PCL Ch 9

The night self-study was over. As I was about to walk out the back door to go home, I noticed a big figure standing in the street. It reminded me of a bear I encountered while hiking late at night. As expected, it was Dae-han. He held something in his hand. I tilted my head and approached slowly. When I held the bag strap, I focused my strength on my hands and toes.

“Hi.”

Dae-han greeted again. When I listened to it, I noticed that the voice wasn’t as ferocious or as low as it had been. It was also a little upset. The previous incident depicted the expression of someone who had forgotten everything. As usual, he was deafeningly quiet.

“Hi.”

I also greeted him and lowered my gaze. He was holding a fan. It wasn’t distributed as a flyer at the art academy and it was shaped like a strawberry. There were a lot of cute items that didn’t go with the owner’s style. “Uhm,” Dae-han replied. Then he gently waved the fan in front of me.

“You said you were hot.”

“… Did you buy it yourself?”

“They only have this.”

Lim Dae-han used his chin to point to the stationery store at the back door. It was more akin to a small store than a stationery store. There weren’t many students stopping by. After the night of self-study, all of the students went out to get snacks. There was no reason to come this way after leaving the front door. And the store had already closed, and the door had been shut.

“Did you go through the back gate? As far as I know…….”

I kept my mouth shut. Lim Dae-han was well-known as the son of Jae Chun-dong, but it may be upsetting to hear about it. Anyway, you had to take a bus or train from the main gate to get to Jaecheon-dong. I stared at Dae-han, who gently waved a fan in front of me, without saying anything.

“Let’s go home. I’ll take you.”

“Are you going to take me home like this every day?”

“Uhm. Can’t I?”

On the contrary, I shook my head in response to his question. I don’t mind… but wouldn’t it be difficult and inconvenient for Dae-han? I had this thought all of a sudden. I thought I’d be lonely if Dae-han took me and picked me up every day and then left me alone at some point. But I wasn’t stupid enough to get all these thoughts out of my mouth.

“It doesn’t really matter.”

And we walked slowly down the street. As usual, this place was quiet. Chirp chirp chirp, cried the night beetle. Even though there was a faint sound of people coming through the open window in the villa, the atmosphere was strange.

My tongue lightly moistened my dry lips. There was something I wanted to discuss with Dae-han, but I don’t know what to do. I bit my lower lip and glanced at Dae-han’s eyes.

“Earlier… Because of Ji-pil…”

“Yeah.”

“Are you angry?”

“Yeah.”

This person was too honest. You should be able to hide it somewhat. I let out a sigh. Only then did Lim Dae-han, who closed his mouth and answered like a cuckoo, said.

“Sorry?”

“…”

“You said you were sorry earlier.”

“Uh, Yeah…”

Jung Ji-pil you bastard!

I let out a swear in my head.

Lim Dae-han, who was walking alongside me, changed his stride significantly. Then he stopped in front of me. I blinked and looked up at Dae-han. He’s really big. I thought about it again.

“If you are sorry.”

“…”

I looked up at him without answering. I thought about what Dae-han would say in my head. First, give me all your money. I don’t think this was it. Second, help me kill Jung Ji-pil. But Jung Ji-pil was my friend. Third…

‘Take off your clothes here and do this and that with me.’

“Hold my hand.”

“…”

“…”

Neither I nor Dae-han said anything. After a while, I asked.

“… Hand?”

“Yeah.”

Lim Dae-han replied softly, his eyes wide open to the point of popping out. I clenched my fist and stretched my fingers. After biting my lower lip, I pursed both my upper and lower lips. It’s spoiled. It wasn’t Dae-han, it was me.

If Dae-han asked me to take off my clothes here and do this and that, I had absolutely no intention of doing it. It was just a random thought that came to me while I was thinking.

Since Dae-han said he likes me. To be honest, he probably didn’t only have pure thoughts when he confessed. However, Dae-han made a very naive request to him.

I rubbed my palms on my pants. I didn’t think I’d sweat, but I did. I looked at Dae-han’s expression. It was a strange expression.

“But here… we’re outside.”

It was odd to say that I didn’t like it because it was outside in an alley with no one around. I couldn’t tell Dae-han, ‘I don’t want to hold hand with you.’ To be honest, I didn’t hate it either. My mouth became dry and dehydrated.

“Until we arrived on the main road.”

Lim Dae-han rubbed his fingers together and wiped his palm. I looked down at Dae-han’s big hand and raised my head again. Lim Dae-han’s strange expression showed no signs of relaxation. He twitched his lips as he looked at me. His eyes shook slightly as well. Finally, I shifted my gaze to the side. There were mixed thoughts.

I asked, pulling my chin as far as I could.

“Then you won’t say anything to Ji-pil?”

“Yeah.”

“He could do it again. He’s a bit of a weird guy, so once he bites, he won’t let go.”

Jung Ji-pil was strange but persistent. There will be another entanglement with Dae-han. Only then did Lim Dae-han exhaled and laughed.

“I won’t.”

This was the smile of the onlooker. That’s right, Dae-han had no reason to care about someone like Jung Ji-pil. I stretched my left hand to the Dae-han in front of me. Lim Dae-han looked at my hand and clasped my left hand as if shaking hands. I burst out laughing at the time.

“You idiot. You have to hold it with your right hand.”

“Ah.”

Only then did Lim Dae-han change his hand. Lim Dae-han grabbed my hand tightly. I didn’t intend to run away anywhere, but I felt like he was holding on to me too tightly. He put in a lot of strength. I couldn’t keep my hands still while loosening them. The force was strong enough to hurt my fingers. His strength was horrendous, his hands were huge, and he was scorching hot.

We left the alley holding hands without saying anything. Lim Dae-han took a deep breath in the middle. When I turned my head, Dae-han’s neck stiffened. I swallowed dry saliva as if I were watching a lewd movie.

There was a mischievous moment.

I’m not usually a prankster. Rather, I belonged to the serious personality alignment. But when I saw the appearance of Lim Dae-han, the inherent playfulness in me abruptly erupted. I shifted my gaze to the other side as if looking elsewhere. Then I tickled Lim Dae-han’s palm with my fingers.

“…”

Lim Dae-han stared at me without saying anything. Then I slowly squinted. My prediction was that Dae-han would tremble, but he didn’t even move. He had the kind of eyes that seemed to want to burn me at any given moment. It appeared that there would be fire. I yanked my hand to get it out, but he just held on tighter.

I was the one who suddenly became ashamed and embarrassed. “Oh,” I said. I paused before inserting my hand once more.

I shouldn’t joke around…

We were only about 10 meters away from the main road. If we go by that way, I’ll have to let go of Dae-han’s hand.

One step, two steps, three steps…

After walking along with stride and coming out to the end, the main road was revealed. On the four-lane road, cars that didn’t know where they were headed were passing by.  I released the hand that was holding Lim Dae-han. Lim Dae-han also let go of his hand without saying much.

“…”

I secretly lowered my gaze and looked down at my palm. The hand that had been gripped so tightly was released, but something was missing. But I didn’t tell Dae-han. Lim Dae-han, who was standing next to me, quickly slipped his hand into his pocket.

“Because I hold your hand.”

“… Umm.”

“It feels good.”

Dae-han’s voice trembled at the end. Even I can see and hear that I’m going to die of embarrassment, but when he mentioned it, my toes curled and my body twisted for no reason. I couldn’t answer. Was it a good thing? Did I like it as well? But it was painful. It now feels a little empty.

I swept my palms for no reason.

“Can we hold hands again tomorrow?”

Dae-han asked. He kept asking difficult questions. I took a deep breath. Then I responded cautiously.

“… As long as you don’t hold it too hard.”

Can I do this with him?

I’m suddenly worried.

***