***
After his shift ended, Sangho sat in the janitor’s break room and looked at the clock. There were about two hours left until Nam Dohyun’s class ended.
Should I contact Wonha and Kyungoh to let them know I’ll be having dinner before coming home?
Well, Wonha’s filming schedule was all over the place anyway. As for Kyungoh, with the competition coming up soon, he seemed to be sleeping either at home or at the training camp depending on his training schedule. Even during his rehabilitation period, the coach seemed to be strict with him since he needed to manage his weight before the competition. Well, he was the ace of the team, after all. Since they were aiming for first place nationally this time, they’d have to prepare thoroughly.
Still, if he didn’t come home at his usual time without warning, they’d probably worry. Besides, he was meeting Nam Dohyun… After thinking it over for a bit, Sangho called Wonha. Since Wonha and Nam Dohyun knew each other anyway, he figured he should at least mention that he was meeting him.
But even after several rings, Wonha didn’t answer. Wonha would normally pick up after two or three rings if he was available. Thinking he might be filming, Sangho was about to hang up. At that moment, the call connected and Wonha’s whispering voice came through.
— …Hyung, what’s up?
“Ah, if you’re busy, I’ll call later.”
— Uh, yeah. I’ll call you ba—
— If you want to register, you need a number ti—
Click.
“…?”
Sangho stared at his phone with a bewildered expression at the suddenly disconnected call. That was Kyungoh’s voice just now.
Why are Wonha and Kyungoh together?
It was true that he’d told them to get along well. But being together at this hour… Wonha had a schedule and wasn’t Kyungoh supposed to be at training? Well, they didn’t necessarily have to tell him whenever the two of them met. But considering their behavior up until now, Wonha and Kyungoh being together was definitely unnatural.
The two of them lived in the same house but rarely ran into each other. When Wonha was home, Kyungoh wasn’t there, and when Kyungoh was there, Wonha wasn’t. Since he’d seen them talking at the cafe last weekend, there had been almost no contact. That’s why Sangho had been worried that they were deliberately avoiding each other.
Did they get close in the meantime?
That could be it. Maybe they unexpectedly got along well and wanted to meet just the two of them since he was at home. As that thought crossed his mind, Sangho unconsciously pouted.
“What are you doing?”
At the voice from behind, Sangho quickly turned his head. It was Nam Dohyun.
“Ah, I was just resting. But you said you had class…”
“It was canceled.”
Sangho glanced at the clock. It showed a little past 3 o’clock. It seemed a bit early to eat dinner or drink beer. Besides, he hadn’t even told Wonha yet that he was meeting Dohyun… Rolling his eyes around, Sangho was about to refuse Dohyun, saying they should drink beer next time.
“We have some time left. Want to take a walk up the back mountain? There’s a cherry blossom tree at the top.”
But before he could start speaking, Dohyun said that. And Dohyun casually fiddled with his phone before smoothly holding out a photo. It was a very pretty picture of a profusely blooming pink flowering tree at the top of some mountain. Below, the Korea University campus could be seen small in the distance. The wrestling team went to the back mountain for morning exercise almost every day, but he hadn’t known there was a place like this there.
“Wow. Are the cherry blossoms still blooming?”
“They’re double cherry blossoms, so they bloom a bit late. It won’t take long. Round trip… 40 minutes?”
The wrestling team kids would return in about 20 minutes though. Looking at the photo that came out as nicely as if it was taken at some tourist spot, the desire to go see it suddenly welled up. Sangho, who had been working and holed up in his semi-basement room playing games, had never even properly gone to see the ocean.
“The trail is well maintained too. They planted a bunch of cypress trees near the entrance, so the scent is nice.”
At Dohyun’s words, Sangho kept staring intently at the photo. The pretty double cherry blossoms against the blue sky and a trail full of trees. Should I go see it? I’m tired of being cooped up at home all the time. Besides, the weather was killer good today.
“40 minutes?”
“Yeah.”
“Well… should we go?”
Pretending not to be interested, Sangho scratched the back of his head while blushing slightly.
“Huff… huff…”
He said it was a trail.
Sangho walked through the forest path, chasing after Dohyun who was walking briskly ahead. When they first entered the back mountain entrance, he had been quite delighted by the scent of the abundantly planted cypress trees and the gently sloped mountain path. Getting a bit excited, he had walked ahead of Nam Dohyun, then stood in place and blankly looked up at the sunlight streaming through the leaves. The spring sunlight flickered between the leaves as if blinking. He was simply amazed that a place like this existed in the middle of the city.
But as they climbed the mountain a bit more, an uphill path with wooden logs embedded here and there appeared. Of course, compared to other mountains, it was well maintained and an appropriate course for beginners, but for Sangho who had never hiked, it was an extremely difficult path. Nam Dohyun walked ahead with a perfectly fine expression, then stopped and waited several times when Sangho fell behind.
Sangho, who barely made it up to where Dohyun was standing, gasped and took labored breaths. Thump thump. With his heart pounding like crazy, sweat poured down like rain. The forest scent kept rushing into his nostrils. It was a smell mixed with slightly humid earth, rotting leaves, and rain-soaked wood. And somewhere, a faint herbal scent mixed in…
…Herbal scent?
Whoosh. Sangho let out a deep sigh and rubbed his nose. He felt a slight sense of dissonance, but such a smell disappeared in an instant.
“We’re almost there. Want to go back down if you’re tired?”
“No.”
Sangho glanced back at the path they’d climbed and shook his head. They’d come this far already. He really wanted to see that double cherry blossom tree.
“You can go up first. I’ll climb up slowly.”
“Well then… be careful on the stairs.”
Leaving those words, Dohyun briskly climbed up ahead. Sangho watched Dohyun’s retreating figure. If it had been Wonha or Kyungoh, they probably would have insisted on going together to the end. While Dohyun seemed friendly and close, he strangely maintained a distance that seemed indifferent to him. Sangho found that indifference rather comfortable.
“Whew.”
Taking a deep breath, Sangho put strength into his thighs again and climbed the mountain.
Sangho arrived at the summit almost 40 minutes later. Gasping and barely climbing the last steps, Sangho stood for a while catching his breath as he looked at the profusely blooming flowers on the large double cherry blossom tree before his eyes. It was a more beautiful sight than he’d expected. Under that tree, Dohyun sat with an expressionless face, arms resting on his knees, looking down at the scenery below. Sangho blankly stared at the double cherry blossom tree and Dohyun.
I hadn’t been thinking about it, but he’s really handsome.
Though not masculine lines like Kyungoh’s, Dohyun seemed to have a slim and solid body with long, straight limbs. Between the jet-black bangs falling down to his thick, drawn-on eyebrows were slightly languid-looking double eyelids and unfathomably deep black eyes that gave off a cool feeling. Below his smoothly extended nose, lips that looked sculpted were firmly closed.
Dohyun, who had been looking down at the scenery below for a while, turned his gaze to look at Sangho. Sangho stopped in place as if trapped in a spider’s web and met Dohyun’s eyes for a long while. For a moment when a few seconds felt like eternity, Dohyun tilted his head and pointed to the spot next to him.
“You waited a lot.”
“No.”
As Sangho hesitantly plopped down next to Dohyun, Dohyun muttered.
“I can wait this much.”
After looking down at the scenery from the mountaintop for some time, Sangho came down from the back mountain in the late afternoon. By the time they came down to flat ground, it was almost dinner time and the red sunset glow was setting.
The place Dohyun took him to was an old beer hall near Korea University. For supposedly being a chaebol’s son, he sure knew of shabby places like this. The sign with the establishment’s name in tacky font was surrounded by burned-out light bulbs. As they entered the shop, a bowl of macaroni puffed snacks was promptly placed on the purple table.
“Fried chicken. And two draft beers please.”
Sangho looked around with curiosity at the shop he was entering for the first time. Groups of college students were gathered in threes and fives, having trivial conversations. It seemed to be a popular restaurant mainly visited by Korea University students. On each table, as if it was a must-order menu item, fried chicken was placed.
If he had also normally studied and become a college student, would he have been chattering away with friends over a beer in a place like this? Sangho felt something flutter with an embarrassed feeling. His janitor colleagues were all adults at least ten years older than him. No matter how well they treated him, the truth was he couldn’t shake the feeling of oil floating on water.
