What makes a person most powerless is comfort. Seo Eunho was realizing this more than anyone these days.
“Bye, Eunho-ya. Going home?”
“Ah, yeah.”
“That’s nice. Get home safely!”
Seo Eunho scratched his cheek for no reason. He didn’t know how many people had spoken to him on his way home from school early. To be precise, they’d only greeted him, but anyway.
He was aware that people’s gazes had changed to be quite favorable since he’d been hanging around with Tae Shinwoo. However, the increase in people expressing goodwill was a bit uncomfortable.
Of course, he knew that the snacks piled full in his locker were also expressions of goodwill. But it was somewhat different from facing people directly.
It was both burdensome and embarrassing. For some reason, he felt like he was deceiving people. Just because he was with Tae Shinwoo, it felt as if he’d become the same class as him.
“……”
It was an absurd thought. What same class? He was in the position of a toy that had to follow along whatever the bastard wanted to do.
But it was a bit much to call it a position. Honestly, it was just the nuance of the word “toy” that was like that, because his recent lifestyle couldn’t be anything but luxurious.
Not just people’s gazes, but his sleeping arrangements, what he ate, even the minimum money needed for living—this could only be expressed as luxurious. If it was playing the role of a toy like this, he felt he could do it a hundred times, a thousand times.
“Huh? Seo Eunho! Shinwoo was waiting for you. Running a bit late?”
“Uh…… Really?”
He could accept these warm greetings he wasn’t used to as much as needed.
His life had changed a lot in many ways. Just look at how he hadn’t even memorized the names of kids who’d been in the same class all last year, but now he knew quite a few faces.
Of course, that wasn’t the only thing that changed.
Seo Eunho quickened his steps. The place where Tae Shinwoo would be waiting was in front of the central stairs on the first floor. Since they were the same grade, the floor was the same too, but the bastard stubbornly waited for him there. As if showing off.
Showing off his newly bought toy? Seo Eunho naturally couldn’t help but think cynically. Not that he was dissatisfied with it. Just, wasn’t what he was doing a bit childish? It seemed like he wanted to brag all over the neighborhood that he was taking Seo Eunho around these days. Though he didn’t know what there was to brag about.
His quickening steps gradually made him breathless. He wasn’t even running, but perhaps because he’d just been lying down all the time lately, his stamina seemed to have declined.
No, maybe that wasn’t it.
Whatever it was, it wasn’t very important.
“You’re here?”
As expected, in front of the central stairs. Tae Shinwoo was standing with his body, which was exceptionally larger than others, leaning against the wall. The bastard spotted Seo Eunho before being called and soon twisted up the corners of his mouth.
When his sculptural face, unbelievable for a high school student, crumpled playfully, a hollow laugh flowed out without him realizing it.
Could he have imagined? That there would come a day when Tae Shinwoo and he would face each other and smile.
“……Do you have to wait here?”
Putting aside the pointless thought, Seo Eunho asked sullenly. Even so, Tae Shinwoo only shrugged. From the start, the bastard had never cared at all about how Seo Eunho treated him.
“Why? Should I wait in front of the classroom?”
Tae Shinwoo, who raised his body that had been tilted from leaning against the wall and strode over, smiled disgustingly. Knowing now that what he said with a playful face wasn’t always a joke, Seo Eunho immediately shook his head.
“Just don’t wait.”
By the way, why was he naturally going home together like it was obvious?
The belated thought came to him anew. Not that he asked though. Just, or because he wanted to. As the days they hung out grew longer, the bastard’s answers could be easily predicted.
“Why don’t you attend supplementary classes?”
Instead of a question that seemed likely to get a predictable answer, a different question popped out. Around that time, Seo Eunho was trudging along first, leaving the school. Tae Shinwoo was the same.
“Why?”
Seo Eunho thought for a moment. Why? Just. Wasn’t that better than waiting like this and going home together? As for himself, he had no intention of studying so that was one thing, but Tae Shinwoo was different. It was an easy answer.
“You have to study.”
“Oh……”
But perhaps that answer was strange, as Tae Shinwoo’s reaction was subtle. Seo Eunho looked at Tae Shinwoo while stopping his steps without realizing it. Following Tae Shinwoo’s gaze as if looking at something fascinating, his face gradually crumpled.
“Are you worrying about me right now?”
He’d thought not. As expected, he was saying something that didn’t even sound like words. Who was worrying about whom? Wasn’t it funny, him actually worrying about Tae Shinwoo?
“Are you crazy?”
Seo Eunho shook his head vigorously and moved his stopped steps.
“You were worried. You worried about my grades. Right?”
However, true to Tae Shinwoo’s rather persistent personality, there was no way he’d just let that question pass. What was so good that he was grinning like that?
Was he affection-deprived? Starved for praise or concern.
Hmm, that was a bit strange. That was rather a description that suited Seo Eunho.
“What does your grade have to do with me?”
Seo Eunho clicked his tongue and pushed away Tae Shinwoo who was getting closer. Why was this bastard’s body so firm again? If you looked closely, there was nothing lacking. No, even saying “lacking” didn’t suit him. Tae Shinwoo had everything overflowing. This is why people say the world is unfair.
The way Kim Junseong and Jang Hoyoung, whom he’d hung out with briefly, had described him as a bastard who had the whole world, he could definitely feel it these days. Facing him up close, Tae Shinwoo was even more unrealistic.
“You don’t have to worry about my grades.”
Of course, except for his personality.
“I’m not.”
“I do everything well on my own.”
“So what?”
Right. If he was also a very exemplary and sincere student as he’d known, it would be too unrealistic. And if that had been the case, he wouldn’t have been able to enjoy such a comfortable life like this.
“I’m telling you not to worry.”
Tae Shinwoo smiled broadly. Seo Eunho, who had been quietly looking down at the corners of his mouth that drew an arc, clamped his mouth shut.
Come to think of it, whatever Tae Shinwoo did or didn’t do didn’t seem to be something he should be involved in. The situation had become like this because of the bastard’s curiosity. Shouldn’t he rather be grateful?
He thought he shouldn’t get too used to it. But it was already too late to turn back. Then wouldn’t it be easier to just accept the whole situation?
Whether he waited for him at the central stairs, wanted to go home together right away, or wanted to spend a lot of time together, it could all be according to Tae Shinwoo’s will. It wasn’t something for him to talk back and forth about.
“Yeah.”
Having thought that far, Seo Eunho nodded and quickly walked ahead. He’d decided it was right, but it didn’t feel quite right to accept it obediently.
“You’re being good, even worrying for me.”
At that moment, Tae Shinwoo’s large hand touched the top of his head. At the touch mussing his hair, Seo Eunho, who had been walking, stopped and looked at him with a dumbfounded expression. Regardless. Tae Shinwoo just very naturally touched his hair.
“You’ve grown well.”
“……Are you crazy?”
Seo Eunho, who had been blankly looking at Tae Shinwoo in bewilderment, frowned sharply and took a step back. Thanks to that, Tae Shinwoo’s hand that had been touching the top of his head remained in the air, but the bastard didn’t seem to care at all.
Tae Shinwoo withdrew his hand with a smile. A playful smile spread across the bastard’s face.
“It was worth raising you.”
“Raising what?”
“No, that’s not it. This is taming.”
“What are you talking about?”
Seo Eunho’s face crumpled completely. What the hell was this bastard spouting from earlier? Was he really babbling that he raised him or tamed him or whatever?
Perhaps because it was such an absurd thing to say, no rebuttal even came out. Seo Eunho’s mouth opened and closed before he soon burst into absurd laughter.
It was the moment he realized this bastard was treating him not as a toy but as a pet.
“Ah! Seo Eunho!”
Seo Eunho immediately moved his steps and kicked Tae Shinwoo’s back with his foot. He put in enough strength to make a loud thwack! sound, but unfortunately, Tae Shinwoo didn’t sway. Despite that, the way he pretended to be hurt and twisted his face was a sight to behold.
“Just die.”
Seo Eunho struck Tae Shinwoo’s shoulder and walked past him. Toy or pet. It was the same thing. Why did he feel a surge of emotion for a moment? When in fact, he was the one who’d brought this upon himself.
The forehead that his hair touched tickled for no reason. No, it seemed like the spot where Tae Shinwoo’s hand had touched was ticklish.
Seo Eunho rubbed his forehead vigorously and quickened his steps. Following the gently blowing wind, when his hair moved, his chest area also tickled along with it. Seo Eunho messed up his hair haphazardly. It seemed like the ticklishness would go away even a little if he did that.
