“…So. What. You want me to get jealous?”
“What I mean is, dating me would absolutely not be a loss for hyung.”
Eunha laughed hollowly.
“That damn loss…”
“I’m serious.”
“Yeah. No—”
“……”
“You’d be at a loss, Yeonjun-ah. Dating me.”
The light changed. It was the moment he naturally dropped his hand and gripped the steering wheel.
“Then I want to be at a loss, so badly…”
His lips twisted into a smile at the whining murmur meant to be heard. Eunha, who had been tapping the steering wheel with his index finger, scolded him. That he shouldn’t think that way.
After finishing their meal, the place they headed to was the district library. Eunha borrowed books about once a month. He walked around between the bookshelves holding a Post-it note with the call numbers of books written on it. After finding two books first, he dragged his feet leisurely to find the remaining one and ended up coming to a fairly deep spot.
After carefully examining, he realized the last book was on the very top shelf of the tall bookcase. While clicking his tongue at the awkward height, he saw a step stool at the far corner of the bookshelves that were aligned in a straight line.
Well… His pride slightly activated, Eunha stood on tiptoe instead of going to get the footrest in such a shabby manner. When he stretched his arm long, the spine of the book brushed against the tip of his middle finger, but he couldn’t quite grasp it. He was struggling desperately, thinking he might be able to grab it if he did well. He was clinging flat against the bookshelf, wriggling and concentrating, when suddenly one forearm was gripped and at the same time an arm stretched out from over his shoulder. The sight of easily pulling out the book Eunha wanted with neat hands felt slow like slow motion. Eunha, who had stopped short, half-turned his body and looked back.
Their eyes met. It was a day with good sunlight, and since the temperature was quite cool during the day, the interior had all the windows wide open instead of air conditioning. Because it was a corner by the window, the breeze of that cool weather was rippling around them. Looking at Yeonjun with the lightly cast shadow of the window frame and the fluttering translucent silk curtain as a background, for a moment Eunha felt like he was placed in the middle of a romantic production from a drama or something, then felt like he was suddenly pulled out from there and wrinkled his nose.
“…What is this?”
There couldn’t be a more classic move than this. When he let out a scoff as if reproaching the somewhat artificial act, Yeonjun, who received the implication, awkwardly averted his gaze.
“Hyung’s ideal type.”
“……”
“…You said a sweet person.”
“……”
So he tried it once, his earlobes gradually reddened as he made excuses. It seemed Haebin had unnecessarily leaked information again.
Completely facing him, Eunha, who received the last book he handed over, breathed out through his nose weakly. It was the moment he was straightening his posture when Yeonjun’s gaze slipped slightly to the side. At the same time, Eunha lost his center and fumbled with his feet. What touched the back of his head, which had almost been planted against the bookshelf, was not a hard sensation but soft flesh that received him with force.
Yeonjun, who had wedged his hand between where they would have collided, returned Eunha’s head, which had been tilted back slightly, to its original position. Then he stroked the back of his head once as if checking it and pulled away.
Eunha breathed quietly while holding the books to his chest. Their gazes collided up and down.
Yeonjun slowly opened his mouth.
“Can’t you tell me what being sweet is?”
Eunha only looked up silently. Feeling like he was excessively close for some reason, while leaning his back against the bookshelf as much as possible.
“Something hyung would like… I mean, something that would make you feel fluttering… that kind of sweet action.”
Even so, he was close.
“I don’t know what to do for hyung to like it.”
“……”
“I felt like I knew something… but I don’t know anymore.”
So it was a sad tone as if it was difficult and hard. A confession that made a pitiful heart naturally bloom. The kind that would make anyone, just anyone, want to take out all their resources and tell him everything they knew.
Eunha hardened his heart.
“That’s something you have to figure out yourself.”
“……”
“…And this… setting the mood is forbidden.”
Eunha, who issued the third ban following pictures and skinship beyond hugs, lowered his gaze diagonally.
You don’t know what sweet actions are?
It was really ridiculous… Eunha, who had whipped his body around, snorted and quickly escaped the corner. While putting full strength into the fingertips holding the books.
He could hear his heartbeat in his ears.
* * *
“I suddenly became curious, hyung.”
“Yeah.”
“Are you and that hyung completely just friends?”
It was while they were leisurely taking a walk after finishing dinner. They visited the Han River, accepting Yeonjun’s suggestion. The subject didn’t come to mind at once, so Eunha, who had tilted his head, asked back.
“That hyung?”
“Gu Haebin-hyung.”
Are we completely just friends… Eunha, who reflected on Yeonjun’s past question, immediately made a sour expression. No way, he wondered who he was talking about.
“I’ve known him since elementary school.”
“I did hear that.”
It was a nuance as if leaving open possibilities. He could tell at once what hypothesis he was establishing.
“What do you mean ‘I did hear that.’ Don’t say weird things.”
He wrinkled his nose. Yeonjun received Eunha’s words as if agreeing. “So it’s a weird thing to say…” However, there was no soul or empathy mixed in it at all, so it sounded like an answer that he didn’t believe it at all, making Eunha truly furrow his brows hard.
“He’s crazy about women. Please… he’s a guy who’s mad for women. Didn’t you hear the story about how he gave me a really hard time for a while because a girl he liked ended up liking me?”
“I heard. That’s why I’m even more depressed…”
“……”
“I mean, right now I have competitors regardless of gender. Double that of others.”
No, maybe several times more… Eunha let out a hollow laugh at the words murmured even bleakly.
“What competitors?”
They’re all old stories. It’s true there was such a time, but it was just a distant past. During college, he was so distracted living absorbed in dating that nothing else mattered. And then after breaking up…
Anyway, it was an embarrassingly past that kept coming up like this. It was just that he received a little attention for the reason of being somewhat good-looking. Because it was that age. When exam life was hard so they poured tremendous interest into trivial things.
It’s all past glory. Eunha sincerely thought so. While forgetting about things like the shop review section.
“And well… being heterosexual doesn’t seem to be a particularly limiting characteristic either. I didn’t know I’d turn out like this either.”
It would have been good if I’d kept not knowing. Eunha clicked his tongue only inwardly.
“No matter what, not Haebin. You’re really thinking wrong about that. Got it?”
I get that you keep being troubled, but you’ve gotten the address completely wrong. For Eunha, Gu Haebin was practically no different from family. It would be the same the other way around too.
At the firm reprimand, Yeonjun made a docile expression, but in the end didn’t answer.
