Another Tale Of A Nine Tailed

Chapter 5: About foxes and other monsters

„I'll go to the convenience store, do you want something besides lunch? Cigarettes?"

Woo Bin had noticed that since that box from the balcony was gone, Yi Jeong had never bought a new one. Though he supported the non smoking version of his boyfriend with all his heart, he thought it might help calm his nerves.

„No, thank you." Yi Jeong called from the bathroom.

„You didn't smoke for over a week. You're starting to get nervous again because you still didn't get the blood test back.."

„I know.." Yi Jeong appeared in the living room and Woo Bin smiled, because he was wearing the sweater again and he was right, it looked really good on his friend.

„You know.. Since that night, thinking of the smoke and the smell and fire.. I feel sick just thinking of lighting a cigarette. So I quit. For real now."

„I'm proud of you." Woo Bin said and Yi Jeong smiled. „Just... bring me some snack. Okay? I still need something to calm my nerves."

„Yes sir!" Woo Bin laughed and vanished.

Yi Jeong kept packing together his stuff for work.
It's been four days now and they still didn't make it to the rooftop, because it was raining all the time. Almost like a higher force wanted to keep them from finding out what was behind all those mysterious events.
He knew it couldn't go on like this forever, but for now, he was glad that Woo Bin was with him all the time. The doctor said about three days, up to a week.
Maybe after he got the results, he would finally start to relax a bit.

The day felt like a complete normal day without further incidences. Only Woo Bin, sitting in a corner of his class room, with his laptop, was the difference from usual.
But the kids liked him too, yesterday, he even read them as story he just made up the day before and they loved it.
Today, the new kid had his first class without his mom, and still.... there was the same scent like from the guy in the restaurant.
Nam Yong Gi was a sweet kid with talent. Yi Jeong wished he could stop thinking about the scent but he just couldn't. He somehow hoped for the father to pick up the kid, but it was the mother again.

After all the kids had left, he was standing in front of the pieces, each of them had accomplished that day.
Woo Bin snuck up behind him, looking over his shoulder after he wasn't able to take his eyes off of a certain one for a while.

„Wow. That's an interesting figure." he pointed out and Yi Jeong nodded. „It's a Gumiho." he informed his friend.

„Right! Of course." Woo Bin said as if it was obvious and Yi Jeong laughed. „I didn't figure it out either, but that new kid told me."

As a writer of the horror genre, Woo Bin was quite familiar with a few mythical creatures, but he tended to find horror in the mundane world and was writing about that instead of the supernatural, so he never dug too deep into the topic.

„Isn't a Gumiho a bit scary for a seven year old?" he asked and Yi Jeong shrugged. „I asked him the same, but he just laughed and told me a Gumiho isn't scary at all and that the figure is a present for his dad."

„Ah! He dropped one of his tails!" Woo Bin said hastily, as a lump of clay broke off.

„It happens all the time. Nine tails are a huge amount for such a tiny figure." Yi Jeong laughed and tried to repair the nine tailed fox. When it was done and all nice tails secured, he let himself drop against his friend and closed his eyes.
He was so exhausted but the day wasn't over yet.
Yi Jeong's mother had invited them over for dinner and though he loved his mom and also wanted to take the opportunity to ask her something important, he'd rather spend the evening on the couch, eating snacks and watching drama.
Woo Bin wrapped his arms around him and breathed a kiss on his neck.