***
Yi-beom, who had been looking over documents, pressed a hand to his forehead. It had been throbbing since morning, and the migraine was only getting worse.
He rose from his seat and looked out the window. Eunho, who had been scampering through the living room, kitchen, and empty rooms, was now wandering outside. Watching the rabbit kicking wildly with its hind legs beside the pool, Yi-beom left his room.
Frowning, he yanked open a kitchen drawer. Thankfully, perhaps because Professor Hwang had prepared it, various kinds of medicine were neatly stored inside. Yi-beom took out some headache pills and swallowed them dry, without water.
“Ahjussi!”
Turning toward the sound, he saw a rabbit running toward him in a hurry. Every time it leapt, its two ears flapped wildly.
“Ahjussi, hff… huff!”
Eunho panted as if he’d run at full speed all the way to the kitchen. The sight of him pressing a tiny paw to his chest, completely out of breath, was so pitiful that Yi-beom almost laughed.
The moment Eunho lifted his head, Yi-beom forced the corners of his mouth back down.
Ah, seriously.
Clicking his tongue as he suppressed the smile threatening to escape, Yi-beom’s ears, hidden beneath his hair, flushed red.
Meanwhile, Eunho’s gaze shifted toward the table. Spotting the pill bottle, his ears fluttered again.
“Ahjussi, a-are you hurt somewhere?”
He looked around, but aside from the medicine bottle, there was no water glass or any sign of food. After hopping in place a few times, Eunho spoke again.
“The medicine… Did you take it without water again?”
“……It doesn’t matter.”
When had he run over here? Afraid that the resolve he’d barely built would crumble, Yi-beom turned to head back to his room.
Something suddenly rolled toward him—then the pale pink rabbit stood upright on two feet, stretching out its short legs wide. When Yi-beom tried stepping to the side, the rabbit hurried to block him. When he changed direction, it was the same. The rabbit kept blocking his path, and Yi-beom frowned faintly.
“……What are you doing?”
“Food.”
His ears bumped against each other repeatedly—a sign he was in a bad mood.
“Food.”
“……”
“Food, food.”
Food? Was he asking for food? Remembering the sounds of eating he’d heard from outside earlier, Yi-beom asked back,
“You want me to give you food?”
Eunho pointed at the table with his paw.
“I’m telling you to eat.”
The way he stretched out his paw pad like someone extending a finger left Yi-beom momentarily blank-faced.
“You shouldn’t take me-medicine on an empty stomach.”
“What’s ‘me-medicine’?”
“Medicine…”
Embarrassed that he’d stuttered, Eunho’s body trembled slightly. Usually Yi-beom understood him even when he spoke clumsily, but now he was nitpicking his words.
“Eat first. I’m not moving until you do.”
Yi-beom let out a hollow laugh. Their size difference alone was more than tenfold. Getting from the kitchen to his room would be easy—he could just step over Eunho, couldn’t he? Just as that thought crossed his mind—
Thud. Eunho suddenly flopped onto the floor. Stretching all four legs straight out, he even patted his belly against the ground, looking absurdly bold.
“What are you doing…” Yi-beom muttered as he tried to walk around him, but Eunho hopped right back into his path.
“I said I won’t move.”
Judging by his behavior, he fully intended to keep rolling around until Yi-beom ate. Even now, the way he fussed over meals was annoyingly lovable. Suppressing the affection that kept rising up, Yi-beom tilted his head.
“What’s it to you?”
Eunho, still lying down, gasped sharply. His round belly puffed up.
“Whether I eat or not—what’s it to you?”
Still flat on his back, Eunho lifted only his head. The position seemed uncomfortable—his ears trembled—but he didn’t take his eyes off Yi-beom.
His gaze was steady. Jung Eunho looked fragile, yet when necessary he was strong. That was one of the things Yi-beom liked about him. It was because of that strength that the two of them had met in the first place.
“It is my business.”
Eunho answered clearly, firmly.
“You’re the baby’s father. W-What if you get sick?”
“You don’t even take care of your own health, and you’re telling me to eat first?”
Yi-beom’s face twisted harshly. The cold aura radiating from him made even Eunho flinch.
Standing silently for a moment, Yi-beom bent down. His large hand lifted Eunho’s paw, raising the tiny body upright in an instant. He held him up easily in one hand.
“Seems like you’re mistaken. You’re the one who said you wouldn’t get surgery even if we broke up.”
“……”
“If you say something, you take responsibility for it.”
He placed Eunho on top of the table so he couldn’t block the way anymore. When Eunho tensed his legs to jump down, Yi-beom lightly pressed him back. Then he bent slightly, meeting Eunho’s eyes.
In those small, round eyes, Yi-beom’s reflection appeared—a face colder than he had ever shown Eunho before.
He gave a cruel smile. It was the same smile he used on people who ran off with debt or cheated at gambling tables. The more Eunho trembled, the deeper that smile grew.
“Do you know what that means?”
Yi-beom pointed toward his room.
“It means even if I fuck someone in there, it has nothing to do with you.”
“……”
“Even if I bring home a new lover, you wouldn’t be able to say a word.”
“Hah…”
A breath Eunho hadn’t realized he was holding escaped. Soft panting sounds came from his small body. He lowered his head as if digesting what he’d just heard, then met Yi-beom’s gaze again.
“Still… eat your food.”
His tone was firm.
“As your ex-lover, I can at least say that much.”
“……What?”
With that, Eunho sprang off the table. Then he dashed straight out onto the terrace.
Yi-beom stared blankly at the rabbit’s back as it waddled away, its little hips swaying. He had meant to hurt him—but somehow, it felt like he himself had taken more damage.
“Ex-lover…?”
He muttered the title he had never expected to hear.
“Ex… fuck.”
Just saying it left a foul taste in his mouth.
“What kind of shitty word is that?”
A lover is a lover. What the hell is an ex-lover?
“Just like that… ex-lo— Ah, fuck.”
Unable to even finish the word, Yi-beom looked out toward the terrace. Eunho, who had bounded outside, was now digging into the grass beside the pool again, kicking dirt energetically with his hind legs, looking oddly excited.
For some reason, Yi-beom couldn’t shake the feeling that he’d been pulled into Eunho’s pace. Watching him with a complicated expression, he headed toward the refrigerator. If he didn’t put something in his mouth, he felt like he might chase Eunho down and demand what the hell he meant by saying that.
“Fifteen days. Fifteen.”
Just fifteen days, please. Muttering to himself, he opened the fridge.
A mix of food smells hit his nose. There was only pineapple, tomatoes, sliced bread, and eggs inside, so the scent was mostly sour—but today it felt nauseating.
“Ugh…”
Unable to hold back the rising nausea, Yi-beom quickly covered his mouth.
“Urk.”
Even after closing the refrigerator, the smell lingered at the tip of his nose. The gagging wouldn’t stop.
“What the… urgh.”
For the first time in his life, Yi-beom’s face filled with confusion. The greatest trait passed down through his family line was a sturdy body. True to a clan once famous as warriors, the Kwon family didn’t even suffer from ordinary hangovers.
Yi-beom was the same. He could drink crates of alcohol and be fine the next day. He could crash into cars or tumble down mountains and be back on his feet within two days.
For someone like him, nausea and retching were completely unfamiliar.
“……Pregnant?”
At the voice, Yi-beom turned his head. Eunho stood at the terrace entrance with a blank expression. A small pebble slipped from his paw.
“Ahjussi… are you pregnant?”
Yi-beom shut his mouth at the utterly absurd question.
“W-Who’s baby is it?”
“What?”
Eunho rolled his eyes around nervously and added,
“It can’t be mine, right?”
“……”
“I’ve never been on top of you. I mean, um, I’ve moved while being on top, but…”
This fucking— Realizing what Eunho was imagining, Yi-beom’s face flushed red with anger. Mistaking that for embarrassment, Eunho’s eyes widened.
Unable to hold back his curses anymore, Yi-beom strode quickly into his room. Bang—the door slammed shut, leaving Eunho standing there alone in confusion.
***
For several days, Yi-beom didn’t speak to him. He found out later that this place was an island where outsiders couldn’t come and go easily, and he even threw a bit of a fit—but Ahjussi didn’t budge.
Of course, having Ahjussi here meant he didn’t actually hate being in this place.
Not only did their conversations disappear, but even the time he got to see Yi-beom’s face grew scarce. Yi-beom spent most of his time in his room and only came out to eat. Judging by the occasional traces left behind, it seemed like he came out once in the early morning, too.
Living in the same house yet barely seeing each other even once. Draped over the sofa like a pile of laundry, Eunho lifted his head. The tightly shut door came into view.
“This is hard…”
It had already been days since he’d seen Yi-beom, and it felt unbearable. Instead of growing resentful, he only missed him more and more. It had gotten so bad that he couldn’t even sleep at night, so he’d decided it was better to wait on the sofa.
“Doesn’t Ahjussi feel suffocated?”
You can’t even sleep properly without me. He couldn’t understand how Yi-beom was enduring it. Just as Eunho yawned, scratching at the sofa with a dragging sound—
At that moment, a plump peach flickered through his mind. A peach covered in soft fuzz, dripping with sweet fragrance. Imagining its tender flesh made his mouth water.
