Heewoon stared blankly at Kangwoo’s smiling face. After a moment of distraction, Heewoon snapped back to reality. Feeling extremely flustered, he spoke involuntarily.
“Until when will you be busy?”
“I’ve planned to juggle both jobs for at least six months, so there are about four months left.”
“Will you be free after that?”
“If I can focus more on this side…”
Kangwoo paused while speaking. Heewoon, who had been closely examining the tablet PC screen, looked up. The round pupils flickered.
Kangwoo, with a slightly furrowed brow, stood up, and their lips met. Heewoon’s head tilted back as Kangwoo’s hand, which had been covering his cheeks, slid to the nape of his neck.
“Huu…”
Heewoon let out a sigh-like moan, grabbing Kangwoo’s arm. Kangwoo lightly kissed only the lower lip as if to give him time to breathe. However, he soon slid the tip of his tongue between parted lips.
As their tongues touched, a shiver ran down Heewoon’s spine. With each slow kiss, his body relaxed and sighs escaped whenever their lips separated.
Their eyes blinked slowly and their lips deepened. What stopped Kangwoo, who was about to continue the kiss, was the sound of a knock. Turning around, Kangwoo, who casually looked at the half-open door, seemed unaffected.
“The door is opening…”
Opening his eyes, Heewoon pulled on Kangwoo’s arm. Kangwoo, sighing, pulled Heewoon’s head into an embrace. Though Heewoon squirmed due to Kangwoo’s firm stomach pressing against him, he couldn’t escape the hand on the back of his head.
“Put it there.”
Kangwoo, blocking Heewoon’s face, spoke. The housekeeper slightly lowered her head and placed snacks on the desk. After the door was closed again, Kangwoo released Heewoon’s head.
Heewoon gasped for breath. Kangwoo’s stomach against his head made Heewoon’s neat hair disheveled from the static.
Kangwoo slowly stroked Heewoon’s disheveled hair, tilting his head to look at his slightly reddened face.
“You’re still quite racy.”
His face was red because of the lack of breath just now, but Heewoon swallowed those words he wanted to say. Kangwoo gently brushed Heewoon’s cheek with the back of his hand, then pushed the slightly moved chair back to its original position.
“Get back to studying.”
And as if nothing had happened, Kangwoo sat back down and resumed his work.
Heewoon decided not to distract Kangwoo anymore. He turned on the laptop and pulled the tray with snacks.
Although Seo Kangwoo’s presence often disrupted his concentration, Heewoon managed to finish one lecture. As he was stretching his stiff neck, a short vibration on his phone caught his attention. Since his chat messenger was on silent mode, he assumed it was a text message.
[…1st-semester tuition payment period…]
He had forgotten that. The tuition payment period would be going on for the next three days. Heewoon could also check if he had received a scholarship starting today.
After briefly glancing at Kangwoo, who was working, Heewoon entered the school’s website. He clenched and unclenched his fist nervously. He knew the chances were low with two A0 grades, but he couldn’t give up.
Suppressing his breath, he clicked on the payment notice. His eyes moved rapidly from side to side.
“….”
Heewoon swallowed the sigh he was about to let out. In the end, he did not receive the scholarship. After his national scholarship, he would still have to pay slightly over a million won for tuition.
However, the feeling was quite different from the previous semester. Back then, he resented himself for choosing an expensive school unnecessarily, even contemplating taking a break due to despair.
Now… It was a shame, but he only felt a sense of resignation.
This month, Seo Kangwoo had sent money again. Thanks to Kangwoo occasionally giving him cash for taxi fare, after sending money to his mother and the loan sharks, he had accumulated around 8 million won in the bank. Even if he spent 1 million won from that sum, it would still be fine.
Heewoon felt glad that he didn’t have to take out a student loan. If it weren’t for Seo Kangwoo, this situation would have been really difficult…
“Tuition?”
Heewoon was startled and almost jumped out of his chair.
“Why are you so surprised?”
Kangwoo laughed and pulled Heewoon’s chair closer. Heewoon was surprised not because Kangwoo suddenly spoke but because he realized how absurd his thoughts just now were.
Or perhaps the opposite, that those thoughts were an undeniably clear truth.
“Now that I’m about to graduate, what will you do, Sunbae?”
With the chair pulled closer, their knees were touching each other.
There were times when Heewoon vowed to just wait until Seo Kangwoo graduated. Heewoon awkwardly laughed, trying to match Kangwoo’s mood. Kangwoo looked down on Heewoon’s expression and asked in a gentle voice.
“Can you manage by yourself?”
“…,”
Unable to speak, Heewoon remained silent. Kangwoo touched the back of Heewoon’s head as he sighed.
“I worry for you a lot.”
“…I used to manage well on my own.”
“That’s fortunate then.”
The fingers touching the back of the neck kept playing the short hair there. Heewoon remained silent, and Kangwoo continued to look at the laptop.
“Why are you looking at this so seriously?”
“Ah… because I didn’t get the scholarship.”
As the fingers slid slowly down from behind his ear, Heewoon felt goosebumps on his arm. He put pressure on his arm firmly and directed his gaze to the laptop screen.
“You can pay the tuition fee with the card.”
“Huh?”
Heewoon turned his head to look at Kangwoo. Kangwoo spoke while looking at Heewoon.
“Just in case you didn’t know.”
Heewoon, who was staring blankly at Kangwoo’s slightly smiling face, turned his gaze back to the laptop screen. A seven-digit number was visible. It seemed like Seo Kangwoo was okay even with giving Heewoon amounts up to a million won. But why was he going to such lengths? Although Heewoon couldn’t understand Kangwoo, a slight excitement rose from deep inside him.
What else could he do with the card? Regularly paying for his mother’s hospital treatment and oh, he still hadn’t given his aunt a proper gift. Someone was still surveilling him, so he couldn’t visit his aunt during the holidays. But it would be nice to send a gift. And when buying groceries, if he used the card as much as possible, his mother could save money. How much more money could he save then?
His head that calculated money spun exceptionally fast.
***
Kangwoo stood in front of the pond, watching a few goldfish, then made his steps. His steps on the stepping stones were slow. He glanced at the blue sky above the black tiles and thought the weather was quite warm today. Though, even on a day like this, Woo Heewoon would probably wear several layers of clothes.
The traditional Korean house was his grandfather’s house. Other than for formal occasions, Kangwoo’s family gathered twice a year to have a meal near the holidays, and today was that day.
“Kangwoo, you’re here.”
An elderly man with a straight posture and a well-built physique was standing on the porch. He didn’t look over seventy from the outside. Kangwoo respectfully bowed, and the old man came down to the porch and gave Kangwoo’s back a solid pat.
They headed inside to a separate building. The large annex with a considerable-sized window was the most recently built and was a place used only for meals.
The seats were still empty. It was as expected. The other family members tended to come exactly at the appointed time, have the meal, and leave in a hurry.
Kangwoo and his grandfather silently drank tea. Outside their work, they didn’t exchange much conversation.
Feeling the warmth of the teacup in his hands, Kangwoo looked at the yellow sunlight breaking through the glass. On a day like today, it would be nice to go see the sunset.
“We’ve arrived.”
Kangwoo turned his head towards the voice coming from the door. It was his father and his wife. His early 40s stepmother warmly smiled at Kangwoo when their eyes met.
“So Kangwoo has arrived early.”
“Yes. Have you been well?”
As Kangwoo smiled with a twinkle in his eyes, his stepmother complimented that he looked good. Kangwoo engaged in a conversation with her using a smiling face. His father cleared his throat and took a seat to the left of his grandfather.
Afterward, his two older brothers and his aunt’s family entered. As the meal began, like any other family, they engaged in conversation. In fact, excluding Kangwoo and his grandfather, the others often crossed paths. After all, these people worked in the same company.
Kangwoo occasionally conversed with his stepmother while having the meal. The elderly man next to Kangwoo was eating silently.
His grandfather was involved in various illegal activities, making the family members afraid of him. Kangwoo found it amusing that they still requested for his grandfather’s help. Yet they still pretended not to know or acted noble. Kangwoo subtly glanced at the faces of his father, brothers, aunt, and cousin, then slightly raised the corner of his mouth.
“Ahem, Kangwoo, are you learning your job well?”
His father, who had been silent all this time, spoke up. Kangwoo nodded.
“Yes.”
“It must be tough learning from the bottom. You’re doing well.”
“It’s just a temporary thing.”
Kangwoo chuckled slightly, and his father spoke again, squeezing his temples.
“In a world like today’s…”
Then, he soon stopped, looking embarrassed, and closed his mouth. The elder man’s gaze briefly met his father’s, and his father fidgeted as if he was being threatened.
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