he sets the bowl down in front of sejun, steam collecting on the plastic wrap. beside it, a plate of yellow radish, some sliced onions. and then a plate of fried dumplings; a smaller bowl of fried riceâand he doesnât mention theyâre from his mom, whoâd scurried to the door to add them to the box. donât tell him theyâre from me, she says, and subin doesnât question it.Â
âbusy day?â he asks, letting the box slide shut. the grin on his lips feels automatic at this point, and itâs scary how easy it is. âah! wait! aw, man. maybe i should have brought the hand towels and aprons while i was at itâŚâÂ
heâs made a career out of chasing ghosts. thereâs his dream of being an idol, for oneâin some ways, it died a long time ago, and sejunâs only keeping it alive out of sheer spite, out of the sincere refusal to let things end the way they did. thereâs nothing glamorous about being stubborn; itâs ugly, he thinks, to not know when to give up. uglier to believe that choosing not to will make a difference.
but his life is a graveyard for more reasons than just a dream that shouldâve been buried. the biggest ghost, the one he sees out of the corner of his eye even years later, is suha. you should feel honored, sejun tells him once. you take up so much space in my life even now. and he can almost hear suha sigh and reply, but i donât want to. itâs wistful thinking, and sejun rarely thinks âwistfullyâ for the most part, but suha is capable of unlocking the melancholy part of him he keeps hidden away without even trying.
itâs been years. years. he still hasnât stopped waiting for suha to call him, to walk through the door of the laundry with his helmet tucked under his arm and a smile on his face. he still hasnât stopped waiting for suha to respond to his last text, still hasnât come to terms with the fact that heâll never be able to bother him again (he says bother, but suha never seemed troubled by sejunâs antics). he still hasnât stopped waiting for suha, period, as if his stubborn denial of his death would reverse its effects.
(itâs ugly, this futile refusal to face the truth.)
sometimes he sees glimpses of suha that arenât a part of his imaginationâin subinâs face, in the cadence of his laughter, in the way he offers sejun a small, familiar smile whenever he sees him. hereâs a ghost too, though he canât quite put his finger on what it is (or he can, just refuses to). sometimes he looks at subin, but sees suha instead, and his heart takes a moment to catch up with his brain, unwilling to let the illusion fade.
disappointment is a disgusting feeling, because subin is who he is, and sejun needs to appreciate him for that alone. subin matters, subin is here, subin is alive, and whatever sejunâs ghosts may be, they donât need to haunt him all hours of the day. or if they insist on it anyway, sejunâs gotten really good at ignoring them. subin deserves his grin and his careâsuha would want that for him.
âi was just teasing,â sejun says, a playful lilt to his voice. âi know youâre eager to see hyungâs handsome face, but youâre not supposed to rush. wouldnât want anything happening to you out there, huh?â the last part slips out of his mouth unbidden, and he momentarily stiffens before forcing the tension in his shoulders to relax. âyouâre probably right; the nice weather brings more people outdoors, and crowds can be kind of dangerous sometimes.â
will he ever be able to express concern without suha looming over them? every time he tries, it sounds like a warning, with the postscript of âi donât want something to happen to you tooâ attached. subinâs kind of a clumsy kid, and sejun doesnât think heâll never not worry about him, but his anxieties too often bleed with suha-related thoughts andâ
it wouldnât happen again. the universe doesnât work like that. it canât.
he pulls himself out of his thoughts, idly watching subinâs busy movements. ânothing exciting?â he echoes, a crease forming between his eyebrows. âso if i, say, left the first aid kit on the counter and looked away, you wouldnât use it at all?â sejun always keeps a first aid kit on hand when subinâs set to arriveâjust in case, for his own peace of mind.
sejunâs order is larger than he remembers it being, with extra dishes he didnât think to addâall his favorites, of course, and the sudden, misshapen lump in his throat threatens to choke him before he can get any words out. i think you mixed up my order with someone elseâs, he wants to say, but selfishly, sejun wantsâwell, he wants to believe itâs an acceptance of an apology he hasnât worked up the courage to give. his fingers reach for the plate of fried dumplings, then halt.
he probably doesnât deserve this.
but he canât bring himself to reject it either.
âhm?â sejun glances up, meeting subinâs smile with one of his own. âi donât know if iâd say that. busy wasting some time, maybe? daydreaming about you and the best jjajangmyeon in the city.â business is what is is, but he hardly wants to complain to subin about it. he knows subinâs not fragile, but he still canât help but attempt to treat him gently.
âi guess youâre just going to have to come back here, orââ he pauses and taps the counter. âoh, i can walk you back and pick them up? then deliver them once theyâre done.â it sounds like a lot of work he wouldnât do for anyone else, but, well, this is subin, and sejun would rather not have him running around everywhere on errands and risk getting hurt. âiâll even give you the special discount i reserve for cute customers only.â he punctuates the sentence with a cheeky grin, his dimple on full display. Â
itâs something he wouldâve said to suha, calculated to elicit a reaction from him.Â
it slips out too easily with subin, and sejun wonders, not for the first time, if this isnât more than a little fucked up.