For a moment he felt a flicker of indignation, but it quickly gave way to unease again, and Cha-heun shifted his gaze toward the hallway window. He had come all the way up to the third-year corridor, yet his heart still kept drifting back toward the second-year classrooms.
…It’s raining today and Baek Yu-gyeong isn’t even at school — where is he and what is he doing? It’s worrying.
Just then, a familiar face caught his eye through the rain-streaked window outside. Through the downpour, someone with bright-colored hair was standing in the distance near the school gate.
That unmistakably rare, towering figure. That light head of hair.
…Baek Yu-gyeong? …Without an umbrella?
The moment he spotted him, Cha-heun rushed to the classroom, grabbed an umbrella, and sprinted down the hallway toward the exit. Fortunately, morning homeroom had started, so the hallway was empty of students.
“Hey, you — third-year!”
“Sorry! Something came up!”
Standing out in the otherwise empty hallway, Cha-heun ran on without a second glance at the teacher calling after him from behind.
Without even thinking to open the umbrella — clutching it tight in his fist — he ran without stopping, crossing the schoolyard in one breath, then dashed all the way to the school gate.
“Baek Yu-gyeong!”
“…….”
He’d called out loud from far away, but whether Yu-gyeong hadn’t heard or simply didn’t, he didn’t look over.
Only once Cha-heun had gotten close enough to nearly see his face did he call out again.
“Baek Yu-gyeong!”
“Oh… hyung?”
Having finally run all the way to stand in front of Yu-gyeong, Cha-heun caught his breath, then quickly lifted his hand, opened the umbrella, and held it over Yu-gyeong.
“Hey, …hah, you — huff — why are you standing out here getting rained on?”
“…Oh.”
“…You….”
…From the look of the school uniform he was wearing, it seemed like he’d been on his way to school — had he been stuck here this whole time, unable to go in or leave?
He usually gets dropped off by a driver, it seemed — so had he just not gone into the classroom?
Why was he lingering here of all places, like some abandoned little animal — the thought that he’d been standing here, too scared to go in, made Cha-heun’s chest tighten with worry.
The way Baek Ha-gyeong had spoken hadn’t sounded like something he’d said for the first time. Had something like this happened before?
“…Hyung.”
Baek Yu-gyeong started to speak, then stopped, and let out something that sounded almost like a cold, dismissive scoff.
“…You were in Class 4 earlier, weren’t you?”
“Huh?”
He’d come all the way to the classroom? Cha-heun turned the words over briefly, then gave a quick nod.
“Yeah. I was curious what class you were in, so I went to the one your younger sibling’s supposedly in. I was going to give you the gym clothes.”
“…Ah….”
“Oh, I ran so fast the paper bag got completely soaked.”
Cha-heun glanced at the paper bag, drenched from having fallen outside the cover of the umbrella, and let out a sigh.
“I’ll wash them again and give them to you.”
Baek Yu-gyeong stared at him. The look in his eyes was strange — it felt like he was measuring something, like he was watching carefully.
Was it the overcast weather from the rain? The cream-colored eyes that were usually so full of life had lost their light, looking dull and clouded.
…He clearly has something going on, and honestly, we’re not that close — digging into it probably won’t do either of us any good.
Cha-heun had questions rising in him, but pushed them aside and focused instead on checking Yu-gyeong’s state. His light wheat-colored hair was soaked through and clinging to his face, and who knew where his blazer had gone — even his spring uniform, shirt and vest included, was drenched and looked heavy on him.
Compared to the image of him in front of Cha-heun — loud as he could be, always neat and clearly well-bred — this was the polar opposite.
…What a mess. And this is a guy who won’t even sit on the floor because he’s afraid of getting his clothes dirty.
Cha-heun stared at him, trying to figure out what to say, and then just decided to open his mouth and speak casually, if only to ease the tension.
“You’re not cold, are you? It’s still spring. Lingering cold snap, you idiot.”
He immediately pressed the umbrella handle into Yu-gyeong’s hand.
“……?”
From a little while ago now, there’d been nothing that could even be called a response — just that blank gaze trailing after him. Not some animal left all alone on the side of the road, but it tugged at him all the same. Cha-heun studied him a little more, his unease nagging at him.
“Wait a moment. Just hold the umbrella and stay still.”
He pulled off his own beige cardigan, gave it a quick shake, and draped it over Yu-gyeong’s upper body.
Unfortunately, whether it was the difference in build between them, it didn’t fit — it was nothing more than a too-small garment sitting awkwardly on his frame.
“…Sorry. It looks a bit….”
Cha-heun said that, and then just tied the sleeves around his neck instead. It looked a little ridiculous, but what could he do — this was all he had on him. Entirely his own fault for being the bigger one.
…Though with his bright hair, the cardigan somehow suited him, and his face was so striking that even like this, it looked like some kind of fashion statement.
What a situation. Cha-heun shot a look at Yu-gyeong — at his rain-soaked hair — and furrowed his brow slightly.
…I still don’t think this is someone who’d enjoy getting rained on in this kind of weather, no matter how I look at it.
Even if he seemed a little screw-loose at times, he’d been raised with care and carried himself with a certain refinement. Separate from his habit of clinging and wheedling, he’d pat things off gently if something got on him, and whenever he was about to sit somewhere on the ground, he’d lay his own clothes down underneath. The gym clothes Cha-heun was holding right now — wasn’t that exactly why he’d brought them?
…Come to think of it, the reason Yu-gyeong got picked on in the original… was it because Baek Ha-gyeong had spread that kind of rumor?
At this point in the story, it seemed like the other students knew Yu-gyeong came from a well-off family, but didn’t know the extent of it — that it was a conglomerate. That extra character from the original had probably found out about his family situation through Baek Ha-gyeong and gossiped about it behind his back. What had been said, after all, was ‘the child Baekgyeong cast out.’
Of all things, they’re in the same year… huh? Wait, hold on — Baek Ha-gyeong and Baek Yu-gyeong were said to be the same age. So then… wait?
…Whether through divorce or a spouse’s death, either way — if the timing of their births overlapped within the same year, wasn’t that strange? Cha-heun felt a chill run to his fingertips and flexed his hand open and closed. It wasn’t just that he’d ended up hearing about someone else’s private affairs — it was that Yu-gyeong’s circumstances were suddenly, sickeningly easy to guess.
…Today must be a terrible day for Baek Yu-gyeong.
And on top of everything, he was popular with girls, which seemed to earn him plenty of jealousy — from what Cha-heun had seen of those guys talking in the classroom, it seemed like he had quite a few enemies.
Right. A thick fanbase among the girls, and an object of envy and jealousy among the guys.
…This guy was total main character material.
…If things kept going the way they were, all those prickly edges he had in third year must have had their reasons.
During adolescence, things were complicated, and it was a sensitive time when even small things could get under your skin — that made sense, he thought.
…There was no way he could go to school looking like this, but sending him home alone didn’t sit right either.
If only they were in the same year, he could stay with him… but they had to be in different grades, of all things.
…It might be nothing more than shallow sympathy, but….
“Baek Yu-gyeong, do you have some time free?”
“…Huh?”
“I actually happen to need an extra pair of hands. If you’ve got time, come with me.”
Cha-heun decided to reach out. He took the umbrella back from Yu-gyeong and held it firmly over them both, then extended his free hand toward him.
Baek Yu-gyeong stared blankly — once at Cha-heun’s outstretched hand, and then at his face.
“What, you don’t want to? You’re usually all ‘hyung, hyung,’ trailing after me, and now you’re flipping on me just like that?”
“No! No, it’s not that.”
It was an expression of flustered surprise he’d never seen before. Baek Yu-gyeong’s eyes went wide and he shook his head rapidly.
Somehow the sight of it made him look exactly his age, and Cha-heun felt a laugh rise in him.
“Alright, then let’s go.”
He wiggled his fingers, but once again Baek Yu-gyeong only stared at his hand blankly.
It seemed to take quite a while before Yu-gyeong finally moved to reach out. Just as he did, a strong gust of wind swept in from the right, and petals began to scatter through the air. The rows of cherry blossom trees lining the school grounds swayed, and the sparse blossoms still clinging to the branches fluttered apart in small, delicate pieces.
“Woah!”
The sudden squall hit, and Cha-heun quickly threw his hand out to shield Yu-gyeong’s face.
The wind died down just as suddenly, and though he’d somehow managed to protect Yu-gyeong’s face, a few pink petals were stuck to Cha-heun’s own cheek — and he laughed, a low, helpless sound. It was absurd, and then he thought about it — he could have just used the umbrella, and the fact that it hadn’t even crossed his mind until now was funny to him.
“Wow, wild weather, isn’t it?”
Even as Cha-heun chuckled and spoke with easy warmth, Baek Yu-gyeong remained perfectly still. Not even blinking, eyes just drifting slowly in their sockets.
Cha-heun picked a couple of petals off Yu-gyeong’s hair before haphazardly brushing away the ones plastered to the side of his own face. Then he simply reached out first, took Yu-gyeong’s hand firmly in his, and started forward.
“Let’s go home, Yu-gyeong. It’s way too cold out here.”
He’d expected the hand to be cold — but the hand he took that day was, strangely, warm.
