It was fortunate, at least, that Hongdan was rather dense when it came to such things. He was already distracted by everything Seonha had spilled out. A glass bottle as thick as a forearm and small spheres rustled on the mat, stealing Hongdan’s attention.
“What is this…”
Hongdan picked up one of about a dozen spheres.
At first glance under the moonlight, he’d thought they were just paper balls, but looking closer, they were much more delicate than that. There was a small swirl at the center, and the surface had a bumpy texture where the paper grain was still visible. Almost like—
“Roses? Paper roses?”
Having roughly guessed what they were, Hongdan turned to look at Seonha.
In the meantime, Seonha had been calming down the guy who’d risen without any tact. By the time Hongdan’s gaze reached him, he’d completely settled it down. Thanks to that, he could at least avoid punishments like banishment orders or flogging. Having become much more confident, Seonha adjusted his posture more comfortably than before and nodded.
“Yeah, roses. Though they don’t have stems.”
“Why all of a sudden… Are you debuting as a YouTuber or something? Did you run out of money?”
“It’s not like that.”
Seonha snatched the rose away.
Seeing how he’d even gathered up all the ones he’d spread out and sat with his back turned, it seemed he’d properly sulked at Hongdan’s sharp sarcasm. His stubborn back view looked like a kind of protest. Hongdan swallowed a hollow laugh and shook his shoulder.
“Ah, why? Let me take a look. You made them to give to me anyway, didn’t you?”
But Seonha only turned further toward the wall. Judging by how his chest heaved greatly, it looked like he might burst into tears at any moment.
That damn tear duct, really.
“I’m going to throw them away. They’re all ruined anyway.”
As expected. The voice that flowed out quietly was quite mixed with moisture. It was absurd enough that such a big guy had been folding roses the size of his thumb, but the fact that he immediately started whimpering just from being teased was no ordinary funny matter either.
Hongdan’s jaw trembled finely as he swallowed the explosive laughter that seemed ready to burst out at any moment. He took repeated deep breaths and warmly patted Seonha’s shoulder.
“Okay. I won’t tease you, I won’t look. So don’t throw them away, man. It looks like you folded quite a few, so it’d be a waste.”
“A waste…?”
At the roughly fabricated comfort, Seonha slightly raised his head. Thinking ‘this is it,’ Hongdan nodded as if to show off. He even gave a benevolent smile, like praising a shoddy school art project from a five-year-old.
“Of course it’s a waste. Are you the kind of kid who does this sort of thing normally?”
“Mm… Then you like them?”
“Yeah, well. They were kind of cute?”
“Really? Thank goodness!”
It was likewise a roughly chosen compliment. But to Seonha, it must have been no different from an emperor’s praise. As if he’d never been gloomy, he beamed with the corners of his eyes crinkling softly.
Before, he’d thought there was no one as complicated as Yeon Seonha. But now, he wondered if there could be another single-celled human like this. He was easy to handle, yet on the other hand, annoying because his mood changed moment by moment.
An exhausted sigh flowed from Hongdan’s mouth. However, judging by his faintly curved lips, his mood didn’t seem bad at all.
“Can I just finish folding this one? I had to hide it in a hurry so it got a bit crumpled…”
Seonha, who’d turned back toward Hongdan, waved a crinkled piece of origami paper. Hongdan didn’t bother to stop him. Seonha whispered “Thank you” in a shy tone and lowered his upper body.
Fidget, fidget.
Even in that uncomfortable position, he didn’t move an inch. Only Seonha’s unusually long fingers busily worked away.
It doesn’t seem like he’s using any particularly impressive technique…
Wherever Seonha’s fingers passed, dense petals emerged.
One petal, then another.
The origami paper that had looked shabby gradually took on the form of a rose. Honestly, it was both pretty and fascinating. The sight subtly piqued Hongdan’s interest. After just watching quietly for a while, he poked Seonha’s sturdy forearm, which was currently being utilized merely for folding paper.
“Teach me.”
“Hm?”
“I said teach me how to fold this. I want to try too.”
“Uh…”
Uncharacteristically, Seonha hesitated with his answer. He must have taken Hongdan’s exceptional lack of dexterity into account. While his cooking had improved out of necessity for survival, he certainly wasn’t on the nimble-fingered side.
…That little punk. He only remembers the useless stuff.
Feeling both embarrassed and hurt, Hongdan’s tone became crooked. The corners of his mouth tilted askew too.
“What, you think I can’t do it?”
“No, no! That’s not what I meant… Um.”
Even though he’d been given two chances, Seonha still couldn’t come up with a single proper excuse. The grace Hongdan bestowed upon Seonha naturally had to be reduced. Earlier he’d personally granted him his fingers, but this time he didn’t hesitate to lift his foot. He pushed firmly against Seonha’s back with it.
“Ow! Ah!”
“Go turn on the light. What are you, Han Seokbong? Making a pathetic scene in the dark, you’ll ruin your eyes.”
“Hongdan, use your words, wooords—!”
It was a brutal strength that was hard to believe came from someone who’d never exercised once in his life. Hongdan’s athletic ability always seemed to upgrade only in front of Seonha. In fact, Hongdan’s height was close to 180cm too, so he wasn’t a small build. There were even times when he was mistaken for a beta.
Having been literally trampled by Hongdan, Seonha stood up rubbing his stinging back. There were probably bright red marks left on it.
Click.
An artificial light source was finally added to the narrow room. He could see even more clearly the work Seonha had been secretly carrying out.
“…”
What is this?
Hongdan’s small mouth slowly fell open.
Seonha had undertaken the work much more seriously than he’d guessed. The first thing that entered his vision was a glass bottle already about one-third filled with paper roses, and its shape was extraordinary. The curves were so elegant that it would be rude to imagine it had been bought at a general sundry shop. The origami paper was as colorful as any decent cosmetics display.
Of course, this cutesy sentiment was far, very far from Hongdan’s tastes. However, in the face of the sincerity contained in these paper flowers, personal taste wasn’t important. It was all the more so because the person who’d happened to throw this untimely tantrum was Yeon Seonha.
Seonha was the one who’d been kicked in the back, yet Hongdan somehow felt the area around his own back growing hot.
“First, you make a grid like this…”
Crazy bastard.
“And then next you fold it diagonally like this.”
Isn’t he really a crazy son of a bitch? Even if he hit his head, he hit it good and hard.
“Hongdan?”
Just what am I to him, what does he want from me that he’d do such unsuitable things…
“Choi Hongdan.”
“Ah, yeah. How do I do it?”
A somewhat lower voice broke Hongdan’s reverie. Perhaps it was because it was a more familiar way of addressing him than the name he’d been hearing every day lately. Without him noticing, Seonha had placed red origami paper in his right hand.
Come to think of it, had he called him like this since they’d met again? Hongdan mulled over his memories while smoothing the corner. But his attention quickly shifted as Seonha pressed his body close.
Seonha must have secretly fidgeted with these for several nights while Hongdan slept. He explained the method in a calm tone that could rival any origami YouTuber.
“Like this. You have to fold it twice horizontally and twice vertically to make a grid pattern.”
“Ahh, easy.”
“Yeah, it’s more doable than you’d think. Then you fold it once diagonally each way.”
“Right, if you teach me this well I can do it too.”
“Now you have to make triangles in all these small grids.”
“…Hey, wait. Again. How do I do it?”
But the crisis came quickly. For Hongdan with his famously clumsy hands, a square piece of paper about 20cm on each side was far too small. Wrinkles appeared on Hongdan’s face one by one. Seonha calmly unfolded his own half-folded one and explained again.
“Um, so like this…”
“Again, again.”
“I’ll go step by step, Hongdan. You have to make a triangle starting from the first grid here, okay? The way you do it is—”
“No, how do I fold just that part…”
It wasn’t that Seonha’s teaching was terrible. Rather, there was no better teacher. Each time Hongdan asked for the same explanation multiple times, not a single sigh escaped Seonha’s mouth. He just smiled gently.
Because of that kindness, Hongdan felt even more frustrated with himself for struggling. His desire to repay the teacher’s ocean-like magnanimity grew. But his hands seemed to have no intention of moving obediently as their owner wished. Finally, his patience worn out, Hongdan threw down his portion of origami paper.
“Ah, I’m not doing this!”
