MW 15

“If that’s not it, then why do you keep smiling?”

“Am I?”

At those words, Jaeha rubbed the corners of his mouth. Now that he thought about it, it seemed he was always smiling whenever he was with Yijae.

“It’s true.”

Jaeha muttered to himself as if crestfallen. Chaekyung, watching him stand there blankly, staring at the spot where Yijae had disappeared, wrapped his arms around himself as if getting goosebumps. It was a side of Jaeha he had never seen in the more than 10 years he had known him.

“What the hell, you’re being serious, it’s creepy. Do you really like him? You said you’re not even dating.”

“……”

Jaeha, who would have answered no if it weren’t true, remained silent, and Chaekyung let out a soft sigh.

“Huh, what is this. You really have feelings for him? Are you going to date him?”

“I haven’t thought that far ahead yet. He’s just… a cute younger brother.”

“Cute younger brother, my ass. Have you ever shown this much interest in anyone else?”

Chaekyung, who had been teasing him because it was fun to see the stoic Kang Jaeha flustered, ended up being more dumbfounded himself at how serious Jaeha was.

“Then what are you going to do about Gu Dohae? He must have been waiting with bated breath just to get engaged to you.”

“I have no intention of being dragged into a promise I never made.”

It was a promise made between their families before he was even born. There was no reason or obligation for him to keep it.

Jaeha recalled Dohae’s gaze that always followed him and erased him from his mind.

“I’m leaving.”

“Hey, Kang Jaeha!”

Watching Jaeha turn and walk away, Chaekyung clicked his tongue, tsk tsk. Kang Jaeha might think the engagement arranged by their families was no big deal, but from what he could see, Gu Dohae likely didn’t feel the same.

Staring at the back of his friend leaving to find Yijae, oblivious to this fact, he let out a long sigh, anticipating the storm that was to come.

⁺₊❆₊⋆

Fortunately, Yijae managed to arrive in front of the library without getting lost this time. After looking at the entrance with the haetae statue, his legs started to ache, so he decided to sit on a nearby bench and wait for Jaeha.

He was sipping his still-warm cocoa and watching people pass by. That was when he felt his body go cold and stiff at a familiar voice coming from behind him.

“Seo Yijae.”

Instinctively curling up, he lifted his head to see Dohae standing there, looking down at him with his lips twisted in a sneer.

“Why aren’t you answering my calls?”

At his words, Yijae remembered that he had set his phone to silent during class. He quickly put his hand in his pocket and took out his phone, only to find over 30 missed calls under Dohae’s name.

“S-Sorry.”

Hearing the apology, Dohae roughly swept his hair back as if in disbelief. He glared at Yijae with fierce eyes and spoke in a chilly voice.

“Follow me right now, if you don’t want to get beaten up here.”

Seeing Dohae turn and walk ahead with an angry face, Yijae anxiously followed him. As they passed the busy library entrance and headed to the back of the building, the surroundings became quiet, as if the bustling noise had never existed.

“Hey.”

Dohae, confirming that no one was around, crossed his arms and glared at Yijae. Although they were similar in height, whenever Dohae looked at him like that, he would shrink back without realizing it. Yijae lifted his gaze, which had been fixed on the ground, and looked at him.

In that moment, a hot friction arose under a cold touch, and a stinging pain spread across Yijae’s cheek.

“Ugh.”

“Why are you with Kang Jaeha?”

Dohae’s eyes, as he asked, were more than chilly; they were piercing. Yijae bit his lip hard under Dohae’s sharp glare and lowered his head again.

“What exactly is your relationship with him!”

“Ah. Ugh!”

At that, Dohae stretched out his long arm and grabbed Yijae’s hair tightly. Along with his shrill voice, Dohae’s soft, well-maintained hair swayed in the wind.

He was filled with a rage that felt like his brain was boiling after seeing the message from Secretary Oh a little while ago. He immediately skipped his next class and searched for Seo Yijae on campus.

When he couldn’t reach him, Dohae had frantically roamed all over campus looking for him.

“Are you not going to answer?”

Meeting the murderous glint in his eyes, Yijae flinched and ducked his body, parting his lips that wouldn’t move.

“A fr-friend.”

“A friend?”

Ha. With a scoffing sound, the corners of Dohae’s mouth, who was standing there with a look of disbelief, twisted.

“You’re friends with Jaeha sunbae? Is that why you went into the club room together? What did you two do in there? Tell me.”

Dohae’s cold eyes began to burn with hot fury, simmering with rage.

“Noth-hng, nothing. Ugh.”

“Seo Yijae, do you want to die?”

Yijae, who had been standing there like a mouse, cautiously watching Dohae, looked up with a startled face.

‘Ah.’

Yijae could read the jealousy in Dohae’s eyes. Could it be that Dohae liked him?

“Stay away from Kang Jaeha.”

“……”

“I said stop meeting with Jaeha hyung. Don’t attend the class either, no, just don’t even come to school. I shouldn’t have let a bastard like you out of the house in the first place.”

Yijae looked at Dohae with eyes that flickered anxiously, as if lost. He was just starting to feel like he could breathe, and now he was being told to live locked up at home again. And on top of that, not to see Jaeha.

“Why aren’t you answering! Do you understand!”

Dohae waited for the stupid bastard to nod, as he always did. But…

“…I don’t want to.”

Dohae wondered if he had heard correctly, for a moment feeling as if his brain had malfunctioned.

“What? Say that again.”

Although he was scared by Dohae’s menacing tone, Yijae clenched his hands under his long sleeves and spoke.

“I’m sorry. But I can’t do that. I promised to be friends with Jaeha sunbae, too. I’m sorry, I’m sorry, Dohae.”

Jaeha sunbae.

Already, Seo Yijae was calling Kang Jaeha’s name affectionately as if he were someone special. That grated on Dohae’s nerves immensely, and his anger grew to pierce the sky.

Ha? Is this fucking moron of a bastard finally going to talk back to me?

“You fucking whore of a bastard, finally.”

“……”

“Did you put out for him?”

“What?”

One corner of Dohae’s mouth curled up. He knew Seo Yijae well, who acted all innocent while seducing men.

He must have tempted Kang Jaeha by pretending to be innocent and pitiful this time too. Dohae said in a mocking voice, poking Yijae’s shoulder with his finger.

“I’m asking if you spread your ass for him. You’re a whore, right? That’s why you go around spreading your legs for this bastard and that bastard.”

“That’s not true.”

Yijae felt as if a sharp blade had grazed his heart at Dohae’s words. He was barely holding back the tears that were about to burst forth.

“Not true? Then did you suck Kang Jaeha’s dick? Huh?”

“Th-That’s not what happened. Dohae.”

“Aha. Then Kang Jaeha must have sucked yours…”

“Stop it!”

Yijae was scared of Dohae, but he couldn’t just stand there and listen to him badmouth Jaeha anymore.

“Ah, has this crazy bastard eaten something wrong?”

He grabbed one of his trembling hands with the other. Even so, the shaking didn’t stop, but Yijae clenched his hands tightly and mustered the courage to speak.

“S-Say what you want to me, but don’t say anything about Jaeha sunbae. Sunbae-nim did nothing wrong.”

Did he really take some drugs? Dohae was annoyed by the sight of Seo Yijae’s face as he stared at him, trembling.

At the voice that dared to speak to him in a commanding tone, the sneer that had been on Dohae’s lips vanished in an instant, and his hand flew up into the air.

“Is that so? Then, go ahead and try saying you’ll keep being friends.”