Chapter 99
Unable to find a place to rest my eyes, I kept lowering my head.
“You’re not okay. You still don’t look well.”
Seemingly attributing my hesitant attitude to my condition, Joo Kwon-oh asked if I had taken digestive medicine, if I had a fever, if I had drunk warm water, and so on.
I answered reflexively, but I wasn’t really focused. My mind was in disarray, as if the screws in my head had come loose, making it difficult to concentrate on the conversation.
“…I think I need to rest alone a bit more.”
I was worried he might feel hurt by my wanting to be alone, but Kwon-oh nodded readily with a serious expression.
“I’ll go then. Don’t overdo it and lie down. Call me if you need anything.”
“Okay.”
He playfully ruffled my hair before leaving the apartment shortly after. Only when I was left alone in the room did I feel like I could breathe a little easier.
I lay back down on the bed and stared at the ceiling. I thought that if I stepped back and organized my thoughts, the anxiety that was surging up like seasickness would soon subside.
“……”
But once I was alone, I didn’t feel completely at ease due to the guilt of unnecessarily avoiding Kwon-oh by making up excuses.
What should I do, how should I bring it up to Kwon-oh first? The same questions swirled in the air for a long time, but even after a day passed, I couldn’t decide anything.
The fortunate thing was that Kwon-oh, having had his cast removed, became busy.
Recently, he had been avoiding most of his friends’ contacts, saying his arm was uncomfortable. On top of postponing gatherings all summer to hang out with me and then injuring his arm, the news that Kwon-oh had his cast removed spread like wildfire just as his close friends’ complaints were peaking. As a result, he was flooded with contacts.
It was rather a good thing. From my perspective, it was better for him to go out and hang out with his friends. Since I had already lied about not feeling well, I told Kwon-oh I wanted to rest at home for a while. He went along with my clumsy excuse without complaint.
As Kwon-oh started going out with his friends, his previously quiet Instagram also became more active with new updates. I didn’t miss a single photo of Kwon-oh tagged in his friends’ stories.
Occasionally, random peach photos would appear on his Instagram story. They looked like photos he had taken himself from the fruit stand in an alley near the back gate of the school.
The luscious peach photos, with transparent fuzz visible in the bright sunlight, were captioned:
—Want to eat
Lying on the bed like a layabout, I cleared my throat, feeling heat rush to my face.
I replied to the story:
[Me: Pervert]
A moment later, Kwon-oh replied:
[Joo Kwon-oh: How is wanting to eat peaches perverted lol]
[Me: Just because]
[Joo Kwon-oh: ?]
[Me: It just seems too perverted..]
[Joo Kwon-oh: Peaches are so delicious though]
[Me: ….]
[Joo Kwon-oh: Hahahahahaha]
[Me: Where are you now?]
[Joo Kwon-oh: Yeonhui-dong.]
[Joo Kwon-oh: How are you feeling]
[Joo Kwon-oh: ?]
[Me: Just so-so ㅠ About to go to sleep…]
[Joo Kwon-oh: Alright. Call if you need anything]
[Me: Okay, have fun]
Exchanging DMs with Kwon-oh was exciting, but there was still an underlying anxiety that I couldn’t shake off.
Despite managing to naturally push Kwon-oh out for a few days, I couldn’t find a suitable solution regarding Lee Sung-rok. There probably wasn’t a clear solution to this kind of problem to begin with.
Still, I felt like I should talk to Kwon-oh first and straighten things out before something happened, but I had no idea how to go about it.
Sung-rok was already suspicious of my relationship with Kwon-oh. It’s uncertain whether he even believed my denial.
Besides, what would change by telling Kwon-oh? Wouldn’t it just add unnecessary worry? What if by speaking up, the problem grows out of proportion when it might have passed without incident if I had just kept quiet?
In fact, I don’t even know how Sung-rok will act afterwards. I don’t even know what evidence he has right now.
“Haa. I really don’t know…”
I muttered, helplessly covering my face with both hands. I was frustrated with myself.
After spending several days like that, lying motionless on the apartment bed except when going to work, I suddenly received a KakaoTalk message from my boss.
[Boss: Jeong-ha, what are you doing?]
[Boss: Are you sleeping?]
[Boss: Are you free on Wednesday?]
Checking the message, I counted the days. Wednesday was two days from now. My work days were Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, so it was my day off.
[Me: Why? Is something happening at the store?]
As soon as I sent the reply, I received a call from my boss. Thinking it might be urgent, I answered immediately.
“Yes, boss.”
—If you don’t have any other plans on Wednesday, could you come in to work?
My boss’s urgent voice rang through the receiver.
“So, what’s the sudden…”
—We suddenly got a large order, and I don’t think I can manage the packaging by the shipping date alone.
“When’s the shipping date?”
—They need to receive it by Thursday.
“Then… we need to complete the shipping by Wednesday. How many units are there?”
—Eighty-five gift wrappings.
“Wow.”
Forgetting my previous worries, I inadvertently let out an exclamation. It was certainly an overwhelming quantity. I understood why my boss was asking me to come in on Wednesday.
—We’re screwed. They say it’s for some club meeting giveaway, looks like we’ll be sitting and packaging all day.
It would be absolutely impossible to meet the shipping quantity of nearly a hundred gift wrappings alone. Knowing that we had to put them in boxes and attach shipping labels, I understood my boss’s urgency.
As much as I wanted to make excuses about not feeling well, like I did with Kwon-oh, I couldn’t postpone my part-time job like that. And it was about time I emerged from my seclusion.
“I don’t have any special plans on Wednesday. I’ll come in.”
—Thanks. I’ll make sure to pay you extra. And take a day off from your regular work days, whichever you want.
My boss’s voice brightened, a stark contrast to just a few days ago when he was depressed about being dumped by his girlfriend.
—See you on Wednesday.
“Okay.”
It worked out well, since I had nothing to do anyway. No matter how much I racked my brain alone cooped up in the room, I didn’t think I’d come up with any great breakthrough. I might as well get my body moving.
*
The next day. After I had been dawdling in the room for nearly a week, Kwon-oh, whose patience had worn thin, called me out, offering to buy me a meal.
Still thinking I wasn’t feeling well, he left room for me to back out, saying we could meet at home if it was too burdensome.
But I was also feeling suffocated from being at home too much. By this point, I felt like whatever happens with Sung-rok, let it happen.
Seeing no new contacts coming in, I even had the complacent thought that he might have believed my excuse and let it go.
We ate at a place away from school and then got takeout iced Americanos from a cafe. Then we walked along a nearby park path.
On the surface, it was our usual routine, no different from our normal dates.
However, today it wasn’t as easy to walk comfortably as before. I kept feeling intimidated even by casual glances whenever people passed by nearby.
‘Even so, two men doing that is a bit…’
The unpleasant memory from before was obscuring the scenery in front of me. Even though I knew there was no way Sung-rok or anyone related to school would be here, I found it difficult to concentrate on my conversation with Kwon-oh.
“What’s wrong? Are you looking for something?”
“No. Just…”
I understood rationally that two men walking in the park wasn’t anything out of the ordinary, but against my will, I kept being conscious of the gazes around us.
Because of this, I walked keeping a subtly greater distance from Kwon-oh than usual.
“Jeong-ha. Aren’t you coming?”
Kwon-oh asked, noticing my lagging steps. I tried to change the subject, pretending nothing was wrong.
“There aren’t many trees on this side, so I don’t see any shade.”
“That is a downside. Are you very hot?”
“No. You look hotter than me.”
“I don’t mind. Summer is supposed to be hot, you know.”
He drank his coffee while wiping away the sweat forming on his temples with the back of his hand, as if it was nothing. I was originally someone who didn’t sweat much, and this level of sunlight was bearable for me, so I thought it would be the same for Kwon-oh.
Fortunately, as time passed, my foolish behavior stabilized and gradually became more natural. Before I knew it, I was walking as usual, listening attentively to what Kwon-oh had been doing at his gatherings.
“So that friend who just came back to Korea, did he take a leave of absence and go for language study?”
“Yeah. Some people even go for a year sometimes. Is the painting department not big on studying abroad?”
“Hmm. Some people go after graduation… But it doesn’t seem like we go for training like business majors do. Ah, when you go for language study, do you just learn English and come back?”
“Usually, yes. But sometimes people go with the purpose of getting certifications or completing English-related programs in between. The friend who came back this time, last year…”
My gaze kept drifting to Kwon-oh’s tanned nape and jawline, beaded with sweat.
As I was thinking I should bring a handkerchief next time, a brown furball quickly approached me from the opposite direction.
“Oh…”
What suddenly jumped up to my feet was none other than a brown poodle.
“Oh my!”
And the woman who seemed to be its owner arrived a beat later, panting.
“Choco! Come here. Tsk! I told you not to jump on other people.”
The fluffy fur brushed against my legs. The panting poodle showered us with affection, rubbing its body against Kwon-oh’s and my feet.
The owner looked at us alternately with an embarrassed face while trying to restrain the poodle.
“Ah, I’m really sorry. It suddenly ran off and I lost hold of the leash…”
“It’s okay. It’s cute. Can I touch it?”
“Yes, yes. It doesn’t bite.”
Kwon-oh naturally brought the dog, which was sniffing around my ankles, towards him while petting it.
