“Grandma. I’ll just make a quick phone call and come back. Please look after the fire. I’ll add a lot more when I get back!”
Without even hearing an answer, Yoonjo hurriedly got up from his seat and slipped into the room. He thought it might be a bit better if he searched right in front of the internet router. Dongtae circled around Yoonjo whining, but now wasn’t the time to care about that.
Ki Seonwoo
As soon as he searched, articles poured out. Just as Heewon said, they seemed to have been posted just moments ago, with “5 minutes ago” and “10 minutes ago” attached next to the articles. Yoonjo, who found and clicked on an article with an attached photo, burst into laughter.
Title: Ki Seonwoo, Where Is Your Fashion Sense?
It seemed to be a paparazzi photo, as Seonwoo beyond the screen was looking to the side. Half-lowered eyes, slightly grown hair, and at the tip of that ponytail hung the hair tie Yoonjo had given him. The colorful elephant and yellow hair tie didn’t match the clean suit he was wearing at all, but it was strangely natural.
Yoonjo, who traced Seonwoo’s face in the photo for no reason, knelt down and bent his waist deeply. After pounding the floor, he suddenly raised his head before long.
“Wow… What should I do.”
Dongtae, who was next to him, tapped Yoonjo with his nose, then started rubbing against him. Yoonjo, who hugged Dongtae’s body fully, stomped his feet.
“Dongtae-ya. What should I do?”
Woof-!
“What should I really do?”
He missed Seonwoo so, so much. Really, he missed him so much.
Even after finishing the party preparations, he occasionally looked at his phone, but there was still no contact from Seonwoo. In the meantime, articles continued to pour out, generating rumors. He tried to find news by going on Twitter and Facebook, which didn’t load well, but there were no substantial words.
Most were full of groundless rumors like his comeback is imminent, he’s retiring, or he just went to say hello. Nothing was accurate, but the truth was that Seonwoo had met the agency CEO and had a private meeting at an expensive Korean restaurant in Cheongdam-dong.
Yoonjo, who had been sitting in a corner just fiddling with his phone, took in the sight of the village elders. The elders offered him drinks here and there, but everyone backed off when he said he had to clean up. Perhaps because Yoonjo was the only young worker in this village, there was no pressure.
After that, it was a mess with drinking and singing. Under the widely spread tent was a temporarily installed karaoke machine, and the elders stood in front of it, swaying their bodies. Listening to the familiar trot music and singing, Yoonjo suddenly checked the time.
9 PM. The sky had already darkened, but the villagers were busy having fun, as if they weren’t tired. Well, there weren’t many days when they could play without worries, so everyone seemed to have the mindset of enjoying while they could.
Yoonjo started organizing the dishes that were finished. He gathered what could be thrown away and threw it in the trash, and gathered what needed to be washed and took it to a nearby faucet. Yoonjo, who squatted down and washed the dishes one by one, remembered the party food left in the kitchen.
He had selected and put in only the pretty and well-cooked ones because he wanted to give them to Seonwoo, but they had all gone cold. Party food is delicious when you eat it right away… It’s not tasty when you reheat it…
Yoonjo, who continued his thoughts, scrubbed the dishes and stacked them neatly. After washing and organizing dishes for a long time, he raised his head. Already in the sky, a low moon and scattered stars had risen. There was still no contact from Seonwoo.
11 PM. The end of the party was in sight. The elders, who had been laughing, chatting, and enjoying themselves for more than half a day, returned home one by one. Yoonjo also escorted Grandma and Grandpa home and helped them clean up.
He folded the tent and brought the karaoke machine into the warehouse so it wouldn’t get the morning dew. He roughly organized the dishes to wash and came out with the food he had prepared in advance, well packed in an airtight container.
“Yoonjo-ya.”
“Yes?”
It was the grandmother who was today’s 70th birthday party protagonist. She handed five bottles of makgeolli to Yoonjo and patted his bottom.
“Happy birthday. It’s truly hard to say, but congratulations.”
“Grandma, live long and long. Stay healthy for a long time. You have to be there when I get married.”
“Yes. I’ll do that. Yoonjo just needs to grow up pretty like this.”
“I definitely will. Happy birthday, Grandma.”
Yoonjo, who hugged her tightly and patted her shoulders, left the grandmother’s house with light greetings. It had been so noisy and chaotic until just moments ago, but as if that never happened, the surroundings were quiet. The sound of insects crying and slippers dragging on the ground could be heard especially loudly.
“Ah… Dongtae must be alone.”
He had stopped by the house during the party to check, but because he couldn’t leave him home until late, he had put him in Seonwoo’s house. Yoonjo quickened his steps, worried about Dongtae who must be spending the late night alone. Walking hurriedly with pattering steps, he checked the time again. 11:50.
The airtight container and makgeolli bag in his hands felt heavy. He had never felt that before… He had never felt heavy things as heavy, but today was strange.
Arriving in front of the house, Yoonjo was about to open the gate when he checked the time again. 53 minutes. Exactly 7 minutes left. It was already well past the time he should be sleeping, but he wasn’t sleepy. Yes, let’s wait just 7 minutes. He said he’d come today, so maybe he’d keep that promise.
Yoonjo, who squatted in front of Seonwoo’s house, put the makgeolli bag down on the ground and hugged the airtight container to his chest. Leaning his back against the gate and looking at the stars scattered in the sky, he fiddled with his phone. Was he not coming because it was too late? Well… He said if it was too late, he’d sleep overnight and come, so there was a high possibility he wouldn’t come.
“Should I have just said it was my birthday?”
Muttering with his head down, Yoonjo convulsively moved his hand at the loud phone ringtone. When he checked the name, the three letters [Seonwoo Hyung] were floating on the screen.
“Hyung?”
– Yoonjo-ya, you weren’t sleeping?
“…Yes. Uh… I was just here. What about you, hyung?”
– Just a moment.
A beeping sound was heard and the screen immediately switched. Seonwoo on the screen didn’t look tired at all even though it was late. As if he was calling from the car, the background was quite familiar.
– What were you doing? How was today’s party?
“The party was delicious… I was just here. What about you, hyung?”
– The party was delicious? Yoonjo must have been as busy as me. I didn’t even have time to look at my phone because I was talking about this and that.
No matter how busy you are… Don’t you have time to send one text? Yoonjo, who grumbled inwardly, traced Seonwoo’s face in the phone with his gaze and smiled faintly.
“Hyung, you know. Dongtae cried a lot today. I think he missed you. He kept saying something, but I don’t know dog language so I couldn’t understand. But somehow it seemed like he was asking where you were.”
– Yoonjo must have gotten close with Dongtae. He’s originally talkative, but he’s quiet in front of strangers.
As his hand moved as if turning the steering wheel, the sound of wheels rolling could be heard from not far away. Thinking ‘no way,’ Yoonjo stuck his head out.
“…Seonwoo hyung.”
At that moment, bright light poured onto Yoonjo like magic. When he covered his face with his hands, the sound of a car door hurriedly opening and closing was heard, and a slender shadow appeared. Like an actor standing in front of a spotlight, the man with his back to the light approached Yoonjo. It seemed as if a cape well-woven with light was placed on his shoulders.
“Yoonjo-ya, happy birthday.”
I don’t think it’s late yet… At Seonwoo’s muttering words, Yoonjo blinked his eyes slowly. It was like magic. It was a moment more perfect than magic. Today wasn’t a bad day. He had been well with Dongtae, and the party ended well without any major incidents. He ate delicious food and contacted his classmate after a long time.
However, he felt regret about the blueberry beer stored deep in the refrigerator and the completely cold food he had prepared for Seonwoo.
It wasn’t that he had the ambition to receive grand congratulations for his birthday. He just had the wish to share a moment he liked with someone he liked, just once.
Seonwoo, who arrived with the light, was truly like magic. Perhaps the moon and stars bestowed kindness on Yoonjo because it was his birthday. As soon as the thought crossed his mind, Yoonjo, who ran into the light, reached out and grabbed Seonwoo’s arm.
“Hyung, I’m really going to say something crazy from now on. I really think I’m going crazy. I didn’t even drink a sip of alcohol, but I feel drunk. So I guess that’s why these words are coming out.”
His mouth was itching. He felt like this feeling would only be relieved if he said something. Yoonjo tightly gripped Seonwoo’s arm with both hands. His clothes were all crumpled. His hands were trembling. No, it seemed like his whole body was trembling. It was crazy. No matter how he thought about it, this was clearly crazy, but Yoonjo couldn’t hold back.
“I, you know,”
“Yoonjo-ya, don’t.”
A firm voice touched his ear. He carefully traced the cross-section of the cut-off words, but it was nothing but bumpy. Yoonjo raised his head and looked at Seonwoo’s face. His expression was the same as usual, but somehow a sense of distance was felt. It was as if he was putting up a wall telling him not to approach.
“Don’t do that thing you’re about to do.”
“What… do you know I’m going to do?”
“I know what it is, so I’m telling you not to do it.”
Seonwoo blinked his eyes slowly. Because his back was to the headlights, he looked pitch black without a single shadow on his face, but Yoonjo knew. Every time he blinked like that, his long, straight eyelashes fluttered and a gentle shadow sat on his cheeks and fell off. Suddenly, he felt anxious. Why wouldn’t he let him speak?
“Because you’ve been close to me for a bit, you must be confused. Because I’m nice to you, it’s natural to confuse it with those kinds of feelings. All twenty-year-olds are like that originally. They think everything lightly and get confused easily. They do childish things, rushing ahead without thinking, convinced that if they don’t say everything they want to say, they’ll have regrets in life.”
