“You thought about all that at that age?”
“I was a bit shallow in my thinking back then.”
‘What do you mean shallow? If that’s shallow, then what am I?’ The words almost came out automatically, but Gong Pyeonghwa barely held back.
There was no need to reveal his own shortcomings; he could just compliment the other person.
“Wow, shit, you’re a real genius. I thought whoever was in better condition on the day would win.”
“Ah, no, not really.”
Saebyeok was flustered by the sudden compliment, but he didn’t feel bad about it.
“What do you mean ‘not really’? You’re a fucking genius.”
Saebyeok scratched his cheek awkwardly. His cheeks were red.
His appearance made Gong Pyeonghwa’s hand itch with the desire to poke him casually.
“N-no, even without that…”
Could I just touch him once, pretending it’s nothing? Just lightly tap him? Would that be okay?
Unaware of Pyeonghwa’s curiosity, Saebyeok fidgeted with his fingers and smiled awkwardly.
“A-anyway… I think I misunderstood you. I’m sorry…”
“I think I was the same with you.”
Gong Pyeonghwa decided to live up to his name for once.
Yes, let’s get along peacefully. Just because our parents don’t get along, do the children need to have a bad relationship too?
“I guess I had prejudices without realizing it, since our families don’t get along well.”
“It’s not that they don’t get along well, it’s that your dad gets one-sidedly crushed by my dad.”
“What the hell, you bastard?”
Oops.
His deeply rooted ugly rivalry consciousness toward the Shin Saebyeok family unconsciously slipped out.
“Uh, I mean, that came out wrong.”
“I heard that very clearly though?”
“Come on, let’s be manly and let bygones be bygones, hm?”
Gong Pyeonghwa spoke as he pleased and poked Saebyeok’s side. He even slipped some jelly and a chocolate bar into Saebyeok’s pocket.
Though they were just the snacks Saebyeok had given him.
Saebyeok was speechless at this shameless act of returning his gifts as bribes, but he didn’t want to create any resentment after clearing up 12 years of misunderstandings.
Gong Pyeonghwa must have felt the same way, as he changed the subject.
“By the way, I didn’t know you were allergic to mangoes. I thought you were only allergic to peaches and peanuts?”
Thinking about it now, Saebyeok seemed terrified when he approached with a mango pudding. It was too long ago to remember clearly, but it seemed like that?
And to think he’d been worrying and calculating possibilities with that small head of his, Gong Pyeonghwa saw Shin Saebyeok differently now.
He’d thought he was just a rude kid, but he was actually just someone with a lot on his mind.
“Allergies come in many types. And for me, it’s not just mangoes…”
He didn’t add that he had allergies with unknown causes and had to be careful about what he ate. It seemed like unnecessary information.
Saebyeok trailed off.
“I see, kid. You’re quite sensitive.”
Gong Pyeonghwa put his arm around Saebyeok’s shoulder and swaggered.
“Now that we’ve cleared up the misunderstanding, let’s get along well, okay?”
“Y-yeah!”
▶▶▶
“That’s one of the reasons I gave up mangoes.”
Gong Pyeonghwa had loved tropical fruits since he was a fetus, but after becoming lovers with Saebyeok, he boldly gave up tropical fruits.
“I don’t want our Saebyeok to say ‘ouch’ when we kiss.”
“Do I need to know about your kissing circumstances?”
Seonwoo Jeong just wanted to go home.
“So you cleared up your childhood misunderstandings and started dating from then on. Though I feel indescribably betrayed, love has borne fruit, so congratulations, and now I’ll go home…”
“No, no. At that time, we were just kind of flirting, I’m telling you.”
Seonwoo Jeong, who had been watching for a chance to go home, failed again this time.
“It was a kind of prologue where our history began to be written in earnest.”
“What kind of madman writes 50,000 characters for a prologue?”
“Our love is, how do I put it, an epic, a history, a legend, a myth, something like that.”
“Not interested.”
Just in case, Seonwoo Jeong appealed his true feelings.
“There were many incidents.”
Of course, it didn’t get through.
“Romeo and Juliet?”
Gong Pyeonghwa snorted contemptuously.
“Those cute kids. We were like Hong Gil-dong who couldn’t call his father ‘father’ and his brother ‘brother.’ It was like a love between a North Korean spy and a South Korean intelligence agent.”
“Not interested…”
“Every moment was a covert operation. That’s how it was back then.”
What power does a young student have? Parents’ words were like heaven’s decree.
Gong Pyeonghwa, who knew the solemnity of allowance, and Shin Saebyeok, who was originally obedient to adults and had never rebelled, both wanted to get along better now that they’d cleared up their misunderstandings.
After school, they both passively appealed to their parents, asking if it was okay to get along with that kid.
And the answer that came back…
‘Over my dead body!’
It was cold.
“I never thought I’d hear a line that you only hear in third-rate dramas live, and with my dad’s voice at that.”
“I get your dramatic love story, but I want to go home…”
“Did you know? A child who grows up under oppressive parents becomes a perfect liar.”
Seonwoo Jeong was dumbfounded.
Even if not for Shin Saebyeok, was it appropriate to describe your parents as oppressive?
“That’s how our secret flirtation began.”
No, damn it.
“And the rooftop became our secret meeting place.”
Not interested.
◀◀◀
After clearing up the misunderstanding, the two occasionally met on the rooftop.
Saebyeok came to check on the rooftop garden once a day, and Pyeonghwa just came to hang out when he was bored.
“Hey, why do you have a key to the rooftop? Did you lease it?”
“Yeah.”
“Really? Can you buy and sell the school rooftop?”
“Of course I’m kidding.”
They had become comfortable enough with each other to joke around like this. They seemed to have become something like friends.
But.
“I sounded out my dad, and he told me not to get close to you.”
“Me too…”
“Aren’t they being too dramatic at their age?”
How could he say such a thing? Such words about his parents? Saebyeok’s lips trembled with shock, but secretly he felt a bit thrilled.
But instead of agreeing out loud, he just timidly nodded a little.
It felt like doing something bad.
No, not just like something bad, but actually bad? Talking behind his parents’ backs! But he also felt a sense of liberation from his stifled feelings.
“Let’s get along well anyway, okay?”
“…Yeah!”
It was the first rebellion in Shin Saebyeok’s 17 years of life!
***
“Hey, why do you always send me notes? Just text or message me.”
“I don’t know your number…”
“You’re really cold. We’ve known each other for how long?”
Gong Pyeonghwa didn’t have Saebyeok’s number either.
“You’re really cold too.”
“…”
They exchanged numbers for the first time in 12 years. Gong Pyeonghwa asked Saebyeok, half expecting the answer.
“Hey, how did you save my name in your phone?”
“1st Year Class 1 Gong Pyeonghwa.”
“Ha, you’re really a pseudo-intellectual.”
Saebyeok, who had never been called a pseudo-intellectual in his life, was shocked and could only gape.
“Your family, friends, or acquaintances could accidentally see it. How can you save it so obviously?”
This is obvious? No matter how hard Saebyeok wracked his brain, he couldn’t think of any other way to save Gong Pyeonghwa’s contact except as “Gong Pyeonghwa.”
“I’ve saved you as ‘Genius Chicken.’ Because you’re a genius.”
“What?”
He could accept the ‘genius’ part, but where did ‘chicken’ come from? As Saebyeok just blinked, Gong Pyeonghwa sighed deeply.
“You can just say it’s a chicken place you order from frequently. You can save me as ‘Handsome Chicken’ or ‘Cool Chicken.'”
“But I don’t order chicken.”
“Your life is so dull…”
He doesn’t eat chicken? In South Korea, the chicken powerhouse? What a stubborn bastard. Gong Pyeonghwa secretly changed “Genius Chicken” to “Stubborn Chicken.”
“At this rate, you’ll even pick who I’m going to marry.”
“Of course I will.”
Saebyeok had long been aware of his position.
He couldn’t marry someone he loved like others.
He had to inherit the company, and marriage would be the greatest business deal of his life.
Moreover, Saebyeok was an Omega.
Perhaps he would have to hide being an Omega even from his wife, so his partner would likely be a Beta female.
“Hey. How is that ‘of course’? You should marry someone you love. Even people who marry for love get divorced if they’re not compatible.”
Gong Pyeonghwa was more romantic than he looked.
“I’m going to marry someone I love.”
***
Gong Pyeonghwa, a romantic of this era, came up to the rooftop all throughout summer vacation.
“You come often.”
“There’s a breeze up here.”
During what was written as ‘vacation’ but read as ‘forced supplementary classes,’ they didn’t turn on the air conditioning much.
Moreover, since Gong Pyeonghwa was tall and sat in the back, the air conditioning didn’t feel very cool to him.
“Ah. This is living.”
Gong Pyeonghwa lay spread-eagled in the shade and closed his eyes. Every time the wind blew, his collar and hair swayed.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
