Sunshine Shower

Were you annoyed by the way I was eating chips messily?Woo Yeonjae’s familiar voice slipped out as his tightly closed lips loosened.“Oh. By that logic, everyone would get tired of their family if they were around for too long. Should we leave home at seventeen? Why did you move out so late?”“Wow, I didn’t expect you to snap back like that…”Despite Kim Hyunseung’s somewhat dumbfounded expression, Woo Yeonjae didn’t gloat in victory; instead, he furrowed his brows in irritation. The idea that Moon Seoyoon might be tired of him gnawed at him. Although he mentioned family, he knew that family and friends were different.“Or could it be that he’s sulking? Nah, that’s not it. Moon Seoyoon has such a good temperament, he wouldn’t sulk.”“Why would he be sulking at me?”“Yeah, that’s true. And he wouldn’t be angry, either. If he were, he wouldn’t have eaten with you back then.”“Where did this assumption that Moon Seoyoon might be angry at me come from in the first place?”Woo Yeonjae propped his elbow on the sofa. Tilting his head so that his fingers touched his temple, his already furrowed expression grew even more irritable.“You didn’t contact him while he was in the military.”Kim Hyunseung, bewildered, put down the snack bag and raised his voice in disbelief.“So what?”“Geez, Woo Yeonjae, you really don’t get it. You never went to the military, so you wouldn’t know, but it’s super disappointing if no one visits you! You start thinking, ‘Damn, I guess my friends aren’t really my friends…’ Sure, people can be too busy to visit. But not even writing a single letter? That’s too much. I thought you had cut ties with me without me even knowing.”Recalling his military days, Kim Hyunseung clenched his fist and passionately ranted. Woo Yeonjae watched him silently, then slowly opened his mouth, his expression unchanged.“I didn’t contact him on purpose.”“Why not? Moon was nice enough to forgive you, but he must have been really hurt. And you’re his childhood friend, damn it.”“To give him some breathing room.”Not understanding, Kim Hyunseung wrinkled his face as if Woo Yeonjae was talking nonsense. Woo Yeonjae smiled, narrowing his eyes.“I was worried he’d get tired of me.”There wasn’t a trace of warmth in his smile.Woo Yeonjae turned the steering wheel without hesitation. The car changed direction from the office-tel to the dormitory. It was a move that was half impulsive and half planned. Visiting Kim Hyunseung’s place was impulsive; heading to the dormitory was more of a plan.He sighed quietly as he rhythmically tapped the steering wheel with his fingers. His breath sounded relatively relaxed for someone who was constantly enduring things that didn’t go his way.Parking in front of a newly built building he hadn’t planned to visit until graduation, he took out his phone. As expected, there were no messages.“What should I do?”Woo Yeonjae hated deviating from his plans. Whether it was due to his controlling nature or obsessive-compulsive tendencies was unclear, but if things didn’t go according to his design, his mood would quickly plummet. The fortunate part was that his circumstances were generally favorable, meaning things usually went smoothly. Especially in university life, everything seemed easy.The problem was Moon Seoyoon.Woo Yeonjae knew well that he was obsessed with his one and only childhood friend. He had no interest in other people, but Moon Seoyoon was the exception.“Is it because we met when we were so young?”Muttering to himself, Woo Yeonjae gazed at the brightly lit dormitory with patches of darkness. There’s probably no other time when he’d have such a purely innocent possessiveness as an ignorant child. Maybe that’s why he ended up this way.After staring at the lit dormitory for a long time, he finally started the engine. The car soon moved.“It doesn’t really matter as long as he doesn’t meet any scumbags…”He just hoped that Moon Seoyoon would meet good people and stay within his protective circle without getting hurt. That was why he cut off questionable people around Moon Seoyoon. He couldn’t let him waste his emotions and get hurt by meeting trash.“I’ve met a lot of good people.”The moment when his friend, whom he hadn’t seen in two years, mentioned meeting good people came to mind. There were pleasant memories attached to Moon Seoyoon’s flushed cheeks. Memories that Woo Yeonjae couldn’t fathom.“Who?”What had he answered?“Even if I told you, you wouldn’t know.”The reason for his recent foul mood was clear. It wasn’t just that Moon Seoyoon was avoiding his calls; it was the fact that people Woo Yeonjae didn’t know had started appearing around him.Just thinking about it made a surge of discomfort wash over him, tingling his fingertips. His grip on the steering wheel tightened. He was about to drive out of the campus, but then his car smoothly came to a halt, not because he wanted it to. He had caught sight of a familiar figure.His gaze fixed on one spot: the smoking area.“Hah.”Woo Yeonjae let out a short, hollow laugh. He almost drove past, thinking he had seen wrong. Moon Seoyoon smoking? But his instinct to stop the car had been right. Even under the dim streetlight, the silhouette was unmistakably Moon Seoyoon.He wasn’t alone. The guy who looked like a thug from last time was with him.Nam Taeun. Woo Yeonjae easily recalled the man’s name. It hadn’t been hard to find out his name and some basic info. He hadn’t paid attention to unnecessary rumors before, but Nam Taeun was relatively well-known on campus. Just a casual inquiry among his wide network of classmates brought up various stories, suggesting Nam Taeun carried a lot of rumors.But when had Moon Seoyoon started smoking? If he had picked up the habit, it was likely during his military service. His personality wasn’t the type to start smoking while working part-time at a café.Furrowing his brows as if in deep thought, Woo Yeonjae scrutinized Moon Seoyoon with a persistent gaze. He seemed quite comfortable smoking with the man who had shared his barracks.“Could it be… that bastard taught him to smoke?”He needed to gauge how far he could intervene. Just as he was concluding his thoughts, Nam Taeun reached out and touched Moon Seoyoon’s butt.“Son of a…”Woo Yeonjae unconsciously swore as a wave of discomfort shot through him. He felt a surge of irritation at Moon Seoyoon’s nonchalant reaction to being touched.Nam Taeun, who casually touched Moon Seoyoon, soon looked at his phone and walked away.“Hah…”Woo Yeonjae tried to calm the inexplicable animosity he felt towards the man he hadn’t even formally met. He wasn’t foolish enough to cause a scene at this hour and place. After barely suppressing his surge of anger, he stepped out of the car, reassessing the boundaries between himself and Moon Seoyoon.He headed towards the smoking area. Lost in thought, Moon Seoyoon was looking down at his hand, then he pulled out a cigarette. It was only then that Woo Yeonjae realized the item Nam Taeun had given was a cigarette. His jaw clenched, making his cheeks tighten.Moon Seoyoon didn’t notice his presence until Woo Yeonjae was standing right behind him. In the past, he would have sensed him approaching and turned around with a faint smile. Different layers of discomfort mingled messily, like cigarette smoke.Woo Yeonjae reached out with an expressionless face. Fingers that had never held a cigarette before grabbed the half-burnt stick. The first priority was to remove the item given by another person.“Oh, hyung. What’s up with you?”Hyung? Moon Seoyoon turned around with a smile, then laughed weakly when he realized his mistake.“I…”Woo Yeonjae slowly opened his mouth.“I didn’t know our Seoyoon smokes.”Moon Seoyoon’s eyes started to fill with confusion as he looked up. Seeing that expression made Woo Yeonjae’s mood plummet even further.A lukewarm breeze tousled his hair. It was unclear whether the air was warm or if his heated head perceived it that way. The only certainty was that the cigarette smell mixed with the damp air heightened his irritation.“Was it that bastard who taught you to smoke?”Woo Yeonjae asked in a calm tone, twirling the white cigarette between his fingers. He expected an excuse, but Moon Seoyoon remained silent. His mood soured instantly, and he ran a hand through his hair in frustration.“The good person you always talk about—is it that guy?”The source of his irritation was clear. It stemmed from the fact that someone else had taught Moon Seoyoon something for the first time.Not him.