Jae-hyun kept coming back every day since then, to the point that Min-kyu wondered if he was homeless. But back to Min-kyu.With the constant nagging of his parents, he went back to school.
He had originally wanted to skip so he could put everything he bought for the brat in order, but he guessed he would have to wait.
The school day started and ended with surprisingly nothing happening, except for the teacher looking very surprised that he was actually handing in his homework.
At the end of the school day, he met with Jae-hyun, who seemed to be waiting for him.
With no shame, Min-kyu asked, "Jae-something, can you help me with the little glutton's boxes?"
"Only if you help me with the boxes I got."
"Fine." The work could be split 50/50 since nobody knew of the room or the kid except them two.
Going back to his dorm, he didn't have time to worry over its dirtiness. He handed two boxes to Jae-hyun and got the other two for himself, closing the door with his foot.
There was a slight breeze outside, but they felt warm, and sweat was forming from carrying the boxes. It was uncomfortable, so they sped up their pace, quickly reaching their destination.
Min-kyu, being at the front, couldn't knock with boxes in his hands, so he resorted to kicking the door with his leg. "It's me, open up!"
Ji-woo was startled by the loud banging and opened the door quickly. "You'll break the door!"
Min-kyu hurriedly dropped the boxes and sat down. "Oh yeah? Well, my back is about to break." He didn't know if he had accidentally put bricks in there.
The kid looked at the packages with curiosity. "What is this?"
"New things for you," Min-kyu said, as if it was the most natural thing in the world.
Ji-woo pointed at himself, tilting his head. "Me?"
"No, the ghost behind you."He jumped up behind Min-kyu.
"There's a ghost?!"
Jae-hyun spoke up. "No. And there is still more, Min-kyu, remember?"
"..." Min-kyu wanted to bail out on his promise. "I'm too old."
"We are the same age."Ji-woo giggled from behind.
"Hyung, Jae looks and acts older."
"No, he isn't."
"So is!" Ji-woo refuted.
"So isn't!"
"So is!"
"So is—"
Min-kyu got dragged out against his will to carry more boxes by Jae-hyun. What did he buy the kid anyways? he wondered.
He noticed Jae-hyun kept texting someone on his phone. Shortly after, they arrived at a large clearing with no people around.
Min-kyu was shocked to find furniture sitting there—like a couch, a fridge, cabinets, a microwave, and many more items just dropped off.
"Rob the furniture store?" Min-kyu had to ask. They were both high school students with no jobs. The only money they would get was from their parents.
"My mom gives me an allowance," Jae-hyun shrugged casually while grabbing a box.
Damn that's not an allowance, that's an inheritance. Min-kyu saw Jae-hyun in a new light."Damn... you a mama's boy?"
Come on, he had to ask. Whose parents would give their child that much damn money?
Jae-hyun shrugged casually again. "You could say so, but she's always at work."
Min-kyu nodded his head, thinking in his heart, Oh, he's not a mama's boy, he just has mommy issues.
That was something Min-kyu didn't say out loud because he didn't want to hit a nerve. Instead, he rolled up his sleeves and started hauling ass.
Taking all the boxes inside occupied them for twenty minutes. Ji-woo waddled up to them. "I want to help!"
Min-kyu and Jae-hyun gave each other a knowing side-eye. The delinquent took out his phone, unlocking it before crouching down. "Play with this in the corner."
It would take them so much longer to make sure Ji-woo was safe than to just put everything in its place and assemble it.
Both sighed, seeing Ji-woo obediently sit his little butt in a corner. Min-kyu put his hands on his hips. "I need to use your phone. I don't know how to fix this furniture."
Jae-hyun took out his phone and pulled up a video from the internet on how to assemble a drawer. They sat down on the floor, unboxing as they watched the instructions.
Jae-hyun asked, "How do you use a screwdriver?""I can try, give it to me."
Min-kyu tried to screw in the nail, but he used too much force and accidentally broke the tool.
Min-kyu just held the broken screwdriver in silence. "...."
"I will try, wait." Jae-hyun did it perfectly.
Min-kyu almost didn't want to inform him of the next issue."Nice, but we got the wrong place."
Jae-hyun: "...."
They both apparently, we're not good at this, fighting with the furniture for hours.
Min-kyu wiped the sweat off his temple. "We're finally done with this."
Jae-hyun looked at the picture of the drawer. It looked exactly the same, but something was wrong. "Min-kyu."
"Huh? What?"
Jae-hyun silently turned the picture on his screen. "We may have built it upside down."
Min-kyu, dropped his screwdriver, wanting to cry but having no tears left to shed.
They kept messing up and going back to the start. When they were finally done, Min-kyu laid dead on the ground, heaving, his face covered in sweat.
How the hell do people do this for a job? He had a newfound respect for engineers.
Unlike him Jae-hyun was still standing, putting everything Min-kyu bought into place.
Ji-woo was excitedly looking around; his room looked brand new. He opened and closed the fridge and the drawers again and again like a game.
The disciplinary student put down the new baby-blue futon, immediately throwing out the old mattress into the trash with an expression like it had personally offended him.
"You got all this furniture, except a real bed," Min-kyu pointed out.
The futon was very comfortable, but it certainly wasn't as comfortable as a bed frame.
Jae-hyun countered, "Accidents can occur."
"Like wetting the bed? I got him diapers," Min-kyu teased.
Ji-woo gave small punches to Min-kyu's stomach. "I don't need diapers!"
Min-kyu laughed, swatting him away.
"Hmm not only that," Jae-hyun answered them both. "Falling off the bed can happen, too"
"I don't wanna get hurt," Ji-woo murmured .Jae-hyun rubbed his small head. "Neither do we want you to get hurt."
Jae Hyun stopped rubbing Ji-woo's head after a second and froze. Getting down to eye level, he asked, "Ji-woo, when was the last time you had a shower?"
Min kyu looked ahead. He hadn't thought of that.
"I don't know."
Looking from his own hand back to Min kyu, Jae hyun asked, "When was the last time you bathed?"
"A week ago?" That was more of a question then an answer on Min-Kyu part.
Jae hyun looked at his greasy hand with fear. "We are going to a bathhouse." He pulled a fresh set of children's clothes out of the newly made drawer.
"I want to go!" Ji woo raised his hand in excitement. Min kyu while less than thrilled about getting dragged along by the both of them went anyway.
It was late in the night. There was a bathhouse meant for students who lived in the dorms, but at this hour, nobody visited.
The Bathhouse was all wood taking inspiration from the bathhouse of past. The steam rose as they settled in making the surrending a little foggy like one would in a dream.
All three entering did their own thing.Jae hyun took out three towels from a cubby. Min kyu sat on a chair, while Ji woo tried to take off his clothes. Key word: try, because his head got stuck in his shirt.
They couldn't see his face, but his ears were turning bright red from the struggle.
"Wow, you got one big head," Min kyu whistled, walking over. "Put your hands up."
He tried to get the cloth off, but the kid wasn't staying still. Jae hyun, who had already taken off his clothes and was only in a towel, handled it by holding Ji woo in one place.
Being able to breathe again, Ji woo said, "Thank you."Skipping over shakily, he sat down on a stool butt-naked. Jae hyun stepped up behind him with a shower hose and shampoo. "Cover your eyes."
"Why?"
"Soap can get in your eyes and it will hurt."Ji woo covered his eyes with his tiny hands obediently."Mmm."
Jae hyun wanted to mention there was no need to cover his face like that, but he let the kid do as he wanted.
He lathered up the soap in his hair, massaging it in with both hands.He grabbed the shower hose, getting all that filth and junk out, and wiped the kid's face to clear the stray soap when he was done.
"All done. Now get in the bath. Be careful not to slip, okay?"
"Yes, sir!" Min Kyu thought to himself that Jae-Hyun really knows how to handle kids with all their why questions and lack of understanding.
But unfortunately now Jae hyun set his sights on Min kyu, who was looking out the window. "Wash yourself."
"I don't need to. I told you, I showered a week ago."
Hearing this, Jae hyun expressionlessly and menacingly pointed the pressurized shower hose directly at him. "A shower is to be taken three times a week."
"Does it really matter?" Min kyu drawled, putting his hands up.
Eyes peeked out from the bath. A butt naked wet Ji woo, with his hair sticking to his face, laughed.
"Splash him!"
"Splash him, splash him!" The kid kept chanting over and over.
The one with the hose asked again, "So, what will it be?"
"Fine!" Stripping off his clothes, Min kyu mumbled indignantly, "This is what I get for taking care of a thankless pig."
"Hey, I heard that!" Ji woo said, his cheeks puffed up.Min kyu smirked. "I told the truth."
"Hmph!"
Satisfied with his own victory, Min kyu sat down on a stool to wash his own hair. He couldn't help but glance at the person next to him, who was currently rinsing their hair out.
A drop of water slid from Jae hyun's neck down to his chest, his eyes following it. Min kyu's brain lagged for a second before he muttered, "Nice abs."
Without changing his expression, Jae hyun replied, "You too."Jae hyun then got up, finished with his hair, and walked over to where Ji woo was in the bath.
Min kyu sat there with his mouth wide open, completely shocked as a fierce blush crept up his face.'I-I didn't mean to say that out loud!' Min kyu panicked internally. 'What did I just say? And what did he mean by that?!'
He scrubbed his hair with double the force, desperately trying to wash away the embarrassment along with the shampoo, though his burning ears gave him away entirely.
Jae hyun himself didn't actually know why he had said it either, keeping his back turned to not show a flustered expression.
His posture was just a little too rigid as he tested the water's temperature, his own heart giving an uncharacteristic, sudden thud against his ribs.In the tub, little Ji woo was covering his eyes.
He had a very odd feeling, like he shouldn't be witnessing whatever was happening between them.
He peeked through his small fingers, looking back and forth between the frozen delinquent and the overly stiff disciplinary student.
Once all three of them were finally settled in the hot bath, a deeply awkward silence fell over the room.
The steam rose thickly around them, but instead of relaxing, the atmosphere felt tightly wound.Ji woo to let the mood up began splashing water over both of them.
"Play with me pleasss. "
Grateful for the perfect excuse to break the tension, Min kyu smirked and immediately started a massive water war with him.
"Oh, you asked for it, brat!" he yelled, lunging forward. Before long, the bathhouse floor was getting rained on heavily from the splashing.
Jae hyun opened his mouth to tell them to stop, but then closed it. They were having fun, Next time, Jae hyun thought.
But while he was lost in thought, he suddenly got targeted and splashed directly by the both of them, who had now teamed up against him.
"Sneak attack!" Ji woo cheered."Karma!" Min kyu laughed.
Jae hyun's eyes curved slightly. Before letting them get away with the satisfaction of winning, he retaliated, hitting them both with a swift wave of water.
The two of them were completely dumbfounded. They hadn't expected the strict student to hit back at all, and now they looked like two drenched cats, hair plastered to their heads.
Min kyu and Ji woo exchanged a look of pure determination. Together, they started relentlessly splashing him from both sides, kicking off a chaotic back-and-forth battle.
Even if it was unfair that Jae hyun had to fight a two-on-one battle.