Chapter 117
With one dry heave, all three pairs of eyes fixed on Muyoung. Immediately, concerned words poured out.
“What’s wrong with you?”
“Hyung?”
“Hyung, are you okay?”
But Muyoung remained frozen, unable to answer. He felt that if he moved even slightly, he would throw up.
However, once his stomach had been upset, it was impossible to endure for long in a state where he could neither swallow nor spit out what was in his mouth.
“Urgh!”
*Clatter!*
Finally, Muyoung hurriedly jumped up and ran out of the kindergarten cafeteria. With a strong will not to ruin the mealtime, he left behind a look and gesture telling the three not to follow him.
“Wh-what happened?”
“Is he sick?”
“Yeah, he did seem unwell… Could the can he was eating be spoiled?”
Kyungho and Junwoo exchanged words while staring bewilderedly at the seat that had emptied in the blink of an eye, and Seokjae raised one eyebrow as he looked at the exit Muyoung had disappeared through.
‘Should I let it go, or follow him…’
His last expression had looked quite desperate, so Seokjae spent an uncharacteristically long five seconds contemplating.
He soon made his decision and stood up. *Creak-!* The chair, looking pitifully small for a man over 190cm, squealed as it was pushed back.
“I’ll go check on him. You two keep eating.”
The two looked up at Seokjae’s calm voice, as if he knew something. However, he had already turned toward the door and begun walking, so they had no choice but to tell him to take care as he left.
“……”
“He’s gone…”
With half the people in the cafeteria suddenly disappearing, the already spacious area felt even more vast.
Silence fell briefly. Then, glancing sidelong, the two looked at each other.
“Hey.”
And Junwoo, confirming that his best friend wore the same expression as him, cautiously opened his mouth.
“I feel like I’ve seen this situation somewhere before.”
“Me too…”
Person A suddenly feeling nauseous during a meal, Person B following with concern. Wasn’t this a staple scene in the video media that mothers enjoyed? Kyungho, who was even imagining the reactions of happy families clapping in his mind, muttered in a small voice.
“…Could it be?”
“Hey, hey, get a grip. Men can’t get pregnant.”
In a situation that felt like they had suddenly entered a morning drama, Junwoo, who was still maintaining his reason, immediately brought them back to reality.
“Ah… right. Hyung is a man, so it’s impossible.”
Kyungho sighed in relief, stroking his chest. He had been worried about the safety of an early-stage pregnant person having to do prenatal care in such a dangerous place, all because of one dry heave.
“Seriously, do you think morning sickness happens right away?”
Though Kyungho hadn’t said anything, Junwoo, who realized from their childhood friendship that Kyungho had worried too much, grumbled but kindly added an explanation.
“I heard from Mijeong noona during New Year’s that it takes several weeks.”
It was because he knew Kyungho needed evidence to feel reassured, even for impossible scenarios. Just how good was his imagination? Junwoo shook his head.
“I guess it really is impossible.”
Whether his kindness had worked or not, Kyungho muttered with a convinced expression, and Junwoo beside him sighed, thinking it was finally over, waving his spoon in the air.
“Yeah, man. So stop thinking unnecessary thoughts—”
“They’ve never been apart from us.”
“What?”
Junwoo, who had been acting like a mature adult who had mastered life, looked at Kyungho with wide eyes. Seeing this reaction, perhaps thinking he hadn’t been understood, Kyungho supplemented his explanation, just as Junwoo had done earlier.
“I mean, leaving aside whether they’re men or not, there hasn’t been a time when… Oh, wait. In the science lab—”
“Aah! Aaah!”
Junwoo urgently screamed to stop Kyungho’s words.
That rainy night. Junwoo, who had changed clothes first, had heard some disturbing conversation. Though he could only hear bits and pieces because of the rain, the suspicious words and the sight of two pairs of feet visible under the curtain were enough to make him jump to conclusions about what was happening inside.
Flustered, Junwoo couldn’t stop them and just covered his ears with his hands for the sake of their privacy, stomping his feet, and staring at the door.
‘Junwoo, what are you doing there?’
‘Shh- Shh!’
In the midst of his anxiety, Kyungho had come out from behind the curtain and made a fuss trying to quiet him down. It was because they thought the two would be embarrassed if they knew they were being heard.
‘Hey, let’s find something to cover them with. Since this is a science lab, there should be lab coats or something.’
‘Right, they shouldn’t catch cold again…’
‘Are you saying that to make me feel guilty?’
‘Of course not. I’m genuinely concerned.’
Fortunately, if they didn’t focus on listening, the sounds were well masked by the heavy rain.
Afterward, to avoid paying any attention to whether the curtain was shaking or not, he and Kyungho ransacked the science lab. This method not only blocked out the noise but also diverted their attention. Above all, it made their bodies more tired, helping them fall asleep faster, which was extremely successful.
Since then, there had been so many dangerous situations that they had forgotten about it…
“You, you, you! That’s completely inappropriate! I told you it was ultimately impossible, so why are you thinking that far! I don’t even want to know such things!”
“Ah, no. It’s not that I want to know either, it’s just that as I was thinking…”
“Eek!”
He had just buried the memory, and now he had to worry about how to face the two of them in the future. Feeling wronged, Junwoo raised his spoon and struck his friend’s crown.
“You lustful demon! Get out of here!”
*Thwack!*
“Ow! Ow! S-sorry! I’m sorry!”
And so the cafeteria with only two people became more raucous than when all four were present.
Meanwhile, as Seokjae walked toward the bathroom where Muyoung would be, he suddenly tilted his head.
‘I didn’t even put it in, let alone finish inside, so why?’
He too was having thoughts at a similar level to the kids.
* * *
“Muyoung.”
“Yes?!”
As soon as Seokjae’s hand touched his shoulder, Muyoung jumped up like a cat seeing a cucumber and fled to the side.
“W-why did you do that?”
His behavior, not even making eye contact as he answered, clearly showed he was avoiding him. However, Seokjae just showed a calm reaction, slightly furrowing and then relaxing his eyes, merely pointing to the floor with his index finger extended.
“Watch your step. Be careful.”
Following his finger, there was a shoe of unknown ownership rolling around in front of where Muyoung had been standing.
“Ah, aah… Thank you.”
Realizing that Seokjae had simply been kind, Muyoung smiled awkwardly and expressed his gratitude.
Seeing this, Seokjae’s expression became peculiar. Though Muyoung’s behavior suggested extreme aversion to him, his expression and tone remained the same as before. In fact, there was a reason why Seokjae remained so calm, even indifferent, despite Muyoung’s strange reactions as if he were meeting him for the first time—or even more, treating him like someone to be wary of.
‘I don’t know what bizarre thoughts he’s having this time to show such an attitude, but it’s been a few days now and it’s getting annoying.’
It was because Muyoung’s behavior had been changing for three days already.
‘That’s the thirty-eighth time already…’
And he had rejected his touch about forty times, an impressive number. Since the day they left the kindergarten—no, precisely since the moment he had gagged after eating from the dog food can—he had been acting this way.
Seokjae inwardly snorted.
‘Ha, anyone would think I’d used him and tossed him aside.’
I hadn’t even let him taste it properly, let alone consume it. If that were the case, he would have been willing to show him right away out of indignation, but…
“H-hyung. That, because I was startled… are you upset?”
Judging by the way he was carefully watching his reaction, worried about being disliked, the possibility of that was practically zero.
That’s why Seokjae had been scraping together his limited patience over the recent days, watching for an opening. An opportunity for Muyoung to confess the reason with his own mouth.
“No, it’s fine. More importantly, don’t get distracted and watch where you’re going.”
“Yes, yes… I’m sorry.”
He glanced down at the hand that had briefly grasped Muyoung’s shoulder, then moved on with a dry expression. After walking a few steps ahead, he heard footsteps following him from behind—*pitter-patter*—but the presence never got too close.
“……”
“……”
Seokjae was silent, suppressing his temperament that seemed ready to act like a dog at any moment in order to watch for an opening. And Muyoung kept silent, thinking that as the one who had hurt Seokjae, he had no right to speak first.
“Sigh…”
“Hah…”
The two students watching them could only let out small sighs. Then, as if having made some decision, Junwoo clenched his fist and whispered quietly.
“I can’t stand this anymore.”
“What are you going to do?”
To Kyungho’s question, Junwoo didn’t answer and instead strode purposefully toward Muyoung in front of him.
