Hajin never imagined that Jeongwoo wouldn’t come to his entrance ceremony.
“Hajin-ah, smile! Victory sign!”
Even though dad urged him with the camera in hand, Hajin was still looking around, examining every corner of the entrance ceremony venue. He was sure hyung-ah knew he was entering elementary school just like Jeongyeon, so where was he?
In the end, Hajin stood next to Jeongyeon as the adults told him to, carrying regret in his heart. The photo taken with only a victory sign made with his hand and a sullen expression would remain well preserved in a corner of the bookshelf even later.
Even after the entrance ceremony ended, the household was full of excited energy.
For Hajin’s parents, it was the day their child first entered school. Also, for Jeongyeon’s parents, it was a huge event—their late-born child who they thought would be a baby forever was going to school.
Since their eldest son had already become a high school senior, they felt as moved as Hajin’s parents.
They had a celebratory meal at a restaurant they’d frequently visited as couples over the past eight years, and afterward gathered in Hajin’s living room to drink coffee.
Then they heard a presence at the front door they’d left open.
“I’m home.”
It was Jeongwoo, who had returned after finishing school. Jeongwoo, who had advanced to his senior year of high school, had also started the new semester today, so it was difficult for him to attend the entrance ceremony. However, he was holding two bouquets in his hands.
“Where are the kids?”
At Jeongwoo’s question, his mother Kim Hyeyoung whispered so they couldn’t hear inside the room.
“Jeongwoo-ya, go inside quickly. Hajin is thoroughly sulking.”
“Is that so? That’s serious.”
“He won’t say why, but I think it’s because you didn’t come to the entrance ceremony.”
The other adults also gestured for Jeongwoo to hurry and go into Hajin’s room.
“Unnie, Jeongwoo has become even more handsome now that he’s a senior. When he becomes a lawyer later, he’ll really be a top catch.”
Hajin’s mother Han Myeongsuk admired Jeongwoo, who always seemed upright and kind to the children whenever she saw him. She was the type to praise the next-door eldest son endlessly whenever she encountered him.
However, Kim Hyeyoung would make a subtle expression whenever she heard compliments about her son.
“Well, to be a top catch, his personality is a bit…… even I get scared sometimes.”
“From what I see, there’s no one like Jeongwoo. Which family will take him away, surely not ours?”
“Oh my, we’ll have to wait until Hajin is all grown up!”
Hahaha, hohoho.
At the joking remark, laughter rang throughout the living room.
The same-aged children playing in the room were so absorbed in playing with toys that they didn’t even hear the door opening.
And when they heard the door closing, both faces turned toward Jeongwoo simultaneously.
Usually, the two children’s reactions when encountering Jeongwoo were complete opposites.
“I hate hyung, I hate hyung!”
As soon as Jeongyeon saw Jeongwoo’s face, he jumped up as if he’d discovered an unwelcome guest and was disgusted. Hajin only widened his big eyes into circles.
Jeongwoo sighed at his real younger brother’s cold treatment, which was clearly different from the next-door younger brother, then deliberately lowered his voice.
“Yoo Jeongyeon.”
“Waaaah!”
His younger brother immediately burst into tears at his hyung’s single word.
Two days ago, Jeongyeon had been severely scolded by his hyung for how he was talking to their father, asking what kind of way of speaking that was.
Even though the late-born younger brother who had been pampered grew up raising both hands and serving punishment while throwing tantrums and crying, Jeongwoo only looked down at his younger brother silently with a very scary and cold face.
The hyung’s face he saw then appeared even in his dreams, so Jeongyeon had a restless sleep yesterday too. There was no way he would welcome the person who almost made him late for the entrance ceremony.
“Take this.”
“Waaaaaah.”
It seemed like he’d get scolded if he threw away even the bouquet hyung handed him and left, so amazingly, he ran out hugging the bouquet.
Jeongwoo let out an incredulous laugh and this time turned his head to give Hajin the bouquet.
It was the moment he bent his knees to meet his eyes. The child’s face approached without warning.
Smooch.
A tickling sensation touched his cheek. At the unexpected contact, Jeongwoo flinched in surprise and widened his eyes.
Hajin, who didn’t forget the greeting as he’d been told a few days ago, had just given him a cheek kiss and then cast his eyes downward sullenly. Now that he looked, beneath the long eyelashes, tears were brimming in the large eyes.
“……Hajin-ah.”
Got it. The child was very upset.
Even though he was so hurt, he came over and kissed his hyung’s cheek as promised. Had there ever been a time when he received such a pure expression of affection?
At experiencing this for the first time, various emotions arose and Jeongwoo furrowed his brows. It was a completely different expression from the indifferent face he’d shown his real younger brother just moments ago.
“Hajin-ah, I’m sorry, hyung was at school too so I couldn’t go to the entrance ceremony.”
The child blinked. If hyung-ah was at school, why couldn’t he see him? That was exactly the kind of thought showing on his face.
“Hyung-ah went to school too? Why weren’t you there earlier? Hajin kept looking for hyung-ah……”
“Hyung was at a different school.”
“A different school? Why?”
“Hyung doesn’t go to the same school as Hajin?”
“Why? Isn’t hyung-ah an elementary school student?”
The child blinked his eyes faster. He seemed to have become confused about something.
“Then hyung-ah, are you a middle school student?”
“The little one even knows about middle school?”
A kid who just entered elementary school knew about middle school—Jeongwoo was genuinely impressed.
However, Jeongwoo was not only not a middle school student, but a high school senior who would be entering university next year.
“But what should I do, hyung already graduated from middle school.”
“Then is hyung-ah an adult? Like mom and dad?”
So he only knew up to middle school. Jeongwoo answered with a smile.
“No, hyung is a high school student.”
While Hajin had just entered elementary school, he would be graduating high school next year. The child still didn’t seem to properly recognize such an age difference between them.
“High school student?”
As expected, the child’s eyes became round as saucers. Even though he didn’t know what that was, he seemed to think it was something tremendously big.
“Wow, hyung-ah is so big, so cool……”
“If I’m cool, what should you do?”
Jeongwoo raised his eyebrow. As soon as he finished speaking, Hajin kissed Jeongwoo’s left cheek. Jeongwoo soon smiled warmly and playfully tapped his right cheek.
“The other side too.”
Hajin hesitated for a moment, then tilted his head and kissed his right cheek too.
Smooch.
While diligently giving kisses, Hajin’s eyes were sparkling, his cheeks flushed red as if he was embarrassed.
Come to think of it, he recalled the photo he’d seen on the way here. In the photo his mother had sent, Jeongyeon was smiling brightly. Unlike his friend who was smiling innocently, the child’s stiff face kept bothering him.
“Hajin-ah, should we take the entrance ceremony photo again?”
“Yeah!”
Hajin finally accepted the bouquet Jeongwoo handed him. Jeongwoo lifted Hajin’s small body up in one swoop.
A moment later, on the garden lawn, holding the bouquet, Hajin smiled brightly at the camera.
Dozens of photos of him holding an armful of a bouquet as big as his own body were captured on Jeongwoo’s phone.
“I’m an elementary school student now too!”
Hajin, who exclaimed brightly, seemed to finally be fully enjoying the fact that he had become an elementary school hyung-ah.
Although he didn’t have his uniform because he’d changed into comfortable clothes as soon as he got home, his expression was much brighter than during the entrance ceremony.
Every single photo taken was perfect.
After returning to the room and looking at the photos together, Hajin suddenly spoke in a sullen voice.
“I want to quickly become a high school student too, and grow up like hyung-ah.”
“Really? Hyung wishes Hajin wouldn’t grow up.”
“Huh? Why!”
As if Jeongwoo’s firm answer was unexpected, Hajin protested.
“I’m going to become a high school student too!”
He wanted to quickly grow tall and become a cool high school student like hyung-ah, so why was he saying such things? When the usually gentle Hajin’s eyes became sharp, Jeongwoo found it even more amusing.
“I want to quickly grow up and go to school together with hyung-ah!”
“That’s going to be a bit difficult?”
Unfortunately, Hajin’s wish could never be fulfilled. At the moment Hajin had barely become a child from an infant, Jeongwoo was already facing adulthood.
It was impossible unless Hajin suddenly became a genius and completed all compulsory education at once and advanced to university.
“Since it’s difficult to go to school together with hyung-ah anyway, Hajin should just stay an elementary school student.”
“Huh?”
He said he’d grow up quickly but now to stay an elementary school student. Hajin looked at him with a bewildered face unbefitting a child. Jeongwoo shamelessly nodded his head.
However, what Jeongwoo had just said was half sincere.
“When the baby is all grown up, you won’t give hyung-ah kisses anymore.”
Saying that, as if already resenting the grown-up Hajin, Jeongwoo lightly pinched the child’s cheek.
