MW 46

“Please send all the clothes I’ve tried on so far to my home.”

“Yes, I understand.”

He’s buying this many clothes, not just one or two? Yijae, who had naturally assumed he would only be buying the one outfit he liked best out of all the ones he tried on, stared at Jaeha with his mouth agape.

“Are you tired?”

Even though they hadn’t bought a single piece of clothing for him and only a ton for Yijae, a smile spread across Jaeha’s lips, as if he was incredibly pleased. Yijae shook his head while munching on the cookie he had put in his mouth. To be honest, he had been tired a moment ago, but seeing him so happy made his fatigue vanish in an instant.

“But sunbae-nim. Is it okay to buy this much…? I don’t have… that much money.”

Yijae tried to recall how much money he had on hand, but then realized he had left most of it at the annex and his eyebrows drooped.

“That’s true. Then you can just work hard at what I tell you to do from now on.”

“Yes, I’m good at doing the dishes, and I’m good at cleaning! I can’t cook, but if you ask me to, I’ll try to learn.”

It would be a relief if he could repay him even in that way. Yijae looked up at Jaeha, his eyes sparkling as if his gloomy expression from a moment ago had never existed.

“That won’t be enough.”

“It won’t? Then…”

Would it be better to take on more work? He had no intention of living for free in a nice place like sunbae-nim’s house, but he was nervous about what he might be expecting.

“You have to eat a lot of meals with me, exercise with me, and play with me too.”

“What? That’s…”

“You don’t want to?”

“No? That’s not it…”

“Then it’s settled. That’s all you have to do for me.”

What Jaeha was asking of him wasn’t ‘work’. It would be nice if he could do things like cleaning or laundry instead, but looking at his expression, he seemed to have no intention of making him do such things. Just as he was racking his small brain, trying to figure out how to persuade him.

“Yijae, shall we wear these on our way back?”

Jaeha, kneeling on one knee, placed a pair of sneakers in front of his feet and asked. Yijae thought of his original shoes, which were worn out with a hole at the toe, and slowly looked at him. He was not unaware that Jaeha was saying this out of consideration for him. Yijae felt that every single one of these small gestures was so precious.

“Yes, I’d like that.”

Leaning down, Yijae wrapped his arms around Jaeha’s neck and smiled brightly, oblivious to the other employees watching them.

⁺₊❆₊⋆

“No way… You’re joking to tease me, right?”

A week had already passed since he started living with Jaeha. The toothbrushes on the sink, the utensils on the dining table, all changed from one to two, and Yijae’s belongings gradually increased throughout the house.

Yijae, who was twirling the pasta Jaeha had made for lunch around his fork and putting it in his mouth, wore a horrified expression at the news that the exam period was already next week.

What in the world have I done for it to be this late already? A lot had happened in the meantime, but he didn’t realize that time had flown by so quickly.

Moreover, the schedule that Mrs. Lee had personally arranged was packed with classes without any breaks, so there would probably be many days when the exams were clustered together.

“What should I do…? I haven’t studied at all.”

Silently wiping away his tears, Yijae let out a short breath at the bleak reality. From now on, he had to earn his own tuition, so getting a scholarship would help with his living expenses, but at this rate, he’d be lucky not to get an academic warning.

“I’ll help you.”

Still, having the most dependable person right next to him put his mind at ease. Jaeha, who had wiped the sauce from the corner of his mouth, asked Yijae, who was clenching his fists and steeling his resolve.

“Shall we go on a trip after our exams are over?”

“A trip?”

“Yeah. You said you wanted to see the sea last time.”

It seemed he remembered him saying in passing that he wanted to see the sea while they were watching a movie with a deep blue ocean in it.

“I have a villa on Jeju Island, and it’ll be nice because the sea is right in front. The cherry blossoms will have all fallen by then, though.”

he added, lightly rubbing the back of his neck as if it were a shame.

“Still, let’s go eat delicious food, see the sea, and have fun.”

With his family’s always-difficult financial situation and having moved into Dohae’s house five years ago, Yijae had never even dreamed of traveling.

The sea.

He had actually never told Jaeha, but he had never been to the sea in his life. To think that the day he would see it in person would come.

Yijae hid his pounding heart and gently lifted the corners of his mouth.

.

.

.

“That department jacket looks good on you.”

Yijae, wearing a pastel sky-blue department jacket and standing under a tree, was the very picture of a radiant freshman. Jaeha, feeling pleased just looking at him, fiddled with the ends of Yijae’s hair.

“Ah, it’s grown a lot, hasn’t it? It’s about time to get it cut…”

“It’s pretty even now.”

“Ahem.”

Yijae, who was weak to compliments, blushed on both cheeks as if he was awkward hearing such words, no matter how many times he was told he was “pretty,” “handsome,” or “doing great.”

“Ugh, there’s not much time left. Professor Song is super strict about attendance, so I think I have to go now.”

Jaeha gently rubbed Yijae’s sullen cheek and swallowed a laugh. As time passed, he seemed to be getting more comfortable, and he was delighted by his reactions, like whining like this.

“Ah.”

Yijae, who had been whining while leaning against his palm, flinched as he looked at one spot. When Jaeha followed his gaze, he saw someone who resembled Gu Dohae walking by.

Seeing Yijae become so tense that his face turned pale just from passing by someone who looked similar to him, Jaeha asked carefully.

“Gu Dohae hasn’t come looking for you, has he?”

“No…”

“And what did I tell you to do if he does?”

“First, get away, and then contact sunbae-nim.”

“Right. Good boy.”

If he had it his way, he wouldn’t want to leave him alone, but that wasn’t what Yijae wanted. Jaeha quietly looked down at the watch on his wrist and gently rubbed Yijae’s cheek.

“Call me when you’re done with class.”

“Okay. I’ll head in now. You study hard too, sunbae-nim.”

“Okay.”

The back of Yijae disappeared as he hurried into the lecture hall. Slowly turning around, Jaeha, contrary to what he had told Yijae, walked straight past the central library and headed to the chairman’s office.

Standing in front of the large door, he took a deep breath for a moment, then knocked on the door and turned the doorknob.

“Grandfather.”

“Ah, Jaeha, you’re here. Are your graduation preparations going well?”

“Thanks to you.”

“You look like you have something to say. Have a seat first.”

Chairman Kang, who had taken off his glasses, was able to grasp his intentions at once just by looking at Jaeha’s face.