Sweet Shot

#5

Tae-in responded nonchalantly while eating voraciously. It was a surprisingly new sight. Tae-in had grown up overprotected by his parents due to his congenital heart condition. They wouldn’t let him eat anything unhealthy, not even ramen, let alone snacks, chocolate, or hamburgers. Once, Tae-in wanted chocolate so badly that the two of them hid under the bed to eat it. At that time, Ha-min felt guilty, but seeing how happy Tae-in was made those thoughts disappear completely.

“Anyway, I’m glad.”

“You’re so bland. Hey, just eat your egg.”

Tae-in said as he scooped out a perfectly soft-boiled egg. Back then, Tae-in was much smaller than Ha-min. He was thin, and Ha-min was already overweight, so there was more than twice the difference in their body sizes. But now, Tae-in was much bigger than him. Both in height and build. It was surprising when he first saw him again after a long time, but even now, looking at him again, it was still impressive.

“You’re okay now, right?”

The reason Tae-in had moved in the middle was because of that. He had major surgery in America, and they needed to move to a place with good air in Korea for recovery. They kept in touch on and off, but there were many times when contact was cut off. Later, when Ha-min unilaterally cut off contact, there was quite a lot of lost time between the two.

“I told you I’m fine. Stop pretending to worry all of a sudden.”

“Pretending?”

“You didn’t even contact me all this time.”

“That’s…”

Ha-min trailed off. Seeing Ha-min trailing off, Tae-in didn’t ask further and slurped down his ramen. Ha-min did the same.

That’s when it happened. Beep beep. The electronic sound of the door lock opening rang out. What’s that? Is it his parents? Ha-min jumped up in surprise. Tae-in waved his hand holding chopsticks up and down, seeing Ha-min suddenly stand up in surprise.

“Hey, sit down. It’s okay, it’s hyung.”

Ha-min looked even more surprised at those words.

“Is that Ha-min?”

The one who opened the door and came in was none other than Tae-rim. Why hadn’t he thought of it? That the two of them were living together.

Tae-rim, who entered the house, was dressed the same as yesterday. He smiled at Ha-min, who was standing awkwardly at the dining table. Tae-in kept eating his ramen intently with his face buried in the bowl, not caring whether Tae-rim came in or not.

“Did you have fun yesterday?”

Tae-rim greeted Ha-min politely while taking out a water bottle from the fridge and drinking it. Then, his gaze, which had been quietly scanning the dining table where the ramen was being eaten, stopped precisely on Tae-in. His kind face cracked.

“Aunt made soup for you, didn’t she? Why are you eating ramen?”

Ha-min quietly glanced at the somewhat harsh tone.

“Ah, mind your own business.”

Tae-in replied as if annoyed. It seemed like he was used to such quiet scolding. As expected…. Ha-min muttered inwardly. The overprotectiveness towards Tae-in in this house was still the same. It couldn’t have changed.

“Watch your language.”

Tae-rim barked shortly at Tae-in’s grumbling words. Tae-in pouted and clicked his tongue. As always, he couldn’t talk back to his brother.

“Ah, that, it’s because of me. I mean… because of me.”

Ha-min stuttered, speaking up in the not-so-good atmosphere between the brothers. He was a bit intimidated by Tae-rim’s seemingly cold gaze, but he continued.

“I got drunk yesterday… Tae-in made it to help me with the hangover.”

“…”

“I was out of it because I got drunk yesterday… Tae-in brought me here…. I said I wanted to eat ramen…”

Ha-min fumbled through his explanation. At first, he thought it was too serious a reaction for just eating ramen, but considering Tae-in’s family, it made sense. It was familiar. It was even worse when they were younger.

“You say Tae-in brought you here because you were drunk?”

“Huh?”

“You drank so much that you were out of it?”

The conversation suddenly veered in that direction. Ha-min rolled his eyes for a moment, letting out an “Ah…” He remembered Tae-rim giving him pocket money and telling him not to drink too much when he left yesterday.

“Well, it just happened…”

Ha-min scratched his eyebrow, suddenly feeling guilty.

“How long are you going to keep talking while we’re eating?”

Tae-in cut in with a disgruntled face. He muttered, adding, “You’re being too nosy.” Tae-rim narrowed his eyes. Then, his voice, which had been stern, softened again.

“It’s not good to drink to the point of losing consciousness. What if something dangerous happens?”

“Ah… yeah.”

“Next time it happens, call hyung.”

“Why should he call you? Mind your own business and go do what you need to do.”

As Tae-rim spoke in a somewhat worried tone, Tae-in shook his head as if he didn’t understand. Despite the rude tone, Tae-rim looked down at Tae-in with an expressionless face, not moving a muscle.

“Your language is getting worse as time goes by. Are you going through puberty?”

“Look who’s talking, always staying out overnight.”

“I wish Ha-min was my real younger brother.”

Tae-rim said something he didn’t mean while bickering with Tae-in. Tae-rim smiled gently and fiddled with Ha-min’s earlobe. His delicate thumb gently rubbed the plump earlobe. At the same time, Ha-min’s shoulders stiffened. Goosebumps rose on his skin.

“Ha-min speaks nicely, is kind, and wouldn’t talk back to his hyung.”

Ha-min coughed as if choking in response to the question asked while leaning close to his face.

“Ah, you keep making him talk, he’s uncomfortable.”

“Is hyung making you uncomfortable again?”

As he asked, leaning in with his handsome face, Ha-min shook his head while covering his coughing mouth. He was completely flustered.

“He says he’s not.”

“Just go, please.”

Tae-rim chuckled as he watched Tae-in scrunch up his face as if disgusted.

“You’ve grown enough to rebel, huh.”

He ruffled Tae-in’s hair as if finding it quite amusing that his little brother was talking back. Just like he did to Ha-min yesterday.

Tae-in swatted away Tae-rim’s hand, telling him not to touch. Tae-rim, seemingly used to this behavior from Tae-in, flicked his bangs once more and casually said to Ha-min,

“Well then, have fun.”

As if he had finished his business, he greeted them and leisurely went into his room. Even his walk was unhurried.

“Ah, geez, I spent over 10 minutes fixing my hair.”

Tae-in grumbled, touching his messed-up hair. For a moment, Ha-min felt envious. It was pure affection. The kind of affection that could only come from family. Tae-in was receiving such unconditional affection from Tae-rim.

Ha-min quietly looked at his closed door and put down his chopsticks. His mouth had suddenly turned bitter.

**

Once, Tae-in had a severe seizure. It was when they were playing hide-and-seek in that big house. Tae-in was supposed to be looking for him. Ha-min, who was skilled at hiding, had hidden very well. But even after waiting for a long time, Tae-in didn’t come. Usually, no matter how well Ha-min hid, Tae-in was good at finding him. Feeling strange, Ha-min carefully came out and instead started looking for Tae-in. But the second floor was in an uproar.

‘Tae-in!! Wake up, Tae-in!!’

‘Ma’am, call an ambulance, quickly!!’

Between his parents, Ha-min could see his friend collapsed on the floor. With foam in his mouth, he was having a seizure, flailing like a freshly caught fish. His hands and feet were twitching grotesquely, and his eyeballs were rolled back. Young Ha-min, witnessing this scene, immediately sat down on the spot. At the same time, tears began pouring out, and he called his friend’s name in a voice that sounded like a groan.

‘Tae, Tae-in…’

Tae-in’s mother was holding Tae-in and wailing, while his father was shouting at the employees to call an ambulance. Even though he knew his voice wouldn’t be heard in this war-like situation, his friend’s name desperately escaped his lips. Young Ha-min, who didn’t know anything, felt death for the first time. That’s when it happened. A large hand covered both his eyes.

‘It’s okay.’

The only calm voice in this war-like place. A gentle voice comforting him as he cried with hiccups came from behind.

‘Tae-in will be fine, Ha-min.’

In the midst of all this, a large hand calmly soothing and patting him. A warm voice.

As soon as he heard that voice, his pounding heart slowly calmed down. And vaguely, he felt that everything would be alright, and he was reassured. The voice of the boy who protected him from what could have been a traumatic moment was strong and kind.

**

“You’re living with hyung, just the two of you?”

Ha-min, riding the bus to school with Tae-in, asked with wide eyes. Both of them were eating ice cream. Tae-in took a big bite of his ice cream and nodded.

“Yeah. Our parents are at the main house.”

“So, that big house, just the two of you?”

“Is it that big?”

It is. Incredibly so. It was as big as the two-story house Tae-in used to live in in the neighborhood. Ha-min blinked in surprise at the fact that just the two of them were living there.

“Originally, I was going to live separately, but my parents were adamant.”

“Why?”

“Because of me. They’re worried I might get sick again. It’s tiresome, so tiresome.”

Tae-in really looked fed up. But Ha-min completely understood his parents’ feelings. Ever since he saw Tae-in have a heart attack when they were young, he deeply understood their overprotective hearts. Until then, his parents had seemed overly fussy, but after that, Ha-min also became overprotective of Tae-in. Just enough so that Tae-in wouldn’t notice. Secretly. The only one who recognized it every time was hyung, and he always managed to praise Ha-min for it. On days when he received such praise, he always went home and wrote in his diary. About how hyung had praised him. About how he would protect his friend even more diligently in the future. What a clueless little kid he was.