Pizza and wine

"That's right. What kind of pizza do you like?"

Yoon-sung, who'd been gone for a bit, showed up again at Shi-heum and asked.

"Whatever you like."

"Really? Then I'll order whatever I want."

Yoon-sung went to the living room to order a pizza, leaving Shi-heum behind. When Shi-heum tried the Hawaiian pizza that Yoon-sung ordered, he realized that it had been a while since he'd had a meal.

Sitting a little distance from Shi-heum, Yoon-Sung changed the channel by pressing the remote button. The TV was playing some pretty boring stuff.

"Pizza goes best with wine. Should I go down and bring a bottle?"

Yoon-sung asked Shi-heum, turnning off the TV.

"Do what you want."

"You're coming with me."

"Why...."

Yoon-sung grabbed Shi-heum's arm and dragged him to the basement, where they found a wine cellar. It was filled with wines that Shi-heum didn't really know much about. Yoon-Sung took out any wine that was among the items and explained to Shi-heum why this place was here.

"My dad lived with me here until he got divorced from my mom. These are all his."

Yoon-sung gave the bottle of wine a little shake and said to Shi-heum.

"Then..."

Shi-heum tried to say, "Isn't this wine Chairman Chae's? Then we shouldn’t drink it!" But Yoon-sung cut him off.

"He's got a bunch of this stuff at home, so he might lose a few bottles. Also, he'll be totally uninterested in anything I do."

From the first time we met to now, Yoon-sung's attitude toward his dad has always been full of hostility. Shi-heum figured the cause would be pretty relevant to him.

"I don't drink."

No matter if Chairman Chae caught him or not, Shi-heum didn't want to carelessly touch his own. But as soon as Yoon-sung came up from the seller, he handed Shi-heum a glass of wine.

"Drink it. Then you'll see why people are crazy about this."

Shi-heum took a sip of the wine Yoon-Sung gave him. He got a quick taste of sour, sweet, and bitter.

It wasn't bad.

Shi-heum took a small sip of his wine, and then took a bigger sip. It's almost like every time he drink wine, he's purging all these thoughts that are weighing him down.

Yoon-Sung filled Shi-heum's glass with plenty of wine.

Shi-heum got drunk faster than Yoon-Sung thought he would, and he got knocked down. Yoon-sung looked at Shi-heum, who fell down on the big sofa.

"What's going on with him?"

Yoon-sung leaned over to Shi-heum. Shi-heum's lips, stained red from a little wine, were moving quietly in his sleep.

"Ma..."

What's the deal? Yoon-sung lowered his head close enough to meet Shi-heum. Then Shi-heum curled up like a fetus and repeated the words he had vaguely pronounced.

"Mom...."

Then, a few tears rolled down his cheeks, and he let out a little sob.

Yoon-sung looked at Shi-heum, who looked like a very young child. When he picked him up, he put him on the bed in the room on the second floor.

Yoon-sung felt a little dizzy as he looked at the living room, which was packed with pizza and wine. Even though he didn't drink enough to get drunk like Shi-heum.

Yoon-sung was in the living room by himself, and he was messing around with his phone while looking at the sash from the previous night.

Long fingers quickly wiped away the cell phone screen and showed the recorded call history. It's been a while since Yoon-sung has kept in touch with his mom.

All of a sudden, he felt very bad.

Yoon-sung threw his phone on the sofa and looked around the second floor for Shi-heum, who was sleeping lying down.

*

Shi-heum woke up when it was still dark. His head hurt like it was about to explode. He went to the bathroom to brush his teeth. Then, out of the blue, he remembered that it was Yoon-sung who had carried him to the bedroom.

It's too late to see anyone, but Shi-heum went over to the railing and looked around the living room. Surprisingly, the living room was on, and Yoon-sung was still sitting in the middle of it drinking with a bottle.

"Stop drinking."

Shi-heum went up to Yoon-sung and took the bottle from his hand.

"I'm not drunk yet."

"No, you're drunk. So, stop drinking. If... If you get drunk and fall down, I don't even have the power to move you."

Yoon-sung just looked at Shi-heum without saying anything. Yoon-sung's eyes were glazed over from all the booze. Shi-heum was intimidated by looking in his eyes, but he didn't return the bottle to Yoon-sung.

"Yeah, I'm heading to bed."

Yoon-sung gave Shi-heum a little push and went up to his room.

*

"I moved you when you're drunk, and I listened to you well. Am I really nice?"

In the morning, Yoon-sung hit up Shi-heum and asked him out of the blue.

"I owe you yesterday. Thanks for doing what I say."

Shi-heum answered Yoon-Sung, grabbed his bag, and headed outside. After a quick pause, he waited quietly until Yoon-Sung came out the front door.

"My friends will get together at my home today, so if you've got somewhere to go, then go there."

Yoon-sung came out and asked Si-heum.

"There's nowhere to go."

"If you don't have it, you should just play with the friends. They all want to play with you."

After school, Yoon-sung's place became a party hall, and the place was packed with guests.

The constant sound of music, the people chatting while they drank and sang, the cluttered environment, and the stuffy air....

Everything about this place was giving Shi-heum the creeps. Shi-heum was hoping Yoon-sung's friends would head out soon, but it looked like the party wasn't ending anytime soon.

"How'd you meet Yoon-sung?"

"So, are you living with Yoon-sung?"

When Yoon-sung's friends grabbed Shi-heum and tried to talk to him about this and that, Shi-heum made an excuse to go to the bathroom and went outside to catch a breath.

There were a lot of people coming out to smoke, and Shi-heum had to deal with someone sometimes.

"Oh, you're Yoon-sung's color, right?"

"...Yes."

Shi-heum, who was introverted, wasn't used to dealing with people. Shi-heum, who was exhausted from meeting so many people after such a long time, squatted in a corner so that others wouldn't notice him.

"I told you to go somewhere else."

A peppermint candy with a blunt word on it. When Shi-heum looked up, he saw Yoon-sung standing there with candy for him. Shi-heum took the peppermint candy from Yoon-sung, took off the clear packaging, and put the candy in his mouth. The cool and strong smell hit his tongue and made his nose open.

"Did you run away because people were bothering you so much?"

Yoon-sung went over to Shi-heum's side and sat down when he asked casually. Then, for a bit, he just stared at Shi-heum, not saying a word.

"If you've got something to say, say it."

Shi-heum, who couldn't stand the awkwardness, said.

"I don't have anything to add. I just saw it because you're pretty."

"Oh."

When Yoon-sung said something, Shi-heum lowered his head naturally toward the ground. He felt pretty embarrassed about it.

"You don't seem used to hearing things like this. I think you must have been sick and tired of hearing that you're pretty."

"I just don't really talk to people."

Shi-heum hardly ever talks unless he's the first one to say something. Yoon-sung nodded a bit when Shi-heum said it.

"I probably shouldn't have thrown a party."

"Why do you think that?"

"I'm not sure, but it's just not fun in general."

Yoon-sung didn't leave Shi-heum's side until the party was over, saying it wasn't fun. He sometimes ever offered a mint candy to Shi-heum.

*

The next day, Shi-heum and Yoon-sung met up again in the middle of the stairs connecting the second and first floors.

"Did you have tutoring before coming here?"

Shi-heum nodded with a puzzled face to Yoon-Sung's question. Before coming here, he had taken extra classes with a pretty good instructor.

"The old man called me this morning and asked me to take a class with you from next week."

"Oh."

"I'm taking private lessons I don't even want to do because of you, and I don't understand why."

"Sorry."

"No need to feel bad. Anyway, hey, you up for a drive this weekend?"

Shi-heum thought about it for a bit and gave his conditions.

"If you promise not to drive recklessly."

On his first day at school, Shi-heum had a rough time sitting in the back of a motorcycle driven by Yoon-sung. He didn't want to go through the same thing again.

"I promise, then."

Yoon-sung left after a casual chat.