TWYW C10

At the low sound of Yuhyeon’s voice calling his name, Gyeoul finally opened his mouth. He barely managed to force strength into his voice to answer, but it came out like he was whining at him, and a wave of shame washed over him. Gyeoul could feel just how red his face was without having to check in a mirror, so this time, he turned his back first and started walking quickly. Then, from a little behind, a low laugh was heard, and Yuhyeon came up next to Gyeoul and walked beside him.

“Why do you keep teasing me?”

“Let’s get this straight. You’re the one who said you could go by yourself.”

“I didn’t tell you to go.”

“So were you upset?”

“No.”

“Then I guess I can go again.”

Gyeoul stopped walking and looked at Yuhyeon with a face that was clearly sulking, biting his lower lip hard.

“Alright. I’ll stop teasing. You’re going to cry, you’re going to cry.”

“I don’t cry over things like this!”

“Then what does make you cry?”

Yuhyeon asked, his eyes filled with playfulness.

“I don’t have any tears.”

Gyeoul was truly confident that he had no tears. It was because he had learned far too early in his young life that crying didn’t solve anything. But sometimes, he also wondered if his tear ducts had broken from not crying so much.

“Really? That makes me want to make you cry even more.”

Yuhyeon, a smile on his lips, lightly grabbed the wrist of Gyeoul, who was answering coyly. He took a step ahead, leading the stopped Gyeoul toward the bus stop. Gyeoul didn’t pull his captured wrist away and quietly followed behind him. Before he knew it, they were in front of the stop, and the bus heading to the cafe arrived. Only then did Yuhyeon let go of Gyeoul’s wrist and wave his hand in greeting.

“Stop torturing your lip. See you on Saturday.”

Gyeoul gave a small nod to Yuhyeon, who was smiling with crinkled eyes, and got on the bus. Gyeoul, seated in an empty spot, felt an itch around the wrist Yuhyeon had held and 괜히 rubbed it with his other hand. The sound of his heart, which had been beating a little faster since he met Yuhyeon, grew so loud it felt like it would fill the entire bus. Gyeoul’s pounding heart didn’t stop even by the time he arrived at the cafe.

“Did something good happen today?”

Gyeoul, who was washing dishes during a lull when there were no customers in the cafe, turned his head to look at the owner at his question.

“Something good? No. Nothing.”

“Really? But your expression looks a little different, better than usual.”

“Different? No, nothing special happened……”

Today, as usual, I left home early and headed to the cafe to start my part-time job. Was it because I didn’t run into my parents when I left the house? Other than meeting Yuhyeon sunbae after work today, there’s nothing special.

Dismissing it as just an ordinary day, Gyeoul tried hard to ignore his thoughts of Yuhyeon and finished the dishes by rinsing the cups.

“Sir, I’m heading out now.”

Gyeoul, finished with work, opened the shop door. The evening air still held a chill, so he hunched his shoulders and stood in front of the cafe, looking around. Yuhyeon, who had said he would come around the time Gyeoul finished work, was nowhere to be seen, as if he hadn’t arrived yet.

“Lee Gyeoul.”

At the familiar voice calling his name, he stopped looking around and looked forward to see Yuhyeon’s parked car.

“What are you doing not getting in.”

At the voice calling Gyeoul once more through the crack of the open window, he approached, opened the passenger door, and got into the car. As Gyeoul fastened his seatbelt, Yuhyeon smoothly turned the steering wheel, and the car began to move along the road.

“Did you eat?”

“Yes. I ate something quick.”

“You’re not hungry?”

“No.”

“Then let’s go straight to the movie theater.”

As Gyeoul was stealing glances at Yuhyeon, who was driving without a word, they arrived at a movie theater near the cafe. He followed Yuhyeon, who parked the car in the building’s basement, got out, and they took the elevator together to the floor where the theater was.

“Want some popcorn?”

“No.”

“A drink?”

“I don’t want one.”

“Then wait here for a moment.”

He saw Yuhyeon leave Gyeoul behind and head towards the snack bar that sold popcorn and drinks.

Does he like snacks.

Not long after, Yuhyeon approached with popcorn and a drink.

“Let’s go in.”

He followed Yuhyeon, who was walking ahead, inside, and most of the seats were still empty. Yuhyeon sat in a seat a little further back, in the center of the screen. Gyeoul sat down in the empty seat next to Yuhyeon.

“Aren’t you going to ask what movie I booked?”

“I’ll know when I see it.”

At Gyeoul’s indifferent tone, Yuhyeon let out a small laugh.

“We have to take a picture too.”

“A picture?”

“We need to take a proof shot that we went to the movies together.”

“Ah…… really, he asks for all sorts of things.”

“I think so too.”

Yuhyeon took out his phone, turned on the camera, raised his arm slightly, and captured the two people on the screen.

“Let’s get it over with in one shot.”

Yuhyeon grabbed and pulled the arm of Gyeoul, who kept trying to disappear from the side of the angle. In the screen of Yuhyeon’s phone, the two faces, awkwardly close, were reflected. And with a click sound, a picture was saved on Yuhyeon’s phone.

“I’ll send it to you by message later.”

“You don’t have to send it.”

“Okay. Got it.”

At Yuhyeon’s single, unconcerned “got it,” Gyeoul bit his lower lip out of habit. Yuhyeon, who had checked Gyeoul’s expression, opened his mouth again.

“I’m only going to ask one more time. Should I send you the picture?”

At the words that this was the last question, Gyeoul briefly rolled his eyes and avoided his gaze before finally opening his mouth.

“……Yes……”

As Gyeoul answered in a small voice that could barely be heard if one strained to listen, Yuhyeon managed to understand and a faint smile hung on his lips.

“Here, eat this too.”

Yuhyeon suddenly thrust the popcorn right in front of his face.

“I’m not hungry.”

“Eat. This isn’t a suggestion, it’s a demand.”

At Yuhyeon’s piercing gaze, Gyeoul reluctantly brought the popcorn to his mouth.

“Hold it and eat. Drink the Coke too.”

“Didn’t you buy this for yourself, sunbae?”

“For you to eat. I heard your stomach grumbling in the car.”

“……It wasn’t because I was hungry……”

“Whatever, just eat.”

In truth, other than a sandwich he had made and eaten at the cafe, Gyeoul hadn’t had a proper meal today. Holding the popcorn box that Yuhyeon had placed in his hands, Gyeoul glanced around furtively before picking at it one by one. Eventually, he even diligently drank the Coke, emptying the popcorn box. In the meantime, the theater suddenly went dark, and the movie started on the large screen.

The movie was an action film starring foreign actors. It had been advertised so much around that even Gyeoul knew roughly what it was about. It had been so long since Gyeoul had seen a movie in a theater that he couldn’t even remember when it was. Perhaps that was why he was more focused than ever, as if he were being sucked into the screen.