#054
Ah…… Looking at his hands for a moment, Jiwoon silently raised his gaze to look at Yechan’s face. The face he had wanted to see, the face he had imagined thousands of times more, was right in front of him. He absolutely couldn’t take his eyes away.
Ha…… Letting out a small sigh and covering his mouth once more, Jiwoon finally gave in. Jiwoon, whose momentum had somewhat deflated, pulled his hand away from Yechan.
“……I can’t drink much. I’m drunk.”
In the end, his drunk mouth moved on its own. It was all because of the alcohol. There was no other reason. It had to be that way.
“Me too. Someone made me drink a lot. Let’s just drink a little more.”
Yechan said with a grin and grabbed Jiwoon’s hand again. Then he turned and started walking.
Jiwoon tried to pull his hand away again, but Yechan’s large hand holding his firmly didn’t budge. Yechan was still smiling brightly while looking at Jiwoon’s deeply frowning face.
“There are a lot of crazy kids here. I’ll just hold your hand for a bit.”
Jiwoon relaxed the strength in his hand as they passed a group screaming and vomiting.
After going out to the main road and crossing the crosswalk, Yechan soon entered an officetel located along the main street. Though they had only crossed one main road, the considerably quieter atmosphere calmed Jiwoon’s tense nerves a bit.
Yechan’s hand only let go after they entered the building lobby.
“This is the first time I’m bringing someone home. I’m nervous.”
Yechan’s officetel was as big as a decent apartment and even had two bathrooms. The black and white interior resembled Yechan.
“It’s clean.”
Jiwoon said as he took off his padding and hung it on a dining chair.
“Go wash your hands. I’ll get the drinks ready.”
Yechan, who was washing his hands at the sink, gestured toward the bathroom with his chin. When Jiwoon came out after washing his hands, a whiskey bottle, ice, glasses, and snacks were already laid out on the coffee table in front of the sofa.
Looking at the prettily arranged olives, cheese, and melon, Jiwoon asked.
“Did you open a bar?”
“Haha, no. I went to the mart recently.”
“You buy stuff like this for your place?”
“It’s nice to take them out one by one when I drink alone sometimes.”
“Drinking alone will give you alcohol dependency.”
“Then from now on, hyung can drink with me.”
Instead of answering, Jiwoon stabbed a fork into the melon.
Yechan clinked as he filled the glasses. Soon Yechan clinked his glass against Jiwoon’s, who was holding the glass placed in front of him and swirling it a few times.
After taking a sip and swallowing, Jiwoon scrunched one eyebrow. Unlike Jiwoon, Yechan drank the whiskey without changing his expression at all and asked.
“Doesn’t it taste good?”
“It’s fine.”
Jiwoon checked the whiskey label. It was single malt Eighteen.
As Jiwoon lifted his glass and swallowed another sip of alcohol, Yechan held out a fork with melon on it. Jiwoon unconsciously took the melon from the fork tip with his mouth and cursed inwardly.
His stomach, churning messily mixed up, and his body acting thoughtlessly were both irritating. It must be because of the alcohol. Even his head, making excuses like that, was covered in confusion.
Right now, Jiwoon couldn’t understand at all why he was here, or why Yechan in front of him was here either.
Somehow it didn’t feel real. It was strange. Too strange.
“Have you been well?”
Yechan suddenly asked. Jiwoon nodded silently. For some reason, words didn’t come out easily.
Even though Jiwoon didn’t say anything, Yechan lightly talked about school in a casual tone and slowly drank his alcohol.
Phew…… Jiwoon let out a sigh full of alcohol. Fuck, I’m really drunk. His head was spinning.
On the other hand, Yechan seemed fine. Jiwoon was also on the heavy drinking side, but Yechan seemed even more so. Watching Yechan sip whiskey after drinking all the alcohol given to him, Jiwoon briefly made a disgusted expression then relaxed it.
Suddenly words popped out without going through his brain.
“Did you. Get in through early admission? And why did you take a leave of absence?”
“Regular admission. When they saw my mock exam scores, they said to let other kids have early admission. As for the leave of absence, I just…… had various things I wanted to try. So I did it.”
Jiwoon nodded. Since Yechan was so smart, he had thought he would do well on the Suneung too. But to think he’d break through Korea University Business through regular admission. Yechan was admirable.
Jiwoon swallowed his praise and continued speaking.
“What did you do during your leave of absence?”
“I did volunteer work at my mother’s hospital, tried working part-time at a cafe. Um…… I also went to cooking school.”
Yechan lifted his glass. At the unexpected answer, Jiwoon asked with slightly widened eyes.
“Cooking?”
“Yes. I wanted to learn.”
“Are you good at it? Ah, is that why you live alone?”
“Haha, that’s not it…… But it’s true that I got good at cooking. I started living alone just because I wanted to try being independent.”
Jiwoon nodded again and tilted his glass. Yechan brought an olive to Jiwoon’s mouth.
Slowly raising his eyelids, Jiwoon habitually ate the olive again. Watching this, Yechan suddenly remembered Jiwoon saying harsh words to him on the rooftop.
He still vividly remembered the face that had called him annoying.
And that face was so different from Jiwoon who was right in front of him now.
“What about hyung? I heard you went to England. And that you went to the military. Wasn’t the military hard?”
Yechan didn’t bring up the question of why he hadn’t contacted him. That would be too pathetic. And he was afraid.
“It was manageable. You should go too.”
“To England? Or the military?”
“Both.”
Jiwoon smiled slightly and drank. The sharp atmosphere from earlier had now mostly softened.
His head was dizzy. Is this a dream? Fuck, I don’t know. Jiwoon, who had somehow held out his empty glass, looked at Yechan with his head tilted crookedly.
“Alcohol.”
“Hyung. Are you okay?”
Jiwoon nodded. After staring at Jiwoon intently for a moment, Yechan filled Jiwoon’s glass with ice and poured alcohol.
Swallowing another sip of the strong whiskey, Jiwoon scrunched one eyebrow again. Before he knew it, a cracker topped with cheese was touching his lips.
Jiwoon opened his mouth with dazed eyes. Chewing the snack Yechan gave him, Jiwoon once again thought this situation was too strange.
Yechan, whom he had tried so hard to distance himself from, was beside him. Even within arm’s reach. The two years of running away to foreign countries and the military seemed to have disappeared in an instant.
“……Yechan-ah.”
Jiwoon slowly blinked and reached out his hand to Yechan.
Ah…… his hand really touched. Jiwoon lightly pinched Yechan’s cheek. He felt like he might cry.
Quickly pulling his hand away, Jiwoon pulled his legs up on the sofa and hugged his knees. Then he shook his head and chuckled.
“Hyung.”
Yechan shook the shoulders of the curled-up Jiwoon. The broad, firm shoulders seemed to have more muscle than before.
At the sensation that seemed to wrap around his hand, Yechan spread his hand wide as if embracing Jiwoon’s shoulder. At the warm body temperature touching his body, Jiwoon suddenly raised his head.
In that position, Jiwoon rested one cheek on his knee and stared at Yechan. Then he soon stretched out his hand.
“Alcohol.”
It was futile. After all that fuss, life had brought Jiwoon back to Yechan’s side.
“I finally got to drink with hyung. Though twenty is long past.”
The sentence he heard was cruel. Jiwoon suddenly got tired of everything. He was tired of himself still loving Yechan, and tired of this situation becoming like before.
“Are you okay, hyung?”
You’re handsome. Annoyingly so. His drunk head arbitrarily spat out observations. Another chuckle burst from Jiwoon’s mouth.
“No, it’s fucking awful.”
Yechan handed the glass again to Jiwoon, who answered with slurred pronunciation. Yechan quietly watched Jiwoon swallow the alcohol the whole time.
Jiwoon silently drank alcohol repeatedly. It felt like he wouldn’t be able to bear it if he didn’t drink.
Yechan pushed melon into Jiwoon’s mouth. Watching the teeth and lips that lightly bit the fork then let go, Yechan turned his head.
Jiwoon unconsciously started shaking his head from side to side.
So this is how hyung acts when drunk. Yechan resolved that he must never leave Jiwoon’s side at any drinking occasion from now on.
Jiwoon’s face when drunk had his usual cold impression almost completely gone and was relaxed to an excessive degree. Every time Jiwoon slowly blinked, his unfocused eyes strangely stimulated Yechan.
Rather than reddening, his face had turned pale white, and his lips, reddened by alcohol, had a sensual quality. On top of that, his posture and actions were cute like a sleepy child.
Even his laughter had become loose. Watching Jiwoon chuckle showing his white teeth, desire suddenly surged up inside Yechan.
From the moment Jiwoon entered his house, his heart that had been beating noisily was pounding louder and louder. Taking a small breath, Yechan quietly bit his lower lip.
“Yechan-ah. You should drink too.”
Jiwoon giggled and held out his glass. Yechan, who had been chewing his lips, lifted his own glass, clinked it against Jiwoon’s, and drank all the remaining alcohol.
The alcohol going down his throat with a burning sensation actually cleared his head a bit. He could see Jiwoon swallow another sip of whiskey and open his mouth.
“Ice.”
“Yes.”
Yechan picked up ice with tongs then put it back down. Thinking it would be better to bring a spoon, he was about to get up from his seat when Jiwoon grabbed Yechan’s arm.
“Ice.”
At the eyes looking at him as if dissatisfied, Yechan sat back down. After thinking for a moment, he pulled out a wet wipe and cleaned his hands thoroughly, then picked up ice with his fingers. Then he brought it to Jiwoon’s mouth.
Jiwoon, who opened his mouth wide, bit Yechan’s finger. The ice rolled into his mouth.
“Ah……”
Only then did Jiwoon realize he had bitten Yechan’s finger. His drunk head was dizzy.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
