# Chapter 41
What happens when someone who hates moving around and is always glued to their bed suddenly starts running? The result is simply waiting to get exhausted in less than five minutes. That was exactly my current state.
“I’m, hah—, I’m having, trouble.”
“…You should exercise more, Habin.”
I was dying to the point where I couldn’t even speak properly because I was so out of breath. Kwon Dojin looked at me with bewilderment, but I didn’t have the energy to care about that.
“Once we turn that corner, there’s a fork in the road. Just hang in there a little longer.”
I envied Dojin who could speak without his breath faltering even once. Well, with his body tightly packed with muscle, this much would probably be fine for him.
People’s gazes naturally fell on us running inside the building and the group of students chasing after us. It was embarrassing to be causing such a commotion at our age, but I deliberately ignored it, thinking it was at least better than fighting in a public place.
Just as Dojin said, when we turned the corner, the path split into several directions. Without hesitation, Dojin chose a path and ran, opening the emergency stairwell door ahead and going inside. Watching him close the door quickly while being careful not to make noise, I leaned my body against the wall.
While trying to catch my breath calmly, my legs gave out and I slumped down. Dojin, who had been checking outside, squatted down in front of me.
“Are you okay?”
“…Do I look okay?”
“No.”
If he had said I looked fine, I would have hit him. Perhaps because my breathing was still rough, Dojin slowly stroked my shoulder. With his calm touch, I leaned the back of my head against the wall and exhaled with a “phew.”
“Should we rest a bit before going?”
“Yeah. I can’t move right now.”
When I nodded eagerly, Dojin also sat down on the floor beside me. His face looked somewhat gloomy as we sat facing each other, so I awkwardly rolled my eyes around.
“It’s not your fault.”
“Huh?”
“Don’t worry about it.”
After saying that, I couldn’t meet Dojin’s eyes. As I slightly lowered my head, he preciously held my hand.
“Yeah, I won’t worry about it.”
“Good.”
He smiled faintly while fiddling with my hand. I left his inexplicable behavior alone and then sluggishly got up when I felt able to move.
“Let’s go eat. I’m hungry.”
At my words, Dojin quickly got up but didn’t let go of my hand. And then he calmly suggested taking the elevator after going down a couple of floors by stairs, which made me miss the timing to point it out. I stared blankly at our clasped hands before deciding to focus on going down the stairs.
After silently descending two floors and opening the emergency exit door, I reflexively waved to the figure we unintentionally met again.
“Why are you here again?”
“It’s not like I want to be here.”
I gently pushed Dojin, who was already frowning, behind me. He resisted for a while as if refusing to be pushed, but when I pushed his solar plexus again, he backed away showing clear displeasure.
“You’re not going to stay in this building the whole time, are you?”
“I might stay since we’re going to eat…”
“Get out of here. How many kids do you think are running around with bloodshot eyes looking for Kwon Dojin right now? Eat here, really.”
I sighed at Kang Jinwoo’s words. I thought they would have obviously given up after losing us once, but apparently they were still searching tirelessly.
“Taking the elevator right now would be a bad idea. Going down the emergency stairs is your best option.”
Jinwoo reopened the door he had closed and pushed both of us in. Unlike me, who was awkwardly pushed in, Dojin walked in on his own and looked Jinwoo up and down.
“…What’s that look for?”
“I’m wondering why you’re helping. We weren’t exactly on good terms.”
At Dojin’s words, Jinwoo and I reflexively looked at each other. When our eyes naturally met, we both awkwardly rolled our eyes away.
“We’re not exactly on good terms, but—”
“It’s also hard to say we’re completely on bad terms…”
When Jinwoo and I spoke as if we had rehearsed it, Dojin’s expression became strange. I tapped his arm in response to his reaction, which was like he had heard something he shouldn’t have.
With Jinwoo, well, it was something like a bad connection before we talked today, but after talking, our relationship upgraded to acquaintances. Though I didn’t specifically say that, judging by Jinwoo’s response, he seemed to think the same.
Dojin openly sighed at our reactions and extended his hand to me. Seeing his hand in front of me, I instinctively grasped it without time to think.
“Let’s get out of here first. Looks like we’ll have to get shabu-shabu somewhere else.”
“Yeah, that’s fine.”
I much preferred finding another restaurant than getting caught up in a fight by insisting on having shabu-shabu. I followed closely behind Dojin as he went down the stairs without hesitation.
“Take care.”
Hearing the farewell from behind, I turned around to see Jinwoo waving his hand. I was about to ask if he wasn’t coming with us, but I missed the timing as I hurried to follow Dojin’s footsteps.
“Are we going by ourselves?”
“Did you want to bring that person along?”
“That’s…”
Thinking about it, there was no need to go together. Besides, Jinwoo would have his own group, so he couldn’t come with us anyway.
“But why was sunbae in front of the emergency stairs?”
“He probably knew we’d come and was waiting.”
“How?”
“He must have heard from the kids chasing us where they lost sight of us. If you have a brain and know our approximate location, it’s not hard to deduce we’d go to the emergency stairs.”
So does that mean the others didn’t have brains since they couldn’t think of the emergency stairs…?
For a moment, I bowed my head in silent tribute to those who had been harshly underestimated by Dojin.
“But sunbae even got the right floor.”
“It was probably coincidence. Most likely, he was standing in front of the emergency stairs intending to use them himself.”
Dojin, sighing once again, brushed his hair up. Somehow, I felt like people around me were sighing frequently.
“This has become troublesome. If they still haven’t given up, it means we might run into them outside the building too.”
I heard him mumbling quietly. Due to the acoustics of the emergency stairwell, the sound echoed clearly even though I didn’t want to hear it.
“There’s a taxi stand when we get outside. Let’s go there and take a taxi right away to get out of here.”
“Um… okay.”
In an instant, the genre had changed to suspense. I scratched my head, not wanting this kind of tension.
Was I right to give up on the movie? But thinking about the price of the seats Dojin had reserved, I still couldn’t bring myself to abandon it.
Apart from my complicated thoughts, we quickly descended the stairs under Dojin’s lead and headed to the taxi stand. Only after getting into the first taxi in line did we finally catch our breath, and both of us sank into the seats without a word.
“Let’s go to my place first, okay?”
“Anywhere without those ranking guys is fine with me.”
If anything similar happened even once more, I might collapse from exhaustion before I could even escape. I thought going down stairs wouldn’t consume much energy, but it was tough after about 9 floors.
Dojin squeezed our still-joined hands with an apologetic look. That’s when I realized we were still holding hands, and when I gently wiggled my captured hand, he hesitated before letting go.
“Let’s order delivery when we get home. I’m not sure if shabu-shabu can be delivered though.”
“I don’t care what we eat anymore. Order whatever you want.”
Maybe because I was so tired, I just wanted to rest quickly. I was exhausted from the unwanted exercise.
When I pressed hard on my heavy eyelids, I could feel Dojin fidgeting beside me.
“Are you very tired? Do you want to lean on me?”
I turned my head to look at his face, then lowered my gaze to his shoulders, which were broader than mine. It would probably take quite some time to reach Dojin’s place, but with shoulders that wide, leaning on them should be fine. He might find it uncomfortable, but Dojin was the one who offered first.
As soon as I made my decision, I collapsed against him. As I moved a few times to find a comfortable position, Dojin adjusted accordingly.
“I’ll only lean until we get off.”
“Sure, take all the time you need.”
With his ready permission, even the small hesitation I had disappeared. With the intention of resting well until we arrived, I closed my eyes, and Dojin, who had his arm around my waist, patted me in a steady rhythm.
“Habin, are you sleeping?”
“…No.”
“I see.”
“Why?”
“Just asking.”
After what felt like about 5 minutes, Dojin threw out a pointless question. No matter how drowsy I felt, I had no intention of sleeping, so I answered a beat late.
“Habin.”
“What is it this time?”
“Did you enjoy the movie?”
This time Dojin spoke after about 3 minutes had passed. He seemed bored since he couldn’t move freely because of me. In that case, I should answer him sincerely.
“It was a typical romance where a talented male lead and an ordinary female lead overcome hardships and get together. I was annoyed when the male lead moved on his own without properly clearing up misunderstandings, but I put up with it because he was handsome. Honestly, when the male and female leads were fighting, and the male lead just kept his mouth shut without saying anything, I wanted to slap him. I think it showed the female lead’s impressive patience for not hitting him even once.”
“…Huh?”
“Still, seeing them end up together in the end was nice. I think I must have mentally told the female lead to run away dozens of times, but since they liked each other, it worked out.”
“I… see.”
“In conclusion, it wasn’t bad, that’s what I’m saying.”
I finished with a neat summary. Dojin did show a disappointed look when I gave my review, but that shouldn’t be something I need to worry about.
“You… watched it quite carefully.”
“Hm? I didn’t watch it that meticulously. Isn’t this normal?”
“Normal—. Yes, I’m glad you enjoyed it.”
Dojin gently patted my body. Despite his not-so-smooth tone, his touch was clean.
“Sir, we’ve arrived.”
“Ah, yes.”
At the driver’s voice, I opened my eyes and lifted myself from leaning on Dojin. With a pat on my shoulder telling me to go out first, I sluggishly moved and got out of the taxi. Dojin, who followed after finishing the payment, walked half a step ahead.
“By the way, Dojin.”
“Yeah?”
“You suggested we watch a movie, but why didn’t you actually watch it?”
If he hadn’t proposed seeing a movie, I would have been at home. Then I wouldn’t have had to do unintentional exercise.
It had been a while since I’d seen a movie, and I even got to watch it very comfortably, so I didn’t have major complaints. However, it was puzzling that the person who suggested it didn’t properly watch it himself.
“Because the movie wasn’t the goal.”
“Then what was the goal?”
“You.”
Me?
When he pointed his index finger at my chest, Dojin, who had turned to look at me, nodded.
“Why me?”
“I wanted to see you on the weekend too.”
That’s all.
Dojin’s appearance, smiling with the corners of his eyes curving, was charming. Although I knew he was intentionally lowering his voice, regardless of that knowledge, my earlobes turned red for no reason.
Unconsciously, I raised my arms to cover my ears and looked away from Dojin.
Dojin is seriously driving me crazy.
GAYYY