So, Jooheon obtains a boyfriend. They can't tell anyone, obviously. Jooheon can't even imagine what his mother would say, how she would feel. She had told him to ignore his feelings, she had made him feel like they were wrong, like he was wrong. Jooheon is seventeen and he resents his mother for it. Is too young to understand her reasons, just knows that she would never accept him. He takes it out on her in staying out late and smoking Changkyun's friend's cigarettes and ignoring her calls.
He learns of hands and mouths, of moans and hitched breaths. Their tree in the woods becomes a beacon for late night rendezvous's when their families are asleep. It becomes a symbol of the gentle heat of summer nights, the buzz of cicadas, fists between teeth to try and keep quiet. Jooheon learns how to give himself to another person, how to trust someone enough to see all the parts of you. And if he slips in the mornings to his shared bedroom with leaves in his hair and bruises under his Tshirt and his younger brother looks at him with wide, questioning eyes; Jooheon shushes him with a finger to his lips and turns over in bed.
But the sexual aspect wasn't all there was, they still walked together and still talked and Changkyun whispers to him that this world is so much wider than Jooheon can even imagine. It's so much more than Daegu, South Korea in this shitty apartment complex. It's so much more wonderful then he can even fathom. He talks a lot about them leaving, going away together, as the summer is coming to an end and their time together is quickly coming to an end with it.
