TWELVE 11

I craved the drink I had stubbornly refused Jeon Juseok. After some hesitation, I bought two cans of beer at the convenience store. The good thing about being a light drinker was that I could get drunk quickly without spending much money.

I hurried, wanting to get home and drink the beer as soon as possible, but I was forced to stop right in front of my house. My spine tingled. Light was leaking from a house that should have been empty.

Gi Seoin was the first person who came to mind. Other than him, there was no one else who would enter my home. There was Jeon Juseok, too, but that guy didn’t know the door lock password.

It couldn’t be a thief, right? If it were a thief, they wouldn’t have left the lights on so brightly.

However, even if it was Gi Seoin, it wasn’t the best-case scenario. I had lied to Gi Seoin, telling him I was heading home after work. Since he had even packed a dinner box for me, I lied, believing he had no reason to come to my place today.

Why is life so exhausting? I felt resentful of the world, unable to even enter my own home with a comfortable mind. This was definitely a moment when I needed alcohol.

I pressed the door lock password. Perhaps because my fingers were stiff from fatigue and tension, I got it wrong once. The uninvited guest inside must have heard the sound of me pressing the password, yet they didn’t even look out first.

“…”

The guest I hadn’t invited was Gi Seoin. He was sitting at the dining table, staring into a laptop.

Should I be glad it wasn’t a thief? I almost felt a thief would have been better. I wouldn’t have needed to make excuses, and there wasn’t anything worth stealing in this house anyway.

“…When did you get here?”

I tried to ask as casually as possible, but my voice trembled of its own accord.

After confirming I had entered, Gi Seoin spoke while keeping his eyes on the laptop again.

“Around seven-thirty.”

“Ah… Didn’t you say you were working overtime today?”

The moment I asked, I thought, ‘Uh-oh.’

[Seoin: Is work finished?] [Yeah, maybe 30 minutes ago?? You?] [Seoin: Not yet. Are you going home?]

Gi Seoin had only replied “Not yet”; he never said he was working overtime. That was merely a guess I had made on my own. To believe it was true and even blurt it out was the worst. I felt like slapping my own lips.

Gi Seoin looked at me again.

“I never said that.”

His tone was strangely blunt. He had likely seen through my lie—from the moment I entered this house.

I placed the beer on the sink and hid in the bathroom. At this point, the bathroom felt like some kind of shelter. Regardless, I took the longest shower possible.

Only after finishing my wash did I realize I had belatedly only grabbed my underwear. This is why habits are scary.

“Can’t I do a single thing right…”

A sigh fell at my feet.

Inevitably, I came out of the bathroom wearing only my underwear. My plan was to go straight to my room and put on clothes, but—

“Woo Seungkyung.”

Gi Seoin called out, stopping me.

I looked back at him.

“Huh? Let me just put some clothes on…”

“It’ll only take a moment.”

In his quiet, low voice, I felt a sense of suppressed emotion. It could have been because I felt guilty, but I had too much data on Gi Seoin stored in my head for it to be just that.

“Why were you late today?”

The moment of reckoning had come.

“You didn’t even stop by the house, did you? The lunch box was still there.”

“Uh, that’s…”

A second lie was pointless. I had no talent for lying, and just as I did with Gi Seoin, Gi Seoin likely possessed a heavy amount of data regarding me.

“Actually, I went to meet Juseok hyung.”

The moment I pronounced that name, Gi Seoin immediately furrowed his brow.

“Why Jeon Juseok?”

“Originally, I was going to come straight home, you know? But he suddenly contacted me and asked to meet, so…”

“I’m asking, why.”

I felt exactly like I was being scolded. Since it was true that I had lied, I had no room for excuses even if I was scolded.

“His drinking plans must have been canceled suddenly. He asked me to drink with him. But I didn’t drink and just came back.”

His gaze flew to the beer I had bought and then returned to me. It was a look demanding an explanation.

“You know Juseok hyung’s way of expressing himself is a bit… rough, right? After meeting him, I didn’t feel great, so I bought this to have a drink. Uh, do you want to drink with me? I bought two cans.”

Even though I knew Gi Seoin didn’t drink, I asked, hoping the mood might shift. As expected, Gi Seoin shook his head.

“No thanks. What about dinner?”

“Juseok hyung ordered snacks, so I ate that.”

I felt sorry for lying again, but right now, I really didn’t want to put anything in my mouth except beer, so it couldn’t be helped. If I said I hadn’t eaten dinner, Gi Seoin would certainly bring the lunch box over.

“Did you eat dinner, Seoin?”

Gi Seoin soon spoke while staring at his laptop again.

“I ate.”

“Mhm, but did you clean? The house feels cleaner.”

Only now did I notice the inside of the house was cleaner than this morning, so I asked. As expected, Gi Seoin nodded. Being the type not to boast about his own hard work, that was the end of it.

I brought the beer over and sat down next to Gi Seoin.

“Are you working? Should I go into the room to drink if I’m in the way?”

“Drink here.”

“Okayyy.”

I turned on the fan and took a gulp of the long-awaited beer. Ha… Finally, life returned to my body and spirit. To me, beer was a panacea. If my wallet were fuller, I would have practiced the “one can of beer a day” rule, but it’s a crying shame.

Come to think of it, I forgot to put on clothes because I was blinded by the beer. But seeing as Gi Seoin didn’t seem to mind, and I wasn’t particularly embarrassed, I decided to stay like this. It was nice and cool.

“Ah, I feel like I can live now…”

Even when I talked to myself, Gi Seoin didn’t even glance over. He seemed quite focused on his work. He must have brought home work he couldn’t finish at the office. Did he take on a new trial? What kind of trial is it? I was curious about many things, but I didn’t ask because it would be a nuisance. I just sipped my beer and watched Gi Seoin.

Maybe it was because I had a dream about our high school days today. It wasn’t a very good dream, but… anyway, being like this brought back old memories again.

In our first year, being in the same class, we were seat partners for the whole year. It was thanks to our homeroom teacher allowing us to sit with the friends we wanted.

I, who had neither talent nor interest in studying, would often watch Gi Seoin during class. Gi Seoin, an excellent student, focused on the teacher, and I focused on Gi Seoin.

It was so enjoyable to take him in and observe him from up close in various ways that sometimes I even felt regretful when class ended.

In the second year of high school, when I ended up quitting school to properly care for my great-aunt’s illness, I worried more about Gi Seoin than my own education or future. I wondered if that unfriendly guy could manage school life well on his own, or if he would be lonely…

At the same time, I was upset that I could no longer watch his focused face. I didn’t particularly miss other things. Anyone who heard this would laugh.

“…”

Gi Seoin was perfect from the front, but his profile was bordering on wondrous. I especially like his eyelashes. Those long eyelashes that create the illusion of fluttering every time he blinks. Of course, I also like the bridge of his nose that extends without any bumps. And what about those lips, colored so beautifully even a celestial maiden would be jealous…

Suddenly feeling thirsty, I gulped down some beer.

I felt like a pervert for no reason. But what could I do? To be honest, I am certain that I am not the only one who feels this way after seeing Gi Seoin. Humans were born to admire beauty, and Gi Seoin was someone who could have made a living with his face even if he were a fool.

After having my fill of watching Gi Seoin for the first time in a while, I felt full even though I had skipped dinner. No, was it because of the beer…?

“Seungkyung.”

“Uh, huh?”

“Do you have something to say?”

“No, why?”

“Because you keep looking.”

I was surprised by the fact that he had noticed my gaze. Then again, it would be strange not to notice when I was scanning him up and down so openly.

Anyway, I had to answer, but I couldn’t bring myself to say, ‘I was watching because your face is interesting.’ I laughed awkwardly.

“I just suddenly remembered the old days.”

“The old days?”

“In high school. We were seat partners for a year. Seeing you working next to me made me think of that time.”

“Right. You didn’t study back then either and just stared at me.”

“Huh…?”

What kind of bolt from the blue was this?

“You knew?”

“You’d be a fool not to know when someone is looking like that.”

“I thought Gi Seoin was a fool.”

I burst into laughter because the conversation that started unintentionally was enjoyable. The alcohol was definitely working effectively, too.

“But why didn’t you say anything?”

“Say what?”

“To not look. It must have been annoying while you were listening to the lesson.”

“It wasn’t annoying; it was good.”

“It was good?”

This time, I really exploded with laughter.

“Wow, Gi Seoin. You pretended not to notice, but you actually enjoyed the attention?”

“I never pretended not to notice.”

“You did, though.”

“I was just listening to the lesson diligently, unlike someone else.”

Gi Seoin chuckled. I wondered if he was also thinking of the past me. I was probably either looking dazed or just had a bright face without a single thought. That’s how I was when I was seventeen.

“Are you done with work?”

I asked as Gi Seoin closed his laptop while I was giggling and drinking beer.

“Roughly.”

Gi Seoin put his laptop in his bag and turned his gaze toward me. His pupils are deep and his gaze is sharp. To the point where I momentarily felt as if I were being observed in return…

But suddenly, Gi Seoin knit his brows.

“What is this on you?”

“Ah.”

The strength with which he grabbed my arm was so strong I almost dropped the can. I put the can down and rolled my eyes, following his gaze. Ah, the bruise on my shoulder from being hit by Jeon Juseok had become much darker than before.

“This… it’s nothing.”

“I’m asking what it is.”

Gi Seoin had health anxiety, not for himself, but limited to me. It was a diagnosis I had made arbitrarily, but it was at a level experts would acknowledge if they watched Gi Seoin’s behavior. He would get furiously angry if I even came back from work with an injury.

If he gets upset over an injury sustained inevitably while working, then if he found out the culprit of the bruise was Jeon Juseok… I didn’t particularly want to imagine what would happen next.