#045
Lee Yeonwoo crouched down and dug through the soil of the terrace garden with his bare hands. He had planted lettuce seeds, but there were no signs of them sprouting. Maybe beginners should start with seedlings after all.
Grandpa Jongsu had told him that lettuce had strong vitality and would grow well as long as you didn’t plant it in midsummer or midwinter, but unfortunately it was exactly midsummer now.
“I should go get some lettuce seedlings from Grandpa Jongsu after all.”
“Is that even possible when you’re taking the bus? They’re heavy to carry and it would be a bother to other people too.”
“Dojun hyung said he’d come pick me up on the way back.”
“What? Sunbae-nim will?”
“Yeah. But hyung, if you’re tired, you really don’t have to come pick me up.”
“No, it’s more comfortable for me to come pick you up.”
Shin Gihyeon looked up at Kang Dojun beside him with wide eyes. Dojun averted his gaze. It seemed like the two had finished their conversation while he was briefly in the bathroom.
Shin Gihyeon was quick to pick up on things. It was partly innate, but also acquired. Because he had observed the subtle actions of others that appeared according to their emotions in order to study acting.
Especially since he had purchased all the movies, dramas, and even this variety show that Kang Dojun appeared in on VOD and watched them constantly.
Shin Gihyeon, who had studied various emotions through Dojun – how he acted when sad, how he acted when angry, joy, happiness, etc. – could notice Dojun’s psychology from his trivial words and actions with keen swiftness.
‘It seems like he’s become aware of it… but does he have no intention of hiding it?’
That’s how he could tell. That Kang Dojun had realized his own feelings.
But even so, Shin Gihyeon had absolutely no intention of playing any kind of bridge role between the two or breaking up their relationship. He was always in a position of watching Kang Dojun from afar.
He had once been close to an obsessive fan, but now that he had decided to become a wise fan who watched from a distance, he had no right to interfere this way and that. However…
“Aren’t you hot?”
“I’m fine.”
Kang Dojun brought his cool back of his hand to Yeonwoo’s cheek, which had turned red from the sunlight.
Shin Gihyeon blinked. It was way too obvious, excessively so.
As if he was about to spread rumors throughout the entire neighborhood saying “I like Lee Yeonwoo,” his actions were unrestrained.
Honey was practically dripping from the eyes that looked at Yeonwoo. It seemed like Kang Dojun should be the one in the honey business, not Yeonwoo. He had never seen such a gaze even when Dojun acted in romantic scenes in the movies or dramas he appeared in.
It wasn’t something an actor should say, but he felt a sense of disconnect.
‘Drama and reality really are different after all.’
At this rate, it would only be a matter of time before others caught on. Wouldn’t it be okay to give him some advice?
While Yeonwoo was wondering whether the soil or the weather was the problem, Kang Dojun left the terrace and went inside to bring him cool water.
Yeonwoo picked up the watering can again and poured it over the soil. The already thoroughly soaked soil couldn’t absorb the stream of water pouring down again.
‘From what I can see, he’s the problem.’
The reason the lettuce couldn’t grow wasn’t due to the soil, weather, seeds, or seedlings, but largely due to Yeonwoo thoughtlessly watering it whenever he had a chance.
Not knowing that he himself was the biggest problem, Yeonwoo peacefully muttered “Is it because of this? Is it because of that?” while looking for the cause elsewhere. Shin Gihyeon shook his head and quietly followed Kang Dojun inside.
He was taking ice cubes he had frozen in the freezer and dropping them plop plop into a cup filled with water. He couldn’t be more meticulous even just bringing a glass of water.
“Sunbae-nim.”
Only at Shin Gihyeon’s call did he seem to notice the presence and look at him.
“Should I get some for Gihyeon-ssi too?”
Kang Dojun was originally kind to others by nature.
Even though he hadn’t said he liked milk, perhaps he had observed him when they bumped into each other coming and going to hang out with Yeonwoo, as he would always get milk for Shin Gihyeon when eating snacks, desserts, or after-meal treats.
Even now, he naturally opened the refrigerator door to take out milk for him.
But there was a line to that kindness based on some standard. It was just that it was infinite only toward Yeonwoo. And that standard was trying to change to one person named Yeonwoo.
Since all standards became Yeonwoo, there seemed to be no drawn line when it came to matters related to him. It reminded him of his past self who had targeted someone who kept moving. All that remained was painful regret. Especially since Yeonwoo was unpredictable, making it worse.
Maybe just a little advice… wouldn’t that be okay?
“Sunbae-nim, do you like Yeonwoo?”
Kang Dojun’s movement of pouring milk stopped. As if the question had pierced through him, his body stiffened while his pupils looking up at Shin Gihyeon trembled restlessly.
Shin Gihyeon first added words to reassure him.
“I don’t have any prejudice about that sort of thing. I have no intention of telling anyone about it either.”
“…Was it that obvious?”
“Extremely so.”
Kang Dojun seemed embarrassed as he raised his hand to unnecessarily fidget with the back of his neck.
“I tried to restrain myself as much as possible.”
“Restrain yourself?”
Though he muttered it, it definitely reached Shin Gihyeon’s ears. A chuckle escaped.
After gauging his reaction, Kang Dojun asked for advice.
“Which part gave it away?”
He seemed ready to fix it if he knew. With his gaze, gestures, actions, tone, and even how he handled his line of sight all pouring toward Yeonwoo, it would be strange not to notice.
“First, your gaze is a romantic gaze, your eyes constantly stay on Yeonwoo, your tone is much more gentle compared to how you speak to me, and the way you curl and uncurl your fingertips looked like someone dying to touch the person they like.”
Shin Gihyeon spoke matter-of-factly, as if evaluating someone’s acting. It was a habit that came out in words from when he studied acting while watching movies and dramas that Kang Dojun appeared in.
Once he started pointing out the problems, there was no end to them.
Kang Dojun could only fall silent at his words. He had tried to fix things if he knew about them, but all his actions were problems. He couldn’t get a sense of where to start fixing things or how.
More than that, even though it was this obvious, why…
“Why doesn’t Yeonwoo know?”
One heart hoping he would continue not knowing, two hearts wishing he would notice his feelings. Complex thoughts came and went.
“It makes sense that he can’t pick up on it. Sunbae-nim, you’ve always treated Yeonwoo like that. He probably thinks you’re naturally that kind of person.”
“Me?”
“Yes, since the countryside. Anyone who’s been continuously watching sunbae-nim would have noticed.”
So that’s why Daeho… Now he understood his manager’s behavior of looking at him like a stranger whenever he contacted Yeonwoo.
Then he was suddenly startled.
“Since the countryside?”
He had realized that he liked Yeonwoo by watching his own actions on the variety show, but it meant Shin Gihyeon had known about it too.
“Even then, you did take special care of Yeonwoo.”
Kang Dojun rubbed his face with dry hands.
‘Just when exactly did I start…’
He could only let out deep sighs. He thought only he had noticed his own behavior, but apparently that wasn’t the case.
But there was still a fortunate part. Close people had caught on, but their relationship hadn’t been mentioned even on the internet.
“But if you look at YouTube comments, there’s no talk about that…”
“Ah…”
“Or if you just go to other anonymous sites, there are tons of posts pairing you two as a couple.”
A wave of self-blame came crashing over Kang Dojun. To think that because of his behavior, even Yeonwoo was unintentionally being linked with him and having his name mentioned on other sites.
He was someone who already disliked public attention…
It felt like he had caused trouble for Yeonwoo too, just because he couldn’t control a single emotion.
“So if you could just reduce showing it a little, just a very little bit…”
Shin Gihyeon carefully brought up the main point.
To summarize, whether Dojun and Yeonwoo ended up together or not was their problem, but right now it was so obvious that anyone could tell, so he should reduce it just a little.
But nothing reached the ears of Kang Dojun, whose thoughts had fallen deep into a valley.
“What’s this? I went to get water but why aren’t you coming back? Are you all eating snacks without me?”
Because the two showed no signs of coming back, Yeonwoo kicked off his shoes on the terrace and came inside. When he lifted his hair to wipe the sweat from the heat, his round forehead and neat eyebrows were revealed.
He strode over to the kitchen where the two were and grabbed the cup of ice water that Kang Dojun had poured.
“Can I drink this?”
“Uh… yeah.”
As Yeonwoo drank it down in one shot and opened his mouth wide against the cup to eat the ice, Kang Dojun quickly grabbed his cup and lowered it.
He was sure Yeonwoo would crunch and eat the ice just like when he chewed candy, intending it only to cool the water.
Then he realized his action and hesitated. He glanced at Shin Gihyeon, feeling self-conscious. Gihyeon shook his head. It meant that this behavior was also too obvious and shouldn’t be done.
‘But the ice is…’
Kang Dojun frowned. Yeonwoo was someone who would first chew foods like candy or ice before anything else. Wouldn’t anyone worry about his teeth getting damaged?
What Shin Gihyeon had said was wrong was referring to his previous behavior.
No one stares intently at someone drinking water. Especially not Kang Dojun, who was watching anxiously without taking his eyes off him for even a moment, worried he might eat the ice.
If he was going to be like that, he shouldn’t have given him ice in the first place. He wanted to give cool water, but didn’t want to give ice – it was a contradictory attitude. He was worried that later he might even show the consideration of putting ice in water to cool it, then fishing out the ice before giving it.
The two had communication problems while trying to express themselves through gestures without Yeonwoo knowing.
Even meaningless trivial actions were too obvious?
Kang Dojun could no longer properly distinguish what was from where to where was peculiar and what wasn’t.
As a result, he came to make a decision in a very extreme direction.
In this vast world, the fact that the person I like would like me back is close to a miracle, so what about someone of the same gender?
He concluded that it was love that couldn’t be fulfilled anyway. His feelings might unintentionally cause harm to the other person.
If that was the case, this was love that needed to be put away.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
