#108
“No… I heard you were meeting your boyfriend tomorrow, so I thought you’d just stay over tonight and leave, which is why I couldn’t cancel my plans.”
“Couldn’t, or didn’t? Didn’t I mention my boyfriend… is an office worker, so I’d only see him briefly for lunch? Didn’t I say that?”
As he put his chopsticks down with a clatter and expressed his disappointment, Eunhong’s heart softened. He thought he should cancel tomorrow’s schedule, even if it meant disappointing Jaeha. Although the concert tickets he had reserved were a shame to waste, he felt sorry for Woohyun, whose relationship had suddenly become long-distance when his girlfriend was transferred to Seoul.
But even Jaeha on the phone made things difficult for Eunhong.
– Hang out with your friend. Actually, I’m sick, so I was going to suggest canceling the concert anyway.
No sooner had he mentioned being sick than coughing sounds came through the receiver.
“What’s suddenly hurting? Have you taken any medicine?”
– I was planning to go to the hospital *cough* by myself tomorrow.
“Can you drive? Do you have a fever?”
– …
At the slow response, Eunhong anxiously tapped his foot. Even though he had stepped outside to avoid Woohyun while making the call, he didn’t notice the cold.
“Jaeha?”
– Don’t worry about it. I’ll handle it.
What had he done then? Eunhong narrowed his eyes slightly as he recalled something from the past. His fork, which had been poking at the pasta, gradually slowed and eventually stopped.
“…and that’s when Heeseung lashed out at Woohyun, telling him not to talk nonsense.”
“That’s right. I was shocked too.”
“Team Leader Ban isn’t someone who would do that, but he kept spouting nonsense, so it was infuriating.”
“Hey, no matter what, they’re teammates and friends, so you should watch what you say. Right, Eunhong?”
Eunhong quickly raised his head at the sound of his name. All four pairs of eyes at the table were looking at him.
“Ah, sorry. I was lost in thought for a moment…”
The sparkle in Seo Heeseung’s eyes as she rolled them at him was quite burdensome. Eunhong smiled with his eyes in crescents and added:
“Thank you, Heeseung, for defending me.”
It was his first visit to the company in nearly a month. He had come to go to the hospital for his finger and had finally agreed to the lunch gathering he had been refusing for a long time. His colleagues at the pasta restaurant near the company welcomed him as if they had seen him just yesterday.
They had been exchanging news sitting comfortably when Woohyun’s name came up. During his time off work, Eunhong had spent his days with Mrs. Ham and his evenings with Jaeha after he returned from work, completely forgetting about Woohyun. The sudden news about him was somewhat surprising.
Although Eunhong had thought their relationship was over, Woohyun, for whatever reason, was still talking about him at the company. Not content with gossiping within his own team, he had been spreading various stories to Eunhong’s team members until he ran into Seo Heeseung and nearly started a fight.
“Thank me for what? I only spoke the truth. I was actually planning to post a demand for a public apology on the company bulletin board, you know? But it seems he caught wind of it because he hasn’t been coming to work. Hmph.”
Yoo Junseok grimaced and waved his hands frantically.
“Ugh. Let it go. Really. It’ll just create more gossip.”
“Is that so… But I’m so upset, what should I do?”
“Be patient. People know the truth without being told. And if anyone should protest, it should be Eunhong, not a third party.”
Eunhong, who had been just listening to his teammates talking, quietly interjected:
“…Woohyun hasn’t been coming to work?”
“No. It’s been a few days. I was vigilantly watching for him yesterday too, but he didn’t show up all day.”
Hmm. Eunhong hummed, touching his chin. His appetite had disappeared long ago, ever since Woohyun’s name had been mentioned. He put down the fork that had been pushing around the pasta and put his mouth to the juice straw. The tangy flavor that filled his mouth made him feel slightly better.
All but one of the watches that Woohyun had sold off had been recovered. Although they had all returned in their original condition without a scratch, Eunhong’s feelings weren’t as untouched. Thinking about the enormous cost Jaeha had spent to find them made his teeth grind. Even now, when he thought about that moment when all the watches had disappeared, he felt the blood drain from his body, and his broken finger throbbed.
“Is your finger okay now? Is it healing well?”
When Eunhong rubbed his right hand, Yoo Junseok glanced at it and asked. With the cast removed and only a protective wrap around it, at a glance it looked like he was wearing a unique accessory.
“Yes. It seems to be healing well now. The doctor says I just need to avoid overexerting it.”
“When’s your return-to-work date?”
“Are you planning to get married before coming back to work?”
Everyone burst into laughter at Kim Jieun’s casual remark. This was because recently, he had accidentally answered a video call again. Jaeha, who happened to be in the middle of taking off his top, had answered the video call to Eunhong on his own and brazenly accepted greetings from the people on the other end. Then, still in that state, he walked over with the phone and told Eunhong a call had come in for him.
After handing over the phone, he even kissed Eunhong’s cheek before turning to leave, causing Seo Heeseung to scream as if she was going to tear the phone’s speaker. In fact, this lunch gathering had been arranged because of that video call. Yoo Junseok and Seo Heeseung had been so curious and made such a fuss that Eunhong had been pressured into making this appointment.
Wait. Come to think of it, was it really an accident? Eunhong tilted his head and answered almost in a murmur:
“My boyfriend says he doesn’t want to get married. So I don’t know about my own marriage either.”
“…”
There was no response to his words. The table fell silent, and when Eunhong glanced up, all four pairs of eyes were once again fixed on him.
“What?”
Yoo Junseok closed his gaping mouth and managed to answer:
“It’s the first time we’ve seen Eunhong openly talk about personal matters…”
***
After contemplating for a long time, Eunhong finally called Sunhong.
He had firmly refused Jaeha’s suggestion to press charges against Woohyun, but that didn’t mean his feelings had been cleanly cut off either. There was still a lot of resentment, blame, and hurt. Nevertheless, the reason he was curious about Woohyun’s well-being now was because of those few moments that had sparkled among the 10 years they had known each other.
– I don’t know anything about Woohyun, why? Did something happen?
“No, it’s not that… Hasn’t Woohyun’s mother said anything?”
– No. Mom just goes there briefly to help out and comes back. I haven’t seen him since the day I moved out.
“I see. Thanks.”
Thanks to Jaeha’s help, they had been able to move to a nice, clean place in Busan. His mother had agreed to look after the temple’s household affairs on a commuting basis for a while because Woohyun’s mother had desperately asked for help. The reason given was that no one knew the complex household affairs as well as his mother. Because of the help they had received during difficult times and all kinds of emotions developed over the many years they had spent together, his mother had no choice but to accept the offer.
“…”
Eunhong tapped the steering wheel as he sank into thought. There was still plenty of time until his dinner appointment with Jaeha. With the thought of checking on Woohyun one last time and then cutting ties for good, he opened his phone and searched through his contacts.
“Just to find out why he’s borrowing money and if he’s sick…”
For a moment, he wondered if Woohyun had taken the watches because he had a serious illness and needed money for treatment. If that were the case, he thought he should help, setting aside negative feelings. After hesitating for quite some time, Eunhong called Kang Hanjae.
The first call went unanswered despite ringing fully. Eunhong wondered if maybe they had decided not to take his calls, knowing that he and Woohyun had fallen out. As he was hesitating whether to call again, his phone rang. It was Kang Hanjae.
– Hong.
“Oh, Hanjae.”
Kang Hanjae called Eunhong affectionately but couldn’t speak right away. He probably had heard something from Jang Haesung. Eunhong had an intuition that something had happened to Woohyun.
His heart sank regardless of the negative feelings he had toward Woohyun. Eunhong wasn’t the type to applaud when something bad happened to someone just because they had fought. After anxiously choosing his words, he asked:
“An Woohyun. Did something happen?”
As if he had been waiting for Eunhong’s question, Kang Hanjae let out a deep sigh.
– Actually, Haesung and I are at the hospital right now. Can you come if you have time? Woohyun is badly hurt.
“…Where, how is he hurt? Was it a car accident?”
– Well… hold on.
Kang Hanjae paused briefly and seemed to be moving to a different location. After waiting through the rustling sounds and breathing that brushed against the receiver several times, Eunhong finally heard the sound of a lighter and a deep intake of breath.
– Woohyun… caused a car accident while driving drunk.
Eunhong froze. What he had heard was so shocking that he had to think about what it meant again.
“H-how? What happened? Is he badly hurt?”
– We don’t know the details either. They say he crashed into a wall, but only Woohyun was hurt… There was a passenger, you know? It was that alpha’s car. I don’t know if it was just a partner he met to spend his heat with, or someone he had been seeing for a while… But Woohyun isn’t saying anything. He was being stubborn at the hospital, saying he had no guardian, but he reluctantly called us probably because he was afraid they might contact his home.
“Isn’t that alpha his guardian?”
– That guy hasn’t shown his face at the hospital at all. Hong, what should we do? Should we contact his mother?
“Which hospital is it?”
Without needing to think deeply, he answered that he would go right away. Kang Hanjae ended the call saying that his lunch break was ending and he needed to go back to the office, but Jang Haesung would be at the hospital.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
