“Are you fucking serious?” Euiheon said when Hamin stubbornly refused to go have lunch with him.

“I-I’m not really hungry, okay?”

Hamin’s stomach immediately growled. Euiheon crossed his arms and frowned.

“There’s something majorly wrong with you today, Ham.”

No, there’s something majorly wrong with you! Hamin wanted to say.

Euiheon was perfectly himself all morning, which shouldn’t have been possible after the events of Saturday night. Hamin was being the normal one here. But he couldn’t point that out because just the thought of bringing up what had happened made him choke up.

“Just… go,” Hamin groaned, slumping over his desk with his head down.

Euiheon shook his head. “Fine. But don’t drag me to the school store later saying you’re hungry because you skipped out on lunch like a dumbass.”

“Yeah, yeah, I won’t.”

Hamin swatted his hand for Euiheon to leave him alone already. He heard the boy’s footsteps walk out of the classroom and disappear down the hallway. Once Hamin was sure he was gone, he lifted his head up and saw Edin taking out a few small containers from his backpack.

“You made all of this?” Yuel said, seeing just how much food Edin brought.

“Yeah. I woke up at six this morning to make it.”

“You didn’t have to…”

“One way to prevent panic attacks is to eat really well.”

“…Thanks.”

“Are you two actually dating now?” Hamin said, plopping down in the seat in front of Edin and Yuel.

Edin noticed Yuel looking uncomfortable and said, “I thought you weren’t going to bother us anymore.”

“Right, sorry. But mind if I have a sausage?”

Before Edin could tell him no, Hamin snatched what was supposed to be his sausage. Why was everyone stealing his sausage this morning? He took out his chopsticks and placed the last one on Yuel’s share of rice.

Yuel ate in silence, not even thanking Edin.

“Hey, you okay?” Hamin asked. “I heard you got really sick on Friday.”

“I’m fine,” Yuel quietly replied, being reminded of that day all over again.

Edin intervened, “Why aren’t you having lunch with Euiheon today?”

Hamin groaned the second he heard that name.

“Did something happen on Saturday?”

“Saturday?!” Hamin blurted out before awkwardly laughing it off. “W-What makes you think something happened on Saturday?”

Both Edin and Yuel looked at him with an expression that read, “Something definitely happened on Saturday.”

Hamin sighed. “Okay, where do I even begin?”

“Was it during that meetup?”

“Technically yes…”

“With one of the girls?”

“Nope…”

“With Euiheon, then?”

“Uh… Technically yes.”

Edin frowned. “What do you mean technically yes? You two had a fight, didn’t you?”

A lips-to-lips fight was what immediately came to Hamin’s mind. He shook his head like a maniac. “No, absolutely not! We did not fight in any way, shape, or form!”

“Then, what else?”

While Edin pondered in confusion, Hamin met eyes with Yuel, who didn’t look quite as lost with his incoherent babbling. That was when it hit him. This was a matter he needed to talk to Yuel alone. That boy was probably his best bet.

Hamin grabbed Yuel by the wrist, causing him to drop his chopsticks on the ground in surprise.

“Hey!” Edin snapped. “What the hell are you doing?”

“Let me borrow your boyfriend for a sec!” Hamin said, pulling Yuel out of the classroom.

Edin would have chased after him had Yuel not gestured to him to remain seated. Yuel didn’t want to make this a bigger issue than it had to be. Also, he was a bit dazed by the fact that Hamin just addressed him as Edin’s “boyfriend.”

By the time the two of them rushed down to the first floor of the building, Yuel couldn’t tell why his heart was beating as fast as it did. While he caught his breath, Hamin made a quick visit to the school store to buy some pizza bread. He offered one to Yuel who kindly refused, feeling like he already had a month’s worth of bread last week.

The two boys headed outside to the back of the building where there weren’t many other students present, just the occasional group of friends that were on a lunch walk around campus. Hamin didn’t say anything until he finished his first bread and started on his second one.

“Okay, so I need to talk to you about something.”

“Alright, what is it?”

Yuel leaned against the building with his arms crossed. At this point, he wasn’t so much uncomfortable with Hamin as he was curious. Just what could this have been about? He knew it had something to do with Euiheon. There were only so many possibilities to consider here, all of which sounded unlikely in thought.

But hearing it out loud was a whole different experience.

“Let me get straight to the point.” Hamin scanned their surroundings before leaning in to whisper into Yuel’s ear, “Euiheon and I kissed.”

The idea did briefly cross Yuel’s mind, and now that the truth was out, it oddly sounded plausible between Hamin and Euiheon. Well, it wasn’t a matter of plausibility anymore since it, indeed, happened.

Hamin stepped back, and with his bread-gripped hand, he pointed in the direction of the cafeteria. “Okay, it was really him who did the ki… you know. But I didn’t exactly turn away from it, either.”

“Are you saying you liked it?”

“What?”

Hamin paused for a moment. He was sure he didn’t like it, but to say he absolutely hated it didn’t sit quite right on his tongue, either. The only response he could give was, “We were drunk.”

“Then, it was just a drunken mistake,” Yuel said with a shrug.

“Is it that simple, though?”

“What do you want from me? Why are you talking to me about this? Why not Edin?”

“If I tell him, he’s sure to immediately tell Euiheon, and I can’t talk to Chewie right now.”

“Yet telling me is fine? What if I were to spread rumors throughout the whole school about you and Euiheon?” Yuel suggested, knowing exactly how easy it was for word to get around in school.

“Would you really do that?”

“No, of course not. I’m just saying…”

“Look.” Hamin paused, thinking about how to phrase his next sentence. “I remember the rumors back in middle school. They were bad, and I was bad for just going along with what everyone else said. I would never act that way as I am now. In fact, I’m totally supportive of you being gay.”

“I never said I was gay.”

“Right, no, sorry!” Hamin hit himself in the head. “What I mean is, I just thought maybe you could understand whatever this is I’m going through with Euiheon right now.”

Even though Yuel barely knew Hamin and wanted to actually avoid him just until a few minutes ago, he did understand his predicament. He went through something very similar in middle school, after all. Although, in his case, it wasn’t a kiss but rather getting to hold Kyungwon’s hand for the first time.

“I think you need to figure out what that kiss meant to you,” Yuel said. “And then, you should talk to Euiheon.”

Yuel felt like a complete hypocrite after saying the second sentence. Even after realizing what that hand-holding meant to him, he never once found the courage to talk to Kyungwon about it.