# Chapter 64
I sat on the windowsill and watched the game until the first half ended. Our eyes met several times with Kwon Dojin’s during the game, but it passed so quickly that I wondered if it was just my imagination.
“Nobody scored in the end.”
There’s still 45 minutes in the second half, so surely someone would score during that time. If not, they’d probably go into overtime. Or maybe they’d decide it with penalty kicks?
Anyway, since I was done watching, I decided to hear the game results from Kwon Dojin. A final 20-minute break was given, and I saw people resting here and there, but Kwon Dojin was nowhere to be seen.
Where did he go during that time? Wondering if I just couldn’t find him, I rolled my eyes around eagerly looking for him, but he was nowhere to be seen. Eventually, I gave up searching and closed the window.
Just as I was slipping on my shoes that had fallen to the floor, I heard the lock on the infirmary door being undone, and then the door suddenly burst open.
“Lee Habin!”
Startled by the loud voice echoing through the infirmary, I lost my balance and staggered. Since I was sitting in a relatively high place, my heart sank. Just as I was about to fall, unable to maintain my balance, I felt arms wrapping around my waist and a firm chest. Looking up, I saw Kwon Dojin, who looked even more surprised than I was.
“…Why were you sitting dangerously on the windowsill like that?”
His sigh-filled sentence reverberated around us. His voice was faint, like a flickering flame about to go out. This kind of reaction from Kwon Dojin was unfamiliar, and I could only move my lips silently.
“Sorry.”
I felt like I had to apologize unconditionally to break the atmosphere. My hands, which had reflexively grabbed Kwon Dojin’s chest, clutched his clothes. He tightly closed his eyes, then opened them and embraced the back of my head, pulling me closer.
He seemed anxious. Like he was worried. Perhaps Kwon Dojin had stopped during the game because of me. Is that why he rushed here right after the soccer match ended?
Regardless of my head being filled with various thoughts, it was somewhat suffocating to have my face buried in his chest. But I felt I’d done something wrong, so I stopped fidgeting. Every time my fingers moved, the sound of his clothes rustling rang in my ears.
After staying still for a while, watching Kwon Dojin’s reactions, I heard murmuring from the corridor and rolled my eyes around. I didn’t know where they were headed, but I was concerned that if we were caught like this, rumors would inevitably spread.
“Hey, Kwon Dojin—”
“Ah seriously, why did I have to injure my finger—”
Oh no, we’re doomed.
As I lifted my head to escape his embrace, my eyes met with someone entering the infirmary. If I had lowered my head a little more, or if I had been closer to Kwon Dojin, we wouldn’t have made eye contact. In this ridiculous situation, not only was I frozen, but the other person was also stiff and unable to make any movement.
“Hey, what’s wrong?”
Seemingly puzzled by my reaction, Kwon Dojin turned around, and one of the people looked into the infirmary.
“Heeek—, Do, Dojin-nim—!”
“Oh, my God… Then that person is…?!”
“Well, this is troublesome.”
Clicking his tongue, Kwon Dojin loosened his arms that were embracing me. It was already too late, and I tightly closed my eyes. I felt dizzy and my vision went dark. How could such a coincidence happen? I couldn’t understand how many coincidences had to overlap to create such a situation.
With a feeling of resignation, I kept my mouth shut. Actually, from past experiences, I knew that no matter what I said, they would interpret it however they wanted, so that’s partly why I didn’t add any words.
Well, it’s easier to just give up.
Breathing a shallow sigh, I rested my forehead against Kwon Dojin’s chest. In response to my action, Kwon Dojin naturally patted my back. I’d rarely been embraced like this—wait, was this the first time? Anyway, he acted as if it were familiar.
“Shh—”
Kwon Dojin maintained silence, perhaps pondering how to handle the situation. Unable to reach a meaningful conclusion, he just pressed his index finger against his lips, making a gesture asking for secrecy.
With a faint smile on his lips, he curved his eyes. Seeing that, I felt like he had planned this. It seemed he intended to use his appearance to make them answer without allowing them to go through a proper thought process.
And the funny thing is, this tactic worked very well.
“Huup!”
“Yes, yes!”
One person inhaled sharply, another nodded vigorously to express agreement with his intention.
It was an extremely intense reaction, but not incomprehensible. Even I, who faced Kwon Dojin daily, hadn’t adapted to his appearance.
“Could you please make way?”
A gentle voice tapped at my ears. Kwon Dojin shielded me from them. I wondered if I had been hidden by him from the beginning, they might not have discovered that the person in his arms was me, but I thought the result would have been the same anyway, so I just sighed.
Just now, without even properly knowing my face, they immediately associated the person in his arms with me simply because it was Kwon Dojin holding them.
“Gasp, understood!”
“We’ll be going now—!”
While I was swallowing the lament that had risen to the top of my throat, I heard the sound of those who had been filling the entrance of the infirmary moving.
Clunk, pitter-patter.
Along with the sound of the door closing, the sound of eager running footsteps echoed through the empty corridor. A short scream was a bonus.
Still, thanks to Kwon Dojin, the situation ended quickly. Feeling like I could take a breather, I released my grip on him and leaned against the window. As my mind calmed down, the stiffened circuits of my thoughts slowly unwound.
Come to think of it, Kwon Dojin asked them to make way, huh? Wait a minute.
“Hey, Kwon Dojin.”
“Yes?”
“What you just said could easily be misunderstood, you know?”
Asking them to make way. Wasn’t that like announcing that he was going to do something? When I pretended to grab his collar and shake him, he noticeably rolled his eyes.
It seems he also thought it was a statement that could cause misunderstanding. Kwon Dojin turned his head and slowly closed and opened his eyes.
“Well, is it?”
At his evasive response, I gripped his collar tighter. It was absurd that he was acting this way when he knew perfectly well.
“You really—!”
“I’m sorry. I was also confused and couldn’t properly judge how to handle it.”
When I shouted in anger, he finally lightly embraced my shoulders. As his words continued softly, the strength naturally left my hands. I was also confused, so there’s no way Kwon Dojin wasn’t confused too.
Thinking about it, it wasn’t really something to blame him for. Unfortunately, it was a situation created by coincidence upon coincidence; it was just bad luck.
“Okay…”
“It won’t have a big impact. I’ll make sure to control it once more later.”
Even though he tries to control it, rumors will spread quickly as words travel a thousand miles without feet, but I nodded, thinking it’s better than doing nothing.
Come to think of it, it was largely my fault for not properly recognizing the infirmary as a clichéd romantic spot and letting my guard down. While I was sending fierce criticism toward my past self, Kwon Dojin tightened his arm around my waist.
“First, let’s get down from the windowsill, okay?”
“Oh, okay.”
When I nodded in a daze, he grabbed my waist as if he’d been waiting, lifted me up, and set me down on the floor. Though it was brief, I was surprised by how easily he lifted and placed me, and I looked back and forth between his forearms and face with astonishment in my eyes.
“What kind of strength—”
I know how difficult it is to lift and put someone down in one go without any special preparation posture. Kwon Dojin just smiled calmly despite my gaze. Thanks to his nonchalance, I also became indifferent and just shook my head a couple of times.
“Do you want to go to the field now? Or rest a bit more in bed?”
“I’ll rest more. I couldn’t rest while watching the soccer game.”
“Really? How was it, then?”
“Hmm…”
His eyes sparkled. I couldn’t help but smile at his eyes full of expectation. At the same time, a slight mischief rose up, and I deliberately dragged out the time.
“Hmm? Habin-ah.”
Kwon Dojin bent his waist and put his forehead against mine. Reflexively, I stepped back at the close distance, but my heels only touched the wall.
“You did—you did well. Happy now?”
I stumbled over my words due to the proximity that far exceeded personal space. Pushing his chest with both hands, I deliberately turned my face away. Actually, he had come this close to me a few times before, but today it was especially hard to endure.
“Aren’t you being too dismissive? I’m hurt, Habin-ah.”
His action of clinging pitifully to my shoulder was also familiar. Somehow today, the faint sound of his breathing brushing against my ear felt especially loud. Unable to push Kwon Dojin away, I tightly clenched my hands that were in an awkward position.
“I said you did well because you did well. What more do you need me to say?”
“Really? Even though I couldn’t score?”
“Do you have to score to be considered good? It’s a team game, so it doesn’t work if just one person plays well.”
I tried to continue the conversation as if nothing was wrong, but the part where his shoulder touched mine was hot. Knowing that I’d be more conscious of it if I stayed still, I walked toward where the bed was. Kwon Dojin, who followed me, didn’t remove his arm from around my waist.
“I’ll definitely score in the second half. Because I need to win this time too.”
“No one will say anything even if you don’t win. Just take it easy, take it easy.”
I pulled back the curtain covering the bed. Only when I sat on the somewhat hard bed did he finally step back from me. Breathing an inward sigh of relief, I took off my awkwardly worn shoes.
“You won’t be disappointed if I can’t win?”
Kwon Dojin crouched in front of me and rested his face on my thigh. Looking up from below, he slowly blinked his eyelids as if showing off his long eyelashes.
He easily pulled off a posture that could have looked ungainly. Barely resisting the urge to take in a sharp breath, I clutched the bedspread.
“—I wouldn’t be disappointed over something like that.”
As soon as I finished speaking, Kwon Dojin revealed a bright smile as if he had been waiting.
“Yes, because Habin is kind.”
He leaned his cheek against my thigh with a faint smile. I wanted to move my leg, which was agitated by the warmth touching the unfamiliar area. However, not wanting to show that I was affected by Kwon Dojin, I only bit my lower lip.
“…The soccer game will be starting again. You should go now.”
“I want to stay a little longer—”
“If you make people wait again this time, I’ll feel bad for no reason.”
I urged him to get up, tapping his shoulder lightly. Seemingly dissatisfied, his lips twisted slightly.
Using the excuse that the second half was about to start, I barely managed to push Kwon Dojin out of the infirmary. It wasn’t really an excuse since the game was actually about to resume.
Retreating with steps full of regret, Kwon Dojin locked the infirmary door again so I could rest comfortably alone.
With a click, the sharp metallic sound made me realize I was completely alone, and I buried my face in my hands.
“Dangerous.”
Dangerous…
In the empty infirmary, only the echoes of my groaning sounds reverberated.
