#043
That drunkard, what should I do with him. Ju Isin was still nibbling away at the Pepero bit by bit. With his cheeks puffed up like a hamster.
“Ju Isin-ssi.”
“Yes.”
“Stop eating. Isn’t it too sweet?”
“It’s sweet.”
His pronunciation was all slurred, seeming even more drunk than before. I held up two fingers in front of him and asked how many he could see. Even I thought it was a stupid question, but it must have seemed stupid to the drunk Ju Isin too.
“Ha. Hyung.”
“…No, I just thought you looked too drunk…”
“I’m perfectly fine.”
“Sure you are.”
I casually lowered the fingers I had spread in a V-shape and checked on Ju Isin’s condition. Looking at his drowsy eyes, it seemed like he’d fall asleep the moment he stopped eating…
“Ju Isin-ssi.”
“Yes.”
“Where’s your home. Your address.”
“Sinsa-dong.”
“Where in Sinsa-dong.”
Ju Isin, who had been staring at me with drowsy eyes, collapsed onto the table with a thud. His lips, which could be described as having blood beaded on them rather than being red, moved slightly.
“What did you say?”
“…Don’t wanna.”
“Don’t wanna? What are you saying, you need to speak properly for me to understand. Do you need to pee?”
“Don’t wanna… go.”
It was something completely different. As I scratched the back of my head in embarrassment and cleared my throat, the eyelids that had been hiding his black pupils slowly lifted upward. At the same time, moisture gathered in his eyes. Does he not want to go home so badly that he’d cry? Why? I want to go home. I felt like crying as much as Ju Isin was tearing up. This damn drunkard! He left fingerprints all over the glass window again.
“Ju Isin-ssi.”
“Yes.”
“Stop crying and stay for just two hours before going. Sober up a bit and get your head together.”
“…Yes.”
Behind his eyelids that kept closing and opening, his pupils completely rolled back. Just when I thought he’d fallen asleep, his dry lips parted and made a scraping sound.
“…Hyung.”
“What.”
“Hyung, do you have a mom and dad?”
“No.”
“I don’t either… we’re similar. Hyung, don’t you miss them?”
After his mumbled words with an indistinct tone, tears that had been pooling at the corners of his closed eyes rolled down drop by drop. Ah geez, really. I feel so sorry for him I could die.
“Of course I miss them. But not to the point of crying like Ju Isin-ssi.”
Was he eight years old? I recalled Yoon-u who had come to buy flowers as a gift for his mother. Even for an elementary school student, he had looked too young. When I overlaid Ju Isin’s face with Yoon-u’s, his unknown childhood felt even more pitiful.
“I… miss them… Grandpa probably misses me too…”
“I suppose so…?”
It seems right that he misses them, but does he want to go see them? I stared intently at Ju Isin with his narrowed eyes cast downward, then tapped the back of his hand that was tightly gripping the transparent bag that had contained the Pepero.
“Ju Isin-ssi, do you want to go see your parents?”
“…No.”
“But you said you miss them.”
“I miss them, but I don’t want to go see them.”
Ju Isin looked at me with bloodshot eyes and gave a clear answer while slightly shaking his head. What, so he meant he misses them but doesn’t want to go see them. I looked at Ju Isin, who seemed particularly pitiful today, let out a low sigh, and stood in front of the showcase.
Of all times, the flowers were all sold out, so there wasn’t much left. Hmm. I let out a long breath and took out all the butterfly ranunculus that remained in the showcase, about a handful. I added matricaria and delphinium that I had set aside to take home, laid them out, and first checked if they went well together. The colors seemed to match well… I trimmed the stems while thinking about how to arrange them.
I gathered the butterfly ranunculus and matricaria together to create a shape. Fortunately, there was quite a bit of matricaria left, so the bouquet itself looked full. I inserted sky-blue delphinium here and there among the yellow flowers like accent points, and fitted water sponges to the ends of the stems cut diagonally. I wrapped the bouquet with white cloud paper, tied it with a yellow ribbon, finished the packaging, and placed it in front of Ju Isin.
Ju Isin, who seemed a bit flustered by the bouquet placed in front of him, blinked and reached toward the familiar flower.
“…Butterfly. Butterfly.”
His voice, thick with alcohol, came out slurred.
“What’s this. It looks like egg flowers.”
“Mm… this one has several names. Just like how Ju Isin-ssi is called Isin and also called a drunkard. I’m used to calling this matricaria, but some people call it feverfew, and others call it chamomile.”
Pretty. Ju Isin’s hand moved slowly from the butterfly ranunculus to the matricaria, to the delphinium. Among them, the flower that received Ju Isin’s touch for the longest time was definitely the butterfly. Even when drunk, that shape is pretty.
“Business was good today, so there weren’t many flowers left. It’s Pepero Day, so people really bought a lot of flowers.”
“Ah… this, so that’s why this was here…”
Ju Isin’s head, which had been looking at the yellow petals, turned toward the Pepero sitting on one side of the table. He looked at the beautifully decorated Pepero and muttered something about good skills, then turned his head sharply again. What captured his turned gaze was, as expected, the butterfly ranunculus.
“That hyung, he doesn’t dislike me, right?”
“What?”
“That, the hyung who was here earlier.”
It was a sudden question. Did Ban Hajoon dislike Ju Isin? I hadn’t been watching closely so I wasn’t sure. He seemed to have no particular thoughts about it.
“I don’t think he dislikes you. You’ve never properly talked with Ju Isin-ssi anyway.”
“I like hyung the most. You know?”
“I don’t want to know.”
I burst out laughing at his drunken rambling as he sprawled his upper body across the table, scrunching up his eyes with a smile. I lightly ignored it and placed a single butterfly ranunculus on Ju Isin’s limply spread palm.
“Still, I’m glad the flower Ju Isin-ssi likes was left.”
I met his gaze—eyes completely watery, whether soaked in alcohol or tears.
“This is also my gift. Since I gave you something pretty yesterday, you’ll understand if tomorrow’s flower is less pretty, right?”
“I think this is prettier…”
“What should I do if this is prettier. The bouquet I sent to Ju Isin-ssi yesterday had several types of flowers.”
As I muttered while glancing at Ju Isin, his dejected face let out a weak, powerless laugh. His handsome face, holding the stem of the butterfly ranunculus and gently swaying it, seemed particularly touching today. Really, I feel so sorry for him I could die.
“It’s also late today.”
I untied the apron I was wearing and rolled up the sleeves covering my wrists slightly to check the time.
“Take that flower and go early tomorrow morning. To see Ju Isin-ssi’s parents.”
“…Hyung.”
“Next time, visit on the actual day. What’s the point of going a day early. Ju Isin-ssi’s parents probably wanted to see you more today than yesterday.”
Ju Isin carefully held the bouquet to his chest, pressed his moistening eyes firmly with the back of his hand, and stood up unsteadily. The breath he exhaled still smelled of alcohol. Wondering if his drunkenness hadn’t subsided at all, I examined his swaying body. The pupils I looked into were quite clear.
Should I take him home? I was going to close anyway since there were no flowers… I hesitated for a moment. Actually, I was a bit annoyed and wondered if I really needed to take Ju Isin home myself. Couldn’t I just call him a taxi? It would probably work if I asked them to please take good care of him until he gets home.
“Ju Isin-ssi. Are you a bit more sober?”
“…Yes…”
His damp voice and the face turned toward me were flushed. Sober, my ass. He’s more drunk than before, I could bet the flower shop on it.
“Hyung… I’m dizzy.”
What should I do. I thought of reasons one by one why I should take Ju Isin home. First, he’s much younger than me, he’s drunk, it’s getting dark outside, it’s cold, he’s pitiful, and he can’t speak properly. When the reasons I thought of exceeded five, my heart leaned toward taking him home.
“Where did you say your house was?”
“Sinsa-dong…”
“Let’s go. I’ll take you.”
“…What…?”
I dusted off my apron well and hung it on a chair, then slowly put on the outer clothing I had worn down when leaving for work. I habitually swept back my hair, and when I held my phone, wallet, and car keys in my hand, Ju Isin, who had been swaying and then found his balance, smiled drowsily at me.
“Hyung, the ground here is wriggling.”
“What?”
“The ground. It’s totally wriggling.”
I alternately checked the perfectly flat floor once and Ju Isin’s unfocused pupils once. How much do you have to drink for the floor to move like that.
“Can you walk?”
“Ack-hiup- Puha!”
“What the hell, really.”
As I stopped my hand that was reaching out to support him when he made strange sounds and laughed, Ju Isin slowly grasped my hand, pulled my arm to close the distance, and leaned his forehead against my shoulder with a thunk.
“Uh oh- I’m dizzy. Spinning around.”
I let out a deep sigh at his words mixed with a strange rhythm. Ju Isin tightly hugged my waist, let go, and headed toward the entrance with an unsteady, precarious gait. After grasping at air several times trying to grab the handle, deciding it wouldn’t work, he pushed the door wide open with his shoulder. At that moment, the door was suddenly pulled from the front, and with a scream-like exclamation of “Uh oh-!” Ju Isin fell forward. Right on top of someone who was trying to enter.
“Ah, shit.”
A low voice rang out, and
“That’s not nice language!!!”
A voice that was clearly drunk followed immediately after.
Before Ju Isin could even check who he had fallen on top of, he covered his mouth with his palm after spitting out the curse and glared fiercely. Ah, this is really ridiculously troublesome. I turned off all the lights that had been brightly illuminating the interior at once and walked out quickly. On the terrace, two grown men were overlapped in an unseemly manner.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
