#061
Jiwoon blinked blankly for a moment, then quickly tossed the candy into his mouth. His chest kept throbbing.
Yechan was still smiling. Jiwoon thought those eyes looked like glass marbles.
A bitter-sweet taste spread in his mouth. The familiar flavor brought back memories of the old Yechan.
Yechan had always followed him well. Even when he had a girlfriend, Yechan would ask to hang out with him. Remembering this, Jiwoon raised his hand and ruffled Yechan’s light brown hair.
“Just study. If your grades turn to shit, you’re the only one who loses.”
“We can do it together.”
“That’s the plan.”
“What?”
“Come to school with me, Yechan. I don’t have friends either. But instead of doing useless things, study.”
Yechan smiled like a magnolia in full bloom. At that smile that looked like a flower blooming wide, Jiwoon’s heart skipped a beat.
“Sounds good. Going to school with you. It’s a promise, hyung.”
Yechan repeated Jiwoon’s words as if echoing them, then grabbed Jiwoon’s hand once more and placed several more candies on his palm.
“It’s been a while since I had these.”
Only then did Jiwoon calmly express his thoughts, picking up a few candies from his palm and putting them in Yechan’s mouth.
“Right. It has been a while.”
Yechan swallowed down the feeling that he might cry and slowly dissolved the candy Jiwoon had fed him in his mouth.
* * *
The next day, Friday, was the freshman welcome party.
Fuck, why are there so many department events? Jiwoon grumbled as he finished his lecture and stretched. Yechan picked up Jiwoon’s jacket and draped it over his shoulders, then asked.
“We have some time before the welcome party. Want to stay at my place and go together? I need to drop off my car.”
At Yechan’s words, Jiwoon looked at his phone and frowned. There were about three hours left until the event started.
An hour to get home if traffic was bad, another hour to come back. Just thinking about going back and forth made him tired even though he hadn’t done anything. After gauging the time for a moment, Jiwoon decided it would be awkward to stay at a cafe and chewed the inside of his mouth.
It had only been a week since he’d fooled around wildly at Yechan’s place. Jiwoon glanced up to check Yechan’s clear face.
When their eyes met, Yechan tilted his head, looking completely unfazed. Seeing that face made Jiwoon feel like he was the only one bothered by it, so he tapped the desk.
Well, he probably thinks it was just a drunken mishap too. Finishing his thoughts, Jiwoon nodded lightly.
Yechan’s house was the same as always. The quiet, clean house was warm like the inside of his car, and it smelled like Yechan.
As soon as they entered, Jiwoon sprawled on the sofa and let the laughter from the TV go in one ear and out the other. Yechan sat next to Jiwoon and read a book.
Only the TV sound flowed gently in the quiet living room. His eyes kept trying to close. Jiwoon shut his sleepy eyes completely and spoke.
“I’m sleepy.”
“Want to sleep? Go sleep in the room.”
Yechan closed his book. Jiwoon didn’t answer. Instead, he leaned his head against Yechan’s shoulder with his eyes closed.
He could feel Yechan’s body moving slightly with each breath through his firm shoulder. After listening to Yechan’s breathing for a while, Jiwoon lifted his legs onto the sofa and lay down on his side.
Lying with his head on Yechan’s thigh, Jiwoon mumbled quietly in a lowered voice.
“Yechan. Wake me up before we leave.”
“Okay.”
And Jiwoon fell asleep just like that, breathing deeply. Jiwoon’s jet-black hair scattered over Yechan’s pants as he slept peacefully with his hands folded at his chest.
Yechan put his book down completely and gently stroked Jiwoon’s hair with his fingers. When he turned off the TV, the house became completely quiet.
Yechan crossed his arms, leaned his head against the sofa back, let out a small breath, and slowly closed his eyelids. The sound of peaceful breathing tickled his ears.
Somehow he felt sleepy. Yechan soon fell asleep following Jiwoon.
Jiwoon woke up to a clattering sound and slowly blinked his eyes, looking toward where the noise came from. He was now resting his head on a cushion.
The crimson light from outside came through the window, as it was almost sunset. Yechan, who had been placing something on the dining table, looked toward Jiwoon.
“You’re awake?”
For a moment, Jiwoon thought he wished this moment could last forever. Yechan walked over, moving his long legs. His white face tinted by the setting sun was beautiful.
“Let’s eat before we go.”
Yechan grabbed Jiwoon’s hand as he stretched while lying down and pulled him up with force. Even after sitting on the sofa and looking at Yechan’s face with sleepy eyes, Jiwoon blankly spread his arms.
Jiwoon had always been particularly weak at waking up. Cute. Yechan smiled, lifting the corners of his mouth, then bent down to hug Jiwoon around the chest and lifted him up.
Jiwoon, with his feet on the floor, staggered as he stood up.
“Hyung, you looked like a baby tiger just now.”
“There you go again with that. Roar.”
“Haha.”
At Jiwoon’s words, Yechan laughed out loud. Seeing this, Jiwoon smiled and headed to the dining table.
The milky white pollack and seaweed soup and the arranged side dishes looked neat.
“You need to get married.”
He had thought this before, but Yechan would probably be incredibly cherished if he got married. Jiwoon spooned some soup into his mouth and chewed the white rice, nodding his head. Delicious. This is the level that deserves to be worshipped.
“Will hyung live with me? I can really support you now.”
At Yechan’s words, Jiwoon almost choked. Support me. It was definitely something he had said before.
Jiwoon barely swallowed his food and shook his head.
“No.”
“Why?”
Jiwoon didn’t answer. When Jiwoon remained silent, Yechan also didn’t say anything else and continued eating.
Imagining Yechan starting a family with someone, Jiwoon chewed his rice thoroughly. After finishing the meal, Yechan handed Jiwoon a pill and a drink.
“It’s a hangover remedy to take before drinking.”
“You even prepare stuff like this?”
“There’s a sabal ceremony today.”
“What’s that?”
The group chat was still noisy with talk about the sabal ceremony. Yechan realized once again that Jiwoon had no interest in the group chat at all.
After hesitating for a moment, Yechan continued.
“These days it’s just the name that remains… Each freshman comes out to introduce themselves and drinks from a sabal cup. It’s probably not a pitcher, maybe 500ml?”
“What?”
Horrified by the remnants of bad customs, Jiwoon scrunched up his face. Yechan reassured him with a smile.
“It’s just called sabal ceremony. It’ll probably be about as much as that Jindo liquor you gave me last time.”
Only after recalling Yechan’s cup that had been half-filled with soju did Jiwoon’s expression soften a bit.
Yechan tore open the pill and placed it on Jiwoon’s palm, then handed him the opened drink.
Without any more complaints, Jiwoon threw the pill and drink into his mouth.
“Hyung. But what did you prepare for the talent show?”
“What talent show?”
“Didn’t you see the group chat announcement? I thought you at least knew how to read announcements…”
“I saw it.”
Yechan, who had swallowed his own pill, took out his phone and showed the group chat announcement screen. It was an announcement where he had only read the top part that claimed to be a three-line summary because the text was too long.
The three-line summary only had the date, location, and participants. Yechan scrolled down and pointed to the middle part of the announcement with his finger.
Freshman self-introductions must include at least one talent show performance. Seeing this sentence for the first time, Jiwoon’s eyes widened as he snatched Yechan’s phone and read the announcement from beginning to end.
The text, which excluded the word “sabal ceremony” and disguised distorted drinking culture as a friendly welcome party, naturally made his teeth clench.
“Should I set it on fire?”
“Arson is a crime.”
“This is fucking annoying.”
At the mention of a talent show, Jiwoon recalled his last, now distant memory of a talent show.
Was it during the school trip in his second year of high school? Kyungjun had insisted he had to do it and bothered him for a whole month, so he went out for the talent show.
What was the song title then? As Jiwoon traced his memory, he soon remembered the song title.
“I’ll just do it half-heartedly and get it over with.”
“You’re going to do it?”
“It’s not like I’m the only one who doesn’t have to do it, right? I have to do it.”
“I thought you wouldn’t.”
“I just need to do something I can do reasonably well. It’s just annoying.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to dance.”
“What?”
An unexpected word came out of his mouth when Yechan thought he would say he’d sing a song. Yechan’s eyes widened as he asked again.
Seeing Yechan’s reaction, Jiwoon narrowed his eyes.
“Why? Don’t think I can do it?”
“No, I just… can’t imagine it.”
“So you don’t think I can do it?”
“Um…”
Yechan imagined Jiwoon dancing for a moment and thought of the dances he knew. Ballet, Korean traditional dance, hip-hop, idol dances… Nothing seemed to match with Jiwoon.
Maybe contemporary dance would suit him? Since he has a pretty body. After hesitating, Yechan answered.
“To be honest, yes.”
Then Jiwoon’s eyes flashed up. He had planned to do it half-heartedly, but Yechan had ignited his competitive spirit.
With his fighting spirit surging up, Jiwoon pulled at the corner of his mouth and said.
“Then Yechan. Want to make a bet?”
“What kind of bet?”
“Today, after my talent show, I’ll get three or more phone numbers.”
“No.”
“Five?”
“No, I won’t do it.”
“Ten.”
That’s not the point—not even one is okay. Yechan chewed the inside of his mouth in frustration he couldn’t express.
Both Jiwoon and Yechan often received notes with contact information from strangers they didn’t know. He didn’t like that either, but now Jiwoon was openly saying he’d collect numbers.
But when he glimpsed Jiwoon’s eyes, they were calmly burning. It seemed like he was serious.
Still, Yechan’s thought that dancing really didn’t suit Jiwoon remained unchanged. Jiwoon was light but arrogant.
That was Yechan’s thinking. It seemed like Jiwoon would never do something like dance in front of others.
After pondering, Yechan reluctantly opened his mouth.
“Let’s make it five. But only count when they ask for your number. Don’t actually give your number or anything. It’ll be troublesome later.”
“Sounds good, what should we bet?”
Jiwoon nodded. Anyway, Jiwoon had no intention of actually giving out his number either.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
