A week has passed.

Jiyong is restless.

Not restless in a sense that he is bored, but rather that he never catches a damn break.

His routine goes something like this:

Everyone has to wake up at 9 AM, any later and you make your own breakfast and wash the dishes (The first time it happened, Jiyong had sniffed and cried through the whole process of touching a wet sponge and rubbing it on plates. He had shrieked when he had to take out the slimy, wet food clogging the drain and Seunghyun, who was helping him by drying the plates and guided him through the cleaning process, laughed till his head was resting on the counter. Did he mention Seunghyun also saved his from cooking and made him a bomb omelette before this?).

He also kept a mental note of thanking his sister for the toilet papers when he went back. The bathroom was not bad, but his diarrhea definitely was. The change in environment took him some time to get used to.

Jiyong would have never done any of this if it wasn't for the grandma. She was small and had kind eyes but when it came to work, she became like Marco Pierre White*, constantly on her feet and always doing things around the inside and outside of house, asking them to do this and that, giving them chores with the time limit they should be completed in and even making them tend to the animals in the farm and dig out potatoes and carrots. She was a very efficient woman who kept herself and the whole house busy until the hour before dinner. (*One of the most renowned chefs in the world. He trained the likes of Gordon Ramsey and other celebrity chefs. He is known for his strict attitude towards work.)

He didn’t like anything he was made to do. But whenever Seunghyun was around, he would get the huge need to impress the other and show eagerness to improve himself. It always worked as the other would shower him in praises of what a quick learner he was and how well he was doing. His favorite praise was, “You’re so good, Jiyong!” Because, it wasn’t only directed at his work, but himself too. He was good. He liked to be good for Seunghyun.

Then they’d come home and shower. The grandma would reward their hard labor by preparing a hot bath that both the boys loved to dive into together, however, it soon turned to be torture for Jiyong when he’d have to force himself to look only at the others’ face or focus on the fact that whenever their feet touched or the others’ hand landed lightly on his thigh when talking about something, didn’t mean this was going somewhere.

After the shower, they’d prepare to study for the next two hours till bedtime. The first time it happened Jiyong had fallen asleep while sitting. The second time, he drooled all over his study materials as his head leant over his desk while sleeping. That was the day Seunghyun punished him by making him do sit ups. That proved to be torture too as every time he pushed himself up, he was just a few inches away from Seunghyuns’ face who was holding down his feet to help him do them. He had to fight the urge of feeling those pink, plump lips against his own.

This week, however, the grandma seemed pleased from their work last week and didn’t bother them with many chores except for the occasional cleaning up and cooking.

This gave them plenty of time to study together and enjoy the bukkumi and tea in peace. Seunghyuns’ sister spent most of the time learning handcrafts and stitching from her grandmother, so she wasn’t much around them anymore.

It was indeed the best bukkumi Jiyong ever had.

Whenever they took a break from their studies, Seunghyun always had something in mind to do. Sometimes, they’d play board-games, other times they’d go dipping in a river nearby and catch fishes and other times they’d try climbing trees to observe eggs of different birds.

His life had never been so fulfilling and exciting bef