Chapter 3

Brilliant midday sunlight flooded the middle-school classroom. The door rattled open, followed by the slow, heavy tread of approaching footsteps. Roused from his nap, Yu-su pulled out his earphones and lazily lifted his eyelids.

A familiar shadow strode toward him, silhouetted against the sunlight.

Broad-shouldered and powerfully built, the boy had the kind of frame anyone might have mistaken for a grown man’s if not for the school uniform. Even then, the only part he wore properly was his gray trousers. His short-sleeved shirt hung open at the collar, several buttons undone, and his narrow school tie was nowhere in sight.

With his buzz cut, thick eyebrows, and naturally fierce eyes, Do Muwon looked intimidating even while drenched in sweat. The mere sight of him seemed to make the sweltering classroom even hotter.

“You asleep?”

Muwon perched on Yu-su’s desk as though it were the most natural seat in the world. Still fogged with sleep, Yu-su nuzzled his nose against Muwon’s thigh and answered with a drowsy murmur.

“Mm. You’re late…”

“Late? I just got back, and I’m fucking dying in this heat. That’s the first thing you say to me?”

“Were there any cream buns left?”

Muwon stared down at him. “Would you look at this guy.”

Ignoring his grumbling, Yu-su stretched with the languid ease of a cat. Sunlight caught in his tousled brown hair, turning the tangled strands soft and luminous, almost like sun-warmed fur. Muwon smoothed it down several times before poking Yu-su in the pale center of his forehead. Then he dangled a plastic bag containing a cream bun in front of his face.

“You’re the only bastard who could turn me into his personal bread-delivery boy.”

Yu-su propped his chin on one hand and gazed up at him, his eyes curving into bright crescents.

“You have my eternal gratitude, Your Highness Do.”

“Seriously, look at this guy.”

Muwon reached down and tugged at Yu-su’s lips.

The soft pink flesh immediately flushed red. Before Muwon could let go, Yu-su slapped his forearm with a sharp smack.

“Do Muwon!”

“You crazy bastard. You’ve got a fucking heavy hand.”

Despite the complaint, delight rang freely through Muwon’s voice. He bent closer until their foreheads nearly touched, then pressed his thumb to Yu-su’s reddened lower lip and rubbed it slowly.

“Did that hurt?”

Yu-su said nothing.

His heart slammed violently against his ribs.

He instinctively turned his gaze aside to conceal his reaction, but Muwon’s warm breath continued to brush across his brow.

“Why are you looking away, Jeong Yu-su? I asked if it hurt.”

“Of course it did. I told you not to pull on my lips.”

“Ow!”

Yu-su slapped his hand away again.

Their laughter burst through the sunlit classroom and drifted toward the lush green leaves swaying beyond the windows, lingering in the heavy summer air before slowly fading away.

***