Chapter 10: A Second Chance

After pressing the save button one last time and closing the program, Min-hyeon stretched. The overall framework had already been mostly structured with Jun-ho, yet for some reason, finishing it had taken far too long. Perhaps because he couldn’t concentrate properly, it took him the entire weekend—two full days—to finally wrap it up somehow. And even then, the completed assignment didn’t sit well with him.

‘Jun-ho hyung…’

On the cover of the printed assignment, Jun-ho’s name and his own were written in order. Tapping Jun-ho’s name on the cover with his fingertips, Min-hyeon let out a gloomy sigh.

The image of Jun-ho, who hadn’t left his mind throughout the entire project, and his indifferent gaze when he’d looked at Min-hyeon, resurfaced again. It might have been better if there had been anger or some other negative emotion in that look. What was more shocking was that there was no feeling at all in Jun-ho’s eyes that day. It was as if he was thoroughly trying to ignore Min-hyeon’s very existence.

‘Did I do something wrong to hyung?’

No matter how hard he thought, he couldn’t find any point of fault. Even as recently as Wednesday, when they’d worked on the project together, he hadn’t sensed any such sign from Jun-ho. Jun-ho, who had saved him, apologized for bruising his arm, and worried about him—he had been nothing but kind…

Lost in thought, Min-hyeon absentmindedly stroked the spot where the bruise had been. The bruise had already faded considerably, turning yellowish. Looking at the discolored bruise only made his heart feel heavier.

“Ahh. I really don’t know anymore, either…”

Muttering out loud, Min-hyeon leaned back in his chair—and met eyes with Min-woo, who had been quietly watching him.

“Aaah! Hyung!”

Startled, Min-hyeon flailed and nearly tipped over backward with his chair, but Min-woo caught him.

“You scared me! What is it? When did you get here? Why were you just standing there?”

Righting his chair, Min-hyeon patted his pounding chest and fired off questions in rapid succession.

“Just now. Is your project done?”

“Yeah.”

“Did you take that senior’s name off?”

“…”

“You’re such a pushover. You spent two whole days barely sleeping, did the entire project by yourself, and you didn’t even remove his name?”

“That’s not it. The outline was practically all done by that hyung.”

Min-woo snorted. Min-hyeon quickly changed the subject.

“Must be because I used my brain more than usual for the first time in a while. I’m hungry. Is there anything to eat?”

“Eat the triangle kimbap and banana milk in the fridge. If you weren’t going to eat them, why did you even buy them?”

“Ah, that…”

He’d completely forgotten. If he hadn’t run into Jun-ho there that day, he would have eaten them long ago. Flustered by Jun-ho ignoring him, he must have brought them straight home without even remembering he’d bought them. He hadn’t expected them to still be there. Min-hyeon gave an awkward smile.

“Hasn’t that gone bad by now? I think the expiration date has already passed.”

“It was in the fridge anyway. Eating something a day or two past expiration won’t kill you.”

“Our hyung is strangely laid-back about things like this. What if you get a stomachache from eating expired food?”

Min-woo, who would freak out over Min-hyeon falling and getting hurt or scratched, was surprisingly unconcerned when Min-hyeon had a stomachache or headache. Min-hyeon grumbled.

“You won’t die, you won’t die.”

“See? This is what I mean. Is this raising me gently or just haphazardly… Ah! That reminds me! Hyung, what illness do I have?”

“Where did that come from all of a sudden?”

Min-woo frowned.

“Well, you’ve always said that since I was little. That I have an illness where bleeding is a big deal. So I wasn’t allowed to get hurt, and you always made me sit out during PE class too.”

Of course, Min-hyeon never participated in sports day, and he hardly remembered ever running on the field during regular PE classes either. Because every year at the start of the semester, Min-woo would visit the school and ask his homeroom teacher. Yet Min-hyeon himself didn’t even know the name of his own illness.

Come to think of it, even though it was about his own body, Min-hyeon had never once received a detailed explanation from Min-woo beyond the fact that bleeding was a serious problem. He’d just assumed it was because Min-woo had drilled it into him since he was so young, almost like brainwashing, emphasizing caution at every turn.

It was strangely surprising to realize how careless he’d been all this time, living without even knowing his exact diagnosis.

“…Why are you suddenly curious about that?”

“Just. It crossed my mind.”

“…There is something. I’ll tell you the details later. So make sure you’re careful not to get hurt anywhere, absolutely.”

“What is it? You always say there’s something and that you’ll tell me later. It’s my body—why can’t I know?”

“I’ll tell you everything when the time comes, so wait just a little longer. Ah. If you feel iffy about eating the triangle kimbap, just throw it away and order some chicken or something.”

It was obvious he was trying to change the subject, but Min-hyeon didn’t press further. His brother had raised him this far in place of their deceased parents. It would be a lie to say he never felt the absence of his parents, but at least it was clear that his brother had cherished him. The problem was that he cherished him so much it bordered on overprotectiveness. There must be a reason for Min-woo to act that way.

“Then I’ll order whatever I want to eat?”

Min-hyeon let Min-woo’s evasiveness slide again this time, pretending not to notice. For just a moment, the thought crossed his mind—what if he had some incurable disease that his brother couldn’t bring himself to tell him about? But this wasn’t some morning drama—could something like that really happen? He decided to give Min-woo a little more time until he was ready to tell him himself.

“Min-hyeon.”

Monday morning, climbing the stairs to the lecture building with a slightly heavy heart, Min-hyeon was startled by his name being called and looked up. Jun-ho was leaning against the railing on the second floor, waving at him.

“Hyung…”

He couldn’t just run over happily—the memory from Friday was still too vivid. Min-hyeon hesitated, then bowed his head toward Jun-ho.

“Hello.”

Jun-ho responded to Min-hyeon’s hesitant, sheepish greeting with an eye-smile and naturally approached him. His expression was so different from last Friday, but Min-hyeon hesitated, unsure how to react.

“I saw the messages you left. You were really worried, weren’t you?”

“Ah… yes.”

“Thank you for worrying about me. I’m sorry I couldn’t reply.”

It was a gentle voice and an even gentler smile. Min-hyeon blinked. His worries about Jun-ho—who had been completely unreachable for days—and the distress he’d felt on Friday when Jun-ho had coldly ignored him without explanation, seemed to slowly melt away at his words. Somehow, he felt a little like crying.

“I was really worried, you know. You just left like that on Friday too… Can I ask what happened?”

“Sorry. It’s a personal matter that’s a bit difficult to talk about.”

Jun-ho smiled apologetically. A personal matter. At those words, Min-hyeon couldn’t ask anything more. Everyone has their own circumstances. He himself had circumstances that made it hard to go around telling people—circumstances different from others.

“Are you okay now?”

“Hmm, I think so.”

Min-hyeon carefully studied Jun-ho’s face. On Friday, his complexion had seemed worse than usual, but now he looked just as handsome as ever. Of course, even on Friday when his complexion had looked bad, he hadn’t been any less handsome.

“As long as you’re okay. You don’t have to tell me.”

“Thank you for understanding.”

A large hand playfully rumpled Min-hyeon’s hair. The occasional cool fingertip brushing against his earlobe seemed to make him feel even warmer. Min-hyeon hunched his shoulders.

“But we haven’t finished our project yet. Want to continue it today? Are you free in the afternoon?”

Min-hyeon hesitated for a moment. But then he nodded firmly.

“Yes, I’d like that. I have class until 6th period today—what about you, hyung?”

“I’m done after 5th. Then I’ll wait for you. Remember the wisteria bench from last week? Come there.”

“Okay!”

As if the business was concluded, Jun-ho left with just a brief “see you later” and headed down the stairs. Watching his retreating back—which felt cool, almost chilly—Min-hyeon snapped back to his senses and quickly sent a message to Min-woo.

08:44
Hyung, I’ll be late today.

Min-woo hyung
Why?
08:44

Before Min-hyeon could even finish typing his reply, impatient Min-woo called.

“Yeah, hyung.”

— Why are you going to be late?

“We decided to finish the project due tomorrow with the senior.”

— That project from yesterday? Wasn’t it already done?

“No. There’s something I messed up…”

In fact, he hadn’t even told Jun-ho that he’d already finished the project. Feeling a pang of guilt, Min-hyeon trailed off. He heard Min-woo click his tongue in disapproval over the phone. Before Min-woo could start another round of nagging, Min-hyeon quickly added.

“Anyway, that’s why I’ll be late today—I need to finish the project before coming home.”

— 7 o’clock.

“…Okay. I’ll try to finish as early as possible. But I have class until 6th period today, so it might run a little later than that.”

— Whether you finish at what time, I’ll be there waiting from 7, so keep that in mind.

“Okay.”

— Call me when you’re done.

“Got it.”

After hanging up, Min-hyeon touched the corner of his mouth. Despite Min-woo’s tyranny in insisting on 7 o’clock no matter what, instead of feeling annoyed, the corners of his mouth kept rising higher and higher.

Just moments ago, his steps had been heavy and his heart even heavier—but now he felt as if he could fly. The first period hadn’t even started yet, but Min-hyeon’s heart was already racing toward the wisteria bench.

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