Twenty-Two Fish

"No, again, the sentence is in the past tense, so the answer should be 'walked' not 'walks.'"

Yuel felt like he had explained this grammar concept for the millionth time by now. For whatever reason, he was helping Hamin study for the midterms as well with Edin. But since Edin's strongest subject was math, Yuel was stepping in for English, being the child with a mom who ran an English hakwon. He had also lived in the U.S. for a couple of years when he was little, so he considered his English better than most his age.

"Try this next question," Yuel said, feeling like his head might explode if Hamin got ten questions in a row wrong.

"I met him at the park and..." Hamin read through the answer options. "Ah-ha! It's 'grabbed' a lunch with him, right? Because 'met' is past tense."

Yuel clapped, thankful that his head wouldn't be exploding that day. "Finally, you're getting it. Try the next one."

Edin watched Yuel tutor Hamin while he ate lunch. Yuel finished his when Edin was working on math with Hamin earlier. Seeing how it took half an hour just to explain one problem to the newly studious boy, Edin wondered if this was such a good idea after all.

But besides that, Edin had another dilemma on his mind. He wondered who this "Kyungwon Hyung" person could have been. Yuel looked really flustered when he got the call from him the evening Edin went over to his house. But the boy made no mention of him afterward, and Edin didn't want to potentially make him uncomfortable by bringing this hyung up.

All Edin could do was contemplate the person's identity on his own. First off, Yuel never said he had an older brother. He only ever mentioned his younger sister. At the same time, he never said he didn't have an older brother, either.

Edin got an idea. "Hey, Hamin. Don't you ever feel lonely being an only child?"

Hamin looked up from his workbook. "Huh? Where's that coming from?"

"It's just a random question. You've never wanted a sibling? Like... an older brother?"

"Um, I never really thought about it. I guess it would be cool to have a brother." Hamin naturally turned to his English tutor. "Do you have any brothers or sisters, Yuel?"

Yes, he took the bait! Edin cheerfully thought. But his moment of joy ended quickly when he saw the conflicted look on Yuel's face. That was when Edin realized that Yuel might not have wanted to talk to Hamin about his complicated family situation.

"Wait, Yuel, actually—"

"I have... one little sister."

Edin wanted to smack himself. The whole point of this was so he didn't make Yuel uncomfortable.

"Little sister sounds nice, too," Hamin said. "How old is she?"

Yuel paused for a moment in thought, only for his expression to lighten up. Talking about his family, or at least his little sister, really wasn't as difficult as he thought it would be. Seeing Yuel's relieved face allowed Edin to let out a sigh of relief himself.

"Why?" Yuel replied. "Don't tell me you want to date her."

"Hey, I'm not that girl-crazy! Besides..."

"Besides?"

"I need to sort things out with Euiheon first..."

"Right, which means you should get back to studying." Yuel tapped the question Hamin had been working on. "She's only three, by the way."

"You don't have to tell me! I'm not going to date her!"

"So you did ask because you were thinking of dating her?"

Instead of answering, Hamin just groaned and got back to his grammar practice questions.

Yuel peeked at Edin who was already looking back at him while eating his sandwich. He had quickly figured out why Edin suddenly asked if Hamin wanted an older brother—a hyung.

Yuel was aware of how weird he must have seemed when Kyungwon called him the night the two of them had dinner together. He thought he was going to have another panic attack. Thankfully, Edin was nice enough not to say anything about it, and they actually ended up having a nice time.

Kyungwon didn't leave a message about why he had called. Since he hadn't contacted him at all in a while, Yuel was starting to have hope that maybe the man would finally just forget about him so that he could do the same. But that phone call became a reminder that Kyungwon was still very much a part of Yuel's life.

Considering that, Yuel wondered if he could ever tell Edin about how his first crush became his stepdad. As absurd as it sounded, he didn't think Edin would judge him for it. Still, he wasn't sure he was ready to reveal what he believed to be his most shameful secret. Unlike his family situation, which other members of his family knew about, his first crush was knowledge that solely belonged to him. And he could keep it that way as long as he stayed quiet...

"Do you want to go to a café after school, Yuel?" Edin asked.

"Uh, what?"

"You kept looking at me, so I was wondering if you wanted to go on a date."

Hamin groaned. "Could you two be a couple some other time? I'm trying to study here."

"We're not a couple," Yuel immediately said.

"Yeah, to-be-couple. Same thing."

"......"

Just when Hamin went back to studying, Yuel quietly nudged Edin and wrote two simple letters on the desk with his finger.

OK.

Right, perhaps Yuel should just leave the past buried in the past. He didn't want to feel bound to it forever. And for the first time, he finally felt himself capable of moving forward to the future. With someone else...

...Or so he thought until after school.

"...Hyung?" Yuel uttered in shock at the familiar face waiting for him by the front gate.

A few students peeked at the older man, which Yuel could only hope was because of his attractive appearance and not because they recognized him as the same person who often came to pick him up during middle school. That was the very reason the rumor about him spread in the first place.

What if it spread again?

"Yuel?" Edin said, seeing the boy take a step back.

It didn't seem like Kyungwon noticed him yet, so Yuel decided to use the back gate instead. But then, he realized that Kyungwon hadn't come alone.

"Yuel Oppa!" Sori called, poking her head out from behind her dad's legs.

"Yuel!" Kyungwon also called out, waving hi.

Edin saw the two of them, too. "Do you know those people?"

"Oh, uh..." Yuel stammered, unsure of what he was even supposed to say right now.