Yoonjo’s body stiffened completely. Before long, Yoonjo opened his mouth. His voice was still fully soaked with grievance.
“I said I’d definitely come next semester… didn’t I. And, and I don’t… say things like that carelessly. You don’t like me, hyung.”
“…I’ve never said that even once.”
At that moment, the crying stopped abruptly. Yoonjo, who’d been clinging to Seonwoo’s embrace, slowly loosened the arms that had been hugging Seonwoo.
“You told me not to, *hic*, not to get the wrong idea. That’s, *sniff*, the same as not liking me, isn’t it.”
Ah, Ji Yoonjo.
Seonwoo burst into laughter for the first time in a while. Yoonjo’s face, which had poured out tears and snot, was literally a mess. That made him even cuter. Seonwoo took out a handkerchief and wiped under Yoonjo’s nose while adding.
“You shouldn’t cry anywhere.”
“Why, *sniff*… why?”
“Because you get ugly.”
Yoonjo, who’d been staring blankly at Seonwoo, put strength into his whole body to hold back the tears that suddenly welled up. Because of that, his face scrunched up completely. Seonwoo laughed even harder and messed up Yoonjo’s hair wildly.
“Do you hold back your tear ducts with your facial muscles?”
“Ah! Really! Why do you keep teasing me!”
Seonwoo threw the soaked handkerchief into a nearby trash can and took out a new handkerchief. The touch wiping his cheeks and under his nose was quite delicate.
“I’m not teasing you. I’m not joking either.”
“…Then.”
“I can’t say I like you right now.”
As if he’d never stopped crying, Yoonjo’s eyes started to get wet. He seemed to try to endure somehow, putting strength into his whole body, but tears kept pooling.
“I don’t have that kind of courage, and it’s still hard for me to fully trust anyone. I have too many things I need to resolve. But I’ll try. So stop crying, Yoonjo-ya.”
This was the best Seonwoo could do. Just coming back to Seoul right away was like that. But anything more than this was still difficult. Just because he took one step didn’t mean he’d completed the intended path.
“Hyung…”
Yoonjo, who’d been dripping tears like chicken droppings, snatched Seonwoo’s handkerchief and covered his eyes.
“I’m, *sniff*, not crying.”
Yoonjo took a big breath while covering his eyes. There were still no people passing by on the street, so the surroundings were just quiet. Since the dormitory staff had also left work, the only lights around were streetlights.
Whew… Taking a light deep breath, Yoonjo lifted Seonwoo’s mask and spoke quietly. He also looked like someone worried his words might leak elsewhere.
“I’ll wait.”
“……”
“If you’re a huge coward, I’ll wait until you become less of a coward, and if you have a lot to do, I’ll wait until you finish it all.”
“…Yoonjo-ya.”
“So from now on, please don’t just say you dislike me or that my feelings are a misunderstanding. I can endure everything else… but that’s too hard.”
Lowering the handkerchief, Yoonjo looked at Seonwoo with trembling lips, then scrunched up his face completely to hold back tears. When his face became ugly by anyone’s standards, Seonwoo burst into laughter.
“Why are you laughing…!”
“Because you’re cute.”
“That’s not that kind of laugh!”
Seonwoo moved forward while dragging Yoonjo’s suitcase. When looking for Yoonjo, he’d acted like someone who’d lost their sense of direction, but now he walked firmly on the ground as if that had never happened. Right next to him, as always, was Yoonjo.
Seonwoo smiled faintly looking at Yoonjo, who was following with quick steps while tightly holding onto his clothes. Then Yoonjo scrunched up his face again.
“And don’t, *sniff*, don’t say I’m ugly.”
Bursting into laughter again, Seonwoo held Yoonjo’s hand. The twenty-year-old squirt was unbearably lovely, to the point he never wanted to let go.
***
As soon as he opened the front door, Yoonjo rushed at Seonwoo. To be precise, saying he just crashed into him was more accurate. When Seonwoo’s body fell backward, Yoonjo immediately glared fiercely while hitting him with thumps as if to burst Seonwoo’s lungs.
“You said take care! You said goodbye!”
It was a strong blow that didn’t even let out a sound of pain. His back bent automatically. Seonwoo gasped for breath and then slowly ran away backward. He tried to say that was enough, but the moment he raised his head, his mouth wouldn’t easily open. When he turned around, Yoonjo was on the verge of tears. Seonwoo was the one who got hit, but Yoonjo who did the hitting looked like he was in more pain instead.
“…I’m the one who got hit, so why are you crying.”
Yoonjo, who’d been clenching his fist with his mouth tightly shut, reached his hand toward Seonwoo’s chest. It would’ve been startling, but surprisingly Seonwoo stayed still. It was an action as if saying to hit him more if he was going to.
But Yoonjo just carefully grabbed and lifted Seonwoo’s shirt. Then he lightly pressed the spot he’d hit with his fingertips.
Seonwoo’s body instantly stiffened at Yoonjo’s sudden action. Regardless, Yoonjo kept pressing Seonwoo’s chest. The smooth skin without a single scar filled his vision.
“What if you get bruised… You’re as white as muk jelly, so if you get bruised it’ll show so much… But I can’t put a bandage on…”
As if realizing something, Yoonjo, who’d been alternately looking at Seonwoo’s face and firm chest, pulled the shirt down forcefully. At that moment, the shirt made a ripping sound and tore satisfyingly. The clothes meant to cover the body became scraps of cloth that revealed the skin completely.
Yoonjo, who’d turned pale, grabbed Seonwoo’s shirt and flustered around trying to somehow cover the skin. But no matter what he did, the torn clothes wouldn’t go back to normal. He wondered why everything he did was a mess. Yoonjo, who’d been handling the torn pieces of cloth, hung his head low and muttered.
“I’m sorry…”
“Don’t cry.”
“I’m not crying.”
He said that, but tears started to well up in Yoonjo’s eyes again. Seonwoo stroked Yoonjo’s swollen eyes, then slightly lowered his head and kissed that spot, slowly pulling his lips away.
Yoonjo’s eyes opened a bit wider. As if the tears had been sucked in, he maintained a surprised posture throughout.
“Are you going to cry more?”
At the quiet question, Yoonjo just opened and closed his lips. His face was already dyed bright red. He seemed to have completely forgotten his earlier emotions.
“…If I cry, will you kiss me more?”
“I told you not to cry.”
Along with indifferent words, Seonwoo continued to stroke Yoonjo’s eyes. Looking at Yoonjo quietly feeling that touch, Seonwoo opened his mouth.
“And… it didn’t hurt that much. It’s okay.”
Yoonjo, who was about to rub his eyes with the back of his hand, hesitated. Tears still welled in his eyes, but his expression was full of suspicion.
“Really…?”
After a brief silence, Seonwoo spoke bluntly.
“…No.”
It was honesty excessive to the point of being unnecessary.
Wiggling his toes while sitting vacantly in the living room, Yoonjo looked around for no reason. Thanks to the wide windows, it was a place where the night view could be seen at a glance. The ceiling was so high it seemed more than twice that of an ordinary house. Not far away, there were even stairs going to the second floor. At the magnificent sight that might only be seen in dramas, Yoonjo just glanced around with his eyes.
“It’s like a hotel…”
Perhaps because he’d just finished showering, Yoonjo’s skin was tinged reddish. The bathrobe he was wearing for the first time was soft but strangely awkward. It might have been because the area between his legs felt empty.
Seonwoo, who’d pushed Yoonjo into the bathroom telling him to wash up and come out, was nowhere to be seen. Unable to easily walk around someone else’s house, just sticking his head out, he heard plodding sounds from somewhere. It was a familiar sound.
“Dongtae-ya!”
The Samoyed who answered while sticking his head out like howling ran toward Yoonjo. Yoonjo, who caught the heavy Dongtae in one go, stroked his fluffy fur wildly. Fur flew around, but no one cared.
“You like Dongtae more than me.”
“I have to like Dongtae as a human being, right? He’s this handsome, cute, and well-spoken.”
“If they’re handsome, cute, and well-spoken, does everyone like them as a human being?”
“Especially Dongtae. Maybe because he resembles his owner.”
Seonwoo, who’d leaned his shoulder against the wall, tilted his head crookedly. But Yoonjo kept touching and hugging Dongtae’s body, so he didn’t notice Seonwoo’s behavior.
As he sat on the floor and moved roughly, the waist tie that was loosely tied gradually came undone. Finally, Yoonjo’s bathrobe started to open slightly. His well-ripened bread-like skin contrasted with the white bathrobe, catching the eye.
When Dongtae’s tongue, which had been continuously licking Yoonjo, passed his chin and was about to touch his lips, Seonwoo quickly reached out his arm. He pulled Yoonjo up and firmly tied the slightly loose waist tie.
“When you were crying hard earlier, I heard your dormitory got cancelled.”
“Please just forget about me crying. Anyway, yes. There was a bit of a mistake with that. But it’s okay. Thanks to that, I met you, hyung.”
Yoonjo, who spoke casually, glanced toward Seonwoo as if gauging his reaction. Seonwoo briefly made eye contact with Yoonjo and said readily.
“Sleep here tonight and go.”
“Wow! Really? Then I’m grateful of course. I’ll leave early tomorrow. There’s still some time before the semester starts… Um… if I find a house well, I can find a place as good as the dormitory.”
Seonwoo tied the knot of the bathrobe Yoonjo was wearing and straightened his clothes. Even though there was no need to do so with a bathrobe, he kept moving his hands. It looked like behavior containing hesitation, wanting to confess something but unable to.
“You can stay for the time being.”
“Ah, what are you saying. Of course…”
Where on earth would there be a reason it wouldn’t work. Yoonjo quickly changed his thoughts. Sometimes in life, shamelessness was necessary. And now was exactly that moment. Yoonjo clung to Seonwoo and smiled.
“Of course. I’ll definitely stick right next to you, hyung.”
At the sudden change in attitude, Seonwoo chuckled as if dumbfounded. Yoonjo nodded with a determined face and added.
“I’ll definitely pay rent.”
“What money do you have? You said you couldn’t even pay the dormitory fee.”
“It’s not that I couldn’t pay, but the pain of heartbreak… No, that’s not the problem. Do you have to have money to pay rent? There are other ways.”
When Seonwoo gestured as if to say go ahead, Yoonjo stepped back one step and raised both hands to make a heart shape.
“My love! Ji Yoonjo’s heart!”
Seonwoo sighed and swept his face with one hand. As if a sudden headache was rising, he pressed the end of his eyebrow a few times and then replied.
“Let’s go to sleep. It’s late at night.”
Immediately turning his body, Seonwoo started heading somewhere without looking back. Yoonjo belatedly followed and asked why, but Seonwoo didn’t say anything in the end.
