Jaeyoon entrusted himself to Jung Jinhoo, who carefully picked him up and laid him down on the bed. He felt the softness of the bed against his back. Haah, a sigh naturally escaped his lips.
‘He truly has a natural talent for exhausting people…’
He closed his eyes for a moment while thinking of Han Doyoon, then slowly opened them. Although he had drawn a clear line, that person wasn’t the type to respect it. Knowing that he wouldn’t care about his warning at all, Jaeyoon was briefly lost in thought about how to deal with that arrogant person when he turned his head at the gentle touch of someone carefully brushing his hair.
“I’m sorry.”
“Huh? For what?”
“For proceeding with things on my own without telling you anything…”
“Ah-.”
Jung Jinhoo’s eyebrows drooped. Jaeyoon let out a small laugh at his appearance, like a puppy who knew it was about to be scolded. Raising both hands to cup Jung Jinhoo’s head, Jaeyoon ran his fingers through the silver hair with an affectionate touch. Feeling the soft texture tickling his fingers, he gave a quick kiss to Jung Jinhoo’s forehead. Jung Jinhoo’s eyes widened. Jaeyoon giggled appreciatively at the sight and hugged him, putting his arms around his neck.
“It’s okay. But next time, please tell me first. We can think about what to do together.”
“Okay.”
Jung Jinhoo’s hands wrapped around Jaeyoon’s back. Feeling each other’s body heat made him feel more at ease. As Jaeyoon was slowly raising his head, feeling as if all his fatigue from earlier had vanished, he suddenly froze.
“…”
“…”
His eyes met Sim Hajun’s through the crack in the hospital room door. Hajun showed a pleased smile, then subtly gave a thumbs up before carefully closing the door again.
“Jaeyoon?”
Jung Jinhoo looked at Jaeyoon in confusion as he suddenly started trembling. Jung Jinhoo’s golden eyes blinked rapidly at the sight of Jaeyoon’s face turning bright red all the way to the tips of his ears. What, what’s wrong? Are you okay? At Jung Jinhoo’s questions, Jaeyoon just nodded while covering his face with both hands.
Zing.
A vibration sounded from the charging phone. Feeling like he already knew who it was without looking, Jaeyoon inwardly struggled with embarrassment.
‘Why doesn’t he make any sound when he moves?!’
Jung Jinhoo quietly looked at Jaeyoon, whose face had turned as red as a ripe apple, then turned his head to look behind him. After staring at the tightly closed door for a moment, he got up from his chair and sat on the edge of the bed. Then he gently wrapped his arm around Jaeyoon’s shoulders and pulled him into his arms. Jaeyoon’s eyes widened. As he lowered his hands that had been covering his face and looked at Jung Jinhoo, he saw him resting his forehead against Jaeyoon’s head and shaking it from side to side. Jaeyoon’s lips naturally curved up at this cute behavior, as if asking for attention.
“Sunbae, where do you want to go during summer vacation?”
“Yes.”
Despite the random question, Jung Jinhoo’s eyes curved happily as he smiled broadly.
“Where do you want to go?”
Hearing the somewhat excited voice, Jaeyoon smiled softly. Hmm, after looking at the ceiling for a moment in thought, he turned his gaze to Jung Jinhoo. Then he shrugged and smiled brightly.
“Honestly, anywhere is fine. The beach would be nice, or a swimming pool. An amusement park or even just walking around the neighborhood… I think anything would be good as long as I’m with you, sunbae.”
“Then let’s do it all?”
“All of it?”
“Yes, let’s go to the beach, the swimming pool. Play at the amusement park, go for walks. Ah, traveling abroad would be nice too.”
‘Two high school students? This is getting bigger in scale.’
Jaeyoon, who had been blinking with wide eyes, no longer cared about the minor details at the sight of Jung Jinhoo smiling brightly. If he wants to go abroad, we’ll go. Honestly, I’m an adult anyway.
“It would be pretty tight to do everything.”
“If we can’t do it all in summer, we can do it in winter.”
“Ah~”
‘Our sunbae is smart.’
Although summer was just beginning, his heart was already in summer vacation. Imagining the two of them going to various places together, Jaeyoon rested his head on Jung Jinhoo’s shoulder.
‘It’s fun just imagining it. But to spend the summer vacation without any worries, first…’
“Sunbae.”
“Yes?”
“I need to meet Kim Doha.”
Jung Jinhoo’s brow furrowed at the name of Kim Doha. Jaeyoon gently stroked Jung Jinhoo’s head, smiling at his sulky expression, and then narrowed his eyes.
“I’m very curious about why he came all the way to the hospital trying to see me.”
***
“What are you doing?”
Lee Heejun, who found Sim Hajun eating a sandwich on a bench outside the hospital instead of going inside, asked with a furrowed brow. Hajun quickly swallowed the sandwich he was eating, downed the apple juice next to him in one shot, and answered his question.
“We can’t go inside right now. They’re busy.”
“Ah-…”
Lee Heejun, immediately understanding the meaning, nodded slowly and sat down next to Sim Hajun.
“How long do you think it will take this time?”
“Hmm, I think 30 minutes should be enough for them to finish being lovey-dovey.”
“That’s short enough to just wait here.”
“Have you eaten? Should I buy you something from the convenience store?”
“I ate at the cafeteria before coming.”
Nodding at Lee Heejun’s answer, Sim Hajun threw away the sandwich trash in the garbage bin. After clapping his hands together to dust them off, he returned to his seat, blinked absentmindedly for a moment, and then casually asked:
“How are things going with Lee Minho?”
“…How did you know?”
“Just a feeling?”
Lee Heejun frowned as he looked at Sim Hajun. People said he was perceptive, but in his opinion, Sim Hajun was the truly perceptive one. Recalling how Hajun had discovered everything he tried to hide since they were young, Heejun sighed softly.
“It’s not like that.”
“Then?”
“…Just…”
“Just? Don’t tell me?! When I told you last time to date anyone, did you really just grab anyone?!”
Lee Heejun’s brow furrowed at Sim Hajun, who was covering his mouth with his hand and looking at him with an exaggerated expression.
“What would you do if I did? What’s with that reaction after giving me such advice?”
“No, I just never thought you’d choose Lee Minho.”
Out of all the many people, why him of all people… Sim Hajun muttered the last words quietly, then suddenly seemed to realize something, opened his eyes wide, and spoke to Lee Heejun.
“Do you like the troublesome type?”
“Hey…”
At the lowered voice, Sim Hajun whistled and pretended not to hear. Haah, a sigh escaped from Lee Heejun’s lips.
“He was just the one in front of me at the time.”
“So you asked him out on impulse?”
“Got a problem with that?”
“No, it’s not a problem… He’s fine as a person, but I wouldn’t recommend him as someone to date.”
He’s the annoying type who can’t turn people away, can’t firmly reject others, so he gets dragged around or has people hitting on him all the time. Lee Heejun didn’t respond to Sim Hajun’s muttering as he stroked his chin, but he agreed.
‘He’s troublesome to date and would be the worst as a marriage partner.’
Normally, he would never get involved with that type, as Sim Hajun said. But that day, he was too exhausted, and it happened to be Lee Minho who was by his side. So he mindlessly suggested dating, and Lee Minho agreed. Honestly, he didn’t know if this was a good choice. At that time, he needed someone.
‘I definitely caught a troublesome person.’
“What about you? Aren’t you dating anyone?”
“Me? Hmm…”
Sim Hajun rolled his eyes from side to side, then shrugged and said:
“Right now, there’s no one in particular I want to date.”
“Didn’t you date just anyone?”
“No? How could I possibly date just anyone? That would be a waste of time.”
“Oh, really?”
‘I thought he dated just anyone since he frequently dated various people…’
“Dating someone means investing my time, right? It would be a waste to spend time dating just anyone~”
“Then what, do you have a type or something?”
Lee Heejun couldn’t find any commonalities in appearance or personality among the people Sim Hajun had dated so far.
“People who seem interesting?”
“Huh…?”
“I just like people who look interesting at first glance.”
“…But the people you’ve dated so far don’t seem to have had particularly funny personalities.”
“Huh? They were interesting, weren’t they?”
“…How so?”
“Joonha was interesting because he was big but timid, Changhyun was interesting because he was really good at fighting but bad at games and had no hand skills, and also…”
“By that logic, wouldn’t you find everyone interesting?”
“Not at all. I have my preferences too.”
“…Right.”
Lee Heejun decided to give up trying to understand and just accept it.
‘Come to think of it, did he say earlier that my brother wasn’t his type? So am I dating someone that Hajun hyung, who finds almost everyone interesting, rejected?’
Lee Heejun suddenly felt a bad taste in his mouth.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
