#096
Seoirae shouted indignantly.
“This is money I lent you! And did you have money?”
“Irae, how much was originally in your bag?”
“Ten thousand won.”
Then how much do you have now including this? At Lee Yeonwoo’s question, Seoirae counted and answered, “Sixteen thousand six hundred won!”
“It’s more now, right?”
“…That’s right!”
“Put it safely in your bag so you don’t lose it.”
When they returned to Grandma Kyeong-i’s house with the simple-minded Seoirae, dinner was already prepared. The savory smell of rice and Grandma Kyeong-i’s scolding voice could be heard.
“Why are you so late!”
“Grandma!”
“Oh my, our granddaughter. Did you have fun playing?”
Seoirae hugged her grandmother and spilled every detail about what happened today.
“Yeah. I played with Yeonwoo oppa!”
“Aww, good girl. Are you hungry? Let’s eat quickly!”
“Hey, I was the one who played with you, not you…”
“Go wash your hands!”
Unable to resist Grandma Kyeong-i’s nagging, Lee Yeonwoo headed to the bathroom and could hear the conversation between Seo Gyeongtae and Seoirae.
“Did you have fun playing?”
“Yeah, oppa played with me so I thanked him and gave him ten thousand won!”
“Really? Irae is lucky. Dad prepared dinner, so Irae should follow oppa and go wash your hands too.”
“Okay!”
As Lee Yeonwoo walked leisurely, his jaw tensed like a pinecone. Following behind Seoirae who ran past him to the bathroom, he explained once again why he gave her the ten thousand won.
“Uncle gave you allowance because Irae listened well.”
“Got it.”
But Seoirae just answered soullessly while scrubbing with soap, half-listening.
Eventually giving up on persuading her, he decided to just wash his own hands.
Seoirae glanced at Lee Yeonwoo and gave him advice.
“Scrub thoroughly. Between your fingernails too.”
“…How old do you think I am that I can’t do that?”
“Grandma! I finished washing!”
Lee Yeonwoo sighed and dried his hands with a towel. Being with a child made him feel like his own mental age had gotten younger.
Taking care of her wasn’t exactly easy either, and… did he really take care of her? Thinking about it, it seemed like they had fun playing together in their own way.
Without Kang Dojun, time passed slowly, but after looking after the child, it was already evening before he knew it. Still, he couldn’t help missing him.
「Having dinner now. What are you doing, hyung?」
After sending the text, he came out to the living room.
Sitting at the table for four and eating felt like being part of a family.
“Did your fever go down?”
“Fever?”
Grandma Kyeong-i stretched out her arm and placed her hand on Lee Yeonwoo’s forehead.
Ah, right. I was sick yesterday.
It could have been that he really just had a brief fever after sleeping and waking up, but with a child nearby, it wouldn’t hurt to be careful. He played with Irae all day – I wonder if she’ll be okay.
“After taking medicine last night and this morning, the fever went down.”
“That’s air conditioning sickness! Stop running the air conditioner so much!”
Grandma Kyeong-i nagged and gave Lee Yeonwoo’s forehead a light smack before removing her hand.
“A cold?”
“Just briefly… I think I’m all better.”
Lee Yeonwoo answered Seo Gyeongtae’s question nonchalantly and attacked his meal combatively to tackle the heaping bowl of rice piled in front of him.
After finishing the meal and playing with Seoirae some more, then eating a hearty dessert, Lee Yeonwoo returned home and rolled around on his room floor. He looked ready to wipe up dust, but thanks to cleaning with Kang Dojun the day before, there wasn’t a speck of dust in the house.
…Couldn’t I just sleep like this?
With it this clean, was there really a need to lay out the blanket? It seemed like just having a pillow would make a sufficient sleeping spot.
Then Kang Dojun called. Lee Yeonwoo hurriedly pressed the call button as if he’d been waiting.
“Hyung.”
After calling out quietly, he pressed the video call button and looked for something to prop up his phone. Normally there would be at least some random object lying around, but in the empty corner of the room, he ended up holding the phone in his hand.
– Did you eat?
“Yes. I ate at Grandma Kyeong-i’s house.”
– Eat the porridge I made and left. How’s your body?
“My fever went down and I’m all better.”
As they chatted nonstop, the topic eventually flowed to Kim Haseon who would be visiting next Monday. Only after getting confirmation that he could come on Monday was Lee Yeonwoo able to end the call with Kang Dojun.
That night he couldn’t sleep, so he played games until late dawn before finally closing his eyes.
He couldn’t even sleep deeply. After dozing for an hour or two, when he tried to get up to go to the apiary, he strangely felt his body was heavy.
He slowly sat up just his upper body and blinked leisurely. Heat seemed to have gathered in his face, and with each breath in and out, he could feel hot breath on his philtrum. The inside of his mouth also felt hotter than usual.
Come to think of it, he had slept without covering himself with a blanket. The cool breeze from the air conditioner that had been running all night made his body feel chilled. His throat was also scratchy from breathing the dry air all night.
Lee Yeonwoo could make a judgment after examining his condition.
I’m sick.
***
…How annoying.
Kang Dojun kept tapping the marble table with uncontrollable anger. Even so, his anger didn’t subside easily.
Since the director found out that he would stop his activities as an actor, he had no idea what he would hear at tonight’s dinner appointment.
Among all of this, the worst thing was Lee Yeonwoo’s physical condition when they talked this morning.
He seemed quite sick, but he couldn’t rush over because of his schedule.
But it would also be wrong to ask someone who was sick to come to Seoul. Even if he came, what about the bees he left behind? That was what held Lee Yeonwoo back.
The plan to tie him down in the countryside so he couldn’t meet acquaintances in Seoul had bound Kang Dojun instead. It was a misjudgment.
As an emergency measure, he asked Grandma Kyeong-i to check on his condition, but it wasn’t very satisfactory. He wanted to check directly, not through a video call.
When they had been together all this time, he had never been sick, but it had to happen when they were apart. The timing was shit too.
Originally, he was supposed to have dinner with the director and go to the countryside early the next morning, but given this situation, he resolved to leave tonight.
「Come down.」
At Park Daeho’s text, he hurriedly went down to the basement. After getting in his car, he immediately fastened his seatbelt.
“The schedule changed. After eating, I have to go straight to the countryside.”
“What? Why?”
“Yeonwoo says he’s sick.”
While starting the car, to Park Daeho’s question of “How much?”, Kang Dojun recalled Lee Yeonwoo’s face from the video call.
His face was flushed with fever and his focus was blurry. His voice seemed slightly hoarse too. He said his body felt heavy… Was it a cold with body aches?
“A lot. He’s very sick.”
“Well. As long as the director doesn’t say anything strange.”
Kang Dojun anxiously reached back to grab the script placed in the back seat and started reading. Rather than staying lost in thought, it was much better to pass time reading even the worn-out script he’d used during previous filming.
“Tell me when we arrive.”
People often say not to read books in a moving car, but Kang Dojun didn’t feel motion sick and often read books in the car.
But today was different. All the text in the book seemed to be written as ‘Lee Yeonwoo’. The words wouldn’t register.
“…When do we arrive?”
“It hasn’t even been 10 minutes.”
At Park Daeho’s words, Kang Dojun checked his watch. Today, the second hand of the clock seemed to move slowly.
Kang Dojun couldn’t stand it and eventually called Lee Yeonwoo. He had received word earlier that he would take medicine and sleep a bit, so he might be waking someone who was sleeping well, but he had to check right now to feel satisfied.
– Hello.
Whether he wasn’t sleeping, or whether he quickly answered after seeing Kang Dojun’s number, the call connected without the ringtone even ringing a few times.
“What are you doing?”
– I came to the apiary for a moment.
“Why. I told you to rest. You said you were going to sleep.”
His voice dropped low. Usually he listened well, but as soon as he got sick, he became contrary and wouldn’t even rest.
– I was resting the whole time and just came out for a moment. I’ll check quickly and go back.
He spoke well with a voice that had become hoarse from phlegm. Kang Dojun looked at his watch and spoke.
“It’s 6:30, so get home by 7.”
It took about 20 minutes to get from the apiary to home. He was indirectly telling him to go home right now.
– Yes.
He could have rebelled, but Lee Yeonwoo also knew of his worry, so he readily agreed.
“Go home and contact me again.”
– Yes.
Seeing Lee Yeonwoo comply with his words, only then did his anger seem to subside as Kang Dojun’s voice was colored with affection.
“Your fever? Did it go down?”
– I haven’t checked yet. But I took fever reducer before coming out.
“Check when you get home.”
– Yes.
Kang Dojun was silent for a moment as if mulling over his thoughts, then continued slowly.
“First call me right away, then check after that.”
– Got it.
“Yeah, get home safely.”
Park Daeho, who had been listening to the entire phone conversation, felt disgusted. He immediately scolded Kang Dojun, who had hung up the phone.
“That’s control.”
“He’s sick but keeps trying to go around.”
“Humans can go around too. How can someone just stay home?”
“I know that too. But he’s sick right now.”
Even when people are sick, they have to do what they have to do. That’s Yeonwoo-ssi’s livelihood.
Park Daeho swallowed his remaining words.
When Kang Dojun was young, the things he obsessed over were all objects or things within his grasp. But just because the target changed to a person didn’t mean his tendencies would change. He kept obsessing and even trying to control.
“It’s only because it’s Yeonwoo-ssi. If it wasn’t Yeonwoo-ssi, you would have been dumped already.”
“I don’t have anyone else to meet besides Yeonwoo.”
Kang Dojun said this while constantly checking the time. 6:30, return time is 20 minutes. The time he told him to contact was 7 o’clock.
It looked like he was testing whether he would contact him before that or exactly at 7 o’clock.
From then on, Kang Dojun couldn’t take his eyes off the second hand of his watch instead of the script. Park Daeho got goosebumps at Kang Dojun’s behavior.
“If I’m reborn, I won’t be friends with you. Let’s live pretending we don’t know each other.”
Even at Park Daeho’s rather prickly words, Kang Dojun remained silent as if unaffected.
6:43.
They arrived at the restaurant first and waited for the director. Soon after, the director entered the room where he was guided.
6:45.
Kang Dojun’s phone rang. He asked for understanding and got up from his seat toward the outside.
“Yeah.”
– I’m home.
The breathing beyond the speaker was rough.
“Did you run by any chance?”
– …Yes.
He could feel him catching his breath a bit before answering. Kang Dojun scratched his forehead with his index finger. I made the sick kid run, that wasn’t my intention.
“You should walk slowly when you’re sick.”
– You said to contact you when I got home.
“I did.”
– I wanted to call quickly.
Kang Dojun listened carefully to Lee Yeonwoo’s voice. He coughed harshly, took breaths in and out, and there was the sound of him drinking water.
He would have answered even if he called on the way. His throat must have been blocked from phlegm. His fever must have risen more from running. Since he exerted himself, he’ll probably be sicker tomorrow.
But somehow, he couldn’t stop the meaningless laughter that kept trying to escape through his lips.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
