Chapter 19

Chapter 19

Why was Hyunoh always shameless with his jokes? Was this how he was born?

Doyeon shook his head. When he spotted a young girl ahead of him running somewhere, he quickly chased after her.

“Aeyoung!”

“Oppa!”

Aeyoung waved her hand. She was happy to see him in the small alley. Doyeon approached her and knelt down to grab her two small hands.

“Where are you going?” he asked.

“To buy snacks at the stationary store!”

“Snacks? How?”

“The grandma upstairs gave me pocket money because I’m pretty!”

“Pocket money? How much?”

“1,000 won.”

“Really? Did you say thank you and bow properly?”

“Yep! Until my back stretched.”

“Good job. What are you going to get?”

“I’m going to go see.”

“Aha.”

Doyeon straightened out Aeyoung’s wrinkled clothes, then folded the 1,000 won paper properly before sticking it in her pocket. One of her twin ponytails was loose, so he unlocked the bubble tie and tidied her hair too.

That gave his friends enough time to catch up.

“It’s Aeyoung! Hello.”

Kangbin waved his hand first because he’d met Aeyoung before. Sunwoo was behind him and peeked out to ask whether the girl was really Doyeon’s sister.

Hyunoh looked surprised. “She’s your sister?”

“Yes.”

“She looks like you.”

“Because she’s my little sister. Isn’t she pretty?” Doyeon replied, combing through Aeyoung’s hair with his hands. He slowly worked on braiding it, working down from the top of her head.

Hyunoh watched him.

Aeyoung shuffled her feet around. She was used to her brother’s careful hands, so she waited patiently.

“Done.”

It was done. Doyeon had pleated it down to the ends. He finally rose from his knees.

“Then goodbye!” Aeyoung bowed quickly, obviously in a rush. She sprinted toward the stationary store.

“Aeyoung, you need to come straight home afterward, got it?!”

“Yeah!”

Doyeon dusted off his pants.

Hyunoh approached. “How do you do that?”

“What?”

“The braid.”

“I learned it on YouTube. I thought Aeyoung might need pretty hair to go out without getting teased.”

“Is it hard?”

“It’s not easy, but it’s not hard either. Why?”

“I want to braid Minhae’s hair too.”

“Minhae?” Who’s Minhae? Is she his girlfriend? Doyeon asked, but he got an answer immediately.

“My sister.”

“Oh... your sister. But isn’t your sister too old for this? Does she still want you to touch her hair?”

Considering his friends’ siblings, Hyunoh’s sister had to be in middle school. An older brother who braids his middle school sister’s hair...? Doyeon couldn’t imagine it. No matter how close they were, he could only imagine Hyunoh’s sister freaking out.

“My sister is around your sister’s age. Eight.”

“Really? Aeyoung’s nine.” Doyeon nodded, feeling a sense of sympathy. Hyunoh has a little sister? He hadn’t known.

Now that he thought about it, Doyeon didn’t know anything about Hyunoh. He knew nothing about his family, whether he had an older brother or a sister, or other basic things.

“Teach me braiding and stuff.”

“When? How?”

“Tomorrow at my house.”

“Your... house?”

“Yes. I need to go to after-school tutoring, so I’ll call you to ask about the specifics later tonight.”

“Call...?”

Hyunoh nodded. He began to walk away while waving his phone in the air. It seemed to be a reminder of what he just said.

Doyeon nodded and rubbed the phone in his pocket.

As soon as he got back, Doyeon worked on practice workbooks alone, knowing his friends were all studying in after-school tutoring centers. He also watched online lessons on a laptop his mother had received for free from somewhere. It was an old laptop, which meant it lagged constantly, but he could wait it out. It didn’t matter.

Throughout his whole study time, Doyeon kept glancing at his phone. At some point, he threw the phone on the living room couch. He felt strange. He felt like he’d been waiting for Hyunoh’s call for the past few hours.

It was after ten, and Hyunoh still hadn’t called. Doyeon figured Hyunoh hadn’t meant it earlier as he put his sister to sleep and walked into his room. He had laid down for five minutes with the lights off when the phone buzzed.

It was Hyunoh. When Doyeon checked the time, it was past eleven.

Doyeon cleared his throat before picking up the call. “Hello?”

“Were you sleeping?”

“Not sleeping. I was about to. Why did you call so late?”

“I had to get home after I finished tutoring. Did you wait long?”

“Not really...” Doyeon sat up on his bed and rubbed the back of his neck. It was a voice he heard regularly, but hearing it over the phone tickled his ears. “You could have called me from the tutoring center.”

“I wanted to talk to you in a quiet place.”

Hyunoh’s calm voice was nice to hear. It seemed to carry the silence of the night, and it was easy and slow like a whisper in his ear.

Doyeon opened the window next to his bed. There was a bad creak, but the cold air cooled the warmth climbing up his neck and ears instantly.

What’s the deal with his voice...? It felt like a firm, soft cotton ball ticking his ear.

“What time should I visit tomorrow?” Hyunoh asked.

“I’m supposed to be going to your house. Why would you come to mine?”

“To pick you up.”

“We can meet midway, or I can just walk to your house. What’s the point of picking me up? Do you have tons of time on your hands?”

When he decided to complain awkwardly, Hyunoh laughed. “I asked for help. I need to escort you here. One? You sleep in on the weekends, right? Past twelve.”

“How did you know?”

“I overheard Kangbin talking about it. But what are you doing right now, Doyeon?”

“Just sitting. Why?”

“I want to see you when I’m calling.”

“What?”

His absentminded answer didn’t stop the request for a video call. Doyeon accepted it out of instinct and turned on the lamp. While narrowing his eyes to the sudden burst of light, Hyunoh’s face appeared on his screen.

“Hi,” Hyunoh said again.

Doyeon stared blankly at him. On the dark screen that reflected the lamp, Hyunoh was waving his hand at the camera very slowly while lying sideways on his bed.

“Why are you saying hi again...? Hello.”

“You were going to say it too.” Hyunoh laughed.

His tired smile made the curve of his eyes much clearer, so Doyeon decreased Hyunoh’s portion of the screen on his phone.

He felt like he should stop looking at Hyunoh this close up. He risked crumpling up the curtain on his window to press his face to its cool surface. He needed the cold.

“You’re wearing that T-shirt again.”

“Which one? This one?”

“Yeah. You were wearing it last time.”

Doyeon rubbed his old T-shirt. “This is the only thing I wear to sleep. Mom got eight of these a long time ago.”

“Really? I usually go to sleep naked.”

“You’re a pervert. Wait... you’re wearing clothes though.”

“I had to put something on because I was going to call you. Why? Should I take my clothes off?”

“What the hell? You’re so...!”

Hyunoh laughed again.

Doyeon subconsciously zoomed into Hyunoh’s portion of the screen, making it larger again. He saw the clear curve of his lips. He couldn’t take his eyes off the dim light on Hyunoh’s face.

“I’ll pick you up at one tomorrow then.”

“Yes.”

“Don’t eat, though. You can eat with me.”

“Okay.”

“Is there something I should have ready? Like hair ties?”

“No, I’ll bring them.”

“All right.”

Doyeon felt awkward. He knew his replies were short. He rubbed his nose. “But what’s the point of taking private lessons on how to tie your sister’s hair? You must like her a lot.”

“She’s my only sibling who’s remained a consistent family member in a constantly changing family.”

“What?”

“A constantly changing family?”

Hyunoh didn’t answer Doyeon’s question. Instead, he noted the length of their conversation and dipped first. According to Hyunoh, Doyeon looked tired.

Doyeon nodded, and Hyunoh began to wave again.

“Good night, Doyeon.”

Doyeon couldn’t respond. He opened and closed his mouth like a goldfish. Hyunoh’s slow smile, the white bed behind him, and his messy hair kept flashing before his eyes.

While he faded into sleep, the call ended and the screen turned black. Doyeon found his stupid expression reflected on his phone instead of Hyunoh’s face.

“Wow...” Doyeon fell back on his bed.

Why did that “good night” make his heart drop? His weakly thudding heartbeat had long gone out of control.

Why had Hyunoh’s voice sounded so unfamiliar when he heard him every day?

Doyeon’s expression was still stupid when he decided to talk to his ceiling.

“Is this how he talked to all of his girlfriends...?” With that soft smile and the low, pleasant before-sleep voice?

Doyeon thought that those girls would have those memories to look back on forever.