* * *
Jeong Minha thought.
Was Seo Sihan’s emotion really just simple fan heart?
First of all, the fan heart was certain. In the first place, all the points that occasionally made Jeong Minha’s heart flutter regarding Seo Sihan were all in that direction anyway. However, even for Jeong Minha who had a one-sided love for Seo Sihan, there were quite many times when he was flustered by this excessive fan heart.
Right now, at this very moment, was one of those times.
Jeong Minha, whose school had ended, was riding in Seo Sihan’s car as usual on the way home together.
At that moment, Seo Sihan’s phone, which was placed below, lit up brightly. It seemed a message had come from his secretary.
Since it kept coming repeatedly, not just once or twice, the phone kept shining. Jeong Minha’s gaze naturally went down, and he made eye contact with himself inside the phone screen.
“…Mm?”
Me…?
Jeong Minha stared intently at the screen. No matter how much he looked, it was definitely himself. Seo Sihan’s lock screen was an image of athlete Jeong Minha from the Olympics four years ago.
‘The fan heart is really something… But when on earth was this taken? There’s no way hyung was there… Ah, is it like a news article photo?’
Curious, Jeong Minha immediately asked Seo Sihan, who was driving.
“Hyung, who took this?”
“Hm?”
Seo Sihan, who had just stopped the car at a red light, looked at his phone following Jeong Minha’s gaze.
“Ah… Someone else took it. I saw it posted on the internet…”
“I knew it… I wondered if maybe hyung was there at that time too. Come to think of it, if hyung is my fan, you would have become one after watching the video uploaded after the match, so, well…”
“…No.”
“Huh?”
Seo Sihan, who started the car again at the changed signal, slowly spoke while looking straight ahead.
“I was also… inside the stadium that day. I watched directly. Only the photo was taken by someone else.”
At this fact he was hearing for the first time, Jeong Minha asked in surprise.
“Really?! Wow, hyung, you saw me way earlier than I thought? Since you always call yourself fan number one and whatnot, I thought it was a joke… But if it’s to that extent, it seems right, doesn’t it?”
At the news that his beloved hyung had actually become a fan after watching him directly, Jeong Minha excitedly chattered before soon turning serious. This wasn’t the time to be laughing.
“Wait a minute. Then, could it be… Hyung, did you watch… everything from beginning to end back then?”
“Yeah…”
Hearing the answer, Jeong Minha couldn’t close his mouth from shock. Well, originally he thought Seo Sihan had just become a fan after watching the match video. If you just searched “shooting Olympics” on the internet right now, videos of his highlight compilations and such would come up.
They were mainly edited with scenes of him shooting perfect scores and receiving a silver medal. If you only watched those videos, you’d really only see the appearance of a genius athlete.
But the actual match was different.
Of course, in the beginning, like the edited videos, he shot consecutive perfect scores, set new records, and received cheers, but from the middle part onward, it was ruined.
He was already anxious from the start because he had a huge fight with his coach right before the match, but still, in the beginning, he could endure it because the coach at least pretended to cheer hard. However, from the middle, the coach’s figure couldn’t be seen.
He remembered the nonsense the coach had said right before. Something about if he didn’t get a gold medal this time, both the coach and Jeong Minha would lose money, making some illegal gambling-like talk and getting angry. When Jeong Minha told him not to joke around, the coach threatened him, saying it was all in the contract Jeong Minha had signed.
After the coach disappeared, his hands began to tremble constantly. He had never been like this before, but his score kept dropping. He could hear someone shouting something from the audience seats. His heart pounded. Even though he was standing still, his breathing became labored. Is it real? If I can’t win this time… I… I signed that kind of contract? Where on earth did Coach-nim go? I, I am…
In the end, because of the consecutive mistakes after that, he fell to second place. He got a silver medal. He couldn’t even smile at the awards ceremony. He refused all interviews. Finding the coach immediately was the priority. No, maybe he just wanted to run away…
“…”
Just thinking about that time makes his heart complicated. But that wasn’t what was important right now.
“Even though you watched directly to the end… do you think I’m cool?”
“…”
“I completely messed up in the second half that day… So much so that when the full video was uploaded back then, there were even curses in the comments. Saying why would they select such a player with huge ups and downs for the national team…”
“…It wasn’t Minha’s fault. It was because of that coach.”
“Well, that’s true but…”
“And now… those kinds of comments have all disappeared, right?”
“…Huh?”
Because of Seo Sihan who smiled quietly while watching the front as he drove, Jeong Minha felt slightly creeped out. Just what did you do…? He didn’t have the courage to ask, so he just quietly kept his mouth shut, and Seo Sihan continued speaking.
“I think Minha is really cool. If there had just been no interference like that… Actually, you did incredibly well until then. Minha says he couldn’t do it all after that, but in the end, you also raised your score again at the last moment.”
“…”
“Look even now. Even though that happened and you gave up for several years, you were selected as a national representative again. Always having confidence in your own work and acting with self-assurance… that’s definitely cool.”
“Y-yes…”
When Seo Sihan praised him seriously without even smiling, Jeong Minha unnecessarily fidgeted with his seatbelt to check if it was on properly.
Then did hyung really become a fan just from watching that match? When Jeong Minha thought Seo Sihan was interesting, Seo Sihan additionally explained the reason.
“The reason I became a fan was because I liked that cool aspect of Minha but… Before that, it was because of that kindness… of helping others as if it’s nothing…”
“…Excuse me?”
Jeong Minha stopped being shy and suddenly looked at Seo Sihan as if he had heard nonsense.
What on earth is he talking about? What did I do at the Olympics…? Kind? Rather, I think I refused interviews and avoided everything rudely… Did this hyung really watch me directly?
He tried to recall the memories from that time, but nothing particularly came to mind. In the first place, he wasn’t really in his right mind at the time, so he didn’t remember well. Even though he was about to let it go, thinking Seo Sihan must have found out when doing his background check, he could only wonder if he had really done something impressive enough for Seo Sihan in his life.
Earlier he couldn’t ask because he was scared, but this time he really couldn’t ask because he had no idea what it was about. Just what did this hyung see to become his fan? After agonizing, Jeong Minha came to one conclusion.
‘Whatever it is, in the end doesn’t it mean he only likes my athlete appearance? Looking at how it’s been several months since we’ve lived together but the lock screen is still that photo from back then…’
…I like everything about hyung’s daily life though.
Having thought this far, Jeong Minha felt unnecessarily disappointed.
“…Hyung. Don’t you want to change your background screen?”
“Why…? Can’t I use Minha? I really like it though… But if Minha doesn’t like it, I’ll change it…”
Seo Sihan apologized, thinking Jeong Minha was creeped out. That wasn’t what Jeong Minha meant, so he immediately corrected his words.
“It’s not that… Um, that’s just too old. Let’s, let’s change it to the latest one.”
“Huh?”
Following Jeong Minha’s subsequent request, Seo Sihan changed lanes.
The two, who suddenly entered a four-cut photo place on the way home, diligently took photos. Generally, Seo Sihan followed the poses that Jeong Minha instructed.
At 27 years old, doing cat ears, poking cheeks, and even finger hearts in front of a camera made Seo Sihan a bit embarrassed, but because Jeong Minha, who was taking photos with him, looked excited, he diligently followed along without saying anything. In the middle, when Jeong Minha puffed out his cheeks, it even captured the moment when Seo Sihan unconsciously pressed them with his finger.
After finishing all the photos and saving them to his phone with the QR code, Jeong Minha made a satisfied expression.
‘Yes! I got photos of hyung too. But looking at it like this, why do I look so weird? Hyung is handsome just staying still. He’s really cute.’
Jeong Minha secretly giggled, then asked while sneakily gauging the situation.
“Um… But you still like me better when I’m in athlete mode, right hyung? Then you don’t have to change it. Since that’s also me… Ah, no, I mean what I’m saying is…!”
“Mm… Of course I really like athlete Minha too but… I also like Minha now?”
“Uh, what?!”
“Well, Minha is always cool and cute in daily life too… It’s just that for daily life photos, I was worried you’d say no if I asked for permission.”
“I, I see.”
At the words that he also liked his daily life, Jeong Minha immediately felt better. You can do anything if hyung wants to. When he coolly gave permission, Seo Sihan was surprised and delighted. He seemed to be searching for something in his gallery right away, then showed it to Jeong Minha.
“Can I use this one?”
Jeong Minha, who found Seo Sihan asking for permission for everything cute, said “anything is fine” while looking at the phone, then screamed.
Inside the phone screen that Seo Sihan was holding with a smile, Jeong Minha was sleeping while even drooling.
“When did you take this?!”
“Last time in the car. You definitely said I could take it right before you fell asleep…”
“Ahhh…!”
Since he himself had given permission, he couldn’t really say anything and just swallowed his scream inside. But no matter how he looked at it, it was embarrassing.
“Ah, I really look so stupid! What is this! Why do you have this?!”
“Why? It’s so cute though…”
“…”
Should I like this or not? Sometimes it seemed like he liked cool things, but suddenly he likes this kind of stupid thing? Just what does this hyung like about what I do?! Ah, I really have no idea at all…
Jeong Minha, whose head hurt, compromised with Seo Sihan. You don’t have to delete it, so please just don’t change it to your background screen… Seo Sihan said okay and smiled smoothly.
Seeing that, Jeong Minha almost said everything was fine but held back. As expected, honey traps were really scary.
