#68
“Thanks for earlier. You keep doing things I’m grateful for.”
“Ah, it’s nothing. You’ve changed clothes. It suits you well.”
Hee-gyeom, seemingly embarrassed by the thanks, quickly changed the subject. Ha-min smiled faintly at his compliment, awkwardly looking himself over.
“Isn’t it… a bit silly?”
“Not at all, these days people wear things even bigger. It’s fine, it’s cute.”
He offered praise naturally. Ha-min smiled shyly, not disliking the compliment. With an improved mood, Ha-min spoke first.
“Are you hungry?”
“A bit, how about you?”
“Me too. Shall we make some cup noodles?”
“Sure. I’ll boil the water.”
“No! I’ll do it.”
Ha-min called out urgently as Hee-gyeom was about to go towards the kettle in the kitchen. Hee-gyeom looked at Ha-min with surprised eyes as his usually quiet voice suddenly grew louder.
“I’ll do it. Just sit down.”
“Let’s just do it together…”
“No. I, I want to do it.”
Ha-min strongly expressed his opinion. He felt he had relied on Hee-gyeom too much today and wanted to do even small tasks in return. It wasn’t much, but he wanted to do everything he could. Hee-gyeom nodded with a bewildered face. He seemed taken aback by the forceful insistence, but found it amusing and let out a small laugh.
“Today, just order me around.”
Ha-min continued as he filled the kettle with water.
“Come on, you’re exaggerating.”
“No, really.”
Hee-gyeom rested his chin on his hand and smirked at Ha-min’s behavior, as if he was trying to repay some great debt. Just then, there was a polite knock at the door. Hee-gyeom turned around, wondering if the others had already arrived. He got up with a puzzled look, thinking they would usually have a key card.
“I’ll go check.”
Ha-min nodded as he was opening the cup noodle packaging. Hee-gyeom strode over and opened the door wide. An unfamiliar face appeared in the doorway. Though unfamiliar, it wasn’t a face he was seeing for the first time. Hee-gyeom bowed in greeting, looking flustered at the man standing there with an inexplicably stern expression.
“Ah, hello.”
It was a face he had encountered three times already today. When checking in, when Ha-min was standing blankly in the lobby earlier, and now. Hee-gyeom greeted him with a dazed expression, finding it curious that they kept running into each other, but there was no return greeting from the other party.
“I came to see Ha-min.”
He got straight to the point. The impression was quite different from when they saw him in the morning.
“Ah, yes. Ha-min hyung!”
Hee-gyeom called out loudly to Ha-min, who was boiling water in the kitchen. Soon, Ha-min approached with a puzzled look. As he got closer, Ha-min’s eyes grew wider. He looked surprised at the unexpected visitor.
“Hyung…?”
As Ha-min blinked his large eyes and asked, the man finally smiled gently. In contrast to his smiling face, his voice was low.
“Looks like you two were alone.”
He spoke quietly, carefully looking over Hee-gyeom and Ha-min. Water was dripping from Hee-gyeom’s hair as if he had just washed it, and Ha-min was wearing clothes that didn’t seem to be his own. His dark eyes calmly scanned over them.
Ha-min felt uncomfortable with the gaze that seemed to linger. As Ha-min became flustered by the gaze that seemed to be misunderstanding something for some reason, the man who had been just staring silently smiled gently again.
“I’d like to talk to Ha-min alone.”
At Tae-rim’s request, Hee-gyeom immediately moved away with a look of sudden realization. In the altogether uncomfortable atmosphere, Hee-gyeom quietly headed to the room without a word. He glanced at the two standing face to face with an expression that suggested he shouldn’t interfere, then carefully closed the door as he entered the room.
After Hee-gyeom went into the room, Tae-rim finally spoke again.
“I called earlier because I was worried, but when you didn’t answer, I came over without thinking.”
He spoke softly, leaning crookedly against the door. Ha-min looked for his phone with a sudden realization. He had been so distracted that he had forgotten where he put his phone.
“Ah, I was so out of it…”
“I thought you might be having fun with the others, but it seems that’s not the case.”
Before Ha-min could ask how he knew, Tae-rim continued.
“But, what’s with those clothes?”
Before Ha-min could respond, Tae-rim looked him up and down. His brow was strangely furrowed. Ha-min found it surprising that he could tell just by looking that the clothes weren’t his. Of course, it was impossible not to notice, given how different they were from his usual style.
“Ah… I just borrowed these.”
“Whose are they?”
Ha-min awkwardly rubbed his neck at the somewhat persistent question.
“Hee-gyeom’s… the friend from just now.”
“Don’t you have clothes?”
“Huh?”
Ha-min asked back with a confused face at the somewhat aggressive question.
“…”
Though Ha-min asked, Tae-rim instead closed his mouth. As the sudden silence grew heavy, Ha-min fidgeted with his hands, looking embarrassed. The subtle atmosphere was uncomfortable but also pleasant. He couldn’t help but feel good seeing him unexpectedly. Earlier, he had been too flustered and just passed by, which had been weighing on his mind. Ha-min carefully observed him and broke the silence first.
“Hyung, earlier…”
“Ha-min.”
He called out to Ha-min quite seriously, with a contemplative expression.
“Ah, yes.”
Ha-min stopped what he was about to say and quickly answered. At Tae-rim’s noticeably lowered voice, Ha-min’s throat unconsciously felt dry. Tae-rim rubbed his mouth once more, as if thinking.
“Am I… not enough for you?”
“…Huh?”
Before Ha-min could understand those words, Tae-rim’s cold gaze fell on him.
“I’m asking if I’m not enough for you to fuck.”
Ha-min froze, at a loss for words.
**
Ha-min sat blankly among the boisterous crowd. Various seafood dishes were spread out on the table, and the appetizing smell of sizzling meat wafted through the air. The hungry hyenas were shouting as they passed around food or poured drinks, enjoying the luxurious snacks.
It was the long-awaited dinner time. Both the kids who had played in the water all day and those who had toured the surrounding attractions by rental car were famished, looking almost like zombies.
“Aren’t you eating, oppa?”
Chae-rin casually asked while chewing on a cucumber. Her heavily bleached hair was tied up tightly, and she had one leg propped up on the chair. In short, she was staring at Ha-min in the most comfortable posture and appearance in the world.
“I am eating.”
Ha-min opened his eyes wide and picked up something random in front of him.
“No, with all this food, why are you eating glass noodles?”
Chae-rin frowned at the transparent glass noodles Ha-min had picked up with a blank face. Her gaze seemed to chide him, as if asking if he was spacing out again.
“No… I’m really eating.”
Ha-min mumbled softly and picked up some sashimi to eat. In truth, he wasn’t in the mood to eat anything comfortably.
Ever since hyung had visited earlier, he felt stuffy, as if his throat was blocked. He had no idea that hyung might have such a misunderstanding. He had just been desperate to hide things. Both his feelings for him and this wretched scar. Even if he wanted to explain, he had no words to offer.
He was someone whose heart would overflow just from kissing him. How could he… Ha-min let out a deep sigh. Before he could say anything, the kids had burst into the room. Thanks to the kids rushing in chaotically, his conversation with Tae-rim had been abruptly cut off. When the kids recognized Tae-rim and greeted him, he returned their greetings calmly as usual and turned away. He just smiled perfunctorily, as if saying they’d talk again later.
When Tae-rim, who could be infinitely gentle at times, clashed with him like this, Ha-min didn’t know what to do. Was he angry? But about what… Ha-min couldn’t come up with an answer no matter how hard he racked his brain. The only thing he could guess was Hee-gyeom, who had been with him every time they ran into each other. But they were just together, so why was he angry? His tone wasn’t harsh, but he was clearly in a bad mood.
“Hey, Chae-rin.”
Ha-min carefully called out to Chae-rin, who was eating a well-wrapped ssam with three pieces of meat, plenty of ssamjang, and garlic on a lettuce leaf. Chae-rin answered diligently with a “Yeah?” while chewing with her mouth full.
“What if…”
Chae-rin nodded in response and downed a shot of soju. Ha-min fidgeted with his hands, hesitating.
“What if someone…”
“Just get to the point, it’s frustrating.”
Chae-rin cut in firmly as Ha-min was just dragging out his words. Ha-min nodded quickly and opened his mouth again.
“If someone, I mean… if they saw someone with someone else and got angry… no, seemed to be in a bad mood…”
“So you’re saying person A saw you with person B and got angry?”
“Huh? It’s not, it’s not about me. It’s not my story.”
“Are you dating A?”
Chae-rin asked, completely ignoring Ha-min’s hasty head-shaking. At Chae-rin’s question, Ha-min’s face turned pale. He denied it vehemently, as if it was absurd.
“Wh-what, that’s not…”
“They’re not dating but they’re in a bad mood?”
“I’m not sure if they’re definitely in a bad mood…”
“Hmm, it just seems like that.”
Ha-min stumbled over his words but focused as Chae-rin immediately provided an answer. His ears seemed to perk up. Soon, an unhesitating answer came from Chae-rin’s lips.
“They don’t want to have it themselves, but they don’t want to give it to someone else either.”
Ah…
