Yoonjo started making wraps again. A little rice, one big piece of meat, ssamjang and green onion strips, lastly a small piece of spicy pepper. After tightly wrapping the lettuce neatly into one bite-size, Yoonjo put the completed wrap into Seonwoo’s mouth and stood up from his seat.
“I’ll grill it. Eat some.”
“Your leg hurts too, what… Just stay put.”
“Nothing big will happen just from standing on one foot for a bit. Give it to me.”
Yoonjo, who snatched away the tongs, skillfully flipped the meat. It seemed the time spent standing in front of the hot fire during the first semester MT wasn’t in vain. Even if not for that, his skill grilling pork belly at his parents’ house couldn’t have gone anywhere. Yoonjo, who was humming and tapping the meat a few times with the tip of the tongs, shifted his gaze toward the wide open sea.
The sea breeze brushing his cheek felt cold. Now that the sun was setting, the temperature seemed to be dropping. Still, the sparkling surface was just beautiful. And prettier than that was Ki Seonwoo. Yoonjo, who smiled cheerfully, turned his head toward Seonwoo.
The gazes that met were quite natural, as if he’d been looking at Yoonjo all along. Suddenly his fingertips felt hot. His heart pounded, revealing its presence.
“Yoonjo-ya….”
Seonwoo’s face was dyed red, whether because of the sunset. A slightly dazed gaze, a distant voice. Yoonjo, convinced that the moment had definitely come, lightly waved the tongs and answered.
“Why, Seonwoo hyung?”
As if to answer the call, Seonwoo’s lips trembled slightly and parted.
“It’s burning.”
“Of course. My heart is originally burning brightly toward hyung….”
“The fire there!”
At the scream-like words, when Yoonjo turned his head, the meat was burning and flames were rising. No wonder the hand holding the tongs had felt hot from earlier—it wasn’t a mistake.
“Uwaaah! What is this!”
Right when he was making a fuss with his eyes wide open, as if waiting, cold water was poured in. Yoonjo, who got soaking wet like a drowned mouse in an instant, covered his face with both hands while smelling the burnt odor.
What kind of embarrassing thing was this when he was trying to look a bit cool? He really became embarrassed and couldn’t raise his head.
Yoonjo, who returned to the room with Seonwoo’s support, sat on the sofa and fully felt Seonwoo’s touch drying his hair.
When he slightly raised his head, the room was already filled with a warm color. The evening sunset that passed through the transparent window thoroughly soaked the inside of the room. Yoonjo was pushing away the sunlight touching his toes when he quietly pulled back his foot at the scolding that came charging right in.
“I need to wrap the bandage again, so stay still.”
“Ye-es.”
Yoonjo, who quietly lowered his head at the touch drying his hair, half-closed his eyes. Today was too good. So much so that he wondered if his birthday had come around. Of course, the ending was ambiguous to say it was that good, but anyway, good was good.
When it dried to some extent, Seonwoo’s touch fell away. Yoonjo, who received the clothes Seonwoo handed over, instinctively crossed both hands to grab them to take off his wet clothes, then hesitated for a moment. He rolled his eyes and glanced at Seonwoo as if gauging his reaction.
“You’ll catch a cold if you stay in wet clothes.”
At Seonwoo’s calm words, Yoonjo slightly turned his body to the side and took off his clothes. While clumsily covering one side of his chest with his arm, he spread the clothes awkwardly and quickly put them on.
However, in that brief moment when the clothes covered his eyes, Seonwoo’s gaze touched Yoonjo. More accurately, the place Yoonjo was clumsily covering.
“……?”
Yoonjo, who turned his head at the suddenly felt gaze, turned bright red when his eyes met with Seonwoo who was looking at him. Yoonjo, who covered his chest with the wet clothes, said fumblingly.
“Why, why are you looking like that?”
“Like you said, your body is solid. Your skin is naturally tanned, and the shape of your muscles is good too.”
Now Yoonjo’s face had reached the level of a burning sweet potato. Yoonjo, who just moved his mouth, hopped on one foot and ran to the bathroom. Seonwoo tried to help but it was already too late.
Yoonjo, who quickly changed all his underwear and pants, returned in a combative posture and plopped down on the sofa. Then he tapped his arms and said boldly. His face was still red but only his expression looked resolute.
“If it’s that kind of thing, you can look more. This isn’t something just anyone can have. Come to think of it, last time when it rained, our clothes also got wet….”
“I’ll look slowly later.”
Yoonjo, who was about to add something more, trailed off at Seonwoo’s action of sitting on the floor. A clean compression bandage was next to Seonwoo, though he didn’t know when he’d brought it.
“Mm…. It’s still quite swollen.”
Seonwoo, who muttered, slowly stroked Yoonjo’s still swollen ankle. It was a careful touch as if handling something precious. When Seonwoo’s fingertips touched the sensitive skin a few times, goosebumps rose on his back as his body hair stood on end. Thinking a strange sound might pop out, Yoonjo unknowingly covered his mouth with his hand.
“Two weeks will feel a bit long. Still, it’s fortunate it’s a half-cast. Since it’s summer, it might have been difficult…. Does it hurt here on your leg?”
“Uh… yes…. B-but… it’s fi-ine.”
“I’m going to wrap the bandage again. It might hurt…. Why is your expression like that?”
“My, huh, expression? Why? Me? Originally? This kind? Of expression?”
Yoonjo, who gripped the sofa innocently as if asking when he’d covered his mouth, nodded his head as if to say hurry up. Seonwoo’s gaze stayed fleetingly on the faintly reddened neck, but fortunately that was all.
“Tell me if it hurts.”
Seonwoo, who was touching the ankle bone, took the bandage in his hand. Then he unwrapped the bandage and began to meticulously wrap Yoonjo’s leg. He wondered if that strange sensation from before might be felt again, but it wasn’t at all. Yoonjo, who let out a sigh of relief inwardly, asked while looking at Seonwoo who was wrapping the bandage.
“I thought you wouldn’t be good at things like this…. You’re really good at it, hyung.”
“I’m used to it.”
What reason would the famous actor Ki Seonwoo have to wrap bandages himself? He was curious, but thinking it might be an unnecessary question, Yoonjo tried to change the subject. But Seonwoo’s mouth was a bit faster.
“When I was a rookie, I wanted to do better so I endured even when it hurt. I ended up learning it inadvertently then. Thanks to that, I became used to it.”
“…Didn’t you have a manager then?”
“I did, but they were too busy to take care of a rookie like me. It wasn’t a dedicated manager but temporary. I understand. Who would care about a greenhorn rookie who might or might not succeed? I still don’t know how I became an actor. Only the manager suffered then.”
Seonwoo, who was grabbing and turning the end of the bandage a bit more firmly, raised his head for a moment. Then he hesitated. Yoonjo’s face was faintly distorted, though he didn’t know what the complaint was.
“Why are you looking at me with that face?”
“You shouldn’t get used to things like that. If pain becomes natural, you won’t know what to do when it really hurts.”
The Seonwoo that Yoonjo saw always seemed like a person who lived just slapping on a band-aid on a torn wound. He was considerate and deep-hearted, but if you looked closely, he tended not to believe in himself.
He felt it at Nokidong Beach too, and it was clear enough that he could often notice it in daily life. If you looked closely, you could see it. Ki Seonwoo was.
It was amazing that no one had noticed until now.
“What will you do when it really hurts?”
“…I’ll have to think about that when the time comes.”
“Then please just promise me one thing.”
Yoonjo, who stretched out his hand, grabbed and pulled Seonwoo’s hand that was still holding his ankle. Seonwoo’s body leaned a bit more toward Yoonjo.
“If it hurts, please definitely tell me it hurts. Whether it’s your heart or a real wound. It’s okay even if you go around shouting elephant leg like me, so please.”
“What if I can’t do it?”
“If not, I’ll fold Seonwoo hyung’s spine and put it in a can. I won’t forgive you even if you cry that it hurts then.”
As if he really would do that, Yoonjo’s face was just serious throughout. Seonwoo unknowingly let out a laugh and lightly pinched and released Yoonjo’s nose tip.
“It feels a bit brutal because it doesn’t seem like a joke when you say it.”
Seonwoo, who let the words flow while straightening his body, secured the end of the bandage. It looked neat like a professional’s work. He was worried since it had been quite a while since he’d done this, but fortunately his hands remembered.
He picked up the bandage and medicine laid out on the floor and put them on a nearby shelf. After getting up and lightly dusting off his knees, he turned to look at Yoonjo.
“Then since I’ll grant that request, let’s stop sleeping together at night.”
At the sudden words, Yoonjo’s eyes opened wide. Then his eyes narrowed as if thinking, and he shook his head and answered with a still serious face.
“I never said just one request though?”
At the shameless voice, Seonwoo let out an empty laugh. Even Yoonjo’s appearance like that looked cute, so in Seonwoo’s own way, this was a big problem.
***
Yoonjo, who let out a light yawn, crawled into the bedding. Next to Yoonjo was Seonwoo. Yoonjo stared at him who was leaning obliquely against the wall looking at his phone.
Seonwoo ended up granting Yoonjo’s request that was close to unreasonable. He could have scolded him asking what kind of fuss this was over just one injured leg, but he didn’t. Thinking about it, Seonwoo always just granted most of Yoonjo’s unreasonable demands.
It was a natural result since he was a kind person, but on the other hand, he was worried. He worried that at this rate, he might get caught by some random person and receive strange misunderstandings.
“Hyung… really seems to think a lot about others.”
“I’m grateful for the generous evaluation, but I’m not that kind of person.”
He put words that lowered himself in his mouth again. That seemed to be Ki Seonwoo’s habit. Yoonjo quietly approached Seonwoo’s side.
“Then why did you come here? I mean… Yeosu. Actually, you could have come somewhere other than Yeosu. You could have gone to Nokidong Beach… or there’s a guesthouse nearby there too.”
Seonwoo, whose gaze was on Yoonjo’s lips moving while chattering, turned off the light without answering. The phone had already been placed on the shelf. That said, he didn’t lie down in bed either. He was still leaning his back against the wall.
“Are you going to sleep? Ah… right. You must have been a bit tired today. Sleep well.”
Seonwoo, who pushed away Yoonjo who was trying to stick to the side while saying that, replied.
“You’re trying to stick close subtly…. It won’t work, so don’t do it.”
The sound of clicking his tongue, tsk, could be heard and Yoonjo rolled back to the opposite side again.
