During lunchtime, Shin Yumyeong was called out by a first-year junior who was famous for being pretty. From what he heard, she’d boldly come all the way to the classroom and shyly asked them to call for “Yumyeong sunbae.”
“I heard she’s not the type to take breaks from dating. Right before this, she was dating a third-year sunbae but they apparently broke up during break. I heard after unpacking her dorm stuff this time, she was going around saying she’d try to seduce Shin Yumyeong.”
“Whoa, where do you hear such stories?”
“My girlfriend told me.”
“But seriously, that’s something else. Coming to the classroom to call him out, that courage, wow……”
“She’s doing that on purpose. It’s like, I’m marking my territory, watch carefully. That kind of thing.”
Weak excitement dwelled on the faces of classmates getting heated over someone else’s love story. It was clear they were excited about the issue that burst out as soon as the new semester started.
On the other hand, Hakyoung was staring at the back door with a sunken expression. That face was faintly pale to an imperceptible degree. To him silently staring intently only at the direction where Yumyeong was presumed to have gone, friends came to talk.
“Why, are you curious too? He went, earlier.”
“Hakyoung, you’ve never seen that first-year’s face, right?”
“Hey, he’d know.”
“He wouldn’t. She’s a transfer student.”
“Are you stupid? Why wouldn’t he know a transfer student? They went through first semester together. Hey, where are you going?”
Hakyoung silently pushed his chair and stood up. Not even knowing where his destination was, he tried to set out looking for Yumyeong recklessly.
However, at the same time as pushing the classroom’s back door, he ran into Yumyeong who was just about to enter from the opposite side.
“Oh.”
Yumyeong, who hesitated at almost colliding head-on, lightly turned his body and made way. However, after glancing at Hakyoung who wasn’t going out, he entered inside first himself.
“Excuse me.”
It was an excessively nonchalant attitude, treating him like a stone. Hakyoung’s gaze, left speechless, followed the back of Yumyeong’s head for a long time.
That’s when it happened. Friends who discovered that Yumyeong had returned began to make a fuss.
“Hey, Shin Yumyeong! You crazy bastard. What were you doing? What were you doing outside!”
“Ugh…… let go. What did I do?”
“What were you doing that took so long! Did you get her number?”
Even with his face looking troubled from being put in a headlock, Yumyeong was grinning.
“Get her number, what number? Just……”
“Just what, just what!”
“I ate ice cream.”
Waaah! He ate ice cream! Several guys made a commotion. Someone sniffed around Yumyeong’s mouth trying to deduce what flavor he’d eaten. Startled, Yumyeong pushed away the face shoved at him and shooed off the guys clinging to him like shooing flies.
“Ah! Why are you like this? Gross.”
“Of course you’re like that too. Was the reason you haven’t dated until now because no one caught your eye? You’re really picky about faces, huh?”
“Fuck off.”
Meanwhile, the front door opened. Among the students hurrying back to their seats with the bell, Hakyoung was still only looking at Yumyeong’s back.
“Hakyoung, what are you doing? Hurry in and sit down.”
Only at the teacher’s voice did he snap to his senses. Though he hadn’t even been conscious of it, he’d still been standing near the back door. While silently returning to his seat, his eyes met with Yumyeong who had been staring intently at him.
‘So unsociable, why are you staring only at me?’
It was as if he was reproaching him like that.
When he carefully looked back at Yumyeong after sitting down again, he’d already lost his gaze.
***
“Yumyeong seems to have returned to exactly how he was at the start of enrollment.”
“Exactly. Kids are so changeable, you know. Since he’s a kid who really does well when he does it, I hope he stays like this all the way until third year.”
Hakyoung, who had stopped by the teachers’ office briefly for club matters, happened to hear the conversation of two teachers who were talking about Yumyeong. Even amid his troubled mind, he reflexively reacted to his name.
“I heard he got confessed to again today by a pretty female junior.”
“Oh no, Yumyeong, when you’re trying to settle down and study~”
“You never know. There’s also the type who becomes much more diligent when they date.”
It seemed the rumor had spread all the way to the teachers’ office, given how bustling it had been with that story all day. While organizing the documents in his hand with taps, Hakyoung got a bit irritated.
Then another teacher’s voice listening to the conversation interjected.
“How long will that last? Well, he probably got scolded hard by his parents during break.”
“Teacher……”
When PE teacher Teacher Jang, who regarded Yumyeong as a thorn in his side, made a comment, the homeroom teacher let out a deep sigh. Then Teacher Jang raised his voice.
“Teachers are still young so they overflow with passion. But having been in teaching for a long time, I see that one’s true character doesn’t really change. Gentle and kind kids don’t stray onto bad paths at all. But Shin Yumyeong isn’t that kind of kid, so we need to keep a close eye on him. Isn’t that right, Hakyoung?”
Suddenly addressed directly, Hakyoung was silent. And while inwardly despising the teacher who spoke badly of Yumyeong, he left the teachers’ office.
Judgments about Yumyeong were so diverse that he couldn’t be certain which was his real appearance. Since he himself had been like that too, he understood the extremely divided evaluations. The one thing he could be certain of was that he was the only one who knew Yumyeong smiling brightly while confessing to him that night.
That evening, he could only meet Yumyeong after roll call ended.
Seeing him alone in the laundry room, Hakyoung picked up a laundry basket with little laundry and quickly headed there.
His hasty steps gradually slowed as he approached the laundry room.
Standing at the doorway, a small humming was flowing out from inside. Looking at the slender figure from behind taking out wet clothes after finishing the laundry, Hakyoung stood there for a moment.
After a small sigh, when he entered without hiding his presence, Yumyeong glanced back.
“Hey.”
After confirming the face that entered, he smiled brightly.
“Hi.”
“……”
Hakyoung silently stood beside Yumyeong. He dumped the laundry basket with only a few pieces of clothing upside down into the washing machine, then pointlessly let out a breath to blow his bangs.
“Ah…… what the. The card was here. Hey, if you wash a card, can you still use it? Do I have to get it reissued?”
Yumyeong pulled out a card from among the laundry with an annoyed air. Again. That unconcerned attitude.
Hakyoung asked calmly.
“Did your parents give it to you?”
“Yeah.”
Yumyeong, who shoved the card into his pocket, picked up the wet laundry and approached the dryer. Hakyoung unknowingly looked at Yumyeong’s back with an expressionless face. Come to think of it, in the few days since school started, there hadn’t been a single opportunity to buy him anything.
He didn’t think it would be like that, but…….
He hoped he didn’t think of himself, who had obediently bought anything, as a “wallet.”
Hakyoung asked while swallowing the hot emotion that suddenly hit his throat and surged up.
“Did you buy the ice cream?”
“What?”
“The first-year girl.”
“Ah, yeah.”
From the rough way he spoke, he could sense his reluctance to explain deeply. Even at the straightforward question, he again explained nothing and just looked at his nails. He tried to speak calmly but it wasn’t easy with all kinds of speculation running wild.
“I heard you got confessed to.”
“Not quite a confession.”
“Don’t you have anything to say to me?”
“……”
Yumyeong, who turned around after operating the dryer, was smiling. Hakyoung now knew how to distinguish Yumyeong’s real smile from his fake smile. That face habitually raising the corners of his mouth when he didn’t really want to smile.
“What to say?”
At those words, his feelings ultimately hurt, Hakyoung walked with heavy steps to the laundry room entrance. After slamming the door shut and approaching Yumyeong again, Yumyeong, who had been quietly looking at the closed door, pointed out.
“That doesn’t lock anyway.”
“I know.”
“Then why, ah…… Hey!”
Without warning, Hakyoung pulled Yumyeong into an embrace. His heart that had been longing enough to feel parched was still the same, but he’d been pushed away without quenching it at all and without knowing why. Though there were so many things he wanted to say, he didn’t know what words to bring up first.
However, when he hugged him like this where no one was watching, that at least was allowed. Recalling Yumyeong who couldn’t quite push him away when he clung desperately on the last day of break, Hakyoung recklessly hugged him.
“Haha, why are you like this……”
“……”
“Let go a bit. Say it with words.”
“I don’t want to.”
With his forehead buried in his shoulder, Hakyoung suffered from inexplicable emotions. Instead of pushing away, Yumyeong tried to soothe him by patting his back.
“You keep avoiding me.”
“When did I……”
“Don’t make excuses.”
If he’d acted like a stranger or made it like nothing happened, he would have understood properly. This ambiguous attitude was driving him crazy.
It had been like this continuously. Each time he hovered near him, Yumyeong didn’t push him away obviously, nor did he act cold. Not wanting to go against his mood, Hakyoung had continued passive efforts. He’d tried somehow to have deep conversations by calling him out to the vending machine at night or visiting the study room with drinks.
However, thinking about it, each time the excuses to slip away with a smooth smile were quite plausible. Thanks to that, he’d often be considerate of him, thinking Yumyeong must really be busy. This was the result. Having his heart that wanted to be considerate because he liked him taken hostage, he was just being pushed back in Yumyeong’s priorities.
“I said I liked you.”
“……”
“You said you liked me too. Then aren’t we mutually liking each other?”
Even to his own ears, his voice was uncertain and pitiful. When he lifted his head with difficulty, his eyes met Yumyeong’s. Since he had pride too, he didn’t want to show a weak appearance at moments like this. He wanted to share emotions naturally without being anxious, from an equal position.
“I want to date you, Yumyeong.”
