1―9. Fan Heart
Before they knew it, it had become May.
Because the weather was starting to get quite hot, Jeong Minha had left the window in his room wide open. And since the gym was under inspection, he just turned on a drama in his room and did a simple workout.
After diligently finishing his stretching and strength training while feeling the cool breeze, he felt like he was going to die from the heat.
Jeong Minha immediately went into the shower in his room, and only after washing up did he realize one thing.
“Huh? Did I wash all my clothes?”
These days, because he was hot right after exercising and bathed frequently throughout the day, his already limited basic t-shirts quickly ran out. Of course, aside from those, Seo Sihan always bought him tons of other clothes, but those were kept separately in the dress room.
At first, he had wondered why on earth there was a separate room in the house just for storing clothes. Wouldn’t it be fine to just roughly put them in the bedroom closet? However, because Seo Sihan’s gift offensive continued endlessly, they eventually overflowed.
So he had moved the rest of the clothes to a place called the dress room, leaving only basic clothes behind. As for Jeong Minha, he didn’t visit there often because it felt burdensome. Just having short sleeves and jerseys was enough for him.
But currently, all the tops had completely evaporated from his bedroom closet. Having no choice, he walked to the dress room to get clothes while wearing only bottoms.
Then he happened to run into Seo Sihan, who was going to get coffee in the living room.
“Min…”
Seo Sihan stopped talking as he looked toward Jeong Minha.
Right after, when he almost spilled his coffee, Jeong Minha immediately reached out and caught it for him.
“Whoa, be careful.”
“…Th, thanks.”
Unlike the dazed Seo Sihan, Jeong Minha moved his feet toward his destination again as if nothing had happened. Seeing Jeong Minha’s retreating figure, Seo Sihan carefully asked.
“Minha-ya…”
“Yes?”
“Um… are you very hot?”
“I’m fine right now though?”
“Then why are your clothes…”
“Ah, I washed all my tops so I’m going to get new ones.”
“Ah…”
Having finished what he had to say, Jeong Minha was about to turn back around when he sensed something strange and quickly turned to look at Seo Sihan.
For a shooting athlete who could see even a small dot 10 meters away, the face of his housemate who was only a few meters away was bound to be even more visible.
‘…Huh?’
Seo Sihan’s ears and cheeks were tinged with a slight pink. It was exactly the same as when he suddenly avoided conversation while teaching him for exams.
But since he might be sick, Jeong Minha immediately approached Seo Sihan and asked.
“Hyung? Are you okay?”
When Jeong Minha came closer, Seo Sihan gasped and drew in a breath. When asked if he was sick, Seo Sihan shook his head slightly. Then, as if embarrassed, he made a small fist with one hand and brought it near his mouth before answering quietly.
“It’s not that… Minha is…”
The honest Seo Sihan almost spoke without a filter for a moment, but came to his senses and changed it to a euphemism.
“…so cool.”
“Yes… What?!”
Jeong Minha hurriedly followed Seo Sihan’s gaze and looked down at his own body. Isn’t this just a common male body? It was absurd.
Ever since he was young, while training together with his peers, he had seen many kids who took off their tops because it was hot. He himself had done the same, so Jeong Minha didn’t think much of situations like this. It’s between guys, so what’s the big deal?
But Seo Sihan was different. Come to think of it, Seo Sihan was an incredibly passionate fan of athlete Jeong Minha.
Staring intently was still okay, but at the words that followed, even Jeong Minha couldn’t help but be shocked.
“Can I… touch?”
“Wh, what, what?!”
“Your arm…”
Ah, ahaha. What a surprise. Right, just the arm is fine…
Since it was right after working out, and the muscles were neatly positioned without being excessive, he had been satisfied looking at himself in the mirror. Jeong Minha, who was secretly proud, coolly extended his right arm.
And Jeong Minha had forgotten an important fact.
That Seo Sihan was the person who had strangely touched his gloved hands ever since they first met at the cafe…
“…!!”
As soon as 5 seconds of touching passed, Jeong Minha finally couldn’t stand it and hid his arm behind his back.
“I, I suddenly got too cold. I need to put on clothes quickly!”
Jeong Minha, who quickly fled to the dress room, could only come out again after he heard the sound of Seo Sihan entering his room.
***
“Haah…”
Jeong Minha sat at the desk in his room and deeply pondered again.
Ever since he realized that Seo Sihan had pretended not to know about the embarrassing cheek kiss incident from before, the one-sided love stock in Jeong Minha’s brain had drawn a downward curve.
Especially after meeting and talking with his mother all together after that, his feelings of gratitude grew even larger, so those futile fantasies didn’t even come to mind for a while. So without unnecessarily indulging his ulterior motives, he had been spending his daily life diligently going to school and training.
However, because Seo Sihan kept acting like this, Jeong Minha’s one-sided love graph began to rise again.
“It’s not my fault…”
As Jeong Minha said, this strange atmosphere kept occurring.
It was when they were sitting on the living room sofa on the weekend watching TV.
Jeong Minha was watching a variety show, and Seo Sihan was sitting next to him reading documents. And while turning pages, he accidentally gave his hand a small paper cut.
“Ah…”
“Huh?”
When Seo Sihan’s hand started bleeding, Jeong Minha immediately got up and brought medicine and a bandaid.
“Thanks. I’ll do it myself.”
“Just give me your hand.”
Jeong Minha held Seo Sihan’s hand with his left hand and opened the bandaid with his right hand. Since his hyung being hurt was more important, he didn’t even notice holding his hand and just diligently applied medicine and put on the bandaid. Seo Sihan also just quietly smiled and watched.
Then, when the loosely attached bandaid seemed like it would fall off, Jeong Minha hurriedly grabbed it with his right hand.
“…”
When Jeong Minha grasped Seo Sihan’s hand with his right hand, Seo Sihan froze for a moment before turning his gaze away.
After diligently fixing the bandaid, Jeong Minha raised his head to look at Seo Sihan and once again instinctively sensed that something was off.
‘What is it this time… I really can’t figure it out.’
He was fine just a moment ago, so why are you suddenly embarrassed? Because Seo Sihan was acting like this, Jeong Minha also felt awkward and immediately let go of his hand.
Seo Sihan thanked him and picked up the documents to continue reading. Jeong Minha stared at that appearance, then held his hand once more.
“…?”
When he held it with his left hand, it was fine. I’m just checking if there are any other injuries, he made an excuse and held it firmly while enduring his embarrassment as much as possible. When Seo Sihan just smiled saying it was fine now, Jeong Minha immediately switched to holding it with his right hand.
“…!”
This time, he definitely saw Seo Sihan’s surprised expression. But why? Jeong Minha’s confusion grew bigger than his embarrassment, so he just stayed still with a questioning look on his face. Then Seo Sihan, who had been docile the whole time, wrapped his hand around Jeong Minha’s as well.
Startled, Jeong Minha looked at Seo Sihan’s expression. The face that usually just smiled slightly wasn’t smiling and seemed a bit tense. He was just intently observing Jeong Minha’s right hand.
“…It doesn’t look like there are any more injuries.”
Jeong Minha quickly pulled his hand back. At this, Seo Sihan followed Jeong Minha’s right hand as it was placed on the sofa with his gaze, then looked at Jeong Minha again with a smile and began reading the documents once more.
None of the TV program content he watched after that entered his head at all. Only after Seo Sihan answered a work call and returned to his room did Jeong Minha also rush to his own room.
Then he lay on the bed and lifted both his hands up.
“Hmm…”
When looking at the outside, both seemed ordinary, but when he turned them to show his palms, there was a clear difference.
His left hand was relatively unblemished, while his right hand had quite a lot of calluses and scars. They were traces of holding a gun all day long. Small scars were visible on each finger joint.
Did he just look because it was interesting? But for that to be the case, Seo Sihan’s expression earlier really looked like the face of someone who was tense because he liked it.
Jeong Minha glared at his right palm. He had been embarrassed by this kind of hand so he had mainly held hands with just his left hand until now, but his hyung actually likes this…? Ah, fan heart is really difficult…
He placed his hand on his face, palm still open. He could feel the corners of his mouth trying to rise on their own. While it was embarrassing that Seo Sihan even liked this kind of hand, somehow he felt proud.
