Mint Is Pure Love - Chapter 30

Summer break wasn’t anything special.

It was miserably hot, the sun stayed up forever, and the nights were so short that each day felt like it passed a little faster.

Seokyung and I met up almost every day. Every morning at dawn, a newspaper would be delivered neatly to our front door—and right next to it, there was always a bottle of strawberry milk. Still cold and dripping with condensation like it had just come out of the fridge. I’d be the first to wake up and bring them inside, quicker than anyone else.

Instead of my dad, who barely showed up like rain in a drought, I sat there sipping the strawberry milk and reading the paper. I savored every drop of that milk Seokyung had left for me like it was something sweet meant just for me.

He always found little chances to suggest things.

“I’m craving bingsoo, but it’s too much to eat alone.”
“Wanna go for a walk?”
“Let’s hit the spring and get some exercise.”
“I borrowed the new volume of that comic you said you wanted—wanna come out?”
“I’m right outside. Wanna say hi real quick?”

His excuses never stopped.

Besides those sweet, personal messages, Seokyung also rang our doorbell three times a week for more ‘official’ reasons.

“Is this kid dumb or what? Jeez, who’d he get this from?”

“…Probably from you, noona.”

“Ji Minkyu. How could you take after me if you’re my little brother, not my kid? And for the record, I was just fine with quadratic equations.”

“Both of you, be quiet and focus.”

At our teacher’s calm voice, Minkyu and I shut up.

Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, for an hour before lunch, Seokyung came over to help me and Minkyu study math. At first, my stepmom had only asked him to help Minkyu.

“What about you, Ji Yeonseo? I heard you’re completely hopeless at math.” Because Seokyung said that right in front of my stepmom, I ended up getting roped in too.

Even Minjae, who was on break from kindergarten, would sit in with a blank notebook and colored pencils like he belonged there. That’s how it became lessons with the three Ji siblings and “Teacher Cha.”

Honestly, it was kind of embarrassing getting tutored by someone in the same grade. But the moments that made it all worth it were more than enough to balance things out.

The low voice he used when he explained things to Minkyu, the soft scent of a different fabric softener than what we used at home, the way his eyes would meet mine while we worked on problems—every little moment lit up my senses.

Seokyung had said he wanted to become like air—colorless, tasteless, scentless—but somehow, he was taking over all five of my senses.

“How do I get as tall as you? And don’t give me that ‘eat well and sleep early’ crap.”

“It’s genetics. My older brother’s like 188 cm too.”

“Wow. I’m jealous.”

Minkyu and Minjae asked Seokyung all sorts of things—stuff that had nothing to do with math.

“Hyung, then why are you so good-looking?” Minjae tilted his head and asked, to which Seokyung scratched his chin and answered seriously.

“Hm… that’s genetics too.”

Tch. Show-off. But for some reason, my lips curled up.

“Hyung, then… are you dating our noona?”

And just like that, my smile disappeared.

Lately, things between me and Seokyung had been a mix of comfort and tension. The more time we spent together, the easier it became to talk and joke around—but also, the more aware I became of the little moments.

Seokyung answered without missing a beat.

“We’re not dating.”

“Oh, then… are you gonna date?”

“Ji Minjae, don’t say weird stuff. Are you done with your drawing?”

“But noona already has a boyfriend.”

“Ji Minjae!”

“No, she doesn’t,” Seokyung said firmly, looking at Minjae with that gentle gaze behind his glasses.

“She got dumped by that guy ages ago.”

“Why?”

“Because Yeonseo only likes guys who are tall and handsome.” Then he glanced at me and smiled.

Later that afternoon, we took the bus together to Hohaeng-dong.

Minjae’s birthday fell right during his kindergarten break, so we decided to throw a small party at home. We were out shopping for a gift and some decorations.

The stationery store was massive, maybe around 100 square meters, stuffed with pens, notebooks, sketchpads, office supplies, paints, you name it. Seokyung and I lingered around the party supplies section.

“We need balloons. What color should we get?”

“How about yellow?”

“Hmm… That’s the color of my August oppa, though.”

Seokyung shot me a sideways glance.

“Your ‘oppa’?”

“Yeah, they’re all such sweethearts. The casting director must’ve had a sixth sense.”

“They’re not even that good-looking.”

“Hey! Cha Seokyung! Shut it! You better watch what you say… If one of their fanclub noona hears you, you’re dead meat.”

I lowered my voice and glanced around, but he just snorted and lazily started digging through the balloon bin.

“Fine, red it is.”

“Huh… that’s my P.O.P oppa’s color.”

“…You sure have a lot of oppa.”

His tone dropped. I ignored the sharp look in his eyes and kept picking out balloons. He grumbled in a voice I didn’t hear too often from him.

“Why do balloon colors even matter? Who ‘owns’ a color?”

“You don’t get it, Seokyung. These aren’t just balloons, okay? With so many fans, we can’t all go up to them and say ‘Oppa, I love you!’ That color represents loyalty, love, devotion—it’s symbolic.”

“….”

“Know your stuff before you talk.”

“…You’re seriously driving me nuts.”

He looked like steam might start coming out of his ears. It was kind of hilarious and honestly, a little cute. I bit down on my lower lip to hide the grin.

Even with that deadpan face of his, I could tell he was annoyed. But when I asked him to grab something or check another item, he’d quietly reach up and hand it to me with those long arms of his.

Then suddenly, as if something occurred to him, he glanced around and said,

“Come to think of it, this place is a landmark too, right?”

He looked at me, like he was checking.

“This is Beta Stationery in Hohaeng Underground Mall, right?”

“Oh, yeah… I guess so?”

“Why were you so eager to come here? Anyway, guess your wish came true, Ji Yeonseo.”

Now that he mentioned it, it was kinda weird. I could’ve come here on my own. It’s just a stationery store. Why had I wanted to come so badly?

I looked around slowly. Maybe it was because it was summer break, but there were quite a few kids about my age here and there. Probably a popular stop after grabbing tteokbokki or bingsoo nearby.

No one was really buying anything—they were just looking around, laughing, talking, being silly. I guess… I just wanted to do stuff like that again.

I smiled at Seokyung, who was busy picking out a present for Minjae.

“Yeah, you’re right. Thanks to you, I got my wish.”

When I smiled, Seokyung, who had been quietly looking at me, smiled too. That neat, bright smile of his, the kind with no hesitation.

“…What? Why are you smiling like that all of a sudden?”

“Because Ji Yeonseo is cute.”

And then he smiled again. This boy’s seriously insane. Or maybe I am. As I was staring at him, caught in that moment, he leaned in and said in that soft voice of his,

“Wanna go somewhere else while we’re out?”

And then, without waiting for my answer, he took my hand.

“Wait, are we really going to take sticker photos…?”

My sneakers awkwardly scraped against the asphalt sidewalk.

“You make it sound like such a chore. What, ten-year-long friends can’t even take photos together?”

“We haven’t been ten-year friends for a while now.”

In front of the photo booth by Exit 3 of Hohaeng Station, I argued with Seokyung.

“Don’t pretend you’re not enjoying this. Your lips are totally curling up.”

“I’m not—”

But I ended up laughing anyway. I was way too excited.

I bounced into the booth, pulled the curtain, and started pushing buttons just for fun.

“You’ve never taken sticker pics before, have you, Seokyung?”

“…No.”

“They move along pretty fast, so we need to decide our poses in advance.”

I told him a few poses I’d always wanted to do with a friend—stuff like peace signs near the cheek or winks. We could’ve done more if we got closer, but that felt a bit much, so I stuck to the basics.

“Ready? I’m pressing it!”

Surprisingly, Seokyung followed the poses pretty naturally. But I got flustered watching him, and before I knew it, we were down to the last frame.

“Wait, huh?! What were we doing for this one again?!”

While I was panicking, dipping in and out of the camera frame, Seokyung suddenly pulled me into him by the shoulder—and click, the sound of the camera shutter snapped with a beep.

There we were, stuck together in a neat little square frame, both of us mid-laugh, caught in the moment.

It was such a perfect shot that I couldn’t say anything. We looked like… we were really close. It reminded me of that picture we took at Yongho Mountain Park.

“Hey, Seokyung, why didn’t you show me the one we took at the park?”

“Looks like you can write stuff on this one.”
He dodged the question and picked up the deco-pen, distracting me.

I wrote today’s date and my initials—YS. Then, I added a comma and wrote his—SK.

YS, SK

“…Wow, you really have no sense of aesthetics, Ji Yeonseo.”

“What?!” He snatched the pen and scribbled something else.

YS ♥ SK

I mean… wasn’t a heart a little too much?

“Hey…”

“What? Don’t read into it. It’s just a symbol. Aesthetic-wise, it works.”

“…”

“I’m keeping one.”

He stared at the sticker photo for a long time, then carefully folded it up and put it in his pocket like it was something precious.

I was the one who wanted to come here, but somehow, Seokyung looked more satisfied than I was. The whole way home, the corners of his lips stayed curled up.