Romantic Gangster

#15

Ah, shit. This is embarrassing. What if he misunderstands and thinks I was looking at him because I like him?

Thinking he should make it clear that wasn’t the case if there was any misunderstanding, Lee Hyun-joon looked up at Ji-woo approaching him. Next to him stood someone who was presumably Young-jae or whatever his name was.

“We’re going to the vending machine, let’s go together, Hyun-joon.”

Although he wasn’t particularly thirsty, Hyun-joon stood up as if entranced. Somehow, when Seo Ji-woo called his name… it was difficult to refuse.

As they left the classroom together, he felt sidelong glances. When he glanced back, his eyes met with the guy called Young-jae who was stealing looks at him.

“What?”

“Huh? Oh, nothing… It’s just a bit surprising.”

“What is?”

“Well, it seems Seo Ji-woo finally succeeded. He’d been looking for you every day, saying he’d get you to come to school.”

Although he felt a strong urge to refute that he hadn’t come because of him, he had nothing to say. After all, it was true that he had come to school because of Seo Ji-woo.

“But man, your height and build are insane.”

At the sudden compliment, Hyun-joon unnecessarily broadened his shoulders. His body was actually even more impressive when he was shirtless, so he felt a bit regretful that he couldn’t show that. Well, of course, Young-jae or whatever didn’t need to see his body.

“I’m so jealous. And you’ve got the face too. What kind of exercise do you do?”

“Boxing, jiu-jitsu, running mostly. I also do 100 push-ups before showering in the morning and evening.”

“…100? I got sore after doing 20. That’s so cool.”

Hyun-joon, who had been glancing down at Choi Young-jae talking non-stop, shifted his gaze to Seo Ji-woo’s face, who was walking quietly beside them.

“…”

Does Seo Ji-woo think of me that way too? He suddenly became curious. Does he also think I’m tall, have a good body, and handsome when he looks at me? Somehow, he felt like he could show his naked body if Seo Ji-woo wanted. But Ji-woo didn’t show any particular reaction.

“I’ll have cider!”

Choi Young-jae, who had swiped his card at the vending machine, pressed the cider button first. There was a loud sound of the can dropping, and then as Ji-woo was about to swipe his card, Hyun-joon’s card touched the machine first. Ji-woo looked up and met Hyun-joon’s eyes.

“You go first.”

“No, you choose.”

“Me?”

“Yeah.”

“Are you buying it for me?”

“…Yeah. I received ramen from you before, so.”

Brushing off Young-jae’s complaint about why he wasn’t buying for him with a vague promise to buy later, Hyun-joon watched Ji-woo’s fingertips as he selected an ion drink. He always seemed to drink things like that… Bland and milky, with a subtle sweetness lingering on the tongue.

Hyun-joon took out the blue ion drink can that rolled out, opened the lid, and handed it to Ji-woo. As Ji-woo took it and pressed his lips to the opened can, he said:

“Thanks. But I can open cans well too.”

“With that wrist? How can you open cans?”

Hyun-joon glanced at the slender wrist that seemed like it would have plenty of room left even if wrapped with fingers, and pressed the cola button for himself. This time, Ji-woo took out the cola can and easily opened the cap, holding it out to Hyun-joon.

Hyun-joon, who had genuinely thought Ji-woo couldn’t open cans, took the cola in a daze. As he grasped the can, his fingertips brushed against Ji-woo’s fingers. For a moment, a hot sensation rushed through his body.

“You’ll come to school every day now, right?”

“No. Today I just happened to run into you unluckily and went along with it once. Why would I come to school every day? The classes were really boring.”

Seeing the slightly dejected face at his words, he thought it was cute. He wanted to beat himself up for thinking such nonsense so casually.

“I’d like to see you at school every day.”

“…Why?”

“My billiard hall job is over now, so I won’t be going there, and I’m starting my convenience store job again in a few days. Then I’ll be busy and it’ll be hard to go look for you at night, and even if I find you, I’ll only have a short time.”

“…”

“But during school hours, there’s plenty of time to see you.”

Those words sounded like he wanted to see him longer. Not just finding him with difficulty and seeing him briefly, but comfortably at school all the time, seeing him as much as he wanted whenever he wanted, wanting to be together – hearing it this way made the hot sensation warm his body again, rising up to his fingertips.

“So come tomorrow too, okay?”

He had lived with the word ‘no’ on his lips, but to Ji-woo’s words, ‘no’ didn’t come out easily. How did it come to this? Hyun-joon, swallowing his embarrassment, nodded his head vaguely once. He felt his ears getting hot.

“…If I wake up early.”

“Okay. I’ll set an alarm for you later.”

Ah, really, what a weird guy. Watching Ji-woo smile and grab his arm, saying they should go up, Hyun-joon also let out a small laugh.

For the first time, school didn’t feel bad.

* * *

Although the guys he usually hung out with contacted him asking if he had come to school, Hyun-joon didn’t reply. He didn’t have time to hang out with them.

The morning passed too easily as he observed Seo Ji-woo sitting in class listening to lectures, sleeping a bit when time seemed to drag, and chatting about useless things with Ji-woo who came to him during breaks.

“Let’s go eat.”

For some reason, Choi Young-jae wasn’t beside Seo Ji-woo, who was approaching Hyun-joon as usual.

“Where’s that ki… I mean, your friend?”

“Oh, Young-jae went home. Seems he had some business at home.”

Although he didn’t know what it was about, not having Choi Young-jae around constantly asking this and that wasn’t a bad thing for Hyun-joon. Hyun-joon stretched as he left the classroom with Ji-woo.

“Is it bearable being in the classroom?”

“I don’t know. It’s boring as hell. You seem to study really hard though.”

Hyun-joon immediately regretted his thoughtless comment. He had essentially admitted to watching Ji-woo study. He just hoped Ji-woo hadn’t thought that far.

“It’s just… fun, you know.”

“What is? Studying?”

“Yeah. And I feel like if I don’t do it now, I might not be able to later…”

“Why can’t you? If you want to do it, you can.”

“Just… I don’t think I’ll be able to go to college, and if I start working right after graduation, I probably won’t have time to study.”

“What? You enjoy studying but your grades aren’t good? Are your grades really that bad? Still, if you have the will, you can probably go to some college.”

Ji-woo smiled at Hyun-joon’s words as they crossed the sky bridge to the second floor where the cafeteria was. If he said this to others, they would nod as if they understood without asking or give him pitying looks. But Hyun-joon didn’t do that, which Ji-woo liked. It felt good to hear him talk simply about grades and say he could go anywhere, making it not hurt to talk about what he had to give up.

Today’s lunch menu was beef fried rice omurice with tortilla pizza, clear soup with fried tofu, pickles, and pineapple juice. Perhaps because it was an especially delicious menu, the cafeteria was bustling from early on.

Ji-woo, who got his lunch alongside Hyun-joon and went to an empty seat, looked at Hyun-joon sitting across from him. Maybe because he was so tall and handsome, Ji-woo could feel gazes following him with every move.

Ji-woo, who had been taking in the sight of Hyun-joon moving his spoon without paying any attention to that, lowered his gaze, wanting to remove at least his own stare, and quietly picked up his spoon.

“Hey, we can just skip the afternoon classes, right?”

“Why?”

“Isn’t it enough that we’ve been here until 4th period?”

“But since we’ve come out, wouldn’t it be good to stay until the end of homeroom?”

“You said before to just come to school, why are your demands increasing?”

“…Alright. Do as you like.”

After those words, Hyun-joon watched Ji-woo take a small spoonful of omurice and put it in his mouth. He closed his eyes deeply as if going crazy and then opened them. Even though he was told to do as he liked, he felt like he was going mad because he couldn’t actually do so.

“…”

…Shit. He’s not even looking at me. Is he sulking? When I wanted him not to see me and pass by, he would see me like a ghost and approach, but now he’s sulking over skipping those few hours in the afternoon, shit, just staring at his food, is it so hard to move his eyeballs once…

“Hey.”

“Yeah.”

He answered, but Ji-woo’s gaze was still lowered. It wasn’t a difficult thing, he just needed to lift his head a little or raise his eyes slightly, but he wouldn’t look at Hyun-joon like before. It wasn’t a big deal or anything important, but Hyun-joon’s heart was pounding as if he’d die if they didn’t make eye contact right now.

“I won’t skip if you don’t want me to.”

Only then did those round eyes that had been downcast rise. The moment their gazes locked precisely, Hyun-joon exhaled the breath he had been holding. How could that one gaze make his tumultuous heart peaceful again?

“You get sulky really easily, huh?”

“I’m not sulking, I’m just a bit disappointed.”

“What’s there to be disappointed about?”

“Since you’ve made up your mind to come, it would be good to finish the day well… If you go home in the afternoon like this, you might not want to come to school tomorrow.”

Hyun-joon listened to Ji-woo’s words while picking up the tortilla pizza, which was thin but still quite crispy, with one hand and putting it in his mouth, while resting his chin on the other hand and looking at Ji-woo.

“Don’t you know that pushing too hard from the start can backfire? It’s already amazing that you endured the morning, but if we push through the afternoon too, you might get sick of it and think you never want to come to school again.”

“…Is that so?”

“Yeah, that’s right.”

“But if you leave like this, I’ll keep worrying about you.”

Ah, shit. He speaks in such a ticklish way. His soft appearance matches his words…

“…”

He was reminded of the castella that melted in his mouth as soon as he put it in not long ago. Seo Ji-woo in front of him looked just like that now. How could a person be like castella? But it really was. He looked so soft and fluffy that Hyun-joon wanted to press him gently with his fingertips anywhere. Ah, why does it seem like he would just stay still if pressed? It’s maddening.

“I said I’m not leaving, so.”

Only then did a faint but definite smile appear on Ji-woo’s lips. Seeing that, Hyun-joon took another spoonful of omurice and put it in his mouth without properly tasting it.

It was a lunch where everything tasted like castella.