#008
“Do you like this that much?”
Yechan looked up at Jiwoon while slumped over the desk. His white forehead showed through his scattered hair. Seeming to be in a good mood, Yechan’s eyes and mouth were completely relaxed as he swayed his body back and forth.
“Yes. You’re a math genius, hyung.”
“Everyone can do this much.”
At his seemingly charming appearance, Jiwoon bit the soft flesh inside his mouth. He followed Yechan’s lead and rested his head on the desk.
A face that had come close enough to touch, just a span away, filled his vision. His heart fluttered.
Jiwoon, who had narrowed his eyes, bit the flesh in his mouth a bit harder.
“Are you sleepy?”
“…No.”
Yechan’s eyes lingered on Jiwoon’s pale face that had come closer. The reason his small face with slightly upturned eyes didn’t look entirely cat-like was probably because of that prominent jawbone.
Yechan’s gaze, which had been moving smoothly from the firm jawline to the side of his neck below, was soon blocked by the neckline of his sweatshirt. Yechan slowly moved his eyes along the outline of Jiwoon’s sweatshirt to his nicely spread shoulder line and said.
“Even at the academy, it’s hard to see such clean solutions. Why didn’t you go into science?”
“I want to be a lawyer.”
“Are you going to law school?”
“Yeah.”
“Wow. But why a lawyer?”
“Because my mom and dad are successful lawyers?”
Jiwoon had the talent to make heavy things light. The weight of career choices completely disappeared with his light tone of answer.
Yechan thought Jiwoon looked free like that. Something inside Yechan melted smoothly. Just as the math problem that hadn’t been solved all along was solved in an instant by him, the burden about midterm exams was gradually fading.
“I can’t imagine you being a lawyer, hyung.”
“Me neither.”
Jiwoon laughed, “Puhehe.”
“What do you want to do?”
“Accountant.”
“Why?”
“It just seems like it’s been decided since I was little. My mother’s side runs a hospital, but I don’t want to be a doctor… When I said that, she talked about professional management or accounting. When I looked into it, accounting seemed like it would be fun.”
“If you get your CPA license, it would help with management too. Do you have to work for the family business?”
“Yes. There’s no one else to do it besides me. My mother also really wants to keep me by her side. My father passed away early.”
Jiwoon, who had paused for a moment at suddenly encountering Yechan’s family story, asked.
“How did he pass away?”
“Car accident.”
“Don’t you miss him?”
“He passed when I was too young, so I don’t even remember. Actually, I take after my mother and don’t have an emotional personality. Both my mother and I have the feeling of ‘let’s each do our jobs well.'”
“Ah, us too. I only see my mom and dad a few times a year. They’re overseas.”
“Same here.”
Yechan and Jiwoon looked at each other and smiled. The joy of those who felt a sense of kinship showed through.
Yechan curved his lips at the feeling that even his family circumstances and decided career path seemed to float lightly. Jiwoon slowly closed and opened his eyes, taking in that sight.
“Don’t you ever miss your parents, hyung?”
“I probably wanted to see them when I was little, right? But I hardly see them so much that I don’t really.”
“That’s probably why you have so many friends, hyung.”
“Do I? But I don’t have friends.”
“You have a lot.”
“Those guys? Those guys are just kids I hang out with.”
“So sharp.”
“Yes. I don’t have friends. What are friends, Yechan?”
Yechan chuckled and answered.
“I honestly don’t really know about that either. It’s just tiring. Human relationships have always been the most difficult for me.”
“Really?”
“My mother doesn’t expect much from me, but others expect all sorts of things from me, so I think that was kind of hard. Even now, the word ‘friend’ is a bit burdensome.”
“You don’t like heavy things.”
“Yes. My motto is to maintain boundaries.”
“Hmm, drawing lines.”
“I absolutely don’t cross them.”
Aha. Jiwoon faced Yechan’s glass wall. It was their first encounter. He suddenly felt glad that he had approached carefully.
Still, as long as he doesn’t cross the line, they could continue being friends, right? Jiwoon’s eyes sank as he gauged the boundary Yechan had drawn.
Jiwoon sat up from his lying position.
The studying that started in the morning didn’t end until just before evening. For lunch, they ate vongole that Yechan made. It tasted better than expected, so Jiwoon was genuinely impressed.
Before dinnertime, Jiwoon, who had packed his things, put on his sneakers. Yechan, who crouched down together in front of Jiwoon as he sat fixing his shoelaces, brought his head close to Jiwoon.
“Hyung, do you want to study together with me every weekend?”
“You’re doing this because of math, aren’t you?”
“That’s part of it. But studying with you seems to work much better than doing it alone.”
“Then next time, come to my house. There’s an ajumma who cooks.”
“Sounds good. Ah, I keep forgetting you’re a senior. From now on, I’ll be the one to move.”
“Is being a senior some kind of rank?”
“It is a rank.”
Jiwoon lightly ruffled the hair of Yechan, who was wearing slippers and opening the front door for him.
“It’s cold. Don’t come out. Go inside.”
When Yechan, wearing short sleeves, tried to follow him out, Jiwoon closed the door again and pushed Yechan inside. Yechan didn’t get pushed and tried to come out the door again.
“It’s inside the building though.”
“Still, it’s cold at night. Hurry and go in.”
Jiwoon pushed Yechan’s shoulders that had stuck out. Yechan, who went “Oh oh” as he was pushed back, stepped backward into the front door again.
“It’s really not cold.”
“Go in.”
“Get home safely, hyung.”
“Yeah.”
Jiwoon, who pushed Yechan’s head that had peeked out back in and closed the front door, got on the elevator. The sensation of Yechan’s hair still remained on his hand.
Jiwoon, who got off the elevator, came out into the darkened outside and clenched his fist tightly.
* * *
After the weekend passed, about ten days remained until midterm exams. The entire school was quiet. During lunch time and evening study time, the kids studied intensely.
Taehyun, who whined that it was hard, and Minho, who studied silently, had been living on stick coffee lately. Days passed as they studied while even controlling access from students from other classes.
And again on Sunday, Yechan studied together at Jiwoon’s house from afternoon until late at night.
The skills of the ajumma who filled Jiwoon’s house with food every few days and disappeared were excellent. After eating a hearty dinner of bulgogi and beef seaweed soup and concentrating for a long time afterward, Yechan was quite satisfied with today’s results.
“Hyung. Do well on your exams starting tomorrow.”
Yechan, who was leaving Jiwoon’s house in good spirits, suddenly handed over a shopping bag. A high-end chocolate brand logo drawn on the shopping bag caught his eye.
“Where did you buy this?”
“I went to Garosu-gil. I was supposed to have lunch with my mother.”
“Wow, I need to raise my ranking.”
Jiwoon, who was waiting for the elevator together, tapped the floor with the tip of his slippers. The elevator that arrived soon opened its doors.
“Sleep well, hyung.”
“Get home safely.”
“Yes.”
Yechan waved his hand. The elevator doors closed.
Jiwoon stood in front of the elevator for a long time. He did so even when the corridor sensor lights went off and the surroundings became pitch black. Even during that time, his slippers continued to tap the floor.
The shopping bag hanging on his finger was too heavy.
* * *
For the next few days, midterm exams continued. Every lunch time, Jiwoon found Yechan in the cafeteria and handed him things like chocolate milk, chocolate, and candy.
“It’s too much, hyung.”
“You need sugar to study.”
Yechan, who was receiving snacks, thought Jiwoon’s face looked even paler with his jacket off and wearing only his school uniform shirt.
Yechan’s gaze, which had been sliding down below the neatly tied necktie, soon turned to the firm hand that came up on his shoulder. Taehyun, who was watching Jiwoon pat his shoulder a couple times and disappear, clicked his tongue.
“That hyung seems normal?”
“Yeah. He looks like a normal person.”
Minho answered.
“Wow… This is the first time I’ve seen Jiwoon hyung acting like that. We even went to the same middle school.”
Seungwoo, who had been staring at Jiwoon with his mouth open in bewilderment, said. Seungwoo, who had become more comfortable since Choi Yeon took all his lackeys away, now started putting his arm around Minho’s shoulders.
Taehyun, Minho, and now even Seungwoo – it had been quite a while since Yechan ate with the four of them like this.
“But that hyung really doesn’t have that normal image. He’s fucking crazy.”
Seungwoo, who had been spinning his index finger beside his head, hit his forehead with the spoon he was eating with and added.
“Seungwoo… What the hell are you doing right now?”
When Minho asked incredulously while watching Seungwoo, Seungwoo laughed “Hehe” and bent his head down to eat soup.
“Hey, Seo Yechan. What is it?”
Taehyun, who had been picking at his rice with chopsticks, subtly asked Yechan.
“What do you mean?”
“At this point, it seems like you’re extorting money from that hyung. What is it?”
“Yechan doesn’t talk about himself too much. Don’t you sometimes feel left out?”
At those words, Minho showed his hurt feelings. Only then did Yechan ask.
“What are you curious about?”
“Why does that hyung treat you so well?”
“To become close?”
“That’s it?”
“Yeah.”
“Why do you get along with him?”
“Do you need a reason to become close?”
Yechan’s eyes sank heavily as he answered strangely. It was because he remembered the people who had approached him out of necessity until now.
Compared to them, Jiwoon was always relaxed and light. Perhaps because he didn’t particularly want anything from Yechan. Jiwoon wasn’t burdensome. Rather, he was comfortable.
“Hey, the rumor is all over now. That Lee Jiwoon hyung made Seo Yechan his dongsaeng. That he’s taking you around everywhere.”
At Taehyun’s words, Yechan recalled Yoon Jukyung whom he had encountered in front of the art room before. Ah, so that’s what he meant when he called me dongsaeng back then.
“Are you really not getting beaten up? No, among our kids, there’s really not a single one who hasn’t been hit by that hyung? I’m saying this because I’m fucking worried about you.”
Seungwoo asked. Yechan replied with a fed-up expression.
“I told you I haven’t been hit.”
“Or maybe it’s something like that?”
“What.”
Seungwoo and Taehyun exchanged glances. At the strange atmosphere, Yechan asked once more.
“What is it?”
“No, that hyung likes you… that’s not it, right? Yeah, it’s not. Yechan. I must be crazy.”
At Taehyun’s words, Yechan’s expression crumpled completely. Seeing that face, Taehyun hurriedly changed the subject.
Got Some Notes For You!
- Suneung – Korean College Scholastic Ability Test (college entrance exam)
- Jachui – Living alone/independently (usually refers to students living away from family)
- Garosu-gil – Trendy shopping street in Seoul
- Asterium – Residential complex where Jiwoon lives
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Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
