#91
Despite the odd hour, the supermarket was quite crowded. However, it felt spacious due to its size. Ha-min looked around aimlessly as he followed Tae-rim. Shopping together with him felt awkward. But Tae-rim naturally pushed the cart while scanning the shelves.
“What do you want to eat?”
Ha-min looked dumbfounded for a moment at the casual question.
“Huh?”
When there was no answer, Tae-rim turned around, and Ha-min finally responded.
“Ah… curry?”
Having a leisurely conversation about dinner menu felt awkward and embarrassing. No. There’s nothing to be embarrassed about. Right, act natural. It’s entirely possible. He was confident.
“By the way, hyung… are you good at cooking?”
Ha-min casually asked while pretending to examine the shelves.
Tae-rim tossed items into the cart without properly checking the price or quantity. The son of a supermarket owner sighed deeply at this sight.
“Well… I guess you just wing it, right?”
He replied indifferently with a faint smile. Ha-min discreetly removed a few items Tae-rim had put in and returned them to their original places.
“But curry… might take a long time. How about pasta?”
He held up some pasta he had just noticed. Ha-min, who didn’t really care what they had for dinner, nodded with a bewildered face. He was busy reorganizing the items.
“Hyung, but… it seems like you’re buying too much…”
“It’s fine. We need all of this.”
I don’t think so…
Besides, everyday items are much cheaper at the local supermarket…
Ha-min clicked his tongue and pretended not to notice, quietly moving towards the shelves marked with large discount signs.
“Do you need something?”
Tae-rim stuck close behind him and put his arm around Ha-min’s shoulder. It was a casual gesture that close friends could easily do. In the past, Ha-min would have frozen up and been unable to speak properly.
“Ah, just looking at the discounts.”
Ha-min turned his body slightly as if avoiding Tae-rim’s touch. Just then, one of the passersby stopped their cart. Ha-min unconsciously turned his head at the sudden stop. The stranger might have been interested in the discount corner like him, but their gaze was directly on Ha-min.
“Excuse me… are you Song Ha-min?”
Ha-min looked at the unfamiliar man with confusion at the friendly question. It seemed vaguely familiar…
“It is Song Ha-min, right?”
“Who…”
“Wow, to run into you here―. It’s me, Jang Seon-cho. Jang Seon-jung. We used to hang out together… don’t you remember?”
The man patted Ha-min’s shoulder familiarly. Finally, the hazy memory became clear. He was definitely one of the group Ha-min used to hang out with. Ha-min’s face brightened at the unexpected encounter with a long-forgotten classmate.
“Hey, I almost didn’t recognize you. Wow, you’ve changed so much. Where did the chubby guy I knew go?”
The man put his arm around Ha-min’s shoulder as if they had met yesterday and touched Ha-min’s flat stomach. Ha-min’s body stiffened slightly at the sudden contact, but not wanting to show it, he smiled and spoke naturally.
“Oh, it’s really been a long time…”
“It’s been ages, man. Wow, you became a dragon after losing weight, a real dragon.”
He couldn’t take his eyes off the slimmed-down Ha-min, finding it fascinating. Embarrassed by the excessive reaction, Ha-min touched his nape and awkwardly changed the subject.
“Have you been well?”
There weren’t many polite questions to ask a classmate he hadn’t seen in years. At this common greeting, the man ran his hand through his short hair and said cheerfully:
“Hey, I just got discharged from the military. I thought I was going to die.”
“Oh, really?”
“If they tell me to go twice, I’d rather commit suicide.”
While talking, Ha-min glanced at Tae-rim standing a few steps away. The watching gaze felt uncomfortable, and he just wanted to end this unexpected encounter quickly. At that moment, the man brought up an unexpected topic.
“You seem to be doing well… But why did you disappear in high school? Do you know how worried everyone was about you then?”
As the unwanted subject came up, Ha-min’s face noticeably hardened. Not noticing the change in expression, the other person continued:
“You ignored all our calls, and when we went to your house, they said you had moved. Anyway, so…”
“Are you done talking?”
Tae-rim, who had been leaning nonchalantly on the cart handle, suddenly interrupted. He smiled cunningly and gripped Ha-min’s shoulder firmly. It was silent pressure. Tae-rim, who had intervened as if bored by the prolonged conversation, skillfully put on the smile he usually showed in front of people.
“Ah… who are you?”
The classmate immediately straightened up at the appearance of Tae-rim, whose height and build were intimidating. Moreover, feeling overwhelmed by Tae-rim’s appearance, which was strikingly different from ordinary people, the man quietly nudged Ha-min and asked with his eyes who this was. Ha-min, unable to erase his momentarily stiffened expression, blurted out without thinking:
“Ah… a hyung I know.”
For a moment, Tae-rim’s raised corner of the mouth froze coldly. Ha-min, not noticing this, felt he should end the conversation quickly given the situation and changed the subject.
“But I’m with someone… so I think I need to go now.”
“Oh… okay. But this hyung you know is really handsome. Very handsome.”
The classmate gave a thumbs up and joked. At the man’s compliment, Tae-rim, unable to smooth out his stiff lips, responded with a faint smile.
“Hey, since we ran into each other here, it must be fate. Let’s set a date to meet up sometime. I’m still in touch with the guys we used to hang out with back then. All of us together.”
“Ah, sure. Sounds good.”
Ha-min just nodded. Only after exchanging numbers did the man leave without lingering. Ha-min finally let out a sigh of relief. His heart had raced unnecessarily when a topic he didn’t want to bring up in front of Tae-rim came up. While he was glad to meet a long-lost classmate, the timing wasn’t great.
“Sorry. The conversation dragged on.”
Ha-min apologized politely and looked at Tae-rim. The previously pleasant atmosphere around Tae-rim had somehow turned cold. Confused by the suddenly reversed mood, Ha-min touched his neck uncertainly. Did I talk for too long…?
“It’s… it’s been so long since we met, so there was a lot to say.”
“……”
“What else do we need to buy now?”
Ha-min smiled awkwardly as he tried to make conversation. Tae-rim was staring blankly into space as if lost in thought. Ha-min tilted his head with a puzzled face at the slightly downcast gaze. Thinking Tae-rim might not have heard him, Ha-min continued speaking with an awkward smile.
“…I want to finish shopping and go home quickly…”
For some reason, today felt unusually long. From his family home until now. Going back and forth several times, and having a few conversations face-to-face with Tae-rim was too tiring. Plus the unexpected talk of living together.
As Tae-rim said, it’s just a month. Right. Ha-min decided to think of it that way. It’s just a month. By then, everything would be over. Since it had come to this, he wanted to spend this month meaningfully. He wanted to heal the time he had been hurt from misunderstandings, return to how things were before, and part ways normally, smoothly, and on good terms.
“Are you tired?”
Tae-rim finally turned his head and asked with concern. His previously downcast gaze scanned Ha-min from head to toe.
“A little…”
Perhaps because he had tensed up at the brief mention of the past, his body felt heavy as soon as the tension released.
“Do you want to wait in the car first?”
Ha-min shook his head with a seemingly flustered face at the question asked while meeting his gaze, a full span shorter than Tae-rim’s. The excessive worry in response to saying he was a little tired seemed to make the atmosphere slightly awkward. Ha-min stepped back, not wanting to create an awkward atmosphere.
“It’s okay. Let’s just finish shopping and go.”
He spoke nonchalantly, pretending not to notice the subtle atmosphere. Tae-rim quietly watched Ha-min keeping a moderate distance, then softly said “Okay” and continued walking. A month. Yes, a month would be enough.
**
Hyung had definitely changed subtly. He acted kindly and friendly as before, but there was more… how to put it, consideration in his actions. He wasn’t inconsiderate before, but he tended to be a bit lighter. There were things like innate insensitivity, but now it felt like he was forcibly controlling these innate traits.
It was the same earlier. There seemed to have been something that twisted his mood, but he seemed to be trying to hide it. Amusingly, perhaps due to his history of one-sided love, Ha-min couldn’t read Tae-rim’s mind, but he could read his mood and gaze like a knife.
The subtle atmosphere continued throughout the drive to Tae-rim’s house. Tae-rim wasn’t angry at him, but something had clearly happened to touch a nerve. Ha-min didn’t want to be overly conscious of it, but just as Tae-rim was innately insensitive, Ha-min was innately someone who was very aware of others’ feelings and moods. In short, they were polar opposites.
Ha-min turned his gaze to the window, trying to ignore the awkward atmosphere. He unconsciously rubbed his arms that had gotten chilly from the air conditioning blowing from both sides.
“Are you cold?”
Although Ha-min thought Tae-rim wasn’t looking at him, he immediately reacted to this slight movement. As Tae-rim lowered the air conditioning and asked, Ha-min mumbled, “Ah, a little…” The air became a bit easier to breathe as the air conditioning weakened. Then Tae-rim’s calm voice was heard.
“I didn’t know you were so sensitive to cold.”
“Huh?”
“Seeing that you’re cold even in long sleeves.”
