He was leaning back against the wall in front of the bar—I had no idea since when he’d been standing there.
The moment our eyes met, he straightened up and brushed past Go Heemin and Kang Taeyoon, who were standing in front of him, walking straight toward me.
Noticing that, Go Heemin glanced over in our direction. The way he shook the bag in his hand made it clear he was saying he’d head inside first.
When I nodded, Go Heemin hooked his wrist around Kang Taeyoon’s arm and disappeared into the shop. I didn’t even have time to confirm they’d gone in before a shadow fell over me, and I lifted my chin.
Min Siheon had a calm expression, only the corners of his lips slightly curved upward. When I placed my hand on his exposed forearm—bare beneath his short sleeves—I felt his skin, sticky with sweat that had already cooled.
“Why are you out here?”
“You weren’t coming.”
Was that a response he’d prepared in advance? It came out too quickly. As I stared at him, smiling in a way that suggested more than he said, one fact came to mind.
Min Siheon—despite his composed exterior—was jealousy incarnate. Among the group that had come outside earlier, there had been one more person besides Go Heemin.
“…Don’t tell me you’re still wary of him?”
“……”
Kang Taeyoon. He’d clearly followed Go Heemin out under the excuse of having a cigarette. Back when I had realized my feelings for Min Siheon and was avoiding him, Kang Taeyoon had been the person Min Siheon reacted most sensitively toward.
I’d brought it up half in doubt, but it seemed my guess had been right.
The curve of Min Siheon’s lips slowly straightened into a flat line.
“Hey, you’re seriously….”
“…I want to hold it back, but it’s kind of hard, Jungwoo.”
Min Siheon fluttered his long lashes with a sorrowful expression. I couldn’t even bring myself to scold him here.
It meant he liked me that much. Maybe love meant wanting to embrace even someone’s insecurities. I found myself wanting to indulge him.
“Don’t hate me.”
When I didn’t answer, Min Siheon’s anxiety showed. He grabbed my free left hand and placed it against his chest.
I looked at his trembling fingers, then lifted my gaze at the heartbeat I could feel beneath the firm muscle of his chest.
Thump— thump—. For someone just standing still, it was fast and intense.
What did I have to do to make him feel at ease? As I pondered that, something came to mind—the chocolate milk in my other hand.
I’d ignored Go Heemin asking if he should put it in the bag and had held onto it the whole time. I lifted the rectangular carton, now slightly lukewarm from my body heat.
“Here.”
“……”
“It’s yours. You idiot—I went to buy my cigarettes and forgot everything else.”
“……”
“I was so busy thinking about giving this to you that I even forgot to buy the cigarettes, you dummy.”
“……”
Min Siheon stared at the chocolate milk, then pressed his lips tightly together. Seriously, he was still such a kid.
I stretched out my arm and wrapped it around his stiff back.
“Let’s go in. Looks like the others are about to wrap things up anyway. Next time, want to meet up just the two of us and plan a trip? This vacation, I’m planning to have a blast with you. So brace yourself. Even if you say you’re tired, I’m dragging you around.”
“…Yeah, okay.”
Despite his tall frame, he obediently matched his steps to mine.
The chocolate milk in his hand looked absurdly tiny compared to his large fingers, and I couldn’t hold back a quiet laugh.
On this windless, sweltering summer night, it wasn’t as if I wasn’t sweating too—but right now, I just wanted to stay pressed close to Min Siheon.
***
In the end, the drinking session didn’t last long. Go Heemin’s condition wasn’t great, and neither was Yoo In-ho’s.
It wasn’t like we’d only had a sip or two. At a glance, they’d clearly overdone it.
Kang Taeyoon could collect Go Heemin and take care of him. But Yoo In-ho had to make his own way home, so we decided to call it a night here and part ways.
Even Min Siheon was soothed more easily than I’d expected and headed home.
Maybe it was because we’d already spent so much time together before the drinking started. When Min Siheon noticed me glancing around the alley, checking my surroundings, he let out a quiet chuckle.
“I’ll walk you home. You’re going back to your place tonight, right?”
“…What, you knew?”
“You were cute, agonizing over it for days.”
He looked nothing like the guy who’d clung to me like a child in front of the convenience store.
“If you knew, you could’ve said something earlier.”
“Watching you, Jungwoo, is my favorite pastime.”
Sometimes, I honestly didn’t know how to respond to him.
Still, good is good. We enjoyed a short summer night walk together.
I remembered him laughing at the rabbit keychain hanging from my bag when we stopped in front of my apartment building’s main gate.
And just like that, I stepped into my house for the first time in a long while. My parents seemed to have gone to bed already, and only Cha Seung-ah, with vacation just around the corner, was sprawled on the living room sofa watching TV.
“You’re back? Boarding-lodger Oppa?”
“Are you kidding me?”
“This is practically a stranger at this point~ I feel like I haven’t seen you in ten days. Did you secretly get your own place or something?”
“Whatever. Go to bed already.”
I waved off Cha Seung-ah’s teasing. After roughly putting my things away and changing clothes, I lay down on my somehow unfamiliar bed, staring up at the ceiling.
“…Was it always this quiet?”
I scratched my forehead at how eerily silent the house felt.
When I stayed at Min Siheon’s place, he was always beside me. Now, both sides of me felt empty.
That guy—he didn’t talk much, but his breathing was surprisingly noticeable. I missed the warm air that would cling to the back of my neck and near my ears.
Listening to his steady breaths, I’d often drift off to sleep.
For some reason, I had a feeling I’d toss and turn tonight. Well, I’d come because I felt like I should, so I couldn’t really blame anyone.
I pulled the thin blanket up over my body, intending to sleep early. He should be home by now, right? Just as I was about to text Min Siheon—
Bzzzt— my phone vibrated several times in quick succession. Was it Siheon? When I saw the group chat displayed on the screen, I lifted a hand and smacked my forehead.
“Unbelievable.”
This was the chatroom related to the very thing I’d been agonizing over earlier. Which meant it wasn’t Min Siheon.
Choi Sung-kyun: [What the hell, why’d the number disappear right away?]
Choi Sung-kyun: [Doesn’t seem like Kim. Feels like Cha—my gut’s screaming it’s Cha. Hey Cha Jungwoo, you’re watching this right now, aren’t you?]
Kim Jae-han: [You crazy bastard, I thought you were dead. Aren’t you coming out??]
:
:
It was my friends from high school—the ones I’d been close to for years. Things had been quiet for a while; looks like they’d finally started up again.
Scrolling through the long thread, it had begun with the last guy—whose vacation started later than ours—saying his semester had just ended.
Compared to Go Heemin’s group, these guys were louder and rougher around the edges.
Cha Jungwoo: [You lunatic, watch your language.]
Choi Sung-kyun: [Wow, Cha Jungwoo, long time no see]
Kim Jae-han: [Why are you bitching at me ㅗYou’re the one who disappearedㅗ]
Cha Jungwoo: [I said watch your language.]
Kim Jae-han: [♥You damn bastard♥]
Cha Jungwoo: [You sound like an elementary schooler. Did you at least grow taller?]
Kim Jae-han: [You didn’t move, right? I’m coming over right now.]
Cha Jungwoo: [ㅗI moved. Ah ㅗwas a typoㅗ]
Choi Sung-kyun: [Jae-han, stop acting tough.]
Choi Sung-kyun. Kim Jae-han. They were the same as ever. Sung-kyun loved teasing people, and Jae-han—smallest of us all—had the foulest mouth. I sent a half-hearted scolding.
Wait—why wasn’t one of them showing up? I noticed the little “1” next to the chat hadn’t disappeared.
There were originally four of us in this room. There should’ve been one more guy here.
Choi Sung-kyun: [What? Did Min-hyuk even show up? What’s with him reading and leaving right away?]
Just then, the last “1” disappeared. At the same time, an account with the default profile icon spoke up.
Kim Min-hyuk: [Jungwoo, long time no see. Have you been well?]
“It really has been a long time.”
Kim Min-hyuk—he’d been my closest friend back in high school. Maybe that’s why I shot up from my seat without realizing.
Whenever the four of us couldn’t all meet, I’d meet him alone. That’s how close we were.
He was probably in college now. I remembered how athletic he’d been, how he’d gone into a sports-related major.
Kim Jae-han: [Are we invisible? You ignored us when we asked to drink a few days ago, and now this? Ridiculous.]
Choi Sung-kyun: [Jae-han, you’re pathetic.]
I greeted Kim Min-hyuk, pushing aside Jae-han’s barking and Sung-kyun’s joking for the moment.
Cha Jungwoo: [What’s up, Kim Min-hyuk? What’ve you been doing?]
Kim Min-hyuk: [Then what have you been doing, Jungwoo?]
Cha Jungwoo: [Sorry. After re-enrolling, adjusting’s been kind of rough, so I couldn’t reach out.]
In truth, I’d been too busy dealing with things at Min Siheon’s place.
Kim Min-hyuk was cheerful but also kind and mature in his own way. I’d relied on him a lot.
So when he messaged me, a smile naturally spread across my face.
Kim Min-hyuk: [I didn’t mean it like you had to apologize.]
Kim Min-hyuk: [Still, I’m glad it sounds like you’ve been doing well.]
And just like that, all four of us were gathered again. As the conversation stretched on, it started looking like plans for a drinking meetup were forming.
I’d already been thinking I should see them at least once. So I focused on chatting with my old friends.
Would that bastard Siheon give me permission? I decided to put that worry aside for now. It wasn’t just anyone—it was these guys. Nothing would happen.
***
It had only been a few days since my high school friends contacted me. And now, I was out at a bar with them.
I licked my dry lips in the awkward atmosphere. If it had just been the guys, I would’ve been fine. But this was all because Min Siheon was sitting right beside me.
“S-so, you’re Jungwoo’s friend?”
“Yes.”
At Kim Jae-han’s awkward question, Min Siheon nodded. What was he so satisfied about? The beautiful smile I liked so much lingered on his lips.
I kept my gaze forward, checking on the friends sitting across from us. Then I lowered my arm and poked Min Siheon in the side.
To Kim Jae-han and Choi Sung-kyun, I spoke as if it were no big deal.
“…You don’t have to go that far. I told you, he’s the same age as us.”
“Shi— I mean, if it were you, you’d be like th—! Ah, haha, sorry. I’ve got a bit of a foul mouth.”
“It’s fine. You’ve known Jungwoo for a long time?”
“Y-yes… right… it’s been a long time….”
“We’ve been friends since high school. First year, I think? Jungwoo, me, and the guy who’s still on his way were in the same class. Jae-han here transferred in later, but in the end the four of us became a group.”
I pretended not to notice Jae-han’s grumbling and Sung-kyun’s barely contained amusement. I was the only one stuck in the middle, and it was killing me.
“I see.”
“…Hey.”
If Min Siheon hadn’t grabbed the hand I was using to poke his side, I might’ve managed to get through this looking relatively calm.
The heat of his skin against the back of my hand made a sigh slip out of me.
You’re not insane, right? It seemed like he’d forgotten that these weren’t Go Heemin’s friends.
Under the table, a war—if not quite a war—was breaking out as I tried to disentangle our laced fingers. I hadn’t even properly taken a sip of alcohol yet, but my face was already burning.
How did it end up like this? After confirming that Min Siheon wouldn’t let go, I tilted my head back and stared at the ceiling.
To explain this situation, I’d have to go back to the day those guys first contacted me.
