* * *
Wooyeon, who had come back after neatly removing his makeup, carefully sat on the floor. Without exception, there were bruises on his knees, and his overworked thigh muscles and waist pulled uncomfortably. Even though it was something that happened every time, his lower area continued to ache, and whether it had torn while doing fellatio earlier, the corner of his mouth also stung, so Wooyeon habitually kept touching his lips. It was something he couldn’t tell others about.
“Really such a waste, sunbae was really pretty.”
Sunwoo said while pouring juice into the paper cup Wooyeon was holding. It seemed like words spoken not to tease but out of genuine regret. When Wooyeon turned his gaze to look at Sunwoo, he blushed and lowered his gaze. To Wooyeon, his cross-dressed appearance had only been ridiculous, but it seemed it wasn’t that way to other people.
“Really, really. You were really… pretty.”
“Ah… yeah, thanks.”
Is this something I should be thanking him for? Wooyeon tilted his head slightly and drank the juice.
“And I’m really sorry. I heard you went out instead of me.”
“Ah. Well, that. Hahaha.”
Kim Sunwoo, whose face had turned bright red, scratched the back of his shortly cut hair at Wooyeon’s words.
They said that because of Wooyeon who had disappeared, Group F had hurriedly sent Kim Sunwoo up on stage instead. That Kim Sunwoo, wearing a big-sized long dress made of cotton, had struck muscle-flexing poses on the stage. Naturally, Group F couldn’t avoid last place, but fortunately the group members were laughing it off, saying they’d seen something ugly and funny.
“Are you feeling better?”
“…Yeah, I’m fine.”
Even while thinking who would believe it, he’d made the excuse that he couldn’t go out because he wasn’t feeling well, but this pure soul before his eyes seemed to think it was true. At the eyes that seemed to truly worry, Wooyeon felt a pang of guilt for no reason. In his quietly downcast eyes, the long eyelashes with mascara removed faced downward.
“Oh, but there’s something on here…”
It was just a moment when Kim Sunwoo leaned toward Wooyeon. His hand headed toward the nape below Wooyeon’s earlobe. And as soon as his fingertip touched the skin, Wooyeon turned pale and covered his nape with his hand. Wooyeon’s cheek instantly flushed pink.
“Ah… I’m sorry.”
At Wooyeon’s extremely flustered appearance, Kim Sunwoo could only say that. A frightened face that looked like it would cry at any moment was facing Sunwoo.
Was it a mistake? Sunwoo was just as flustered. Even after avoiding Sunwoo’s gaze, Wooyeon didn’t seem to think of lowering the hand covering his nape, as if it still bothered him. The way he kept pretending to drink juice from the completely empty paper cup was utterly awkward, as if embarrassed.
“Hello!”
That’s when it happened. At the presence that came in opening the door wide, the faces of the people scattered around the room drinking turned in one direction. Wooyeon, who had been biting the paper cup until its edge was ragged, also belatedly turned his head.
Chu Seonyoung was greeting with a bright face while taking off her shoes and coming inside. And behind her, the figure of Kwon Jeonghan closing the door was also visible.
“We came to give you some chicken.”
“Oh my, sit here!”
“Whoa, awesome. Chicken.”
In both hands of Jeonghan who followed in behind, plastic bags that probably contained chicken were held. Wooyeon alternately looked at Seonyoung and Jeonghan while touching the nape with the kiss mark left on it with his fingertips for no reason. The group members made space for Seonyoung and Jeonghan to sit and gathered in a circle.
“If you come in here, you have to have at least one drink.”
“Ah, just give me a little. I already ate a lot over there.”
As soon as Seonyoung and Jeonghan sat on the floor, a female student who was the Statistics department representative gave Seonyoung and Jeonghan paper cups and poured beer.
“But are you giving us the chicken?”
“Our group won and got a prize. It’s too much for just our group to eat.”
“Hey. Yeah, good timing.”
“Your Group B should know you’re lucky. If Wooyeon sunbae had gone out, we would have won right away.”
Kim Sunwoo chuckled and nodded. Wooyeon and Jeonghan’s eyes, sitting across from each other, met. Immediately Wooyeon averted his eyes from Jeonghan and fixed his gaze on the paper cup with its ragged edge. Even though he hadn’t drunk alcohol, his heart pounded too loudly.
“But why did you two come together? Are you two perhaps!”
“Oh, what’s with this unnie. Those two are dating.”
“Whoa.”
“Your info is so slow.”
She, who had been eating nachos, opened her eyes wide and looked at Jeonghan and Seonyoung. It was just a probe, but she’d hit it right on.
“Whoa, I really didn’t know they were actually dating.”
“Hey, Trade department! Stop making Seong Eunji follow along, geez.”
“The kids are so mean!”
In the harmonious atmosphere, only Wooyeon couldn’t laugh. I really came for nothing. It was the first MT he’d come to because of Jeonghan, but he didn’t know that mixing with others would be such a painful thing.
“New guests have come, so shouldn’t we pass around drinks once?”
“We were about to leave.”
“Hey, where are you going? You can’t leave until you finish your drinks.”
“Step over my body to go.”
“It may have been up to you when you came in, but not when you leave.”
At the hands that held them back with refusals, Chu Seonyoung had no choice but to sit down again. Soju and beer were mixed in large glasses, not paper cups.
“We need to make them drink, what game should we play?”
“If there’s a couple, obviously you have to play the truth game.”
A skinny male student laid an empty soju bottle down in the middle of the circle where they sat.
“Question first.”
“Start with a weak one. When was your first kiss?”
When someone on their knees spun the empty soju bottle hard, the bottle spun quickly drawing a green circle, then slowly stopped. The person the soju bottle’s mouth was pointing at was Kim Sunwoo. Perhaps because his personality itself was gentle and many people found him cute, everyone looked at Kim Sunwoo with chuckles. When Kim Sunwoo couldn’t easily answer, the nagging began.
“Hey hey. When was your first kiss?”
“Kim Sunwoo. If you say something like ‘kindergarten Sunshine Class,’ I’ll kill you.”
At the ‘kindergarten Sunshine Class’ story, laughter burst out here and there. Wooyeon also raised his head to look at Sunwoo. The gaze that met his was flustered.
“Uh, I had a girlfriend in high school. With her.”
“Ugh, look at this bastard act cool. Where does a green high schooler have a girlfriend!”
“Not doing the studying you should be doing!”
“Was it good?”
Kim Sunwoo was simple. Even though it wasn’t a high-level question, Sunwoo fanned his heated nape with his hand. A new question was drawn again, and the soju bottle spun.
“How many people have you dated?”
At the new question, the stopped soju bottle’s mouth was pointing toward Chu Seonyoung.
“Hey, jackpot. Who spun it?”
Two male students high-fived, saying there was an interesting spectacle between the couple. Chu Seonyoung rolled her eyes upward in her large eyes and counted past men while counting on her fingers.
“Three people.”
“Is that including Kwon Jeonghan?”
“Ah, then four people.”
Then a male student sitting next to Kwon Jeonghan held out a spoon to Jeonghan like a microphone and asked.
“Mr. Kwon Jeonghan, do you mind? Are you cool with it?”
Jeonghan’s gaze was directed at Wooyeon across from him. His handsome eyes slowly curved.
“Why would I care about that?”
“‘Why would I care,’ he says!”
“Ah, what. Even saying something like that when it’s nothing is cool.”
The Statistics department representative sitting nearby rummaged through the chicken and finally found a drumstick and handed it to Jeonghan. Saying it was because he was handsome. Jeonghan received it with a smiling face, and the soju bottle spun several more times.
“What question now?”
“When was your last kiss?”
“Ooh.”
Perhaps thinking it was a decent question, students who had opened their eyes wide gave thumbs up toward the student who suggested it. And the quickly spun soju bottle stopped pointing at Wooyeon.
“Whoa, jackpot.”
“Wooyeon sunbae can’t drink, so he has to answer no matter what.”
Since he’d said earlier that he couldn’t go to the Sanggyeong Beauty Contest because he wasn’t feeling well, even if he wanted to gloss over it by drinking, it was a situation where he couldn’t. Wooyeon avoided the gazes staring at him intently. It felt like his breath was being blocked. What on earth should he say?
“Ah, what is it? Hurry up and say it.”
At the slowed tempo, someone who had become frustrated got slightly irritated. In the suddenly worsened atmosphere, when Sunwoo, who had been reading the room, was about to slightly raise his hand.
“I’ll be the black knight.”
“Ooh, Kwon Jeonghan!”
Sunwoo withdrew the hand he’d slightly raised and looked at Jeonghan. The atmosphere instantly reversed again. In fact, the person they most wanted to ask that question to was Jeonghan or Seonyoung.
The gazes that had been directed at Wooyeon all moved back toward Jeonghan and Seonyoung. Only Jeonghan’s gaze was fixed on Wooyeon.
“Hey, it’s no fun if you gloss over it with alcohol here.”
Someone moved the large drink glass far away, worried that Jeonghan might drink instead of answering. Jeonghan still stared at Wooyeon and blinked slowly.
“Why would I drink? I’m going to answer.”
At Jeonghan’s words, cheers burst out here and there. Seonyoung sitting next to Jeonghan was smiling with an ambiguous face, whether embarrassed or troubled.
When Wooyeon fidgeted with the paper cup for no reason, Sunwoo sitting next to him changed it to a new paper cup. When Wooyeon held the new paper cup, orange juice filled it again. Sunwoo, who had poured the juice, smiled brightly at Wooyeon, and the smile disappeared from Jeonghan’s face watching this.
“Last kiss… today.”
Jeonghan answered with a smile again. In the even louder cheers than before, Wooyeon’s gaze, which had frozen solid, turned toward Jeonghan again. It felt like his blood was running cold.
