TWELVE 45

“How are you here…”

In an instant, Jeon Juseok pushed past me and stood in front of Gi Seoin. There was no time to stop him.

“Well now, hello? We’ve met before. You remember me, right?”

Gi Seoin looked down at the guy with his usual cold face. Jeon Juseok prattled on, completely unbothered.

“Wow, if I’d known you were someone living in a neighborhood like this, I would’ve introduced myself properly sooner. I love expanding my network, you see. You’re the same, right? Let’s do it now, shall we? I’m Jeon Juseok. I’m Seungkyung’s cousin hyung.”

Gi Seoin did not take the hand Jeon Juseok offered.

Withdrawing the hand that failed to get a shake, Jeon Juseok made a smacking sound with his lips and shamelessly kept a smile on his face.

“I heard our little brother Seungkyung is indebted to you. Ha, seeing the kid end up like this makes my heart ache too. I’m worried. That’s why, since you’re someone staying with Seungkyung, I feel like I should at least know your number. Even if I don’t know your name.”

There was a thorn in that last sentence. I could tell Jeon Juseok’s pride had been wounded. However, he was the type to be endlessly foul toward the weak but willing to swallow his pride before the strong.

“Or, rather than leaving our Seungkyung with a complete stranger, I could take him and look after…”

“I’ll give it to you, the number.”

“Ah, will you now?”

Jeon Juseok’s face brightened. I stared at Gi Seoin. Nothing good could come from giving that guy his number. I wanted to stop it, but I had no excuse. Moreover, if I interfered right in front of Jeon Juseok, the aftermath would be ugly.

In the end, I had to watch with my eyes wide open as Gi Seoin’s phone number was entered into Jeon Juseok’s phone.

“I placed a call, so save it. Jeon Juseok. As for you, how should I save your…”

“I am Gi Seoin.”

“Even the name is cool.”

Jeon Juseok raised a thumb and then looked at me.

“Let’s get a drink sometime. With your friend too.”

Those weren’t words to say to a patient with broken limbs. Regardless, I nodded. My only thought was wanting to send the guy away quickly.

“See you again.”

Jeon Juseok showed his palm to him and turned his back. I wondered if he was finally leaving, but sure enough, he looked back at me and shouted, “Hey, send the money quickly!” If I had been alone, I wouldn’t have been this embarrassed…

“Why did you come out on crutches? It’s difficult for you.”

Gi Seoin said, dropping the cold expression he had shown Jeon Juseok. I let go of the lip I had been biting.

“Just because… But you, are you off work already?”

“Yes, it was my first day back after a break, so I just handled the urgent business and came out.”

“Isn’t it busier since it’s your first day back?”

“Not particularly.”

We walked toward the apartment. Gi Seoin matched his pace to my footsteps.

“Should I carry you?”

Gi Seoin suddenly asked me. I wondered what he was talking about.

“No thanks. I can walk fine even if I’m slow, see?”

“Even if you walked fast and well, I would have wanted to carry you.”

“Seriously, why are you like this… Since this morning, it’s embarrassing.”

“I’m allowed to be. We did even more embarrassing things yesterday…”

“Quiet, please!”

When I gave a small bark of a rebuke, Gi Seoin laughed as if even that were entertaining.

“Gi Seoin, you’ve started laughing a lot suddenly?”

“I suppose so, I keep finding myself smiling.”

Gi Seoin, looking as if he’d half-gone mad, eventually carried me up to the house in his arms inside the elevator. It was a relief no one else got on the elevator, otherwise I would have been mortified.

Still, I didn’t hate it.

“Seoin-ah.”

While having lunch with Gi Seoin after arriving home, I asked the thing I’d been curious about.

“Why did you give your number to hyung earlier?”

“Because I thought if I didn’t, he’d say he was going to take you away.”

“…Even if he didn’t give it, I wouldn’t go.”

“And he is your family, after all.”

Does just sharing blood make someone family? To me, family was only my late great-aunt. Originally, Gi Seoin was included too, but since friends don’t kiss and neither do family members, I decided to take him out of that category.

“We’re family, but we’re not exactly close. So you don’t have to pay that hyung any mind. Even if he calls, don’t pick up. He’ll only say useless things.”

I was afraid a situation would arise where Gi Seoin clashed with Jeon Juseok. Jeon Juseok is a crazy son of a bitch by nature, and Gi Seoin often becomes a madman regarding things related to me.

It was obvious just looking at the way he swung his fists at the Benwood nuisance and the homeless man who broke into my house. I hoped he would never do such a thing because of me again.

Come to think of it, I suddenly became curious. The homeless man had trespassed and even held a weapon, so let’s leave that aside, but what on earth was he thinking when he beat Kim Junghwan nearly to death at Benwood?

“You know, by any chance…”

As I started, Gi Seoin widened his eyes as if telling me to speak. I hesitated once more, touching the inside of my mouth with the tip of my tongue, wondering if I should really ask, before finally opening my mouth.

“Why did you hit that customer at Benwood?”

Gi Seoin wore a thoughtful face for a moment and then spoke.

“I was angry.”

“Because that person said something to me?”

“That was part of it…”

As if recalling that time, Gi Seoin’s gaze averted slightly from me before returning.

“Seeing a side of you I didn’t know, but more than that, seeing that it wasn’t a happy side of you made me even angrier.”

It was an unexpected and somewhat moving answer.

“Then if I had looked like I was enjoying myself, would you have been less angry?”

“No. I would have been angry for that reason instead.”

This answer also missed my guess. I can’t quite figure Gi Seoin out. Usually, he acts as if he’s a machine programmed with data, following a set path, but occasionally he acts like someone I don’t know at all.

“Why would you be angry if I looked like I was enjoying myself?”

“Because you’re enjoying yourself without me.”

Sometimes such traits feel fresh, but other times they are absurd or even scary. Right now, it was the latter.

“I wish Woo Seungkyung were only happy when he’s with me.”

“What is that.”

I smiled, crinkling my eyes.

“You’re quite twisted, Gi Seoin.”

“Since when is that news.”

Gi Seoin’s tone suggested I should have known.

“I’ve never once been a righteous person.”

“Is a lawyer allowed to be like that?”

“Being a lawyer isn’t something a moral person can do.”

“Then?”

“It’s something a person who is good at lying can do.”

“Hmm.”

It wasn’t easy to understand what he meant. I do agree that a lawyer might not be moral. After all, they sometimes defend criminals like murderers.

“Then Gi Seoin, are you good at lying?”

“I’m not bad at it.”

“Oh, how shameless…”

I looked Gi Seoin straight in the eye. He laughed while looking back at me too. His eyes, folded prettily, were full of playfulness. An expression like that must be real.

Suddenly, I wondered how much and what kind of lies Gi Seoin had told me over the past eighteen years. As for me, I had no talent for lying, so I tended to only tell the truth whenever possible. Or I’d rather just keep my mouth shut. Even when hiding the fact that I worked at Benwood, I was so anxious…

[But, by any chance… are you dating?] [Dating? Where is this coming from all of a sudden?]

However, recent events had proven that Gi Seoin was a fairly excellent actor.

Even though I knew it would become a needle that pricked me, I kept feeling the impulse to ask about Gi Seoin’s romantic partners. When was his first relationship, what was his ideal type, did he prefer casual flings, why did he hide the fact that he was dating from me… Why, if he’d liked me all along, did he meet other people.

Now I know for sure.

I know Gi Seoin the friend well, but I am ignorant about Gi Seoin the lover. It meant the past eighteen years weren’t particularly useful for us meeting as a couple.

Therefore, I should have kissed Gi Seoin only after getting to know him better as a lover. I wasn’t a child; I shouldn’t have been swept up in the mood like that.

I also wondered if I was acting like a loser. Since I’d never dated, it was possible. Feeling the kind of jealousy children would feel, being disappointed by trivial things, feeling upset over something I should just laugh off, obsessively dwelling on things, acting stifling and boring…

“Seungkyung-ah. What are you thinking about?”

“…Thinking that I don’t know why you like me.”

When we were young, that might be the case. But around the adult Gi Seoin, there must be many cool adults like him. All the women I saw who were with Gi Seoin were also wonderful people. If I compared myself to them, honestly, I had almost no chance of winning.

Gi Seoin tilted his head to the side.

“Why do you think that?”

“Well, you know. I don’t have much to brag about compared to you, and there are many cooler people around you…”

“Does it matter who is more impressive or cooler?”

Gi Seoin, who suddenly stood up, came to me and pulled me into an embrace.

“You saved me.”

I just stood there stiffly, enveloped in his cozy warmth and faint scent.

“Without Woo Seungkyung, I wouldn’t have even become that impressive and cool person you’re talking about.”

Gi Seoin was definitely a player. Otherwise, there was no way he could quiet my anxiety with just a few words like this.

“Even without me, you would have become a cool person just like you are now.”

“I hate that.”

Gi Seoin added more strength to the arms embracing me.

“Don’t be absent, Woo Seungkyung.”

“What is that supposed to mean.”

Laughter burst out at his childlike words, and Gi Seoin, who loosened the arms wrapped around me, ducked his head. I unintentionally looked up at him and met the lips that naturally approached in a kiss.

In reality, there are still a mountain of things to consider, but Gi Seoin keeps throwing me into a dream. I was swept away helplessly.