Lee Minho left Kim Yeonwoo, who was frozen in place. Despite his heavy heart, his footsteps felt light. When he opened the infirmary door, his eyes met with Lee Heejun, who was struggling to open the antiseptic bottle cap with his injured hand.
“Oh, you came earlier than I expected?”
Since even applying pressure caused his palm to hurt, Heejun, who was seriously considering opening the cap with his teeth, casually handed the antiseptic to Minho as if nothing was wrong. Minho smiled slightly, sat down in the school nurse’s chair, calmly opened the antiseptic bottle, and carefully applied it to Heejun’s hand.
Minho glanced at Heejun as he winced from the sting, then carefully applied ointment to the wound before taking out a pristine white bandage from the drawer.
“I think a band-aid would be fine?”
“Your left hand might be okay with that, but I think it’s better to bandage your right hand. It’ll be uncomfortable, but please bear with it for a bit.”
Watching Minho wrap the bandage with skilled hands, Heejun asked curiously:
“You seem very experienced at this?”
“When we were young, whenever Jaeyoon got hurt and came home, I would treat him.”
“Lee Jaeyoon would come home injured?”
“He became calm after entering middle school, but in elementary school, he was quite the troublemaker.”
A gentle smile formed on Minho’s lips. His deep green eyes reflected a sense of nostalgia, as if reminiscing.
“He once jumped off a swing and came home with his palms all scraped up like yours, and another time he got into a fight with kids who were bullying a stray cat and came home with injuries all over.”
“The first one is hard to imagine, but the second seems like it wouldn’t be much different even now.”
“He’s loved animals since he was young.”
Minho chuckled softly, then his expression grew somber.
“It was already a struggle for the two of us to make ends meet, so I refused when he wanted to bring home and raise a cat… After that, he never mentioned wanting to keep a pet again. Though he watched tons of videos…”
“Do your parents both work too?”
“Yes, what about Heejun?”
“Yes, my parents are busy too, so usually Hajun hyung takes care of me and Jaeha… or at least, that’s what he claims?”
Minho smiled as he looked at Heejun, who was frowning as if reluctant to admit it.
“Still… thanks to having Hajun hyung around, it wasn’t without its reassurances. Wouldn’t it be the same for Lee Jaeyoon?”
“Huh?”
“He knew you were taking care of him, so he didn’t insist on keeping a pet. So, you don’t need to feel sorry about that. He’s probably forgotten all about it by now.”
“I suppose…”
When Minho finished the treatment and let go, Heejun inspected his bandaged hand, then placed his hand on Minho’s slumped shoulders. Seeing Minho looking at him curiously, Heejun let out a small sigh.
“Rather than regretting what’s past, you can just be good to Jaeyoon now, right? There’s no use regretting the past. I know because I’ve done it a lot, it’s just a waste of time.”
Minho stared quietly at Heejun as he shrugged his shoulders, then broke into a small laugh. Heejun looked at Minho with furrowed brows as he covered his mouth with the back of his hand and his shoulders trembled with laughter. Why are you laughing? What part was funny? As Heejun stared at him as if he truly couldn’t understand, Minho contained his laughter and raised his head.
“Thank you.”
“…First you suddenly laugh, now you’re saying thank you? I can’t follow your train of thought.”
“Thanks to you being by my side, I felt reassured too.”
“What? For what?”
“People said I needed someone sharp-witted by my side, and I think you’re that person, Heejun.”
“…Are you confessing to me right now?”
“Huh? Ah, no, that’s not what I…”
“Well, since we’re dating, I guess it doesn’t matter.”
“Ah…”
“Hey, hyung. I’ve been feeling this for a while, but you don’t seem to realize we’re dating, do you?”
“Ah, no?”
“As I said before, you’re terrible at lying, so please don’t.”
“Sorry…”
As Heejun stared at Minho, who was smiling awkwardly, he suddenly stood up from his chair, grabbed Minho’s shoulders, and brought his face close. Minho’s eyes widened. After staring into Minho’s startled deep green eyes, Heejun let out a snicker.
“Stop forgetting. Even if it’s a contractual relationship, it hurts my feelings.”
As Heejun spoke playfully and tried to pull away, Minho wrapped his arms around Heejun’s waist. Looking at Heejun’s startled face, Minho pulled his waist closer to himself.
“Hey, hyung?”
“I’m not forgetting.”
“What?”
“I just don’t know how much is allowed…”
I’m not sure about the boundaries. Is this okay? Heejun’s eyes wavered at the sight of Minho looking up at him. He’s approaching so abruptly? Minho, who had been quietly staring at Heejun’s surprised face, soon let out a small laugh.
“Heejun, your heart is beating really fast.”
“-!!”
Startled, Heejun struck Minho on the crown of his head with his hand.
“Ouch!”
As Minho clutched his head in pain, the arms around Heejun’s waist loosened, and Heejun quickly moved away from him. The tips of his ears felt hot, as if they were burning.
‘What the heck, I thought he was innocent?!’
Although Minho actually had much more dating experience than Heejun, who had none, to Heejun, Minho’s image was that of a kind but naive person. Minho burst into laughter at the sight of Heejun’s ears turning red as if they were burning. Heejun’s brows furrowed.
‘What is this weird feeling?’
I told you to date more and get some experience~ The moment Sim Hajun’s voice rang in his head, Heejun’s expression contorted.
“Since the treatment is done, I’ll be going now, hyung.”
“Ah, right.”
“What?”
Did you forget something? Heejun turned his head and his eyes widened as Minho grabbed his wrist. Meeting Heejun’s surprised purple eyes, Minho gently squinted and said:
“Would it be okay if you called me by my name instead of ‘hyung’?”
“…Your name?”
“Yes, my name.”
Heejun stared quietly at Minho, who was smiling with a kind face, then pulled his wrist away and spoke:
“Let’s go visit the hospital, Min. Ho. Hyung.”
Minho finally burst into laughter as Heejun spoke his name with gritted teeth, separating each syllable. Heejun glared irritably at Minho, who was chuckling and shaking.
“Minho hyung, you stay there. I’m leaving.”
“Ah, Heejun…!”
As he opened the infirmary door, Heejun deeply regretted that he had chosen the wrong person for a contract relationship, very wrong indeed.
***
“I told you to lock the art room door!”
“I forgot.”
“Argh!!”
Sim Hajun tore at his hair at the other’s confident response. How did this guy become the vice-president…!! Hajun glared at the annoying face once. In response, the other looked down at him with a “what?” expression, causing Hajun’s brow to furrow. He didn’t like that the other was a head taller than him.
“This is really annoying…”
“What did you say?”
“I said it’s annoying!!”
The vice-president covered one ear as Hajun shouted.
“Why are you always angry? Calcium deficiency? Is that why you’re shor—”
Thump!
Hajun, who had no intention of listening to the vice-president’s complete sentence, kicked him in the shin. Ah! The vice-president grimaced and sent a protesting look, but Hajun skillfully ignored it.
“Hmph!”
“Instead of going ‘hmph, hmph,’ have some candy.”
The vice-president stuffed a lollipop into Hajun’s mouth. Hey!! Despite Hajun’s angry outburst, the vice-president’s face remained calm, causing Hajun to heave a big sigh. Jinhoo should have been the vice-president-!! As he mentally repeated what must have been his hundredth time thinking this, Hajun arrived at the art room and tilted his head at the slightly open door.
“Did you not close the door properly when you left?”
“No, I closed it. I just didn’t lock it.”
If you closed it, why didn’t you lock it! When Hajun glared, the vice-president just shrugged. At that annoying face, Hajun crunched the candy between his teeth and opened the art room door once more to check properly. Then he noticed something moving in the dark space.
“Who’s there?”
Is there still a club member who hasn’t left? Wondering, Hajun entered the art room and narrowed his eyes at the startled figure. The way the figure kept backing away as Hajun approached looked suspicious.
“You’re not one of our club members, are you?”
At his words, the other person, who had been frantically looking around, suddenly lunged at Hajun.
“Eck?!”
After pushing the surprised Hajun down, the figure quickly opened the back door and ran out. Hajun, clutching his head where it had hit, shouted:
“C-catch him! Suspicious guy!!”
“Are you okay?!”
“No, forget about me and catch that guy!”
The vice-president, cleanly ignoring Hajun’s words, raised his hand to examine Hajun’s head.
“Ah-!!”
“Your forehead is slightly scraped.”
“That’s because I hit the corner!!”
“Why are you angry at me?”
“Just because!!”
The vice-president stared at Hajun as he got up, panting, and looked him up and down.
“You don’t seem to be injured anywhere else.”
“I’m not! I’m perfectly fine!!”
Hajun shouted as he turned on the art room lights, and his eyes widened. What is this? The vice-president also grimaced as he heard Hajun’s surprised voice.
“Someone made quite a mess.”
The vice-president carefully touched a drawing that had been slashed in various places with a knife.
“Isn’t this sunbae Jinhoo’s drawing?”
“Yeah…”
It’s a drawing of Jaeyoon that Jinhoo made…
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
