#033
“Eggs?”
Lee Yeonwoo asked with wide eyes.
“Yeah. Grandma Kyeong-i’s eggs… I borrowed some briefly this morning and promised to buy more to replace them.”
Kang Dojun hesitated while gripping the steering wheel, wondering if he should go back and buy them now. Lee Yeonwoo pulled out his phone again.
“I’ll let her know.”
He grumbled while sending a text to Grandma Kyeong-i.
“Really, if you used them, you should have bought more. How much did you want eggs?”
…And whose fault is all this? Not knowing Kang Dojun’s inner thoughts, Lee Yeonwoo continued nagging.
“Can you buy a carton of eggs on the way? I’m really good at boiling eggs, especially soft-boiled ones. Should I make some for you?”
It was something he said while unconsciously confirming that he would be staying at Kang Dojun’s house. Noticing this, Kang Dojun smiled and narrowed his eyes.
“Yeah.”
“…But hyung, wait, should we rest for a moment?”
Wondering what was wrong, he turned his head to check on Lee Yeonwoo and saw that his complexion had turned pale blue and he couldn’t sit still, fidgeting restlessly.
‘It must be from what happened yesterday…!’
It seemed he had been pretending to be okay after all. Kang Dojun hurriedly checked the navigation. He worried that symptoms similar to the panic he had seen in yesterday’s video might be spreading again.
“Hold on a little longer. We’ll reach a rest stop in 5 minutes.”
“…I’ll try to hold on for 5 minutes.”
Kang Dojun increased his speed a bit more. He should have paid more attention and watched more carefully – regret washed over him.
“Is it very hard?”
Lee Yeonwoo said while holding his aching head.
“Yes. I think I drank too much yesterday… I usually don’t get hangovers.”
At Lee Yeonwoo’s nonchalant words, he paused and calmed his startled heart.
“Ah, it’s motion sickness.”
* * *
“Whew, Seoul was so far away.”
As soon as Lee Yeonwoo arrived at the underground parking garage of the apartment where Kang Dojun stayed, he got out of the car and stretched refreshingly.
It seemed drinking yesterday and the continued car ride had created a double combo that made him feel sick. In the end, they barely made it to Seoul with all the windows slightly rolled down so his face couldn’t be seen.
“I still feel a bit queasy.”
“…At least drink this.”
Kang Dojun handed him a hangover relief drink he had bought from a convenience store stop.
“Thank you.”
Lee Yeonwoo put force into trying to open the cap. However, he didn’t use even a tenth of the force he applied. Opening the cap that Kang Dojun had already loosened for him, he drank it down like water.
“Drink slowly.”
Kang Dojun stopped him, feeling anxious that he might throw up the hangover relief drink too.
“I already finished it all.”
Lee Yeonwoo approached without hesitation and put his hand into Kang Dojun’s pants pocket.
“What are you doing?”
“I saw you put candy in here earlier.”
“The other side.”
“Ah.”
Even while suffering from motion sickness, his eyes seemed to be moving quickly.
Lee Yeonwoo immediately put his hand into the opposite pocket and found two candies. He kept one for himself and held out the remaining one to Kang Dojun, asking.
“Can I eat one?”
“Both are yours.”
At those words, Lee Yeonwoo thought for a moment and carefully put one candy back into Kang Dojun’s pants pocket.
“Two would be greedy.”
Just rummaging through his pants pockets was already plenty greedy.
Kang Dojun lightly patted Lee Yeonwoo’s head and spoke like an owner giving treats.
“Take it out and eat it when you need it.”
“Thank you.”
After peeling off the wrapper, he instantly popped it into his mouth, crunched it with his teeth, and swallowed. He seemed to like sweet things, but biting candy was a bad habit.
‘I should have bought chocolate instead.’
Lee Yeonwoo quickly went elsewhere, wagging his tail playfully. He pointed toward the emergency stairs, his eyes sparkling.
“Hyung, let’s take the stairs!”
“Not the elevator?”
“Stair exercise!”
“It’s the 17th floor?”
He hesitated a bit at the mention of the 17th floor, then nodded excitedly.
“That’s even better!”
He seemed to regard the emergency stairs like an uphill path when mountain climbing.
‘It’ll be tiring.’
Kang Dojun was currently extremely tired. He had driven to the countryside overnight without sleeping last night, and then driven for a long time to Seoul before even a day had passed. On top of that, stair exercise up to the 17th floor would be physically challenging.
Lee Yeonwoo looked perfectly fine even after vomiting from his hangover, as if he didn’t know the word “tired.”
“Wouldn’t taking the elevator be more comfortable? We have luggage too.”
Kang Dojun looked at the suitcase in Lee Yeonwoo’s hand. When Kang Dojun, who usually never refused Lee Yeonwoo’s suggestions, offered an alternative, Lee Yeonwoo immediately sensed his situation.
“Ah, I’m sorry.”
He immediately pressed the elevator button. The elevator that had been on basement level 1 opened its doors instantly.
“Hyung, hurry and get in.”
Lee Yeonwoo pulled Kang Dojun inside with what felt like slightly excessive force.
“Yeah, let’s exercise next time.”
The doors closed and Kang Dojun brought his house key to the bottom panel. Only then did a red light come on for the number buttons inside the elevator, and he pressed 17.
“Wow, what did you just do?”
It was an apartment with tight security, so the elevator also required a key to operate. After briefly explaining, Kang Dojun finished by saying he had a spare key and would give Lee Yeonwoo one too.
He thought Lee Yeonwoo would surely be happy, but Lee Yeonwoo said nothing. He was just hanging his head deeply behind Kang Dojun.
“What’s wrong?”
Sensing something strange, Kang Dojun urgently ran his hands through Lee Yeonwoo’s hair to check his condition. The hair that had been dry from the cool air conditioning in the car was now soaked in cold sweat as if nothing had happened.
“Yeonwoo, Lee Yeonwoo.”
The kid was trembling and just standing there, unable to do anything.
This was Kang Dojun’s first time in such a situation, so he was at a loss for what to do. He gritted his teeth lowly, pulled Lee Yeonwoo into his arms, and frantically pressed any button on the elevator.
Regret washed over him again. He had regretted not paying attention and watching carefully in the car coming up, but in just a few hours he had repeated the same mistake.
There was a good reason why the kid had wanted to take the stairs.
“Lee Yeonwoo, snap out of it.”
When he put his hand under his nose, he could feel very shallow breathing. Fortunately, he wasn’t in a state of respiratory arrest.
“Lee Yeonwoo, Yeonwoo. You need to answer.”
He continued repeating his name as if trying to put his escaped soul back in.
“Lee Yeonwoo, do you want candy?”
Kang Dojun wanted to somehow draw out a reaction from him, so he took out the candy from his pants pocket and peeled the wrapper himself.
“…Tsk.”
Just as he was about to put it in his mouth, he was struck with the fear – what if he choked while giving him candy in this state? He couldn’t do anything properly.
Kang Dojun’s hands were also damp from wiping the sweat from his face and neck. In the midst of this, when Lee Yeonwoo’s hand trembled slightly and grabbed Kang Dojun’s collar, he felt a faint hope.
Just then the elevator doors opened and he urgently led Lee Yeonwoo outside.
Reaching some unknown floor, he approached the corridor window glass to show him outside, gently stroking his eyes, both cheeks, the nape of his neck – anywhere and everywhere. He had left the suitcase in the elevator when they got out, but there was no time to worry about that.
“Lee Yeonwoo, breathe. It’s outside. Okay?”
At those words, Lee Yeonwoo seemed to snap back to his senses and finally let out rough breathing.
“…Huff, gasp!”
Lee Yeonwoo raised his hands to cover both his eyes and squeezed them shut. As if waiting for this moment, his previously hunched body began trembling like an aspen tree. Everything around became distant, and he felt the regular patting hand and tried to regain stability.
“I’m sorry, hyung.”
The first thing he did after regaining his senses was apologize. Kang Dojun didn’t hear Lee Yeonwoo’s apology, only breathing a sigh of relief that he had come to his senses.
“…Hah.”
Lee Yeonwoo fidgeted with guilt.
Elevators hadn’t been scary before, but this time he felt an inexplicable aversion and had suggested taking the stairs under the pretext of exercise. He worried that Kang Dojun might think this happened because he had refused to take the stairs.
Kang Dojun checked Lee Yeonwoo’s condition and quickly assessed the situation.
“…Let’s take the stairs.”
Fortunately, the elevator was stopped on the 13th floor where they had gotten off. After Kang Dojun just opened the door to retrieve the suitcase, he walked with Lee Yeonwoo in front, continuously monitoring his condition.
They only had to go up four more floors, but even that made Kang Dojun feel anxious.
“Can you walk?”
“I’m not a child…”
Given what had just happened, it was natural to ask. Every aspect of Lee Yeonwoo’s condition worried him. Lee Yeonwoo also understood Kang Dojun’s feelings, so despite grumbling, he followed his words.
“I want candy.”
Lee Yeonwoo said anything to change the mood.
Kang Dojun immediately rummaged through his pants pocket to get the candy and went “Oh no.” The unwrapped candy had gone straight into his pocket and melted stickily.
Kang Dojun looked at his sticky hands and let out a hollow laugh. It was evidence of how panicked he had been in that urgent situation earlier.
“…I’m sorry.”
“It’s not your fault.”
Lee Yeonwoo quickened his pace up the stairs. With a suitcase in one hand, he wanted to let Kang Dojun, whose other hand was sticky and uncomfortable, rest as soon as possible.
Not knowing Lee Yeonwoo was thinking this, Kang Dojun worried about how they would get up to the 17th floor each time if Lee Yeonwoo was going to stay here.
However, he soon realized that wasn’t the problem.
“Yeonwoo.”
He caught up to Lee Yeonwoo who was walking ahead.
“…Is it too hard after all? I’ll take the stairs by myself, so hyung should…”
“That’s not it.”
Kang Dojun hesitated a bit before carefully continuing.
“Would you like to go to the hospital once?”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
