Chapter 17

Chapter 17

Kangbin Baek seethed as he looked around the classroom. Like fate, Taeil Im and his gang walked in.

“...so Jaehyung told me to call him if there’s a pro—Ughh!” Taeil couldn’t finish his sentence. He was walking in through the back door of the classroom when Kangbin flew at him and shoved him back into the corridor.

Crash! The sound of their lockers caving under the force rang down the corridor.

“Which of you is it? Who did it?!”

“What the—what the hell?!”

“Is it all three of you?!” Kangbin shouted as he punched all three of them equally.

Doyeon stared at the attack, stunned, then began to walk toward the door. He was going to stop Kangbin. While Kangbin had a constant smile on his face, sometimes he did a one-eighty and got into huge fights. Today was such a day.

Doyeon was grateful Kangbin was getting angry on his behalf, but he was still worried. Kangbin’s older sister, Jinju, once told him the whole family would get on Kangbin’s back if he got into trouble one more time.

Doyeon approached the one-sided scene of Kangbin’s winning battle as Taeil was rattled back and forth by Kangbin’s grip on the collar of his shirt.

“Kangbin, you need to calm down—” But the moment he got the words out, someone wrapped an arm around his waist and dragged him back.

“Don’t.”

It was Hyunoh Gong.

What? Doyeon felt confused. His body was being dragged back rather easily by Hyunoh’s strong arm.

“Hey, I need to step in! He’s fighting because of me!”

“It’s all right. Kangbin is winning.”

“What?!”

“Sunwoo is going to help him too, so don’t worry.”

He tried to wriggle his way out to no avail.

Doyeon was lifted into the classroom, and Hyunoh sat him down on his chair as though he weighed nothing. He pressed Doyeon down by his shoulder and shook a paper bag out on his desk.

Bandages, ointments, and band-aids poured out.

“Now, our little Doyeon needs to get taken care of.”

Hyunoh turned Doyeon’s face around to his side and smiled. With his face trapped, Doyeon could only move his lips.

“Where did you get that?”

“I begged for it from the nurse.”

“Don’t you need to stop Kangbin? You’re the class president.”

“The class president can’t stop everything. I’m not their mom.”

But you said you were breaking up my fight with your power as class president… He blinked, a little lost, when Kangbin’s loud, overeager voice carried over the wall.

“Why did you hit his face, of all things?! My Doyeon’s got nothing to show but his face, damn it!”

Kangbin... I’m really, truly grateful for your loyalty…

But why do I have nothing to show but my face? I’m good at studying, too.

Doyeon shook his head. He felt conflicted. Whether it was Hyunoh in front of him or Kangbin outside the class, he couldn’t stop them with his strength. Doyeon decided to give up.

Whatever... Kangbin was winning anyway.

“Close your eyes.” Hyunoh looked serious as he squeezed the paste out onto a cotton swab, and Doyeon squeezed his eyes shut.

Fortunately, he wasn’t wounded. His cheek was swollen, and there was a little cut near his eye. The end of his mouth looked the worst, and that was the only red part that needed to be treated.

Doyeon’s brow flinched. When the cotton swab rubbed his eye, it tickled him. The swab moved down and began to rub his cheek, but it only ran circles a few times before disappearing.

Doyeon peeked out and found Hyunoh squeezing a swab on his finger. He raised his head and began to rub the ointment on Doyeon’s cheek again.

Hyunoh has really long lashes…

Doyeon spaced out at Hyunoh’s face before looking away and down at his name tag. It was awkward to see someone else’s face this close, to the point he could count the lashes.

There was something sticking out under his yellow name tag. It was the lotion he gave him earlier.

Every time Hyunoh’s hand touched his skin, Doyeon could smell the ointment and the lotion. The smell of fresh forest combined with the medicine. For some reason, it took his breath away.

“Hyunoh, I know this is serious, but...”

“Yeah?”

“Are you sure this is how the ointment is meant to be applied?” Doyeon asked with slow blinks. He didn’t think that the slow, gentle rub on his cheek was right.

He knew his cheek was bruised, but he wasn’t sure whether bruises warranted medicine. Ointments were meant to be put on bleeds or scratches, right?

“I don’t know. I’ve never been beaten up.”

Doyeon didn’t answer.

“But ointments are meant to be put on painful injuries.”

“Oh, yeah I guess...” Doyeon agreed and closed his eyes again. He couldn’t bear to look at Hyunoh any longer with his intense stare on his face.

He felt Hyunoh’s hand slowly move down and touch the corner of his lip.

Tap. When Hyunoh’s finger brushed his lip, Doyeon flinched. He felt his heart flinching, too.

What? Doyeon stopped himself from swallowing. Hyunoh slowly rubbed the ointment on the corner of his mouth, then moved it along his bottom lip. That seemed to take forever.

Doyeon couldn’t hold his breath any longer and decided to speak.

“Um...”

“Yeah?”

“Did you wash your hands?”

Hyunoh’s hand finally fell away.

Doyeon slowly opened his eyes. Hyunoh was smiling helplessly while wiping his fingers.

“I washed them before bringing the medicine here. I peeled the first layer of my skin off and poured the lotion you gave me all over them.”

Oh, so that’s why he smells like the lotion.

Doyeon turned his head to the other row of desks and sighed.

When Hyunoh touched his lips just then, he thought he would die from a lack of air. Doyeon couldn’t understand why he felt so tense when all he did was put ointment on him.

He had an instinctive realization that he was going to remember that scent for the rest of his life.

He caught his breath quietly when Kangbin marched in through the back door proudly. The other boys seemed to have ripped his hair out because his hair was spiked out in all directions.

“Darling! I tore off all the hair on Taeil Im’s body!”

Your hair’s torn off too…

Doyeon fussed over Kangbin. Besides his messy hair, which looked like bedhead, he was fine. The three who trudged in after Kangbin, including Taeil, looked worse.

“Kangbin, are you sure you’re all right?”

“Yup! I didn’t get hurt at all!”

“What if you get in trouble for school violence?”

“You said they hit you first! They’re the ones who should be in trouble!”

“Yes, but that’s case by case. Me one case, you another case.”

While Doyeon continued to fuss, Hyunoh began to comb Kangbin’s hair back into place. It was a small plastic brush in the shape of a ribbon. From what Doyeon could recall, it belonged to Nasol Jung, who sat in the next row.

Using that ribbon brush, Kangbin’s hair was parted right down the middle to an even 5:5 ratio by Hyunoh’s skilled hands.

“I saw the three bullying Doyeon earlier, and the girls said they saw how the fight started, so don’t worry. I’ll talk to the teacher.”

“Mm-hmm. Hyunoh, you kicked them too. You should worry about yourself.”

“Don’t worry about that either,” Hyunoh said, putting up a thumb in Kangbin’s direction.

“You look cool today, Kangbin Baek.”

When Hyunoh smiled to praise his loyalty, Kangbin also raised his thumb and added a wink and a gummy grin.

Doyeon watched the idiocy play out, shook his head, and went back to his desk.

* * *

Thankfully, the unfortunate case against Taeil was resolved. Not only did the girls stand on his side as witnesses, but Taeil and his gang admitted to the fact they threw the first punch.

“I saw the three crowding around one person when I walked into the classroom. I parted them first because it looked like school bullying, but I think I accidentally hurt one of them in the process.”

Doyeon was surprised once by Hyunoh’s straight-faced lie in the classroom...

“C’mon, mister! Look at him! Look at his eye and lip, they’re swollen! Don’t you think Doyeon’s too hardworking and smart to start a fight? Against those bullies?! Think about how bad the real bullying must have been if our little baby decided to fight back! They were the ones who called Doyeon a beggar first and hit him! Don’t we need to hold a school council meeting for this? Hey, if you feel that bad, call your parents here! Damn it, let’s go to court! Get a lawyer here!”

...and surprised twice at Kangbin’s rising anger as he explained the situation to their teacher.

And finally, he was surprised by the fact that Kangbin's loud, wild shouts actually worked.