Anyway, I’m also a man in his mid-twenties. Sitting here naked and pressed together, there was no way I’d be unaffected. I rubbed my body against the hand digging between my legs and wrapped my arms around Jukyung’s neck to pull him.
CH 16
We ate a late breakfast-slash-lunch, went out, and played snowboarding all day. After rolling around in the snow a few times, my face and limbs froze even though I’d come out bundled up tight. With stiff muscles and a creaking body, I returned home playing around bumping into Jukyung here and there.
I desperately wanted to thaw my body in hot spring water and warm my insides with a spicy soup. We decided to use the hot spring while waiting after ordering from the house and hurried our steps.
“Did we leave the lights on in our reception room?”
Getting out of the car, I asked puzzled. Against the backdrop of the mountain where evening dusk was beginning to fall, light leaking from the vacation home was illuminating the surroundings fairly intensely.
“No. Maybe the caretaker ahjussi? We didn’t request anything, and if he stopped by he would have contacted us to say so.”
Jukyung furrowed his brow with a slightly suspicious expression.
Jukyung took the lead and strode forward, then pressed the password and opened the front door wide. A noisy commotion was echoing from past the entrance hall toward the dining room.
“Ah, those crazy bastards…”
Jukyung, who had stood there briefly listening carefully to the sounds, made a groaning sound and pressed his forehead.
“People you know?”
I, who’d been following close behind, turned around Jukyung’s side and headed toward the dining room to look inside. But immediately Jukyung pulled my arm.
“You go upstairs, wash up, change your clothes first, then come down.”
Jukyung pulled me slightly and pushed my back toward the stairs.
It’s a face that looks somehow troublesome.
“Why? Who is it?”
“Friends. They’re low quality. It’s better not to meet them.”
“Huh? Friends? But how did they get here…?”
Even while being pushed, I asked in bewilderment.
“Originally those guys too… I mean, they’re close with Jehyun hyung. Hey, stop talking and just go up. I’ll call you in a bit.”
His attitude seemed worried I’d get caught. No, but why? Is he not on good terms with his friends? Besides, saying they’re low quality—why would he be friends with such people? It’s not like he’s a school bully forced to hang out with them.
I didn’t understand, but anyway since he told me to go up, I went up. I’d been planning to take a half-bath in the sea water hot spring, but since there seemed to be uninvited guests, I just showered briefly, changed clothes, and waited. I opened the curtains wide and lay sprawled on the long chair placed right in front of the window, blankly gazing at the sea. The sea, which had already passed playtime and darkly sank, brought rough sounds.
Friends.
When was it? Around the time I started freeloading at Jukyung’s house, we went to the movie theater and happened to run into Jukyung’s friend. Even then he didn’t introduce me to his friend. What did he say? That there was no need to know?
This time felt similar to then. The feeling of being hurt for no reason was the same then and now. No, should I say it’s gotten stronger? But on the other hand, I also felt that meeting and being introduced had become more awkward. Unlike then, now we’d become some kind of strange relationship. It also felt somewhat uncomfortable to meet Jukyung’s close friends or people close like family.
I sighed.
What on earth do you want, Kang Doyun? I couldn’t understand my own heart.
“Did you wash up?”
Not long after, Jukyung came in and asked. His face looked quite tired. Until just a while ago after snowboarding all day, his face was still lively.
“I’m hungry.”
Still lying on the long chair, I just stretched out my neck limply. Looking at me like that, Jukyung clicked his tongue as if pathetic.
“Wait a little. I’ll wash up and come out, so we’ll go down together.”
“Did I somehow go back to being six years old?”
About to enter the bathroom attached to the room, Jukyung looked at me.
“What nonsense are you talking about?”
“No, you’re treating me like a child who can’t do anything alone.”
Jukyung looked at me for a long time while wrinkling his straight forehead. But seeing that he didn’t argue back, he must feel that his behavior is excessive too.
“Don’t worry. I won’t say anything that would cause misunderstanding to your friends.”
Jukyung’s wrinkles deepened further. If a young guy keeps frowning like that all the time, wrinkles that make him look bad-tempered will form before he even turns thirty. I wanted to go rub them smooth with my fingers, but I held back not knowing what I’d hear if I did that.
“What misunderstanding?”
“I mean… like that we share a bed? You don’t seem to know, but a lot of people see that strangely. That’s right, hey. Shouldn’t we do something about the room first? With this many rooms, us two sharing a room with one bed looks strange no matter who sees it.”
“Such…”
Jukyung let out an empty laugh as if absurd.
“Who cares about such things? Don’t worry about useless things and just stay. Those guys are a bit weird, so I’m worried you’ll be stripped down to your soul if I leave you alone among them.”
“Yes sir, ahjussi. I’ll wait obediently.”
I answered sarcastically. Jukyung seemed about to say something while frowning again, but just firmly closed his mouth, then closed the bathroom door and disappeared. Right, well. What would he have to say?
A moment later, water sounds began to be faintly heard from inside. Outside the window had become pitch dark in the brief moment I’d looked away. The lights of other houses scattered sparsely, the lights of shops located on the beach far below, the headlights of cars running on the coastal road, and the lights of fishing boats floating on the black night sea twinkled in the bluish darkness.
Feeling somehow stifled, I sighed and began to slowly walk around the room. That’s when it happened.
Knock knock.
Someone knocked on the door. Since Kwon Jukyung was still in the bathroom, those knocking on the door must definitely be Jukyung’s friends. I was slightly conflicted. What should I do? Should I open the door? But wouldn’t it also be funny not to open it? They might think it’s Kwon Jukyung’s room and just walk right in. Then it would become an even funnier situation.
I hesitated briefly, then eventually decided to open the door. It wasn’t like we were filming a thriller movie, but somehow my heart pounded.
“Yes.”
I answered a bit loudly, swallowed once, then opened the door. A young man my age was standing there, and when our eyes met, he made a sound like “oh” and his eyes widened.
“You’re Jukyung’s friend, right? Jukyung seems to still be washing up…”
But why am I in this room? Embarrassed, I hesitated while brushing my wet hair.
“I’m Han Sungjoon.”
But the man suddenly held out his hand.
“Huh? Ah, yes. I’m Kang Doyun…”
When I took the hand he held out reflexively, the man named Sungjoon smiled brightly and shook the hand vigorously.
“Wow, I heard from Heechan and kept wanting to see you. To think we’d finally meet like this when that bastard kept you so hidden away…”
Sungjoon even laughed making an “ahaha” sound. I was just bewildered as my shoulders swayed from him shaking my hand.
“Heechan?”
“Ah! You wouldn’t know. Well, that seedless bastard didn’t introduce himself, right? Um, there’s a friend named Jung Heechan who’s on the first floor now, and he said he saw Doyun-ssi at the movie theater in summer.”
“Ah.”
Since I’d just been thinking about it, I quickly recalled the face I’d met at the movie theater.
“Anyway, what are you doing here? If you’re done washing up, come down. We prepared dinner.”
“Dinner?”
“Yes. It’s an assorted sashimi, spicy seafood stew, and seafood soup set. Not our lacking skills, but guaranteed taste procured from a famous restaurant. Come down and eat first. That bastard Jukyung takes forever to wash up anyway. You’re late, aren’t you hungry?”
Spicy seafood stew and seafood soup. Whether because I’d opened the door or because I’d heard those words, it seemed like the spicy and refreshing smell was rising all the way here. But I couldn’t bring myself to say that Kwon Jukyung told me to wait since I wasn’t an elementary schooler, so I hesitated a bit. Some excuse…
“I’m not really hungry right now…”
Grumble.
“……”
“……”
After a brief silence, Sungjoon laughed “ahaha” again. He was a person with quite a loud voice. If not for the water sounds, his voice would probably be heard by Jukyung in the bathroom too. My embarrassment doubled.
“Being reserved between men like Doyun-ssi? Kwon-whatever isn’t a master, there’s no need to serve him before eating. Come here.”
Sungjoon pulled me and dragged me downstairs. The closer we got to the dining room, the thicker the seafood soup smell became. In the dining room were two more shadows moving busily.
“I’ve brought Kang Doyun-ssi!”
An “ohhh” sound, like cheers you’d only hear during boys’ school gym class, rang out.
“Why, why?”
I hesitated in bewilderment.
“We met once at the theater, right? I’m Jung Heechan.”
