Gentle Giant Chapter 81
Juho came in carrying armfuls of items for Dain to use in both hands. Just like when he had put Dain to sleep and left the house earlier, the quiet interior of the house came into view.
Juho, who had turned on only the indirect lighting so as not to wake Dain, approached the bedside.
Dain was making groaning sounds even while asleep, as if the pain from the fracture was now hitting him.
“Tsk.”
A short tongue-clicking sound flowed from Juho’s mouth as he wiped away the cold sweat that had dampened Dain’s forehead. Even though they were small fingers, fractures in two places would cause considerable pain.
Juho took his hand off Dain’s forehead and headed to the kitchen.
He took out the ice he had frozen before leaving the house and put it in a compress pack. After placing the compress pack on Dain’s hand, he looked at Dain’s face again.
Perhaps because his burning hand had cooled down, Dain’s expression, which had been groaning, improved considerably. Juho, who had been watching that change without missing anything, finally raised the corners of his mouth and lightly kissed Dain’s forehead.
He was angry at Dain for creating another secret from him, but seeing him in pain like this made his hardened heart endlessly weak.
“Don’t be in pain, okay?”
Sincere words came out without him realizing it.
As if understanding Juho’s words, a “mmm” murmur flowed from Dain’s mouth. Because that was cute too, Juho let out a small laugh.
* * *
From morning, Dain was receiving endless worry from other people.
When he entered the lecture hall alone without Juho, everyone’s attention focused on Dain.
“Oh, you hurt your hand? Are you okay?”
“Ah! Mm-hmm.”
Starting with the concern of a classmate from the same department who he had never even properly greeted, everyone who made eye contact with Dain looked at his left hand and said something.
Dain gave awkward responses to them while fidgeting with his left hand in the half-cast. He wished the lecture would start soon.
“Oh my! Dain sunbae!”
However, contrary to Dain’s wishes, he was caught by Jiyoon who arrived before the lecture started.
Jiyoon looked back and forth between Dain’s left hand and face with an expression close to shock. Dain was the one who got hurt, but somehow Jiyoon looked like she was in more pain.
Dain greeted Jiyoon with an awkward face this time too.
“Oh, Jiyoon came. Hello.”
“No, sunbae, what happened?”
“Umm. I fell down the stairs yesterday and got hurt.”
“Stairs? Gasp, wait! The student who rolled down the stairs spectacularly yesterday was sunbae?!”
Jiyoon covered her mouth with both hands and shouted.
Hearing the words “rolled spectacularly,” Dain’s face turned red with embarrassment. He realized that the scene of him falling yesterday had already become gossip among the students.
Dain had nothing to say and could only laugh awkwardly.
Jiyoon gently rubbed Dain’s half-cast while feeling upset.
“Are you badly hurt, sunbae? If it’s to the extent of needing a half-cast, did you sprain it severely?”
“Uh-huh, my wrist is sprained and my fingers are fractured.”
At Dain’s answer, Jiyoon’s eyes widened as if they would pop out. Fractured! He really did roll properly! Jiyoon was surprised by the more serious injury than expected.
While Jiyoon was fretting about what to do beside him, Kim Sujeong, who had arrived in the lecture hall at some point, also approached Dain and spoke to him.
“Jung Dain sunbae-nim? Did you hurt your hand?”
“Ah, yes. It’s not serious though…”
“How is it not serious!! Sujeong sunbae-nim! Dain sunbae’s fingers are broken!!”
Dain tried to handle the situation by saying it was no big deal, but Jiyoon jumped up and denied Dain’s words.
At her statement, Sujeong’s eyes widened. Broken fingers were quite serious, weren’t they? Sujeong looked at Dain’s left hand and frowned. The fingers visible at the end of the half-cast were swollen and puffy, which was pitiful to see.
“You’ll need to take good care of yourself.”
“Yees.”
“Are you in pain?”
“I took medicine this morning and applied compresses before coming, so I’m okay.”
Listening to Sujeong’s thoughtful concern, Dain felt like he was sitting on pins and needles.
Clearly, he and Sujeong had parted with hurt feelings at their last meeting. But he was worrying about Dain as if nothing had happened, completely unfazed.
It seemed like he was the only one having difficulty looking at Sujeong’s face properly due to uncomfortable feelings.
Sujeong paid no attention to Dain’s uncomfortable attitude and sat next to him throughout the lecture time, taking care of him.
Jiyoon sat on his left and Sujeong on his right, both looking after Dain. He felt sorry for the two of them, but Dain found their attention burdensome.
He missed Juho, who had insisted on skipping work and coming to school with Dain this morning. At the time, he had said it was ridiculous and forcibly sent him to work, but now he thought he should have asked him to at least audit the class together. For Dain, relationships with people other than Juho were still more uncomfortable.
With even the late-arriving Minjun joining in, Dain received devoted care from three people until lunchtime.
He emphasized that his injured hand was his left one, but was lightly ignored. Not only did they bring his meal tray, but Jiyoon even tried to spoon-feed him. Seeing her proactive behavior, Dain was horrified and barely stopped her.
After eating lunch without knowing whether it was going into his nose or mouth, Dohyeon was waiting for him at the afternoon lecture.
“Dain! I got a text from Jiyoon! Your bones are broken?”
“Mm-hmm. It’s okay, it doesn’t hurt much.”
“Doesn’t hurt much my foot! Just looking at it, it’s all swollen! Come here, sit next to me!”
“Ah, no, it’s okay though…”
“Shush! Come quickly! Give me your bag.”
Dohyeon took the bag from Dain’s hand and placed it in the seat next to him. Then he took out textbooks and writing materials to set them up, and winked saying to leave the note-taking to him.
The afternoon time was also uncomfortable and awkward due to Dohyeon’s devoted care.
After barely stopping him from carrying his bag home, Dain headed home alone.
It had been a more tiring day because he had been bothered by people since morning. Dain rolled his shoulders, which had become twice as heavy as in the morning, and opened the door.
“Hyung? You’re back?”
“Huh? Juho!!”
At Juho’s voice coming from inside, Dain’s head, which had been facing down, shot up. Juho seemed to have just arrived too, as he was still wearing a suit.
“I was just about to change clothes and go pick up hyung, but it seems like you finished a bit early today?”
“Mm-hmm. The professor said he had something to do and ended 30 minutes early. But Juho, is it okay for you to leave work this early?”
“Yes, the company said I could leave first too, so I came. How’s your hand? Let me see.”
“It’s okay. I ate lunch and took my medicine properly.”
Dain said it was okay and held out his hand. However, contrary to his answer, Dain’s fingers were swollen blue to the point where even his fingerprints weren’t visible.
Juho’s thick eyebrows crumpled with a crunch.
When his expression wasn’t good as he carefully examined his hand, Dain could only watch Juho’s mood restlessly.
Really, Dain’s pain wasn’t as severe as what was visible. While he was pondering how to convey this fact, fortunately Juho made an ice compress pack without saying anything else.
At the cool feeling touching his painful hand, the corners of Dain’s lips rose.
“It’s very swollen, wasn’t it uncomfortable?”
“Mm-hmm, it was okay. My juniors and classmates took good care of me!”
“Hmm? Who took care of you?”
“Jiyoon and Kim Sujeong sunbae-nim and Lee Minjun sunbae-nim, and also Dohyeon in the afternoon!”
Dain dutifully answered the question while folding his uninjured fingers. Remembering his friends who had been more of a commotion than him since morning, laughter burst out.
The longer Dain’s answer became, the more strength went into Juho’s hand gripping the ice.
No wonder he had felt anxious all day while working. As expected, he shouldn’t have sent him alone. Imagining other people touching and interfering with Dain all day made him feel like his blood was flowing backward.
Completely unaware of Juho’s feelings, Dain began explaining in detail what had happened today.
“And when I was coming out after lunch, I ran into the broadcasting club people! So I felt a bit bad!”
“I see. What did the broadcasting club people say?”
“Ah! Right! They apologized to me so much! They said they were really sorry and would pay for all the treatment and hospital fees, so don’t worry. Students other than the female student I saw on the stairs yesterday also apologized together.”
“Is that so?”
“Yeah! There were a lot of people around and they did it in front of the restaurant, so it was so embarrassing. I was ashamed to look at my friends’ faces too.”
Dain blushed again remembering lunchtime.
“Come to think of it, yesterday Juho, you didn’t go looking for the broadcasting club or anything like that…?”
“Me?”
“Mm-hmm. You were really angry yesterday. When you went out after I fell asleep, I wondered if you might have gone to the broadcasting club.”
“I don’t even know where the broadcasting club is. Yesterday I really just bought the things hyung needed and came right back.”
Juho’s eyes curved gently. It was the smile of the most truthful person in the world.
Dain was completely taken in by Juho’s smile and nodded.
“Right? I guess I was thinking too sensitively. It was strange suddenly receiving such a huge apology. Come to think of it, you’re not the type to go somewhere and get angry, Juho.”
“What are you saying, hyung. Even while your hand hurt that much, you were worried I might go get angry?”
“Well, there’s no need to deliberately make relationships bad.”
“Haha, hyung is right. Yesterday I was just momentarily angry because hyung got hurt so badly. Anyway, the broadcasting club said they’d even cover hyung’s treatment?”
“Mm-hmm. But it’s not like I need surgery, and I didn’t want to go back to them because of treatment fees. So I just said it was fine.”
Dain’s answer was perfect. Juho felt good when the answer he wanted flowed from Dain’s mouth. Even without Juho beside him, Dain was building walls on his own.
Actually, yesterday he was so angry that he had told them to apologize to Dain directly. However, Juho still didn’t want Dain to encounter them multiple times. If Dain had said he would accept the treatment fees, he would have somehow stopped him.
Juho’s smile deepened even more. His lips touched Dain’s hand and various other places.
When Dain was smiling brightly while receiving his affectionate kisses without knowing the reason, the sound of a bell rang from Dain’s phone on the desk.
It was the bell sound indicating a video call had come in.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
