Under One Roof
Jongdoo put a cigarette to his lips. Hyunwoo just stood there beside him. Well past lunch, the Smoking Area was littered with spent butts and spat phlegm.
"Why do you always tag along? You don't even smoke."
"You're the only one I've got."
That was all. Jongdoo was the only friend Hyunwoo had.
Jongdoo blew the smoke off to the side.
"Hey. Yuna lives at your place, right? Lucky you."
Hyunwoo just fidgeted with his phone. Whenever Yuna came up, the words would not come.
He had never told anyone about her family. The two of them had grown up on the same streets since they were children — middle school together, high school together, even university. Nobody at school knew. People figured they were just college friends. That they went all the way back to the same neighborhood was something only Hyunwoo really carried.
They used to keep their own studio apartments. Then Yuna's family suddenly fell apart, and she moved in with him. When she said she couldn't even chip in for this month's rent, Hyunwoo had just told her he understood.
"So why are you living together? You two going out?"
"...We're friends."
"Friends are friends. Living under the same roof, though — that's not ordinary friends."
Jongdoo had a lot to say.
He wasn't much to look at, either. He hardly washed. The smell clung to his clothes and his hair, which was why he always kept his head shaved down to the scalp. Even shaved, the skin stayed slick with oil, and acne crowded his jaw and cheeks. To put it bluntly, the grease practically ran off him. For all that, Jongdoo had the kind of personality that made friends of anyone in no time.
"You know how popular Yuna is around campus, right?"
"Yuna's quiet."
"She is quiet. Barely talks, and when she does it comes out weird. But she's pretty. And she's on the swim team. You think guys are just going to sit still looking at a face like that?"
Jongdoo glanced around once and dropped his voice.
"Yesterday, out in front of Fresh Hall, Minsu and Jaemin were talking. Said they saw Yuna going into your studio."
"You know them, right? Minsu and Jaemin."
Hyunwoo couldn't say a word. He'd already known the rumor was going around. Hearing it said to his face, though, still didn't sit right.
"You're the one living with her. But nobody else looks at Yuna as your friend. They just see a pretty girl. A quiet girl."
"Don't talk about her like that."
Hyunwoo's voice was small. He knew he ought to say it louder. It just wouldn't come.
Jongdoo shrugged.
"I'm not making this up. You don't mix with other people, so you wouldn't know."
A moment passed before Jongdoo spoke again.
"So did Yuna find a part-time job?"
Hyunwoo hesitated a beat, then just nodded.
"The Senior Community Center. She said it's a yoga job. Starts this week. She doesn't want to go alone, so she asked me to come with her."
"The Senior Community Center? What kind of gig is that. Washing old men or something?"
"...No. She said it's yoga."
Jongdoo took another drag and looked at Hyunwoo.
"You're really lucky, Hyunwoo. Living under the same roof as Yuna. Free show, right? When she comes out of the shower. When she changes."
"Jongdoo."
"What. You've never thought about it? If I were you, I would."
Jongdoo flicked a glance at him and smiled. A smile meant to watch what he did with it.
Hyunwoo had something to say. It just arrived too late. It was always like that whenever Yuna came up.
Yuna would be at the swim building right now. A girl who barely spoke, and when she tried, something strange came out first. The girl who now lived with him in his cramped studio apartment.
Jongdoo crushed out the butt.
"If it were me, I couldn't hold back."
In the end, Hyunwoo couldn't manage a single reply. He walked away.