I brushed it off thinking hyung’s eyes looked different because he was drunk, then went into the kitchen, opened the rice cooker, and scooped rice. I don’t usually eat rice when eating meat…… But it was unavoidable if I wanted to escape that situation.
And I was surprised that even Seongheon hyung had no body hair. How is it that all the hyungs have no body hair? Why am I the only one with hair?
While thinking useless thoughts and scooping rice, before I knew it, it became a heaping bowl. I was taking out an appropriate amount again and about to go out when ding—I heard a message sound from my phone in my pocket.
Holding the rice bowl, I touched the screen with only one hand, and it was a message from Seongheon hyung.
[↳ Daeyoung-ah. I think I’m going to get drunk, so let’s meet out back now. ─ 21:22]
Was it something the hyungs shouldn’t hear? I put the rice bowl down on the dining table for now and went out the back door of the kitchen to put on slippers to go to the backyard.
The backyard had a small vegetable garden and jangdokdae, and around it was a small bench where you could sit and rest. When I headed there, I saw Seongheon hyung sitting on that bench looking at his phone.
Hyung’s profile reflected in the screen light was shadowed, making his nose bridge look really high. Even in the dark, his handsomeness wasn’t buried—it’s not easy for a human to be like that, I realized as I slowly approached.
Before I could call out, perhaps because of the sound of slippers stepping on the grass, hyung raised his head and looked at me. Seeing hyung’s smiling lips, I was relieved on one hand that what he wanted to discuss alone didn’t seem to be a serious matter.
“You came?”
Seongheon hyung turned his body toward where I sat and stared at my face. When someone more handsome than me looks at me like this, I feel unnecessarily intimidated. Feeling shy, I lowered my gaze and just fidgeted with my hands.
“Hyung, why are we talking separately here? You could have done it earlier when you were with the hyungs.”
“Because I wanted to talk alone with you for the first time in a while.”
“What do you have to say?”
“Mm……”
At my question, Seongheon hyung stalled for time as if hesitating for a moment. Then instead of answering, he grabbed my right hand that was placed demurely on my knee and slipped it into his padding pocket.
It was partly because it was inside the pocket, but it was warmer because hyung tightly intertwined our fingers. Among the intertwined fingers, only the part where hyung’s flat ring touched felt cool.
When we were young, we naturally held hands like this, but now that my hands had grown a bit, it felt somewhat awkward. Compared to hyung who leisurely rubbed the back of my hand with his thumb, I just stayed caught with my fingers stiff.
I wanted to pull my hand out again, but since hyung hadn’t brought up what he wanted to say yet, I just sat obediently.
“Daeyoung-ah. Aren’t you curious what the tattoo letters are?”
“Yeah, I’m curious.”
As if to whisper it to me, hyung’s face came right up close. I quickly turned my head and waited, and hot breath touched my ear, followed by hyung’s whisper.
“Dame un beso para siempre.”
“Mm…… It doesn’t seem to be English.”
“It’s Spanish. Should I tell you what it means?”
“Yeah.”
Even though I answered, Seongheon hyung didn’t immediately explain the meaning but just silently gazed at me.
Did hyung forget? Just as I was about to straighten my head and lower my gaze somewhere to the gravel-covered ground, hyung’s hand lightly grasped my chin. Although the touched part was cold, I didn’t shake it off and obediently turned my head at that touch.
Just when I was wondering why hyung turned my face to face him, hyung’s face tilted slightly and started getting closer.
Even then, I was only thinking about why hyung was doing this. Until our lips got close enough to touch.
‘Ah! At this rate they’ll really touch!!’
Why this sudden prank!
When I urgently covered hyung’s mouth with my remaining hand, Seongheon hyung’s approaching face stopped abruptly.
Regardless of my gaze colored with bewilderment, hyung looked at me silently with dry eyes. After a moment of silence, I felt hyung’s lips moving against my palm covering his mouth.
“Kiss me.”
“Huh……?”
“That’s what it means.”
“Ah…… Jeez.”
Now I understood why he played this prank, so I lowered the hand covering hyung’s mouth. Then Seongheon hyung gave a faint smile and lightly blew air on my mouth saying “Hoo─.”
“Why are you so scared, not letting me do anything…… Do I smell a lot of alcohol?”
“A little?”
“When is your graduation ceremony?”
“The 28th of this month.”
“Without even a winter break?”
“Yeah, our school has graduation in December……”
“That’s good. Then after you graduate, want to go on a trip with hyung?”
“With the hyungs? Where?”
“Leaving out the other guys, just the two of us.”
“Just the two of us?”
“Yeah. Is there anywhere you want to go? I’ll take you.”
“I need to save my spending money, so we can’t go too far.”
I did have the spending money hyung gave me last time, but that was emergency funds for when I’d soon become unemployed, so I’d carefully deposited it in my bank account.
“I’ll cover all the expenses, as a graduation gift.”
“Graduation gift?”
“Yeah. So don’t worry about money.”
“Hyung, I’m sorry but…… Can I mention something else for the graduation gift?”
“Something else?”
Thinking it was the last ‘graduation gift’ of my life, a greed I didn’t have before arose. What I wanted was none other than the high-spec computer he said he’d give if I guessed the meaning of the tattoo letters.
Reading Seongheon hyung’s mood, I barely parted my lips.
“If you’re going to give me a graduation gift anyway, instead of a trip, um……”
“What?”
“Compu……”
Even though I stole the Goldmess Egg to mess with the hyungs, I seemed shameless wanting a graduation gift, so I stopped talking and shut my mouth tight.
So when I only said up to ‘comp’ and spaced out, hyung gripped our intertwined hands tightly and urged me to continue.
“What is it? I can only give it if you tell me.”
“……Never mind.”
“Tell me. I really want to do everything for you. I feel sorry about some things too.”
Seongheon hyung kept trying hard to be good to me, perhaps feeling sorry for teasing me all this time.
When I still didn’t answer readily, hyung tried to blow away the precious opportunity saying in a voice full of mischief, “Then I’ll consider it nothing,” so I urgently shouted.
“Computer!!!”
“……”
“Is that a bit expensive?”
“You like that better than going on a trip with me?”
“Yeah. If it’s too expensive, I don’t need the ××× graphics card, so just the latest specs……”
“Okay. I’ll buy it for you.”
“Really!!!”
At my brightened expression, Seongheon hyung laughed along.
Was it because of a bit of conscience, or was it because of hyung’s benevolent behavior today? Every time Seongheon hyung was this good to me, I couldn’t be purely happy because of what I’d done. I wanted to unload the heavy burden in my heart and wanted to be saved by revealing that I was the one who stole the Goldmess Egg.
With that thought, my mood rapidly deteriorated and the smile disappeared from my expression. And Seongheon hyung didn’t let that pass either.
“Daeyoung-ah, do you have some worry?”
“Mm…… There’s just something I’m a bit worried about.”
“I don’t know what it is, but it’ll all work out.”
“I’m a bit anxious.”
“Don’t be anxious. You don’t need to worry about anything. I’ll make it so.”
“Yeah……”
“Daeyoung-ah, was there anything about me that upset you? Besides me teaching you the wrong server.”
“No, not now.”
“Any point where you were disappointed in me?”
The fact that hyung cursed at me in the game was disappointing, but since he did it not knowing it was me, I couldn’t show it.
So I calmly shook my head.
“No, there isn’t.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. Really.”
Perhaps noticing that my answer was perfunctory, Seongheon hyung looked at me quietly before speaking like a monologue.
“Daeyoung-ah, I don’t know where to start from but…… Honestly, I’m not as good a person as you think. But I’m confident I’ll cherish you more than anyone, and I want to treat you even better than now. I just want you to know my sincerity.”
“Yeah. I know that you’ve taken care of me well like a real younger brother.”
“But…… I’d prefer if you didn’t think of me on the same level as Daesu.”
“Of course, Seongheon hyung and my damn hyung are as different as heaven and earth.”
As if my answer didn’t really resonate, Seongheon hyung was about to say something but stopped and took our hands out of the pocket.
Our fingers had been so tightly intertwined that even my knuckles felt numb. When I relaxed my hand first, hyung also slowly released, and just as I was about to withdraw my hand completely, my wrist was caught again.
“Wait.”
Seongheon hyung took off the flat ring on his left hand and put it on my index finger.
“Hyung, why the ring?”
“Because I want to give it to you. But it’s a bit big.”
Hyung took the ring off my index finger again and put it on my middle finger. It was still big.
‘Why is he suddenly giving me a ring? Is it like a friendship ring?’
As I stayed still while he put the ring on me, hyung, who had been kneading my hand this way and that, made a troubled expression.
“Daeyoung-ah, did only your hands not grow?”
“Your hands are big, hyung.”
He took the ring off my middle finger again and finally slipped it onto my thumb.
“There. It fits your thumb.”
“You don’t need to give me even a silver ring……”
“This isn’t silver, it’s platinum.”
At the word platinum, I gave a thumbs up in the sense of ‘the best.’
“Thanks, hyung.”
Platinum. As I was looking at the ring fondly like a treasure, Seongheon hyung sighed as if something wasn’t satisfactory. Does he regret giving me the ring?
When I tried to take off the ring to return it, hyung wrapped my hand.
“For now, wear this. I’ll get a ring specially made for you later.”
“……Huh? No. I don’t usually wear rings anyway. This is fine.”
“But I feel disappointed. Let’s get a new one made with what you want later, Daeyoung. For now, wear this.”
Seongheon hyung’s finger overlapped neatly over the back of the hand where the ring was fitted. Viewed from above, the two rings looked exactly like twins, and hyung looked down at them fondly while meeting my gaze.
“Originally these were a pair, but since we’re sharing them, they’re like couple rings.”
“Wow. I’ve never even done friendship rings with my friends, but this is my first time with hyung.”
“There’ll be more firsts you’ll experience with me from now on.”
