Yuwon quietly raised his arms and tightly hugged Hyun Gyujin’s waist, just like yesterday. As if to reassure him not to wander too much, to let him know he had come back well.
“I dreamt about kissing you yesterday.”
A muffled sound came from Hyun Gyujin’s neck. It was undoubtedly an indistinct sound, muffled by lips, but Yuwon understood it perfectly. Startled for a moment, Yuwon pushed Hyun Gyujin’s shoulders away.
“…Strange… if you say weird stuff, I’m leaving.”
“Why are you pushing me away? Come here.”
Hyun Gyujin approached Yuwon again and encircled him in his arms. Once again, warmth filled the embrace, a warm energy radiating. If you combined the warm sunlight with the cozy scent of clouds, wouldn’t it smell like this? Hyun Gyujin, who smiled at the sensation of Yuwon’s soft hair brushing against his nose, lowered his head onto his shoulder.
“Really?”
“…Again…”
“Did I want to kiss you before?”
“……”
“But it’s funny because I clearly did feel that. But I don’t remember the feeling because I never really did it. It felt good, really good, though.”
Yuwon’s grip on Hyun Gyujin’s arm tightened slightly as he spoke. It didn’t hurt, but it left him unable to move. When he tried to move his arm, feeling the lack of strength, Hyun Gyujin couldn’t help but find it amusing. Yet honestly, he liked it.
Yuwon rested his chin on Hyun Gyujin’s shoulder, biting his lips firmly. It was embarrassing to be embraced like this, but thankfully, his face wasn’t visible. Feeling his cheeks burning and his embarrassment growing, he was grateful that his face couldn’t be seen right now.
“…You’ve never done it before?”
“What are you talking about? Of course, I have. Haven’t you?”
Yuwon smiled softly as he remembered the times when Hyun Gyujin appeared in his dreams every night. It was chaotic, kissing and releasing lips all night long.
“What? You’ve done it?”
Hyun Gyujin, waiting for Yuwon’s response, pulled away. Yuwon missed the timing to answer, lost in thoughts of the dreams where he kissed Hyun Gyujin endlessly.
“What’s wrong? Have you?”
With a sound of realization, Yuwon finally met Hyun Gyujin’s gaze.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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“Yeah, I’ve never dated anyone.”
“What? So you’re not dating anyone, but you kissed someone without me knowing?”
The idea of secretly kissing someone was so absurd that Yuwon burst into laughter. Seeing Hyun Gyujin take the laughter increasingly seriously, Yuwon tilted his head in amusement.
“I should secretly kiss someone… Should I tell you that I’m going to kiss someone? Isn’t that even weirder?”
“Well, I guess you did actually do it.”
“No.”
“What do you mean ‘no’? Why didn’t you say no earlier then? Wow… we’ve been together like every day, damn.”
Ah, swearing… Yuwon looked at Hyun Gyujin’s face, which had become irritated and sensitive. Even in this situation, his sensitive face looked so handsome.
“…Who was it? A girl? A guy? Who initiated it? Where… No, don’t tell me. I don’t want to know. It annoys me.”
As he was about to say it was a joke, that he dreamt about it too, the bell signaling the end of lunchtime rang loudly. Observing Hyun Gyujin, who even looked upset, he was about to speak again when a low sigh, as if the world was collapsing, echoed.
“Let’s go.”
“It’s a joke… I didn’t do it.”
“…Okay.”
Looking at Hyun Gyujin, who seemed to not believe him at all despite his denial, Yuwon’s heart felt a bit worried. This wasn’t right…?
Even as they walked to the classroom, Hyun Gyujin remained the same, except for seeming a bit down and not looking happy. He still walked behind Yuwon as if protecting him when climbing stairs, and he even raised his arm to shield Yuwon’s side, as if protecting him from potential collisions if someone ran down the hallway.
“It’s not just something I said, it’s really about what happened earlier…”
Just as he was about to say it was a joke, the teacher walked in and tapped the desk. Yuwon reluctantly returned to his seat and took out his textbook. While the teacher was preparing for the class, Yuwon sneakily glanced back, but of course, he couldn’t see Hyun Gyujin’s face, which should naturally be visible. Having listened to the class without leaning on his elbow for a few days, seeing him leaning now meant he was really upset.
“……”
How to explain when he doesn’t even believe a simple denial… Yuwon turned his body forward again, pressing his lips tightly with the tip of his pen, lost in deep thought.
***
Ignoring the teacher’s instructions to not lean and stand up, Hyun Gyujin, who was already deeply asleep, was kicked out of the classroom along with Choi Haeyoung, who was also sleeping deeply. They pretended to linger in the hallway for a moment before exchanging glances and, seizing the opportunity, sneaked up to the art room while the teacher was looking away.
As soon as they entered, Choi Haeyoung smoothly took out a cigarette and lit it. Hyun Gyujin also desperately wanted to smoke, but he just put his hands in his pockets and casually sat on a chair, fearing Yuwon might not like it.
“Why the long face again? Did you and Yuwon break up again?”
“Yeah, isn’t it weird how when you’re dating, the littlest things can make you feel really good or really bad?”
“Of course. Emotions swing like crazy when you’re in a relationship. You feel great when you get a text from them in the morning, but your mood crashes when you see them laughing with someone else. And that repeats all day until your head explodes. You think anyone can handle dating? If you have a bad temper, forget it. Like you, for example.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. Damn it, you do it too, so why can’t I?”
Hyun Gyujin raised his middle finger, then dropped it, leaning his head back to stare at the dusty ceiling without much meaning.
“So, who caught your eye?”
“No one.”
“But why are you asking that?”
“Just curious. Heard someone was dating and then acted like a complete idiot. All happy at first, then suddenly showing signs of being pissed off.”
“If they show signs of being that pissed off, it’s probably their first time. Acting pathetic and showing it. They’ll learn to handle it eventually.”
Although Choi Haeyoung didn’t direct those words at him since he hadn’t said anything, it still made him feel oddly dirty. Hyun Gyujin tried hard to swallow the curse words that were trying to escape his lips, then let out a sigh.
“……”
A kiss. Jung Yuwon had kissed someone. Who could it be?He had no idea who it could be or when it happened. No, he didn’t want to know, but it kept coming to mind, and no matter how hard he tried to erase the thought, it persisted in his head like a malfunction.
Initially, Yuwon and he spent most of their time together. While he couldn’t be 100% certain they were together every single day, it still… It just didn’t make sense that he didn’t know about such a thing while Jung Yuwon was out there doing it.
“It’s a joke. I didn’t do it…”
Although he said it was a joke in the end, not immediately denying it made me feel uneasy.
Certainly, Yuwon kissing someone else wouldn’t make Hyun Gyujin dislike him or anything… But still, he felt a little hurt. Well, actually, quite a lot. They weren’t even dating at the time, just friends, so he didn’t need to know about his friend’s love life, nor did he want to, but still… No, really, still. Hyun Gyujin let out another deep sigh.
“Why are you acting like this? Why are you acting weird lately?”
“What do you mean?”
“No, yesterday… No, just until we had lunch, you were in such a good mood, but why are you so down all of a sudden?”
“Hey, how would you feel if Kim Junjae told you he kissed someone?”
“I’d kill him, that’s what. Why should I care about what he does? It’s giving me the creeps. Why should I even know about it? It’s almost like having a TMI about the brand of milk powder Kim Junjae drank when he was a kid.”
Watching Choi Haeyoung scratching his arm and looking genuinely uncomfortable, Hyun Gyujin let out another long sigh. Yeah, maybe that reaction was normal.
Most guys he knew weren’t particularly interested in their friends’ personal lives, especially their love lives. It was because they knew there was a stark difference between how they treated their friends and how they treated their girlfriends. Of course, the situation was a bit different now. Yuwon and he weren’t friends anymore. But if they were still friends, would his feelings be this weird if he found out back then?
“……” No, it still would’ve felt strange and uncomfortable. Because it was Yuwon. I didn’t care who Choi Haeyoung kissed or what he did, but Jung Yuwon was different. It was too shocking to find out there was something I didn’t know about Yuwon.
[Kim Junjae: Yo, someone is mad you guys bailed on us, pissed off as hell]
[I’m dead.]
[Choi Haeyoung: Apparently, Hyun’s dead, so I took him to the hospital.]
Hyun Gyujin casually tossed his phone aside and walked to the window, spraying air freshener once into the air. Even though he didn’t smoke, it seemed prudent to follow the basic procedure to avoid misunderstandings caused by Choi Haeyoung.
“Let’s go.”
“There’s still 10 minutes left until it’s over?”
“Just stand there roughly now, and it’ll be over. Otherwise, we’ll have to go to the office.”
“Ugh, annoying. The real problem is how he’s putting us to sleep with his teaching.”
After flicking away his cigarette, Choi Haeyoung sprayed air freshener all over himself a few times. The strong, artificial scent of the air freshener left an impression on Hyun Gyujin’s senses. He found it a bit unpleasant to think that even from Choi Haeyoung, such a scent emanated. Perhaps it would be better to carry his own cologne, one that suited him and one that Yuwon particularly liked.
