IX

9

Little by little, minute by minute, the site was attracting people until creating a small group, all looking at the scene as if that action could resolve the situation. Now then, just when someone wanted to ask if the boy was alright, Hoseok was already standing leaning lightly on one of his partner's shoulders. And not only that, Vianca's mother's car had finally arrived.

"Mom! Here!" Vianca yelled, managing to connect glances with her mother.

"My God! How did you get to this?" The woman approached them, separating the rest of the people with a few pushes.

"Aha, then tell me, for now help me to take him to the car."

"Ye-Yes."

"You know, daughter, in these cases it's best to notify his family first."

"Is that... I..."

"Let's get in the car, I'll take you to the hospital," the woman told Hoseok.

At that last word, Hoseok widened his eyes. "No! Please, don't take me there,” she exclaimed, suffering a bit dizzy from the speed of her own reaction."

Both females shared a puzzled look.

"But what are you saying... You must go," Vianca opined, addressing him.

Hoseok shook his head, head down.

"So," the woman began, "tell me where you live and I'll take you."

This time the boy nodded slowly. "Okay, thanks."

Finally in the car a few seconds of silence were created while the woman was behind the wheel and the other two were silent. During those seconds, Vianca dedicated herself to observing the boy in great detail, as if she wanted to be prepared for any other situation. However, Hoseok hid it very well, because while he appeared very calm on the outside, the dizziness, and even nausea, remained insistent.

Then Vianca inquired. "Now that I realize it, how come you have the car, mom?"

"Today is your father's day off, did you forget?"

"Oh..." Vin remembered the morning, "And yet he didn't want to take me knowing I'd be late!" she exclaimed.

“Vianca…” HoSeok uttered softly.

The named turned to see him a little nervous.

"Yeah?"

"Do not shout please."

Oh.

"Hoseok," Mrs uttered this time. That's your name, right?

"It is," she answered shortly, swallowing hard afterwards.

"It's very different, not even the strangest names are like yours," the older one commented, laughing a little. "I'm not saying it's weird, just that it's unusual."

"Oh... Well, it's not from here, it's a Korean name."

"Wao... I had no idea, I did notice that your features are foreign but I thought that you were born here because you know the language very well, despite your accent."

He laughed softly. "That, yes... It's just... my mother is from here," she explained.

His mother was from here!

Vianca saw him, wanting to analyze him with her eyes, but failing in the process. First, because she thought Hoseok might have a really interesting story, and second, she couldn't properly analyze him when the boy still looked bad.

"I have a question, why don't you want to go to the hospital?" Vin inquired of him.

He exhaled twice silently. Until now he had kept giving short answers and concentrated on not paying attention to the movements of the car or the noises; he believed that if he spoke, vomit would come out fleetingly instead of words.

"Well..."

Hoseok tried to say, believing that he would make it, and he was going to, or so he thought until a speeder reducer came up from the street. And then...There was a slowdown... Up and down... Adding a little bump to the seat. He couldn't take it anymore.

Hoseok covered his mouth, but the vomit overpowered any attempt. The boy had expelled all the evils in the car. Vianca from the other side covered his mouth, emitting shrieks of revulsion and surprise. And on the other hand, the woman behind the wheel was extremely silent.

They were speechless for a while. Nobody wanted to comment. The smell of vomit grew rapidly. Even Hoseok, who was very polite, didn't know what to say.

"Do you still feel very bad?" asked the owner of the car.

"I... Excuse me... Seriously, no..." He paused for a few seconds. "Yes, I-I'm better now."

In the end, Alessia, Vianca's mother, thought that making a detour to her house to take care of the situation with the car and the boy was the best option. Even more so when they were at a crossroads to the left to get there.

"We have arrived," said the older one. "Vianca, take Hoseok home, give him water and let him rest for a while while I take care of cleaning up."

"Yes."

Vianca hurried to leave and go to the door where Hoseok would leave, which she opened for him in the blink of an eye. she watched as the boy went down silently and careful not to step on his own vomit. She knew that Hoseok must be very embarrassed, she just had to see that downcast and serious expression to realize it.

"Come," she took his arm, "can you stand up now? Or rather, can you keep your balance? I help you in any case."

Hoseok turned his face away; he didn't want to talk to her up close knowing the smell his mouth must have. "Thanks, but... you know, I'm better than before," he answered somewhat embarrassed and quickly closed his mouth again.

They walked until they were in front of the front door, which Vianca's mother had left open when she entered.

"I-I live here," Vianca said. If you need to take a seat here it is... And you can... um... aha" he finished laughing a little.

Wake up! He's at your house the first day you talked seriously with him!

Although the idea was not for the boys to go to her house, but for her to go to theirs, but what difference does it make? In any case, one had to take advantage of every opportunity to interact.

However, Hoseok did not finish entering. Rather, the boy backed away when he saw the mother of his classmate approaching with a bucket of water.

"May I help you?" he asked.

"No, it's not necessary. You come in and rest for a while," the woman answered hurriedly.

Head down, he agreed. He didn't want to upset her any more than he already had.

"Go ahead, Hoseok, come in." Vianca insisted, seeing that the boy remained as still as a statue.

The young man finally entered but without knowing what to do. He was supposed to take a seat, but how could he when there were little and big splatters of his own vomit on his clothes?

Then the eldest of the three appeared on the threshold again.

"Vin, can you get the rags to clean up?" They are hanging on the rope in the yard.

-I'm coming.

Immediately, Vianca went to fulfill his mother's request. When she came back, she found her mother talking with Hoseok.

"Here they are," she said, handing over what she went to find.

"Thank you," replied the other.

Hoseok just looked at her, and then both him and Alessia continued talking without paying much attention to the third

OK. A little ignored, Vianca walked away, thinking that maybe it was a good opportunity to do something else. That way, once she confirmed that no one was seeing her, she started running up the stairs to her room. She took off her uniform and cleaned herself up as fast as she could. She quickly went to her closet and began to choose among her clothes. She put on blujean shorts up to the middle of her thighs and a wide light blue blouse with straps.

Ready.

But when she came back down the stairs she found an empty room for which she peeked through the still-open door; her mother looked very calm cleaning the inside of the car.

Vianca, confused, left there and went into the kitchen.

Smell...

A rich smell.

The sweet aroma of chocolate filled her nostrils and filled her with the desire to discover the source. She walked over to a tray that was covered by a kitchen towel, which she slowly removed, revealing a chocolate covered brownie.

A delight.

She took the tray in both hands and held it up to her nose for a closer sniff. It was customary to do such a thing with each of her mother's desserts. She felt very gratifying to inhale that aroma just one centimeter from her nose.

"Vianca!"

And unfortunately for the named, such a cry was surprising enough to make her react with a sudden movement, thus ending up with her mouth and nose covered in chocolate, up to part of her chin.

The youngest turned to look at her mother with her mouth open, processing what had happened.

"I made this dessert specifically for tomorrow, since tomorrow I also have to leave and I won't be able to do it early. Today we can taste it without problem, but if you want to smell it, help yourself to a piece."

"But..." She put the tray back in its place. "Aren't you seeing how the scare you gave me left me?

Hearing her, the lady raised her hand as if she were going to hit her.

"Look! I'm going to..."

Vianca ran out of the kitchen.

"Uff..." she held her chest. "Geez."

But now, she had part of her face covered in chocolate.

She sighed, proceeding to try to clean herself with her tongue, but unfortunately she wasn't one of those people who had such a long tongue, so she ended up accepting that she would have to go clean herself in the bathroom.

Then she walked down the hallway to get to the bathroom on the ground floor, taking advantage of the fact that Hoseok was not there to see her with a dirty face. She opened the door and automatically flipped the switch on the wall to turn on the light. The weird thing was that she actually ended up turning it off.

What?

She turned it back on and turned, taking another step into the bathroom. The image that she received after that will remain in her memory for a long time.

And it is that Hoseok was there in front of her. Shirtless.

They both opened their eyes as if they had seen a ghost, remaining static for a few seconds. For Hoseok it was a horror, while Vianca only saw him, moving her mouth without being able to say a word. Until one of them reacted.

"I'm sorry..."

Anyone would think that she was the one who apologized, but it was Hoseok who had spoken.

He took the wet shirt he had taken off to wash it and used it to cover his chest, also getting wet in the process. He had hishead down and his gaze fixed on the ground.

"Sorry, really," he said, not knowing what else to say.

The bewilderment made Vianca see reason "Why are you the one apologizing? I entered without knocking."

"But it's your house," he emphasized.

The drops that fell from the T-shirt soaked his overalls and shoes, and some fell to the floor. They both noticed it and then returned to see each other's eyes for a few seconds. Vianca felt the atmosphere in her bathroom very thick, and the truth is that she was not the only one.

"And? Don't say you're sorry, I was the one who saw you, rather, excuse me."

"That's why I apologize, you saw me and…and it's not something a girl like you wants to see," he explained, lowering his head once more."

What?

As Vianca tried to process and make sense of his words, he spoke again.

Vianca... —she turned her attention to that voice that sounded like a whisper, although Hoseok was between seeing her or seeing some other point in the bathroom.

Vianca then allowed herself to see him better. His torso was covered by the shirt, but his arms that held it lay completely exposed, as did his shoulders; Not to mention those pretty slanted, nervous eyes of his.

"Could you..." he continued, "...go out?"

"Eh..."

"Mh?"

"Y-yes... sure, sure..." She left, allowing herself one last look before closing.

But what?

Vianca looked at her hands and they trembled a little, she didn't expect something like this to happen, but that was what made it intense.

His reaction... Did he seriously consider that he should be the one to apologize? She didn't understand. Also, at that moment Vin just wanted to review in her mind the behavior that the boy had just shown her a minute ago, since this time she observed more than a serious face, Hoseok was shy, and it was the most beautiful thing that the day gave her. .

Again...

Vianca wanted to see him in that state again, she wanted to see him ashamed, hesitant and shy, and to blush those pale cheeks that he had so perfect without any mark or owner.

She exhaled.. She already had a new fantasy and the desire to make it a reality.

Although... He was forgetting something.

The young woman nearly squealed when she remembered that she still had a dirty face.

For obvious reasons, she went up the stairs to the bathroom in her room. In such a way that when she was able to remove the remains of the delicious candy from her mouth, she looked at herself in the mirror.

"Are you seriously going to go through with this?", she asked herself.

But she felt absolutely nothing. "Yeah, of course I do."

And just like that she just went back downstairs, ready for the next thing.

As soon as she went downstairs, she saw the boy sitting on the long furniture in the living room where he was eating a piece of that brownie. Vianca snorted; her mother had called her attention because it was supposed to be tomorrow.

Another detail was that the boy was not wearing his shirt from before, the uniform shirt, which now Vianca could understand that Hoseok was washing to remove the vomit stains; so now he was wearing one of her father's shirts. And it was different, because her father's shirt was one of those he wore around the house, big and baggy and cool, making the skinny teenager look very small in it, and one of his shoulders was exposed by the large girth of the garment's neckline, exposing some of his pale skin.

"Yes, your mother lent it to me, and if you want cake she also saved a piece for you in the kitchen," Hoseok said, looking up at her.

Could he have noticed the looks that Vianca was giving him?

"I'm saying this in case you're looking at that and not something else," he spoke again. And then, quietly, he lifted another piece of the dessert to his mouth.

"What...? What are you talking about? What else would I see?", she asked from the stairs.

He took a second. "I don't know, you tell me."

Vianca bit her cheek.

He spoke again. "Sometimes I keep observing in the same way what I like to look at. You do not?"

She did not answer. What did he mean with those words? Was he hinting at something? Vianca watched him carefully, but nothing at all. His expression was as neutral as his way of eating, because seriously, she couldn't even tell whether or not he was liking that dessert. Though nothing Hoseok said seemed to have any other meaning or hidden words.

Perhaps she was the one who was thinking too much to give an answer.

"You're right, I'll go get some cake," she said, and as soon as she reached the kitchen, she pressed her back against the wall, letting out the air she didn't even know she was holding.

Hoseok seemed not to have been affected one bit by what happened a few minutes ago.

Vianca took the plate with the piece of brownie and returned to the living room where her mother had reappeared.

"Oh mom, I wanted to ask you a question. Where is dad?"

"He began to do other things to take advantage of the day, he came back tired and went to sleep," she explained. Later her expression was as if she had remembered something important. "Hey, Hoseok, I'd like the car to get some sun and breeze for a few minutes before I take you. It doesn't bother you, right? You live very far?"

"Don't worry, ma'am, in fact bringing me here has brought me closer to home, I can walk there." Thanks all the same.

"Oh, calm down, it's not a bother. Also, your shirt hasn't finished drying yet so you still have to wait. In a while I'll take you."

"Thank you so much Mrs. And by the way, this is delicious."

"Oh..." Alessia made a modest gesture, but then she looked at him with a smile. "Thank you."

Meanwhile, Vianca saw how her mother seemed to be more friends with her classmate than she herself had been in all this time.Bblut such a moment was interrupted by the ringing of a telephone.

"Someone's calling, mom," the daughter reaffirmed, referring to the ringing of the home phone.

"Surely it's a customer calling," said the woman, immediately going to take the phone that was in the same living room.

But just as he put it to his ear, the person on the other end hung up. She looked at the phone strangely and returned it to her place.

"But what happened? I didn't understand,” she expressed, taking her cell phone out of her pants pocket.

"What if it was important, Mom?"

Alessia looked at her daughter and then at the cell phone in her hands. "I'll be right back, I'll go see if I have any new messages."

After that, Vianca erased the call log and put her phone aside, as if she had never been the one to dial her own home number to distract her mother. It's just that Vin didn't want Hoseok's visit to end without having been able to talk to him. In this way, the teenager did not take so long to sneak up on the child on the long piece of furniture, clearly at a prudent distance.

"Hey... Did you say that out of courtesy or for real?" she began, referring to the brownie.

"It was real, I had never tasted something like this, I imagine it's a dessert from here."

"Not really, it tastes a little different than usual because my mom gives her touch to everything."

"Oh oh... Well, it's very tasty." He tasted another bite. "There are still things I want taste and try, really everything still seems new to me."

"How long have you been here?"

"Two months."

Two months? But if Moretti saw him for the first time a month and a week ago.

“They signed you up pretty quickly."

"Yes... They didn't want me to continue wasting my time, well, I didn't want to start over either. Besides, it was already arranged that I would study there before traveling here."

There was a moment of silence in which they both ate a little more.

"Um…you know? You said you didn't want to go to the hospital but…will you at least tell your parents?" She looked at him.

"Of course, they will understand that I don't want to go, and in any case it may not happen again, at least for a long time," he answered.

"How do you know?"

"Because it's not the first time."

As simply as he said it, he turned his gaze to the last piece of cake he had left, then returned to Vianca. She had remained silent and with an expression of astonishment. He smiled, sweet and warm, this time showing his perfect white teeth. That smile that Vianca considered so beautiful and that she had only seen three times since he arrived had reappeared, just as bright as she remembered.

Was it a small thing for him to faint?

"What's up?" He questioned with a touch of amusement. "I'd l

ike to know... why you look at me like that."

Two seconds later his smile diminished until it became a closed-mouthed one, and after that he ate the last of the dessert that was left, all traces of a smile disappearing.

Again... Who would know when the quarter moon would visit that boy's face again, through a smile.