Having finished lunch earlier than usual, Henry headed to the science lab to submit his assignment.
Perhaps because students had disappeared to take their respective breaks, the fourth-floor hallway where the science lab was located was quiet.
Knock knock, Henry tapped on the door. Soon a small answer saying it was okay to come in was heard. Henry pushed open the old door and entered.
“Oh, Henry!”
The teacher smiled brightly and welcomed him. Henry approached her and handed over the paper with the report he’d written yesterday.
“This is the substitute report for the failed experiment yesterday. As you mentioned, I found and wrote the reasons and basis for why only I got different results.”
At Henry’s words, the teacher received it with a satisfied smile. She flipped through the paper page by page, then nodded as if satisfied.
“Well done. This is more than enough. You found the cause well, the analysis is logical, and the examples are specific. Since you only had one day, I thought you might barely meet the length requirement. This is better than I thought? How was it? Was it manageable?”
“Yes, it was fine.”
Henry smiled awkwardly. It was the truth. Writing the report wasn’t very difficult.
To be precise, it wasn’t difficult because he’d written it together with Declan.
He’d written most of the text himself, but during that time, Declan had constantly helped. He’d endlessly supplemented the necessary materials and finished it in his place when he’d fallen asleep without completing it.
If anything, the problem was that rather than being uncomfortable, he even felt they worked well together.
To Henry, the fact that he and Declan matched well felt not just unfamiliar but like something that couldn’t be possible.
“You worked hard. I’ll process it as having completed the experiment the same as other students. Tell Declan that.”
“Yes, I’ll tell him. Thank you.”
After confirming the teacher’s nod, Henry gave his farewell and turned to leave.
***
After finishing class and eating dinner, late in the evening, Henry returned to the dorm.
When he opened the door, he saw Joseph lying on the bed looking at his phone and raising one hand. From the way he was grinning to himself, it seemed he was communicating with his girlfriend.
“You’re back?”
“Yeah.”
Henry answered half-heartedly, put down his bag, and immediately grabbed his workout clothes. Joseph, who had been bothered by Henry fidgeting around next to him, finally turned around and asked with a fed-up expression.
“Going for a run?”
“Why, you want to come with me?”
At Henry’s words, he squeezed his eyes shut and shuddered while waving his hand. Henry smiled slightly at the expression that showed no intention of hiding his disgust.
“Aren’t you sick of it? Hey, it’s only been 2 weeks since the game ended. Rest a little.”
“My body gets stiff. We have a practice game next week too.”
“How stiff can it get? You’ve been doing this for so long, would your body turn to trash overnight just from resting a few days?”
“It might.”
At Henry’s answer, Joseph shook his head. He heard muttering that Henry was sensitive when it came to football anyway, but didn’t care.
“Oh right, how did the report go?”
As if he’d forgotten, a laugh that was somehow close to mockery was heard. Henry, who had paused, sighed and asked.
“How did you know about that too?”
“Of course. The rumor’s already spread. Not only did you and Declan become partners during the experiment, but you couldn’t finish so you met separately and even wrote a report together. How could there not be talk?”
“Don’t you have anything to do? You’re keeping track of every single rumor.”
“I don’t think that’s something you should say when you used to love spreading those rumors around.”
Joseph answered mischievously. Henry shrugged casually, took off his uniform shirt, and changed into a workout t-shirt.
“So. How was it?”
“What?”
“Didn’t you make up with Russell after what happened the day before yesterday?”
“Make up, my ass.”
Henry said with a snort.
“What. It wasn’t? I thought you’d made up. In the end, you were barely hurt, and Russell was barely hurt so it ended well. But anyway, he did save you. If that had fallen on your head, just imagine. Ugh.”
After talking to his heart’s content alone, Joseph rubbed his arms and shuddered as if he was getting goosebumps.
It had been the topic that had been persistently bothering Henry for two days already. Henry, who had been about to change his pants, stopped his actions.
“…Even in your opinion, I do owe him, right?”
“Uh, uhh? Well, I guess so?”
Joseph answered, feeling awkward at Henry’s voice that had lowered as he fell into thought. Henry, who had been about to go straight for a run, sat down on the bed instead of changing his pants.
The wicked words he could never let out swelled up in size on their own inside Henry.
Since he’d received help, he wanted to escape from the reality that he should now at least consider him a decent friend.
What was this supposed to be?
Not only had his biggest secret been discovered by someone he hated to death, but now he’d even received help.
Henry couldn’t hold back and sighed deeply enough to sink into the ground.
Seeing that, Joseph asked in confusion.
“Hey, hey. What’s wrong? You did receive help… but it’s not like you did it on purpose. It was an accident. He’s not such a bad person either. He probably doesn’t have any particular thoughts about it now?”
“…Is his personality good?”
Henry glared at Joseph with raised eyes. Joseph secretly broke into a cold sweat and watched Henry’s mood at the unpleasant feeling in his gaze.
“Hey. I know you and that guy don’t get along, but honestly, he’s gotten along well with everyone since right after he transferred. Even now, aside from you or Columbus’s group, there’s no one who’s particularly on bad terms with him.”
“That’s true.”
Joseph didn’t know what to do with Henry who kept sighing. He didn’t want to hurt his old friend’s feelings, but objectively, Declan wasn’t a bad guy in his eyes.
“Why are you asking when you already know?”
“…Just because he’s a decent person to you and other people doesn’t guarantee he’ll be a decent person to me.”
“There’s no guarantee, but the probability of him being a relatively bad bastard is low. Even if you weren’t close, you’re playing games in the same club so you must know roughly. Hey, there’s even talk that Hazel still has lingering feelings for Russell.”
Henry lost his words at the words that flowed out without room to interrupt. Even more so because he knew Joseph’s words were right.
“…Did something happen between you and that bastard?”
Seeing Henry sitting seriously, Joseph turned off his phone and sat up on the bed.
At his question, Henry quietly shook his head. He couldn’t talk about what happened in the locker room anyway.
“Then why?”
To the frustrated Joseph, Henry spoke slowly.
“…I hate that I received help from him.”
At Henry’s words, Joseph blinked while tilting his head as if he couldn’t understand.
“Well… is your pride still hurt because you feel like you were given the quarterback position? Or is it about Hazel being stolen?”
“Not really. She probably wasn’t seriously dating me either. I wasn’t either.”
“True, there are hardly any cases of long-term relationships with girlfriends you met during your school days like David.”
Joseph seemed to understand in his own way, recalling various types of cases.
Naturally, he didn’t know that his muttering had pushed Henry further into the gutter.
“Then why on earth? Is he blackmailing you? Saying to pay him back since he saved you? Or did he talk shit behind your back saying you did it on purpose?”
“No.”
Henry stood up from his seat with a gloomy face, denying Joseph’s question. He finished changing his pants and roughly threw his removed clothes onto the desk chair.
“You’re saying no to everything. What is it then? I need to know to help you.”
“Ah, I don’t know. I’m acting like this because I don’t know either.”
Why he found Declan Russell so hateful. David’s words. Joseph’s words. Even though he knew they were all right, he didn’t want to accept them.
With a disgruntled face, Henry pouted his lips and grabbed the doorknob.
“I’m going.”
“Fine. I’m sleeping first.”
“Yeah.”
Click, Henry opened the door. Joseph, who had been returning to bed with a disgruntled face, urgently called Henry again.
“Ah, ah! Hey, wait a minute!”
“What?”
When Henry turned around at the urgent voice, he smiled sheepishly and held up the flowerpot by his bedside.
“Are you going home this weekend? If you’re not going, water this on the weekend. This is a gift Camilla gave me…”
“I’m going home.”
Henry answered, cutting off Joseph’s continuing words. Joseph grabbed Henry once more as he was about to just leave.
“Ah, you! You just decided to go after hearing what I said! Ah, come on. I can’t let this die!”
“I’m worried because of the basketball backboard that fell.”
Then he stopped talking mid-shout at Henry’s words.
Leaving behind Joseph who had an expression of realization, this time Henry really closed the dorm door and went out for a run to build his stamina.
