“Ah…. Jeonghan. Jeonghan has an afternoon filming today so he’s home.”
“Aren’t you sick of it? You guys. How many years have you been stuck together? Don’t you ever fight?”
“What’s there to fight about?”
“He has no social skills, honestly. He’s selfish.”
“No. He’s not like that. How could he act if he had no social skills? He does well on set, and he’s so popular among the staff.”
Perhaps I explained too long and in too much detail compared to what Kim Wonwoo said, because Kim Wonwoo looked at me and shook his head.
“Anyway, you know we’re meeting with the kids from our senior year next week, right?”
“Yeah. I got the message.”
“Come this time.”
“If Jeonghan doesn’t have a schedule, I’ll see about the time.”
“If there’s no schedule, isn’t Cha Jeonghan coming too?”
“We weren’t even in the same class.”
“Hey, the kids all remember you as being in the same class as Cha Jeonghan. Me too. He was always in our class to see you.”
The day we were in different classes for the first time in senior year after being in the same class for two years, Cha Jeonghan said he’d quit school. I coaxed and cajoled Cha Jeonghan, who seriously said he didn’t want to go to school if he wasn’t in the same class as me, throughout the vacation. Still, fortunately or unfortunately, we were in the class right next door, so at my words to think of it as just seeing each other every break, eating lunch together, going to and from school together, and only listening to classes separately, Cha Jeonghan said okay and reluctantly changed his mind.
So from the first day of senior year, Cha Jeonghan came to our class every break, and always came to our class not only during lunch but also during self-study time. If homeroom ended first, he’d stand in front of our class waiting for me, and in the morning too, he’d be next to me until morning assembly started before returning to his class.
Not only the kids in the same class but even our homeroom teacher naturally thought of Cha Jeonghan as being in our class, so much so that Cha Jeonghan was next to me all the time except during class. What Kim Wonwoo was saying wasn’t really unreasonable.
“I guess he’s nice to you. He always acted annoying toward us.”
“He’s a good kid. He just wasn’t good at dealing with people back then.”
“Look at this. Even a real son couldn’t defend him this much.”
Honestly, even if Kim Wonwoo was my close friend, I didn’t want to hear him speak badly of Cha Jeonghan. Because he really wasn’t bad enough to be spoken of that badly, and also just because I didn’t like hearing such words. At least the Cha Jeonghan I experienced, knew, and was watching was a good person. He was warm and kind enough to me that I had no choice but to love him for 13 years.
“Tell me about your work. What happened with what you said you were starting last time?”
Among the people we knew in common, Cha Jeonghan was the most famous person, and also our relationship wasn’t particularly good, so when talking with Kim Wonwoo, Cha Jeonghan’s story always became the main topic. If it was good stories rather than trash talk I wouldn’t know, but he kept saying Cha Jeonghan wasn’t great, so honestly I didn’t want to hear it.
More than anything, I didn’t want to talk about Cha Jeonghan like this in a place where Cha Jeonghan wasn’t present. It wasn’t polite, and many people in the world would talk about him even without me, so I didn’t want to add to it.
When the topic moved to his own story, Kim Wonwoo started talking about work like someone whose energy had been deflated. It wasn’t an area I knew well, but I was comfortable in my heart not having to hear Kim Wonwoo speak badly of Cha Jeonghan anymore.
I talked with Kim Wonwoo for about two hours before we parted. Even while eating, I kept thinking of Cha Jeonghan who would be sleeping the whole time at home without eating anything, so I couldn’t really taste the food. I stopped by a brunch place Cha Jeonghan liked, bought a salad and freshly squeezed vitamin juice, and headed home.
The house was still dark like the middle of the night. It was so quiet I didn’t know if he’d gone back to sleep after I left and was sleeping until now, so I quietly put down the salad bag without being noisy and entered the bedroom.
It was almost 3 o’clock, so he needed to wake up now. Just then a vibration went off, and looking at my phone I saw a message from Dongyun hyung saying he’d arrive at 4:30. To shower, at least eat the salad and leave, he needed to get up now. I carefully went to sit by the bed and grasped the sleeping Cha Jeonghan’s shoulder.
“Jeonghan.”
He wasn’t the type to sleep deeply unaware of the world, so his body reacted just from calling his name.
“Get up and eat that. I bought the avocado salad and vitamin juice you like. Dongyun hyung is coming by 4:30, so you need to get up now to eat and get ready.”
“You just came, why’d you buy more stuff?”
“I hate you going hungry.”
Cha Jeonghan, who tossed and turned in bed, opened his eyes in the darkness and looked at me. My eyes had adapted to the faint darkness, so I felt clearly when our eyes met.
“Without you I would have starved to death.”
“What an honor. Take care of yourself and eat on your own.”
“I don’t want to.”
“Why not?”
“If I do everything myself, you’ll go home and not come back. If I don’t do it, you come and at least feed me.”
Cha Jeonghan, who raised his upper body in bed, picked up his phone to check the time. Then he lifted his head again and looked at me.
“Kim Wonwoo talked shit about me, didn’t he?”
“No.”
“He did. There’s no way that bastard wouldn’t talk shit about me.”
“He didn’t. Just….”
“Just?”
“He said it’s amazing we’ve been stuck together for so long.”
“There’s nothing amazing about it. Really don’t meet him from now on. There won’t be any reason to meet for a month.”
I was about to say there wasn’t, but suddenly remembered the high school friends’ gathering Kim Wonwoo mentioned. While I was deciding not to mention it since I didn’t even know if I’d go or not and there didn’t seem to be a need to say it now, quick-witted Cha Jeonghan turned on the stand light and looked at me with suspicious eyes.
“Looks like there is something, judging by your face.”
“How can you tell from my face?”
“I may not know other people, but I know everything about you. Just looking at your eyes, I know. Confess honestly. What is it?”
“Next week the kids from our senior year class are gathering… they told me to come if possible.”
“So?”
“I don’t know if I can or not yet.”
“You can’t. You’ll have an important schedule that day.”
Cha Jeonghan, who spoke decisively, kicked off the blanket somewhat irritably. I followed him as he got off the bed and left the room. When Cha Jeonghan, who went to the window, pressed a button, the blinds opened and light suddenly poured into the house. Perhaps because we’d been in darkness the whole time, the light I suddenly faced was too bright and I closed my eyes.
“You didn’t say when it was….”
“Whenever it is, you’ll be busy that day, so know that. If you’re going to go, I’ll go with you. I know all the kids from your class. They all know me too, and well, even kids who didn’t know probably all know now. If you must go, let’s go together.”
“I don’t really want to go. I just remembered because Wonwoo told me.”
“Then that’s fortunate.”
Cha Jeonghan, who had been looking out the window then turned sharply toward me, took off the knit he was wearing as he headed to the bathroom. I quickly turned my head toward the dining table at his back that suddenly appeared. It was a sight I saw often, but at some point it started feeling a bit strange to keep looking directly. I really cried a lot before, hating how many things about me were gradually changing.
“I’ll eat after showering.”
“Okay. Got it.”
I took out the salad so Cha Jeonghan could eat it right away when he came out, and put the juice in the refrigerator so he could drink it cold. I was thinking of organizing the house a bit when Cha Jeonghan left for his schedule later, then going to the officetel to clean. While numbering and thinking of what else I needed to do, nothing more came to mind that I importantly had to do.
I couldn’t recall exactly when it started, but my top priority had changed to Cha Jeonghan. Cha Jeonghan and I had been the same size, but Cha Jeonghan tilted and completely dyed me, and even I changed into Cha Jeonghan. So when I thought of something, I always thought of Cha Jeonghan first. Cha Jeonghan always came before even myself.
“Yuhyeon.”
Surprised by the suddenly heard voice, I lifted my head and saw Cha Jeonghan who had come close. Cha Jeonghan, who rubbed his hair with a towel looking at surprised me, smiled and sat across from me.
“What are you thinking about so hard?”
“I was just spacing out.”
I quickly took out the juice from the refrigerator, shook it, and poured it into a transparent cup. Cha Jeonghan swallowed a few gulps of that juice and started eating the salad.
“Next week there’s a promotional shoot for Director Won Hojin’s movie, come with me.”
“Okay.”
“I’m shooting with Seo Piljun. Something about showing the loyal image of the Autumn Night actors still gathering in one place to support the director, or whatever.”
Seo Piljun was an actor who had done a drama with Cha Jeonghan before. Perhaps because he didn’t like that rookie Cha Jeonghan was cast as the male lead, he ignored Cha Jeonghan on set and treated him rudely. Even then, I remembered calming and stopping Cha Jeonghan who got choked up several times and tried to rush at him.
