiwoon really threw well. Yechan’s competitive spirit flared up.
And the basketball game eventually ended with Yechan’s victory. Jiwoon, who had scowled slightly at the defeat, soon shrugged his shoulders.
“It’s okay. I’m good at soccer. Yechan, you got the ball stolen from you by me several times…”
“…I was going easy on you then.”
“Ah, is that so? I’ll go to the PE teacher and ask them to set up joint PE. Let’s face off.”
“Accepted.”
At the cheeky words, Jiwoon, who had raised his hand, ruffled Yechan’s brown hair. Yechan’s hair flowing between his fingers was smooth.
“Have you ever learned soccer separately, hyung?”
“No. For sports, I did taekwondo, kendo, judo, hapkido. Only things with ‘do’ in the name like that. Ah, but I use my lower body well. That’s probably why I’m good at stealing the ball too.”
“Ah… Next time let’s really face off in soccer. Let’s definitely do joint PE.”
Seeing Yechan speaking with intensity in his eyes, Jiwoon’s lips curved. Yechan stared intently at Jiwoon’s small face looking at him confidently and imagined him doing sports with ‘do’ in the name.
He had heard that he had done sports, but he didn’t know he had done so many. The talk about being good at fighting probably wasn’t just a rumor either.
“Lower body is important. I did swimming for a long time, but swimming doesn’t seem to help much with the lower body.”
“But in swimming you have to kick a lot too.”
“That’s true, but… the shoulders are used much more. Kicking ends up being just repetitive motions.”
“Well, that doesn’t require reflexes like sparring. Anyway, you’re probably good at basketball because you have good shoulders.”
Jiwoon came up with a fairly sharp analysis. He felt Yechan’s shoulders and nodded.
The conclusions Jiwoon casually threw out were often logical and clear. This hyung is probably good at studying too. Yechan’s thoughts spread.
After that, the two wandered around looking at the machines in the arcade and stood in front of a shooting game where zombies popped out.
Jiwoon burst into laughter at Yechan, who was moving around trying to assume a proper shooting stance unnecessarily. Jiwoon eventually won the shooting game.
“You have good dynamic vision, hyung.”
“Don’t bring up dynamic vision for just playing this.”
Yechan chuckled. Jiwoon, who had been looking only at zombies for a while, faced that laughter with a feeling of his vision brightening.
The games were fun.
Jiwoon went to exchange more coins. The two enjoyed several rounds of seated fighting games in succession and eventually reached the pump game.
When the music started playing, the two high school boys began stepping.
“Yechan. Are you clumsy?”
“No, this is harder than I thought, my legs get tangled… You’re good at it, hyung.”
“I told you I use my lower body well.”
“That’s true. Ah, I died again.”
Yechan could only clear the hard mode that Jiwoon cleared in one try after attempting it five times.
Jiwoon chuckled at Yechan, who cleared hard mode with a D- grade. Then he lightly patted Yechan’s back as if to console him.
“The arcade is fun. I should come sometimes.”
“Next time we come, let’s do pump again.”
“…Didn’t I do pretty well at the end though?”
“Yeah. D minus.”
“Ah…”
The two looked at each other and laughed. When they came outside, the cool breeze touched their bodies that had been heated up. Feeling his body cooling pleasantly, Jiwoon asked.
“What do you want to eat?”
“Um… do you like sushi?”
“Yeah. I know a place. Let’s go.”
The clean and neat sushi was delicious. Jiwoon was supposed to buy lunch, but Yechan, who checked the price range, held out his card after finishing the meal.
“Let’s split it half and half. This place is expensive, hyung.”
“Yeah, I have a lot of money. Put it away.”
Jiwoon, who pushed away the card in Yechan’s hand, got up from his seat.
“I have a lot of money too. Enough to support you, hyung.”
Yechan said while following behind Jiwoon. Hearing those words, Jiwoon subtly raised the corners of his mouth and replied.
“Really? Then I’ll pay for this place. You support me.”
“How much do you eat, hyung?”
“A lot.”
“Then I can’t.”
“You suddenly became heartless.”
The staff finished the payment with the card Jiwoon handed over. Even as they left the restaurant, their trivial conversation flowed smoothly.
While talking about school, Yechan, who naturally thought of a certain topic, suddenly asked.
“Hyung, you’re good at studying, right?”
“So-so? About the level of going all-in on the regular admission.”
“Where are you aiming for?”
“Korea University.”
“Ah, as expected. I asked because I thought you’d be good at it.”
Jiwoon blinked for a moment. Do I look like someone who’s good at studying? Thinking that, Jiwoon soon asked Yechan.
“What about you?”
“Um…”
“They said Yechan is first place. Even that you’ve been consistently first place.”
“Who said that?”
“The second place in your grade? That kid is the younger sibling of someone I know.”
“Ah… Being first place is right. But I don’t really know who second place is.”
Yechan really didn’t know who was second place overall in his grade. He seemed to have heard someone’s name, but it changed often anyway, and he hadn’t remembered because he wasn’t interested in the first place.
But second place, are they talking about second place on the last test?
“No need to know. Do you like studying?”
“Yes. It’s fun, isn’t it?”
“I like it too.”
Jiwoon, who had been staring intently at Yechan’s eyes, smiled. A strangely seductive atmosphere emanated from his narrowed eyes. Yet at the same time, his mouth opened round like a mischievous child.
He must have made several girls cry. Yechan unconsciously had that thought. Yechan, who had squeezed his eyes shut for a moment then opened them, started walking again.
“Today was fun. The food was good too. Let’s relieve stress together sometimes.”
“Okay. Go inside.”
Jiwoon, who waved his hand as usual in front of Yechan’s house, turned his body around. Then he stepped forward steadily.
It was fun. Jiwoon, who organized his day in his head, raised the corners of his mouth at the boredom that had completely disappeared.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
