While covering my face, I quickly flared my nostrils. Still, my pheromones were okay.
It wasn’t a concentration strong enough to reveal that I’d done something lewd, unless it was flowing a little more subtly than usual. It seemed hyung-nim hadn’t noticed yet, but tension pricked my entire body.
“The kid spilled water.”
Huh? At the out-of-the-blue comment, I unconsciously lowered my hand and fumbled at my waistband. Then I discovered the traces of water streams flowing lengthily down my chest.
“Oh, you’re right.”
Only then did I rub the thin cotton tee I was wearing with an embarrassed face. I must have drunk in a bit of a hurry earlier. It wasn’t just one water stain—there were no less than three streams showing how I’d drunk the water.
I stopped wiping the wet area and smiled awkwardly. What is this, being so sloppy in front of hyung-nim.
“I-I don’t usually spill.”
Come to think of it, until high school, I always acted carefully in front of hyung-nim.
“Right, even Hajin is spilling water.”
“Just now was too rushed…”
A moment of silence passed, and I heard a chuckling sound from above my head.
Hyung-nim reached his hand toward my forehead.
“You don’t really have a fever, right? You need to tell me right away when you do.”
“No, absolutely not right now…!”
I reflexively stepped back to avoid that touch.
Hyung-nim’s hand extended in the air hesitated. Since the kiss last time, I was cautious about making contact with hyung-nim.
“I was concentrating on finishing my assignment, so I guess I got a little hot. That’s why.”
I hurriedly made excuses, hoping hyung-nim wouldn’t find it strange.
“I see.”
“…”
“You’re being admirable lately. Coming home early, making my worries seem pointless.”
It seemed hyung-nim didn’t see me as that lewd of a child yet. Unless I was an unbridled colt whose eyes were blinded by curiosity.
He seemed to believe what I said about doing my assignment just now, and at times like this, being seen only as a child helped.
“…Would you like a glass of water too, hyung-nim?”
Somehow the flow of air felt awkward. I smiled awkwardly while offering the water glass I was holding.
But even though I offered the water glass, hyung-nim’s eyes were still gazing at me. Very narrowly.
“You used to be this tall.”
And hyung-nim suddenly pointed to around his waist. So the subject of “used to be this tall” was me.
Geez. How far back is he talking about? While my mouth twitched in disbelief, hyung-nim stared at me intently.
The forehead visible between wet hair, the corners of his mouth leisurely raised, and eyes that seemed to cross with mixed emotions somehow.
“Doesn’t anyone at school ask for your number or anything?”
“…Number? That hasn’t really happened.”
Did I come out of my room for no reason? Perhaps because there were too many things to worry about, honestly I couldn’t even focus on hyung-nim’s voice.
Still, for now, this newly emerged topic couldn’t be more welcome. Though I had no idea what context it was jumping from.
“You were really just a tiny kid.”
Muttering, his gaze went down, very slowly. At that gaze, I automatically brought my hands together. I also pulled down the t-shirt that had ridden up from wiping the water.
Isn’t this exactly why you should live properly? The moment hyung-nim’s gaze went down, I was so flustered that not a drop of blood remained. I bit my lips firmly.
In front of hyung-nim, who was suddenly summoning memories from my little kid days, all my nerves were focused on my genitals that had almost reached climax earlier.
The arousal had subsided now, but still, remembering that I’d rubbed myself below against the bear doll hyung-nim had left made me unnecessarily self-conscious.
Later, I’d even felt a slippery sensation as if water had pooled at the tip of my genitals—surely it didn’t get on my pants.
My lips dried up completely while the gaze scanning me continued. And after the gaze came back up, there was something in hyung-nim’s smiling face that strangely tightened around a person. Maybe I actually felt that way because I was shooting myself in the foot.
“No matter how you look at it, you’ve grown a lot.”
And finally, as if physically realizing that I had completely grown up, hyung-nim chuckled.
“I guess I have to acknowledge it now too. Usually when I see you and Jeongyeon, you just seemed like kids forever.”
“Right. I’m an adult too, so of course I’ve grown up.”
“If it’s like that to my eyes, it must be the same to others’ eyes.”
“Yes, yes.”
I quickly nodded at that question. Though hyung-nim was sharper than anyone, he was the last person to realize this obvious and clear fact. I was overjoyed to finally be acknowledged as an adult.
“Last time I went to a bar and they didn’t even check my ID.”
“Really?”
Hyung-nim’s eyebrow twitched as if he’d heard an interesting story.
“You know they’re checking IDs really hard near school these days since it’s a new semester, right? But they didn’t check mine. I guess I didn’t look twenty.”
Of course, that was a company dinner with even upperclassmen there, so I was kind of carried along. Anyway, it wasn’t a lie.
“That’s fascinating.”
“And Jeongyeon said I’d look more mature if I dressed up a little. I haven’t been able to yet, but… I’m planning to go to a hair salon soon.”
“You’re pretty enough now, so why.”
While I was chattering, hyung-nim’s voice was gradually getting lower, as if fatigue was suddenly hitting him. Naturally, my voice also shrank.
Hyung-nim, who chuckled at me like that, turned his gaze to check the clock.
“It’s late. I should go in and sleep now.”
“Hyung-nim, you’re tired, right? You should come home a little earlier…”
“It’s okay. Hyung-nim doesn’t have any more height to grow.”
I seemed to have kept hyung-nim too long out of happiness. Since he came from work, he must be more tired. But before going to sleep, I had to correct this.
“I don’t have any more height to grow either. You know that, right?”
“Yeah, I know.”
Hyung-nim chuckled at my words. And the motion of lightly patting my head was flawlessly elegant. Watching the chest muscles moving on his bare upper body, my vision became a little blurry.
The desire that had cooled down just before climax began to squirm again. I should wrap up the conversation with hyung-nim around here. It seemed I’d have to finish masturbating before going to sleep after going in.
“…Sleep well too, hyung-nim.”
I turned around, putting away my regret. But I heard hyung-nim’s voice behind me.
“Oh right, Hajin-ah.”
“Yes?”
I turned back to hyung-nim in front of my room door. Hyung-nim, still leaning against the doorway, had his brow very slightly furrowed. His finger pointed at the ceiling.
“I told you earlier, right? The soundproofing here is a bit.”
“…”
“I don’t mind, but I don’t want to interrupt next time either.”
With a playful curve of his lips as the last thing, the door closed with a thud.
I stood there frozen like a stone statue for a long while.
***
“Hey, Lee Hajin, did you buy coffee for your classmates again?”
It was when class was about to start.
Choi Jihwan, who had skipped morning class because he overslept, suddenly looked around the lecture hall and said that.
“Wow.”
I forgot the question and stared blankly at Choi Jihwan’s hair. Every time I saw him, I felt like his hair color was getting lighter. Choi Jihwan said he had a hair color he wanted and was sequentially bleaching the color out for that.
“When did I go to the salon—you’re so behind? That’s not the problem, I’m asking if you handed out coffee to your classmates again.”
“Yeah, why? Oh, right!”
I handed over the coffee I’d bought for Choi Jihwan.
“Here. There’s no way I’d forget you.”
Since he always drank iced americano, I’d set it aside, but I’d forgotten to give it to him as soon as he arrived.
“I’m grateful and drinking it for now, but… haa, Lee Hajin.”
But even while receiving the coffee and taking a sip, Choi Jihwan looked far from pleased.
“Why? You weren’t asking because you thought only yours was missing, were you?”
“What should I do with this guy?”
“What?”
I blinked blankly. Choi Jihwan frowned as if he was even more troubled watching me like that.
“You’re already rumored to be a rich young master. Right now it’s just the kids you eat with benefiting, but what are you going to do if weird kids start gathering too?”
“Ah! That’s because hyung-nim told me to buy delicious food with my friends.”
“That hyung-nim I saw that time, right?”
“Yeah.”
In my card wallet placed in my pants pocket, Yoo Jeongwoo hyung-nim’s card was still proudly inserted.
Unlike my check card that I’d been using since Mom made it for me in high school, hyung-nim’s card had a sturdier material and cooler design.
A few days ago, I suddenly got a call during lunch break.
At that time, I answered the phone in a hurry, like an examinee waiting for additional college acceptance until February. It was because it was uncommon for hyung-nim to suddenly call during broad daylight.
“H-hello? Hyung-nim?”
– Hajin-ah, aren’t you eating lunch? It seems like it’s been a while since class ended.
“Oh, I just came out after eating though?”
Until then, I hadn’t used hyung-nim’s card even once. I’d paid for lunch at the restaurant with my remaining allowance and come out.
– Ah, really?
Silence followed after that.
What is this silence? In fact, I couldn’t even figure out why hyung-nim called.
