#044
Without realizing it, I frowned, and Woo Dohwan’s expression, trapped under Ju Isin with a look of disbelief, became a bit more fierce. He very irritably yanked Ju Isin’s hand away.
“Don’t put your dirty hands anywhere. Get off.”
“Apologize!”
Even being drunk should have limits to be cute. In the midst of it all, I approached behind Ju Isin, who was preciously hugging the bouquet claiming to protect it, slipped my arms between his two arms and stood him upright. I pulled Ju Isin, whose eyes were sharply pointed like an angry Pomeranian, and leaned him against the glass window, then brought his palm over.
“Ju Isin-ssi. Are you okay?”
“Yes!”
“Why are you so hyper today? Don’t you know what happens when you cry and laugh?”
I don’t know if it was fortunate or not, but there were no new scratches on his palm. At my action of patting clean his knee that had hit the ground with a thud, Ju Isin smiled brightly and slightly bent his upper body to bring his lips near my ear.
“Listen. But I’m confident I won’t fly away.”
At the breath that suddenly blew in, I quickly straightened my body and stepped back half a step. I really hate this. Crazy, why is he acting like this when drunk.
“I’m letting it slide because you’re drunk. Act up moderately and then go.”
“Hmph. I’m not a drunkard.”
“Why do you keep speaking informally? I’m older than you.”
At my lowered voice tone, Ju Isin’s body trembled, then he docilely lowered his eye corners. I reached out my hand toward Woo Dohwan who was still sitting on the ground with his butt stuck to it. A white, delicate hand grasped mine. Before I could put strength in my hand to help Woo Dohwan up, he very lightly straightened his body.
“That guy, he’s the one, right.”
“Pardon?”
“The guy who bought the same flowers as me.”
“Ah, I don’t think so.”
I avoided the eyes we were facing and turned my head. At his piercing blue gaze, I tried a lie purely for Ju Isin’s safety, but as expected, it didn’t work at all. Woo Dohwan brushed off his clothes and looked Ju Isin over. His eyes that had been watching him unable to stand still, swaying by himself like a long balloon doll, turned toward me.
“Aren’t you going to check my hands?”
“Pardon?”
“Aren’t you going to brush off my clothes?”
“Ah… oh, should I take a look?”
Even though he dragged his jacket on the ground without caring once, I thought he wasn’t sensitive, but apparently that wasn’t the case. Worried that the coat that looked expensive even from the outside might have gotten dirty, I grabbed the edge of Woo Dohwan’s coat and gave it a slight tug. Fortunately, both the front and back looked clean. Still, just in case, I patted the area below his waist and took Woo Dohwan’s hand. Then I naturally straightened his curled fingers and checked his palm. Hmm, no injuries. No scratches either.
“It seems fine… did it hurt anywhere?”
“Mm.”
“Where does it hurt?”
“…My back? No. My tailbone?”
His rolling eyes seemed like he was lying, so I let go of his hand after finishing the check and closed the door. After finishing the security system setup and turning around, Ju Isin was sitting perched at the end of the terrace, and Woo Dohwan was leaning against the glass window that the drunkard had left full of fingerprints.
“What brings you here?”
“Just. When I arrived, I was here.”
Woo Dohwan shrugged. He said it so matter-of-factly, as if his body had naturally come to this place on its own. Hmm. I let out a long breath through my nose and looked over his neat appearance. Where had he been to dress so nicely? Without realizing it, I looked over my own outfit and unnecessarily adjusted my outer clothing.
“Today is closing time. I sold all the flowers.”
“Not for flowers, I came to see you.”
“……”
“Honey. Did you have a good day today?”
At the word that came out so naturally, I jumped and covered Woo Dohwan’s mouth.
“Why do you keep calling me that!”
His smooth lips without a single rough spot were crushed within my palm. At the moist and soft sensation, I trembled as if startled and pulled my body back, when my wrist was caught.
“But, where are you going?”
“Over there, that person is too drunk so I was going to take him home.”
“Who? Him? Are you close?”
The end of his low voice slightly rose. Woo Dohwan, who was particularly innocent today resembling a deer, glanced sideways coyly.
“We’re not that close…”
We’re not that close of friends. Isn’t it a bit much to call this level of relationship close…? Just as I was looking at Ju Isin thinking this, Ju Isin, who had been sitting with his head deeply bowed, looked back at me and sent a resentful gaze.
His long, stretched eyes were full of moisture. What now, why again. Thick teardrops fell like rain, literally like a downpour, streaming down Ju Isin’s cheeks. Ah, really…!
“Why are you crying again?”
“We’re not close? I even made flowers for you like this?”
Ju Isin held out the bouquet he had been hugging tightly in his arms.
“Haah…”
It seemed like the ground might collapse from all the sighs I’d let out today. If possible, I wished Ju Isin would collapse along with the ground… I thought that far and shook my head vigorously. I pressed my eyes that were stiff from fatigue and raised my head to look up at the gradually darkening sky. I could only hear Ju Isin’s sniffling and crying.
Which part exactly touched the drunkard’s tear ducts? I didn’t want to, but I let out another long sigh. Since it wasn’t too late yet, the gazes of people passing by on the main road glanced at me, Woo Dohwan, and Ju Isin.
Embarrassing… Some even stopped completely and looked at Ju Isin, whispering that a grown man was crying.
“…Thinking about it again, I think we are close.”
“With me?”
“Pardon?”
“Honey, you’re closer with me, right?”
Why are these guys acting so childishly today? I kept breathing out huffs at this situation I couldn’t adapt to, then opened my mouth toward the voice calling “honey” so gently.
“That way of addressing me seems to be the problem.”
“Why.”
“It’s the kind of address that anyone would misunderstand.”
“So?”
“……”
When I met eyes with Woo Dohwan who asked back as if wondering what the problem was, he shrugged with an even more shameless expression. Is he doing this on purpose? The handsome man who surpassed neat appearance didn’t look like someone who would like the same sex no matter how I looked at him, which made it more confusing.
Since Seo Ranho in the story loved the same sex, I, who possessed his body, didn’t particularly feel distance or awkwardness toward the same sex, but don’t people have some kind of intuition? Woo Dohwan really seemed hetero no matter how I looked at him, even if I looked while doing somersaults.
Moreover, since everyone who comes here shows tremendous interest in me, even if I didn’t want to know what kind of interest it was, I could vaguely sense it, but what I felt from Woo Dohwan was interest and curiosity appropriately mixed together. Well, curiosity and interest have the same grain…
“It’s true that I find your face pretty, but that doesn’t mean-“
“I came to eat dinner.”
“…So suddenly like this?”
“I don’t know your contact information.”
Woo Dohwan held out his phone as if he had prepared for this. Sniffling and crying from below the waist, shamelessly asking for my number from above.
“Today is,”
“Give me your number and I’ll call next time.”
After being dazed for a moment at words that came out smoothly as if prepared, I snatched Woo Dohwan’s phone, entered the 11-digit phone number, and handed it back. Only after he pressed the call button and confirmed that my phone was ringing did he straighten his body that had been leaning.
“I’ll take that one with me.”
“Pardon?”
“It’s better for my mental and physical health if I take him rather than you taking him.”
Woo Dohwan grabbed the sniffling Ju Isin’s arm and lightly stood him up, then put the drooping arm around the back of his neck. There was weak resistance and a crying sound of “No way…” but Woo Dohwan very lightly dismissed Ju Isin’s opinion. Perhaps realizing that his drunken antics wouldn’t work on this opponent, Ju Isin naturally hung onto the shoulder of the person who had secured him.
“If you’re grateful, call me in about an hour. After you go home, wash up, eat dinner, and lie down.”
“But… will you be okay? Ju Isin-ssi isn’t answering properly to anything right now, and you two don’t know each other.”
“Why is that a problem? I can take him even if I don’t know him.”
Crazy, how could that be possible? Woo Dohwan seemed determined to be shameless today. The thought that it might be better to send him in a police car briefly crossed my mind. But before I could take any action, Woo Dohwan carelessly dragged Ju Isin and walked toward the car with hazard lights blinking on the shoulder. He opened the passenger door and threw Ju Isin in to sit, then more gently than expected, pulled the belt across to fasten it before closing the door.
Even though he knew I was looking at him with worried eyes, he pretended not to notice, waved his hand, and got into the driver’s seat. When the passenger window rolled down, I could see Ju Isin’s head bent at almost a right angle. His neck will hurt tomorrow morning.
“Hey, drunk guy, no, Ju Isin-ssi, your head a bit…!”
“When you’re drunk, this kind of thing doesn’t hurt.”
It hurts after you sober up, that’s the problem. Woo Dohwan was cold. He very naturally groped Ju Isin’s body to find and pull out his wallet. Then without any hesitation, he opened the wallet, checked the ID, and finished setting the navigation address. For a very brief moment, I had suspected that Woo Dohwan might drop Ju Isin off anywhere and leave. Feeling unnecessarily sorry, I smiled awkwardly, and Woo Dohwan smiled back too. As if he knew what I had been thinking.
“No… well… anyway, have a safe trip.”
“Ranho.”
“Yes?”
“Call me.”
Woo Dohwan, gripping the steering wheel with his upper body leaning forward, smiled as if he was determined to enchant someone. That face is the problem. No matter how much I think about it, Woo Dohwan’s face is harmful to my heart. It seemed like the sound of my pounding heart was ringing in my ears, but I pretended not to notice and nodded my head up and down. Satisfied with my affirmation rather than denial, he nodded his head as well.
“Go in. I’ll watch you go before I leave.”
“Oh, you can go first, you can go first.”
“I’ll watch you go.”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
