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“Excuse me
 .”
Philip closed the locker door when he heard a voice he had heard from somewhere. He saw the face of a boy standing behind him.
It was the first time the boy spoke first in the school, off the bench on the hill. Phillip glanced down at the boy. When the usual greeting didn’t come back, the boy stuttered as if he was very nervous.
“Oh, I waited yesterday, but you didn’t come. That book is out of print, but I accidentally found the second volume in a second-hand bookstore
 .”
The boy took a book out of his bag.
“What book?”
At Philip’s question, the boy was even more nervous and did not know what to do. It was then. A large arm approached from behind and shook the boy’s head in a mess.
“Hey. What are you doing here? Peter Rabbit.”
It was Fred from the same football team. He grabbed the boy’s head several times and shook it. It was neither a sign of friendliness nor a greeting. It was just a prank, doing whatever he wanted without thinking about the other person.
The slender boy’s body staggered sideways. The book in the boy’s hand fell to the floor.
“Phil. Didn’t the coach say he’ll see you later?”
Fred looked at Philip and spoke to him.
“Really? Thanks for letting me know.”
“Philip. We were supposed to meet at Haley’s later, are you coming?”
People quickly gathered around Philip. The boy ran around to pick up the books, avoiding people’s feet.
“What time is it?”
“About 7 o’clock?”
“I’ll go when the time comes.”
“I heard Haley’s cousin is coming too. A kid who goes to school in France.”
“Have you seen a picture of her? She looks really awesome.”
“Wait, feet
 .”
The boy spoke carefully to get the book from his feet.
“Huh? What? Were you still there?”
Fred, who had been squinting at the boy the whole time, grunted as if he hadn’t noticed.
“
 Get out of the way.”
The boy tried to get the book out, but Fred stepped on it more and picked it up.
“What book is that?”
“I don’t know. Do I know what books that nerd reads?”
Fred’s party burst into laughter. The boy’s face turned red.
“What else is this?”
Fred took the brown paper bag from the boy’s hand. Then he pulled out what was inside and shook it.
“Give it back.”
“Why are you carrying something like this goat dung so preciously?”
“It’s not like that, it’s my brother’s birthday, so it’s the food my mother made.”
“Do you eat goat poop on your birthday in Korea? Is it because you’re at war?”
What Fred was holding in his hand wasn’t goat dung, but red bean cake. The Korean War was stopped more than half a century ago. But Philip wasn’t willing to explain that to an idiot who seemed to be made of muscles without any brain.
“Give it back.”
The boy said with eyes that looked like they were about to burst into tears. Fred giggled more excitedly.
“Mmm, if you cry and cry, I’ll give it back. Cry like a goat.”
“Fred, you crazy bastard.”
“What are you going to do when you hear a goat? You’re crazy.”
As if this was normal for his party, no one tried to stop them. The boy stretched out his arms and tried to take the bag from Fred’s hand, but to no avail because of the height difference. Fred raised the bag to the top and giggled and grinned.
Then Philip made eye contact with the boy. Because of his innate lack, Philip found it difficult to read the emotions of others. He could not fully feel or understand the emotions that ordinary people would take for granted. From the moment he realized that he was not normal, he observed and imitated others. Thanks to this, he now had the ability to read other people’s emotions even in the most subtle facial expressions.
Expectation.
The boy was now looking towards him. He believed that he will extend a hand of salvation to him this time as he has helped him once before.
Philip had no obligation or need to live up to expectations. He crossed his arms and smiled obliquely.
How stupid can he be to expect such kindness from others?
While Philip smiled and looked down at the boy, the guy standing next to Fred was joking and bumped into him. Giggling, Fred let go of the paper bag, and one of the party didn’t see it and stepped on it.
The trampled rice cake was literally crushed like shit. The boy picked up the sticky rice cakes on the floor and put them back in the bag.
“Uh, that wasn’t on purpose
 .”
Fred scratched his head in a bit of embarrassment. Thick tears fell on the back of the boy’s hand.
“What are you crying about? I can just buy you a sandwich. Throw away that shit
 .”
Fred tried to lift the boy up. But the boy shook his hand and stood up. Tears were dripping down, wetting the collar of the blue shirt the boy was wearing.
It was an interesting sight.
When the boy, who seemed ordinary, burst into tears, his impression subtly changed. The tip of the nose and the tears in the eyes, the tears dripping down a perfect trajectory, and the wet eyelashes drew people’s attention.
In another word, he thought the boy could cry quite nicely.
But how can he cry at such an age?
“Fred. Did you make him cry again?”
“If you like him that much, just stick together with him.”
“Fuck, what are you talking about? Am I crazy?”
Fred was hot-tempered and had a temper. He was a mean kid who showed his interest in a crooked way.
“By the way, since when did you two know each other?”
Henry, who was standing next to Fred, looked at Philip and asked in surprise. They thought that there was no way two people from different school years could get to know each other without a special occasion during the semester.
“Me?”
Philip pointed at himself and asked.
“Weren’t you two talking?”
The boy’s eyes met. eyes very frightened. Philip looked into those eyes and smiled long. Then he shrugs his shoulders.
“I don’t even know his name.”
It wasn’t a lie. It was only today that he heard for the first time that the boy’s name was Peter.
The boy’s face suddenly turned red. Then he wiped away the tears and ran away from the place. Fred licked his lips like a dog that had lost food and followed the boy’s back with his eyes.
“But what do French women like? Can we talk about cheese?”
“How can we talk about cheese? You bastard.”
The subject of the conversation quickly changed to Haley’s cousin, who was said to be from France. Philip picked up the book that had fallen in the corner. It was one of the books the boy had brought to lend him.
He remembered the boy who took out the book as if full of anticipation. And when no one took his side, he even burst into tears.
“What is that?”
“Nothing.”
Philip answered, wiping the dust off the book.
So who crossed the line?
He smiled and put the book into his bag.