While Ka Jerim was lost in thought, the members were about to return to the dorm. Ma Doun, who had been walking ahead, noticed that Ka Jerim wasn’t following them and turned around.
“Jerim-ah, what’s wrong?”
At Ma Doun’s words, all the members turned to look at Ka Jerim, and Ka Jerim fidgeted with his fingertips before finally opening his mouth.
“Actually, I have something to say to the director, so please go ahead!”
“Huh? Should we wait for you?”
“I think the conversation will be long.”
“Still, going together would be better…”
Ma Doun kept saying he would wait, as if he felt bad about going first. Park Eden, who had been staring at Ka Jerim looking troubled from behind, eventually stepped forward and patted Ma Doun’s back as if to tell him to stop.
“He must have something to say privately. Jerim-ah, have a good talk and come back.”
“Thank you.”
Since they needed to discuss this album among the members at the dorm anyway, they had to go early.
After Ka Jerim said he understood and briefly greeted the members, he headed to the rooftop of the agency building. After checking several times to see if anyone was on the rooftop, he locked the door and immediately called Go Yoon.
“He’s not answering.”
But no matter how long the ringtone went on, Go Yoon didn’t answer. He called again, but again he didn’t answer. Looking at the time the text came, it hadn’t been long, so Ka Jerim thought he would answer soon and called one last time thinking this would be his final attempt.
Click-
“Hello?”
Fortunately, Go Yoon answered this time.
“Yoon hyung?”
[Oh, Hohyeon-ah.]
“Why does your voice echo so much, hyung?”
Go Yoon laughed as if to say he was sharp.
[You’re quick to notice. I was showering and answered.]
“I’m sorry.”
Ka Jerim felt like he had interrupted Go Yoon for no reason. Ka Jerim slightly scrunched up and then relaxed the bridge of his nose, trying to hang up and tell Go Yoon to finish showering. As Ka Jerim was about to hang up, Go Yoon spoke in an urgent voice.
[Don’t hang up. We’re finally in contact after so long, let’s talk a bit. You don’t even contact me much because of Abyss activities.]
“I’ve had a lot going on lately.”
It was true that Abyss had been busy lately. Even though they were rookies, they suddenly joined places where schedules had fallen through, and they were surprisingly busy doing various activities here and there like radio shows and whatnot.
[Cha Hohyeon. You’ve completely become a celebrity.]
“No, hyung, you’re also a celebrity… That’s not it. Um…”
[You’re busier than me. Huh? I have to beg just to make one phone call with you.]
“Hyung. Please.”
Ka Jerim could feel through the phone that he was laughing because teasing him was fun, but he couldn’t scold him completely. Even though he spoke playfully, he could tell there was sincerity in it, so he felt needlessly sorry toward Go Yoon.
“I want to contact you often too, but lately I’ve been with the members almost all the time.”
A relationship that couldn’t be discovered by anyone, a relationship that must not be known to the world.
Ka Jerim and Go Yoon were always afraid even when they talked on the phone without any interruptions. Since this conversation couldn’t be leaked, texts were cautious and phone calls were not easy. Moreover, since Ka Jerim had recently gotten busy, contact had become almost impossible.
[……]
Go Yoon knew this well too, so he stopped joking and quietly listened to Ka Jerim’s voice. To Ka Jerim, Go Yoon’s silence felt like he was feeling doubtful about their relationship that had to be hidden. So Ka Jerim deliberately talked more to erase this silence.
“I can’t promise to do it often from now on, but I’ll try. Most of all, hyung, really I…”
His face seemed to get hot as he tried to say the next words, but if he didn’t say them, he wouldn’t know. So Ka Jerim barely held back his embarrassment and awkwardness and spoke in a crawling voice, but loud enough to be heard on the other end of the phone.
“…You know I like you a lot, right?”
He wasn’t originally stingy with expressing himself, but still, what’s embarrassing is embarrassing. As he stuttered like a fool spitting out words that made his face burn, Go Yoon finally burst into laughter.
[I don’t know.]
“Ah, damn it.”
Why had Go Yoon become so mischievous? As Ka Jerim grumbled more out of embarrassment, whether he found that cute, Go Yoon laughed harder and then gradually stopped laughing and said.
[Cha Hohyeon. I miss you.]
“……”
[I miss you but I can’t see you.]
At that, Ka Jerim shut his mouth tight, and on the other end of the phone, Go Yoon was also silent. He had vowed not to become neglectful, but he couldn’t help but become neglectful. It wasn’t like before when they promoted together and lived together.
[It’s nice to hear your voice like this, but I think I have to hang up now.]
“……”
Ka Jerim gripped his phone tightly. He wanted to talk more on the call but didn’t want to make Go Yoon uncomfortable by throwing an unreasonable tantrum. Also, afraid that his disappointment might reach Go Yoon, Ka Jerim tried hard to close his mouth that wouldn’t close. But then.
[……(Bang!)]
“Hyung?”
[(Bang! Bang!!)]
“Yoon hyung?”
Suddenly a loud sound rang out.
And a shouting.
[(Go Yoon! Come out, you bastard!!)]
A familiar voice. A voice he could never forget.
No, a voice he must not forget was heard.
“Juno hyung?”
It was Kang Juno’s voice.
“Yoon hyung? Can you hear my voice? What on earth is this situation…”
Click-
The call was cut off.
Kang Juno’s voice heard after so long, but his voice was full of anger.
With a somehow bad premonition, Ka Jerim just stared blankly at the disconnected phone screen. In case Go Yoon might contact him, Ka Jerim kept holding his phone in his hand, but in the end, no contact came back from Go Yoon.
* * *
“Ah damn, where’s my lotion.”
Kang Juno came in, flinging open Go Yoon’s bedroom door. Since he had showered in the bathroom in Go Yoon’s room last time, there was a high possibility the lotion was in Go Yoon’s room bathroom. He shook his wet hair and frowned as he tried to enter the bathroom, but soon confirmed that Go Yoon was also showering and frowned.
“No wonder the water pressure was weak.”
It seemed like the water wasn’t coming out very well, and it turned out Go Yoon was also in the middle of showering. Just in case there might be lotion in the room, Kang Juno tried to look for lotion in Go Yoon’s room.
That’s when Go Yoon’s shower sound stopped.
[Hohyeon-ah.]
At the same time, a name that could be heard, that shouldn’t be heard, was heard.
* * *
Kang Juno pounded on the door fiercely, bang bang, as if it would crumble. Seeing Kang Juno knocking on the door so hard it shook the entire bathroom, Go Yoon realized something was wrong and stopped the call he was on.
[Come out!!]
[……Yoon hyung?]
The screen still showed “call in progress.”
‘How did it come to this?’
Ka Jerim spoke to Go Yoon in a worried voice after hearing the sound, but Go Yoon couldn’t answer. Go Yoon, who had been alternately looking at the phone where Ka Jerim was still saying something and the bathroom door, quickly hung up.
[Go Yoon!]
Kang Juno called his name from outside and knocked on the door, but he didn’t open it. He just repeatedly took deep breaths in and out. Go Yoon stared blankly at his own hardened and rigid expression reflected in the mirror.
‘I can’t go out with this face right now.’
It was a suspicious face no matter who looked at it. Go Yoon kept trying to smile by pulling his lips to the sides.
“This is driving me crazy.”
But the smile wasn’t forming properly, and even his lips trembled from tension. In the end, he had no choice but to shut his eyes tightly as if he couldn’t bear to look at his pathetic self in the mirror anymore.
‘Did he hear? If he heard, from where did he hear?’
It was his own careless fault. It was a call after a long time, and since it was a bathroom inside the room, he felt relieved thinking it was an extremely private space. As he gripped the sink with a serious face, thinking over and over, when it seemed like Kang Juno who had been knocking on the door outside also became quiet, the door suddenly flung open.
“Go Yoon- Are you okay? Why are you like this!”
Whether Kang Juno had found the key, he kicked open the bathroom door with a jingling sound. As soon as Kang Juno entered the bathroom, he checked Go Yoon’s condition and immediately exclaimed seeing Go Yoon standing there blankly as if his soul had left somewhere, roughly dressed with water still dripping from his wet hair without having wiped it.
“Nothing happened.”
But as soon as he was caught by Kang Juno, Go Yoon answered as if he had prepared. At that answer, Kang Juno frowned.
“What?”
“I was just washing up and thinking.”
Kang Juno, who had initially looked over Go Yoon’s entire body with a worried face, narrowed his brow after hearing that answer and repeatedly asked what was wrong. But Go Yoon just repeated like a parrot that nothing had happened.
“Don’t lie.”
“I’m not lying, it’s true. I was just thinking about our comeback and preparations and stuff… There’s a lot to think about. You know. I originally think a lot.”
In the end, Kang Juno was enraged by Go Yoon’s attitude armed with nonchalance.
“Go Yoon. Do you really have nothing to say?”
“……”
“To me, no. To us, you’re really not hiding anything?”
“There’s no way there would be.”
The moment Kang Juno heard the answer, his face turned ice-cold in an instant. He strode toward Go Yoon.
“Then explain the phone call you answered. Right now.”
Go Yoon’s hand flinched and began to tremble. Go Yoon, afraid his trembling hand might be caught, tried hard to press down on his trembling hand with his other hand and tried not to show that he was shaking. Going even further, Go Yoon even smiled as if nothing had happened even while looking at Kang Juno’s face.
“Do I have to explain even this? I just had a call with a friend, that’s all.”
