NCBF Ch 39

Looking at Hyun Gyujin with a slightly troubled expression, Yuwon smiled warmly and softly, as if he could melt not just the ice cream, but the whole shop.

“Because we couldn’t break up as friends too….”

“Did you think I’d swear at you if you said you came to like me?”

“…Yeah. In case you told me to fuck off.”

“Wow, how much of a piece of trash do you see me as? Would I actually say something like that to you?”

“It’s that big of a shocking thing, after all. It’s something that doesn’t make sense, too….”

As Yuwon’s head drooped slightly in sudden gloom, Hyun Gyujin’s head tilted along with it. A familiar, playful, yet warm gaze caressed Yuwon’s face and soon stroked his hair. Yuwon quietly met that gentle gaze.

“Did you worry a lot?”

“Yeah….”

“Were you scared, too?”

“…Yeah. A whole lot.”

“Avoiding me must have been hard, too.”

Qietly nodding his head was both cute and pitiable. Holding back the urge to immediately knead under his chin and dote on his cuteness, Hyun Gyujin pressed down lightly with his fingertips so as not to hurt.

“Then that… when I was coming back from the dojang, meeting at the café, did you go there to avoid me and end up running into me by chance?”

“Ah…. Yeah, that’s right. I was really surprised back then.”

“Going to school super early in the morning was also to avoid going with me?”

“…I’m sorry….”

“Now it all makes sense. I thought it was strange. Wondering what kind of hagwon homework you were doing in the morning, in the evening, and on weekends. What a relief. It wasn’t because you came to dislike me.”

At Hyun Gyujin’s words, Yuwon raised his head, having kept his gaze slightly lowered out of apology.

“What do you mean by that?”

“Because I thought it was one of two things. Either you came to fucking hate me, or you came to like me.”

“Why would I dislike you, all of a sudden….”

“I thought I messed up again and got completely ruled out by you.”

“I’m really sorry…. Making you think like that…. I had no idea. I thought you would just let it slide. While doing that, I tried to quickly sort out my feelings and return to normal…. But it didn’t go well.”

Looking a bit crestfallen and as if the tension had melted away as the situation settled, Yuwon continued speaking quietly. Hyun Gyujin loved that soft, quiet voice and seeing Yuwon visibly getting tired as his physical stamina dropped in real time so much that he silently focused his gaze and ears on the face and voice in front of him.

“You couldn’t sort it out?”

“Yeah…. Honestly, I thought it would happen quickly if I just set my mind to it. You know. We were friends for 18 years, and I only felt this strange emotion for a few days…. I thought going back to being friends would be really easy.”

“Was it hard, though?”

“So, so hard. Harder than mock exams, harder than the hagwon placement test….”

Ah, seriously, isn’t he crazy? Saying it’s harder than mock exams and harder than a placement test. The analogy was so like Yuwon that his head felt completely flushed. It was a sorry thing to do to a kid speaking seriously, but he was so, so cute that his fingertips tickled with the urge to keep kneading him all over.

“I see. I wondered why you lost weight so suddenly, and it was because you went through so much emotional suffering.”

“I didn’t have an appetite, and eating felt like a hassle, so I didn’t eat well.”

“Is that so?”

“Yeah….”

“Now let’s eat a lot of delicious food together again. We have to fill back up as much as you lost. Look at how your wrists got even thinner. Let’s eat diligently.”

“Yeah, I’m okay now. The tonkatsu earlier was really delicious too, and the waffles and churros are all delicious…. I think my appetite came all the way back.”

As he smiled proudly, his soft, squishy cheeks went up and sparkled. Ah, my heart hurts. Hyun Gyujin leaned his head down just like that and rested it on Yuwon’s shoulder. As soon as he placed his head, he felt Yuwon’s shoulder stiffen up rigidly.

“S-Someone might see….”

“Who’s going to see. There’s no one here. And so what if they see. Loosen the tension. Your shoulders are super hard.”

“…I don’t know how to loosen it.”

“Take the strength out. Inhale and then whew…. Follow me. Inhale.”

Still with his head on his shoulder, Hyun Gyujin listened to the sound of inhaling coming from beside him and laughed. Anyway, Jeong Yuwon is seriously fucking cute.

“Now, you have to exhale. Whew.”

“Whew….”

Simultaneously with exhaling, his shoulders, which had been tense and rigid, grew a bit more relaxed. Hyun Gyujin, who was about to close his eyes as if to sleep like that, glanced at Yuwon’s hand resting awkwardly on his thigh. Then he reached out his hand and lightly tapped his slender fingers. Even though he touched ever so lightly, even his shoulders flinched up. It was just like riding an amusement park ride.

“…”

“…”

Not satisfied with just lightly touching, this time he intertwined about one knuckle of their fingers, and he felt the strength return to his shoulders. Hyun Gyujin quietly intertwined their fingers a bit more firmly and held Yuwon’s hand. Even though it wasn’t the first time holding hands, breathing strangely became uncomfortable. Was it because he wasn’t holding it as a friend? He wanted to try doing everything he had casually done with Yuwon all over again.

When he pulled their intertwined fingers to play around, Yuwon’s hesitating fingers also moved slowly. He willingly let himself be pulled toward him, and when he applied a little strength to endure, Yuwon’s fingers also gained a bit more strength. Every time they pulled and got pulled, their fingers rubbed against each other, giving off a ticklish sensation.

“…”

Hyun Gyujin, who had been playing with their fingers for a long while, suddenly grabbed Yuwon’s hand and trapped it inside his own hand. All movement ceased, and the fair, relatively small hand disappeared, covered beneath Hyun Gyujin’s hand.

“What if someone really sees….”

“If they see, they see.”

Looking at Yuwon, who spoke in a worried voice yet closed his fingers to hold his hand in return, Hyun Gyujin laughed and rubbed his face against his shoulder.

“Honestly, your heart fluttered over my face, didn’t it? Because I’m so handsome.”

“No, it didn’t.”

“What do you mean no? You’re playing coy again for no reason.”

“Your face isn’t my type.”

“Out of all the words I’ve heard in my whole life, that’s truly the most absurd.”

Raising his head with a genuinely dumbfounded face, Hyun Gyujin made eye contact with Yuwon. Looking at Hyun Gyujin quietly with a face that showed hardly any change, Yuwon eventually burst into a soft laugh.

“It’s a joke.”

“Ah, what the.”

“Is my face being your type that important?”

“Of course it’s important. I like you even more because you’re pretty.”

“…D-Don’t say weird things…. What do you mean pretty?”

“Even when we were friends, you were pretty.”

Affectionate words, a warm smile, a gentle body temperature, and a heart-pounding sensation that was no longer uncomfortable. Yuwon closed his fingers further to hold Hyun Gyujin’s hand in return, moving his lips to follow the smile reflected in his two eyes.

“I actually… like your face too….”

“Really?”

“…Yeah.”

Quickly tilting his head slightly to act cute toward Yuwon, Hyun Gyujin grinned.

“Is it your type?”

Too embarrassed to answer out loud, Yuwon replaced his answer with a nod. Wishing that his answer would be delivered well to Hyun Gyujin.

“Starting today, I really need to manage my face even more strictly.”

Along with a smile, playfulness quickly spread across his face. Yuwon just kept smiling. He just kept smiling because he liked it so much.

He liked Hyun Gyujin. Hyun Gyujin, who was squishier than freshly baked waffles, sweeter than churros covered in tons of sugar, and warmer than sweet and sour lemon tea.

∞ ∞ ∞

Even though he couldn’t count how many times he had walked the path from the hagwon district to home together, today that path felt very special. Even though the night wind was quite cool, it felt strangely sweet. A while ago when he walked home alone, he couldn’t see his surroundings well and only thought of Hyun Gyujin the entire time, but strangely, being together with Hyun Gyujin made even the small things of this moment together feel special and caught his eyes.

“There’s no one around, so can we walk holding hands?”

Looking around the quiet surroundings for no real reason, Yuwon moved his hand first to lightly grasp Hyun Gyujin’s fingers. Since there was no one around, he thought this much would be okay. Even in the cold night air, Hyun Gyujin’s hand was truly warm. He could feel it even though only his fingers lightly touched.

“Ah, something’s strange.”

“What is? Should we not hold hands? Is it still a bit… awkward after all….”

“It’s not that.”

Following the hand that slipped away stealthily, Hyun Gyujin trapped and held Yuwon’s hand inside his hand again.

“The feeling when our hands touched just now was just like…. It was similar to when you touched my ear before.”

“When I touched your ear?”

“Yeah. You touched my piercing spot, didn’t you.”

“Ah….”