Jinhwan was sitting on June’s couch looking at taller who took ice-cubes from the freezer and wrapped them in a clean cloth before making his way back to Jinhwan.

“Lift your shirt a little bit,” he said, but Jinhwan just doubtfully stared back at him, making no intentions to do so, which made June let out a heavy sigh.

“The coldness will reduce the blood flow to the area and the swelling and spreading won’t be that bad. It will help the bruises to heal quickly,” he explained to Jinhwan before reaching out to lift Jinhwan’s shirt by himself. Jinhwan winced a little when he felt the cold on his skin as June tried as gentle as possible to hold the cloth with ice-cubes on Jinhwan’s ribs, looking up to check Jinhwan’s face expression if it hurts him too much.

They spend nearly five minutes like this before the ringing of June’s phone has destroyed the pleasant silence and June groaned at this, knowing exactly who the caller was without even needed to look at the screen of his phone.
He reached out with his free hand to take Jinhwan’s hand and replacing it with his own so that Jinhwan was holding the cold cloth against his skin.
“Just stay put,” he told Jinhwan before he swiftly walked across the room to the dining table where his phone was still ringing, taking it from it and accepting the call.

“You won’t get my game console yet, Jinhwan didn’t kill me while I was sleeping,” he mumbled and heard Bobby chuckling through the receiver.

“Such a pity and I already made space in my living room for it.”

“What a nice friend you are,” June said with a frown on his face, although he was not really angry at Bobby’s teasing, after all he was the one who started it.

“Speaking of Jinhwan,” Bobby began and June already knew what was coming. “Is he already out of your hair? Did you inform his parents?” June paused for a moment, trying to think of the nicest way to explain that Jinhwan will stay with him for a short period of time, without getting Bobby too annoyed because an annoyed Bobby is one of the worst things June had to do with in his whole life.

He glanced at the couch where Jinhwan was sitting still and cooling his bruises. “Not really…” he then finally said, nothing better wanting to come to his mind. He heard Bobby let out a long heavy sigh. “You’re crazy.”

“I know. You said it already yesterday,” June grumbled indignantly.

“But I really mean it this time!” Bobby raised his voice a little bit this time, though he sounded more annoyed than angry. “So what now? Will you adopt him or something?”

June really started to get irritated with Bobby’s behavior. “What the heck are you talking about? He isn’t a child!” There was a silence for a moment. Bobby knew June was right, Jinhwan didn’t look that much younger that both of them, but there was something that really annoyed him about Jinhwan what he couldn’t shake off.

“He’s a stranger June. I trust you, but I don’t trust him,” Bobby said quietly, sounding sincere and worried.

Hearing Bobby talk with his sad voice, June started to feel a little bit guilty, he shouldn’t have said exactly those words, so tried to explain it this time calmly, telling Bobby about Jinhwan bruises and that he will stay just for a short time in his apartment, before his friend seemed to accept June’s decision and muttered a quiet “Bye.” before hanging up.

When June turned around couldn’t help, but think about what he had gotten himself into. A sight of melted ice-cubes, which turned into water all over the floor, and an incomprehensibly happy Jinhwan in the middle playing with it, welcomed him. Normally, he would be about to lose his mind if someone dropped a single water drop on his precious parquet, but this time instead of thinking about the damage that could be created on his floor, his thoughts were somewhere else.  The water was cold and it would be better if he got Jinhwan as fast as possible out of it before he catches a cold.

“You really like water don’t you?” June said as he knelt downward and reached out to ruffle Jinhwan’s hair before he felt his heart skipping a whole beat when Jinhwan looked up to him with the most sunny and adorable smile June has ever seen. He was so mesmerized by Jinhwan’s soft face features and his innocent aura, something that he wanted to add to the list of the traits his ideal type should have, although June didn’t even have an ideal type.

He picked Jinhwan up by his arms so that Jinhwan was in a standing position, then he maneuvered him onto the couch to wipe the water from the floor before he noticed Jinhwans (his) clothes were wet again, so he quickly went to the bedroom to get something dry for Jinhwan to change into.

After Jinhwan has pulled the dry shirt over his head and June didn’t have to worry anymore about Jinhwan getting sick, they both sat on the couch and June decided it was a good moment to talk with Jinhwan for a little bit. No matter how much Bobby has overdone it with his whining about Jinhwan, he was partly right. June didn’t know Jinhwan, it was a matter of facts and he was firmly determined to change it.

“Since you’re going to stay a few days I think I should introduce myself,” June began, some nervousness was to hear in his voice.