Perhaps because he had been on edge all day, he was tired. He tried not to care, but was it difficult to completely ignore what others were chattering about? Or he didn’t know if it was because of Tae Shinwoo, who hadn’t contacted him all day.
No. As if he didn’t know. Either way you looked at it, it was the latter.
Seo Eunho laughed. He was desperately refusing to acknowledge that Tae Shinwoo had such a profound influence on him.
Looking at how he found the pathetic excuse that others’ gazes, which he had never been conscious of, were tiring.
“……”
Seo Eunho stared blankly at his quiet cell phone. It was time to go home from school, and he was preparing to return home, but strangely there was no contact from Tae Shinwoo.
Was something wrong? Should he wait? Or should he try contacting him?
Worries continued in a line. He couldn’t tell what the most characteristic action for him would be in this situation.
[Not going?]
After much deliberation, Seo Eunho sent a message to Tae Shinwoo. Only after sending it did he think that Tae Shinwoo didn’t necessarily have to go together.
He should have just said he was going first. Was that strange too? What should he have done?
He felt like he had become a complete idiot. Unable to do anything without Tae Shinwoo’s word.
[Go ahead first]
Tae Shinwoo’s answer came back earlier than expected. Seo Eunho fiddled with his innocent hair and this time turned off the phone screen without answering. Not answering seemed to suit him.
“……”
He liked Tae Shinwoo. After acknowledging that fact, Seo Eunho was busy checking himself every day.
What was characteristic of him? What should he do not to look strange? He always worried and acted accordingly. Otherwise, it seemed like Tae Shinwoo would notice his feelings.
However, as days passed, he became more confused. How would he have originally acted? He felt like he was only throwing questions he couldn’t be certain of day and night.
“Haa……”
As Seo Eunho stepped outside the school, he completely brushed away the hair he had been constantly tormenting.
He looked pathetic and ridiculous. Meanwhile, he also worried whether something had happened to Tae Shinwoo. Because such a thing was extremely rare.
The innocent cell phone screen kept turning on and off repeatedly. Like a direction that couldn’t find its bearings.
***
Even when night came, there was no contact from Tae Shinwoo. Of course, he didn’t come to the house either.
Normally, it would be time for Tae Shinwoo, who had been hanging around at this house, to slowly return to his own house. Not showing up until now was the same as meaning he wouldn’t come.
“……”
If he had come to that conclusion, he should just do what he had to do and go to sleep.
Seo Eunho unfortunately couldn’t do anything after returning from school. The cell phone he roughly stuffed and carried anywhere was placed on the table. Seo Eunho just kept glaring at that cell phone.
It was a persistent gaze to the point where it wouldn’t be strange if it melted away like that. However, Seo Eunho wasn’t conscious of it. He just kept waiting for Tae Shinwoo’s contact.
There’s no way he wouldn’t come without saying anything like this.
Thinking of Tae Shinwoo’s usual appearance, no matter how much he thought about it, it was strange.
Had the rumors that everyone who saw him today had been chattering about also affected Tae Shinwoo?
Following the natural flow, he also became anxious. He didn’t care what anyone said or what they thought of him, but strangely, when that person became Tae Shinwoo, he even became nervous.
“Hoo……”
In the end, Seo Eunho, tired of waiting, picked up his cell phone. His fingers moved busily, immediately entering a message.
[The rumors are all lies]
However, the completed message remained on the screen for a long time without being sent. It was because he wondered again whether this was characteristic behavior of him.
[Not coming?]
Seo Eunho quickly erased the message and this time wrote a different question, then erased it again. This was also strange. Seeking Tae Shinwoo in the first place, contacting him at this time itself didn’t suit him.
It would be right to have no interest in whatever action Tae Shinwoo took. It had always been that way, and that was the reason he had become curious about him.
Whether sending a message asking why he wasn’t coming or explaining that the rumors were false. Since they were all things the original Seo Eunho wouldn’t have done, he shouldn’t do anything.
But he couldn’t do that. He even had an ominous premonition about what would happen if he grew distant from Tae Shinwoo over such a trivial matter.
His legs shook frantically. Without recognizing that either, Seo Eunho, who had curled up his body, gripped his cell phone.
[Hey]
He wrote and erased. Wrote again and erased again.
After infinitely repeating the same action, the message Seo Eunho finally wrote was ultimately just one character. Seo Eunho sent even that after much deliberation. Since sending a message itself was already strange, but still, he thought this much would be okay.
Because his legs were shaking, even the table shook. Only then did Seo Eunho stop shaking his leg and fiddle with his fingers.
Because he had unnecessarily torn the skin around his nails, which didn’t have a single hangnail, it soon turned red, but he didn’t care. Seo Eunho’s nerves were all focused on the cell phone.
[Tae Shinwoo]
And.
In about a minute, the cell phone screen lit up. When he urgently grabbed the whining cell phone, Tae Shinwoo’s name was visible. It wasn’t a message but a phone call coming in.
“……”
Seo Eunho took a deep breath. Even though it was a face he saw every day, it was newly nerve-wracking probably because it was the first time having a phone conversation. All sorts of things. Seo Eunho didn’t hide the sneer that naturally escaped.
“Hello.”
Even though he had been waiting only for Tae Shinwoo until late at night, the voice he let out was plain, pretending he hadn’t. Seo Eunho slowly closed his eyes, trying to shake off the worries about whether his voice might have trembled or whether his gladness had shown.
—Are you waiting for me?
However, Tae Shinwoo didn’t help Seo Eunho’s heart feel at ease. Seo Eunho’s eyes snapped open as he furrowed his brow. It was right, but it was a question he couldn’t answer with “yes.”
—Should I come now if you miss me?
He hadn’t answered, but Tae Shinwoo acted as if he had already heard an answer. Seo Eunho laughed as if absurd, going “ha.” It was because he was a little relieved that there didn’t seem to be any discomfort in Tae Shinwoo’s voice.
“Why are you calling?”
Only then did a sulky tone flow out. Tae Shinwoo’s laughter could be heard from beyond the cell phone.
—Just. Can’t I? That’s what phones are for.
“You could just send a message.”
—Messages can’t hear your voice.
Dry saliva gulped down. The guy had an excellent talent for stirring people’s hearts with just one word.
—I can’t know what you’re thinking just by looking at messages.
Seo Eunho moistened his dried lips with his tongue. The voice pretending to be calm felt awkward.
“You know if you hear my voice?”
—The voice, and also.
“……”
—The fact that you answered the phone quickly. Don’t you think I could think you were waiting for me?
He should say he was talking nonsense. However, his lips wouldn’t open as he thought. His heart pounded at the laughter that burst out, confident that his guess was right. It was because his inner thoughts had truly been completely discovered.
“…You called right away.”
Seo Eunho belatedly muttered as if making excuses.
“Like someone who was waiting for me to send a message.”
—Right.
Tae Shinwoo should have answered no. Then Seo Eunho would have had something to say too.
—I was waiting for your contact.
But Tae Shinwoo’s words went against his wishes.
—I was thinking about when you’d do it.
“…Why were you waiting? You could have done it yourself.”
His lips opened, making a mockery of how he had tapped the calculator and been careful with his words. Tae Shinwoo would have noticed the impatience heavily coating his voice.
—I was angry.
Seo Eunho clenched his fist tightly. Without a chance to answer, Tae Shinwoo continued speaking.
—Because the stories about you I heard all day were fucking awful.
It was about the rumors. As soon as he realized that, his heart became anxious. He was flustered that the utterly nonsensical rumors had really affected Tae Shinwoo.
“All of that—”
—I know. That they’re lies.
“……”
—I know, but I’m angry.
Silence fell. Seo Eunho blinked his eyes and slowly broke the silence.
“…Why?”
Why are you angry when you know? Rather, what are you angry about?
Laughter was heard again. Although he had no intention of doing it now, Tae Shinwoo’s laughter sounded too soft even through the cell phone, making his heart naturally tremble.
—Why do you think?
“Don’t joke around.”
—I’m not joking. Think about it.
“Hey, Tae Shinwoo.”
—I know all about who that woman is. I know they’re all false rumors. But even so, why am I angry?
Seo Eunho had never explained about that woman. However, at that moment, he didn’t have the capacity to consider that far. The words that Tae Shinwoo was angry made his heart pound.
“…Are you asking because you don’t know either?”
—No. I know.
Tae Shinwoo said firmly.
—I’m asking because I want you to know now too.
It was an incomparably ambiguous statement that couldn’t help but make too many thoughts bloom in Seo Eunho.
