Since we’d arrived at my house, I tried to unbuckle my seatbelt to get out, but hyung reached out and grabbed my left hand. Then while pressing firmly between my thumb and index finger, he checked my condition.
“This is the Hapgok acupressure point, it’s good to press when you have indigestion.”
“You watch Heo Jun too, hyung?”
“Sometimes? I didn’t learn it from there though, Dad did it for me so I know.”
“Ah… Ah! Hyung, it hurts, gently.”
Asking him to do it gently, I tried to stop hyung’s hand with my other hand, and we ended up facing each other. Hyung still firmly held my hand and looked down at my contorted eyes, asking one by one.
“How about this much?”
He’d reduced his hand strength a bit compared to before, but it still hurt.
“Just a little more gently.”
“Now?”
Hyung rubbed the acupressure area in circles and smiled with his eyes. It caught my attention so much I couldn’t just pass it by, and even knowing it was strange, I kept spacing out and staring.
Sareureuk. As his half-folded eyes widened, I could see myself reflected in hyung’s light brown eyes. Only then did I realize ‘Ah, I’ve been staring intently at hyung this whole time,’ and hastily turned my gaze forward.
“Thanks to you, hyung, I feel much better.”
“……”
“You can let go of my hand—”
“…want to.”
“Huh?”
“I said I want to.”
As I glanced sideways wondering what he wanted to do, hyung took my hand that he’d been massaging and firmly pressed his lips to the back of my hand.
‘Huh? …What is this.’
Time passed slowly even until hyung’s lips slowly pulled away with a soft sound.
Hyung, who had been gazing at the back of my hand with his eyes lowered, belatedly raised his gaze to make eye contact with me. At this moment, my heart lurched loudly once more, and my held hand trembled faintly.
‘This is strange. When hyung kissed the back of my hand before, I didn’t tremble like this…’
It’s the same skinship, but I don’t know why the feeling is different from that time.
The meaning I knew was respect and devotion, but what I was feeling was more than that. Something affectionate and ticklish, I couldn’t calm down at all.
Why is my heart pounding so much over just this small skinship? I think something’s wrong with my head.
‘Let’s not think of it strangely.’
Perhaps reading my flustered eyes, hyung leaned his upper body toward me and brought his face close. While doing so, he lightly touched my forehead where cold sweat was forming.
“Is your stomach very uncomfortable?”
“Mm?”
“Do you have digestive medicine at home? If not, I’ll buy some for you.”
Seeing my expression not knowing what to do now, hyung thought it was because my digestion was bad and I was struggling, so he became even more restless.
At just one word about indigestion like now, he massages my hand for over 5 minutes and even says he’ll buy medicine. Hyung always overprotected me. Because of that, I should understand and forget that he received the sugar water like that… but the problem was me.
As if my head was overloaded, neither understanding nor deleting was working smoothly. Now is the time to turn off the power for a moment and rest. Quickly!
“No! We have lots of digestive medicine at home! There’s fan-shaped drinks, pills, and all kinds of tablets too! Since there’s no pharmacy nearby, Mom stocks up on all types!”
“Really?”
Since it happened to be a cramped space, I couldn’t endure it anymore, so I hastily unbuckled my seatbelt and opened the car door.
“Thanks for driving me home, hyung! Then drive safely too. See you next time!”
“Daeyoung-ah! Wait!”
I heard Seongheon hyung following and getting out behind me. When I reached the front door and tried to open it, Mom popped right out.
“Oh, Mom.”
“Son, did you pass the written test?”
She asked about passing or failing right away, so I couldn’t answer, and Seongheon hyung approached from behind and greeted Mom. Perhaps grateful that hyung had driven me home, Mom opened the front door wider.
“Ohohoho. Seongheon-ah, come in and eat dinner.”
“No, I have plans so I should go.”
I timidly glanced at hyung and waved my hand just enough for my sleeve to flutter.
“Then bye, hyung.”
Then when I slipped inside the house, I heard Mom clicking her tongue at the entrance saying “This kid doesn’t even see him off when hyung drove him home!”
Even as I went up to the second floor, hyung and Mom were chatting warmly, then Mom said “Wait a moment!” and headed to the kitchen. It seems she felt bad just sending him off, so she’s going to give him something.
Hurriedly, I entered my room and closed the door.
“Whew…”
I leaned my back against the door and took deep breaths to calm my racing heart.
Just now in hyung’s car, it was difficult as if my chest was completely blocked, but whether it was relief from returning to my room, my insides felt much more comfortable. Actually, it wasn’t that I was bloated, but being alone with hyung must have been quite uncomfortable.
When I went to the window and slightly pulled back the curtain to look down at the yard, I could see hyung’s car pulling out. And naturally my gaze rolled down to the back of my hand that hyung had kissed today.
I scolded myself while wiping that area with the curtain edge for no reason.
“Forget it, just forget. It’s nothing so stop thinking about it.”
Bang.
“You failed the written test! But what are you trying to forget? Hurry up and study!”
“Ah! Mom. Knock!”
Mom said what kind of knocking between family members, and placed digestive medicine and a fan-shaped drink on the desk.
“Seongheon said you seemed to have a bad stomach and he’ll send cabbage juice. When it comes, make sure to drink one packet a day. Mom will put it in the kimchi refrigerator.”
“Okay.”
“He said to chew your food 30 times before swallowing, but somehow you take after Dad and don’t listen.”
“I said okay.”
“Don’t lie down right after taking medicine.”
“I said I got it.”
“Mom’s warming up soup, so I’m going next door, turn it off in 20 minutes.”
“……”
“Not answering?”
“I understand very well, Ms. Choi.”
After Mom left, I poured the pills and drink on the desk into my mouth.
Though slight, I did have some indigestion, so I was about to lie down on the bed right away, but remembering Mom said she put soup on, I took my phone and went down to the first floor.
When I sat on the living room sofa and was about to play a game on my phone, a message arrived.
Ding.
Wondering if it was from Seongheon hyung, I looked, but it was Dongwoo.
[↳Home? — 16:27]
[ㅇㅇ home — 16:27]
[↳ㅇㅋ — 16:27]
I wondered why he was suddenly asking this, but as Seongheon hyung had said, he’d sent it to check if I’d gotten home safely.
* * *
Dongwoo and I passed the driver’s license written test on our third try.
We barely passed with 73 and 63 points respectively, and while we were happy regardless of the scores, I couldn’t be too happy because Dongwoo next to me passed Class 1.
As we exited the testing center building, I saw a familiar back. Judging by the bucket hat, it was definitely the guy who said something about elementary school if he failed the written test when we first came to take the exam.
Walking alone dejectedly, he almost fell forward because he didn’t see the edge of the sidewalk block.
“Ah, shit! Almost fell.”
Following behind, I coincidentally saw his registration slip that fell on the ground, and there were 3 fail stamps on it.
Dongwoo and I looked at that registration slip with dumbfounded expressions, then to avenge the resentment we experienced that day, we followed while talking loudly.
“Today’s written test was really easy, right? I just guessed randomly and still passed Class 1.”
“Yeah, me too. People who fail the written test really must have slept during ethics class.”
“Are there even idiots who fail the written test these days?”
“Probably not?”
Perhaps bothered that our conversation was getting closer, the man in the bucket hat ran away urgently. Dongwoo said he briefly looked back and made eye contact with him, and his eyes were a bit wet.
Sitting on the bus stop bench to take the bus, I recalled the earlier situation.
“Dongwoo-ya, did we go too far?”
“We also got mentally destroyed after hearing what he said back then. It’s karma.”
Today was a day of consecutive refreshing moments—passing the exam and getting petty revenge.
“Definitely works when we just memorize what Seongheon hyung told us. Right?”
Dongwoo must have gained trust after getting a free meal from Seongheon hyung that day and even being told the test questions. He kept talking about Seongheon hyung this— That hyung that—.
“Ah, right. I should send a message to Seongheon hyung.”
I didn’t know he’d been in contact with Seongheon hyung separately until now. I sneakily looked at what they were saying, but he wasn’t talking with Seongheon hyung—he was capturing and sending messages he exchanged with me.
“Hey! Why are you sending hyung our conversations?”
“It’s nothing. Look.”
When I got serious, Dongwoo enlarged the captured screen to show me. There were several, but they were all the same conversation.
< 2 days ago >
[Home? — 17:20]
[↳Yeah — 17:25]
[OK — 17:25]
< Yesterday >
[H?— 15:40]
[↳ㅇㅇ—15:41]
[ㅇ—15:45]
I knew Dongwoo was asking out of obligation, but I didn’t know he was sending all this to Seongheon hyung too.
“And yesterday I talked on the phone with Seongheon hyung, he said he’ll buy us something delicious again later and told me to come together?”
“…Really?”
On top of that, phone calls too.
Yesterday there were messages from Seongheon hyung, but there were no phone calls.
At that moment, Dongwoo’s phone rang, and the caller was none other than Seongheon hyung. I felt a bit strange, but didn’t show it.
