“Do you like being in a relationship?”
Book, whom I had not seen in a long time, started a quarrel as soon as he saw me. It was obvious that he was asking with impure intentions, so I just keep sucking on the freeze bar that I had been sucking quietly.
“I love it. Why?”
It was Tay who responded, not me. My stomach hurts, and I had poor digestion, which I think was due to my lack of stamina. I was going to grab an iron bar and do some pull-ups after dinner today, but I only managed 10 because Tay, who had been gone for a while, showed up holding a freeze bar to the playground. Because of his sincerity and because it was hot, I sat on the stone steps and ate the freeze bar, and Tay spent time watching me eat the freeze bar next to him.
After that, Book, who was walking home with his bag tied, approached us and started arguing.
“… I didn’t ask you.”
Despite his best efforts, Book was unable to defeat Tay. Even now, when he replied harshly in his own way, Tay only snorted.
Book became more enraged, and he raised his voice, “Why are you answering? Why are you interfering with New and my conversation?” He began babbling.
I stayed still. I didn’t even consider getting involved in the fight between the two. I was simply squeezing the tube’s middle and sucking the contents of the freeze bar. Book took turns looking at Tay and me then suddenly sat at the bottom of the stairs where we were.
“The third year is really difficult––”
“Yeah. You look tired, so go home and rest.”
Tay cut off his lament, who had appeared out of nowhere. Book, who was already sitting with his arms on his knees and resting his chin, sighed.
“I have something to tell you.”
“Just go away.”
“…Stop it.”
Tay calmed down when I placed my hand on his lap.
“I’ve been going to the reading room these days.”
“Yeah.”
The reading room that Book attended was not just a reading room. It was a high-end reading room. When I entered the single-person room after entering the password, it notified my parents, and both entry and exit were notified. I couldn’t do anything because it was the same as when I went to the bathroom. Despite the fact that the parents were able to monitor their children via CCTV, Booo, who was unaware of this, signed up for a streaming site and paid for a month and I heard that he got caught by his parents and scolded him for watching an American drama. Poor Book. But it was self-sufficient.
“I found a girl I like in the reading room.”
Love is said to bloom even in the midst of war, and Book was the perfect match. Even during the intense competition for entrance exams, love blossomed.
“But I confessed and got dumped. The manager called me separately and talked to me. I can’t keep doing this.”
“Wow.”
Naturally, it was just a one-sided planting. It was natural because there was no soil and no one was watering it.
“If I hadn’t been in third grade…”
“Hey, stop talking nonsense and go.”
Tay said exactly what I wanted to say. He used the tip of his slippers to kick Book's buttocks. Tay smiled as I patted his knee all the way to indicate that he did a good job. Good. Book's face hardened as Tay and I smiled at each other.
