Chapter 9

Chapter 9

“What?” Doyeon asked.

“Bread,” Hyunoh curtly replied.

“Yes, it’s bread,” Doyeon agreed, holding it.

It looked like a normal size in Hyunoh’s hand, but in his, it was much bigger than he thought. It seemed like he suffered through an optical illusion because Hyunoh’s hands were big.

He eats this... whole loaf... all the time? Amazing.

Doyeon stared suspiciously at Hyunoh as he ate the bread.

Why is he giving me this?

The bread was tough. There was a strange sour smell coming from the sugared chestnut, and a strong smell of flour came from the bread. He was surprised by the fact that Hyunoh ate something like this when he looked like he’d eat bread made by a fancy hotel baker.

He was eating it because it was handed to him, but something felt off. Doyeon would have taken anything from Kangbin or Sunwoo without questioning them, but this was Hyunoh.

He had always been prickly to him.

Yes, he gave him a box of snacks some time ago, but that could be ignored because it was too heavy to carry and Hyunoh said he didn’t eat snacks.

But this time?

Have I turned into a charity case?

It seemed likely.

Doyeon took another bite of the chestnut bread with narrowed eyes. Kangbin shoved his face in Doyeon’s again and opened his mouth.

“Gimme a bite.”

His snacks were demolished. Doyeon shoved the remains of the loaf into his mouth.

“Aw, our Kangbin needs to eat a lot to maintain his eighty-kilogram weight, doesn’t he? Here, eat up, eat up. Grow to reach two meters, Kangbin.”

When he got back to class, Doyeon spun his pencil, thinking through that moment again and again. He was strangely aware of Hyunoh next to him. No, he was aware of the meaning behind his bread more than Hyunoh the person.

He spun the pencil a few more times before setting it down on the desk. “Hyunoh.”

“What?”

“Why did you give me your bread earlier?”

“What?”

“Why did you give me your chestnut bread?”

Hyunoh frowned. “You’re asking me that now?”

“I’m curious.”

“I gave it to you because you weren’t eating anything.”

Well, fine. Sharing a snack wasn’t strange. But this was Hyunoh Gong. “Wasn’t strange” was definitely strange.

There was no way he’d been kind for no reason.

While they were questioning each other, the teacher had walked in, so Doyeon pressed his face closer into Hyunoh’s space to whisper. “Hey, I’m saying this because I want to, so just listen.”

“Fine...” Hyunoh shuffled, moving away from Doyeon’s face. His throat bobbed.

“I’m not ashamed of being poor, so don’t pity me.”

“What?”

“If you’re trying to make me a charity case after hearing my pocket money is 6,000 won, I’m telling you to stop. It’s fine.”

Hyunoh looked up and down Doyeon’s face as though he wanted to ask what kind of stupid logic that was. “Sorry, but I don’t pity you at all. You’re a very, very aggressive person.”

“Oh...?”

“Don’t worry, I won’t give you anything from now on, even if you ask. Do you think I’ll be stupid enough to be someone’s lackey like you...?”

“I told you I’m not a lackey, you freaking a-hole!” Doyeon nearly shouted.

Hyunoh pressed a finger to his lips and shushed him. “Doyeon, we’re in class.”

Ugh, him and his crappy personality… Doyeon thought to himself. Hyunoh’s smile grated on his nerves more than usual.

Hyunoh followed up with a whisper that he’ll never give Doyeon his chestnut bread ever again either.

Doyeon straightened his posture. When he glanced at Hyunoh, he found his cold expression the same as usual.

He felt secretly relieved by Hyunoh’s reaction.

Doyeon had made up a fuss over himself, but he had to because there were several friends who’d had a turn of attitude after finding out he wasn’t some rich kid from a wealthy family.

There were a lot who misunderstood his background in such a way because of the clean looks he was blessed with, but the same people often did a one-eighty after figuring out his family’s annual income. There were some who ignored him outright, saying he was no better than a beggar on the streets, while some suddenly began to act kind around him.

He felt more suffocated by the latter reaction.

He could brush off the kids ignoring him, but the kids who treated him like he was a charity case made him feel uncomfortable.

That was why he tried to smack Hyunoh with a wall beforehand. He would have hated it if Hyunoh began to treat him like a charity case.

He felt he would have been... disappointed if Hyunoh’s attitude did change.

Hmm... but why?

It was a sharp question he didn’t have an answer to.

* * *

Early Saturday morning, Hyunoh sat in front of his desk with his curtains drawn. His hair was wet because he’d just exercised and showered.

He picked up his pencil, wiping back his front hair.

Scritch scratch. The sound of his mechanical pencil on the paper filled his room. That was all the sound there was, besides the bird chirping outside his window.

Hyunoh finished by the time the shadow of the tree had shifted on his paper. The sun shone brighter. The garden outside was starting to turn green, and the light poured in.

Hyunoh stacked the worksheets from his tutoring center into one place and organized his bookshelf. He was taking out another workbook he had solved from cover to cover when a paper fell out.

He picked it up without much of a thought.

[Laughing? Seriously?]

It was the paper from class that had Doyeon’s comment.

He stared at Doyeon’s writing for a while and covered his mouth. His lips were pressed in a straight line, then they turned up.

Hyunoh was used to smiling in front of people regardless of how he felt inside, like in front of his father, whom he saw rarely, or in front of his stepmothers who entered and left that mansion that looked like a palace, and in front of people whom he met in passing.

Hyunoh began to crumple the paper to throw it away, but he stopped. He stared at it for a few seconds, straightened it out, and folded it four times to store between his books.

It was when the whole process was over that four knocks rang on his door.

“Oppa! Oppa!”

It was Minhae, who was supposed to be at her friend’s house. She could have returned since she left in the morning.

Hyunoh opened the door, spread his arms wide open, and hugged her tightly. The warmth of a small child wrapped around him.

“I thought you were going to play at Nayeul’s house. Are you done already?”

“Yep! I played on Nayeul’s trampoline. She got a big new one in her garden, but Yoogun hurt his toe while playing, so we all had to go home!”

“Did you get hurt, Minhae?”

“Nope! I’m fine! He got hurt because he said he wanted to jump backwards!”

Minhae chattered as she clung to Hyunoh’s neck. Hyunoh walked slowly around his room as he hugged Minhae. He walked past his desk and window several times, patting Minhae’s back as she squirmed.

Minhae was his first stepmother’s daughter and his half sister.

A lot of people had lived within the mansion, like his second stepmother, or his father’s many lovers.

The person he called his father was a whimsical man. He fell in passionate love like a raging fire, but he found the faults of his partners as easily. He then lost interest in them, saying he couldn’t have someone imperfect next to him.

The results were obvious:

Conflicts, one-sided severance, and breakups. Hyunoh saw that routine endlessly.

“Oppa, what’s that?”

“That’s a toy I got from my school fair. Do you want it, Minhae?”

“Yep! It’s really cute!”

Hyunoh took the toy on his desk and held it close for Minhae’s arms. He was about to throw it out tomorrow anyway, so it didn’t matter.

Minhae edged around his desk for another long while after she left his arms, and she only left once she got Hyunoh’s pencil, eraser, and new ruler.

Hyunoh had to organize his desk again. Some of his things were missing now that Minhae had them, like his pencil, eraser, and highlighter.

While Minhae wasn’t greedy, she was tenacious about “her” things. She hated it when people touched or took her stuff, and she often sought the things the people around her had. It was as though she only felt satisfied after taking someone else’s things.

Like her brother Hyunoh’s things.

He was at a loss now that Minhae had his stationery. He was never the kind to buy more, and he only had one of each, so there weren’t any more he could use.

Thinking of buying more the next day, Hyunoh laid back on his bed.

There were many kinds of wants. Minhae resolved her wants by possessing things, while Hyunoh resolved his wants by ignoring everything, although they were raised in the same environment.

All Hyunoh cared about were his things, but there wasn't a lot to call “his.”