I couldn't leave my apartment, so I asked Tod to go there. Aoey was even
more angry. Lately, I noticed that she was so spoiled. Now she knew that
she could make demands because she was loved. I sighed when I realized
she wouldn't try to understand.
"Why do you ask him to be in our space?"
I looked around my studio and felt a little strange. Now, this was our space.
It sounded cozy.
"It's just a visit from a friend."
"That's your Boyfriend."
"Great was here too. I do not have any problem with that."
"Great is your brother."
"But he's your boyfriend.."
"Why are you arguing with me? Can't you just let me win sometime?"
She raised her voice at me, something she had never done before. I looked
into the gentle eyes that were now lost. She pouted and didn't apologize, but
she went to bed and left me alone, getting confused. I better change the
subject.
"Take off the handcuffs. I won't know how to explain this to Tod.."
"Don't let him in if you don't want to answer any questions. How can he
visit a girl at 1 am? What kind of man is this?"
"If you had let me out earlier, it was only 11 at night."
"Why didn't you leave then?"
"Who seduced me?"
"You could say no."
"I was handcuffed, I was harassed. Who could say no to that?"
I waved my cuffed wrists in front of her face as she sat on the bed.
"Please unlock this."
"No."
My guest had arrived. She knocked twice until I walked to the door. I had to
hide my wrists by covering them.
"I'm sorry I asked you to come here,"
I said with guilt on my face. The handsome boy looked horrible now but he
still gave me a weak smile. I invited him in. Tod paused and smelled
something in the air.
"What?"
I asked. Tod looked at me and responded casually.
"I smell like sex."
"You're crazy. There is no smell of sex."
"Yes... I can smell fresh sex. It's a hormone... it's..."
"Are you here for the nonsense?"
I pretended to act normal even though I was so embarrassed. How could a
doctor know so much?
"I could be confused. My nose is funny."
Tod looked at Aoey who was sitting on the bed. Her soft eyes acted like a
child. I had to make some noise to remind her to be nice to him.
"Hey."
She turned around to look with an expressionless face and said hello to Tod
coldly.
"Hello, make yourself at home."
Then she headed to the kitchen to avoid him. Tod, who saw what happened,
immediately knew that something was wrong with Aoey.
"Very sorry. Did I make you fight?"
"Don't worry about that. It's a little cold."
"I really don't know who to talk to. You're the only one who knew my
story."
I reached out my hand and gently touched his arm. I never comforted
anyone in my life except Aoey. My life is so strange now. Suddenly, I had a
close friend, a brother, and a partner...both a man and a woman. The
handsome boy looked at my handcuffed hands in surprise.
"Why are you handcuffed?"
"Ummm...we were playing. Forget it."
I quickly changed the subject because I didn't want to explain what
happened.
"What happened to you?"
"You two were playing at 1 am?"
"I said forget it. What happened?"
"Sing told me he likes women. He wanted to break up with me.."
"Oh?"
I was as surprised and confused as he was. Could a man who was dating
another man change his mind about another woman? Was he lying to that
woman? Won't it be an excuse why he likes another boy?
"No, he really likes that woman."
"But he's gay."
"He's not gay. He just liked me."
"Is that possible? If a man likes another man, then he is gay."
"When you like Aoey, are you gay?"
"N... nooo. I never said I like Aoey."
I never told anyone about this relationship. I didn't know how to react. Only
Aoey and I knew. I had to act as if nothing had happened. If no one knew
what happened between us, there was nothing between us.
"You looked uncomfortable. You are usually so confident and never stutter.
I'm pretty sure I smelled good. I smelled love everywhere in this place."
My face was so hot at that moment. I could iron my student uniform with
my face now.
"So you're a lesbian?"
"No, I'm not a lesbian."
"You see. You only like who you like. It just happened to be Aoey, who
happened to be a woman."
"I had never heard of this definition before. I thought if you're a man and
you date a man, then you're gay. If you are a woman and you date another
woman, then you are a lesbian."
"That's so narrow to look at. We can love who we love in this world.."
"Can I love my mother's husband? Or my grandmother's husband then?"
"You know it has to be morally acceptable. Don't ask for something you
already knew."
Tod walked up to the bird in a cage and looked at it for a long time. Today
the handsome guy just wanted to have a friend. He just wanted to talk to
someone. Sometimes, people just wanted someone to listen to their
problems.
"That means that you two are not homosexuals, but it turns out that you are
men who love each other. I'm fine?"
"I could say it like that."
"Can I ask one more question?"
"Yeah?"
It was so nice to have someone like him who opened up my view of the
world. I could ask and learn a lot from him..
"Did you insult each other like men do in a bisexual novel?"
"Sometimes, but not very often, because if it's too much, we become just
friends. Because?"
"I read some bisexual novels. That's how they talked. Just wondering if they
do that in real life. Novels often claim to be based on real life."
"It seems like you like bisexual novels."
I was curious to know more about his life and wanted to talk shit to him for
a while.
"I love history. Can I try something with you?"
"Try what?"
"I wanted to call you son of a bitch. You deserved to be screwed and they
left you. Who the hell would want to be with you!"
I said it with a mocking tone but mixed with a cunning tone.
"Gen."
"Did they break your damn heart? Ha ha. You deserved it. I really wasn't
surprised he left you."
"I'm kidding. I just wanted to talk like a child. I never curse, but I wanted to
try with you."
I gave him my cutest smile, so he could forgive me. I finally got back at
him for being a bad mouth to me. Fucking Todd.
You fucking deserved it. I was happy now. I should change the topic now.
The mockery was done.
"Where were we? You don't like men but you like Sing."
I knew he was a little upset, but I acted so innocently. I returned to his
serious topic, so he could forget what I just did.
"I like Sing because he was Sing. I never liked any other boy."
"You talk as if you could like girls."
"I dated women before."
I was the one who was surprised now. I needed to read more about this type
of bisexual novel on the website. I needed to update my view of the world.
They might like men but they were not homosexuals. Fucking Todd. Piece
of shit. I was so happy with the bisexual world.
"Have you ever slept with a woman?"
After hearing the question, he turned to me and smiled at the corner of his
mouth.
"Guess."
I looked at him in disbelief. I felt sweat break out from my back. The
handsome boy saw my reaction and laughed. He turned to the bird again.
"Is this a Myna? You can speak?"
Good. Let's change the subject. I wasn't ready to find out that Tod, who had
a boyfriend, could date a woman and have sex with her.
"I want to train him but he doesn't speak. It must be a dumb bird."
"What do you want me to say?"
"Well...."
I hadn't finished my sentence. Aoey came out of the kitchen and looked at
the two of us who were just chatting. In her mind, it might seem like we
were flirting.
"Gen, I'm very sleepy. It's too late."
The soft eyes looked at Tod critically.
"Is it okay if I ask you to go home? I couldn't sleep with anyone else in the
house."
The handsome man looked at me and smiled.
"I just arrived not long ago. But if you really need to sleep..."
"Why don't you go for a walk? I wanted to be alone with Gen."
That was Tod, who always made me nervous from the first day we met. I
touched my forehead feeling a little headache. I felt like I was in a silent
war between a smart, handsome man and a dumb, jealous girl.
"Gen..."
Aoey called with a serious voice.
"Do you really want me to leave?"
"Everything... please."
I wanted to scream out loud because I was in the middle of the war. The
handsome man responded with a laugh.
"I'm kidding. I'll be leaving soon."
"You can go now."
"You're very jealous."
The handsome man caught Aoey off guard.
"I like men. Do not worry about me."
"Oh."
"It's the same as you and Gen. You like the same sex. I like the same sex
too."
His revelation made Aoey very surprised, but I denied it because I wasn't
ready to admit that I like the same sex "Stop misunderstandings, Tod. Aoey
and I are not lovers..."
Aoey looked at me with her sad puppy eyes. She made me feel so guilty.
But what should I say? Tod was still my boyfriend. Aoey still had Great as a
boyfriend.
"It's true."
"Eat me!"
A high-pitched, squeaky voice came from a cage in the corner of the room.
Three of us froze. The little bird jumped into the cage and showed off his
new ability.
"My Gen... Eat me now.."
I rushed over to the cage immediately and hugged it tightly as if to silence
the unpleasant bird. But the more I hugged it, the more the bird grunted,
gasped and moaned.
"Eat me here... Good... Oh, Gen good girl.."
"My Aoey. You are delicious. You are delicious"
This time it was Aoey who rushed over and hugged the cage because she
didn't know what to do either. Our faces turned red as tomatoes. Damn!
There were so many things I taught him to speak, but he chose to repeat
these words. Tod looked at us both and covered his mouth with his hand in
surprise. He smiled before bursting into laughter.
-You two made a great show in front of the bird, huh?"
He laughed with satisfaction. His laughter made me very angry. I bit my lip
hard. I promised myself the bird would be in a frying pan tomorrow. I'd eat
the damn bird!
"Tod, please pretend you don't hear this."
I begged and almost cried. The handsome man stopped joking and stopped
laughing. He understood what I was like.
"Thank you for making me laugh so much after such a bad day."
He placed each of his hands on our heads.
"You are both sweet. Even the bird can tell how much fun you had
together.."
"Oh no! I said stop."
I wanted to cry.
"Okay, I'll stop. I'll go now. And you, Aoey, don't hate me. Gen and I are a
fake couple. I went out with her to fool my family. In fact, we could sit and
talk about it for a long time, but it was 2 am now. It wouldn't be a good time
for a long story. I would tell you the next day."
Aoey was stunned and then ashamed of what she did. She was rude to him
at first.
"OK."
"I'll leave. I may stop by here sometimes. I'm not myself now. I hope you
do not mind."
"No."
The gentle eyes were very pleasant now. I said goodbye to him and waited
for him to leave at the door. I felt bad and pitied him, but there was nothing
I could do. Before leaving, he looked at both of us and asked us the last
question.
"Before i go..."
"Yeah?"
"If you're not going out...What are you two?"
I thought he wanted to tease me for asking that question in front of Aoey.
As if he wanted to see my reaction when she asked it in front of Aoey. I
gave him an angry look. I would shoot him if I had a gun.
"Best friend."
Aoey responded in a neutral tone but there was some implication of sadness
in it.
"Best friends who love each other,"
I said.
"We are both in love. That's our relationship.
