“This is driving me crazy.”
His tightly closed eyes showed no sign of sleepiness coming. It was absurd that the situation where he couldn’t fall asleep despite his tired body and mind was because of Gye Sajun.
“Haah…….”
A sigh burst out involuntarily between his parted lips. It’s cold. It would be better if he turned on the heating. After a quick decision, Woojae sprang up from his spot and adjusted the temperature in the room. He could feel the room gradually warming up, but the lukewarm air was different from what Woojae wanted.
– Sleep well.
The moment when he’d parted with Gye Sajun in front of the door came to mind. Woojae pulled the blanket deeper into his embrace and let out a low sigh. Sleep well, he said. Was that bastard sleeping well? It suddenly occurred to him that Gye Sajun’s bed and his bed were side by side with only a wall between them. That inflexible bastard hadn’t laid a finger on bed 2 or its desk even though they were empty, only using his own spot.
He didn’t know for sure, but he was a funny bastard. If it had been someone else, they would have been intoxicated by the fact that they were using a single room alone and would have covered the entire room with their belongings. There would be no one to stop them anyway. But Gye Sajun was only using half the room as if that place wasn’t his spot. While thinking that far, Woojae’s fingertips unconsciously touched the wall.
“You’ve lost it, Go Woojae.”
Did he miss people that much? Even when he threw blame at himself, there was no answer coming back. He could only feel the ice-cold temperature of the wall. And in the darkness, his phone began to shine. Thinking it might be Minwook, when he picked up the phone, Gye Sajun’s number that he’d saved at some point was flashing. Woojae’s eyes wavered. After hesitating, when he pressed the call button, a low voice rang in his ear.
[What are you doing.]
“……You told me to sleep well. Why are you calling?”
[I was curious if you were sleeping well.]
“I’d wake up even if I was trying to sleep.”
Woojae held the phone in one hand and pulled the blanket into his arms. He felt strange. Do people really check up on a “sleep well” greeting this quickly? Since he couldn’t sleep anyway, he didn’t press the end call button.
“I was lying down trying to sleep.”
[When.]
When he pulled the screen away from his face to check, he saw the time.
“……30 minutes ago.”
He’d thought he’d been lying down for about 10 minutes, but it was surprising to realize anew that he hadn’t fallen asleep for a whole 30 minutes. Gye Sajun seemed to be the same, as a question came back.
[But why aren’t you sleeping?]
“I don’t know. What are you doing?”
[It’s unfamiliar since Go Woojae is asking.]
“So what are you doing?”
It seemed like neither he nor that bastard had any particular business, but he didn’t want to hang up. It must be because he was lonely. Woojae let go of the blanket he’d been clutching and changed his position to lean his back against the wall. Thinking that he might be facing that bastard with only a wall between them made his ears turn completely red.
[I’m lying down.]
As expected, that bastard was also lying in bed, so his imagination from just before wasn’t completely absurd. Which way was he facing? Why am I curious about this? He had the illusion that his back was getting hot. Woojae asked in a hesitant voice.
“In bed?”
[Would I be lying on the floor?]
“It’s not like you’re some crazy convenience store customer…….”
Woojae grumbled at the slightly twisted retort. Gye Sajun’s voice mixed with laughter was absurdly pleasant to hear. His lips tickled. There was nothing more to say now, but neither he nor that bastard could easily hang up the phone. Should I say thank you for today? The moment Woojae’s lips parted to say something, the dorm room door burst open.
“Woojae-yaaaa! Your hyung is here-eee!”
The owner of the ear-splitting loud voice was none other than Bang Minwook. At the appearance of Minwook, whose voice was reeking of alcohol, Woojae hurriedly hung up on Gye Sajun. Leaving behind the regret that kept strangely rising, he kicked off from the bed and went out to greet the drunk. His ears were hot. He desperately denied that it was definitely due to the phone’s heat.
“Oh, oh. You’re here?”
“What, did you jerk off or something? Why are you so surprised-aaaa…….”
“What kind of bullshit! Ugh, the smell! Hey, how much did you drink?”
At Minwook’s ridiculous guess that he must have been doing something obscene, Woojae reflexively shouted. But before he could question him further, he had to plug his nose at the alcoholic scent that stung his nostrils. Minwook was completely drunk.
“Huuuung, I-iii, confessed to Juhee noona-aaa, but…….”
Witnessing tears and snot dripping in drops from Minwook’s face, Woojae just squeezed his eyes shut. And as expected, due to the fact that Minwook had been rejected by Juhee, he had to suffer all night long from this drunken wanderer. Since he himself had a history of showing Minwook an unseemly state while drunk, he couldn’t ignore him. Moreover, in a way, it was the perfect opportunity to forget the complicated feelings from today’s events. Woojae obediently lent his ear to Minwook’s drunken ranting.
***
Morning naturally dawned. The sun didn’t rise in the west, and the wind coming in from outside the window carried a slightly warm temperature. It was a perfect spring day.
“Ah, my head hurts…….”
Watching Bang Minwook, who had overcome his hangover with his young and healthy body, crawl out of bed, Woojae nodded his head thinking that today, too, a day no different from yesterday had begun.
“You’re up?”
“What time did I come in yesterday? Ah, why does my mouth smell like alcohol?”
“You drank, so of course it smells.”
“Ugh, why don’t I remember? Noona asked me to drink, so I got excited and I think I drank a lot…….”
Whether fortunately or unfortunately, Minwook seemed to have no memory of last night. Woojae knew the whole story of the incident from listening to drunk Minwook’s ranting, but since he didn’t have the confidence to handle him sobbing from the morning breeze, he didn’t bother opening his mouth.
“Get up, let’s go eat breakfast.”
“Mmm…….”
Honestly, Woojae hadn’t taken seriously the things Gye Sajun had said yesterday. The things about being worried or listening to his venting. Those kinds of things could be said as empty words, and that bastard seemed to have more compassion than Woojae had thought.
The fact that he’d even called him that night made it even more so. So it was possible that he’d felt pity for Woojae who had repeatedly shown weak sides, and because of that, he could have comforted him with words he didn’t mean.
Woojae had been completely castrated of emotions like expectations a very long time ago, so it was right to say he couldn’t have expectations rather than that he didn’t have them. Rather than being disappointed by having expectations, it was wiser to have no expectations from the beginning.
However, contrary to expectations, Gye Sajun surprisingly began to guard Woojae’s side like a loyal dog from the next day. It started from the morning when he left the dorm room with Minwook to eat breakfast.
“I hope they have avocado this morning. I want to put it on toast and eat it.”
“Didn’t you say you don’t eat breakfast?”
“Because of you, I get hungry when I wake up now.”
“That’s normal. And for breakfast, it should be soup.”
“What are you, an old man or what?”
The roommate who had tormented him while drunk last night was going on about toast without even having an upset stomach. Woojae had washed drunk Minwook’s face as he crawled on the floor and even brushed his teeth for him. After that, he could only sleep for barely an hour or so. The heat that had risen because of Gye Sajun was forgotten. The moment he threw open the door while exchanging conversation with Minwook like that—
“Good morning.”
“Huk…….”
Gye Sajun with wet hair as if he’d just washed up greeted the two of them. As soon as Woojae made a surprised expression, a startled groan popped out of Minwook’s mouth. And he was glancing at Woojae’s face as if reading the situation. What thought had crossed Minwook’s mind was anyone’s guess.
“Hey.”
When Woojae answered briefly, Minwook let out a shallow sigh, as if he’d predicted the two would fight. Woojae thought who do you take for fighting cocks, but thinking about it, there was some logic to Minwook’s concern, so Woojae also didn’t show it. First, calming his heart that was beating ridiculously fast from the moment he met Gye Sajun was the priority.
“Ah, hello. Sajun-ah. You look handsome even in the morning, wow. I baked two macarons on my eye bags.”
“You’re going to eat, right? I thought I’d go with you.”
“Good, good. Woojae will also be… okay with it!”
Woojae quietly nodded his head. It was Minwook who opened his eyes wide, which didn’t open well, while looking at such a Woojae. Like that, the three people reached the dormitory cafeteria. There too, Gye Sajun steadfastly defended the spot next to Woojae.
Because Sajun naturally sat next to Woojae, Minwook had to sit across from them. In the situation where he ended up having a meal with the two of them unexpectedly, question marks and exclamation marks continued to float simultaneously on Minwook’s face. In gaming terms, it would be appropriate to call it a status abnormality.
What the hell are these guys? Minwook was just confused. Had there been some earth-shattering change while he was gone? Minwook awkwardly examined his tray for no reason, comparing it with the two people who had gotten Korean food and his own tray with coffee and toast and such.
“Chew thoroughly.”
“That nagging is…….”
Normally, Woojae would have yelled at him not to interfere, but seeing him obediently increase the number of times he chewed was even more shocking. Minwook couldn’t even remember what had happened to him the day before and just stared at the two with an astonished expression.
“…….”
Meanwhile, Woojae was in a state where managing his expression was difficult because of Gye Sajun stuck right next to him. Memories from yesterday kept coming to mind, and he even dropped a side dish.
