EAR Ch 18

The driver took the shopping bag and pointed hesitate-hesitantly at Jaemin’s face.

“By the way, student, your nose is bleeding…. Go to the nurse’s office quickly.”

“Pardon?”

Jaemin wiped below his nose with his hand. Red blood really rubbed off. While standing blankly out of utter disbelief, the kids raised a bigger fuss.

“He’s bleeding, blood!”

“Gasp, bring tissue, tissue!”

Phew. Letting out a long sigh through his mouth, Jaemin roughly wrapped below his nose and around his mouth with his hand. Ignoring the kids making a fuss, as he stepped inside the building, Seungpyo quickly followed right behind him.

“Ryu Jaemin, what are you doing just going like that?”

“What do you mean what am I doing. I’m going to the health office.”

“Wait a bit. They said they’re bringing tissues.”

“It’s better to just go quickly.”

Finishing his words, Jaemin whipped his body around and pushed Oh Seungpyo, who had been following behind him, with a thud. As force was applied suddenly, even the big-built Seungpyo could not help but stumble for a moment. Jaemin muttered in a small, lowered voice as if chewing and spitting it out.

“You son of a bitch, you did it on purpose, didn’t you.”

“What? Am I a psychic? Kicking to aim at a person who isn’t even visible from over there?”

“I want to kill you right now, so get lost. Don’t raise the blood pressure of a person whose nose burst.”

“What a fucking temper…. Then why didn’t you use superpowers to dodge it?”

Instead of answering, Jaemin turned his body again and headed toward the health office. Since blocking with his hands couldn’t stop the blood, with every step he moved, passing kids widened their eyes roundly and looked at Jaemin.

It was his first time drawing people’s gazes for this kind of thing. Getting hit by a misdirected ball wasn’t his fault, yet he was embarrassed so his face grew hot. While hurrying his steps wanting to vanish quickly, something suddenly swooped close to his face.

“I told you to wait a bit.”

Seungpyo’s sulky voice was heard again. Where he procured it from, Oh Seungpyo held something like a large bundle of cloth below Jaemin’s nose, and Jaemin knitted his brows and took hold of it. Only then did Oh Seungpyo take his hands off and step back a few paces.

Jaemin didn’t throw away what he received, either. After all, rather than walking with blood dripping through his fingers, it was better to hold anything against it to stop the bleeding.

Finally arriving at the health office and opening the door, the health teacher was away and not there, perhaps because lunch was not over yet. Oh Seungpyo pulled over a chair with wheels and instructed.

“Sit here.”

And then he began rummaging through the desk and shelves here and there looking for something. Jaemin ignored the chair shoved in front of him and stood pouting.

“I told you to sit, so what are you doing?”

In the hands of Seungpyo who turned around and chided, a large bag of absorbent cotton and an alcohol bottle were held. He had never heard of doing alcohol disinfection when getting a nosebleed. Jaemin knitted his brows and turned his head.

“I’ll wait for the health teacher.”

“Even if you wait, you have to block the blood. Are you gonna keep standing like that with it dripping down?”

“I said I’m fine.”

When Jaemin dodged Seungpyo who shoved the absorbent cotton at him, he also scowled and shoved his face closer.

“Move your hand so I can see your face. If there’s anywhere hurt, it needs to be disinfected.”

“I’m not hurt. The teacher will be here soon, so you stop and go.”

“Stubborn even over useless things, really.”

As if trying to move the hand covering the bottom of his nose, Seungpyo reached his arm out. It was the moment the tip of Seungpyo’s finger touched very lightly on the white wrist that slipped out through the sleeve gap.

The health office door slid open with a clatter and the health teacher walked in. The teacher let out a sigh as if fed up and moved her steps.

“I went out to the restroom for a second without even locking the door… who got hurt again in the meantime?”

“His nose is bleeding.”

Seungpyo quickly stood a step away and pointed his finger toward Jaemin as if snitching. The teacher approached the two with an indifferent face. Kids visiting while bleeding from their nose during lunchtime was a sight as familiar as regulars.

“Sit here. What, did you play soccer? Basketball?”

“I played soccer, and he got hit by the ball while passing by.”

“Oh dear, talk about bad luck.”

It’s true. Really terribly bad luck. Jaemin deeply agreed with those words and unconsciously nodded his head. The teacher carefully felt the bridge of his nose.

“Looks like the bone is fine, but it doesn’t hurt, right? What about your head?”

“I’m fine.”

“Now move your hand.”

The health teacher tore off a small piece of absorbent cotton, put it in the side that was bleeding, and placed Jaemin’s hand on top of the nostril. The treatment Seungpyo had tried to do with cotton and alcohol probably wouldn’t have been different from the health teacher.

“Press tightly here. Since there doesn’t seem to be any other abnormality, you can go once the bleeding stops.”

Oh Seungpyo was blankly watching Jaemin press his nose to stop the bleeding as instructed by the teacher. Jaemin knitted his brows.

“What are you looking at? Go now.”

“Yeah.”

“…And I’ll wash this and bring it back.”

He wanted to throw away the item received from Oh Seungpyo, but Jaemin was on the polite side to do that. He couldn’t bring himself to return something soaked in his nosebleed as it was.

Soon after, Jaemin, who properly unfurled the bundle of cloth he had been holding rolled up haphazardly, was startled. The item he thought was a piece of cloth obtained urgently from somewhere was a dark gray short-sleeved t-shirt. Of a design that kids commonly wear under their school uniforms.

The identity of the scent mixing in between the bloody smell came freshly to him only then. Smell that seemed like laundry detergent, and also like a person’s body odor—until now Jaemin had been smelling it while almost sticking his nose into it. Before he could even ask what this was, Seungpyo extended his hand with a sullen expression.

“Just give it.”

“I told you I’ll wash and give it.”

As the sign of bickering grew thick, the teacher added her words.

“Just give it. Blood washes out well if you wash it quickly. You can take it to the restroom right now and wash it with cold water.”

“Yeah. Right.”

When it became two against one, he couldn’t insist any further. Jaemin, who had the blood-stained t-shirt taken away, felt embarrassingly awkward for no reason. He didn’t need to follow along while getting blood on a perfectly fine shirt. The mistake was made by that side, but he felt like he had made a fuss for nothing.

Even after finishing all he had to say, Seungpyo didn’t leave right away and looked down at Jaemin. Wondering if there was some business left, when he glanced up, he covered his mouth and gave a short dry cough. Seeing him suddenly coughing when he was fine, the health teacher checked on him.

“Do you have a cold coming on?”

“No, ahem. I’ll be going.”

“Right. From next time, be a bit careful around you when kicking the ball.”

Jaemin sent a cold look until Seungpyo’s figure completely vanished from view, and then tilted his head belatedly.

‘Just now, didn’t Oh Seungpyo slightly smile while pretending to cough?’

Tilting his head in puzzle and shifting his gaze, Jaemin suddenly discovered a desk mirror placed on the teacher’s desk. And he froze just like that.

His sight was a spectacle. Because he was hit head-on by a ball that flew from far away, his forehead and the middle of his face were still reddish, and he even had absorbent cotton stuck in one nostril. His hair was also disheveled, so the usual neat look was nowhere to be found, and he was even slightly silly-looking.

So the reason Oh Seungpyo smiled just now was….

“Is this funny?”

“Huh?”

“Ah, I’m sorry. I was talking to myself.”

Jaemin looked in the mirror again. Looking quietly, the sight disheveled here and there is funny even in his own eyes. However, it didn’t seem like a situation where the guy who made him like this, of all people, should laugh openly.

At least it seemed he tried to hide that laughter was coming out, but since he got caught, it was useless. Regardless of whether hitting his face with a ball and bursting his nosebleed was a mistake or intentional… no, from the time they first got tangled up until now, all his actions were only offensive and absurd.

To the extent that he felt frustrated for having felt sorry even for a short moment over ruining a t-shirt. It seemed his blood pressure was slowly rising again.

“Teacher, I think I’m fine now. I’ll be going.”

“Right. By any chance, if your head feels painful or throbbing later, you have to come back, okay? If it’s like that even after school, you definitely have to go to the hospital.”

“Yes.”