MERRY 26

Working in this industry, I meet countless people, so it was hard to remember every face I’d ever come across. Just as I was about to give up on digging through my memory, the man spoke, clinking his glass against my bottle.

“It’s me, Jimmy Myers.”

The moment I heard that name, I remembered a kid who used to greet me with a face flushed deep red. That boy, who couldn’t hide a single drop of his crush on me, had grown into a man who smiled slyly, showing off a set of straight teeth.

“Oh! Jimmy!”

“Thanks for finally remembering. Though, I can’t blame you; even I’d have a hard time recognizing me. I got rid of the braces and the thick glasses. Quite the transformation, right? I’ve grown a lot taller, too.”

Jimmy, who used to barely reach my shoulder, was now about my height. He’d bulked up like a football player, too.

“Jimmy Myers.”

I said the name of my old classmate out loud, savoring the sound after all this time.

“Yes, sir,” Jimmy shot back playfully, tilting his glass. In response, I took a sip of my drink.

“Was it 11th grade when you moved away?”

“Right. Specifically, around the transition from junior to senior year.”

“This is the first time we’ve seen each other since then, right?”

“Well, I’ve seen you often. In photos or videos. I’ve told the people around me that we were friends… was that out of line?”

“It could be, or it might not be. It depends on the intent, things like that.”

Using me as a topic of conversation is fine, but if it’s about spreading rumors or talking trash with malice, then it falls into the “bad” category. Jimmy didn’t ask about my criteria and just laughed it off lightly.

“I didn’t say much. There wasn’t really much to tell. Nothing special ever happened between us. Though I personally wished it had.”

I was surprised he brought that up first. Bringing up feelings that had long since vanished, Jimmy looked distant, as if he were looking through an old album. He didn’t seem to find the scenes in that album particularly pleasant. He scratched between his slightly furrowed brows and leaned in toward me. A secret whisper reached me through the loud background noise.

“Want to make some? A story to tell.”

Jimmy Myers’ face no longer turns red when he looks at me. That might be because he’s transformed and become seasoned, but I felt it was because the very existence of those feelings had changed. Realizing the difference, I was about to voice a refusal when I hesitated.

Wouldn’t rejecting his proposal just because Jimmy no longer showed genuine affection conflict with my own views on sex? A man with a low probability of demanding a relationship beyond friendship, and who lacked nothing in terms of looks, was a perfect match for me. So, if I were to properly push Jimmy away, I’d need another reason…

“He’s with me.”

Suddenly, a familiar voice broke out from behind. I didn’t even need to turn around to know who had appeared, but I deliberately turned my head to check. As if he’d run here in a hurry, Ethan exhaled a heavy breath and placed a hand on my shoulder. Under the force pulling me back, I was dragged along as if I were unable to resist gravity.

“He can’t hang out with you, so find someone else.”

Ethan had gone so far as to invent a non-existent accompaniment to speak on my behalf.

“A man who keeps Somerset Quinn waiting must be pretty pathetic,” Jimmy shot back with a blustering attitude, misunderstanding that Ethan was late for an appointment. Sparks were flying between the two men standing face-to-face, but I couldn’t focus on the situation. A major crisis had erupted without me knowing.

I felt like I was going to scream at any moment. And for good reason—there was blood on Ethan’s pretty lips. It even looked like he’d been hit hard, as the area near the right corner of his mouth was swollen.

“What happened to your lip? You’re bleeding—you’re bleeding.”

“Oh, blood,” Ethan muttered indifferently, wiping his lip with the back of his hand. When the dried blood wouldn’t wipe away, he held his hand out to show me.

“There’s nothing there.”

“There is! There is! I’m telling you, there’s blood on your lip right now!”

There was a clear red dot on those pink lips.

“Well, these things happen.”

Unlike him, who remained calm, my hair stood on end and my whole body tensed up. He was someone who should be cherished and preserved like a treasure, yet someone dared to hurt him? To make him bleed? The absurdity of the situation made me feel like I was going to explode with frustration.

“Who was it? What jerk did this! What crazy bastard would do such a thing…”

It felt like a fire had flared up, completely incinerating everything in my head. I’d even forgotten that he’d threatened my car with his. Jimmy Myers vanished from my mind, and I could only see Ethan.

I took his chin in my hand and searched his face thoroughly. Fortunately, it seemed he wasn’t hurt anywhere else besides his lip, which allowed me to breathe a sigh of relief, but my insides were still seething, ready to boil over.

“It just happened on my own…”

“Don’t try to lie to me. This is absolutely not something that happened by mistake. There’s definitely a culprit. I need to call the police.”

As I fumbled through my pockets for my phone, Ethan stopped me with a “Whoa, whoa,” as if he were communicating with a wild animal.

“Calm down.”

“Don’t speak. What if the wound opens up? Damn it. Let’s go to the hospital—the hospital, right now. Should I call an ambulance? No, wait, I haven’t been drinking, so we’ll take my car.”

“If I went to the hospital for something like this, it would be an insult to the American healthcare system, which is basically a slave to capitalism…”

“I told you not to speak. Your mouth is pretty. Everything about you is pretty, but your mouth is pretty too. Damn it. Who was it? I asked what damn bastard did this!”

“You told me not to speak.”

I did say that, but.

“You can say this.”

“It was a nobody. I paid him back even worse, so don’t worry.”

That had to be a lie. How could someone who’s clearly never even been near violence hit anyone? Some low-life jerk must have picked a fight with him and laid a hand on him unilaterally. Seriously, he should have just followed behind me; why did he have to get ahead? Stop wandering off and getting hurt—just stay quietly by my side.

“What if it leaves a scar?”

“I don’t care.”

“I care!”

My voice rose involuntarily. Just the thought of a blemish on Ethan’s lips made my heart ache. The only person who should be allowed to hurt these full lips is someone clumsy at kissing. I was the one who had done that in the past.

I gulped and toyed with Ethan’s chin. His soft skin felt perfect against my hand. I became cautious, feeling like even a little bit of pressure would leave my fingerprints behind.

Ethan, stay away from me. Shake off my hand. If you don’t, things are going to get complicated. Because I still have the moments when we touched. Those memories haven’t disappeared; they’re just hidden away.

I slightly tilted my head up to match Ethan, who was just a little bit taller than me. In the midst of the darkness and the scattered neon lights, those clear, sparkling emerald eyes were right in front of me.

You can push me away.

Cowardly, I gave him a final warning by only mouthing the words silently. Even then, I didn’t move my lips much. The breath that escaped through the narrow gap in my teeth fell upon Ethan like a rogue. I could see his eyes trembling. No, was it the “me” reflected in them that was trembling?

Not wanting to face anything else at this moment, I slowly lowered my eyelids. Choosing to be buried in the darkness, I let my thumb slowly crawl up Ethan’s chin. Just as it was about to touch his mouth…

“Somerset.”

Jimmy Myers’ voice called back my rationality. The timing was trash… actually, no, it was good. Snapping back to my senses dramatically as if I’d been slapped on the back of the head, I stepped back and let go. Cherishing the warmth and texture that seemed to have seeped into my fingerprints, I stared at Ethan’s lips.

What was I trying to do to someone who was hurt and in pain? No, even if he wasn’t hurt, I shouldn’t have done it.

The impulse that had enchanted me blew away like dandelion seeds. I didn’t even think about catching them. I mustn’t catch them.

“I have to go. Find someone else to play with.”

I ditched Jimmy and moved to a corner with Ethan.

I quickly removed the arm I’d casually draped around his shoulder to lead him away. For some reason, I felt hot, and my mouth was dry.

“So, like, I mean, that just now was…”

As I stammered, not knowing what to say, Ethan asked me.

“Does it really matter to you?”