#124
As the sun that had risen was about to sink below the horizon, Yeo Na-kyung, who was preparing to leave work, knocked on the firmly closed door.
“Young master, I’m coming in.”
Oh-yul’s peaceful expression shattered into pieces. The gentle gaze directed at Ho-woo turned cold as it fell upon Yeo Na-kyung when she entered the room.
“Mommy~!”
As Yeo Na-kyung entered the room, young Ho-woo, who had been clinging tightly to Oh-yul, suddenly got up and ran to her. The child clung to his mother and whined affectionately.
“…Ah.”
A low sigh escaped from Oh-yul behind young Ho-woo, but the small child didn’t look back.
“Ho-woo, were you well-behaved?”
“Yes! I played with big brother!”
Yeo Na-kyung’s gaze turned to Oh-yul behind young Ho-woo. Her face was initially tense, but for a moment, it became dazed as if her soul had left her body.
“Mommy?”
Young Ho-woo tugged at Yeo Na-kyung’s clothes, puzzled. At that small call, Yeo Na-kyung smiled as if she had never been dazed and bent down to face Ho-woo.
“Shall we come here again with mommy tomorrow?”
“Doesn’t Ho-woo have to go to kindergarten?”
Didn’t she say we couldn’t skip it?
The child furrowed his brow but quickly smiled brightly. He liked it here more than kindergarten. There was a pretty big brother and his mom.
“Yes. From tomorrow, I’ll play here with big brother.”
“Great!”
At Yeo Na-kyung’s words, Ho-woo turned around with a big smile. Oh-yul, sitting on the bed, spread his arms wide and crinkled his eyes. His half-closed purple eyes sparkled with joy in the fading light.
“Ho-woo.”
At the gentle call, young Ho-woo burrowed into Oh-yul’s arms. As the young Ho-woo laughed clearly with his cheeks flushed with joy, Lee Ho-woo inside him sighed.
***
After that, the memories continued sporadically. Some days they would lie in bed and nap all day, or Oh-yul would secretly help Ho-woo with his study sheets. As Ho-woo watched the scenes flow like an old tape rewinding, he once again faced the memories through young Ho-woo’s eyes.
“You shouldn’t be a picky eater.”
“……”
At Yeo Na-kyung’s firm words, young Ho-woo’s lips pressed tightly together. Young Ho-woo, who had been looking at the beans stuck in his rice with resentful eyes, eventually had to eat all the leftover beans.
Should I eat them for you?
Oh-yul had whispered softly, but because of Yeo Na-kyung who wouldn’t turn her gaze away, he couldn’t offer any help. Young Ho-woo, who had been forced to eat the beans, was so upset that he began to whimper.
“Ho-woo.”
At Oh-yul’s call, there was a sniffling sound of a nose being heavily drawn. Though there was no verbal response, it was a signal that he was listening in his own way.
“I’ll make you something delicious later.”
“…Really?”
“Of course. Have you ever seen me lie to Ho-woo?”
“No.”
“It might take a while. But I’ll definitely do it, so let’s stop crying.”
Young Ho-woo nodded vigorously with his tear-stained face. Oh-yul wiped young Ho-woo’s wet eyes and cheeks with his sleeve and secretly took out a candy from his pocket, placing it in young Ho-woo’s hand.
“Shh.”
Oh-yul looked fondly at young Ho-woo, who quickly smiled brightly at the small candy, and took out another one, unwrapped it, and popped it into young Ho-woo’s mouth.
Oh-yul looked contentedly at young Ho-woo, who was happy with just a simple snack. The gaze and expression he sent were exactly the same as the affectionate expression Ho-woo now receives from Yul.
Holding hands tightly, the two children went out to the garden to spend time. Oh-yul willingly offered his thigh to young Ho-woo, who was nodding off in the shade to avoid the scorching sunlight.
His hand burrowed through the soft brown hair, gently scratching the scalp. A soft humming tickled the ear.
There was a calm serenity, not passionate, but just peaceful.
Ho-woo traced through the memories that began to flow rapidly again. Most of them were filled with such tranquility, and he still couldn’t understand why these memories had to disappear.
Lee Ho-woo watched his life like a movie. While young Ho-woo read storybooks, Oh-yul mostly read cookbooks. The cookbooks full of difficult recipes were actually too challenging for a child to make on their own.
So Oh-yul asked Yeo Na-kyung to teach him simple recipes that Ho-woo would enjoy eating. Although she was a bit puzzled by the request, she couldn’t go against Oh-yul’s words and gave detailed instructions on how to make fried rice with ketchup.
To keep his promise of making something delicious for Ho-woo, he held a knife for the first time. The carrots and onions, clumsily cut into crooked pieces, were in a sorry state. The child wasn’t disappointed. Instead, Oh-yul proudly presented his very first ketchup fried rice.
The half-cooked large carrots and onions, along with the rice that hadn’t been properly fried and was clumped together, couldn’t really be called well-made.
Young Ho-woo stared at the fried rice for a moment before picking up his spoon. He disliked carrots. That was still true even as an adult. Nevertheless, the child put a large carrot in his mouth and chewed. Even though his expression subtly contorted, he didn’t spit it out but chewed and swallowed, shuddering.
“How does it taste?”
When Oh-yul, more nervous than at any other moment, asked, Ho-woo gave a thumbs up. Although the seasoning was off, the carrots were too big and undercooked, and the onions were overcooked and mushy, Ho-woo gradually emptied the plate of fried rice.
“It doesn’t taste good, right?”
Oh-yul, sitting across from Ho-woo, rested his chin on the table and drooped the ends of his eyebrows.
“Don’t force yourself to eat it.”
Looking like he was about to cry, Oh-yul became dejected. Even as a young child, Ho-woo was sensitive to emotions, so he silently cleaned his plate without a word.
It was the day he ate the most carrots in the world. Although he detested carrots, it was okay. The smile of joy that Oh-yul showed when he saw the empty plate was better than the disliked carrots.
Oh-yul’s slightly darker purple eyes sparkled in the sunlight.
Young Ho-woo thought those eyes were beautiful, and the adult Lee Ho-woo felt an ominous premonition.
The eyes that had been dark even when first seen were now completely consumed by purple. It was surprising that Oh-yul wasn’t going berserk, as he was struggling with all his might to hold on.
Lee Ho-woo’s ominous premonition became reality sooner than expected.
After finishing the messy meal, Oh-yul’s complexion gradually turned pale. He bit his lower lip and breathed heavily, desperately trying to suppress something.
Ho-woo immediately followed Oh-yul as he staggered and fled to the room.
“Big brother…? Are you in pain?”
Ho-woo knew Oh-yul was in pain. He was so sick that he couldn’t even go to school, so it must be really, really painful. Even in his young heart, Ho-woo wished Oh-yul wouldn’t be in pain.
“Ho-woo. It’s dangerous… Stay away.”
Oh-yul, squeezing out his last bit of reason, gently pushed Ho-woo away. Or rather, he tried to push him away, but his hand didn’t even reach Ho-woo and just swept through the air. His sense of distance was terrible.
He fled to the room, but it was no longer a lonely refuge.
The window, always covered by blackout curtains, had regained its light thanks to Ho-woo. Under the seeping sunlight, Oh-yul smiled and cried at the same time. Pushed to the brink of going berserk, his throat tightened. Even as he writhed in pain, gasping, he desperately tried to comfort the frightened Ho-woo.
“Don’t be afraid of me.”
Pleading in a hoarse voice, Oh-yul reached out his hand. Ho-woo was pale with fear, not because he was afraid of Oh-yul, but because he was afraid something would go wrong. The small child desperately hugged Oh-yul.
Holding the hand that was flailing in the air, the small child tightly closed his eyes. The rough breathing and suppressed painful groans would soon pass, he thought.
“Ho-woo. …Ho-woo.”
The voice calling out desperately was mixed with pleading. The barely audible whisper contained unspoken inner thoughts.
Save me, save me Ho-woo.
Damp droplets kept falling on Ho-woo’s cheeks. The liquid that flowed along the contours tasted salty. It was hard to distinguish whose tears these were.
It was difficult to gauge exactly how much time had passed. It felt like quite a long time had passed, but the length of time in the memory varied in proportion to young Ho-woo’s perceived time. Even now, it might not have been a very long time. But Ho-woo felt this moment as excruciatingly long.
Lee Ho-woo burrowed next to the unconscious Oh-yul and lay down. He didn’t forget to bring the terribly cold hand close and blow warm breath on it to warm it up again.
“Get better soon and play with Ho-woo.”
There was no answer from the unconscious person, but Ho-woo already knew the answer. If it was the Oh-yul he knew, he would surely answer that he would.
***
The intervals between Oh-yul experiencing pain and fainting were getting shorter and shorter. Even young Ho-woo seemed to have noticed this, as he had been showing signs of extreme anxiety recently.
Even as he returned home with Yeo Na-kyung, young Ho-woo kept looking back. Once Oh-yul collapsed, he would feel very cold, but strangely, his body temperature wouldn’t return to normal.
As if his body itself had turned to ice.
