“Hi, ugh…!”
A low voice reached him along with breath. Yoonjo trembled and covered one ear while doing a crab walk.
“Could you please speak from a bit farther away? My ear feels so strangely… ticklish…”
Seonwoo, who laughed with a snicker, approached Yoonjo who had moved a bit away. The moment he was about to blow breath into his ear again, Yoonjo stepped back a bit more. The farther Yoonjo moved away, the closer Seonwoo approached. At the strange yet unfamiliar feeling that made his fine hairs stand on end, Yoonjo made a “heu” sound and stepped backward.
“Ah, really… Seonwoo, hyung… just from a bit farther away…!”
Toward the trembling Yoonjo, Seonwoo approached without even replying. Each time, Yoonjo’s steps continued backward. When he stopped his steps thinking he should tease him moderately, Yoonjo also stopped his feet.
“Let’s get ready to go out.”
Speaking gently and sweeping Yoonjo’s hair back, Seonwoo immediately turned around. On his turned face was a smile. Before long, he burst into laughter. It was because he remembered Yoonjo’s face from just before.
Cute, and therefore even more lovable. Moreover, his heart became comfortable just from being together for no reason. It was also a pure moment free from the understanding and attention that always complicated and tangled his insides. Then he wondered why he’d teased Yoonjo just before. It was time that wouldn’t be enough even if they got to know each other more, and a moment that was insufficient even if he tried to have courage himself…
Seonwoo, who had been quietly touching his lips, let out a short hollow laugh as if realizing something.
“…Ha.”
So right now, he had been acting petty about Yoonjo’s behavior of not telling him everything. In other words, it also meant he had become more curious about everything about Yoonjo than before. For someone who said he couldn’t say anything right now, it was quite an unguarded thought.
“…Ah! Hyung! Don’t tease me!”
At Yoonjo’s shout heard from the end of the hallway, he unconsciously let out a laugh. What had remained in his head until just before had already evaporated.
Yoonjo, who sat at the entrance and tied his sneaker laces tightly, looked at the back of Seonwoo talking on the phone not far away. He’d started talking to someone before going out, and it seemed to be getting quite long.
“That’s not it… someone I can trust with my life appeared. Ah, and…”
At first it was clearly this kind of conversation, but as time passed, professional talk came and went. Yoonjo looked at the slightly worn toe of his sneakers, then pushed them against the floor. After having his butt stuck to the floor for quite a while, Yoonjo squirmed up from his seat. It was because he heard the sound of Seonwoo’s slippers.
“Did you wait long? The call took longer than I thought.”
“It’s for work, so. It’s fine. Can we go now?”
Seonwoo, who had been looking at Yoonjo’s small lips, tilted his head slightly crooked. After observing Yoonjo for a moment, he soon took out a pair of dress shoes and put them on while roughly running through Yoonjo’s hair.
“Let’s go.”
Yoonjo, who had been tagging along behind Seonwoo through the hallway, suddenly stopped. It was because he wondered if it was okay for him to go while Seonwoo was working.
“But, hyung. Is it okay for me to go?”
At the sudden question, Seonwoo grabbed Yoonjo’s hand and gently pulled him while answering.
“Where in the world is there a place you can’t go?”
It was just one trivial sentence, but somehow his heart was pounding. Yoonjo walked along, hoping that the hand he was holding with Seonwoo would never separate.
Yoonjo, who came down to the underground parking lot, naturally sat in the passenger seat. Even while fastening his seatbelt and leaving the building, he didn’t realize what was strange. He was just busy humming a song while swinging his legs, excited about the single fact that he was going out with Seonwoo.
It was only when the car passed through the complicated city center and headed out to the outskirts that Yoonjo suddenly came to his senses.
“Wasn’t I supposed to drive? Why are you doing it, hyung?”
“Who said that?”
“You said you had to drive alone because you don’t have a dedicated manager. Don’t managers usually drive for you? Or not…”
Seonwoo, who changed lanes as naturally as flowing water, glanced at Yoonjo and said.
“When you reach 5 years with no accidents, I’ll allow you to drive long distances.”
“Wow… that’s like saying don’t drive for the rest of your life.”
“What rest of your life. I said 5 years.”
Grumbling that it was the same thing, Yoonjo buried himself in the car seat. He stared blankly at the scenery passing by quickly, then straightened his body again. It was also simultaneous that he started talking about this and that. The topic was school life.
“Excluding major requirements, there are hardly any overlapping courses with other friends. Ah, there’s one. It’s a philosophy elective and it looked interesting.”
“What’s it called?”
“Cat in a Box.”
Seonwoo, who had just stopped at a red light, looked at Yoonjo wondering what he’d just heard. Yoonjo either didn’t notice Seonwoo’s gaze or kept smiling.
“I also looked at the syllabus carefully and it didn’t look difficult. I even asked on this anonymous community thing called Schedule Board, and everyone said it’s an easy lecture and to definitely take it.”
“…What did it say on the syllabus?”
“Uh… what was it… How to observe a cat in a box? Something like that, I think. Just a moment.”
With good timing, the light turned green. Seonwoo slowly pressed the accelerator while glancing at Yoonjo with a strangely anxious look. Before long, Yoonjo seemed to have found what he wanted and stared intently at his phone.
“If you look here, it says how to distinguish a cat in a box, survival status, dice games with cats… there’s one more. Existence and essence? Ah, this part really seems like philosophy.”
It was a sight to behold. By Seonwoo’s standards, he couldn’t understand at all why that would be called an easy lecture. It seemed to be a course anyone would take to get grade terror. Seonwoo, who turned the steering wheel and entered an alley, parked the car in an outdoor parking lot and spoke to Yoonjo with a very serious face.
“Wouldn’t it be better to cancel it?”
“Hey… this is really an easy lecture, so there’s no reason to cancel. Doesn’t it look really fun except for the last part?”
At the naively innocent question, Seonwoo ran his hand down his face. Seonwoo, who moistened his dry lips with his tongue, unfastened his seatbelt while adding.
“Who said to take that?”
“Seonghyeon, a classmate from the same department. His surname is Gam, isn’t that really unusual? His nickname is Gamsungdom, but actually calling him that or calling him with his surname are equally difficult, so we just call him by his first name affectionately. Ah! But that doesn’t mean I have any feelings like that for Seonghyeon. I’m looking only at you with single-hearted devotion, hyung. There’s not a single situation to worry about.”
Answering proudly, Yoonjo giggled while looking at Seonwoo who had a slightly complicated expression.
“Totally dependable, right?”
Seonwoo, who moved his lips several times, laughed as if he couldn’t stop him. Instead, he unfastened Yoonjo’s seatbelt button and said a word.
“Yoonjo already cries a lot, but at the end of this semester you’ll be busy pouring tears.”
“Wow… what do you see me as? Even though I look like this, I’m a scholarship student, you know? This semester too, I’ll be selected as a scholarship student with over 4.4.”
He remembered vaguely seeing somewhere that men with sexy brains are appealing. Yoonjo emphasized the number 4.4 and followed Seonwoo with his eyes as he moved. Seonwoo came around the bonnet to the passenger side, opened the door, and said.
“Let’s get out.”
Yoonjo, who had been blinking blankly, came out of the car with his body half-bent. Looking back, Seonwoo was holding back laughter. His right hand was awkwardly stretched out as if pointing upward.
“You said to get out. Hyung, what are you doing?”
“Ah, Ji Yoonjo really… what are you going to do being this cute?”
At those words, Yoonjo’s lips jutted out several feet. It was because he should be hearing words like cool and dependable rather than cute, but it was hard to hear those words from Seonwoo at all. Putting strength in his arms and shoulders without quite realizing it, Yoonjo followed Seonwoo. Under the sunlight, Yoonjo’s forcibly inflated muscles wriggled once in a while.
***
Deflated like a balloon losing air, Yoonjo sat in a seat where he could see Seonwoo well and swung his feet. The table where Seonwoo stood was full of various ingredients. He said they were going to a schedule, but it was actually a cooking class.
Seonwoo, wearing a blue apron with white stripes, was carefully listening to the explanation of the teacher standing next to him. Because his long shirt sleeves were folded up, his white skin was fully visible. Wondering how even his forearms could be so pretty, Yoonjo just stared blankly at Seonwoo.
“At this time, you should hold the knife like this. Push your fingers inward, and using the back of the knife and your fingers, this part as a reference…”
The cooking teacher with a gentle impression standing next to him continued the explanation kindly. Before long, Seonwoo started cutting with the knife. Thwack, thwack, thwack. Slow sounds continued repeatedly. It looked uncomfortable, as if it wasn’t familiar to his hands.
I could teach knife skills too… I’m good at cooking… With regret, Yoonjo lowered his head. Yoonjo, who had been pushing the floor with his sneakers, suddenly asked toward Seonwoo who kept only moving the knife.
“Do you originally have to practice all these things in advance too?”
“Jobs that are seen are all like that. Even if you can’t be skilled, you have to know how to do it to a suitable level.”
When Yoonjo leaned in closer, the cooking teacher temporarily moved aside. Yoonjo stood in front of Seonwoo and looked around. After confirming no one was there, he whispered very quietly to Seonwoo.
“You’re practicing this to go on a cooking show, right?”
“Why are you speaking in a whisper like that?”
Seonwoo also started whispering following Yoonjo. At the breathy voice, his ear tickled. Yoonjo unknowingly slightly clenched his fist and whispered again.
“You’re appearing on TV again after a long time, so I can’t give spoilers.”
“As I said… there will hardly be anyone who remembers me. It’s not even a program with recognition.”
“What is it?”
“It’s like a famous restaurant tour… it doesn’t even broadcast at a famous time slot, so you won’t know.”
The longer the conversation went on, the redder the tips of Yoonjo’s ears started to turn. At the breathy voice that seemed to whisper right next to his ear, Yoonjo wiggled his fingers.
“You never know. I might know about it.”
Yoonjo, who rolled his eyes as if troubled, scurried over next to Seonwoo. Then he pushed his ear toward Seonwoo and raised his hand.
“You can just say it quietly so no one can hear. I’ll definitely keep the secret.”
The sound of knife cutting suddenly stopped. Yoonjo pushed his lips into his mouth and rolled his eyes slightly. He also nodded slightly as if he would definitely keep it no matter what Seonwoo said.
Seonwoo, who moved the knife to a slightly distant place, bent his waist slightly. Holding his breath slightly, he whispered as if blowing breath into Yoonjo’s ear.
