CEL 31

“Hyung, what part do you like? Next time I’ll get it…” While Doyoung was grinning and talking, Hamin’s phone rang. The light vibration sound made Hamin raise his palm to stop him, and he answered the call with no expression.

Until that moment, the three of them were at peace.

“Hey, honey.”

If it hadn’t been for the bomb that Seo Hamin threw, it probably would have stayed that way until they went home.

-…Sunbae?

“Yeah, I miss you too.”

-Sunbae… did you get kidnapped?

“Of course not, I’ll see you later.”

-Are we meeting today?

“I’ll text you.”

After ending the call, Hamin immediately sent a message.

There was some stuff

6:28 PM

Han Jaeha

B

Bebr (he fumbled with the keyboard while trying to type babe)

Ah, what’s wrong with this? 6:28 PM

Han Jaeha

Honey, what kind of stuff is there to call me that for? 6:29 PM

I’ll tell you later 6:29 PM

With that, he put away his phone. The buzzing continued, but he ignored it and moved the meat that had started to burn onto his small plate.

Unlike Hamin, who was calm, the two who were dumbfounded only moved their hands after Hamin said, “You’re not eating?” Compared to Kim Hyunwoo, who at least kept some composure, Kwon Doyoung only kept staring with wide eyes and clumsily moving his chopsticks.

“That’s burnt.”

“Burnt food is supposed to be good for cancer…” What kind of insane nonsense was that?

As he watched Kwon Doyoung chew on the blackened meat while spouting nonsense, the boss came back at just the right time.

“What’s this, why’s the mood like this? Were you talking about the college entrance exam?”

“You want me to?”

“Talking about that at a company dinner is the worst thing, you know?” He grumbled as he cut up the burnt meat with scissors. Thanks to the boss, who had no awareness, the mood managed not to feel too uncomfortable, but Kim Hyunwoo’s eyes looked like they were demanding an explanation, and Kwon Doyoung’s shaken look never went away.

It was only after the meal was all over that Kwon Doyoung spoke to Hamin. His stiff voice stopped Hamin, who was packing up to leave.

“Hyung, talk with me a bit.”

“Sure.”

He had no reason to refuse, so he agreed, and Doyoung grabbed his wrist and led him straight into a side alley.

In the narrow alley where only the two of them remained, Kwon Doyoung asked in a rough voice.

“Hyung, didn’t you say you don’t have a girlfriend?”

“I have a boyfriend.”

“Then, then… that call just now…a guy?”

Kwon Doyoung’s cheeks turned red, and he stammered as his lips opened and closed. It was a bit of a rude thought, but with his tanned face flushed, he looked a little like a roasted potato.

“Yeah, my boyfriend.”

“Hyung, you liked men?”

He had never liked men in the past, and he had no intention of liking them in the future, but he nodded lightly.

“Then…”

His dark pupils started to sparkle. Hamin frowned awkwardly.

It would be a problem if he cried…

While he hesitated about whether he should at least say something comforting, Kwon Doyoung whispered quietly.

“That means I have a chance too.”

Silence followed.

Kwon Doyoung was overwhelmed with emotion, and Hamin couldn’t understand how a sentence not even twenty words long led to this. Doyoung, who had been grinning in a way that felt unpleasant, quickly added words.

“I thought hyung wasn’t interested in men, so I tried not to show it as much as I could. But this means hyung is gay too. Isn’t this really fate?”

“You heard me say I have a lover, right?”

“Yes, a male lover.”

“No. A lover, and he happens to be a man.”

“It feels like a dream. Hyung likes men too… we really must be fated.” Once Kwon Doyoung opened his mouth, he muttered nonstop. Hamin stared at him with a dumbfounded face.

Because he had only seen him blushing, mumbling, or looking like a kid, Hamin thought even while living in the same house that he didn’t resemble his uncle at all, but that was a complete misunderstanding. Kwon Doyoung was exactly like the boss.

Doyoung smiled wide, clenching and unclenching his fist. He knew from Hamin’s disgusted expression that he should stop, but his puffed-up heart showed no sign of deflating.

Someone once said it takes three seconds to fall in love.

Doyoung snorted and refuted that. It only took 0.1 seconds to fall in love.

When he first came home and saw Hamin wearing strange scarlet clothes, Doyoung honestly thought a celebrity had walked into his house, and he had to blink several times. It was a feeling similar to when he first saw Han Siwoo.

Because of his flashy appearance paired with tacky clothes, Doyoung wondered if it was a hidden camera prank, and without realizing it, his eyes searched for a camera. That was why, unlike himself, he stuttered and couldn’t meet his eyes, but when he heard that person was his tutor, he was so glad.

Every time they talked, his heart beat wildly, to the point where he couldn’t even focus properly on the tutoring.

Even so, he couldn’t bring himself to think of confessing. Because if he revealed his orientation to Hamin, who seemed obviously straight, he feared even this thin connection might break.

So it wasn’t strange that his heart pounded like it would explode when he heard Hamin’s lover was a man. Even if he confessed, Hamin wouldn’t despise him. That alone was enough.

“I’ll go to Korea University even if I have to repeat a year.”

Hamin frowned in disbelief at Doyoung’s wide grin. He thought about telling him that if you repeat, I’ll already have graduated and won’t be at the school, but when he saw those burning eyes, he swallowed the words.

Well, sure. Going to Korea University is a good thing.

“Yeah, work hard.”

Hamin answered, brushing off the nineteen-year-old’s first crush. At that age, kids fall for student teachers, or even their homeroom teachers.

Anyway, he had done enough.

“Hyung, what’s your ideal type?”

So to that question, Hamin answered without hesitation.

“Someone smart.”

Doyoung muttered blankly, “Someone smart…” As if he was calculating something, he bent down his fingers one by one, then clenched his fist tightly and shouted.

“I’ll really work hard! So I’ll definitely… definitely become your ideal type!”

“…Uh, sure?”

Seeing the determined look after his half-hearted answer made him feel a little sorry…

But if he goes to a good university, that’s good for him, not for me.

He brushed back the bangs sticking to his forehead as he hid his fatigue. At the word “ideal type,” someone who had chased after him and even bothered him came to mind for an instant, but it was only a fleeting moment.

•••

After the “honey” incident, Han Jaeha often sent him improper looks. When Hamin picked up a piece of salmon sushi, the eyes staring at him made him sigh. A thin slice of ginger was laid across the thick salmon.

“You eat it.”

“Sunbae, you eat more.”

Hamin swallowed a sigh, took out new chopsticks, and put a shrimp sushi on Jaeha’s plate. It meant nothing, but while seven pieces had gone into his own mouth, only two had gone into Jaeha’s. That made him feel a‎ little guilty

“Chew it before you swallow.”

“I chewed it.”

“At least five times.”

Three times is enough to swallow, so what’s he expecting?

When Hamin frowned in annoyance, Jaeha chuckled and asked,

“But is it okay for you to buy something this expensive?”

“I got my paycheck.”

“That’s what I mean, Sunbae, is it okay for you to spend your paycheck on me?”

When Hamin gave him the look of “Then where else would I spend it,” a shiver ran through his chest. The sensation, similar to stomach cramps, was something Jaeha had become very familiar with lately.

When he first heard “honey” over the phone, what he felt, was worry. Seo Hamin would never say something like that sober, so he was sure there was some hidden meaning he hadn’t caught, and he kept running his thoughts.

Did he get kidnapped? Then was “honey” a signal to come save him? What does it mean?

If Hamin’s reply hadn’t come just as Jaeha was about to rush out without even putting on socks, he probably would have reached the police before Hamin.

He had asked again and again what kind of situation made him say something like that, but all he ever heard back was the maddening line that it was the kind of situation that called for it. At first it baffled him, but the more he replayed Hamin’s voice, the harder it was to hold back hid laughter.

It wasn’t the tender tone that other lovers used. It was dry, almost like addressing a professor.

But those two syllables made his chest swell in a ridiculous way. He wanted to pull Seo Hamin into his arms right then, kiss his soft lips, hold his small body tight enough that it might collapse in his arms. It was the first time in his life he had ever felt that impulse.

“What are you doing during break?”

He asked in a neutral tone but a smile was hanging on his lips. Seeing that, Hamin muttered to himself, silly kid, but the awkwardness made him rub the back of his neck.

“Just drawing.”

Just drawing even though it’s break?

At the unexpected answer, Hamin, who had been chewing salmon sushi, swallowed and asked again.

“Is it fun?”

He thought Jaeha would say yes immediately, but the reply didn’t come right away. The dazed pupils settled back into place, the corners of his lips dropped a little, and a faint smile appeared.

It was a familiar smile. One he had often seen on a Han Jaeha who was a little more mature than the one sitting here now.

Hamin looked at him quietly, then pushed all the remaining sushi toward him. For some reason, he wasn’t in the mood to see that smile just now. When he saw Jaeha grin again at such a trivial gesture, he changed the subject.

“Don’t you go out with your friends?”

“Why do you keep teasing me when you know I don’t have friends?”

“You should travel a lot when you’re young.”

“I told you not to say stuff like that, because you sound like my uncle when you do.”

While they were wasting time on meaningless chatter, someone shouted loudly from a distance.

“Hyung!”

What now?

A man whose build made it hard to guess his age walked quickly toward them, and Jaeha tilted his head in confusion. He didn’t recognize the face, so it wasn’t someone calling to him, and it didn’t look like Seo Hamin would know someone like that either. Maybe the man mistook him for someone else? While he thought that, Hamin opened his mouth.

The look in his eyes, paired with his “oh, hey,” told Jaeha it was someone familiar, and he frowned before he knew it. The man, whose face was red and who looked like the kind to join some group right after graduation, stared at Seo Hamin.

“Hyung, what brings you here? Did you come to eat?”

“Did you finish your homework before hanging out?”

“I’m not hanging out. I’m running an errand for my uncle.”

“You finished your homework before running errands?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

At Hamin’s words, the man laughed and said, “You’re really weird.” It was such a loud laugh that his uvula showed. Watching the scene, Jaeha couldn’t help asking,

“Who’s that?”

“A student I tutor.”

“You said he was a kid.”

“His nickname is ‘Kid.’”

What kind of nickname is that?

It made no sense to attach that name to a muscular guy over 180cm. At best he looked like a senior in high school, and without a uniform on, he honestly looked older than both Jaeha and Seo Hamin. And the way he looked at Hamin’s lips moving with the word “kid” was improper…

Just a tutor and his student?

Jaeha could swear on his right hand that student had special feelings for Hamin.

The red face, the way he bent his back to look smaller, the restless shifting pupils, anyone could see the look was full of desire.

The hand holding his chopsticks tightened until they creaked.

So Hamin had been shut in with him all this time? Alone with someone who looked at him like that?

His insides churned and he felt irritated. Hamin, unaware of what he was feeling, continued small talk with that “Kid.”