The following morning, Sehun and I are going to the train station to pick up Yumi and Jinho, and we’re not speaking since we took off in the red pickup. I don’t know what to do, so I meaninglessly touch the band-aid on the wound from the festival, when the string snapped while I was putting on the decorations.

          I can feel Sehun glance at me once, and he’s heard taking a breath. “Is it getting better?”

          “Huh? I think so.” I say flatly, and stop moving. I look at a huge tree nearby outside, and think of what to say. “You know, that time, I thought you disappeared to play or drink, or something.”

          He scoffs, and shakes his head. “You should’ve seen how Jinho looked at me that night, he was ready to punch me. Even Yumi, that nice kid, looked so mad... They were scary.”

          We laugh, and after a few minutes we arrive at the train station. There is still some time until their expected arrival, and we wait inside a quiet restaurant to have some drinks. We’re mainly on our phones and sometimes turn our heads to see through the window.

          The train still hasn’t arrived yet. While I’m looking around, I can feel Sehun’s eyes on me and I’m hesitant to look at his direction. “Hey, Nana.”

          “Why?” I slowly answer.

          “Tilt your head down a bit.”

          I do as he said, and I can feel his hand brushing against my hair. I look up, and he flicks off something from his fingers. “How did a piece of tissue get there?”

          “Ah… Thanks.”

          Locomotive sound is heard from a distance, and we both look outside. We exit the restaurant as the train gets near, and wait at the arrival gate. Yumi throws herself on me as soon as they appear, and Jinho greets Sehun with a fist bump. We go back to the village, and on the way Yumi seems to be curious of the time they were gone.

          “Are you really fine now, Nana? You told me you went to a doctor after dropping us at the train station.”

          “Oh… Yeah. Sehun took me there.”

          “She looked like she was dying.” Sehun adds. I glare at him, and Yumi laughs.

          “So what did you do? Anything fun?”

          “I was resting for some time, so…” I slowly say. What happened yesterday comes back to my mind, and I grit my teeth remembering Sehun’s touch. The culprit is driving leisurely next to me, and I clear my throat. “…nothing much.”

          We arrive at Grandma’s house, and the boys and girls separate to rest. I’m staying in the bedroom as Yumi unpacks, and she steals glances at me. “So what exactly happened?”

          “Hm—what?”

          She gives me a suspicious smile, and I furrow my brows. “You must’ve spent a lot of time with Sehun.”

          “Well… He treated me just fine, maybe because I was sick.

          “Really? Nothing else?”

          I blink. The village meeting flashes again inside my head. “What do you expect, really?”

          Yumi smiles and shrugs. “Jinho was chatting with Sehun and Jinho thinks he was really worried about you.”

          The urge to know more about that grows inside me, but I try to collect myself. “He said I looked like dying, probably I did look that bad.” I laugh bitterly.

          We’re going back to do our activities before lunch, and Uncle Yong offers to take me and Sehun to his workplace while Jinho and Yumi go to a villager’s fruit garden.

          “Sehun went there yesterday, and he was a great help.” Uncle Yong says. “I won’t let Nana do any hard work, though, she just recovered.”

          Uncle Yong’s workplace is a tofu home industry which he co-owns with his sister. We’re going with the red pickup with Uncle Yong driving and I’m sitting on the front seat with Sehun. I think this is the first time we’ve been this close. I have my hands stiffly put on my lap, trying not to make the side of my body stick to him but due to the limited room I just can’t. The non-existent space between us feels warm. Sehun sits next to the door, and he has his head turned away to the right to see the view outside.

          After fifteen minutes that seemed long for me, we arrive at the place which is hidden by a tall grapevines gate. It is originally a two-story house with the first floor remodeled into an open space for the tofu production. There are five workers, four of them are women.

          “Oh, the handsome man comes again!” one of them yells as we enter the area. Sehun smiles a bit timidly and bows to them. Oh, already a favorite here, isn’t he? I smile a little at his direction, and greet the others.

          “Aigoo, you’re so pretty. I heard you were sick? Where are the other two, I heard they have four members in the group?”

          “They’ll come in pairs. Don’t worry, they have a lot of time here.” Uncle Yong dismisses the worker. “Here, Nana, I’ll show you around. Here is where we soak the beans—”

          We’re doing a small tour, but Sehun is behind as he’s busy catering to the ahjummas’ questions. He joins us as I arrive at the molding process, and Uncle Yong showcases how to cut the cooled down tofu block. He proudly shows off the milky white, jiggly tofu square, and I hear Sehun snicker beside me. “That tofu looks like you.”

          I have my brows furrowed deep before turning to see him. “What? Care to elaborate?”

          He isn’t looking at me, and keeps staring at the tofu with a mischievous smile on his face. I shake my head a few times, and continue focusing at Uncle Yong.

          After the demonstration, I go to a pair of ahjummas who are grinding the beans with stone mill. I squat next to them, and ask to be taught. The ahjumma goes to pick up something, and I continue grinding, satisfied with the crushed bean seeping well through the mill. Someone comes next to me, and I notice Sehun’s shoes. “Oh, you’re doing well.” he says with a higher-pitched voice, as if he’s talking to a kid.

          “Of course.” I nonchalantly respond. But as the time passes, my arm starts to get sore and the speed is noticeably slower. I take deep breaths inaudibly and try to continue going.

          “Your arm hurts, right?” Sehun guesses.

          “No.” I curtly answer in denial. I get close to stopping, and Sehun lets out a little laugh.

          “I’ll continue for awhile.” he says and reaches for the handle, but my hand is still there because it feels a little numb. He pats my fingers, and suddenly it feels fine again. I pull away, and hide my hand with another.

          “Did you do this a lot yesterday?” I ask, remembering during dinner Sehun didn’t say much about his first visit here yesterday.

          “Of course, I think I can gain some muscle from this.” he scoffs. “The ahjummas here are admirable.”

          After grinding, it’s time to squeeze the ground beans to filter the rough pieces out. “It’s ideal to do this with two people. Now stand in front of each other.” a worker gives us the know-how. Sehun and I do as we’re told, and each given an end of the gauze. “Both go to their right, let’s go.”

          The beans liquid heavily falls to the basin, and Sehun and I look at each other and smile, satisfied with the result. “You did well!” the worker praises us like we’re her own children, and prepares the cauldron to boil the liquid. It uses fire inside a built-in stove made from bricks, and she skillfully burns the large pieces of wood. The fire grows into half our height, and Sehun suddenly extends an arm in front of me, trying to make me go a bit further from the fire. It brushes the part of the sweater on my stomach, and I try not to shudder.

          These subtle moves he recently shows make me unnecessarily nervous, and I try hard to brush it off as the sign that he just gets more comfortable around me. Yeah, no need to think of something strange.

          The process completes until I can cut my own small block of tofu, and Sehun smirks seeing me being amused by the tofu cutting. “See, it looks like you.”

          My shoulders droop, and raises the tofu on my palm. “Which part of this resembles me, really?”

          He just laughs, and Uncle Yong chuckles seeing us bicker. He tells us to have lunch and rest. Break time here lasts for two hours since the ahjummas would go home and take care of their household first.

          We eat lunch together with Uncle Yong, but he leaves as soon as he’s finished to pick up his sister from the market. We’re left with a young male worker who seems to have zero interest with us, so Sehun and I just go around the front yard where they keep some chickens. They’re all inside the cage, being next to each other cozily. We squat in front of the door and observe them in silence. “They must be cold.” I comment.

          Sehun quietly looks at the cage, and gets up. “Do you want to go somewhere interesting?”

          “Where?” I ask. Sehun signals to follow him to the side of the building, and there’s an open stair leading to the rooftop.

          “Be careful, it’s high.” he warns. He goes first, and I follow from behind. We safely reach the rooftop, and it’s an empty space protected with cement handrail around the height of my waist.

          “What do they use this for?” I ask Sehun, and he shrugs.

          “I just found this randomly yesterday, because I had no one to talk to so I just went around everywhere.” he stands on the center, and sits down. “Try to touch the floor.”

          I go near him, and feel the painted ground. It’s really warm. “Oh?”

          Sehun grins, and lies down with his hands behind his head. “I think the house uses the heater right below this. I was knocked out for like half an hour here yesterday.”

          I just squat next to him, patting the floor. Sehun raises his head a bit and turns his head to his side a bit. “Lie down here, you must be tired.”

          “Huh?” I look at him, but he closes his eyes and looks ready to fall asleep anytime. I slowly take a seat on the floor, and lie on my back just a few inches apart from Sehun. The calm, fluffy clouds float on the endless sky above, and the warmth from below that seeps through my clothes make me both hypnotized and drowsy. I can hear Sehun’s soft breath next to me, and I glance at him. He looks so peaceful. I unknowingly set my eyes too long at him, and feel that my heart starts to beat faster.

          The realization makes me sit back up, and I stealthily look at Sehun. How can he sleep so well at a time like this? I just let him be, as I hug my knees and lean my head above them.

          The break time is ending soon, and I can hear the sound of the ahjummas coming back to the workplace. I carefully set my voice. “Sehun.”

          His eyelids shake a bit, but he doesn’t seem to be awake. I slowly reach for his elbow, and touch it lightly. “Sehun-ah.”

          His eyes open, and they were a bit red. He stares at me after, and I smile awkwardly. “We should go downstairs.”

          He nods, and rubs his face. “Did you sleep too?”

          “Yeah.” I lie. How can I, with him lying down next to me?

***

          It’s night time before bed, and I’m on my phone, with Yumi asleep next to me. The night’s getting deeper and I toss and turn, unable to sleep yet.

          I’m reminded of the rooftop from afternoon, and I bit the insides of my lips. Don’t think anything strange…

          The very quiet air is suddenly broken by soft, faint sound of a guitar being played outside, and my eyes widen. Is that Sehun? It must be him, he brings the guitar to where he stays. Hearing the sound, he’s probably staying on the porch of the house. I stand up and walk to the window, but I can’t see the next house from this angle…

          He’s playing a repetitive, calm sound but regularly changes the chords every two minutes or so. I slip into my blanket, and intently listen to the guitar sound. I smile to myself, thinking this can be a lullaby.