Trust

Escape to Busan

Mid-yawn, I show him the middle finger. "So do you." Well, he doesn't look like shit, but his nose looks ridiculously sunburned, his shirt is way too low-buttoned, and his hair is still too long to style it into one of those trendy hairdos he always shows me on Pinterest. But then again, Doyoung never bothered much with details.

And annoying little brother or not – I've missed him, so I pull him into a hug. I've missed his snarky remarks, his weird taste in fashion, his questionable sex jokes. Doyoung doesn't seem to have missed me though – because it doesn't take him two seconds to pry my arms off of him. "First you're ghosting me on SNS, and now this?"

"Oh, shut up. Can't I hug you?"

He huffs. "I've spammed you with texts asking for dating advice half a week ago, and you didn't even read them! Also – seriously? It's been a month since you moved to Seoul, and it's only now that you're coming to visit? I've felt like an only child!"

"I'm sorry..." The buzz of the phone in my pocket, and the idea of San texting me for possibly the fifth time today, makes my heart sink. "Do you still need dating advice? Because I feel like I might need some advice too."

Doyoung sighs, exasperated, as his gaze wanders down my face to my throat: "Really now?" Then he rolls his eyes and starts walking. "Car's this way. And you don't need to tell me. You went to a party and got laid, right?"

"Something like that", I mumble. And then I stop in my tracks. "Wait. How do you know?"

"Because", Doyoung looks back at me over his shoulder and snickers, "you look like shit, and you've got a cute little hickey right there." He points at my throat. "Don't worry, it's not very visible. Will be gone by tomorrow. Maybe you can tell Mom and Dad that it's a bruise from hitting your throat on a door frame."

"Okay..." Instinctively, I bring my hand up and run my fingers over the skin of my throat. Somewhere there is the hickey. San's lips have been there. San decided to leave a hickey there. That thought has my fingertips tingling.

"You're acting weird", Doyoung remarks. "You still know what a hickey is, do you?"

"Shut up. 'Course I know."

Doyoung squints. "I don't know how to say this, but... you don't seem irritated."

Oh, right – hickeys normally annoy the crap out of me. I never make them on somebody else's skin, and I always have to stop guys like Jimin from trying to sneak in one or two when we're making out.

But. This hickey... it was San's doing. San's. I wouldn't have stopped him even if I'd noticed him sucking this into my skin.

"I- I don't..." I gulp. "I don't really mind this one."

"So." After staring at me way too long for my liking, Doyoung simply grabs my arm to drag me along to the parking lot. "There's a reason you came so spontaneously, right?"

I hesitantly nod. "It's about-"

"Let me guess", he interrupts me. "Is it about the guy you hooked up with yesterday? He probably was a nice fuck, but you somehow managed to screw it up, so you thought you needed a break from him to clear your head and figure out what to do next in order to get him to hook up with you again."

"How the hell do you know that?"

Doyoung rolls his eyes. "Oh, please. Don't act so surprised. I've always been good at reading people", he brags. "Also, I've known you for eighteen years, Hyung.

"While we're at the topic though... I also need to tell you something. It's about that guy on your SNS profile pic. Because Mom and Dad asked me who he was, but I didn't know, and you didn't answer any of my texts, and I didn't want to admit that you've been ghosting me for half a week, and I was also pretty mad at you – I still am, by the way – so I just told them that he's your boyfriend. Act like it for the weekend, 'kay? You owe me, for ghosting me. Also, Mom and Dad were, like, really happy that you've finally settled down. Guess that's an adult term for not sleeping around anymore. And also, that guy looks really cute. And attractive. Is he one of your new friends, or did you sleep with him? Or both?"