The first week, Hyo-bin ignored what was happening. By the second week, he could not do it anymore.

Seung-ho was in the lane next to his every evening. That made sense because it was only about the team. Coach Yoo put the two butterfly swimmers next to each other because that was how he ran the pool.

Hyo-bin could live with it. He could handle feeling someone else's strokes in the lane to his left or the water hitting him a beat late after Seung-ho pushed off the wall at the same time. The pool was big enough. Most importantly, Seung-ho had not beaten him yet.

The rest of it was different.

On Tuesday of the second week, Hyo-bin sat at his usual table in the cafeteria. His tray was empty because he had no money that day. He planned to drink water and eat something at home. After leaving his books on the table, he went to the water cooler in the back and returned.

There was a tray on the table.

Rice, soup, two side dishes, and a piece of fish. It was the kind of meal that cost the full menu price instead of the cheaper one. Steam still rose from the rice. Nobody was at the table, and nobody at the next table looked at him. For a second, he thought someone had left their food there and gone somewhere while someone else had taken his empty tray.

After five minutes passed, nobody claimed it. Hyo-bin looked around and lifted the tray slightly. There was no note underneath it.

His hand remained on the back of the chair for a while. Then he sat down because he could not stand it anymore.

He figured someone had taken their food and gone somewhere else. He was very hungry.

Halfway through the meal, his desk mate, Kang Tae-hyun, sat across from him. "Did you get the most expensive meal?" he asked, looking surprised.

"No, of course not. I found it."

"Where did you find it?"

"On the table."

Tae-hyun looked at the tray. He stole a piece of radish from the side dish, and Hyo-bin did not stop him. Hyo-bin chuckled. He was very happy because he was full.

—

The goggles were next.

His old goggles had had a knotted strap for two weeks. New goggles were expensive. His father was not buying them, and his mother could not afford them yet either.

When he opened his locker in the locker room on Thursday morning, a box was sitting on top of his folded clothes. A pair of goggles from the best brand was still sealed in its plastic packaging.

He stood there longer than he should have with the locker door open. After closing it, he opened it again. The box was still there.

"Did someone leave their goggles in my locker?" he asked the guys behind him.

Everyone looked at one another, and it was clear from their faces that they did not know anything about it.

Hyo-bin did not wait for an answer. "Fine. If they don't belong to anyone, I'm gonna use them." He took the goggles. He was not gonna swim two hundred meters of butterfly with a knot at the back of his head just because of his pride.

After practice, Hyo-bin sat on the bench near his locker and looked at the box for a while. The price tag was still attached to one corner. He picked at it with his thumbnail until it came off, then put it in his pocket because he did not know what else to do with it.

—

On Friday, it was the coat's turn.

The cold arrived overnight, as it always did in October. If you dressed for the previous day's weather, you made a mistake, and Hyo-bin had dressed for the previous day.

After evening practice, he stood at the bus stop. He tucked his hands under his arms and pulled his shoulders up to his ears. While telling himself that the bus would arrive in four minutes and four minutes was nothing, his ass was freezing off.

He was afraid of getting sick.

When he went to school the next day and found a brand-new coat hanging on his chair, he stopped moving for a second.

He considered turning to the class and asking whose coat it was, but if no one claimed it, he would have to take it to the lost-and-found desk. Instead, he sat down without doing anything and waited for the day to pass.

After the final bell rang, nobody claimed the coat.

First, he waited for everyone to leave. Then he finally picked it up. It was black, made of cashmere, heavy, and folded once. A tag hung from the inside. He read the price, thought he had read it incorrectly, brought it closer to his eyes, and read it again.

Once he was certain nobody was around, he put it on. It was so warm that he did not want to take it off. Still, he removed it, stuffed it into his bag, and showed it to his mother when he got home.

"It didn't belong to anyone. What's wrong with wearing it?" he asked.

Eun-jung touched the cashmere coat. "Hyo-bin, this is very expensive. Take it back to school tomorrow and leave it where you found it."

"Okay, Mom." He went to his room, but he was sure he knew something his mother did not. He had known since the goggles.

He just had not said the name to himself.

—

Monday morning, second period was history.

Seung-ho sat two rows ahead of him by the window. His bag hung half-open from the back of his chair because rich kids did not bother with zippers.

When Mr. Han turned to write something on the board, Seung-ho leaned forward to grab his notebook. The bag tipped, and a folded piece of paper fell out and slid beneath Hyo-bin's foot.

Hyo-bin picked it up without thinking. It was a receipt from a sports store in Apgujeong. It listed the goggles' brand and price.

He held the receipt for the rest of the class and did not write a single thing in his notebook.

—

When the bell rang, Hyo-bin remained in his seat until everyone had left. Seung-ho was zipping his bag when Hyo-bin walked over to his desk. "Don't."

Seung-ho looked at him. "Don't do what?"

"You know what."

"I actually don't."

"The food, the goggles, the coat."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"You know, Seo Seung-ho." Hyo-bin took the receipt for the goggles out of his pocket and held it in front of Seung-ho's face.

Seung-ho leaned back in his chair. He looked at the receipt, then at Hyo-bin. "Can you tell me why I shouldn't?"

"Because I didn't ask you for any of this. We aren't even friends. Do your charity work somewhere else."

"I don't think I'm doing charity." Seung-ho looked at Hyo-bin for a while. "All right. I won't do it again if you promise to use the goggles and the coat."

He took his bag and walked out of the classroom.

—

Hyo-bin did not look at Seung-ho once for the rest of the day. Not at lunch, not during afternoon practice, not in the locker room, and not while walking through the school gates.

That evening, he dropped his bag onto the bed in his room and started taking things out: books, a notebook, a pencil case, a water bottle, and the small folder containing the practice schedule. Then he saw a folded piece of paper, picked it up, and opened it.

You're an idiot.
-Seung-ho

"What?"

He sat on the edge of the bed and read it again.

Then he got up and went to his desk. After writing a reply on a piece of paper, he threw it into his bag.

You're an asshole.
-Hyo-bin

He tossed Seung-ho's note into the second drawer, where he kept things that did not have a place, then went to wash his face before dinner.

When he returned to his room, he opened the drawer and took the note back out. He looked at it one last time before putting it beneath his pillow when he went to bed.

He was still smiling when he fell asleep.