Eomeonim¹

The car was quiet.

Ho-jin had Ji-hun's hand in his, but both of them were looking out through their own windows.

"Ji-hun, we'll drop you off at school, then head to Siseon," Won-hee said. "I'll come get you at one, and we'll go to the Wersace office to sign the contract. Mr. Cha and Ho-jin will be with me." Then he suddenly started laughing. "Boss is pissed about yesterday, by the way."

"What the fuck are you laughing at?"

Won-hee immediately fixed his face.

"Ji-hun..." Ho-jin said calmly. "What did you promise me less than an hour ago?"

"Sorry, sunbae, but one day I'm gonna lose my mind because this bastard laughs at every fucking thing."

"His name isn't 'this bastard.' It's Won-hee. Treat your manager properly."

Won-hee was very used to Ji-hun by now. In fact, he might have been the person who enjoyed this rude, disobedient side of him the most. "It's fine, Ho-jin sunbae," he said. "Ji-hun's right. I shouldn't laugh. I should actually laugh my ass off now, because I won't get another chance once Boss starts tearing him apart."

Ji-hun looked at Won-hee through the mirror. "Idiot."

"Moon Ji-hun!" Ho-jin was finally angry.

As though the raised voice meant nothing to him, Ji-hun held Ho-jin's hand more firmly. "Sunbae, are we gonna talk about the situation at home?"

"Later."

"Okay, sunbae." Ji-hun brought Ho-jin's hand to his mouth, kissed it, then closed his eyes and smelled it for a bit.

When they reached the school gate, Ji-hun grabbed his bag and opened the door. Before getting out, he looked at Won-hee. "See you at one, asshole." Then he looked at Ho-jin and whispered, "I love you, sunbae."

"Go already. You're gonna be late for class."

Once Won-hee pulled back onto the road, he looked at Ho-jin through the mirror. "Anything I need to know, sunbae?"

"Not right now," Ho-jin said. He was clearly preoccupied. "My mom showed up as a surprise, and I still have no idea how I'm supposed to explain the way things are at home."

"Oh, you're screwed."

"I'm not sure yet. I told her my coworker was staying with me, and then we left."

"If you want, Ji-hun can stay with me for a while."

"What? No. We're entering a period where I'll start sweating if he's out of my sight for five minutes."

Ho-jin was right.

Ji-hun had exactly one brake on his tendency to run wild, and that was Ho-jin. He had quit drinking and smoking after a single word from him. Even during the worst period of Ji-hun's depression, Ho-jin only had to say, "If you don't graduate with an A+, I won't let you work with me at Siseon," and Ji-hun took his classes seriously. If he behaved respectfully around Siseon, it was only because Ho-jin had told him it was "a great opportunity to make me proud."

Any second Ho-jin was not around, Ji-hun was basically a land mine, and nobody could ever tell who would step on him next or when.

For now, Ho-jin simply had no idea how he would explain any of this if his mother figured things out.

Until one o'clock, the day passed normally for everyone. Ho-jin worked on two launch projects where he was the lead editor, Won-hee organized Ji-hun's monthly schedule and handled meetings, Ji-hun gave his classes every bit of attention he had, and In-soo thought about exactly how he was going to tear Ji-hun apart once he saw him.

Sure enough, when Ji-hun climbed back into the same minivan at one, In-soo was sitting in the back seat instead of Ho-jin. "Hi, Boss," Ji-hun said casually.

His only hope was that acting as though he did not care might lower the severity of the reaction. In reality, at that exact moment, he would rather have been a Russian cosmonaut alone on some space satellite station than deal with In-soo.

"I spent my entire morning and afternoon explaining to brand representatives whether you actually like men and whether the person you described really works at Siseon," In-soo said. "Why are you like this?"

"I'm sorry, Boss. I was only trying to make a joke," Ji-hun said, putting on his most abandoned-puppy face. "I'll be careful from now on."

"Haah... The second we walk into Wersace, you're gonna behave like the most proper employee on earth. Understood?"

"Yes, Boss."

"If you weren't my friend's son..."

Okay. Survived that too...

And Ji-hun did exactly what he had promised. The Wersace Korea executives did not merely like him. They fell in love with him. He was charming and respectful, with an unexpected dignity in everything he did. Every sentence out of his mouth somehow managed to make him sound intelligent and professional.

Yes. Everyone loved him.

Ho-jin's only job was to feel proud of him in secret.

Unlike everyone else in the room, Ho-jin was actually in love with Ji-hun.

Nobody there, not even Won-hee or In-soo, knew that Ho-jin's dream was to travel through fashion weeks with Ji-hun, share their work with each other without holding anything back, find chances to walk hand in hand through the streets of Europe and America where nobody was watching them, and simply breathe together.

Eventually, once the start of production had been scheduled and all the details settled, they headed back.

In-soo was so relieved after the signatures were finally on the contract that he gave Ji-hun and Ho-jin the rest of the day off. Won-hee benefited from that generosity too.

Ho-jin was happy because now he could take his mother out to dinner.

When his phone rang and he saw her name, he answered with obvious relief. "Mom, how are you?" he said. "I'm coming home now. Can you get ready and come downstairs in front of the building? Let's eat out. Unless you already have plans."

Ji-hun had his eyes closed and was half asleep, thinking about how much he loved Ho-jin's voice.

"Okay, Mom. I won't make you wait long, but dress warm anyway."

After ending the call, Ho-jin took Ji-hun's hand again. "Won-hee, can you stop at a flower shop? I wanna buy my mom flowers."

Ji-hun had been resting with his eyes closed, but he suddenly turned toward him. "Sunbae, where are we going for dinner? Please let it be somewhere quiet."

"Ji-hun-ah, I was planning to take my mom out alone."

"What? Why?"

"There's no reason. There's just no reason for you to come."

"You're right. Sorry. I spaced out for a second." Ji-hun closed his eyes again and went back to resting.

Then something inside him broke.

Even Won-hee, who usually grinned at everything and turned every situation into a joke, stayed quiet.

After the flower shop, they reached the apartment building. Su-min was waiting outside.

Ji-hun got out of the car and bowed. "Good evening, eomeonim."

Ho-jin turned toward him. Hearing Ji-hun call his mother eomeonim made Ho-jin's heart race so fast that his whole face turned red.

Su-min looked at Ji-hun. "Ji-hun-ssi, you're coming with us too, aren't you?"

"No. I need to study and go to bed early," Ji-hun said. Without looking at Ho-jin, he added, "Good night, sunbae-nim," and walked into the apartment building.

Ho-jin watched him go.

He did not feel good about it at all.

¹ Eomeonim (어머님): Honorific term for mother in Korean, also used respectfully to address a mother-in-law or a friend's mother.