Chapter 60
Seoyul stood frozen in place, unable to move. What… did he just hear?
“It’s you that I like. So don’t misunderstand about that guy or anyone else.”
Dowoon’s face looked extremely serious. He didn’t appear to be lying or joking.
Moreover…
“I don’t like you having that kind of misunderstanding…”
The way he averted his gaze while blushing with embarrassment pierced straight into Seoyul’s heart.
Dowoon was… being shy.
“You might not know, but I really hate being misunderstood by the person I like. Though I only realized it myself today.”
He scrunched up his face and strongly asserted his genuine dislike. Then, as if urging Seoyul not to doubt his sincerity, he met his eyes again and conveyed his feelings.
“I’m not saying this to burden you. I tried to hold back, but I really hate you continuing to misunderstand like that. I really wanted to wait. Until you were ready. Until you felt the same way I do. Ah, but don’t feel pressured. Seoyul, you can just act like you normally do. Forget what I said today… no, think about it properly… no, that’s not right either. I mean, think about it properly but not to the point where you feel burdened…”
He seemed genuinely flustered and began rambling incoherently. In that expression, Seoyul could glimpse confusion, anxiety, and feelings directed at him.
With a dazed feeling, Seoyul quietly asked:
“…Really…?”
“What? That I like you? That Shin Yujin and I are enemies? I don’t know what you’re trying to confirm, but both are true.”
Dowoon grumbled with a sulky face, as if wondering why Seoyul wouldn’t believe him. But Seoyul still couldn’t believe it and had to ask once more.
“Really… really?”
“I said so… yeah.”
After answering like that, Dowoon seemed to hesitate a bit before apparently making up his mind, looking at Seoyul directly and conveying his feelings once more.
“I like you. I like you, Seoyul. Truly.”
Only then did a sense of reality begin to wash over him. Dowoon’s eyes gazing at him and his low voice penetrating deep into his heart shook Seoyul’s emotions.
“Hic…”
“Huh?!”
His vision blurred again, and tears began to flow abundantly. Dowoon’s eyes widened in surprise, but there was nothing Seoyul could do about it now.
To think they had the same feelings. That Dowoon liked him.
And that he and Team Leader… were nothing to each other.
“Huuuaaaaaang.”
A tremendous sense of relief flooded his heart, bursting the dam of emotions. His feelings for Dowoon began pouring out like a waterfall.
“Wh-what? S-Seoyul!”
Dowoon didn’t know what to do as Seoyul began crying loudly again. Having just confessed his feelings, he seemed unsure whether to embrace and comfort Seoyul like before or to hold back.
“Uuuwaaaaang.”
“Ah, S-Seoyul. If you cry like that, I… Ah, really. You, you really. You need to know I don’t have feelings for anyone else? Okay?”
After rambling like that, he wrapped his arms around Seoyul. Then, as if trying to calm him down, he continued speaking.
“You were anxious, right? Afraid your place would disappear. Don’t worry. I’ll stay by your side. I’ll stay by your side even if you say you don’t want me to. Ah, I’m not trying to pressure you with this either? I’m just telling you that’s how it is.”
To the sobbing Seoyul, Dowoon continued to whisper endlessly. That the place beside him belonged to Seoyul. That it would never change.
But he apparently hadn’t noticed that Seoyul had the same feelings for him.
‘I need to tell him…’
That he liked Dowoon too. That he felt the same way. That he was crying like this because he felt the same way.
But his heart felt like it would burst, and the words wouldn’t come out. Even though he thought he should say it, he was so happy and moved that Dowoon liked him that he just kept crying and crying and crying…
Until he fell asleep.
* * *
Dowoon was carrying the exhausted, sleeping Seoyul on his back as he walked down the road. He could have easily teleported with spatial movement, but somehow he felt like walking.
‘Haah. I went and did it.’
He had spoken in the heat of the moment, but he had no regrets. At least… Seoyul’s reaction had been better than expected, and his heart was at ease seeing that the reason Seoyul had been avoiding him wasn’t because he was tired of him, as Dowoon had worried.
‘Then why didn’t he come home?’
The reason for Seoyul running away crying was because he misunderstood the relationship between Yujin and Dowoon, but that alone didn’t explain why he hadn’t come home.
‘Did he hear the rumors first?’
There were occasionally people who spread ridiculous rumors. Some people even believed them. For Dowoon, it was an infuriatingly annoying situation.
‘But to think Seoyul really relied on me this much.’
Sunjeong had once said something like that.
That Seoyul relied on him more than anyone else. So he should just stay quietly by Seoyul’s side until he had enough time to stand on his own.
At the time he heard those words, Dowoon had thought he wouldn’t let Seoyul stand alone and would keep him close forever, but now he understood what she meant.
Seoyul was always anxious and in a state where he could be mercilessly shaken by the slightest breeze. This was probably due to memories of an insecure past.
‘That’s probably why he cried.’
He was someone who had always lived in anxiety. When he became anxious again, his emotions must have intensified.
Thinking about it that way, Dowoon felt a strange feeling—somewhat pitiful yet heart-warming.
It seemed that he was foolishly pleased by the fact that he was the only one that Seoyul, who had no one else to lean on, depended on.
The fact that he was so important to Seoyul that he would cry so much made Dowoon’s heart swell with joy.
‘It would have been better if it was jealousy. But this isn’t bad either.’
Dowoon walked through the night streets, feeling the warm presence on his back. After walking for some time, he suddenly thought that Seoyul might catch a cold.
Only then did Dowoon blame himself for being so foolish and quickly moved to the house. He raised the room temperature, removed Seoyul’s outer clothes, and laid him on the bed.
He was sleeping so soundly that he didn’t wake up once despite Dowoon’s bustling movements. Finding this both frustrating and adorable, he gently touched Seoyul’s nostril.
‘I should have come home earlier. What if he catches a cold?’
He was worried because Seoyul’s nose tip was still cold. His clothes also seemed uncomfortable, and since they still held the cold air, Dowoon wondered if he should change him into pajamas.
Gulp.
Dowoon swallowed hard. He had encountered the greatest challenge of his life.
* * *
In the end, Seoyul came down with a cold.
He had been pushing himself too hard, and after staying in the cold for too long, it all burst forth at once.
He had a high fever and could barely move his fingertips, groaning in pain.
Naturally, Dowoon panicked. He was so shocked that he picked up Seoyul and headed straight for the laboratory.
Of course, he only got scolded by Sunjeong, who asked why he would bring a sick person here.
Nevertheless, with her help, he was able to give Seoyul medicine and put him to bed at home safely. Although he knew it was just an ordinary cold, seeing Seoyul sick made him uneasy.
‘You selfish bastard. What were you thinking, taking a sick person for a walk?’
Dowoon berated himself, thinking he should have taken Seoyul straight home that day. It hurt him to think that Seoyul’s illness was all his fault.
Dowoon took meticulous care of Seoyul. He fed him porridge and medicine in his dazed state and frequently changed the wet towel on his forehead.
Thanks to this attentive care, Seoyul opened his eyes after just one day.
‘Mmm. What is this?’
Having regained consciousness, Seoyul only blinked his eyes, feeling heavy-bodied and foggy-headed. Then he realized he had finally fallen ill.
‘So… that day…’
He slowly sifted through his memories, trying to recall how he ended up in bed.
‘I like you.’
‘Ah…’
Seoyul covered his burning eyes with his arm, his face flushing red. The memories from that day somehow felt like a dream.
‘Could it have been a dream?’
After suffering through a bout of cold, it felt dreamlike. If it was a dream, it seemed like a happy yet cruel one.
“Mmm.”
He sensed movement beside him. Seoyul turned his head, removing the hand that blocked his view.
“Huh?”
Dowoon was right there. He was leaning against the bed, sleeping in an uncomfortable position.
‘Why is Esper-nim…?’
Within his surprised view, a bowl of water and a damp cloth that hadn’t completely dried appeared in sequence.
“Uh…”
Seoyul placed his hand on his forehead and tapped it gently. Could it be… that Dowoon had nursed him?
Thump.
Thump.
Once he realized this, his heart began to beat wildly. The situation where the person he liked had nursed him while he was sick.
He couldn’t help feeling both that he had caused unnecessary trouble and that his heart was warming up.
“Mmm. Huh.”
At that moment, Dowoon lifted his eyelids, seeming about to wake up. Seoyul, feeling somehow tense, only swallowed. Simultaneously, Dowoon jumped up and shouted:
“Seoyul?!! Are you okay?! Are you conscious? Are you all better now?!”
He frantically and quickly placed his hand on Seoyul’s forehead to check his temperature. When the large hand touched him, his already pounding heart began to beat even more fiercely.
“Ah, the fever’s gone now. That’s a relief. I was really worried.”
Dowoon sighed with relief as he lowered his hand. Seoyul glanced at him shyly and tried to speak.
“I’m… sorry. Was I… very sick?”
Judging by his reaction, it seemed he had been quite ill. Seoyul felt a bit dazed, as if he had just taken a nap and woken up.
“I’m the one who should be sorry. You got sick because of me. I’m sorry. If only I had taken you home right away that day…”
Dowoon blamed himself, looking dejected. At those words, Seoyul’s body stiffened.
Could it be… that it wasn’t a dream?
Seoyul traced his memories again. After hearing Dowoon say he liked him, his emotions had become so intense that he had cried uncontrollably. The tears wouldn’t stop, so he continued crying and…
“Ah…”
Seoyul let out a small sigh. At the same time, his face turned bright red.
‘I can’t remember…’
Apparently, he had fallen asleep from crying so much. And Dowoon had carried him himself.
That alone was embarrassing enough, but to add to it, he had caught a cold and caused more trouble.
“I-I’m sorry! I… like that…”
Seoyul’s words trailed off as he conveyed his apologetic feelings. But Dowoon, greatly flustered, waved his hands from side to side and shouted:
“No, no! I told you I’m the one who’s sorry! More importantly…”
Dowoon seemed to have more to say. With a still flustered face, he rolled his eyes, then finally spoke with difficulty.
“That, um… it’s not because I had ulterior motives, but because I had to nurse you, so I had no choice but to…”
“Pardon…?”
What did he have no choice about?
Seoyul tilted his head, but Dowoon continued shouting:
“I changed your clothes with my eyes tightly shut! Well, I did squint a little, but that was inevitable because of the buttons! I changed you so quickly that I didn’t see anything! Believe me, Seoyul!”
Hearing those words, Seoyul slowly looked down at himself. Of course, what he was wearing wasn’t his outdoor clothes… but pajamas.
Whoosh.
Seoyul’s face heated up as if it would explode.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
