NCBF Ch 2

Perhaps because he had been tense the whole time while harboring an unfamiliar emotion unlike usual, the pit of his stomach felt a little stuffy. As soon as he let out a small groan, the sound of tapping on the phone stopped, and the sound of a chair sliding backward was heard.

“What’s wrong with you? Is somewhere hurting?”

“My stomach feels a bit stuffy…”

“Looks like you got indigestion. Ah, I should’ve just killed that bastard. For the first time in a while, fuck, you were even eating well.”

“It’s not that bad. I think I’ll be fine if I just take some medicine and sleep. The teacher will be here soon so I’ll get medicine from her and take it, so you hurry up and go.”

“Go where.”

“You have to go to class.”

Yuwon looked up at Hyun Gyujin, who was standing at an angle with a look that clearly showed he didn’t want to go, and pressed and pushed firmly against his thigh with a single finger. Of course, Hyun Gyujin didn’t budge an inch.

“Ah, why do you keep making such a fuss trying to chase me away.”

“The teacher said so last time. She lets me off because I’m sick, but she said there’s no reason to let you off for skipping.”

“If she won’t let me off, what is she gonna do about it?”

“Don’t be unreasonable and hurry up.”

Hyun Gyujin, who had been looking down with an expression of dissatisfaction and both hands delinquently shoved into the pockets of his school uniform trousers, nodded roughly as if he had lost. There was no need to make the kid, who was already lying down because he was sick, worry even more over something like this. Besides, he had to tell the PE teacher that Yuwon was in the nurse’s office, so it seemed best to head out to the sports field for now.

“Ah, and don’t tell Mom and Dad. They’re busy as it is, so don’t make them worry for nothing.”

“Got it.”

“Hurry up and go. Don’t get yelled at for being late.”

“The teacher must be here. I’ll say something on my way out, so take your medicine and get some sleep.”

“Mm-hm. See you later. Bye.”

Hyun Gyujin, who turned around at the presence felt outside the rest room, looked down with an affectionate expression at Yuwon, who was lying on the bed and waving. Whenever they parted, even briefly, he would always wave like that and say goodbyes like bye or bye-bye, and every time he heard it, he couldn’t help but smile because it was cute for no reason. It was even more so because none of the other guys he knew gave such cute goodbyes.

Replacing his farewell by lightly pressing his hair once and letting go, Hyun Gyujin left the rest room. Yuwon listened to the door open and close and to the voices drifting from outside, then released the tension in his body.

Not long after, the school nurse who entered handed Yuwon some lukewarm water and medicine. Yuwon swallowed a small pill, lay back down into the quiet rest room, and rubbed with his fingertips the light coming through the curtains to brighten a spot on the bed. Once left alone, his thoughts finally deepened deep down.

‘Are you feeling okay?’

When Hyun Gyujin turned around and asked about his condition, his heart had dropped with a thud for some unknown reason. And it had beaten very quickly with a thud, with a resonance he had never felt before.

Because his body was on the weak side, even moving just a little too much following others would immediately leave him out of breath, make his heart beat so fast it felt like it would burst, and turn his vision white, but this feeling was definitely different from the one he had experienced so much it was sickening. Getting dazed was the same, and his heart pounding wildly was the same, but… he didn’t hate it.

Yuwon raised his hand, stained with light, and pressed firmly against his heart, which thudded just from recalling that moment earlier. Why am I acting like this, really? Was it because I was startled earlier? Or am I really doing this because of Hyun Gyujin?

“…”

No, that couldn’t be. It made no sense at all for his heart to beat fast when looking at Hyun Gyujin, his childhood friend who had always been together since the time memories existed. He had spent most of his time together with him up until now, and he had never pounded like this even once.

Also, it wasn’t the first time he had seen him rush at someone who teased and bullied him and throw punches like before, so it made even less sense. Where on earth did this pounding start from? Even the thoughts welling up in his head tickled Yuwon’s heart.

Yuwon quietly gazed at the chair Hyun Gyujin had been sitting on, then got up at the class start bell and pulled back the curtain. He then opened the window and looked out at the sports field right in front.

Finding his class without difficulty among the several classes that had come out because 5th period was a PE class, Yuwon instantly spotted Hyun Gyujin, who stood out the most because he was a head taller even among them. The distance was a bit far so he couldn’t see his expression clearly, but seeing him standing crookedly with both hands shoved deep into his PE uniform pants pockets, he could easily picture what kind of face he was making even without looking.

The moment he captured Hyun Gyujin in both eyes, his heart fluttered once again. As if to prove that the reason his heart had kept tightening, loosening, and pounding all this while really was because of Hyun Gyujin.

A refreshing breeze ruffled Yuwon’s bangs. Judging by the burning sensation on his face, it seemed it had turned red again. Unable to do anything about his heart, which pounded rebelliously to a strange degree, Yuwon captured in his eyes Hyun Gyujin on the sports field where the long sunlight stretched.

His tall, crooked, and warm friend.

∞ ∞ ∞

About 20 minutes after the 5th period started, the PE teacher’s supervision began to slacken. For 20 minutes, he held a ball and did all sorts of bullshit to push forward with the PE curriculum, but once he let them practice on their own, he must have gotten lazy himself as he sat on the bleachers and slacked off with one of the guys. Hyun Gyujin handed the ball he was holding to Kim Junjae and glanced sideways at the PE teacher’s direction.

“Hey, if PE looks for me, tell him I’m dead.”

“You going to Spacey-Yuwon?”

“Yeah.”

“Leave him alone to rest a bit. Spacey-Yuwon must be seriously fucking sick of you too.”

“Fuck, no he’s not. Jeong Yuwon loves me to death.”

“…Ah, seriously fucking crazy.”

Kim Junjae shook his head at the childish retort and tossed the ball to Hyun Gyujin. Hyun Gyujin, who caught it leisurely without even a hint of impact, returned it to Kim Junjae with a little force and leisurely slipped away from the sports field.

Even though they had been apart for just a little over 20 minutes, he was worried to a degree that felt a bit excessive. Part of it was because he hadn’t seen him take his medicine before coming out, and at other times when he was sick he would just turn white, but earlier both his ears and the back of his neck were even redder than usual, making him care even more.

Why did he even turn red today? Is it an allergy? Ah, I hope it’s nothing.

Going into the school, which was quiet because class was in session, his walk toward the nurse’s office was uninterrupted. Hyun Gyujin knocked roughly once on the nurse’s office door and opened it. Then, seeing the school nurse tilting her head in confusion at seeing him, wondering why he was here at this hour, he grinned wide.

“Did you get hurt somewhere?”

“No.”

“Then did you come all the way here leaving class because you were worried about Yuwon?”

“It’s free time anyway.”

“Who can stop you.”

There had been times in the past when he was scolded that no matter how worried he was, he shouldn’t skip class or come out midway like this, but that didn’t work on Hyun Gyujin. What on earth did it matter how he used his own time? Hyun Gyujin said goodbye to the school nurse, who was gesturing for him to go in as if she had given up, and quietly stepped inside the rest room.

“…”

Yuwon was sleeping on the bed at the very innermost part of the rest room. Seeing that the window was open, perhaps because it was hot, Hyun Gyujin quietly closed the window and drew the curtain. Hearing the sound of even breathing, it seemed he hadn’t suffered a major upset after all. Only after confirming that with his own eyes did his mind finally at ease.

Hyun Gyujin, having unzipped the top of his PE uniform that had been zipped up to his neck halfway down, sat on a chair and pulled out his phone. Thinking about playing a game but not really feeling it, he wandered over to a portal site for no particular reason, where an article plastered on the main page read: ‘As expected, Lee Haeyeon! It worked this time too! viewer ratings hit 26.8% in just 4 episodes, taking 1st place overall!’

Though it was a name famous enough for anyone to know, Hyun Gyujin knew this name with a more special meaning than anyone else. After skimming through even the article he wouldn’t normally pay attention to, Hyun Gyujin’s gaze turned back toward the sleeping Yuwon. He recalled Yuwon’s words telling him not to tell his Mom and Dad that he was sick.

Lee Haeyeon, who decorated the main page of the portal site, was a very famous, nationally acclaimed actress known to everyone and Yuwon’s mother. And to Hyun Gyujin, she was an auntie he had seen often since he was very young.

It was indeed a bit fascinating every time he saw his close friend’s mother, who was close enough that it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call her a second mom, appearing on TV turning into a completely different person each time. That didn’t mean he watched every single drama religiously, but he still knew how high a viewer rating of 26.8% in just 4 episodes actually was.

“Mm-mm…. Huh? When did you get here? Is the 5th period already over?”