#84
“…Shall we leave now?”
Instead of answering, Kang Jihan stretched out his arm. As his hand moved toward his thigh rather than the steering wheel, Nam Seonwoo’s body stiffened even more. He couldn’t make a rational judgment about what Jihan was trying to do or what this situation was. They had only slept together once, and strictly speaking, it wasn’t even the first time, yet when Kang Jihan came this close, his face grew unusually hot.
Somehow, he felt like his heartbeat might be louder than the honking outside. As Seonwoo held his breath unconsciously and confusedly stared at the hand approaching his thigh, a cheerful sound of clapping hands came from behind.
“Oh, I haven’t fastened my belt either! Thanks for reminding me, Jihan.”
It seemed Park Gyuhyeon hadn’t been told to fasten his seatbelt yet. Though Seonwoo wasn’t sure what Gyuhyeon was thankful for, he regained his senses thanks to him and pushed away Jihan’s hand.
“It’s already fastened. Let’s go now.”
“Isn’t the seat too tight?”
Only then did Seonwoo understand what Jihan was trying to do. Next to his outer thigh, there was a lever to adjust the backrest. But knowing the reason for his action didn’t make it any more acceptable. After all, the truck driver outside looked ready to jump out and confront them.
“…I’ll handle it myself, so let’s just get going first, okay?”
It was a car model he had ridden several times in his thirties, thanks to someone. Although that model wouldn’t come out for another ten years, the basics were similar enough that Seonwoo adjusted the lever with familiarity. Even after he finished the adjustments as instructed, Jihan remained quiet. Watching him with a seemingly displeased face, Seonwoo returned the stare with a “what do you want me to do” expression. After a brief standoff, Jihan moved the steering wheel.
Only after they had safely exited the parking lot did Seonwoo breathe a sigh of relief. Slightly rolling his eyes to peek sideways, he saw that Kang Jihan was indeed wearing a school uniform. Though he wasn’t wearing the knit vest, the familiar shirt and pants were the same spring/fall uniform as Seonwoo’s.
“I thought you two had fought, but now it doesn’t seem like it?”
Park Gyuhyeon leaned forward toward the front seats and smiled.
“I arranged this thinking something had happened between you two. But strangely, Jihan agreed too readily.”
So that was it—Park Gyuhyeon, who had been suspiciously smiling that day, must have contacted Jihan. It seemed he had called them together with the intention of reconciling them. While Gyuhyeon’s meddling was typical, what was unusual was that Jihan had so willingly gone along with it and even worn a school uniform. Seonwoo glanced at Jihan from the corner of his eye and wondered:
‘How on earth did he persuade him…’
Gyuhyeon quickly answered that question.
“I told him you said there was something romantic about wearing school uniforms on April Fool’s Day. See how Jihan matched your outfit? I was honestly surprised. You know Jihan’s personality, right?”
Of course he did. That’s why he was speechless. It would be more likely for the sun to rise in the west than for Kang Jihan to voluntarily wear a school uniform on April Fool’s Day.
“Now I get the picture. Jihan wants to reconcile, but you, Nam Seonwoo, are being sulky and ignoring his messages. Am I right?”
“Be quiet.”
“I am right. Seeing how desperately Jihan was looking for you last year, it’s been over a year, hasn’t it? Such a childish guy. Just reconcile already. Haven’t you heard that high school connections last a lifetime? Friendship is something money can’t buy.”
The problem was that it wasn’t friendship. Seonwoo closed his eyes tightly. But Park Gyuhyeon wouldn’t stop talking.
“We’re not kids anymore, we’re all adults. If you have complaints, just say so, right? Then, ‘I’m sorry, man!’ and resolve it in a cool way, wouldn’t that be better?”
Seemingly intoxicated with the satisfaction of contributing to the restoration of a friendship, he didn’t seem to notice that no response was coming from the front.
“You jerk. You abandoned Jihan like that and have been comfortably worrying about your love life? Nam Seonwoo, you’re the type who’ll completely ditch your friends once you start dating.”
It was frustrating not being able to shut him up. Seonwoo hoped the topic would just pass, but as always, Kang Jihan wouldn’t let it go.
“Love worries?”
When the guy who had been quietly driving picked up on that single word, Park Gyuhyeon’s excited voice got louder.
“Yeah! Do you know what he asked me with such a serious face? He said he was worried about how to reject someone who likes him too much. Isn’t that annoying as hell?”
‘Please, Park Gyuhyeon, you bastard…’
Seonwoo regretted sitting in the passenger seat. He couldn’t signal Gyuhyeon or hit the back of his head. And suddenly cutting off the conversation would only seem more suspicious, so all he could do was anxiously listen to see how far Gyuhyeon would go.
He felt a momentary glance from beside him. Jihan, who had been tapping his fingers on the steering wheel, spoke up.
“Who is it?”
“I don’t know. This guy only recently contacted me. But from what I can tell…”
Park Gyuhyeon unnecessarily lowered his voice. Unable to guess what he was about to say, Seonwoo’s fist clenched silently.
“It seems like a classmate.”
“……”
The tension in his fist slowly released. It was truly fortunate that Park Gyuhyeon was so dense. But then Kang Jihan asked again.
“A classmate?”
“Yeah. For someone with Seonwoo’s personality to worry this much, it must be someone he sees every day, right? So who else could it be besides a classmate from the same department? Right, Seonwoo?”
“…Yeah, that’s right. So stop talking about it. I’ve resolved it well.”
Just as he was breathing a sigh of relief at the completely off-base speculation, Jihan asked something strange.
“What did you say Seonwoo’s ideal type was?”
“Seonwoo? Definitely someone tall. Wow, I just had déjà vu. Haven’t we three had this conversation before?”
“Tall, and what else?”
“What else? Well, probably—”
Cough, cough. The two men’s conversation stopped at Seonwoo’s coughing. Every time Park Gyuhyeon tried to continue, artificial coughing would cover his words. Seonwoo sniffled, though he didn’t actually have a runny nose.
“Ah, this cold is severe.”
“……”
“I should just greet our homeroom teacher and leave quickly. How many minutes until we arrive?”
“…About ten minutes.”
“Then I’ll take a nap.”
Seonwoo reclined his seat back with familiar ease. Though he heard Park Gyuhyeon saying “ouch” from behind, he turned his face toward the window and pretended not to notice, closing his eyes. As he comfortably settled into the seat, his back and buttocks gradually warmed up.
…This idiot had actually turned on the seat warmer.
‘As if I really caught a cold…’
Though it felt like he was going to die from the heat, Seonwoo more desperately kept his eyelids down. With Seonwoo, the communication medium between them, “asleep,” Park Gyuhyeon also quieted down.
Silence filled the car. Neither the past Jihan nor the present one ever turned on the radio.
‘So, he was looking for me.’
That meant he must have called at least once. After finding out the number was gone, he might have come to the apartment. Since he wouldn’t know the unit number, he would have waited outside the building. Jihan was the type who could easily wait for about six hours.
He had vaguely guessed that Jihan would look for him for a while, remembering those bloodshot eyes on the day they parted.
So there were days when he worried about what would happen if Jihan canceled his university registration. But even if he did that, Seonwoo thought Jihan could handle the college entrance exam himself, whether by retaking the exam or through some other means, and thus suppressed his worries.
Anyway, even though it was something he had suspected, learning that Kang Jihan had indeed been looking for him made his feelings unnecessarily complicated.
Buried in the heated seat, beads of sweat rolled down his nape. Since he was pretending to be asleep, he couldn’t wipe it away, but after a while, the seat temperature seemed to go down.
The car smoothly cruised along the road. Beyond having a good car, the driving was so stable it was hard to imagine it was a mere 21-year-old behind the wheel. This led to more thoughts about Jihan. Had he really gotten his license as soon as he became an adult? When had he practiced driving like this? Where did he get the money to buy a car?
These questions, each following one after another, were all about Kang Jihan during that one year they were apart. And though he had desperately tried to ignore it, these were things he had always been curious about.
“You have arrived at your destination.”
Just then, the navigation announced their arrival. Seonwoo slowly opened his eyes as if woken by the sound. The car had arrived at the familiar high school. As it was class time, about two classes were out on the field for physical education.
After parking in the lot behind the field, they saw a security guard coming out from the guard post. Just as Seonwoo was about to unbuckle his seatbelt, Park Gyuhyeon flung open the back door and shouted irritably:
“Gosh, I thought I was going to suffocate to death. I’ll go up first, so you two properly reconcile before coming up. Especially you, Nam Seonwoo. Don’t be petty and sort things out properly.”
“What is there to sort—”
“What cold, my ass. You’re not a high schooler begging for a sick note to leave early. A grown man telling such obvious lies. If you’re an adult, resolve it through conversation, okay? If you’re going to maintain this atmosphere in front of our homeroom teacher, just go home.”
Surprisingly, while even Jihan had been fooled by the lie, Park Gyuhyeon hadn’t fallen for it.
“Anyway, this hyung will give you space, so sort it out properly.”
Park Gyuhyeon slammed the door shut without waiting for a response. He closed it so forcefully that he made a belated “oops” face, but intoxicated with his own “adulthood,” he walked confidently toward the main building. However, that confident figure soon shrank after being hit on the back by the security guard who immediately rushed out. Seeing that even his uniform collar was grabbed, it seemed he had been mistaken for a current student.
Just as Seonwoo was about to open the door while watching Gyuhyeon arguing in protest, he heard a clicking sound as soon as he placed his hand on the handle.
Of course, the door wouldn’t open.
