-40-
Eventually Chayeon collapsed as if falling, kneeling on his knees and continuing to speak.
“Oppa is really sorry for being late every day, Nayeon.”
On a playground, on a floor covered entirely in sand. It didn’t matter at all what got on his clothes. Han Chayeon had something much more important than that.
Don’t hate oppa, Nayeon…… Unable to say those words, Chayeon just lowered his head.
As soon as he entered the house familiarly, he knew something was wrong. The child’s absence was big enough to notice just from the quiet air flow without anyone welcoming him that day.
Chayeon’s world, which had been arranged in an orderly fashion, collapsed in an instant. Without time to think, his mind became tangled with various emotions and his hands trembled. He threw the groceries from the mart in front of the entrance and rushed outside. The child he fortunately found through a staff member’s contact seemed to resent his oppa a lot for not playing with him, or rather not being able to stay by his side, and wouldn’t even look at him properly.
Eventually, Chayeon, who had been sitting dejectedly, smiled sadly and stretched out his long arm to caress Nayeon’s legs that were sticking out of Bunhong’s embrace.
“Let’s hurry and go eat beef. Oppa went to the mart and bought it to feed Nayeon.”
“Then what about this oppa?!”
At Nayeon’s sudden words, both Bunhong and Chayeon’s eyes widened simultaneously. Chayeon turned his head to look at Bunhong.
“You haven’t eaten dinner yet. Want to come eat together?”
“Yes.”
It was a completely unexpected proposal. Kim Bunhong quickly nodded at those words, afraid to miss this opportunity to get closer to Chayeon.
Sizzle-
Bunhong yawned quietly. Arriving at Han Chayeon’s house and hearing the sound of meat grilling, his body somehow felt a bit languid. Come to think of it, it seemed like a lot had happened today……
Chayeon alternately placed the fully cooked meat on Bunhong’s plate and Nayeon’s plate.
“Eat up. Nayeon, hurry and eat.”
The moment Bunhong carefully tried to put the meat in his mouth at those words, Nayeon started whining that the meat was hot.
“Ah, it’s hot.”
Since the meat that went into Bunhong’s mouth was also a bit hot, he momentarily thought it was his own complaint.
‘I thought my inner feelings came out without me knowing.’
His tongue stung.
Then Han Chayeon skillfully pulled Nayeon’s bowl over and began cutting the meat into small pieces with scissors.
In the smoke from the grilling meat, Chayeon, who was looking strangely at Bunhong staring blankly at his actions, asked:
“……Should I cut it for you?”
Kim Bunhong lowered his head deeply and answered almost inaudibly, like muttering. Worrying whether his ears would turn red again.
“No……”
After their awkward meal ended, Bunhong and Chayeon were walking on the road again.
Setting it down on the ground, then shouldering the same camera bag that now felt like part of his body after carrying it all day, Bunhong looked up at Chayeon walking alongside him and briefly thanked him.
“……Thank you for bringing me along.”
“This neighborhood turns off all the lights at night and there aren’t many streetlights, so it’s dangerous to go alone.”
I see. Nodding at Chayeon’s words, Bunhong looked around the darkened streets, different from when he came during the day, and thought:
‘But hyung walks this road alone every day.’
Chayeon, who brought Bunhong down to where the streetlights finally twinkled, stopped precisely at that point.
“Well then.”
Brushing his hair that had grown long over his eyes with his fingers, Chayeon turned around.
Though it was regrettable to part like this, Bunhong had no reason to hold him back. After watching Chayeon’s retreating figure, Bunhong also slowly turned his head to look ahead.
‘From tomorrow I have to seriously prepare for the reality program……’
Thinking that it was really starting now, he raised his arms to stretch greatly, then hesitated briefly before taking vigorous steps to go his way.
And the fact that Chayeon glanced back at Kim Bunhong just once was something Bunhong couldn’t guess at all.
After parting with Chayeon, Bunhong arrived at AT Entertainment, or more precisely, the temporary dormitory that Jeong Ido had arranged for him. When he started packing at the boarding house where he had briefly stayed, the landlady began making a fuss.
“Oh my, you’re moving somewhere else completely?”
Bunhong nodded and answered:
“Yes, that’s what happened.”
“Really? You hardly came home anyway.”
Bunhong was greatly flustered by her emotions showing how hurt she was.
‘That’s because I was constantly practicing at the practice room……’
To avoid being seen by others, he had to practice separately in the early morning or late evening hours. Having no particular excuse to offer, the embarrassed Kim Bunhong just laughed.
“Thank you for everything.”
“Right, you’re going to be an idol…… was it? Work hard and become a world-famous singer. Fighting!”
Before entering the new dormitory after saying goodbye, Bunhong took a deep breath in front of the door with heavy luggage in both hands. Perhaps because he was so tense, the piece of paper he was holding in his hand was miserably crumpled.
「Trainee Room A Assignment List
: Kim Bunhong, Oh Seunghyun, ……」
Recalling the notes full of curses he received at the cafeteria, Kim Bunhong bit his lips.
‘Will I be able to endure it well?’
It was at that moment when he brought his trembling hand to the door handle.
* * *
At an early hour, two men gathered in the practice room were deeply focused on practice. That day there were no trainees around, so the inside was quiet. So Han Chayeon was in a good mood for the first time in a long while, and Duho was thoughtless as usual. Eventually their eyes met in the mirror.
The moment Han Chayeon properly decided to nag Duho, who was looking around and fumbling to take out candy from his pocket, Duho scratched his head and opened his mouth.
“But I wonder if he’ll be okay?”
Thinking he might be trying to change the subject again, Chayeon answered suspiciously:
“What?”
“The new trainee. The handsome kid.”
“……”
Since he listed two characteristics that were too accurate to pretend not to know, Han Chayeon could immediately tell which trainee Duho was talking about. Chayeon thought:
‘This is the first time I’ve seen him interested in someone other than me.’
Chayeon thought it was quite unusual and recalled what happened with Kim Bunhong yesterday.
‘It was beef, but does he have a small appetite? He didn’t eat that much.’
His pale, slender arms still bothered him.
While Han Chayeon was lost in his own thoughts, Duho secretly unwrapped candy with his hidden hand and opened his mouth.
“Was it ‘Oh Giyoon’?”
At Duho’s words, Chayeon showed a sneer.
“No way. It would be Kim Bunhong.”
Rolling the perfectly unwrapped candy in his mouth with familiar skill in a short time, Duho’s pupils moved slowly.
“Hmm. I think that was it too.”
“……”
“But was his name that unusual? Kim Bunhong.”
At Duho’s belated question, Chayeon seemed at a loss for words for a moment and made a coldly frozen expression.
A brief silence flowed in the practice room. Even though his pronunciation was muffled from rolling candy in his mouth and mumbling, Duho stubbornly opened his mouth.
“We two don’t go live in the dorm due to personal circumstances.”
At Duho’s words, Chayeon lowered his eyes. His bangs that had grown quite long kept poking him.
“He’ll figure it out himself.”
Despite clearly understanding the intention of what he wanted to say, Duho giggled at Han Chayeon’s behavior that seemed to want to avoid it.
“Hey, coward, are you running away again?”
“Coward? It’s quite shocking to hear that from an idiot.”
“You tried to run away last time too. Leaving me alone.”
“……”
“Honey~ Please don’t do that this time~”
Duho’s build while acting cute like that was twice as big as Han Chayeon’s, so it was really an unbearable sight for others. Han Chayeon, who gets the urge to clean when seeing something disgusting and revolting, lifted his foot and kicked Duho.
When Chayeon really decided he should quit being a trainee, even though he met Duho in the bathroom afterward, there was no wavering in his resolve. Rather, it became more firm. The thought of possibly having to work with this idiot even if he was lucky enough to debut gave him chills.
Actually, this was half a joke, and after practicing for about another month, when he really wanted to quit and packed all his belongings from the practice room to sneak out late at night, what blocked Chayeon was none other than-
Chayeon’s reminiscence stopped at a sudden thought.
‘Oh right. The camera.’
His head throbbed wondering if this scene had been filmed. It was really the worst. When accepting someone else as his person, the things he had to worry about increased one by one like this. Duho was already enough. Chayeon, who was coldly staring at the ceiling, looked at the still cheerful Duho and sighed briefly.
“My sister really liked him. She only saw him once but wants me to bring him over to play again.”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
