SMW 13

At Choi Seol’s appearance, Noona lowered her hand, which had nowhere to go, and received his greeting with a bewildered expression.

“Hello, Mr. Choi Seol. How are you feeling?”

“I’m getting better thanks to you. By the way, please speak comfortably. I’m Yeo-reum’s friend, after all.”

“Hmm, shall I? Then I’ll drop the formalities.”

Listening to the conversation, their attitudes were so polite that one might mistake them for different people. As I stood awkwardly sandwiched between the two, Choi Seol spoke again.

“But what brings you here?”

“Oh, I wanted to feed Yeo-reum some meat and had a few things to ask while I was at it. Today is the day for the big house cleaning, right?”

I had completely forgotten. I nodded.

“Yes. Are you going to help?”

“It happens to be my day off. I’ll bring my brother along too.”

“Hoon-i hyung came to the house?”

“He came to visit the kids the day before yesterday. I stopped him from going straight to you. I thought it would be uncomfortable if he barged in while you had a guest.”

“True, right now it’s a bit…”

“I’m fine, so please come visit whenever it’s convenient.”

Choi Seol gently pressed down on my shoulder, as if cutting me off. It didn’t hurt, but I instinctively shut my mouth at the inexplicable sense of intimidation. Meanwhile, their conversation continued.

“Since I’m indebted to Yeo-reum, I can’t possibly be a nuisance. The same goes for the officer.”

“Oh, nuisance my foot. Don’t worry about that, and just stay comfortably as if it’s your own home.”

“Thank you for saying so. I was anxious because I lost my memories and had nowhere to lean on, but I survived because Yeo-reum and the officer helped me like this.”

“Oh my. Yeo-reum, look at how beautifully your friend speaks.”

A look of absolute touched emotion appeared on Noona’s face.

“We’re grateful too. The village elders are happy that such a flower-like [unauthorized copy]young man has come to a countryside where there are only old folks. unauthorized copyRead on Read BL NovelsFor your information, Yeo-reum was completely useless, regardless of his looks.”

“Yes, yes. Well, I’m truly sorry about that.”

The complaints that hadn’t surfaced even when the two were warmly exchanging words in someone else’s house now flowed out smoothly.

Anyway, when is this bastard going to let go? We weren’t completely pressed against each other, but because the distance was so close, it was hard to ignore the presence I felt behind me.

To make matters worse, the memory of this morning’s water show kept making my mouth go dry. Seeing as I was reacting to just this much, it seemed my immunity to men had dropped. I was desperately resolving to find a fit boyfriend as soon as I returned to school when unexpected words fell from Choi Seol’s mouth.

“However, I don’t think we can do the big cleaning today. Yeo-reum is sick.”

“Yeo-reum is?”

“I am?”

At my unintentionally raised voice, Noona sent a puzzled look my way. As if brushing that gaze aside, Choi Seol added a calm explanation.

“Perhaps he was tired from taking care of me, but he could barely eat breakfast this morning. So, I think it would be better for him to rest today.”

“It’s certainly strange that Yeo-reum can’t eat. Even back then, even if we grilled beef, rice was a must for him.”

“Once he finishes his rice, he [visit our site][unauthorized copy]puts the spoon down even [unauthorized copy]if there are delicious side dishes left.”

“Right, that’s it. Maybe it’s because you’re friends that you know Yeo-reum so well.”

“Of course, I know him well.”

The force pulling my shoulder grew stronger. Before I knew it, the moment my back touched a firm chest, my body stiffened. Soon, a soft voice was heard again above my head.

“Because I’ve always been watching.”

For a moment, my breath stopped. As I stood still, unable to show any reaction, Choi Seol took the bag held in my hand.

“The meat, I’ll enjoy it.”

“Right. If Yeo-reum is sick, he probably won’t even have the strength to chew meat, so eat plenty instead. Mr. Patient, take care of yourself, and call if you need help.”

The part about telling Choi Seol to eat the meat seemed sincere, but the words directed at me seemed completely soulless. Noona even gave me a playful grin before closing the middle gate herself and leaving.

“I think Noona doesn’t believe I’m sick?”

Noona was perceptive. It might be the intuition honed by her profession, but as someone who had seen me closely for the past year, it would be stranger if she hadn’t noticed my condition. Still, was she playing along because of the satisfaction of handing the meat to Dolsoe? As expected, I was clearly the bonus.

“She’s a cop, so of course [unauthorized copy]unauthorized copyshe’d notice a lie like that. But she’ll think there’s a reason for the [Read on Read BL Novels]lie. Since she knows my condition well too.”

The ladies should have recognized the character of the Dolsoe they were feeding meat to. I looked at Choi Seol, who was adding nonchalant comments to his own lie, in disbelief. Because he was still holding one of my shoulders, I had to tilt my neck back just to meet his eyes.

“Then, there was no need to lie.”

“My grandmother said that even in refusal, there must be courtesy and sincerity. It would be a bit much to use my circumstances as an excuse when I’m not the homeowner.”

That was true, but something felt off. To be precise, I felt a sense of incongruity from Choi Seol as he spoke.

“You’ve changed a bit.”

“…….”

At my words, Choi Seol wore a puzzled expression.

“Where have I changed?”

“Well, obviously your body… no, I mean your personality. You weren’t originally such a polite guy.”

“I don’t believe I was a serious delinquent either.”

“Still, I don’t think you put on this much of a facade.”

In the first place, did the word ‘facade’ even suit him? At school, Choi Seol tended to reveal his moods exactly as they were. If he was in a good mood, he’d allow anyone to approach him that day; if he was in a bad mood, he blatantly threatened everything around him. He was even like that with the teachers. I didn’t know how he was outside, though. I think he might have been kind to elderly people.

“Then I guess I’ve changed.”

After staring at me without any response for a while, Choi Seol lowered his head further and spoke indifferently.

“Just as you did, I guess I have too. As you said, ten years have passed.”

It was true. I had changed over ten years. There was no law saying Choi Seol wouldn’t have changed. But why did I think Choi Seol would remain the same? Even if he couldn’t remember, perhaps the changed personality remained in the body. Thinking that, the presence before my eyes suddenly felt very foreign. And my neck hurt. In the midst of this, it became funny that the height difference between us was no different from ten years ago.

“Can you let go of this now?”

I wanted to get away, but the hand on my shoulder showed no sign of dropping. Just as I was wondering if I should just escape on my own, Choi Seol abruptly threw out a question.

“What is your relationship with the cop?”

I didn’t understand the intention of the question immediately.

“What do you mean? Like I told you before, she’s the neighborhood Noona.”

“You seem quite close.”

“So-so? Maybe because we played together often when we were kids, we’re not awkward even though we barely met as adults?”

“Close enough to let her touch you?”

“……Noona touched me?”

“She touched you earlier. Like this.”

The hand gripping my shoulder finally let go. However, I became even more unable to move. The hand that had let go moved up and dug into my hair. I had to accept all those actions with my thoughts frozen, as if his long fingers were carving every single strand.

I came to my senses when those fingers slid to the back of my head and brushed against the nape of my neck. Startled, I escaped from his embrace.

“Wha-what are you doing!”

“Recreating how that cop touched you. Since you seemed to have forgotten.”

Recreating my foot. What Noona touched was at the level of brushing off dust, but this was on a different dimension. I spoke, feeling the heat rise in the nape of my neck where Choi Seol’s hand had brushed.

“I allowed that. We both be careful not to do anything more than a light touch.”

“Why did you allow it?”

“Because… we’re close. We’ve known each other since we were kids.”

“Then this much should be fine for me too. We’ve known each other since we were kids as well.”

Oh my god. Is that the Choi Seol I know?

Come to think of it, he was always that kind of guy. A guy who would throw out unexpected words to fluster the other person while remaining calm himself. When I thought that far, a sudden surge of emotion rose in my chest.

“In the first place, isn’t Noona different from you?”

At my words, Choi Seol narrowed his brow.

“How is she different?”

“You and I weren’t friends.”

Simultaneously, the expression vanished from Choi Seol’s face. For a moment, the thought that I had messed up flashed through my mind. Even so, it couldn’t be taken back. It was the truth, after all.

“Friends… Right, we weren’t.”

A heavy silence flowed for a moment, and Choi Seol muttered lowly. I knew. I knew, but the moment I heard those words from his mouth, my heart thudded. To still have this reaction. Even though [Read on Read BL Novels]it Read on Read BL Novelswas something I had already experienced once, it seemed time didn’t resolve all emotions.

“Let’s go. You said we have to clean.”

And yet, the sight of Choi Seol, who had been so persistent until a moment ago, turning around without lingering, somehow weighed on my mind. I felt as if I had made some kind of mistake.

Although it was smaller in scale than other historic noble houses, cleaning an entire hanok alone was no easy task. That’s why I had borrowed the help of the village head’s family, who originally managed this house, but since Choi Seol refused this time, the scale of the cleaning naturally had to be reduced.

I had to clean once more before Chuseok anyway. Thinking there was no need to suffer in the sweltering summer, I decided to just wipe away the dust accumulated throughout the house with Choi Seol and divided the areas. Up to that point, everything went smoothly.

And yet…

“Ah, seriously! It keeps bothering me.”

I sprang up from the floor while wiping. My gaze naturally drifted toward my room, which had recently become the bedroom for the two of them.

After the incident at the main gate, Choi Seol didn’t even make eye contact with me except when asking for the location of the cleaning tools. After I told him the location, seeing his cold back as he turned away with the tools made me chew over the word ‘mistake’ once more.

Was the comment about not being friends that shocking? But it’s the truth. In fact, the one who first brought it up was Choi Seol himself. Of course, since he heard that in the spring of the following year, there was a high probability that the current Choi Seol wouldn’t remember.

Wait a minute. Could he be sulking because of that?

It was possible that Choi Seol had thought of me as a friend until the winter [unauthorized copy]of that year. That’s why he’s acting as if [stolen content]he’s hurt by my words. Once my thoughts reached that point, I really felt like I had made a mistake. I felt like I should talk to him.