Chapter 90: Chapter 90

So the five boys headed to Chookjae’s place the next day: Chookjae, Yuja, Sinsul, Myohan, and Shihuang. Chookjae was a little surprised to see the new transfer student who wasn’t even acquainted with him tag along, but somehow, it felt like he belonged in the group, so he came.

“Oh, Chookjae, your friends are all so handsome!”

Yesterday, Chookjae’s grandmother had been happy to hear that he would invite some friends over. She was glad to know he had friends other than Sinsul. As Sinsul had come to visit a few times before, he went in first.

“Granny, it’s so nice to see you!”

“Oh, Sinsul, you came?”

“Of course, how would I ever miss a visit to you?”

Myohan went to Chookjae and whispered, “Didn’t you say your grandmother is scary?”

‘Have I ever told him about her?’

But Chookjae soon dismissed the question and explained, “She’s scary only when I come home late or try for a sleepover.”

However, he couldn’t help feeling strange. He was sure his grandmother had once scolded him really hard, but he couldn’t remember anything about it. What had it been about?

“Let’s do homework. Everyone, take your books out.”

As Chookjae’s room was too small for five of them, they put a short table in the living room and sat on the floor. His grandmother offered to bring them some fruit, but Yuja stopped her. He took one of the apples and the knife from her and started to cut it himself.

“You’re really good at this for a boy.”

“These days, both boys and girls should be good at homemaking stuff.”

Myohan and Shihuang just worked on their workbooks without saying much. Even Sinsul focused hard, probably because of the pressure of being a senior. Of course, it didn’t last long. He chewed the tip of his pen, and then spoke.

“You know, this reminds me of something.”

Yuja cut him off immediately, “Don’t talk.”

Chookjae’s grandmother said he would make a fine class president and went into her room. They didn’t get to say he was actually a class president.

Chookjae took pity on sad Sinsul and asked, “What is it?”

The dog-boy soon regained his smile.

“You know, at Myohan’s place, we…”

“Sinsul!”

This time, Myohan stopped him. He realized his mistake and shrugged. Yuja frowned, but he soon forgot about it and put apple slices on the table. He was even better at it than Chookjae’s grandmother.

Their talking ended there. Sinsul complained about something from time to time, but Chookjae was completely focused on his homework and couldn’t hear any of it.

They talked about the University Entrance Exam and which university they wanted to attend. They were awed by Yuja’s perfect plan and scolded Sinsul’s lack of plan. Time flew while they were doing work.

“You’re leaving already? I thought you would stay for dinner.”

“But they should go home and have dinner.”

Chookjae’s grandmother said she had planned to cook something really nice for them. They promised to come to visit again and left. Chookjae put on slippers and followed to walk them out.

“Your grandmother is well.”

Myohan looked happy about it. He had stared hard at her just before he left. Chookjae thought it was weird. He was sure he had never talked about her to him, but he was strangely interested in her.

“Next time, let’s do homework at Myohan’s place.”

“Who said anything about inviting you?”

“You think you get to say that when you’ve done, like, zero homework?”

On their way home, Sinsul tried to set up the next homework meeting, but Myohan objected. Chookjae looked up at the sky. The sun was setting and the sky was turning red.

“You know,”

He didn’t know why he was saying it. It was probably because the sun was too beautiful.

“Let’s study at your place next time.”

As they went past by a wall, he saw a cat sitting on it. It was looking at him with yellow eyes. He got into a staring match with it, but then Myohan said bluntly.

“My place isn’t for public meetings.”

The cat looked away. It jumped down the wall and disappeared. When Chookjae turned, Myohan snorted, looked up at the sky, and smiled.

“It’s a place for sleepovers.”

That was an unexpected answer. Even Yuja looked at him with wide eyes. Myohan was still smiling.

“Get your grandmother’s permission.”

Shihuang smiled at him, thinking he was cute. Chookjae also smiled and nodded.

“Okay.”

It had been more than six months since Miho’s sister died. She came to him in his dreams, and he had to go to school the next day with huge swollen eyes. He hadn’t been able to cry at her funeral, but now, he was sobbing. He thought he should have cried back then.

To think about it, there were many days he hadn’t been able to cry. When his parents died, when his best friend died in an accident, he couldn’t shed even a single tear, but he couldn’t remember what the reason had been. Maybe it was his pride, or something else…

“Jagyeom, I ran into him in the hallway.”

On his way to his homeroom, he ran into a boy he used to be friends with since they were very little. Now, they were more like enemies, but they had been friends. He flinched the moment he saw Miho and walked away quickly. He had been so confident only a while ago, but he had changed.

“Really? He didn’t try to pick on you?”

“Yeah, he couldn’t even look straight at me.”

‘Hey,’ So Miho had called to him. He grabbed his arm and looked at him. He looked startled, but then he said with a sigh. ‘Let’s talk at lunchtime, I’ll wait for you there.’

There. They both knew where it was.

“Well, after what he’s paid for what he did…”

Jagyeom thought it was all for the better. But when he tried to go back to the book he’d been reading, Miho added.

“And he wants to see me at the vegetable garden during lunchtime.”

Jagyeom almost fell from his chair to hear this.

Wind blew past them. The weather was warm now, but it was still quite cool in shadows. The garden was mostly empty except for the two of them. Miho and the nervous boy. He glanced at Miho and sighed.

“Miho.”

Miho said nothing. He just looked at him dryly. He flinched again and looked away. It took him a long time to manage to talk.

“You remember what happened last year, right?”

Of course, he knew and remembered. He nodded and the boy took another deep breath.

“I…”

He hesitated for a long time again. Miho got tired of waiting and spoke.

“I can’t remember well.”

“….What?”

It had been only a few months, but what had happened had been erased from his mind. What had happened on that day, what the bully had done to him and said to him, he couldn’t remember as if someone had deliberately deleted it. But when he tried to recall it, he got to think it didn’t matter and stopped thinking.

“You can’t remember either?”

But his reply was surprising to him. His eyes widened and he looked away.

“…So, what do you have to say?”

If he wasn’t about to talk about what had happened on that day, Miho had no business with him. It wasn’t like they were still close enough to have a private conversation. He hesitated for a long time. He pulled at his hair, rolled his eyes, and stomped his feet.

“Oh, shit….”

“If you have nothing to say, I’m leaving.”

Miho started to walk away, but then the boy finally started to speak.

“I have nothing to say if you ask me why I’m saying this now, but I must say this.”

Miho couldn’t help feeling nervous. He hadn’t felt this way last year, but his eyes were shaking and it made his heart sink.

“After he died in that accident…”

It was the story Miho wanted to hear the least. He had buried it deep in his heart. He had missed that friend’s funeral, but now this boy was reminding him of his absence.

“I really blamed you a lot.”

Even Miho himself couldn’t understand why he had restrained himself instead of crying at the time. If he had been the same person he was now, he would have gone there first and sobbed hard. But he still thought it had been the best he could do back then.