By Zephyria 
The phone left on the sofa began to vibrate. As Eun-ha turned his head, Gu Hae-bin, who was standing closer, naturally glanced down at it as well. The guy, who had picked it up intending to hand it over, checked the screen and gave a subtle twitch at the corner of his mouth. Eun-ha, having keenly realized the caller was Yeon-jun, snatched the phone away as if seizing it. A saved name with just a single heart emoji came into view.
Of course, it hadn’t been like this from the start. Yeon-jun had once discovered it saved with his three-character name, asked if he could change the saved name, and upon being told to do as he pleased, it ended up in this state.
“Lee Eun-ha is really in love.”
“What’s it to you. Hello.”
He retorted irritably, then softened his voice when pronouncing “hello.” Upon seeing this, his friend’s face watching him changed strangely, as if witnessing something peculiar. Eun-ha quietly raised his middle finger.
– Hyung
“Yeah.”
– Hyung, should I buy the potato fries you like?
“…Where are you right now?”
– Right in front of your house.
At the refreshing voice, his eyes hurriedly turned on their own. The gaze looking at the uninvited guest, who had grown interested in juicy gossip, shifted to awkwardness. If the three of them were to face each other like this, it seemed it would get really tiring…
“…Why are you here so early?”
– Ah. I had lunch at my parents’ house, so I thought I’d have dinner with you, Hyung. You haven’t had dinner yet, right?
“That’s true, but…”
Eun-ha ordered a couple of menu items from Yeon-jun, who was asking what to buy for the meal, to buy some time appropriately. After hanging up, he immediately tried hard to usher Hae-bin out of the house. Knowing verbal persuasion would be useless, he quickly resorted to force. He pushed with all his might toward the entrance. Naturally, Hae-bin didn’t budge.
“Why. Since I’m here, let me see his face a bit. We’re close too.”
“What do you mean close… Go on, hurry up.”
“I don’t want to.”
“What can you do if I don’t want to?”
“Oh-. You’re going to force me out?”
He stood firm, snorting. Relying on his physique and acting tough was both annoying and absurd, to the point of almost eliciting a scoff. That’s how they were bickering for a moment. While maintaining the state of pushing and resisting, at some point, the balance of opposing forces suddenly collapsed. By the time he sensed danger with an “Uh-,” it was already too late. Coming to his senses, he found himself on the floor. His feet had tangled, and he had tumbled down in a heap.
The bones in his waist and somewhere in his legs, which had taken the direct impact, hurt. Without exaggeration, tears almost welled up. Because Eun-ha had instinctively grabbed Hae-bin tightly as he fell, Hae-bin, who had tumbled down tangled together without a chance to react, also complained of pain. A short curse seemed to have been heard too. It seemed his knee had hit hard.
Eun-ha suppressed the pain for a moment. Then, just as he was about to push off the friend who was half covering him and had acted as a cushion, the entrance came into his upside-down view from his lying position. Whether it was an illusion or not, Yeon-jun was standing there. Eun-ha, tilting his head back a bit more, raised a question mark in his mind. Unable to grasp the situation, he just made a blank expression, then only after a few seconds did his eyes widen. It wasn’t a mistake. It seemed he hadn’t heard the sound of someone entering, his mind preoccupied with the urgent situation.
“Yeon-jun?”
“…….”
His lips, about to ask why he had come so soon, gradually stilled. Because his originally pale face looked exceptionally white.
Eun-ha, who had been puzzled, belatedly turned pale and shoved off the friend covering him as if pushing him away. Thinking it looked like he had caused an absurd misunderstanding.
A commotion ensued. Perhaps quite shocked by the scene that greeted him upon opening the entrance, in front of Yeon-jun, who seemed unable to readily speak up with a subdued expression, the two people competitively made explanations that weren’t really explanations, even leading to a bit of an argument.
For some reason, even while seeing Eun-ha and Gu Hae-bin openly expressing displeasure and arguing, Yeon-jun hardly knew how to relax his expression. To be precise—he did relax his expression. He answered obediently that he understood and got it, making an effort to manage his expression.
Yes, ‘an effort to manage his expression.’ It was so visibly apparent that the emotions crumpled inside, seemingly unable to unfold, were vividly felt, making Eun-ha feel awkward.
Hae-bin repeatedly denied it to that kid. He admitted the situation looked a bit strange, but it was just a simple scuffle that led to a fall, and he didn’t know what Yeon-jun was imagining, but whatever it was, it wasn’t that. He didn’t even want to guess what Yeon-jun was imagining. Because getting entangled with him as anything other than friends was so damn annoying… He firmly stated he had a girlfriend too, then left the house. After adding another explanation-like clarification that your Eun-hyung had been frantic trying to kick me out since earlier.
After that friend, who was sharp-witted despite being vicious, made his exit, an uncomfortable silence settled in the house. Eun-ha, awkwardly fidgeting with his own arm as if gauging the atmosphere, cautiously broached the subject. Why had he come so soon. And immediately realized it wasn’t an appropriate question. Didn’t it sound like the line of someone caught in an unsavory scene?
As proof, Yeon-jun’s complexion subtly sank further. He answered that he had stopped by the house briefly because of luggage brought from his parents’ house, and had also dropped by here to see Hyung’s face while at it. Then, telling him to wait a moment, he left the house. Left utterly alone in an instant, Eun-ha was bewildered, wondering what this was all about, then, thinking hard and continuing his train of thought, around the time he was pondering whether to contact him after about thirty or forty minutes, it became clear when he saw Yeon-jun entering with a packaged food bag hanging from his wrist. Only then did he remember what he had requested.
Mealtime was quiet. Yeon-jun usually chattered quite a bit about his family and friends on days he returned from visiting his parents. Stories about getting nagged by his noona, stories about the cat he’s raising, stories about briefly meeting middle school friends while in the neighborhood, etc…
But today, he had little to say. He did bring up conversation topics, but they ended up being pointless content that only felt like skimming the surface.
It was disconcerting. Amidst it all, he did everything he needed to. After finishing cleaning up after the meal, he naturally had Yeon-jun, who had come out after washing up, sit between his legs. Sitting on the sofa, he turned on the hairdryer. At some point, drying his hair when he came out after washing up had become a routine. At first, lacking skill, he would make his scalp so hot it felt like it would burn, but now he had become quite proficient.
Eun-ha, gently brushing through the damp hair, suddenly spoke.
“Are you upset?”
A question without context. Yeon-jun peeked his head up.
“No.”
“…Really?”
“Yes. I said I understood. I know it’s not that.”
It was a breezy reply. Eun-ha moved the hairdryer nozzle far away and observed Yeon-jun. He didn’t seem to be lying. Come to think of it… this kid probably knows too. How utterly absurd it would be to harbor doubts about Hae-bin and me.
In fact, it was Hae-bin who had once sided with Yeon-jun and schemed this and that to try to develop our relationship. He probably knew that.
“But why do you look so down?”