“I’m, I’m fine.”
“Eat.”
He was angered by the shameless urging as if there was no reason to refuse, but he held back. He just wanted to quickly grab what he needed and leave.
When he entered the room, there was a slight sense of strangeness. Not because he’d stayed out, but because Lee Euishin had been organizing his room frequently lately. He didn’t touch every corner, just roughly organized what was visible, but that was also annoying for no reason. Who does he think he is, coming into someone else’s room? He shoved books and clothes that had been neatly displayed into reach. He planned to sling the heavy bag on and leave the house just like that. Following Lee Euishin’s presence and giving his attention to the kitchen—that was unlucky and damn unfortunate.
The guy was sitting silently in a chair. The dining table he faced was full of all kinds of dishes, and even from a distance, they weren’t empty bowls. Cooked side dishes were nicely arranged, and he could see a soup bowl and a stew pot. Two bowls heaped with rice. Chopsticks and spoons placed side by side. …You think I’ll fall for that method again?! Kwon Yunsu strode toward the kitchen. Not to eat a meal together amicably, but,
“Hey. Don’t you have something to say to me?”
To say this. No matter how he thought about it, this bastard’s shamelessness was excessive.
“What.”
“Don’t you have something to apologize to me for?”
Lee Euishin stood up. Since he was about 10cm taller, naturally his gaze looked down. He’d never thought of it as unpleasant, but,
“Why should I?”
…The moment he heard those words, he wanted to slap that arrogant face with everything he had.
“What?”
“Why should I apologize?”
“……”
“That bastard did something to apologize for, so why should I apologize?”
His tone said he’d done nothing wrong.
At the violent impulse he’d never experienced in his life, Kwon Yunsu’s fists trembled.
But he couldn’t hit Lee Euishin. Though they say guys grow up hitting and getting hit, while Kwon Yunsu had often gotten hurt playing alone, he’d never had a fistfight with anyone. His mom, dad, and noona hadn’t condoned violence in any form. So even though his heart had swelled at the thought of throwing a water balloon at Lee Euishin, even though he’d thought countless times about wanting to hit that arrogant face, it had never once been accompanied by real possibility. By his standards, that meant the destruction of a relationship.
“…You.”
So this was about all he could say.
“Do you like embarrassing me that much?”
“……”
The moment he saw Lee Euishin’s faintly trembling eyes, anger exploded once more.
“Then what about me? What does it make me, suffering that same thing again? Why did you have to step in and lose it?! Who the hell are you to, fu-, fuck, put your tongue in me?!! Where did you learn only bad things to do such dangerous shit…! We’ve known each other for how many years, would it not matter to you at all to split up with me tomorrow? Must be nice being cool all by yourself, you fucker!”
With a bright red face, Kwon Yunsu spat out curses and whirled around.
The sight of his back carrying the now much heavier bag, only after hearing the front door slam shut did Lee Euishin come to his senses. And realized he’d been properly hit.
“…Ha.”
It was truly a comprehensive blow, containing deflation, surprise, and newfound realization.
Dumbfounded that even after such a blatant kiss he didn’t think it could be jealousy even a little, deflated without rhyme or reason, praiseworthy that amidst all that he was agitated enough to worry about the change in their relationship, teeth-grinding at the solidity of friendship embedded in it, feeling hopeless that even at a moment like this Kwon Yunsu looked deadly pretty to him…
And sorry.
‘Do you like embarrassing me that much?’
He admitted it. That was a petty venting. He’d given Kwon Yunsu shame to crush Shin Jaewoo. Even knowing Kwon Yunsu would be put in a difficult position, he’d gone ahead with blind eyes and committed the act, and apart from feeling sorry, he didn’t regret it at all. He felt a bit disgusted with himself for being blind to his own emotions and not considering Kwon Yunsu.
Lee Euishin sat down in deflation. On the dining table, an untouched meal was beautifully set. Even though Korean food wasn’t his taste at all, lately whenever he was alone he’d been enjoying making side dishes. The problem was he’d looked at too much food on his way home alone last night, sensing Kwon Yunsu wouldn’t come back.
“It’s not that I’m trying to split up tomorrow….”
It’s because I’m trying to keep you for life, to stamp you so hard that riffraff can’t even glance at you… that’s why, you idiot…….
***
‘Why should I?’
Kwon Yunsu, who’d been reaching for fruit juice, stopped his movement at the abruptly surfacing words. He exhaled with his chest heaving, slowly drank the beverage, then fixed his gaze on the monitor again. With a subject he desperately needed to flee from, he could actually concentrate better. Shoving juice and bread into his nearly empty stomach as a substitute, focusing on holding onto the flow of context for a while,
‘Why should I?’
…That phrase came to mind again and his fingers trembled on the keyboard.
Making people furious to that degree was genius-level. It wasn’t like he didn’t know what kind of bastard he was, but he felt humiliated anew.
Lee Euishin had really become strange. He’d surprise people by treating them so well it was burdensome, then before long flip everything upside down to a level that made middle school syndrome run away. How many times already, and it seemed to be getting increasingly excessive. This time he really wouldn’t let it slide easily.
But Kwon Yunsu would soon come to resent his own simplicity for not being able to hold anger long.
The afternoon class he entered vowing to thoroughly ignore him was the only class he took with Lee Euishin, and the guy didn’t come. A guy he’d become familiar with through a group project asked about his whereabouts, but there was no way he’d know. Lee Euishin had never once missed class.
After finishing class with an uneasy feeling, he did translation in the library while waiting for Ahn Shinwook. Then he ate dinner at the cafeteria with Ahn Shinwook, who said he’d never cooked once in his life and had never given the kitchen to a guest.
“Should we stop by the dongbang?”
“……”
Ahn Shinwook asked while eating, but Kwon Yunsu didn’t answer, pretending to observe people. Lee Euishin aside, he didn’t have the confidence to face Shin Jaewoo yet either. Though he’d barely eaten anything, his digestion was off, so he left most of his dinner.
In Ahn Shinwook’s living room as wide as a playing field, spending the evening each doing exam prep and part-time work, his phone rang a couple times. He readily answered the call from his mom and exchanged recent news, but ignored the call from Lee Euishin and Shin Jaewoo’s text asking if he had time tomorrow. It was a haughty position completely unlike him.
Around midnight, feeling like he’d throw up just looking at English, he watched a soccer broadcast side by side with Ahn Shinwook. Should I do some exercise too? Am I having so many idle thoughts because I don’t exercise? After the trip, no, before that, shouldn’t I do something to build stamina…. He was thinking such things.
“…Shi…!”
Ahn Shinwook, who’d been looking at his beeping phone, turned his head toward Kwon Yunsu.
“What the hell is Lee Euishin doing?”
Instead of protesting why are you asking me that, Kwon Yunsu answered seriously.
“He’s a crazy bastard.”
“Right. A fucking crazy bastard. Hey, he says if you don’t answer the phone again, he’ll post a bulletin that our house’s son of a bitch ran away from home.”
“……”
“And he says to feed you well and let you sleep well. Isn’t he crazy?”
How did you get marked by such a bastard to suffer like this?
He didn’t have the leisure to reconsider Ahn Shinwook’s meaningfully added words. His head rang and his face felt like it was burning up with anger at the bastard who’d spouted outrageous words. Why am I your house’s son of a bitch? Who are you to worry about others like that? When it’s all your fault that I can’t sleep and can’t digest, at that level you’re either a sociopath or have short-term memory loss, you crazy bastard?
Kwon Yunsu hastily packed up his laptop and went to sleep. What if he really posts a bulletin? Since he was a guy determined to embarrass him in front of the whole world, it wasn’t entirely impossible.
「Don’t say weird things to Shinwook.」
He sent a text with an anxious heart and turned off the light. Thinking about the translation volume he’d planned for tomorrow, he closed his eyes when vibration lit up the darkness. He ignored it, but it was persistent. Just as he was about to turn off the phone entirely but didn’t know what he might do, so he answered for now.
“What.”
He tossed it out curtly, showing his unwilling mood completely. Lee Euishin, who he’d thought would immediately snap back with an ill-mannered tone, was unexpectedly silent. Silently, only his breathing was rough. …He answered. Kwon Yunsu didn’t know that Lee Euishin beyond the phone was relieved.
[…Come home.]
The voice that flowed after a moment was lowly sunken. Kwon Yunsu didn’t answer. Because he didn’t want to go.
[Sleep at home.]
Good grief. Who’s the reason for all this, and where are you acting like a generous landlord?
“You sleep a lot. Shinwook’s house has many empty rooms.”
