WYK 8

The roadside was lined with waist-high weeds. Pushing through them, they reached a vinyl greenhouse at the edge of the field. It had been converted to a resting place for breaks or naps during field work.

A soft light seeped through the entrance of the vinyl greenhouse. Instead of Chae-heon, who was carrying the box, Jeong-yoon opened the door. A mixture of the scent of soju and lively noise poured out from the inside.

Min-soo with his face flushed, shouted,

“Seo Jeong-yoon is here! My friend Seo Jeong-yoon is here!”

Ignoring Min-soo’s enthusiastic welcome, Jeong-yoon stepped onto the warm floor. Even though it wasn’t even ten in the evening, their condition seemed as if it was around two in the early morning. They were all in a state of being quite intoxicated, at that level where one more sip wouldn’t make much of a difference.

‘He said we have to pick apples tomorrow, yet he drank so much.’

With faces flushed with alcohol, they all burst into laughter. Even though they were only looking at him and Chae-heon, it seemed like just seeing the new pair was enough to make them excited.

‘Ugh. That’s disgusting. I shouldn’t be drunk like that.’

Seeing Min-soo’s intoxicated face through the eyes of sobriety made Jeong-yoon involuntarily cringe. Once again today, he learned about himself through someone else.

As Jeong-yoon was making these resolutions alone, his body swayed and leaned. Suddenly, Min-soo rushed in and hugged him tightly. It was due to Min-soo that he almost lost his balance. Min-soo’s face smelled strongly of makgeolli, and he shouted loudly.

“Hey! I even gave you the Wind Blade!”

“Sorry.”

“But still, the lovely Jeong-yoon! The cool Jeong-yoon who just sleeps and misses the bus!”

Min-soo hugged him tightly. Either due to intoxication or something else, his display of friendship felt excessively awkward.

‘Is this guy crazy?’ Jeong-yoon pressed his palm against Min-soo’s face. Of course, he didn’t budge much. Min-soo had said about doing judo as a hobby, but it was clear that this wasn’t just a hobby. Otherwise, with such devastating force, he couldn’t just stick to him with such brute strength like an octopus’s sucker.

“Our Min-soo. Our smelly Kim Min-soo. If you don’t let go, you’ll get hurt, seriously.”

Jeong-yoon playfully tapped his head. Min-soo paid no attention to it.

“Jeong-yoon! Our game-loving Jeong-yoon! Our Jeong-yoon, who took my items and ran away!”

“Hey. Hey. Seriously, let go now. You smell.”

The smell of alcohol. The smell of cigarettes. They were all things that Jeong-yoon detested. Unfortunately, both of these smells were coming from Kim Min-soo today. Jeong-yoon always went around saying how much he hated the smell of cigarettes, so Min-soo couldn’t be unaware of that fact. However, Min-soo, who was heavily intoxicated, didn’t want to let go.

Jeong-yoon pushed Min-soo’s shoulder annoyedly, but soon gave up. It was impossible for a sober person to win against a drunkard. Maybe if he threw a punch, he’d let go, but Jeong-yoon wasn’t considering going that far with a friend.

“I left some squid legs for you to have, but you came too late and I ate them all. You came here with Chae-heon in his car, right? Huh? Our Flower and Song from our department came together, so is that car a Ssanghwa Tea[mfn]T/N: There’s a word play for this and unfortunately it’s too hard for me to explain[/mfn]…?”

Jeong-yoon stood in a state of desperation, letting Min-soo’s babbling go through one ear. It was a time when his body was staggering like a waterweed. A large hand came between Jeong-yoon and Min-soo. The hand grabbed Min-soo’s shoulder and roughly separated it from Jeong-yoon.

“What?!”

Min-soo’s stubborn body hit the floor like a fallen leaf.

“You’re drunk, Min-soo. Sleep.”

It was Chae-heon.

Chae-heon pushed Min-soo with his foot while showing his signature smile. It seemed like he was telling him to go sleep somewhere in the corner. Min-soo rolled and rolled until he was wedged against a corner.

“Sleep well.”

After saying that gently, Chae-heon hastily covered Min-soo with a blanket. Then, with his foot, he gave Min-soo another light kick.

Jeong-yoon stared at him from a distance.

‘Is Kang Chae-heon putting him to sleep or taking out a trash? Why put that brat to sleep like that.’

However, because no one seemed to find it strange, Jeong-yoon decided not to pay any attention as well. In any case, he felt relieved as long as the drunken Min-soo was asleep. After all, Min-soo’s usual drunken habit towards him was to “annoy Jeong-yoon.”

Chae-heon, who had successfully cornered Min-soo, put the tray from the table onto the floor.

It was green grapes.

He hadn’t been seen since before, so it seems that he was washing fruit in the kitchen. Seeing that the heavily intoxicated bunch was running towards the grapes like hyenas, Jeong-yoon shook his head and quickly tidied up the snack bags around him.

Chae-heon got up from his seat and placed the untouched fruit on the tray back onto the kitchen counter. Jeong-yoon, who had stuffed the snack bags into the trash bin, followed him to the kitchen. It was better to be with normal people than among the drunken crowd.

When he entered the kitchen, he noticed Chae-heon washing cherry tomatoes. His big body looked a little uncomfortable in the small kitchen.

A tray of freshly washed grapes was placed on the old table. Jeong-yoon patted the grapes before sneaking over to Chae-heon’s side with an apple.

“I’ll help.”

And then he extended his hand.

“Oh, it’s cold!”

He shouted, quickly tossing the apple aside. The water was colder than expected. It was an unexpected coldness.

Thud! The apple was thrown roughly into the sink. The stainless steel tub in the sink was shaken and the water gushed out. Chae-heon’s shirt got wet.

“…”

As Chae-heon wiped the water droplets off his cheek and turned his head slowly, he stared intently at Jeong-yoon with an expressionless face. Jeong-yoon simply blinked his eyes. His gaze was saying, ‘What are you doing?’

“Sorry. …It’s not even winter, why is the water so cold?”

Even to himself, it sounded like a far-fetched excuse.

Without replying, Chae-heon picked up the apple Jeong-yoon had thrown and washed it again. Jeong-yoon, who had been staring at him blankly, hovered around Chae-heon. Although he wanted to help in some way, the situation was what it was, and there wasn’t much he could do. He could only pace around like this.

After washing all the fruit, Chae-heon placed the apples on the tray and poured cherry tomatoes onto a plate. This time, Jeong-yoon could help too. He neatly arranged the haphazardly poured cherry tomatoes into a heart shape. It wasn’t meant to express his feelings towards Chae-heon; he was just trying to keep himself occupied.

Silently, Chae-heon observed Jeong-yoon arranging the cherry tomatoes into a heart shape, with the largest one at the center. Jeong-yoon pretended not to notice and stood the tomato upright. Then he reached out to pick up an apple to peel.

Their hands met at the same time. Chae-heon must have had a similar thought, as their fingertips brushed lightly against each other. Jeong-yoon instinctively held onto his hand.

“Wow. Kang Chae-heon, your hand is seriously cold.”

“…”

“It’s like touching ice. Maybe it’s because the water is so cold. I was so surprised earlier because of that. Are you okay?”

Jeong-yoon gently touched his hand. His hand was quite large, and his bones were sturdy. Even his neatly trimmed nails looked good. He swore to the sky that there was no ulterior motive. He just liked holding his hand. If that was considered having an ulterior motive, then he had nothing to say about it.

They had been absentmindedly holding hands for a few seconds. Suddenly, Chae-heon pulled his hand back firmly. It was a definite rejection.

Jeong-yoon flexed his empty hand.

‘Did I unconsciously show too much intention?’

However, he wasn’t hurt by Chae-heon’s rejection. Well, this wasn’t the first time Kang Chae-heon had shown such a reaction to him. He was always aloof and indifferent to him, so it didn’t bother him. The atmosphere became awkward again, but there was nothing he could do about it.

Jeong-yoon casually looked up at Chae-heon. His ears were slightly reddened. He must have been displeased. By this point, Jeong-yoon felt a bit strange, as if he had been mocking “a robust guy.”

“You seem to really dislike physical contact.”

It’s not the skinship; it’s probably me that he dislikes. Seo Jeong-yoon thought with a self-deprecating laugh. It was also a question to break the awkwardness between the two.

Come to think of it, Jeong-yoon had never seen Chae-heon in physical contact with anyone. Not even simple gestures like leaning on a friend’s shoulder or any casual physical contact. Maybe he was the type who inherently disliked coming into physical contact with others.

Chae-heon held the red apple on the table and said,

“I don’t dislike it.”

“…Huh?”

“I like it.”

At that moment, Seo Jeong-yoon thought he was saying those words to himself, and his heart sank. He struggled to form words as Chae-heon continued nonchalantly.

“Touching someone, whether it’s me touching you or someone else, I like it when it’s someone I care about.”

“Ah, okay. So, you like all kinds of touching.”

Jeong-yoon nodded slowly. Unbelievably, Chae-heon was being romantic and slightly perverted in his remarks right in front of him.

Chae-heon shouldn’t be saying that to him. Moreover, saying he likes all kinds of touching, whether it’s done by him or others. There’s something… strange about this, like an odd charm. And yet, the one saying these things has a very serious and composed expression, as if he’s a noble pervert.

‘Kang Chae-heon, I think he’s a bit weird right now.’

Jeong-yoon touched his own earlobe. There was a tingling sensation somewhere in his chest, a rather odd feeling. It’s ironic that Chae-heon was discussing this topic with him.

Their awkward standoff ended as Chae-heon sat down in front of the old table.

Chae-heon quietly began slicing apples with the red paring knife. It seemed to be for drunk people outside.

Jeong-yoon intently observed the apple Chae-heon was holding. As the knife touched, the apple was getting smaller and smaller as a tangerine. Chae-heon looked very skillful, but he couldn’t cut the apple.

‘It seems that he’s not good at everything.’

However, Chae-heon’s fingers gripping the apple were long and elegantly shaped. They were masculine yet delicate. As Jeong-yoon lowered his gaze to his own hand, he looked up to see a tangerine-sized apple neatly cut on a plate.

‘I should have just done it myself.’

Outside the window, the sound of crickets chirping filled the air, and laughter from his friends in the kitchen echoed. The night was getting late.