#015
When I finally calmed Ban Hajoon down and the tissues I used to wipe his wet face had piled up like a mountain, his head that had been held upright fell onto the dining table with a bang- making a crude sound.
“Argh-.”
He hit his forehead so hard that even I felt pain watching, but Ban Hajoon didn’t wake up, whether he wasn’t hurt or had fainted from the pain.
“Ban Hajoon-ssi?”
“…No way… eh…”
He didn’t seem to have fainted.
“Go home and sleep.”
“……”
I shook his shoulder. I grabbed and shook him quite hard, but he just swayed along with my shaking without any response.
“Ban Hajoon.”
“……”
“Ah… this…”
Ban Hajoon’s breathing spread out evenly as he fell asleep tightly gripping my hand. Looking at his back that had been heaving with sobs now rising and falling shallowly, it seemed his tears had also stopped.
“Ah… he’s really being unreasonable.”
When Ban Hajoon cried, I really felt like my drunkenness cleared completely, but after some time passed, I wasn’t completely sober – there was still some tipsy alcohol lingering. I carefully pulled out my hand, then roughly cleaned up the dining table where alcohol bottles were messily scattered, and gathered all the dishes to put in the sink. The problem was Ban Hajoon. How do I move that bulk? It would be uncomfortable sleeping here.
I staggered over and shook Ban Hajoon’s shoulder.
“Ban Hajoon-ssi.”
“Ah… leave me alone.”
“No, try to come to your senses.”
This crybaby bastard only responded exactly when he wanted to respond, exactly that much. At least the drunkard had some sense. This one… When Ban Hajoon wouldn’t get up despite me shaking his shoulder, I pulled his arm and draped it over my shoulder.
I was already dying from lack of energy. Why is he so tall too – when I stood up, Ban Hajoon almost collapsed onto my body.
“Ah, crazy!”
My back bent as I was pushed backward. Ah, my back, my back…!
“Huk, fuck…!”
I genuinely cursed. My back got twisted because Ban Hajoon collapsed while losing strength. A man’s back is his lifeline, and I haven’t even properly used it yet…!
I barely managed to lean against the dining table as support and hugged Ban Hajoon. Just try getting up. Forget alcohol and everything else, I’ll fold you in half.
***
After dragging him like that to move him to the sofa and letting Ban Hajoon sleep there, I fell asleep the moment I lay on the bed. It didn’t seem like I’d been lying down for long when the alarm went off. Ah. Crazy… I’m dying from exhaustion. I blinked my eyes while lying on my side and tossed and turned.
That’s when it happened.
“Ah…”
Pain spread from my back with a sharp sensation. Ah, my back. My back! The pain rising from my twisted back was no ordinary thing. I made groaning sounds while getting up and barely managed to finish showering before leaving the bedroom. Ban Hajoon was sleeping exactly as I had laid him down.
With only half his body on the sofa. Ah. I don’t know. I left the house while tapping my back with my fist. There happened to be a bouquet reservation from this morning. We shouldn’t have drunk that much…
I roughly shoved my feet into sneakers and opened the door. Whether the weather got colder after the rain stopped, I already felt chilly even before going outside.
“Ahh… my back.”
My back hurt more because it was cold.
I took the elevator down and opened the flower shop. The weather after the rain stopped was incredibly nice. The sky was high and blue, and the air was clean. The cool breeze made my nose tingle. As soon as I disabled the security system, I strode inside and opened the window. It’ll be cold for me today, but the flowers will dry well instead.
After checking the condition of each flower hanging in the air, I prepared to make a bouquet.
I took out plenty of pink pasta gerbera, white ranunculus, pink stock and white delphinium, helichrysum, and statice. Since I only need to make one bouquet… I thought I should make it and go to the oriental medicine clinic first, and trimmed the flowers in an awkwardly bent position.
It was a bouquet with pink pasta gerbera as the main flower. The flowers themselves were flashy, so I deliberately chose other flowers in subtle colors to match. Only the helichrysum was matched in a slightly bright color to take its place. Thinking there might be a bit too few green leaves, I added ruscus and secured the stems with hemp string.
I laid out beige matte floral paper and wrapped the flower bud part with wet tissue. After shaping it into a round form, I wrapped it with floral paper and tied a white ribbon in the middle to finish.
“It has an autumn feeling.”
Still with my back bent, I held the bouquet and stretched my hand into the air to complete the final check. It was pretty. It seemed like the prettiest one I’d made recently.
“Ah… my back. Should I really kill him?”
I muttered to myself, then safely delivered the flowers to the customer who came to pick up the bouquet, and awkwardly leaned against the table while tapping my back. My back was twisted so badly that I couldn’t straighten it properly. I repeated massaging and hitting my back that was spreading with dull pain, then called Gyoyeon who didn’t come last night. The ringtone went on for a long time before I heard a voice saying the call couldn’t be answered, and I hung up bitterly.
Why didn’t Gyoyeon come yesterday? No matter how much I thought about it, no one received contact from Gyoyeon saying she couldn’t come. Did she fall asleep?
“Hmm…”
I was quietly leaning against the table when I moved to close the window a bit because it seemed very windy. Since my back wouldn’t straighten properly, my gait naturally became limping. I stood on tiptoe and reached toward the window when my back straightened properly.
“Ah-!”
I screamed without realizing it. Along with that, I grabbed my aching back and leaned my forehead against the wall. What closing the window.
“Ah… annoying…!”
That’s when it happened.
Just as I was hitting the wall and showing all sorts of irritation, ding-a-ling, the wind chime sound rang with good timing along with cold wind rushing in. My gaze naturally turned toward the entrance.
“Ra, Ranho-ssi.”
“You’re up already?”
Checking the time, it was a little past ten. I thought he’d easily sleep past noon, but he woke up unexpectedly early. When I straightened my awkwardly leaning body, Ban Hajoon walked in with long strides with a restless face.
“Yesterday… we drank too much yesterday, right? Mistakes… I blacked out but I think I made some mistake.”
“Mistake?”
I made eye contact with him with the fierce predator-like gaze of timing when to fold Ban Hajoon’s back in half. Ban Hajoon, who had turned pale, trembled his shoulders at my ice-cold sharp gaze. That crybaby bastard. Who knew crying and sleeping was his drinking habit? The drunkard’s drunken behavior was gentle compared to Ban Hajoon – you could just give him something pretty.
“Yesterday…”
I kept tapping my back vigorously. Tap-tap-tap- As the sound of hitting my back got louder, the color completely drained from Ban Hajoon’s face. Yeah, do you finally remember? A man’s back is his lifeline, but mine got wrecked because of you.
“Yesterday… did I perhaps…”
“Do you remember?”
“……”
“I really almost killed you but held back.”
Ban Hajoon’s jaw dropped and his mouth opened wide. He repeated opening and closing his mouth. Yeah, you must be too sorry to even speak.
“I was too drunk yesterday too, and I’m the one who made Ban Hajoon-ssi drink that much… Anyway… I’ll forget it too, so Ban Hajoon-ssi should forget it too.”
I provoked him about alcohol tolerance for nothing and just twisted my back.
“Ranho-ssi.”
“I can’t make Hajoon-ssi hurt the same way just because I’m in pain.”
“…Ah…”
If I could have folded Ban Hajoon’s back, I would have folded his back more than ten times by now. But I can’t do that, and he didn’t do it on purpose – what can you do when it happened because he lost strength?
I’m magnanimous, magnanimous. He’s not bad enough to have deliberately targeted my back, I chanted like a mantra and decided to forgive Ban Hajoon.
“How… how can you…”
“Yes?”
Ban Hajoon’s gaze was completely fixed on my back.
“How can you forget that…”
“Well, what else can I do? If I said I’d do the same to you, would you let me?”
“…I’m going crazy. Do you really want to do that?”
“Well, yeah. If I could do it, I’d want to. And you don’t seem to remember it very clearly anyway…?”
Ban Hajoon squeezed his eyes shut and opened them while repeatedly making lamenting sounds of “So…” He must have been flustered waking up in my house, but he had even washed up in the meantime and smelled fragrant. His hair was moistly wet without properly drying. He’ll catch a cold with the weather being chilly too.
I rummaged through my pocket and spread out the handkerchief I didn’t know why I kept carrying around, handing it toward Ban Hajoon.
“You’ll catch a cold. The weather is cold today too.”
The neat hand that was running through wet hair trembled as it received the handkerchief. Why is he trembling like that? I tilted my head.
“I’m not saying I’ll do the same thing to you. It hurt so much when I experienced it… Plus, what would I gain by doing the same thing? Even if I did the same, we’d just both have aching backs.”
“I… I didn’t know I did that to Ranho-ssi. I really…”
“I know. You didn’t do it on purpose, right?”
I shrugged my shoulders. Ban Hajoon lowered his posture and rambled with a trembling voice as if he had done something unforgivable. No, is twisting your back a bit while supporting a drunk person something to act like that about…
“…I will.”
“I said it’s fine. I’ll just forget about it cleanly.”
“I’ll take responsibility.”
Words too heavy to utter over such a trivial matter and a tragic expression combined to create a strange atmosphere. I shouldn’t laugh… Ha, shit. I barely held back the laughter that was about to burst by chewing my tongue and biting the inside of my mouth.
“…Suddenly what for?”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
