Not Imprisonment, but Living Together (9)
“Umm, I… see.”
An atmosphere that was difficult to pin down exactly settled between us. Finally, unable to bear the awkwardness, I abruptly stood up.
“I’ll, I’ll go put the album back. Thanks for showing me.”
I approached the desk to put down the album, avoiding Sa Hae-geon, who was looking up at me with a bewildered face. While pretending to look around the desk to kill time, another album caught my eye.
‘What’s this?’
As if hypnotized, I reached out to check the album, which had no information written on its cover. Could this contain the B-grade photos that weren’t selected for the album I had just seen?
“There’s another album here?”
“Yes. But that one…”
“Is this your album too? Can I see it? I’m going to look.”
“What?”
The moment I finished speaking and was about to open the album, Sa Hae-geon sprang up from his seat. He seemed to want to prevent me from looking at it. But his defensive attitude only made me more curious. Just as I was turning the cover with anticipation about what cute photos might be inside…
“Oh…”
Confronted with a shocking sight, I was left dumbfounded, and Sa Hae-geon seized the opportunity to snatch the album from me and hide it behind his back. What did I just see? As I stared at him with a baffled expression, he stammered with a face that had turned much redder than before.
“I-I told you not to look…!”
“No, I naturally thought it would contain your photos… I didn’t think it would have my photos…”
Inside the album page I had mischievously turned were photos of me. Seeing my childhood photo from the internet displayed so prominently made my mind foggy.
Wait. Shouldn’t I be the embarrassed one here? Why is Sa Hae-geon acting as though his own photos were discovered?
I narrowed my eyes and looked at Sa Hae-geon.
“Hae-geon, what is this album? Hm?”
“…”
“You collected my photos?”
“Well…”
Sa Hae-geon hesitated and avoided answering, then quickly put both albums back in their original places before grabbing my wrist. Then, as if nothing had happened, he sat me back down on the bed.
Of course, I wasn’t going to let this go. I was planning to hear the full story of how this came about.
“Since when have you been collecting my photos? Did you start collecting them after the day you said we met? Tell me.”
At my questions, Sa Hae-geon’s face grew increasingly red. I didn’t know it was possible to get any redder than before. But if he exploded from embarrassment, it would be a real problem, so I decided to back off for now.
“Alright. It seems difficult for you to talk about it here, so I’ll ask again when we get home. Let’s talk at home.”
At these merciful words, Sa Hae-geon’s face turned pale instead, and he mumbled:
“…Yes.”
I was spending time lightly teasing Sa Hae-geon, who reacted in such amusing ways. As he was receiving my teasing in a somewhat more relaxed posture than before, he suddenly stood up and looked at the door. As I was wondering why he was acting that way, soon his mother knocked on the door and said:
“Hae-geon, it’s time for the matching test. Do-min, please come down too.”
“Yes, yes!”
As I responded with a start, Sa Hae-geon laughed silently.
When we left the room together and headed to the examination room, the doctor I had seen earlier greeted us warmly.
“Guide Chae Do-min, welcome. Come in, Hae-geon.”
Sa Hae-geon’s mother was also in the examination room. So Sa Hae-geon and I ended up taking the matching test under the watchful eyes of both of them. Sa Hae-geon also seemed uncomfortable with his mother’s attention, as he rolled his eyes around. Then his eyes met mine.
The matching test machine, which I hadn’t seen in a long time, felt both familiar and unfamiliar. The machine consisted of a Guide device and an Esper device. Following the machine’s alert sound, I placed my hand on the Guide device and began Guiding, while Sa Hae-geon infused his ability into the device on the opposite side.
After receiving a sufficient amount of energy, the machine soon made a loud noise to indicate that fact.
“Good. That’s done. Come over here. You too, Hae-geon.”
Sa Hae-geon and I removed our hands from the devices and approached the doctor.
“Guide Chae Do-min, as you probably know from having done this many times before, the test results would normally come out within half a day. But in Hae-geon’s case, the situation is special. There are some things we need to compare and analyze with overseas cases, so it will take more time. I would appreciate your understanding.”
“Ah… yes. That’s fine.”
I had already agreed to take the matching test, so what else could I say but yes? Of course, I hadn’t planned to stay overnight here, so it was a bit surprising… Come to think of it, I hadn’t told Cream I would be staying out. Just as I was about to speak, having a bad feeling about this:
“Hae-geon, I didn’t tell Cream before leaving…”
“Hyung, I think Cream might get angry…”
The same words came out of Sa Hae-geon’s mouth. It seems Sa Hae-geon had been thinking along similar lines. Then Sa Hae-geon’s mother tilted her head and asked:
“Cream? Who is Cream?”
While Sa Hae-geon froze at his mother’s question, it became my responsibility to explain. I looked around briefly and then explained in the most neutral way possible.
“Ah, Cream is the cat I raise. Because I’m busy with work, I don’t go home often, and even when I do, I leave right away, so she gets quite angry every time I stay out overnight. This time I left without telling her, so she must be very angry. Hae-geon sees Cream often, so he knows her personality well. That’s why he seems to be concerned about me. Right?”
“…Yes.”
Sa Hae-geon’s mother, who had been looking back and forth between me, forcing a smile, and Sa Hae-geon, responding in a small voice, exclaimed:
“Oh my, oh my! Really? Is that so? Are you already close enough to frequently visit each other’s homes? Are you like a couple? Hm? Hae-geon, is that it?”
It was my mistake. At this rate, a few more words and she would be suggesting a wedding date, or at the very least an engagement ceremony, so I had to avoid answering and could only smile awkwardly. And it seemed Sa Hae-geon felt the same way, as he avoided his mother’s gaze and kept repeating that he was hungry.
Of course, even in the dining room, we were bombarded with questions without exception, so we barely ate and hurriedly went back upstairs to the room.
“I’m sorry, hyung… I didn’t know my mother would ask so persistently.”
“Huh? You don’t have anything to apologize for. It’s okay.”
“But still… we’re not in any kind of relationship yet.”
“Well, that’s true, but…”
Strangely, seeing Sa Hae-geon readily admit with his own mouth that we weren’t in any kind of relationship made me feel somewhat twisted inside. It bothered me that this guy, who usually doesn’t yield his opinions, was being timid and detached only in this situation.
* * *
The next morning. No, at a time that was closer to dawn, someone shook my body. Having fallen into a deep sleep after an emotionally exhausting day, I had to wake up with a confused face.
“Huh…? Why? Is it already morning? What time is it?”
To my sleepy question, Sa Hae-geon kindly replied:
“4:30 AM.”
“…What? Why did you wake me up so early? Are you bored?”
“What? No. I just thought it would be better to get the explanation quickly and go home to sleep. Cream must be worried too.”
“Ah… Really? Yeah, that sounds good.”
What a thoughtful guy. I added something else after that, but because sleep was overtaking me again, my pronunciation became slurred, and Sa Hae-geon had to keep asking me to repeat myself.
“Hyung, hyung.”
“…Ah.”
My closing eyes flew open at his voice.
“Oh, yeah… What time is it?”
“4:43 AM. Get up quickly.”
“…Okay.”
Being naturally a heavy sleeper in the morning, and having developed the habit of getting as much sleep as possible when not out in the field, it wasn’t easy to leave the bed at such an early hour. Nevertheless, thinking of Cream, I quickly got ready and followed Sa Hae-geon to the examination room.
After a brief knock, we opened the door to the examination room to find the doctor from yesterday, still dressed the same way, flipping through a thick book at his desk. He seemed not to have heard the knock, as he opened his eyes wide in surprise at our sudden appearance.
“…Ah, both Hae-geon and Guide Chae Do-min are up early. You came at just the right time.”
Just then, with the machine’s notification sound indicating that the analysis was complete, the result sheet began to print out. Yawning, the doctor got up from his seat and trudged over to the printer to check the results first. Initially, his hand turned the pages slowly, but gradually it began to speed up.
Even after checking all the result sheets, the doctor remained silent for a while before turning to us with an expression of astonishment. The doctor looked as though he wanted to say that this was absolutely impossible.
