As Cha Dobum, who had been stuck there like a gatekeeper, disappeared, Jang Jinsu and Lee Taeyang cautiously approached. Both still had dumbfounded expressions.
“What was that suddenly? Did something happen between you and Cha Dobum?”
“Nothing happened. You know we’re relatives.”
“No, I mean why is he suddenly acting like that? He’s suddenly being so nice to you.”
It must have looked like he was being nice to others’ eyes. Cha Ihyun lost the will to answer.
“You said relatives. So are you cousins?”
“Not cousins…”
He had no choice but to trail off at this question. Because even Cha Ihyun didn’t know. When he first heard from his parents, they only said distant relatives, and when he asked Big Uncle after getting a bit older, the only answer he got back was the playful response of ‘within twenty degrees of kinship.’
“Anyway, I’m jealous. If you’re relatives with Cha Dobum, you must feel secure.”
“Right. Was it third period break time earlier? You were sleeping and Cha Dobum told Kim Hoyoung to shut up. Kim Hoyoung couldn’t even squeak. His expression was fucking hilarious.”
Having held back until now somehow, the two chattered about Cha Dobum. Perhaps because it was an all-boys school, their biggest interest was Cha Dobum’s body.
Cha Ihyun secretly scoffed. Kids who don’t know anything would envy a body like Cha Dobum’s, but that itself was proof of immaturity. To his eyes, a body with delicately defined muscles looked cooler than one that was just ridiculously big whether vertically or horizontally.
‘Like Minhyun hyung.’
When he thought of his hyung, his face softened gently. But at the voice that barged in right after, Cha Ihyun’s face became like he’d eaten shit again.
“Princess!”
Jang Jinsu and Lee Taeyang smoothly returned to their seats. Cha Dobum, who approached in one stride, sat on the edge of Cha Ihyun’s desk. Cha Ihyun thought his desk seemed to bend.
“What do I do? The little choco bread was all sold out today.”
“Won’t you get off?”
“So hyung bought a new menu item. Here.”
Without even a gap to answer, a small piece of bread touched his lips. Through the gap of lips that opened halfway in surprise, Cha Dobum pushed the piece right in. At the cheap texture, Cha Ihyun’s brow immediately furrowed.
“Don’t like it?”
Hard chocolate chunks circulated unpleasantly in his mouth. Not wanting to chew more, he just nodded his head when a large palm was held underneath his mouth. So he spat what he was chewing onto it.
“It’s the same choco but you don’t like this one. Why?”
That series of actions was natural as if ingrained in their bodies. Both the person who received the food and the person who spat it out were just nonchalant as if this wasn’t the first or second time. Cha Dobum even wiped Cha Ihyun’s lips with his thumb and then licked the chocolate from it with his tongue. Those who had been pretending not to while glancing at the two were silently aghast.
At the silence spread all around, Cha Ihyun belatedly thought Oh no. When he quickly and quietly scanned the surroundings, everyone was looking with strange gazes.
‘Crazy.’
He’d let his guard down because Cha Dobum doing this was too routine. This was even at school. An all-boys school at that.
It was obvious what they would think. The reason no one pointed it out openly was because it was Cha Dobum who did the act.
As expected, the gazes as if it were bizarre were focused on him. Cha Ihyun bit his lower lip. Moments when attention was focused like this were extremely uncomfortable for him.
It was Cha Dobum who broke the awkward silence.
“Hey. What’s over there, yeah, Hoyoung-ah.”
When he gestured after glancing at Kim Hoyoung’s name tag, Kim Hoyoung hurriedly approached.
“I think I need to go out for a bit.”
“Oh! I’ll tell the math teacher you went to the nurse’s office.”
“Thanks, our Hoyoung.”
Thanks to Cha Dobum leaving and the math teacher coming in right away, the gazes dispersed, and Cha Ihyun could finally breathe. He’d been feigning indifference the whole time but was quite exhausted.
The remaining school life wasn’t much, and he wanted to finish it smoothly.
Now that he’d gotten entangled with Cha Dobum, it was obvious it wouldn’t be peaceful anymore. It seemed he needed to clarify the terms of the deal with Cha Dobum. For instance, the distinction between ‘acknowledging’ and ‘acting close.’
Cha Dobum was away from his seat for the entire fifth period and only returned to the classroom around the last period. He probably came back timed for PE class.
Even as seniors, PE was a time that couldn’t be given up at an all-boys school. As soon as the start bell rang and a swarm of locusts rushed out, only Cha Ihyun and a few four-eyes remained in the classroom.
Cha Ihyun propped his arm and looked out the window. Due to his asthma, he was always exempted during PE. When he was young, he seemed to have been a bit upset about that, but now it didn’t matter at all. Rather, sweating profusely like that was repulsive to him.
After watching the ball game for a moment, he got up from his seat. The music room key he received as a test-taker privilege jingled in his pocket. The old music room tucked in the corner was practically an instrument storage, so it was good for resting quietly. Walking down the hallway thinking to take a nap, there was something placed in front of the music room.
“…?”
Cha Ihyun, who bent his knees, peeked into the black plastic bag in front of the door. Inside was one banana milk, a triangle kimbap, and a choco bread. The round bread filled with fresh chocolate was one of the things Cha Ihyun would eat from the school store. When he unrolled the rolled-up receipt, familiar terrible handwriting was visible on the back.
[Hyung got you choco ^^]
“Why does he keep saying choco?”
The moment he grumbled, a growling sound came from his stomach. In fact, he was hungry because Cha Dobum had taken all his lunch. Cha Ihyun glared at the plastic bag with a somewhat resentful feeling. Dugae Roma Mart. It was a mart located a bit away from school.
‘Was going out earlier because of this?’
As if urging, the growling sound came again. Cha Ihyun picked up the bag and entered the music room lest anyone see.
The bread he bit into was annoyingly delicious.
***
“Cha― Ihyun―.”
Cha Ihyun quickened his steps.
On the other hand, the sound of footsteps following behind was extremely leisurely. Seeing the occasional humming, it was clear he could catch up easily but was doing that on purpose.
As expected, Cha Dobum stuck to him as soon as the dismissal bell rang, saying let’s go home. Because he kept chattering loudly the entire way home asking why he was going so fast, let’s go together, people glanced from here and there, but Cha Ihyun resolutely walked looking only ahead.
As they entered the residential area lined with detached houses, the road became quiet in an instant. Confirming there were no students in the same uniform around, Cha Ihyun whipped around. Their gazes met immediately.
“Hey, don’t do that stuff outside.”
“That stuff?”
“Don’t act close.”
Cha Dobum had an expression of not understanding. Cha Ihyun listed his misdeeds one by one.
“Making me spit out food like that, wiping my mouth without permission. Don’t do stuff like that. Same with lunch and bread. Don’t try to take care of me when I didn’t even ask. I’m really not even your younger brother.”
“Wait, wait. There’s too much not to do, I can’t memorize it all.”
When Cha Ihyun glared at the playful response, Cha Dobum’s dimples became clear.
“Okay, okay. But why?”
“The kids look at it weird.”
“What’s weird? We’re family.”
Cha Ihyun had thought that way at first too. So about 10 years ago. Having gone through something called ‘socialization’ in the meantime, he now knew well that this wasn’t average. But Cha Dobum wouldn’t. Because he’d lived for his own satisfaction, there was no need to go through socialization. So he explained it at his level.
“Would you do that to Minhyun hyung too?”
“Am I crazy? Me? To that bastard? Why?”
“Right. That’s how people normally react.”
Cha Dobum had an expression like he was about to vomit. It seemed he’d definitely understood.
“And don’t call hyung a bastard.”
“Hey. Why do you only go ‘hyung, hyung’ to that bastard? Shouldn’t you call me hyung too?”
“Why would you be my hyung? Show me your ID.”
“Fuck, he won’t do it even once.”
Bickering as they walked, they were already in front of the gate before they knew it. Even while saying fuck, fuck, Cha Dobum held the gate open, and Cha Ihyun also naturally accepted that escort. It was the moment when the childish argument about you’re the hyung, I’m the hyung was about to continue.
“Oof.”
Because he was looking behind, Cha Ihyun bumped right into something in front. His body was pushed back by the recoil, but he didn’t fall thanks to the arm that gently wrapped around his waist. A soft laugh fell from above.
“You’ll get hurt doing that.”
A long, white hand swept through Cha Ihyun’s hair. Watching his face turn reddish in an instant, Cha Minhyun asked affectionately.
“Just getting back?”
“Hyuuung…!”
A voice mixed with aegyo popped out on its own. He could hear Cha Dobum scoffing, but Cha Ihyun’s attention was solely focused on the man before his eyes.
“Don’t you have study group today? What brings you here at this time?”
“Yeah. I stopped by for a bit. They said the thing I ordered arrived.”
“You should have told me. When you’re busy…”
Cha Minhyun, a fourth-year law student, was in the midst of a busy period preparing for law school. Knowing that better than anyone, Cha Ihyun was even careful about knocking on his door. Cha Minhyun smiled as if he found it admirable.
“Sorry. It’s something important.”
“Something important…?”
