Due to Friday’s incident, Henry was summoned by his parents. To come home right away this weekend. In the end, Henry had to spend the weekend trapped at home with no escape.
He knew he’d be scolded. Of course, it was something he’d done with resolve, but.
‘Even if you were angry, you shouldn’t hit people, Henry. Did I raise you like that?’
‘…No.’
‘I understand that the person you fought with said harsh things to you first. I understand you were angry. Since they touched you with football, which is your everything, you must have been hurt in your pride too. But what’s not allowed is not allowed. Don’t forget. If you hit a friend one more time, I will oppose you playing football.’
‘…’
‘You need to answer, Henry.’
‘Yes, I’ll keep that in mind.’
…When he was actually listening to admonishments of content that even young children would hear, rebelliousness slowly raised its head.
The thought that he should have vented his anger in another way only briefly passed by.
Henry, a good youngest son who didn’t rebel against his mother, hid his true feelings and complied with her words. Even the punishment of staying home all weekend.
That time was enough for Henry to come up with reasons to rationalize all that had happened to him as Declan’s fault.
In Henry’s thinking, the problem with this matter was the situation that had driven him to that point. It was none other than Declan who created this situation, so this was Declan’s fault.
And the returned Monday. Henry finished club activities together with Declan Russell, whom he couldn’t even stand to look at.
Originally, his remaining schedule would be eating dinner, going to the gym, and returning to the dorm to shower.
From today on for a while, every Monday would be different though.
Henry slowly ate dinner with his friends. Leaving behind those who laughed, saying he was slacking off because he didn’t want to be punished, as his eating speed was clearly slower than usual. Henry headed to the gym. He felt like he was being dragged to a slaughterhouse.
Creak, he opened the door that made the sound of old scrap metal. Henry’s face wrinkled. The musty smell from uniforms soaked in sweat mixed with the moldy smell of the storage room and stabbed at his nose.
It was an environment that felt quite unfamiliar and terrible to Henry, who played outdoor sports.
As he was sighing and opening the window, he heard someone opening the door and entering. Since the other person was obvious, Henry notified him instead of turning around.
“Let’s divide it up. I’ll wipe the equipment and clean the storage room, so you wipe the window frames and floor.”
He thought a dissatisfied answer would come back, but when he finished opening the window and looked back, Declan was getting a mop.
Right. As much as I hate Russell, he must hate me too. He probably wants to finish quickly and get out of here.
Henry arbitrarily gauged Declan’s thoughts and moved his steps, confident that his judgment was correct.
In the storage room, there was a lot of equipment that had lost its place and was scattered messily. Dust floated in the air in the red sunlight seeping through the window. His nose tickled.
“How does the basketball club manage this? If it’s their assigned area, they should organize it properly.”
Henry grumbled as he rolled up his sleeves.
Holding a trash bag, he selected and put in items that were broken and seemed unusable anymore. While being careful not to suffer the ridiculous fate of tripping over badminton shuttlecocks rolling around at his feet.
After that, he gathered racket types like badminton and tennis separately and stacked them on the shelf. He didn’t forget to pick out and move the orange basketball showing off its presence alone among the volleyballs. Even though it was early winter, long past the heat, sweat quickly beaded up.
After stretching his back out lightly, he stuck his head out to look outside. It was because he needed to use the mop Declan had taken at first.
“Hey.”
At Henry’s call, Declan turned his head.
“…Are you done with the mop?”
“Need it?”
Nodding slightly, Declan asked. But here Henry got spiteful again.
It was because Declan’s appearance was excessively clean unlike himself, who was covered in dust and sweating. While he was coming to bring the mop, Henry carefully examined the floor.
Ah, as expected. There were stains left that weren’t fully erased. That’s why even in this weather he’s not sweating a drop and is clean by himself.
Looking at Declan who placed the mop in front of him, Henry said.
“Hey, are you sure you finished? Why is there a stain left here?”
“That’s a stain that won’t come off.”
“Where would such a thing exist? If you wipe it with strength, it all comes off. Are you lacking strength?”
“Then you try it.”
Declan shrugged as he spoke. At those words, Henry picked up the mop and scrubbed the stain he’d found.
Even when he put in enough strength for the veins to bulge in his forearm, it didn’t come off. The cloth that held less water made a squeaking friction sound as it rubbed against the floor.
It wasn’t that he’d lied, it really was a stain that wouldn’t come off.
“You’re going to peel the coating off the floor doing that.”
“Why would the coating peel off from this much?”
“It won’t come off, will it?”
To Henry’s ears, Declan’s words sounded like mockery: ‘It didn’t come off with my strength, so would it come off because you’re doing it?’
Even though it was really nothing, his pride was hurt for no reason. He probably knew it wouldn’t come off, but nevertheless he continued scrubbing the floor in annoyance.
“Stop staring and go finish wiping the window frames!”
If it were someone else, he would have apologized for the misunderstanding and that would be it, but he didn’t want to do that with Declan. Henry thought that maybe cleaning with Columbus would have been better.
That day, Columbus had been suspended from school for the long period called this school year. He heard he’d also packed his things and left the dormitory.
He didn’t particularly feel sorry. When he heard that news, there were more people who were happy, saying ‘Finally we don’t have to see that damn bastard. Henry, you did something big.’
If his usual conduct had been decent, would so many students have been happy about his suspension?
He’d received such a big punishment even for a trivial fight. Yet no one sympathized with him. He considered this the karma built up by his misdeeds.
Then what about me? Did I do something wrong enough to suffer this much? If I had to find something, liking David? When did I realize I liked him?
Even if I liked him, I shouldn’t have realized it. If that were the case, I wouldn’t have been caught crying by Russell in the locker room. I wouldn’t have fought with Columbus out of unnecessary spite. Cleaning the gym alone with Russell wouldn’t have happened. Wrestling with a stain that won’t come off wouldn’t have happened either.
Henry’s life started going wrong when he came to like David. He constantly dated girlfriends to try to escape, but each time he broke up after not long.
It was natural. Because there was someone else he liked. Henry had nothing to give them except formal ‘lover-like behavior.’
Perhaps because of that influence, all his past girlfriends said similar things when they demanded to break up with Henry.
‘Henry, I don’t feel loved by you.’
‘Are you and I even really dating?’
Those kinds of things.
The stain on the floor wouldn’t erase no matter how many times he scrubbed it. It had been a stain that wouldn’t come off from the beginning. Just as Declan Russell said.
One stain that wouldn’t erase on the wide, clean gym floor. To Henry, it felt exactly like himself, who had come to like David.
While Henry was blankly staring at the floor, Declan was wiping the window frames with a rag in his hand.
He wasn’t being careless. The muscles clearly showing he was putting in strength and the way he checked every nook and cranny proved it.
He probably wiped the floor similarly thoroughly with strength. The floor was spotlessly clean except for the one stain I found.
He hated Declan. No, he was jealous.
Just one thing. The fact that he’d come to like a man instead of a woman. Because unlike himself, whose entire life had been stained black because of it, not a single stain could be seen on Declan Russell.
Henry went to the faucet and dipped the rag in the running water before taking it out. When he lightly stepped on the dripping rag, the dirty water that flowed out went into the drain.
Returning to the gym, even knowing it was a stain that wouldn’t come off, he needlessly wiped it with the rag once more. Unable to erase the hope of ‘just maybe.’
As expected, it didn’t erase. It felt like he’d been doused with the dirty water that had flowed toward the drain just before.
