He Called Me Nuna
“Have you thought about what major you’re going to pick?”
“No.”
“Start thinking about it from now on. It’ll make filling out applications easier.”
“Why’d you even go for architecture? Doesn’t fucking suit you at all.”
What exactly was that supposed to mean—that I didn’t suit my major? Pressing him on it would only leave me in a foul mood, so I let it drop.
“You’re twenty now, Lee Na-hee.”
Kwon Hyun-jin had been checking his watch the whole time as he said it. I was the one becoming an adult, yet he seemed far more conscious of the fact than I was.
“Already? Hang on a second.”
“Hey, where the hell are you—”
Just shy of midnight I ducked into a convenience store and grabbed a beer. Flashing my ID with perfect confidence while paying sent an unnecessary thrill through me. I was finally of legal age, yet somehow it still felt as illicit and electric as breaking a taboo.
Watching me come back with the can, Kwon Hyun-jin said playfully,
“Drinking too… You’ve become a full-grown adult, Lee Na-hee.”
“I bought yours as well.”
I held out a lollipop and a cup of hot honey water to him.
“This is for you.”
I fully expected him to bristle at being treated like a kid so openly, but Kwon Hyun-jin just snorted a laugh and accepted the honey water and lollipop.
“Yes, thank you. Nuna.”
I had just sat down on the long bench when the unfamiliar word made me start.
Eyes wide, I turned to look at him, and he casually plucked the beer from my hand.
“If you drink that—!”
“What.”
Pssht. Kwon Hyun-jin cracked the tab and returned the can to me intact, as if that had been his only purpose from the start.
“I don’t drink beer. You go ahead.”
“…Call me that again. Like just now.”
“What?”
“Earlier… when you said nuna…”
“You want me to call you that? Nuna?”
“Yeah. Keep calling me that. Sounds good.”
“Depends on how you behave.”
“…”
Still a thoroughly rotten-mannered brat, after all.
Kwon Hyun-jin finished the honey water in no time and unwrapped the lollipop. Grape flavor—one I had carefully chosen just for him.
Stuck in his insolent mouth, the candy looked exactly like a cigarette.
I stole glances at the sight and took a sip of the beer. The taste was strange. Like bitter sparkling water.
“Kwon Hyun-jin, you like candy, don’t you.”
“No.”
Stretching out his long legs and jamming one hand into his pocket, he slowly twirled the purple candy that gleamed with saliva.
“I’m just eating it because Nuna gave it to me.”
“…”
Why on earth did the word “nuna” sound so good coming from him?
It was the same title I heard from Chan-hee every single day, yet when Kwon Hyun-jin said it my ears melted. I couldn’t even control the way my cheeks kept lifting.
Without realizing it I started gulping the beer. Kwon Hyun-jin, who had been watching me the whole time, broke into a grin.
“You really like it… Is that your type?”
“What type?”
“The whole ‘Nuna, Nuna’ thing.”
I had never really thought about it. Was it? But if he was younger than me he was still a minor…
I simply liked hearing him call me “nuna.” As if he had read the dizzy tangle inside my head, Kwon Hyun-jin changed the question.
“Lee Na-hee, what’s your ideal type?”
“Iiii…”
My words trailed out on their own. Ideal type. I drank more beer. Then the actor I usually liked came to mind. I had always liked the way he looked in his movies.
“A country policeman. I like someone like a rural cop. You know the feeling.”
The neon signs across the river swayed. I blinked slowly. My body felt languid.
At some point I was smiling goofily.
“You know—the kind of guy who lives in some mountain village and comes running the second his grandma or grandpa calls so he can help with the work. A ridiculously pure farm boy. So kind you’d actually worry he might get scammed. You know the feeling.”
Someone touched my opposite shoulder. When I turned, all I saw was a long, pretty hand.
Kwon Hyun-jin’s. He had stretched his arm along the back of the bench and was playfully poking my shoulder.
“What…”
I turned my head back, only to find our faces closer than I expected.
Right in front of him I laughed again. Eyes locked on mine, Kwon Hyun-jin laughed with me.
He was beautiful. I couldn’t look away.
He was so fresh and lovely that I laughed even harder.
“I’m drunk…”
“You know the feeling.”
“I don’t have a fucking clue what feeling.”
“You’re really not my ideal type.”
“Who asked? Just answer the question I asked, Nuna.”
“I’m really not… but…”
It was a strange feeling. The person speaking was clearly me, yet somehow it didn’t feel like me.
“But you… you’re really… so handsome.”
“Hey, Lee Na-hee. Stop drinking. Your face is red.”
With a short laugh Kwon Hyun-jin took the beer from my hand. Both of us were laughing more freely than usual tonight.
“What. You barely drank any?”
He gave the can a little shake and laughed as if he couldn’t believe it. Even to my eyes the can still felt heavy.
“I had a few sips. Three sips?”
Dangerous. The voice that leaned in to check on me sounded far too tender.
“How do you get drunk off that. This is ridiculous, Lee Na-hee.”
“I’m… not drunk.”
“This won’t do. Let’s go home. You’re cold.”
Before I could stop him Kwon Hyun-jin poured the rest of my beer down the drain in a noisy rush. He crushed the can in one hand and tossed it into the trash.
“Get up, Lee Na-hee. We’re going home.”
“…”
“Come on. Hurry.”
Earlier he had wanted me to stay with him. Now he was desperate to send me home.
Was I suddenly a bother just because I was drunk?
Ridiculous. After how well I had taken care of him. I had even cooked him ramen. I had personally fed him the single egg I put in. I had never even done that for our Chan-hee…
Something about it felt unfair. Anger surged. I was experiencing firsthand the classic drunk trait of sudden emotional swings.
“I said let’s go home.”
Kwon Hyun-jin held out his hand for me to take.
I was irritated, yet that hand looked tempting. Big and solid. The fingers long… the joints thick, yet still pretty. Pretty enough that I wanted to grab it tight and pretend not to notice.
But I was still too sober for that. It was a shame I wasn’t drunk enough to take it. I hated my own lack of courage too.
My chest felt tight. Nothing in the world ever went the way I wanted. Suddenly defiance flared. I opened my eyes wide and stood up from the bench.
“I can go alone.”
“Where do you think you’re going alone.”
His scolding tone was softer than usual. The moment I turned prickly from the alcohol, he became unnaturally gentle. It was almost funny.
“Forget it. Your house is right nearby. I can go by myself.”
“I’m heading to Hannam-dong too, you know?”
Kwon Hyun-jin picked up the bag I had left discarded beside me. True to form as a drunk, I couldn’t have cared less about the bag that held my wallet.
I scowled hard and pointed at the grand apartment complex rising along the Han River.
“Hey! That’s your house over there…”
“I’m sleeping at your place tonight.”
“…That’s your house too, Kwon Hyun-jin. This is annoying.”
“Yeah, exactly. So I’m saying I’m sleeping at our house.”
At Chairman Kwon’s main residence, the room he had used as a child was still there. But whether because it made the family uncomfortable or for some other reason, Kwon Hyun-jin had never once stayed the night in it.
“Sit back down for a second, Nuna.”
“Why…”
The force of his push sat me back on the bench against my will. In front of me Kwon Hyun-jin dropped onto one knee.
“You’re walking around with your sneakers completely untied.”
Midway through carefully tying the laces he abruptly lifted his head.
“You’re needing a lot of looking after today, Nuna.”
“…”
The boy I had always looked up to was now below me, and the change felt strangely unfamiliar. Our eye levels had completely reversed.
My face heated for no good reason, so I threw my gaze far out toward the Han River.