That day, Eunha ultimately borrowed the power of medication once. As soon as he returned home after getting off work around 1 PM, he fell asleep and came to his senses around dawn the next day. When he woke up, he was sprawled out at the boundary between the living room and balcony. His phone had gone under the sofa, and the refrigerator door was left open. He had absolutely no memory of any of it. It was something that happened occasionally when he took medication.
Then he spent several more sleepless days. During that time, Yeonjun came and went to the café every day like before, and stayed somewhere on the second floor like the day he first came back. Having received a drawing prohibition order from Eunha, he showed a noticeably dim demeanor for a while before sticking next to Eunha who was managing the pots and extending their small talk. He asked several times whether what he received last time was bad. Eunha didn’t answer. He only thought. That kind of thing is too explicit and burdensome.
‘What’s the name of this flower?’
He showed interest in the plants being grown and also asked about the care Eunha did every day, and the process of explaining that seemed quite enjoyable. Plant talk. Even when he tried it anywhere, it didn’t particularly receive empathy or provide fun. At least all of Eunha’s friends found it boring. Or didn’t understand.
He who had been asking about the plants’ names and characteristics, the watering cycle, the reason for inserting nutrients and such, also asked about the reason for growing plants. Eunha casually told him the answer he had voiced many times.
‘Because I don’t want to give up.’
The date that was supposed to end within a month reached an agreement of two months after some wrangling. The price for taking a twenty-year-old’s virginity was ten dates over two months. It seemed both reasonable and somewhat harsh, but it would be a manageable amount of time. Two months. It was also the average period Eunha met with partners.
That weekend, they finally set a second date appointment. A certain late day in May before official summer. They decided to watch a movie. Eunha’s condition wasn’t good that day either, but since it was chronic fatigue, he endured it with familiar tolerance. While thinking he should take medication once more tomorrow.
They decided to eat dinner and met at the movie theater around 3 o’clock. Yeonjun, who had said he was going to his family home in the morning, was quite eye-catching. A nice-fitting ink-black shirt and jeans with a length that slightly covered his sneakers. A loose canvas crossbody bag worn diagonally. Shirt sleeves rolled up after being folded and a black watch positioned perfectly on his wrist.
His hair was trimmed with the bangs slightly parted. It was an impression he got every time he saw him, but he was a kid who dressed himself well. A person who knew what suited him and knew well how to dress to be prettiest at his best.
The fact that he had a solid sense of his own color was a characteristic worthy of high praise. Even more so in that when combined with his excellent base, that characteristic made the eyes of viewers quite comfortable.
But…… So what? When it can’t be used in the right place.
Eunha, who had been looking pitifully at the man secretly gathering attention again, took the steps he had paused for a moment. Yeonjun, who suddenly raised his head at the presence, approached with a pleased expression of recognition.
“Hyung.”
“Why did you come so early?”
“Noona dropped me off in front. I didn’t wait long.”
Leaving behind the additional words that hyung also arrived early, didn’t he, Eunha asked pretending not to know.
“Noona?”
“Ah, yes. My real older sister.”
“…Right. I think you said you had them. Two of them?”
“That’s right. Did I say something like that?”
“Well…… I heard. Here and there.”
How could you hear something like that here and there, Yeonjun asked, rolling his eyes in puzzlement.
“Do you have siblings too, hyung?”
“I have a noona too.”
“…Really?”
Walking side by side toward the kiosk, Yeonjun turned to look at Eunha. As if it was unexpected.
“Yeah. Three years apart. Why, don’t I look like it?”
“Right. I thought you’d have a male sibling or be an only child.”
“I hear that a lot.”
Eunha shrugged his shoulders. Really, he heard it often. That he had a physiognomy that showed absolutely no energy of having a female sibling. He knew it contained the meaning that he completely lacked delicate or affectionate temperament.
“You though, you do give off the feeling that you’d have a noona.”
“Yeah. I hear that a lot too. Not even younger sisters, but exactly that I’d have a noona.”
Yeonjun, who smiled gently, sparkled his pupils.
“It’s fascinating. Are you close with your noona?”
“Well…… We don’t contact each other much these days. Partly because noona is busy studying abroad, and partly because we naturally grew distant after becoming adults. When we were young, we’d fight like crazy whenever we had time, but now……”
While he was speaking, he could see Yeonjun’s mouth subtly lengthening. Eunha raised one eyebrow.
“…Why that expression?”
“It’s nothing.”
“Tell me about yours too.”
“About me?”
“Like things that happened with your noonas when you were young. Or things you remember.”
For some reason, Yeonjun brightened his pupils as if he was a little happy, then soon began to unfold simple anecdotes. Within that, there didn’t seem to be any sign of him connecting Baek Joohee with this side in his memory. It was the same even when he subtly observed his expression. It only resulted in Yeonjun, who recognized the gaze reaching him attentively, slowly stopping his words and blushing his cheeks. Eunha withdrew his gaze.
Was he not someone connected in the past?
He was curious. Whether they might have met a long time ago that he didn’t remember. If he was Baek Joohee’s younger brother, then probably, they would have lived in very close places at one time. Within about five minutes’ walking distance.
Well. When he hung out with Baek Joohee, Yeonjun was only eight years old. When he left that neighborhood, even at twenty-one when he was driven out by his father, he was an elementary school student. Even if they had run into each other, there probably wouldn’t have been any particular event. Even if there had been something, Yeonjun wouldn’t even remember.
An elementary school student in the year I went to the military…… Newly recalling the stark fact, he moved his steps slowly.
They printed tickets, bought popcorn and cola, and headed to the screening room. Eunha liked movies full of thrills. Stories where tense incidents and actions exploded relentlessly without rest. Since Yeonjun happened to have similar tastes, they decided to watch a popular desert-background action movie these days.
In the screening room they arrived at early, there wasn’t a single person yet. Eunha, who sat down finding his seat, immediately let out a tired sigh quietly. It was a day when the maximum temperature reached 28 degrees. The air conditioning was running weakly inside, and the seats consisted of recliner chairs. As his body became comfortable, his tension released and a sudden sense of weakness rushed over him.
I can’t fall asleep while watching the movie. It was around the time he was struggling to put strength into his eyelids. Yeonjun naturally entwined his arm with the arm Eunha had placed on the armrest. He lightly fiddled with his fingers. It was completely a habit now. It was utterly brazen.
He turned to look as if to point that out, but Yeonjun was calmly only looking straight ahead. Eunha opened his eyes long.
“Sneaky.”
Only then did Yeonjun quickly look to the side. Wearing a troubled smile as if he’d heard an unfair accusation.
“Sneaky, hyung?”
“Or not?”
When he spoke teasingly, the troubled look deepened even more. Eunha felt some amusement at the immediately displayed reaction. He was always surprisingly transparent. It was interesting that those transparent reactions generally had a gentle and shy nature.
Eventually Yeonjun leaned his body over slightly. Burying his head near Eunha’s nape, he murmured lightly.
“Since I like you, it’s natural to want to touch……”
