“Aw, no. Most of it was going out to the field to work…. When I was in high school, I had to do night self-study so I wasn’t home. Now, as you know, I can’t even come unless it’s vacation…. Look here, look at this. This kind of natural skin tone isn’t something just anyone can have.”
Yoonjo, who waved his arm gently in front of his eyes, turned his head at the sound of the movie starting. He tapped Seonwoo’s arm saying it was starting and began to concentrate. Even his hand eating popcorn had stopped at some point.
Yoonjo’s profile looked quite serious. Each time the scene changed, the light reflected in his black eyes also changed rapidly. Seonwoo, who was fiddling with the soda cup, tapped the back of Yoonjo’s hand that was gripping the popcorn container with his wet hand. The water droplets rolled down the back of his hand, but Yoonjo didn’t turn around.
He ended up watching all the way to the ending credits. Yoonjo had a strangely dazed face as if captivated by the lingering feelings of the movie. It was like that the entire time leaving the theater and heading to the parking lot. Yoonjo, who was walking slowly with crutches, before long began chattering in an excited tone like usual.
“Do you remember? That… the line the female lead said when she met the male lead again?”
“…No.”
“‘It was you I was waiting for.’ That was totally the climax… It was really heart-fluttering.”
“You like that kind of thing?”
When Seonwoo asked while unlocking the car door, Yoonjo quickly opened the door and got inside. Unlike a car that had been parked outdoors for a long time, the interior was cool. It was because the air conditioning had been running.
“It makes my heart tickle strangely. Others say it’s cringy and whatnot, but I… like that kind of thing. What about you, hyung?”
“Well. I’m the type who’s not moved by it.”
“Mm…. I understand. The dramas or movies hyung appeared in are kind of… crime! Noir! That kind of feeling.”
Yoonjo, who swung his feet while putting on his seatbelt, suddenly wiggled his toes sticking out beyond the bandage. Then he lightly rubbed his palm and armpit area. Maybe because it was summer, but it wasn’t very pleasant how it chafed every time he used the crutches.
“I think it left marks….”
Yoonjo, who was looking alternately at his reddened palm and the bandage, raised his head at the hand tapping his shoulder.
“Is your leg very uncomfortable? They said two weeks would do it… Should we go to the hospital again?”
“It’s a bit more awkward than I thought, but it’s not bad.”
“I’ll have to try to keep your attention away from it.”
“You’re going to do it for me every night from now on, so don’t waste your energy during the day.”
“Do you really even know what you mean when you say things like that?”
At Seonwoo’s words, Yoonjo’s gaze changed strangely. His eyes seemed to ask who do you take me for, a fool? As the car left the movie theater and entered the town streets, Yoonjo opened his mouth.
“We’re going to sleep together every night.”
“Your way of speaking really…. Yoonjo-ya, haven’t you been misunderstood a lot in your life?”
“Aw, no way. That’s never happened even once.”
Seonwoo, who was turning the wheel with one hand, stroked his face. It was because he thought yeah right. The nightly matter Yoonjo mentioned was, if you had to rephrase it, Yoonjo’s request. There was no proper justification to refuse, so it ended up happening like that.
Seonwoo, who pressed his tired eyes a few times, barely swallowed the sigh that was about to burst out. The reason for his fatigue was naturally Yoonjo.
He thought they’d sleep a bit apart, but at some point Yoonjo came crawling over. He forcibly removed the hand tightly gripping his waist and barely fell asleep, but when he woke from light sleep at dawn, Yoonjo was clinging to him again. Seonwoo tossed and turned all night at the hot breath that clung to him whenever he’d forgotten about it.
No, actually that wasn’t quite right either. All he did was squirm, worried that Yoonjo might wake up.
“Yeah…. You seemed to have some sense.”
At the sigh-like words, Yoonjo, who had been looking only at the windshield, looked at Seonwoo. Yoonjo, who watched Seonwoo for a moment, looked at the fatigue subtly stuck around his eyes and quietly said.
“Are we going home now? Then how about taking a nap when we get there? With Dongtae next to you. And since I’ve been walking around for a long time, the side with the bandage is really itchy. I guess I need to rest quietly at home. I can’t even help with the farm work… I think it would be better to just go in quickly and rest. Still, thank you so much for showing me the movie. It was really fun.”
Yoonjo, who lightly clenched his fist, fiddled with the bandage while waiting for Seonwoo’s answer. However, until the car started again and went out onto the wide open road, no words came back.
Seonwoo just turned off the air conditioner and opened the window. Yoonjo observed Seonwoo while smelling the muggy wind rushing randomly into the car and the subtle smell of grass wafting over.
Before long, Seonwoo said something, but it couldn’t be heard well because of the sound of the wind. Yoonjo leaned toward Seonwoo and shouted.
“What? What did you say? I can’t hear you!”
His lips were clearly moving but his voice couldn’t be heard at all. It was excessive to say it was because of the wind. He might have thought it strange, but Yoonjo just pricked up his ears and tried to listen to Seonwoo’s words.
“Huh? Huh huh?”
The car, which he naturally thought would stop, quickly passed the stone sign engraved with [Namhang Village]. Yoonjo looked alternately outside and at Seonwoo with a rarely flustered face. Regardless, Seonwoo was holding the wheel with his gaze fixed on the windshield. He looked like someone who had missed it while thinking about something else.
“We passed the house!”
When he shouted loudly, only then did the car slow down a bit. As the sound of the wind disappeared, Seonwoo’s voice was heard clearly.
“We’re not going home today.”
At the low voice, Yoonjo’s face instantly crumpled. It was that face Seonwoo always thought looked like an angry pufferfish.
***
The sunlight poured in and there was a muggy and salty ocean scent. Yoonjo made a visor with his hand to shade his eyes and looked at the wide open sea. The wind rushed into the car, making his hair shake wildly.
“Woaah….”
It was a landscape both familiar and unfamiliar. He often saw the wide open sea, but this was his first time seeing a long bridge connecting island to island like this. Large and small islands could be seen on both sides of the road stretching out refreshingly. Between them, old motorboats could be seen sparsely.
His eyes stung because of the wind, but he wanted to keep this moment in his eyes continuously. Yoonjo, who turned his head to see the tower of the towering cable-stayed bridge, unknowingly muttered.
“Wow…. I really want to come with Grandma and Grandpa….”
The sound probably couldn’t be heard well because of the wind, but Seonwoo cleverly heard it and asked back.
“You want to come again?”
“Yes! Totally!”
At Yoonjo’s exclamation, Seonwoo smiled faintly. At that smile, Yoonjo smiled along like someone with wind in their lungs.
As the car that had been running for a while gradually slowed down, the wind also subsided. Yoonjo quickly closed the window and turned on the air conditioner. As the cool breeze came in, the heat remaining in the car slowly disappeared.
The car that refreshingly crossed the bridge soon came down to land. To Seonwoo, who familiarly turned the wheel heading somewhere, Yoonjo carefully asked.
“Hyung.”
“Yeah.”
“Is this a date?”
“It’s convalescence.”
At the answer that came as if waiting, Yoonjo stuck out his lips and grumbled.
“No it’s not. It’s totally a date.”
It was a date. To anyone, it was a date. They went to the movies and even went for a drive. At this level, shouldn’t someone stamp it saying it’s a date?
Yoonjo, who was wiggling his fingers, asked again only after the car stopped.
“Is it really not?”
Seonwoo, who unfastened his seatbelt, opened the door and answered firmly.
“No.”
Yoonjo’s lips stuck out sulkily again. Today’s seeping in seemed to have failed. Yoonjo also unfastened his seatbelt and opened the door. The weather just had to be nice too. If it rained even a little, he could cling to him with the excuse of being cold, but the sticky yet stuffy air unique to summer was just full everywhere.
Yoonjo, who clicked his tongue inwardly, groaned and put his feet outside. Then he reached out to grab the crutches he’d left in the back seat. Yoonjo, who was muttering it should be around here somewhere, just stuck his head out slightly at the hand lightly tapping his knee. Seonwoo was in front.
“Just come out. I’ll help you.”
“How can you help me without the crutches….”
One question and several answers momentarily passed through the head of Yoonjo, whose mouth shut tight.
Describe how to walk without crutches.
One. Walk on your own with a hopping gait. In this case, there’s a high probability of falling over while hopping alone, so it was rejected.
Two. Go around dragging your feet on the ground. It wouldn’t be walking but just the speed of an inchworm crawling. This was also rejected.
Lastly, three. Receive Seonwoo’s support. Since he could cling well anyway, it couldn’t help but be a very suitable option for Yoonjo’s second plan.
Naturally, the answer was number 3.
“Right. You can totally help me.”
Yoonjo readily extended his arms toward Seonwoo. When he waved his hands flutteringly as if asking for help quickly, Seonwoo looked at the sky for a moment then bent his waist. Yoonjo, who put a bit of strength in his arm thinking he’d support him, made a “hik” sound and clung to Seonwoo as his body floated up.
“This is so embarrassing!”
He wondered what “embarrassing” was about, but Seonwoo figured from context it probably meant shy and let it go. Regardless, Yoonjo, while holding onto Seonwoo tightly, said fumblingly.
“Shouldn’t, shouldn’t I be the one carrying you, hyung? Th-th-this is such an embarrassing posture!”
His face followed by his nape turned red, but his mouth didn’t stop. In the end, Yoonjo covered his face with both hands and hid in Seonwoo’s nape. He acted just like a young animal. Seonwoo walked while holding Yoonjo and unknowingly nodded. It was true. Yoonjo was a chick who had just turned twenty.
“Ah really…. Can’t you just give me the crutches?”
“Your hands hurt.”
At the words that came back as if it was nothing, Yoonjo unknowingly lifted his face a little.
“How did you know they hurt?”
“Originally, if you use crutches in summer, your hands hurt a bit.”
“Aw, but maybe mine don’t hurt. Hyung, isn’t this just because you wanted to try holding me once? Hul… this really makes sense.”
