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“My last day,” Taerae mumbles to himself. It’s so quiet that Gunwook barely catches it; Taerae obviously didn’t mean it for Gunwook’s ears, but he heard it anyway.
“Huh?” Gunwook prompts.
Taerae startles and looks up.
“What do you mean, your last day?”
“It’s just,” Taerae pauses. “It’s my last day, today,” he eventually finishes. His cheeks deepen into a shade of red that Gunwook has hardly ever seen on Taerae before.
Gunwook’s mind works overtime to think of what Taerae means, before he realises. It’s winter, which means the end of term. Taerae must have just finished all his assignments and is talking about the last day of his semester.
“Ah! I got it.” Gunwook smiles.
“You do?” Taerae yelps.
“Last day of working on assignments, right? I also can’t wait to be free.”
Taerae sinks back into his seat and sighs. “Yeah, you’re right.” He sounds relieved.
Gunwook doesn’t think about it again until later that day. He is with Hao, who is tutoring him for one of his exams.
“I can’t wait until I’m free like Taerae-hyung.” Gunwook groans as he massages his neck, sore after hours of constant studying.
“What do you mean?” asks Hao.
“Taerae-hyung told me it’s his last day today, so he must have finished all his assignments by now.”
“Taerae was already done with his work a couple of days ago.”
Well, that’s weird.
“Are you sure?”
“Positive. He messaged me after his last submission.”
Hao’s words ring in his ears as he walks back home. It isn’t like Taerae to lie to Gunwook.
Did Taerae mean his last day in Seoul before he went to visit his parents in his hometown? But that couldn’t be it either. Gunwook distinctly remembers Taerae saying his parents were travelling abroad and that he wouldn’t be able to see them until they came back.
As he settles into bed after showering, Gunwook can’t help but think of it again.
Is Taerae planning to drop out of the university? But why would he? He’s so close to finishing his degree, and he always seems to enjoy his coursework and assignments, no matter how stressful it gets. It doesn’t make any sense.
A dark thought creeps into his mind.
There’s no way Taerae could have meant that, right?
Gunwook immediately dials Taerae. The phone rings for a while until it stops. Taerae didn’t pick up. That rings warning bells inside Gunwook’s mind. Taerae never keeps his phone on silent and has never failed to pick up Gunwook’s call before. Something must be seriously wrong.
He dials again, biting his lip and wishing desperately for the call to connect.
“I-hah,” Taerae breathes out.
“Please don’t leave me, hyung,” Gunwook whines into his phone.
Taerae makes a noise of confusion, immediately followed by another noise that almost sounds like he’s panting.
“Are you exercising?”
Gunwook hears someone talking in the background; Taerae must not be alone then.
“I-um,” there’s a strain to Taerae’s voice. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“I will see you, right?” Gunwook is almost on the verge of tears.
“Yeah? Of course.” Taerae breathes harshly near the end. Gunwook is about to ask him if he’s okay, but Taerae interrupts with “I need to go now, Gunwook-ah,” and cuts the call before Gunwook can ask him.
***
Gunwook shakes his leg while sitting, restless energy pulsating off him.
Taerae isn’t late; Gunwook just arrived half an hour before the time they decided on via text that morning. He was so impatient that he rushed through his work that morning and got free earlier than expected.
Taerae arrives right on time, and he’s not alone. Matthew is with him.
Gunwook jumps up when he sees them and runs to hug Taerae.
“I’m so glad you’re okay,” Gunwook mumbles into his neck.
Taerae pats his back. “Why wouldn’t I be okay?”
Gunwook pulls back and lets go of the hold he has on Taerae’s shoulders. “I was so anxious since yesterday. I kept thinking about what you meant by your last day. Why would you phrase it like that? I was genuinely so worried.”
Matthew looks between the two of them, lingering on Taerae’s increasingly embarrassed face, and his smile widens.
Gunwook repeats. “What did you even mean, hyung? Your last day of what?”
Matthew wraps an arm around Taerae’s waist.
“It was his last day of being a virgin,” he says smugly as he pulls Taerae in closer and bumps their heads together.
“Can you stop?” Taerae hides his face in his hands.
Gunwook tilts his head, the gears running in his brain.
Taerae’s last day of…being a virgin?
“So when I called you,” the realisation dawns on Gunwook with the speed of a bullet train.
His mouth falls open in horror.
“You were getting your back blown out?!”