PP Chapter 24

Despite it being the first time they contacted each other in a while, Won was still exactly the same.

Laughing softly without realizing it at that unchanging nature, Dohwa whispered as if telling a secret.

“Hyung, I got accepted!”

—I already saw. That’s why I called you as soon as I saw your missed call.

His voice, which was always sweet yet somehow had a cold edge, replied sweetly.

—Congratulations. Peach, you must have worked really hard to get into the same university as me.

“I worked so hard.”

Dohwa whined and complained, something he hadn’t even done to his parents, let alone his teacher.

“But everyone was like, someone like you didn’t even suffer. You got it easy. You lack eff-ort. I was so upset because they kept saying things like that. Even my parents said I was lucky! They don’t even know how I practiced all night. Even if I have talent like people say, how could I have passed Hankuk University if I didn’t put in any effort?”

Because he had a lot pent up, Dohwa poured out his words like a machine gun.

Won listened to all the complaints calmly and said softly as Dohwa finished.

—People were too much. It’s obvious my soft peach must have been so nervous and worked so hard that he turned into a hard peach.

“But Hyung, I’m not a soft peach. I’m not a hard peach either.”

—Then what are you?

“A person! What else would I be?”

—A person? You’re a person? Well, there is a story that a peach turned into a person.

“No, that’s not what I mean.”

—Then?

“I mean I’m just a person. I even have a mother who gave birth to me.”

—Anyone listening would think I just asked a peach how its parents are doing.

Won muttered, letting out a hollow laugh as if finding it absurd. At those words, Dohwa snorted with a ‘hmph’ and wiggled his toes inside his socks.

“Hyung, but when are you coming?”

—Me?

“I know it’s only been 145 days since you went to the army, but…”

—Ha, you remember things like that?

“Yes…”

—Even my girlfriend wouldn’t know something like that.

“You have a girlfriend?!”

Startled by Won’s murmur, Dohwa jumped in place and asked back.

His voice was so loud that his parents, who were waiting outside the door, even asked, “Did you fail?”

And our unfilial son, Yeo Dohwa, just relentlessly grilled Won regardless of what his parents said.

“Tell me, Hyung! Do you have a girlfriend?!”

—Whoa, that surprised me. Look at the volume on Peach. Maybe you should have done vocal music instead of art.

“No! I asked if you have a girlfriend!”

Won rambled seriously about how a talent for vocal music might have mistakenly come to the art world.

Dohwa, anxious because he couldn’t get the answer he wanted, stomped his feet on his bed.

​The puppy plushie that had been neatly placed on the bed bounced around along with Dohwa’s flailing.

​After teasing Dohwa with nonsense for a long while, Won finally answered obediently, as if he felt he had teased him enough.

—I don’t. I did, but we broke up. I told you before.

“Really?”

—Really.

“Isn’t that a lie? Hyung, you’re a good liar!”

—I’m not usually someone who isn’t trusted like this…

“Anyway, is it true?!”

“It’s true. Really. We broke up. I don’t have a girlfriend or anything. Right now, I only have you.”

“H-hmph!”

At the coy snort, Won burst into laughter from behind the phone.

He even mimicked Dohwa’s snort, saying, “Hmph, you say, hmph.”

Normally, Dohwa would have pouted his lips at the teasing, but he was in such a good mood that he just kicked his feet.

Rolling left and right even more violently than when he was anxious waiting for an answer, the puppy plushie ended up falling straight onto the floor.

​As the puppy plushie looked up at Dohwa resentfully after falling limply to the floor, Dohwa abruptly sat up and shouted with an excitedly flushed face.

“You’re really not dating anyone?!”

—I told you. But why are you so obsessed with whether Hyung is dating or not? Do you like me, Dohwa?

“T-this is just!”

—Just?

“I-I thought if hyung started dating, you wouldn’t play with me anymore! What if you suddenly dump me again because you’re dating? I don’t ever want to experience that again!”

At first, he had said it simply as an excuse, but once the words left his mouth, Dohwa became earnest and rolled around on the bed in a surge of emotion.

Then, hitting his head against the wall, Dohwa groaned and rubbed the spot.

Startled by the sudden groan, Won called out to him.

—Peach? Dohwa? What happened? Dohwa?

“It’s nothing! I just hit my head on the wall…”

—Our peach is a soft peach so you’re all squishy, what are you going to do now that you bumped your head on the wall. Are you going to get a bruise on your pretty face?

His voice, making a fuss about whether there was a hole in his head, was incredibly annoying.

Dohwa just gaped, the words so absurd he momentarily forgot the pain.

“Wh-what are you talking about? I’m not a pudding. Why would hitting my head on a wall leave a hole? Hyung, you’re really weird.”

—Then you shouldn’t have been born a soft peach. You’re the one who was a soft peach first. A completely ripe soft peach that caves right in if you just poke it.

“……Hyung, you’re really weird……”

—So you hate it?

“……Hyung, you’re really, really, really, really weird.”

—Yet you still don’t say you hate it. Should I say thank you?

His voice didn’t sound thankful at all. Dohwa pouted at those words, stopped flailing on the bed, and lay flat.

“Hyung, don’t pretend not to know me at university.”

—Why would I pretend not to know you?

“Hyung only likes girls.”

—But I’m being nice to you right now.

“That’s ‘right now.’ Who knows what it’ll be like later? I know you’re not that good of a person, Hyung.”

Dohwa spoke in a voice that still had a hint of youth, enough to make it surprising that he had gone through puberty like other men.

Strangely, at this moment, Won felt that Dohwa seemed quite like an adult.

Instead of getting angry at being called a not-so-good person, Won laughed. Quite cheerfully, too.

—The soft peach is even smart. Well, you’re a peach who got into Hankuk University, so it makes sense that you’d be smart.

Dohwa didn’t say anything to the words that felt almost sweet; he just flipped over on the bed.

“Hyung, aren’t you even mad? A kid much younger than you is calling you a bad person.”

—Why would I be mad at the truth? If anything, I’m praising you for being smart. ​I don’t get mad at kids over things like that.

Won, who answered so decisively it almost felt stern, let out a soft laugh.

—Don’t trust me too much. Like you said, Peach, I’m not a good person.

“They say that among people who call themselves bad, none of them are actually bad.”

—Is that so? Then I guess I’ll be the first.

“Hyung, you’re really weird.”

—Yeah.

“Actually, I’m lying. Hyung, you aren’t bad at all. You’re a good person.”

—Haha, you’re all over the place. Was the practical exam that hard?

Dohwa felt strangely ticklish inside at the words that seemed to coax a child.

It felt as if someone had put a feather in his stomach and was constantly tickling him.

Rubbing his face against the blanket that smelled cozy and sweet, Dohwa mumbled.

“Keep being nice to me.”

—Why should I?

“Because Hyung is a good person.”

—I told you I’m not a good person?

“It’s because I said you’re a good person.”

If someone else had said such a thing, Won would have laughed it off as nonsense, but he just let it slide with a chuckle.

While leaving behind ticklish words in a low voice, like, “I’ll try my best to do that.”

After some more talk about this and that, the conversation returned to the topic of university.

Dohwa hesitated for a moment before speaking as if complaining.

“I only went to Hankuk University because of you, Hyung.”

—Really?

“……Actually, I was planning on going to Hankuk University anyway. But let’s just go with that.”

—Alright. Let’s say that’s the setting. So?

“So, you have a responsibility to take care of me when I’m all alone at university, hyung.”

—Why do you like me so much?

At those words, Dohwa made an expression that questioned whether he had heard correctly.

​No, actually, he couldn’t help it. After acting so sweet, what kind of absurd remark was that?

“Then why were you so kind to me, Hyung? Let’s say you were kind at first because you mistook me for a girl. But you were still kind even after you found out I’m a guy. Of course, you treated me a bit more roughly than before, but it’s true you were still kind.”