For Lee Minho, his second year of high school was a time when he both gained and lost something precious.
He fell in love with someone. A small, energetic boy. Although he knew his younger brother disliked Kim Yeonwoo, he couldn’t suppress his feelings. Lee Minho, who had been meeting with Kim Yeonwoo secretly behind his brother’s back, was eventually caught by his brother while they were together.
That day, Lee Minho had his first major fight with his brother. And when his brother told him to cut ties with him if he was going to like Kim Yeonwoo, Lee Minho agreed.
-You’re really… choosing Kim Yeonwoo over me?
-How could you do this?
-How!
He turned away from his brother who was pouring out resentment.
It rained heavily that day. Lee Minho left his brother in the rain and ran away.
The next day, his brother couldn’t come to school due to a severe cold. But Lee Minho couldn’t visit his sick brother. He thought that his concern for his sick brother would only be hypocrisy.
After that, his brother and Lee Minho treated each other like strangers. The cold gaze his brother gave him weighed heavily on his heart.
As days passed, expressions disappeared from his brother’s face. His complexion wasn’t good either. Even though he knew his brother’s already thin body was getting thinner, he deliberately ignored it. As his conscience pained him more, Lee Minho sought out Kim Yeonwoo. He begged for love from Kim Yeonwoo, desperately trying to forget his brother.
After enduring for a year, believing this love was his destiny…
His brother changed.
The atmosphere around him became much softer, and his expression brightened. He still avoided Lee Minho and Kim Yeonwoo, but there was no contempt or anger in it.
‘Why?’
Why did he suddenly change? What change had happened to him? When his curiosity grew like a mountain, he encountered his brother in the infirmary. More shocking than being caught kissing Kim Yeonwoo was the fact that his brother jumped out the window to avoid him.
‘With his weak body!’
When Lee Minho hurriedly approached the window, he found Han Doyoon catching his brother below. Why is Doyoon…? Han Doyoon’s gaze turned to Lee Minho. His body flinched involuntarily. It felt like being a child caught in the middle of a bad prank.
His brother’s expression didn’t look good as he talked with Han Doyoon. He liked Han Doyoon, so why…? The question remained unresolved. He blankly watched his brother following Han Doyoon with slumped shoulders, like a cow being led to the slaughterhouse.
Afterward, he accidentally encountered his brother in front of the student council room. His brother’s complexion, sitting with his back against the door, looked even worse than when he had seen him earlier. There were even severe dark circles under his eyes.
Considering his presence in the infirmary as well, what part of him was very sick? Worried about his brother, who had been prone to minor illnesses since childhood, Lee Minho mustered up courage and spoke to him with difficulty. And at the same time, the student council room door opened.
His brother suddenly got up and pushed Lee Minho aside. As Lee Minho fell with a crash, he was shocked to see his brother sweating profusely like rain.
Could he really be very unwell…?
After returning to the dormitory, Lee Minho worried and worried until late at night, and eventually found himself in front of his brother’s room.
Would he be asleep? After hesitating momentarily at the clock’s second hand announcing dawn, Lee Minho called his brother. After the signal went through for a moment, his brother answered the phone. There was much he wanted to say, but once he made the call, proper words didn’t come out of his mouth. In the end, the first words he spoke to his brother after a long time were…
“Are you sleeping?”
The number one phrase ex-boyfriends say that girls hate the most.
[What’s the matter at this hour?]
A husky voice, as if just woken from sleep, came from the other end of the phone. It was his brother’s voice that he heard after a long time.
‘He didn’t block my number.’
Lee Minho felt a strange surge of emotion as he opened his mouth.
“Hearing your voice, I see you were sleeping.”
He heard his brother sigh from the other end of the phone. His heart beat loudly, as if anxious. Lee Minho hurriedly told his brother he was in front of his room as his brother was about to end the call.
He heard his brother sigh heavily again. Is he angry? Will he ignore me? As Lee Minho waited anxiously for his brother’s words, he was greatly relieved when the door opened.
His brother, who indicated with a nod for him to come in, walked into the dark room. The room, with only a mood light on, was neat as per his brother’s personality and had a slightly sweet scent.
His tired-looking brother looked at Lee Minho with an expression that seemed to say he wanted him to state his business quickly and leave. Since it had been a while, Lee Minho couldn’t remember how to talk to his brother. His mouth felt dry and his chest felt tight. His brother calmly waited for Lee Minho, who was nervous. Fidgeting with his fingers, Lee Minho forcibly relaxed and opened his mouth with difficulty.
“About the lunchtime incident.”
His brother’s face distorted.
Did he not want to be caught in the infirmary? What if he’s really very sick somewhere…
His heart pounded anxiously. His brother stopped Lee Minho as he was about to open his trembling lips and speak. Lee Minho’s heart sank as his brother sighed heavily and covered his face with both hands.
When he hurriedly grabbed his wrist to check his face, his brother’s surprised blue eyes were visible. Although it wasn’t clear due to the darkness, his complexion also looked bad.
When he placed his hand on his forehead to check if he had a fever, his brother was startled and stepped back.
“Your face looks pale… are you sick somewhere?”
“No…?”
“…You were in the infirmary at lunch too.”
His brother looked at Lee Minho with wide eyes. Then he immediately touched his forehead. Lee Minho’s eyes lowered at the sight of his brother trying to change the subject by suddenly bringing up something irrelevant. So, is he hiding that he’s sick? When he asked about jumping out of the infirmary window, his brother reassured him saying he was fine because he fell on Han Doyoon, which weighed on Lee Minho’s heart.
‘Does he not want to tell me the truth?’
It was natural. After all, he had betrayed his brother.
After hesitating for a moment, Lee Minho carefully handed his brother the nutritional supplements he had brought from his room. His brother, who had been staring blankly at the supplements, said thank you. He felt as if the tightness in his chest was relieved by those words.
Lee Minho draped his cardigan over his thinly-dressed brother and carefully brought his hand to his brother’s hair as his brother looked at him blankly. His brother’s hair, which he touched after a long time, was still soft and slightly damp with sweat.
After that day, his brother wore the cardigan he had given him. Lee Minho, who had been prepared for it to be thrown away, looked at his brother with a proud expression.
‘Like this, if I approach him little by little… could we go back to how we were before?’
‘Back to those times when we got along well…’
Even knowing it was selfish, he couldn’t help but hope.
During a time when they were busy with festival preparations, Lee Minho, who came to the cafeteria to eat with club members, accidentally encountered his brother. Lee Minho’s steps, which were approaching his brother with joy, gradually slowed down. His brother was with someone he never expected.
‘Why are Jinhoo and Jaeyoon…?’
Like Han Doyoon, Jung Jinhoo was someone whose parents had tremendous wealth. So, at the beginning of admission, everyone wanted to build connections with Jung Jinhoo, but Jung Jinhoo didn’t particularly like mingling with others. That’s why Lee Minho was very curious about his brother chatting and smiling with Jung Jinhoo.
‘When did they become friends? Is Jung Jinhoo the reason for his sudden change…?’
Did he fall in love with Jinhoo? Is that why Han Doyoon, me, and Yeonwoo don’t matter to him anymore?
Watching his brother offering a dacquoise to Jung Jinhoo, Lee Minho felt complicated emotions, but he decided to be grateful for the hope that came thanks to Jung Jinhoo.
If because of that, his brother doesn’t hate him… if they could be close siblings again as if nothing happened, everything would be fine.
But the situation didn’t flow as Lee Minho wanted.
His brother caught him sticking with Kim Yeonwoo again. The blue eyes looking at him reminded him of that day a year ago. His heart beat anxiously.
His brother sighed heavily. Then he grabbed Jung Jinhoo’s sleeve beside him and turned his back. Lee Minho wanted to run right over and grab his brother as he walked away. But afraid that he might utter words of resentment towards him again like that day, he couldn’t move from that spot. Lee Minho bit his lip as Jung Jinhoo’s gaze, which seemed to reproach him, was directed at him.
“Sunbae Minho…?”
Lee Minho forced a smile and looked at Kim Yeonwoo who was calling him. This situation wasn’t Kim Yeonwoo’s fault. Therefore, he couldn’t treat Kim Yeonwoo badly just because he was feeling unwell.
“Hug me.”
Kim Yeonwoo, who hugged his waist, was more proactive than usual. His brother kept circling in his mind. Kim Yeonwoo urged him as he hesitated.
‘Is it right for me to be here like this? What if we grow apart again?’
Lee Minho’s movement, about to kiss Kim Yeonwoo, stopped. Lee Minho frowned and said to Kim Yeonwoo, who was looking up at him with a puzzled expression:
“Sorry, I’m sorry.”
Lee Minho left Kim Yeonwoo behind and ran in the direction his brother had walked. Although he knew it was wrong to do to Kim Yeonwoo, he couldn’t forget the image of his brother looking at him.
“Huff, huff, huff!”
Finding his brother among the increasing number of people wasn’t an easy task. Lee Minho, who had been going around, checking his brother’s class and Jung Jinhoo’s class, was finally able to find his brother.
A sigh of relief burst out naturally. His brother seemed to be having a pleasant conversation with Jung Jinhoo and an unknown girl.
The girl, who might have been Jung Jinhoo’s sister, called Jung Jinhoo “oppa” and the two bickered. When his brother laughed softly watching the two, both of them turned their gaze to him. His brother smiled gently and said to the two who were looking at him with puzzled expressions:
“I’ve always thought it would be nice to have siblings.”
Lee Minho’s heart sank.
How could he have thought that if he approached little by little, they could go back to how they were as if nothing had happened? Lee Minho was so ashamed of himself for trying to ignore and just cover up the wounds his brother had suffered that he became angry at himself.
Leaving his seemingly happy brother behind, Lee Minho left that place and sat down on the ground in an uninhabited area. Without even thinking of wiping away the flowing tears, he kept apologizing to his brother who wasn’t in front of him.
‘We might never go back to that time. Even so, could you give me one more chance?’
“Jaeyoon…”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
