“!?”
While whispering so only I could hear, I almost dropped the soup bowl. Before that could happen, hyung said “Just kidding,” and took my soup bowl to down the rest in one shot.
“Ha— refreshing. My stomach was feeling a bit off too. This is really made by your mother, right?”
“…Huh? Yeah.”
“It’s really delicious.”
Hyung’s bright red tongue came out slightly to wipe what was on his lips. Ah, come to think of it, hyung’s tongue had parted between my lips and entered like that…
As if a time bomb in my head had exploded with a bang, I was so flustered that I unconsciously jumped up from my seat.
“H-hyung. I’ll get you another bowl.”
“Okay.”
No, I must be crazy! Why do I keep recalling yesterday!
Even when watching intense kissing scenes in movies, I wasn’t this confused. Well, there’s a difference in dimension between experiencing it directly and seeing it with your eyes. But how is hyung so nonchalant? Is it different because he’s an adult?
While ladling dried pollack soup, I glanced at Seongheon hyung. In the meantime, hyung was on a phone call, as if someone had called him.
Just seeing hyung sitting there so languidly made him seem unbothered, making me even more unable to reveal my feelings. If I showed it here, I felt like I’d be the only weird person.
“Honey! What about breakfast?”
“Ah! I don’t need breakfast. The village head is coming now, so I should go ahead.”
Dad briefly greeted Mom who was preparing breakfast and waved his hand as he walked away. Sorry, but I also couldn’t stay here any longer, so I abandoned the soup bowl I was going to give Seongheon hyung and followed Dad.
“Mom, I’m going too. I have plans with a friend.”
Mom clicked her tongue at us father and son, then scooped rice from the pot with steam rising. It would be really delicious to eat with fresh kimchi, but… I wasn’t in the right mind to eat that right now.
“Why aren’t you staying to hang out more?”
When I climbed into the truck following Dad, he asked as if puzzled. I just sullenly fastened my seatbelt and answered that I had plans with a friend.
Soon the truck started and the glamping site entrance gradually got farther away, and I could see in the side mirror the tent where we’d stayed last night.
‘I shouldn’t have drunk that alcohol yesterday.’
I blamed myself alone the entire way home.
“Feed Ddanji and make sure to lock up when you go out.”
After Dad dropped me off at home and left, I was opening the front door when, sure enough, a call came from Seongheon hyung.
“What do I say if he asks why I suddenly left?”
I’d said I was meeting Dongwoo, but since it was early now, that couldn’t be an excuse. I held my phone and worried, but since I couldn’t think of anything to make excuses with, I just didn’t answer.
“Haah…”
After feeding Ddanji, I went into the house, showered, and lay down on the bed.
I was so sleepy from sleeping outdoors that I couldn’t move at all. First, I closed my eyes to make up for the sleep I couldn’t get last night because of Seongheon hyung.
I tried to sleep to rest, but even in my dreams I suffered. Because I dreamed of being alone with Seongheon hyung at that place yesterday, and to make matters worse, cross-dressed hyung received the sugar water with his mouth.
At the end, he said “Daeyoung-ah, I’m hot so…” and took off his clothes one by one, and water balloons endlessly came out of hyung’s clothes. I had to suffer labor until right before waking up, clearing them out of the tent.
When I woke up later, the blanket and pillow were thrown far away in a corner of the room, and because of that, my cold symptoms worsened and I had to be sick for a full two days.
It was like a fever.
* * *
The first thing I did as soon as I recovered my condition was to challenge the driver’s license exam.
Dongwoo also happened to want to take the driver’s license written test with me, so we decided to go to the license testing center together. We met in the city and flipped through the study booklet while waiting for the bus to transfer to.
“Did you memorize some?”
“Isn’t the national rule to guess number 3 if you don’t know?”
“That’s right.”
We encouraged each other, hoping to pass in one try.
By the way, we both decided to take Class 1, but I wondered if we could get into the passing score. We plan to pass the written test side by side and register at a driving school with the money from selling the Vulcanus egg.
Sitting at the bus stop with Dongwoo and talking about this and that, I told him about receiving the pure gold key at the glamping site last week.
“Wow! 10 don? Isn’t that worth about 3 million won?”
“Yeah. But I couldn’t bring it because it’s in Seongheon hyung’s car right now.”
“Don’t tell me… hyung took it?”
“No. I need to go get it… but right now it’s awkward to contact him.”
“Hey. What’s awkward? It’s 10 don, you should contact him right away to get it.”
“Anyway, right now it’s a bit uncomfortable.”
“Why? Did something happen?”
“Huh? …No, just.”
I stopped speaking with a complicated heart, and Dongwoo suddenly looked at me intently with an anxious expression. Even though I hadn’t said anything about that day out loud, I don’t know why he’s suddenly making such a serious expression.
“…Maybe.”
Dongwoo asked quite seriously.
“Did Seongheon hyung say something to you?”
“He didn’t say anything, why?”
“Ah, no.”
Today, every time I talked about Seongheon hyung, Dongwoo made a more serious expression than usual. Wondering if there was something the hyungs did to Dongwoo besides what Dongmi told me, I cautiously probed.
“Dongwoo-ya.”
“Yeah?”
“Did the hyungs ever bully you?”
“Huh?”
“Dongmi said so too… and Gangjin hyung also said that. That Seongheon hyung was a bit rough when we were in high school. I was wondering if you were also victimized…”
“No. Nothing like that.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
Well, it’s not like Dongwoo and I have only known each other for a day or two. Seongheon hyung couldn’t be like that, but since Dongwoo was so restless today, I also became uncomfortable.
The two of us continued asking questions like floating clouds, skipping some important context. In the end, we acknowledged to each other that it wasn’t Seongheon hyung’s fault, but I got the feeling that there was something being hidden.
“Daeyoung-ah, you’re not hiding anything from me, right?”
“Yeah, nothing. You?”
“Me neither.”
“Right. We’re best friends.”
“That’s right. Best friends.”
“Haha.”
“Hahaha.”
“Hey! The bus is here. Let’s get on!”
We moved past the uncomfortable parts for now.
Since the written test was more important right now, I erased distracting thoughts and diligently solved problems in the study booklet on the bus. And after arriving at the testing center, registering, and before going in, I did a final check.
“Daeyoung-ah, guess what this road sign means.”
Looking at the study booklet Dongwoo held out, I tried hard to recall what I’d memorized on the bus.
“Ah! I saw this somewhere.”
“We just looked at all of these.”
“Wait a moment. I almost remember?”
The sign shape was a car driving on a winding road.
“Sseup… What did it mean. Just looking at the picture, it seems like it’s telling you to drift.”
“Slippery road sign.”
“Aha. Right.”
“Why would you drift on the road?”
“You might if you’re in a hurry!”
“Whatever, then what about this?”
Dongwoo showed another road sign.
This bumpy raised thing was a ‘speed bump’ sign. I definitely know that, but why are there two bumps? That means it must definitely be this meaning.
“It means two speed bumps appear consecutively.”
“No. It’s a sign for uneven road surface.”
“So close.”
Dongwoo looked at me pathetically for saying “so close” when I didn’t even get it remotely right.
“Daeyoung-ah, if you fail this time, you’ll have to come take the written test alone.”
“That’s betrayal. And there’s no guarantee you’ll pass either. If we agreed to register at the academy together, we should pass together even if we pass.”
“How can we pass together when you’re in this state!”
“Then wait 30 minutes for me. I’ll memorize it perfectly.”
“I can’t trust you, but okay for now.”
Dongwoo took out his phone and started playing a game next to me, and I memorized road signs hard with my inadequate brain. Strangely, when I look at them I nod and think ‘Aha! So that’s what it means!’ and move on, but as soon as I turn the page, I forget completely.
How does my head go blank just from turning the page? As I kept flipping back and forth to look, I heard Dongwoo sigh quietly.
“Can’t help it. Daeyoung-ah, you register for Class 2 instead of Class 1.”
“No, if you’re a man, it’s stick shift.”
“Just eat a potato stick.”
“Say that after you buy me one.”
I insisted to Dongwoo that I’d take Class 1, but honestly, my heart was swayed, wondering if I should secretly register for Class 2.
That’s when I was looking at the study booklet so hard. The phone in my pocket vibrated. Since there was no one who would call, I took it out nervously, and sure enough, it was Seongheon hyung.
Yesterday hyung sent a message saying [I’ll give you the key, let’s meet], but I declined saying I was busy this week. Because as soon as I saw that message, the sugar water incident from last week vividly came to mind.
Really, my head only remembers useless things well. I forget road signs as soon as I see them, yet even though I was drunk, why do I remember so vividly the moment hyung’s lips touched?
A few days ago, I searched what a sugar water kiss meant out of curiosity, but like last time’s ‘kiss on the back of the hand,’ nothing came up. If only I knew what it meant like a study booklet answer, I wouldn’t be this confused, but right now being alone with hyung was uncomfortable.
As I froze while holding my phone, Dongwoo poked me with his elbow.
“What are you doing, not answering?”
“Huh? …Mm.”
If I didn’t answer, it would mean I was hiding something from Dongwoo, so I timidly pressed the call button.
“Hello.”
Perhaps hyung found it absurd that I answered the phone after ignoring all the messages, because no words came through.
“Hello?”
When I spoke once more, I heard Seongheon hyung’s sigh.
—Daeyoung-ah.
“Yeah?”
—Lately even when I ask to meet, you refuse, and you don’t answer calls… Is something wrong?
It was clearly his usual affectionate voice, but I felt like he was somehow pressing me.
