HYUNG 39

Ham Dowon placed a three-tier lunch box on top of his thighs. A lunch box, why on earth…

“You really packed one…”

Right. Yesterday he said he was tired of school food and would pack a lunch. Ham Dowon took off his mask and, nodding his head slowly, opened the lunch box lids one by one.

“I’m really good at cooking.”

“Right. It looks delicious…”

I wondered why he was trying to find out my food preferences yesterday, and it was to do something like this…

“Hyung, try some.”

“No, I can eat it myse…”

“Ah.”

“…Ah.”

The attitude of Ham Dowon, who picked up a piece of fried tofu rice ball and held it out, was so firm and determined that I unknowingly opened my mouth; only then did Ham Dowon smile slightly. …It was truly delicious, just as he had boasted.

“Is it good?”

“…Yeah.”

“Hyung, they say there is a saying like this in Japan.”

What’s with this sudden… Ham Dowon placed the chopsticks in my hand, opened a water bottle and held it out toward me, and then began to ramble on with some out-of-the-blue words.

“They say that if you want to catch a man’s heart, you have to capture his stomach. I worked really hard making this lunch box to seduce you, hyung.”

It was so unfamiliar and flustering. He says he’s seducing me. A boy made a lunch box and says he’s trying to seduce me. By capturing my stomach.

“Uh… Okay…”

“Is that it?”

“…I’ll give you the money for the ingredients. And don’t do this starting tomorrow.”

I had to draw a line. The fried tofu rice balls were truly delicious, but I couldn’t take advantage of his feelings because of that. I didn’t mind eating school food at all.

“Hyung… knowing that I like you, how can you say such a thing?”

But Ham Dowon started to tear up. I was flustered.

“Hyung, don’t think about distancing yourself like that. Knowing that I like you! I’ve been making this since dawn today, so I couldn’t even dress properly before coming… and I didn’t want to show you an ugly side, hyung. That’s why I agonized so much over whether I should skip class or not, but after I confessed yesterday that I liked you and was going to seduce you, I was afraid someone else might snatch you away in the meantime, so I barely, barely managed to come, but! Hiccup! Hyung… hyung only says things like that… Hyung, you don’t even know how much I li, like you, do you? It’s not like I tried to like you first, it’s because you said you liked me first that I started liking you! Even though I’m upset and feel it’s unfair, I was enduring it firmly!”

Ham Dowon rambled on incoherently and soon began to shed tears. I understand the purpose of those thick horn-rimmed glasses now. It was to hide his swollen eyes. When he took off the glasses, his reddened eyes were clearly visible. At first, I was flustered to see a grown boy crying, but once the thought that he was like a child occurred to me, my mind became much calmer. Comforting someone younger than me is somewhat familiar because of Ye Hwanyoung. I opened the glove compartment, took out some tissues, and held them out. Ham Dowon, while sobbing, poked his face out toward me.

“Wi, wipe them for me.”

“You have hands.”

“My arms hurt because I worked hard cooking from dawn until morning to seduce you, hyung.”

“With this kind of behavior, how are you going to seduce anyone…”

In the midst of the trouble, his crying face was so absurd and ridiculous that I unknowingly burst out laughing. As I let out a hollow laugh while holding the tissues, Ham Dowon shouted.

“Hyung, just wipe them for me. It’s not a difficult thing!”

Who would fall for someone who cries like this after boasting so much about seducing me… Ah, my head hurts. By any account, this was not the attitude of a suitor. In the end, I wiped Ham Dowon’s face with the tissues.

“…Hyuuung.”

“Yeah.”

“I only thought of you all night, hyung. Tears kept trying to come out, hic, so I really held it in firmly, and I did end up crying a little bit, but I really held it in hard. I’m not originally a person with many tears. But because hyung tries to distance himself, I got so upset that I ended up crying again. …This is all because of hyung.”

“Right. I’m sorry. Stop crying now. The tissues are getting all soaked.”

Sobbing and crying, he keeps blaming others. He’s not even a real child. Because of the tears that kept flowing despite my diligent wiping like a windshield wiper, the tissues kept getting soaked. Eventually, I pulled out a few more.

“If hyung says he won’t distance himself. Then I’ll stop crying.”

“If I don’t, how am I supposed to reject you?”

“Hyung, why, why would you re, ject me? Why would you reject me, hic, I’m asking!”

Ham Dowon started crying hard all over again. No matter how much I wiped, the tears wouldn’t be dried. It felt like pouring water into a bottomless vessel. What should I do with this child-like guy? I have no idea. No one ever taught me how to deal with a situation like this.

“If you’re going to keep crying, cry while you eat. It’s exhausting. The afternoon class is sculpture, so I need to use a lot of strength.”

I spoke as if I were comforting a child for now. His expression softened a bit.

“Hiccup, mmm… Hyung, feed me.”

“I told you that you have hands.”

“I’m busy cry, ing right now. And I started waking up at 5:00 AM to make this to give to hyung… Last night I searched every single 24-hour market in the neighborhood and ma, de it with the groceries I barely managed to buy. I couldn’t even sleep and made it since dawn, so my arms hurt so much too. Hyung, hyung… won’t even feed me… My arms hurt so much I can’t eat…”

“Alright. I get it, so open your mouth.”

“Not that one, that one. I brought those specifically for hyung to ea, t, so I didn’t make many of them. Hyung has to eat them all.”

When I tried to pick up a fried shrimp, Ham Dowon shook his head no and pointed to a rice ball. In the end, I put it in his mouth as he ordered. Ham Dowon chewed with a pouting expression while still crying. Seeing his bulging cheeks, he really looked even more like a child.

“This is really driving me crazy…”

But it’s not like a real child is following me around saying they like me. He was a grown boy. This is insane.

“Hyung, I peeled these one by one and even made the batter myself to make this. Try it.”

Ham Dowon, who had stopped crying before I knew it, picked up a fried shrimp with his chopsticks and held it out.

“I’ll eat it myself.”

“Can’t you just please go ‘Ah’?”

“…Ah.”

He looked like he might cry again, so I just obediently opened my mouth. Although it had become a bit soggy, the fried shrimp, which still had a bit of crispiness left, was savory, salty, and delicious. It was different from the frozen fried shrimp commonly sold.

“…It’s good.”

“Do you think your stomach will be captured?”

“I don’t know about that. It’s not like I opened up my stomach. Hurry up and eat. We’ll be late for class.”

Ham Dowon made a dejected face for a moment, but when I pushed the food toward him, he smiled happily again. Even though it was food he had cooked himself.

While emptying the lunch box, which was quite a large amount, and returning to school, Ham Dowon asked out of nowhere.

“Hyung, it was delicious, right?”

“Yeah.”

“I’m good at cooking, right?”

“You are.”

“You want to eat this kind of food for the rest of your life, right?”

“No. Not to that extent.”

“…Hyung, I like difficult problems more than easy ones. Just you wait.”

Despite making a declaration of war, Ham Dowon looked so upset that he seemed to want to burst into tears right away. While I thought it was admirable that he was holding back his tears while gripping the steering wheel tightly and pressing his upper teeth against his lower lip, I felt uncomfortable in one part of my heart for no reason, so I turned my head away.

‧₊˚♪ 𝄞₊˚⊹

Ham Dowon: Hyung, have a good night. I hope you dream of me, but I also hope you have a deep sleep without even dreaming. I don’t mean that you should oversleep, though. I’ll dream of you. 23:01

Ham Dowon: Hyung, have a good morning. Don’t skip your meals and eat well. They say breakfast is important for your health. I wish I could cook for you. Since I’m good at cooking! 9:04

Before leaving the house, I read the KakaoTalk messages Ham Dowon sent, but I didn’t send a reply. And I took out my phone again only when I ran into someone at the main entrance of the building after class ended.

If I go to the workshop now and work for a bit, then go to my part-time job in the evening…

“Hyung!”

“…Why are you here?”

“What do you mean, why am I here? I’m a student at this school too.”

Ham Dowon, wearing familiar clothes, grumbled with a slightly pouting face. Today there were no glasses, no mask, and no hat. Right. You are a student at this school too. That is correct, but…

“You don’t have class today.”

“Yes. I have a free day.”

“Then why did you come? Did you come to work?”

“Today is the day you go to your part-time job, hyung.”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“I decided that I would drop you off on the days you go to your part-time job, hyung. For life. Ah, for now, it was only for this semester. Anyway.”

“You have a free day.”

“Yes. I asked you just now. It is a free day.”