Nineteen Fish

"Hehe..."

"......"

"Hehehe..."

"......"

"Hehehehe—"

"Tap my foot one more time and you're hopping back home on one leg today," Euiheon whispered, glaring at the immature boy seated across from him.

Even until this morning, Euiheon wasn't sure if he really wanted to go through with the "study date" idea, not that he considered it a date or anything. And chances were, Hamin would sleep in way past noon like he usually did on Saturdays.

With that said, at around nine a.m., Euiheon headed out to go to the library by himself, not bothering to send his friend a text to meet up on the way. But to his surprise, Hamin was already waiting for him in front of his house. Seeing how committed Hamin was to studying together, Euiheon actually started to have hope for him.

Though it didn't last long...

Hamin didn't even get passed a single page of his textbook before becoming distracted by every little thing around him. But the most distracting of all to him was Chu Euiheon.

Hamin inched his foot toward Euiheon's again. But instead of tapping it like he had done the last three times, he raised his foot and slid it up along the inner part of Euiheon's leg, from his ankle to his calf.

Euiheon shuddered at the unexpected sensation. Through gritted teeth, he said, "Didn't I tell you to stop?"

"I thought you wanted me to stop tapping your foot." Hamin slid his foot up a little higher to Euiheon's knee. "I'm not tapping it."

"Quit it, Ham."

Hamin smirked, sliding his foot up even further to Euiheon's inner thigh. Euiheon clenched both his hands into tight fists and tried to ignore the annoying boy, since giving him a reaction only seemed to excite him more. If what he was squeezing in his right hand had been a wooden pencil, it probably would have snapped in half. But the metal lead pencil remained in one piece, unlike Euiheon's patience. It didn't help that he had been stuck on a difficult math problem for the past twenty minutes.

Hamin continued with his little foot game, inching his way closer and closer to where it really mattered. Perhaps his dumb brain didn't realize that, but Euiheon's overly conscious brain most certainly did.

Euiheon took a deep breath, feeling his last thread of patience on the verge of snapping. "Get your foot off me. Now."

"Hehehe..."

"Seong Hamin."

When his friend got dangerously close to touching the area that should not be touched, Euiheon sprang out of his seat.

"KNOCK IT OFF, ASSHOLE!!!"

All eyes immediately focused on the two boys, including the librarian's. The middle-aged woman stood up from her desk and walked over to their table.

"Excuse me, if you keep making noise, I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

"We're sorry..." The friends said together.

Even after everyone in the library went back to their own business, Euiheon couldn't stand the immense embarrassment. He packed up his things and left, not saying a single word to Hamin until they were outside the building.

"Hey, wait up, Chewie!"

Hamin rushed over to Euiheon's side. Euiheon did not slow down his pace, though he had no clue where he was headed right now. All he could focus on was getting as far away from the library as possible.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" Euiheon snapped.

"I was only messing around. I didn't know you'd get that pissed. Sorry..."

"You didn't know? Are you serious?" Euiheon scoffed. "Yeah, I guess that makes sense. Is there even a single thing you do know?"

"Hey..."

"Forget it."

"Wait! Baby—"

The second Hamin grabbed his arm, Euiheon yanked it free and kept walking.

"Don't fucking call me that anymore. It seriously pisses me off. And don't follow me." Just before rushing off, he bitterly added, "I'm better off not having a dumbass like you in my life."

Even though Euiheon called Hamin a dumbass practically on the daily, this time felt different. There was substance to it. A weight. He actually meant it. Euiheon didn't want a dumbass like him in his life. He didn't want him.

That thought kept Hamin anchored right where he stood. All he could do was watch Euiheon cross the street and get farther and farther away from him.

Meanwhile, Euiheon couldn't stop walking. He was so focused on taking one step after the other that he even forgot to breathe. It wasn't until he reached a red light and was forced to stop that he finally took a deep breath. By then, Hamin was long out of sight.

"That... dumbass..." Euiheon muttered between heavy pants.

How could someone be that clueless, he wondered. If you asked anyone if it was weird for a friend to call another friend baby and be way too touchy with them, they would automatically say yes. That was the only right answer. It was weird in every way.

Hamin was supposed to be Euiheon's friend. Hamin didn't see him as anything other than that. It was just a misunderstanding, after all. Even what happened at the library meant nothing to him. It was no more than another one of his childish games, along with his hugs and silly pet names.

That was why Euiheon felt it was better not to have that dumbass in his life. Years and years of holding on to the tiniest bit of false hope really wore a person down. And at this point, Euiheon was exhausted.

In every other situation, Euiheon was able to follow his head over his heart. He was so faithful to his rationality, in fact, that he was often called an emotionless robot. So why must Hamin be the exception?

After what felt like an eternity, the crosswalk signal turned green. Euiheon rushed forward, trying to convince himself that his heart was only racing because of his fast walking and not because he couldn't stop thinking about his clueless and dangerously touchy friend.

"Let's just forget about that idiot," Euiheon sighed, trying to bring his mind back to his studies.

He had barely gotten anything done at the library, and now he could never even go back there. Perhaps he was the biggest idiot of them all for having invited Hamin to come study with him in the first place.

Study? Seong Hamin? It was a doomed idea from the start. And just like his other doomed idea that Hamin might like him back someday, Euiheon figured it was best to finally give up.