Thirty-One Fish

"Wait, I think there's been some sort of misunderstanding..."

Kyungwon heard the call drop on the other end before he could even finish the sentence. He sat on the sofa in silence, completely bewildered about what had just happened. Who was that guy? Why did he pick up Yuel's phone? Where was Yuel right now?

Judging by the loud chattering in the background, it seemed Yuel was out somewhere, perhaps at a café or a restaurant. He must have been hanging out with his friend after school. But what Kyungwon couldn't understand was why this friend sounded so hostile toward him. He even called him a sicko who had been harassing Yuel.

"Maybe this was a bit much," Kyungwon murmured, flipping through all of the unchecked messages and calls he had been sending Yuel. In his defense, most of it was urged by Sori who had been asking about Yuel on the daily.

Kyungwon still felt awful about the last time he had seen Yuel. It was fully within Yuel's right to feel uncomfortable about Kyungwon visiting him without prior notice. But he didn't expect the boy to be so put off by it as to dash out of his car in the middle of the road. It was quite a challenge trying to calm Sori down while driving back home. While he did manage to get her to stop crying, the little girl was convinced Yuel was mad at her despite her dad reassuring her time and time again that wasn't the case.

"Did you talk to Yuel Oppa, Daddy?" Sori asked, waddling out of her room.

She had just woken up from her nap at the sound of her dad speaking on the phone. She climbed onto the sofa and cuddled into his side, ready to fall back asleep any moment.

"I miss Yuel Oppa..."

Hugging his daughter close, Kyungwon sighed, "I know, Sori. I miss him, too."

Kyungwon didn't know where things had gone wrong. He could have sworn he and Yuel used to have a great relationship. Of course, he knew their relationship had started deceptively, as the only reason he had decided to tutor Yuel was to get close to the son of the woman he loved. But after spending a lot of time with him, Yuel became someone just as dear to him as his mom. It didn't matter if the boy could never truly see him as his stepdad. Kyungwon just wanted them to be family in whatever form Yuel allowed.

He recalled the very first conversation the two of them had the day they started living together.

"I know it will take some time to settle in, but I hope we can continue to get along, Yuel. As family now."

"Yeah, I hope so, too..."

"Thank you for saying that. I really do care a lot about you, Yuel.

"I... care a lot about you, too, Hyung."

Kyungwon meant every word of that, and he wanted to believe Yuel did as well, even though he looked a bit unsure at the time. It was natural, since it must have come as quite a shock to Yuel that his tutor was now his mom's new husband. Kyungwon could tell Yuel was uncomfortable about his changed family situation at first, as much as the boy denied it. But Kyungwon was patient with him. And to his relief, Yuel started to open up to him again after Sori was born. It seemed they could finally be the family Kyungwon had envisioned...

Until last year, when Yuel suddenly announced that he wanted to go live with his dad. His reason was that he wanted to be closer to Seoul to visit colleges he was planning to apply to. However, something told Kyungwon there was more to it than that. But Yuel wouldn't tell him what was wrong. Or if he had done something wrong to make Yuel want to leave.

"When you've been harassing Yuel with all these calls and messages and god knows what else?"

Kyungwon thought about that strange phone call. He wondered how Yuel might have been describing him to his friend, for that friend to consider his calls and messages to Yuel as harassment. Could it be that Kyungwon had been mistaken until now? That Yuel had actually been hiding much different, more uncomfortable feelings about him all this time?

"Daddy?" Sori said, looking up with sad eyes.

"Yeah, Sori?"

"Can't we go see Yuel Oppa?"

"Sori, I don't know if that would be a good idea right now..."

To her dad's negative response, Sori began to cry. "But I miss him. I wanna know why he's mad..."

"Sori..."

Kyungwon felt the exact same as his daughter. He wanted to get to the bottom of this. It had been a few weeks since he last talked to Yuel. And judging by the lack of any response from him since, it seemed impossible to resolve whatever issue there was in their relationship at this rate. But Kyungwon didn't want them to permanently drift apart like this. He cared about Yuel too much to lose him without even getting to hear why.

"You know what?" Kyungwon said. "Alright, let's go see Yuel."

. . .

"Are you sure you don't want to go grab ice cream?" Edin asked.

"We just went to a dessert café," Yuel replied. "You want more dessert?"

"Yes. But what I really want is to spend more time with you."

This boy really wouldn't give Yuel's heart a break. Yuel thought he had grown used to Edin's blatantly flirty remarks, but he was having to readjust to them all over again now that he had fully accepted his feelings.

"W-We can hang out again tomorrow. It's the weekend, after all."

"Then, can I come over to your house? My sister's going to be home tomorrow."

"Why does that matter?"

"You said your dad is away on a business trip. I want us to be alone."

"Alone...?"

"Then, will you kiss me somewhere else? ...I look forward to it."

Yuel was immediately reminded of what Edin had said at the park, and it became so apparent what the boy was implying. Yuel was just relieved that Edin didn't seem to realize they were somewhere else now. They were completely alone in the parking lot of their apartment complex, and the sun had gone down hours ago. No one would see them...

No, what was Yuel thinking? Now that he had started being completely honest about his feelings for Edin, he was getting all sorts of crazy thoughts. It was hard to keep up. But Yuel wanted to take things slow as this was his first-ever relationship, his first-ever proper attempt at love. It was uncharted territory that he was still a little scared to dive straight into, not knowing just where things could lead.

With that said, Yuel replied, "I'll... think about it."

"Let me know tomorrow morning?" Edin said expectantly.

"Sure."

Yuel saw their apartment building up ahead. In about five minutes, they would say their goodbyes for the night. Thinking back, everything about today was just perfect. Yuel had an amazing first date with Edin, and they were going to have their second date right away tomorrow. It seemed he would finally be able to leave the heartache of his past behind and move forward to happy days—

"Yuel!"

And as if he had just jinxed himself with that thought, Yuel heard a voice he could recognize in a heartbeat. He thought it was just his imagination at first, until the voice came again.

"There you are," Kyungwon said, walking toward the two boys from his car.

"Hyung...? What are you—"

"I thought I told you to stay the fuck away from Yuel!" Edin shouted, surprising both Yuel and Kyungwon.

Kyungwon recognized the boy as the same one who had been standing next to Yuel the day he had visited his school. Seeing how often the two were together, he figured this must have also been the new friend Yuel had told him about. Then, that was all the more reason he needed to clear things up about himself.

"So that was you on the phone. Look, I really don't know what idea you have about me, but it's a misunderstanding."

"Of course you would say that, you creep!"

What is going on, Yuel thought, unable to wrap his head around any of this. He was already having trouble processing the fact that Kyungwon had just shown up at his house out of the blue. But what were Edin and he talking about? Did they talk on the phone before?

"I'm really not a creep or anything like that. I'm just here to speak with Yuel."

"Get away from him!" Edin snarled, pushing Kyungwon back so hard that the man fell down. "I gave you your last warning, asshole!"

"What are you doing?!" Yuel shrieked.

"Stand back, Yuel," Edin said, taking his phone out. "I'm calling the police and having that abusive piece of shit arrested."

"Abusive piece of shit? What are you talking about? H-He's my stepdad!"

"I know that. And I know how he's been constantly harassing you through his calls and texts. You don't have to worry about him anymore." Edin dialed the police. "Hello? I'd like to make a report—"

"No, stop!"

Yuel was panicking. Somehow Edin knew about Kyungwon's numerous calls and texts and had formed an absurd accusation about him. And now, he was two seconds away from having the man arrested for no reason. Yuel saw this as entirely his fault. If he had just fought through his fears and come clean to Edin about Kyungwon right away, this wouldn't have happened. And so, he saw only one way to clear this misunderstanding once and for all.

"Please don't report him, Edin. He never abused or harassed me. He's..." This was it, the moment Yuel would finally confess his biggest secret. "He's my first crush."

"What...?" both Edin and Kyungwon responded in disbelief.