It’s a best-friend V-log, but we’re not actually best friends - Chapter 25

As soon as the class president rattled off the answers to the test and dashed out of the classroom, the students finally started voicing their complaints one by one.

Meanwhile, Eun-Sol and Min Baek-Ha, who had already scraped together even the stamina meant for their future selves, fell fast asleep at their desks facing each other. A few students’ gazes landed on them here and there, but everyone else was just as exhausted, so they grabbed their bags and left the classroom with noticeably lighter steps.

Before long, the only thing left in the classroom was the soft sound of Eun-Sol and Min Baek-Ha’s breathing.

By the time the sunset was fading, the first one to wake up was Eun-Sol.

“Mmm…”

Sitting bolt upright and stretching hard, Eun-Sol blinked a few times. Then he shook his head vigorously.

“…Ah. I’m so sleepy.”

Seriously, not even exaggerating, he felt like he could die of sleepiness.

It happened every exam period, yet for some reason he never got used to it. Judging by how quiet it was around him, his friends must have gone home first without even waking him.

“Today… we’re supposed to do a short live.”

Eun-Sol, who had already agreed with Min Baek-Ha that they would do a quick live after exams, slowly turned his head.

Min Baek-Ha came into view, his face resting on his folded arms.

“You really do sleep pretty.”

Eun-Sol stared at him curiously, especially at the neatly resting lashes that looked unusually dark, and then suddenly slumped back down into the exact same posture as before.

Lying there in the same position, quietly admiring Min Baek-Ha’s sleeping face, Eun-Sol unconsciously reached out a finger.

Soft, full lips brushed against his fingertip.

Eun-Sol felt as if he were under some kind of spell.

He didn’t really know why he had laid back down in the same position, or why he was touching his friend’s lips.

It was just… just…

He wanted to.

That was the only way he could explain it.

As Eun-Sol hesitantly pulled his hand back, Min Baek-Ha’s eyelids slowly lifted, revealing dark eyes little by little.

Eun-Sol was so startled he couldn’t even breathe.

“What are you doing?”

“…….”

“Sol-Ah.”

He could feel his heart pounding like crazy, and the tips of his ears slowly heating up.

That low voice calling his name echoed by his ears.

Looking back at him, Eun-Sol couldn’t read a single thing from Min Baek-Ha’s gaze or expression.

He couldn’t answer at all, and then Min Baek-Ha’s eyes curved into a smooth line. The soft lips Eun-Sol had just touched moved.

“Was there something on my lips?”

“…….”

His mind kept offering up sentences, telling him to answer something, anything, but Eun-Sol could only part his lips without a sound coming out.

On top of that, they were way too close, and Min Baek-Ha’s soft breath was brushing the tip of his nose.

His face burning as if it might burst, Eun-Sol bit his lip.

Still watching him, Min Baek-Ha reached out and pressed his thumb against Eun-Sol’s lower jaw, pushing his tucked-in lip back out.

“Why aren’t you answering?”

“…….”

“Why are you just turning red?”

Min Baek-Ha slowly moved closer, and their foreheads touched.

Eun-Sol sucked in a shaky breath and lowered his gaze.

A calm voice whispered,

“Hm? Sol-Ah. Why are you broken?”

If this had been normal, Eun-Sol would have snapped at him at least a little.

But the thoughts that had been frantically urging him to say something abruptly stopped.

Because he was so tense, Eun-Sol swallowed dryly.

“You’re even swallowing.”

That even-toned voice landed right over Eun-Sol’s lips.

Then, all of a sudden, Min Baek-Ha’s sharp nose brushed against his.

Huh? This is way too close.

Thinking that, Eun-Sol tried to lean back—but by then, a hand had already come up to cradle the back of his head.

Their lips hovered so close they were almost touching, and Eun-Sol was on the verge of losing his mind.

His eyes darted around in confusion. Somehow, with great difficulty, he forced himself to make a decision.

Then he grabbed Min Baek-Ha by the shoulders and lightly pushed him away.

“Li… live. We have to turn on the live.”

“Before that, you should at least tell me what was on my lips.”

“…….”

Pushed back without resistance, Min Baek-Ha let out a light, breathy laugh.

Eun-Sol sprang to his feet and turned his back to him, trying to calm the heart that felt like it was about to burst out of his chest.

“…There was something on your lower lip.”

It was a lie.

There hadn’t been anything there at all. If anything, they had been perfectly clean, lush lips.

‘But saying I don’t know why I touched them was a lot less natural than that.’

For the first time, Eun-Sol had lied to Min Baek-Ha, and his conscience prickled at him.

“Oh, really? I’ll go to the bathroom, then.”

Only after he heard Min Baek-Ha leave the classroom without a hint of suspicion did Eun-Sol brush back his bangs and let out a long sigh.

“…Wow… what is this?”

‘What even is this feeling?’

Eun-Sol still saw Min Baek-Ha as a friend, and nothing beyond that came to mind.

Even when he tried forcing himself to imagine it, only bizarre images came up.

He didn’t particularly want to say what those images were.

And yet his heart pounded, and his face turned red.

It was a strange sensation, and it didn’t feel good.

Just… like something was wrong.

That was the clearest way to put it.

Eun-Sol couldn’t understand what he himself had just done.

And why had he suddenly, like someone bewitched, touched Baek-Ha’s lips?

Why?

Unable to get rid of the question circling in his head, Eun-Sol just stood there blankly.

He knew he had to start the live now, but his body kept moving, stopping, moving, stopping again.

Was he holding his phone?

Had he opened the MET U app?

What exactly was he even doing?

Eun-Sol couldn’t process any of it.

Watching that small back acting like someone broken, Min Baek-Ha finally stepped closer.

“What’s with you? Weren’t you the one saying we should hurry up and do it so we could go home?”

“…Ah… right. Yeah. You… you too, and I should rest too.”

“Why are you stuttering? Press this?”

By then, Min Baek-Ha had come right up behind him and reached a hand over Eun-Sol’s shoulder.

A thick finger touched the phone they had already set up by the window.

When he tapped the screen, the same live broadcast screen appeared, and naturally draping an arm around Eun-Sol’s shoulders, Min Baek-Ha said gently,

“Should we film it like this?”

Without answering, Eun-Sol lowered his gaze diagonally.

The large hand resting across his shoulders entered his view.

An arm around the shoulders wasn’t anything particularly strange between him and Min Baek-Ha.

And yet, it felt oddly uncomfortable.

Eun-Sol’s expression stiffened for a moment, then relaxed.

Then, as if nothing had happened, he smiled and answered,

“Sounds good.”

Trying hard to ignore the strange emotions gathering in his head and chest like storm clouds, Eun-Sol fixed his eyes on the screen.

Min Baek-Ha, who had been watching him sideways, briefly glanced at the timer on the screen, then looked back.

Reflected in those dark eyes was Eun-Sol’s face, red as a tomato.

Ding.

As the notification sound signaled that the thumbnail had been taken, Min Baek-Ha whispered,

“Your face is really red.”

“…Ah…!”

Warm breath fell against Eun-Sol’s ear.

At the ticklish sensation, Eun-Sol’s eyes flew open and his shoulders hunched.

Then, like a fish freshly hauled out of water, he jerked violently and staggered backward.

“Hey… hey! You… you!”

“Why?”

Min Baek-Ha smiled brightly and shrugged.

That reaction turned Eun-Sol’s insides upside down.

Quickly covering his burning ears with both hands, he frowned.

“…Why? Why? You’re asking because you don’t know? What was that just now?”

Narrowing his eyes, Min Baek-Ha looked at him.

“I was just telling you your face was red. Was there a problem with that?”

Yeah, a huge fucking problem.

Right now.

At Min Baek-Ha’s words, Eun-Sol felt like everything was wrong.

Maybe because the pounding of his heart made him question things all over again.

He felt repulsed.

Why was his heart racing?

Why was his face red?

Since he couldn’t understand the reason, all that remained was a bad feeling.

His chest felt tight.

Taking a deep breath in and out, Eun-Sol glared at Min Baek-Ha.

Then he stepped forward and slammed his shoulder hard into Baek-Ha’s arm.

Only his upper body shifted a little, and Min Baek-Ha exaggeratedly whined,

“Ah, that hurt. Why are you hitting me all of a sudden?”

Still grinning, he rubbed his forearm.

Eun-Sol stared at him, then jerked his chin toward the screen.

It meant let’s just greet them already.

Picking up on it right away, Min Baek-Ha turned to the screen and curved his eyes prettily.