PCL Ch 28

“I have something to tell you.”

Jung Ji-pil, who was rushing to copy his parents’ signature on the report card he was about to submit, raised his head.

“What? Ki Young-ah, can’t you see your Hyung is busy right now?”

“Call me Ka Young-hyun.”

“If you’re going to say some bullshit, go somewhere else, hmm?”

I pouted my lips and turned around in response to Jung Ji-pil’s cold reaction. I was an embarrassment to the Ki family. Because I said I’d never go back to Lim Dae-han’s house, but the next day, on Sunday, I went again and rolled around all day.

It was convenient for him to live alone. He could do whatever he wanted. I don’t always have someone at home either, but I didn’t have much privacy because all of my family members were home after the weekend or night self-study. So what? Anyway, that was it…

“The bell just rang, but what are you doing still standing up?”

The teacher walked into the classroom. I also returned to my seat hesitantly. Lim Dae-han was sleeping in the back seat. The teacher mentioned the importance of the summer vacation of the second year for a long time. As I looked around the classroom with my chin clenched and a bored expression, I suddenly met Jung Ji-pil’s eyes. After signing the report card, he winked at me with a more relaxed expression than before.

‘I have something to tell you later.’

He spoke in a whisper and turned his head to its original position. What’s the matter with him… My forehead was wrinkled and I also looked out of the window.

The greenery was dense and the sky was clear. The scorching heat that couldn’t be avoided surrounded the school as the sun poured down. Before looking at the textbook, the teacher instructed us to open the workbook. In English class, the teacher always read about four passages from the textbook and then explained them before moving into the workbook. I realized Lim Dae-han had not yet woken up as I turned to get the workbook out from under the desk.

He was sleeping while hugging his arm pillow as if he didn’t care that the teacher had come. His deskmate didn’t even wake him up. With my head still turned toward Dae-han, I moved my hand to place the workbook on the desk and tapped the back of Dae-han’s extended hand toward me.

“Wake up. The teacher is coming here.”

“…”

So, Lim Dae-han with a disheveled face raised himself from his arm pillow. With one eye closed, his annoyance was visible on his face. I hardened as soon as I met his ferocious face head-on. Lim Dae-han spoke in a low voice.

“Don’t wake me up.”

He then buried his head in the pillow again, without making eye contact with me.

To be honest, I was slightly embarrassed because I hadn’t expected such a reaction from him. It wasn’t that I was afraid, and I had already become comfortable with Lim Dae-han in such a short period of time. Because we were in a relationship, there was something I thought in front of each other like Lim Dae-han wasn’t like that to me, he’d be a little gentler.

Was he annoyed?

I woke him up thinking about his situation, but when he got annoyed with me, I felt embarrassed and strange. And I was a little worried that he might get angry. I turned my head back to its original state. The teacher assigned eight questions to be answered in six minutes. Looking at the clock, I took a mechanical pencil. And I started comparing it to the text by underlining key words in the problem.

I couldn’t concentrate. Lim Dae-han’s annoyed face was vivid in my mind.

Did he not sleep yesterday? He didn’t look very tired when we were together.

Or was he just annoyed because I woke him up?

But it wasn’t me who suggested that we should study together, it was him…

“Okay, time’s up. Stop working and I’ll say the answer first. Score it.”

I can’t believe it’s been this long already. I only got halfway through the question. Having a relationship had an immediate impact on my life. I squeezed the mechanical pencil more firmly than usual. I shouldn’t be like this… I didn’t feel good. I couldn’t tell if it was because I couldn’t solve the problem or because Lim Dae-han was annoyed with me.

“Ki Young-hyun.”

It was break time after English class. Lim Dae-han woke up and suddenly called me from behind. I pretended not to hear it and organized my desk. I put the scattered pen in a pencil case, tapped and tidied up the textbook on the desk, and slid it into the drawer. Lim Dae-han called me again.

“Ki Young-hyun.”

“…” 

“Hey.”

Now that I have nothing to do after pushing the textbook, I turned to the side. I turned my head to Lim Dae-han while my body was turned to my deskmate. I couldn’t hide my grumpiness. Lim Dae-han had an odd expression on his face.

“Did you wake me up?”

“…Yeah. The teacher came.”

Aish. Lim Dae-han ruffled his short hair. He then lowered his hand again. He rubbed my elbow and patted my arm on the back of the chair. Then, with his fingers, he tickled the skin on the inside of my forearm.

I frowned and lowered my arms without saying anything. Lim Dae-han paused in mid-air and bit his lower lip. He tapped the desk with his nails, then clenched his fists and put his hands down. He then scratched his chin.

“… Yesterday, I didn’t get much sleep.”

“…” 

“Are you mad?”

Lim Dae-han tilted his head and asked me. His face was flushed with embarrassment. I glanced at Dae-han’s face and peeked at my and his deskmate. My deskmate was dozing off as a result of the after effects of English time, which were similar to sleeping pills. Even though Lim Dae-han’s deskmate could hear our conversation, he remained on his cell phone.

“I woke you up because I was afraid the teacher would scold you, there’s no other meaning…”

Aish. I was definitely going to speak lightly, but there was a lot of sadness at the end of my voice. Lim Dae-han noticed as well, and he looked at my face before lowering his gaze to the floor. However, when I thought about it, it seemed quite unfair to Lim Dae-han, who had to stay up until memorizing English words and did as much as I told him to do.

…But he was not annoyed, was he? I woke him up thinking about his situation. Anyway, I had a lot of thoughts.

I turned my body back from Lim Dae-han, who had only looked at me without saying anything. I think it was fortunate that we weren’t deskmates. On the contrary, it seemed that it would have been more painful if we were.

I took a deep breath and prepared for the next class. When I was around Jung Ji-pil, I didn’t have time to be bored, but I was bored when I stayed here. Next time, I’ll go to Jung Ji-pil. But I recall him saying earlier that he had something to say. I collapsed in thought. I thought it would be better to sleep for a while.

But just as I was about to fall asleep, I heard footsteps approaching. In annoyance, I wrinkled my brows together.

BANG!

“Ki Young-ah!”

I frowned and got up. Jung Ji-pil was standing in front of me, banging my desk.

“What…”

I asked while rubbing the back of my hand over his eyes to conceal my wrinkled face. Jung Ji-pil, who doesn’t care about how I feel at all, made a fuss in front of me.

“Hyo-seok from class 1 helped me to meet some girls. So we are now in touch.”

“I envy you.”

Haam. I also yawned. Jung Ji-pil only groaned and lowered himself, despite the fact that I openly stated that I was uninterested. It had to be like this because of the guy in front of him, so he got caught in between.

“We were going to a group date. He said he brought a friend as well.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, so let’s go.”

I opened my eyes wide at the sudden suggestion and pulled my body back. I shook my head unconsciously.

“Oh, I don’t want to.”

“Hey, aren’t we good friends? We should slowly learn how to talk to the girls. Do you want to go to college and just sit around like an idiot? You’ve never met any girls.”

“…”

“So, this older brother will help you.”

I purposely wrinkled my expression more.

“Oh, I don’t want to. I don’t want to make new friends either. It’s annoying. And I’m busy because I go to the library on weekends.”

It wasn’t a library to be exact, it was a Lim Dae-han house.

“Oh, are you going to UiLi?”

UiLi was an abbreviation for the Uigyeong Library, the library I went to.

“Yeah, yeah.”

Jung Ji-pil, who lives quite far away from school, was unable to travel that far. At first, I simply spoke. It didn’t matter because there was nothing to do on the weekend anyway.

But as soon as my answer was finished, Jung Ji-pil raised an eyebrowJung Ji-pil raised the corners of his mouth.

“Hey, that’s fine. They also say that they go to UiLi. They all live near our school.”

“…”

“Perhaps I should go to this library as well. Oh, that’s a bit far. Still, it was better to go a little further away from home than to the nearest library.”

I forgot to breathe and just stared at Jung Ji-pil who kept talking.

“Get ready for self-study.”

The class leader went in front of the class and informed the students.

“Anyway, let’s meet them and play,” Jung Ji-pil said. And he returned to his seat. I averted my gaze, unable to calm my perplexed heart, and widened my eyes. My gaze was drawn to Lim Dae-han, who was even more surprised than I was.

***