Back on the bus, Jihoon rested his forehead against the cool glass, exhausted. His very bones felt tired. In fact, they didn't feel like bones at all, but brittle sticks unable to hold his body up any longer.He'd wanted his father to tell her new family the truth. Jihoon was his son and he wasn't embarrassed to claim him.
Yet that wasn't what upset him the most. What he couldn't get over was the sight of him cradling the baby so gently. How she'd glanced affectionately at him. There'd been a paternal love in his eyes that Jihoon couldn't recall from his own childhood. What did that mean about Jihoon that his own father couldn't love him the way he loved his new child?
When it began to rain, the window fogged. A matching haze filled his vision from the gathering of unshed tears. He blinked them away, refusing to let a single one fall for that man.
As soon as Jihoon stepped off the bus, the rain-drenched him. His clothes stuck to his skin and goosebumps rose along his bare arms. He thought fleetingly of the bag full of coats. No, he'd rather freeze to death than wear that man's cast-off clothing. Reluctant to go home just yet, he sat on the bench under the bus shelter.
He pulled out his phone and shot a quick text to Seojun, thinking a trip to the PC room would clear his bad mood. He watched the blank screen, willing it to light with a response. When it didn't, he swiped to his contacts. His fingers hovered over Minjae's name as he kept debating with himself whether he should call his brother or not.
Looking back, he didn't even have any other friends other than his brother and Seojun. He couldn't talk to anyone else whom he trusted.
His breath shuddered out as he lowered the phone. He would start crying if he spoke to anyone right now.
He couldn't have called Minjae. His phone buzzed with Seojun's belated answer:
"Dad saw my grades. Grounded -_-"
Jihoon knew he was in a bad place when he felt jealous Seojun had a dad around to ground him. It would all pass, he promised himself. This tightness in his chest never stayed for long.
Restless, Jihoon left the safety of the bus shelter.
He followed the winding streets decorated with yellow speed bumps. A stone wall held in the forest, but branches still reached over the small barrier defiantly.
"Dumbass, you never hear of an umbrella?" Jihoon stopped, barely fazed by being called stupid.
He stared at the shiny boots in front of him before he lifted his eyes. Shane Stood under the shadow of his umbrella so all he saw were his lips curled into a sneer.
"Excuse me?" His voice was as cold as the rain.
"Who walks around in a downpour with no coat and no umbrella?" he obviously made a good point but only succeeded in throwing him into a darker mood.
"Just leave me alone." Jihoon walked into the small neighborhood playground to escape. The colorful plastic tunnels looked faded and gray under the overcast sky. The swings swayed lightly, like they'd recently been abandoned for drier ground.
Jihoon flopped down in one. He hadn't expected Shane to follow him, but he stood in front of the swing set, eyeing him.
"I think we need to get some things straight—" he began.
"I am not in the mood to speak to anyone right now, please leave me alone."
"I wasn't in the mood the other day and you almost managed to get me detention." Shane shrugged as he sat down.
"That was different, I wanted to confirm something."
Shane stiffened, was he the one?
"What did you want to confirm?" Shane asked, trying to mask the fear and doubt in his voice.
Jihoon considered speaking about it but he just sighed.
"Nothing, it was just a dream. I get nightmares pretty often. Nothing you should worry about."
Shane almost let out a sigh of relief. So jihoon was actually the one who had seen him that day.
That would be easier for him to take Jihoon's soul.
"You know you can talk about it, if you want to." Shane was surprised to see himself provide comfort to someone. Was he himself turning into a human?
Jihoon looked at the read smear in Shane's knuckles.
"Where did you get that?" he asked with a pointed look.
'Huh?' Shane was confused when Jihoon asked him that but then looked at his injured knuckles, which had been badly bruised. Two of them were burst and bleeding.
Then he remembered what had happened. He had gotten into a fight with one of the alleyway gangs and had punched a wall by mistake. Shane had won the fight but his knuckles were wounded.
"You're bleeding." Jihoon grabbed Shane's hand..
"I'm fine." Shane pulled his hand back, partly flustered by the skin to skin touch.
"Don't be a baby," he said, taking Shane's hand in his while digging in his pocket and pulling out a tissue. He clucked his tongue at the blood as he tied the makeshift bandage around her hand. "I don't have anything on me, but you should clean it when you get home. Or else it'll get infected."
"You sound like an old woman."
Shane watched him so intently with a look somewhere between confused and intrigued. It made his heart stutter a beat. Jihoon dropped his hand and wiped his suddenly sweaty palms on his pants.
"I get it from my mother." He used his rambling words to chase away the sudden awkwardness. "She'd lecture you for an hour about bad habits. When I was younger I used to bite my nails and she'd dip my fingers in goya juice every morning to deter me. Now I think I actually like the taste because it reminds me of her."
"Must be nice."
"What?"
"Nothing," Shane muttered, gripping his crudely bandaged hand with the other. "I just don't know what it's like to have a mother to fuss over me."
Jihoon blinked at the hint of wistfulness he heard in Shane's voice. It seemed so ordinarily human, to wish for family. It made him so much more of a mystery and he couldn't help asking, "Do you have parents?"
Shane scowled at him.
"Sorry, I shouldn't have asked," Jihoon looked at his feet.
"It's not your fault." Shane confessed, "My parents just don't care much about me. They just provide for me because I'm their heir. Otherwise, I am not their first choice as an ideal child."
"Sorry to hear that." Jihoon couldn't think of anything else.
"It's fine."
"I grew up without my father, too. Haven't seen him since I was four."
"Well, humans suck sometimes," Shane said. It was not the reaction Jihoon usually got, and definitely not the one he was expecting from him.
He was silent a moment, unsure how to reply. Then he let out a roaring laugh. "Thanks."
"What for?"
"Just for distracting me from my problems by being you."
"You're so strange."Shane shook his head, suppressing a smile. "I should get going."
But he didn't leave. Instead he narrowed his eyes, like he was debating something. Then he held out his umbrella.
"What's this for?" Jihoon asked.
"I don't get sick and I don't live far off. You need it more than I do."
"Will you be okay?"
"Of course, I'm not a baby." Shane shrugged.
"Be careful," he said, accepting the umbrella with a grin. "I might start thinking you like me." he rolled his eyes as he left. His form faded long before he was able to tear his gaze away.
'It's not smart for a person to go looking for trouble among things he doesn't understand,' he reminded himself.
But apparently, Jihoon wasn't smart.