Without hesitation, the man quickly parked and moved with steps that were almost running, taking three stairs at a time.
Until the moment he grabbed and turned the doorknob, he was anxious that the kid might not be there. When he swung the door open wide and stepped in,
“Oh!”
Jiho’s eyes, which had widened just slightly, turned toward the bathroom directly opposite the entrance. With rabbit-like startled eyes, swallowing a short scream through the fingers covering his mouth, the kid was in the process of taking off his pants. And.
Huh?
His gaze was naturally drawn to the thighs, where red lines were drawn as if with a ruler. The eyes that had widened imperceptibly now frowned visibly.
Fuck, what is that?
Kyung Jiho reached the bathroom in just two long strides. Ignoring the kid who was trying to cover his thighs by pulling down his t-shirt, he looked into the bathtub. The kid was, in the middle of all this, damn it.
He was washing the bedding.
The man, whose expression was never pleasant to begin with and especially not now after meeting Ji Seokhun, asked:
“Why are you washing it?”
“The smell…”
Smell?
Seeing the man raise one eyebrow skeptically, the kid, seemingly realizing he’d made a mistake, widened his eyes and waved his hands frantically, making buzzing sounds:
“No, no, it’s another person’s smell! That, um, not your smell, but another person’s smell! No, the smell is actually fine! It just seemed like time to wash it! I was also bored! Had nothing to do! After eating, I need to move around a bit!”
With one eyebrow still raised, now the opposite eye narrowed.
“Move around? Because of your blood sugar?”
“What? …Yes.”
Geez.
He was confused because of how this kid was acting and what he was saying. It seemed like Ji Seokhun might be telling the truth when he said that after nagging for perfect management, the kid had rebelled.
No, that’s not it.
Kyung Jiho quickly changed his mind. A kid who supposedly rebelled because he didn’t want to hear nagging wouldn’t be managing so diligently in a place beyond the supervisor’s eye. It was the exact opposite of what Ji Seokhun had said.
Jiho’s right eye wrinkled even more. It was a habit that emerged when he was deep in thought. The problem was that this face looked quite frightening. As a result, Geun-yeong, awkwardly standing in the bathtub, unable to move in any direction, was severely conscious of the atmosphere.
Regardless, with his thoughts deepening and one eye still wrinkled, Kyung Jiho unconsciously raised his hand and stroked his chin. The person deep in thought wasn’t aware where his gaze was landing, but unfortunately, that gaze was fixed around Geun-yeong’s thighs. Given the situation, Geun-yeong continued to pull down his t-shirt, keeping his head lowered, occasionally glancing up with just his eyes to gauge the man’s mood, which seemed even more frightening than usual today.
Finally, concluding that pondering alone wouldn’t yield an answer, Kyung Jiho lifted his gaze from the thighs. Having been staring at the thighs all along and with his focus blurred due to his many thoughts, when Jiho caught sight of the face he had momentarily lost track of, he wrinkled his already quite wrinkled face even more.
The man, who had suppressed his laughter that nearly burst out by wrinkling his expression, said:
“Just come out for now. You could have just put it in the washing machine, why are you standing there with your pants off?”
When the words “pants off” were uttered, Geun-yeong hunched his shoulders. And he pulled down his already much-lowered t-shirt even further.
“I said come out.”
When Geun-yeong hesitated, Jiho urged him to come out once more, not realizing that the kid couldn’t exit because he was standing in front of the bathtub.
Having been urged twice, he couldn’t hesitate any longer. Firmly holding the t-shirt covering his thighs, Geun-yeong stepped out of the bathtub and deeply regretted it. It hadn’t even been two hours since he had bowed and seen the man off. He never dreamed the man would return so early. If he had known the man would come back so unexpectedly, he would have just kept his pants on and done it that way, he thought. No, he wished he hadn’t washed the bedding at all. Deeply regretting again and again, he crossed the few steps of the bathroom.
As the man turned his body to make way, Geun-yeong’s arm, with shoulders hunched, brushed against the man’s chest, touched, and passed by.
At that moment, one heart that had been beating rapidly due to tension and regret now began to beat quickly and vigorously.
And the other person’s heart rippled with a depth he could feel himself. And the man thought of it as a kind of sympathy for the utterly pitiful kid.
* * *
After sending Geun-yeong out, Jiho retrieved the wet bedding, roughly wrung it out, and then moved it to the washing machine in the utility room accessed through a door next to the kitchen, and pressed the spin cycle.
Geun-yeong, who had hurriedly picked up and put on his pants as soon as he left the bathroom, felt beyond apologetic watching the man wringing and moving the bedding. From the man’s perspective, it was bedding that didn’t need washing yet, and now he was doing unnecessary work because of Geun-yeong, so he felt uncomfortable and sorry beyond words. As a result, he was standing awkwardly neither in the living room nor in the kitchen, with his head lowered.
The man, emerging from the utility room, saw the kid standing awkwardly with a face that looked like it might cry if touched, and pointed to the table in the middle of the living room. Sit down. After seeing the kid, who understood well after being told once, move his body, the man sat down at the table first.
The sound of two sets of bedding being spin-dried in the washing machine could be heard.
As Geun-yeong sat down across from the man, the moment his knees touched the floor, he said:
“I really didn’t wash it because of the smell. The smell was tolerable, no, it was fine, but I just had nothing to do, and I was grateful for letting me stay at your home, so I wanted to help with housework somehow, but there wasn’t much to do, so I washed it. I’m sorry…”
The final words of apology were crawling back into his mouth. That’s how quiet they were.
“It’s fine. It was indeed time to wash it. I just didn’t wash it because I wasn’t going to use it.”
Ah. I see.
If that was the case, then it was fortunate. Relieved, Geun-yeong dropped his tensed shoulders and let out a small sigh.
“Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For forgiving me for washing the bedding.”
Shit.
Is that really something to be so happy about right now? Kyung Jiho bit down on his molars. The muscle in his jaw twitched from the pressure. Something was rising inside him, and it felt like irritation.
Or was it that something rising was causing the irritation?
Anyway. He lowered his gaze from the face of the guy who was beaming brightly as if he was incredibly happy to be forgiven for washing the blanket, and with a jerk of his chin, pointed at the kneeling knees.
“Sit comfortably. I have something to ask you.”
Responding with a “Yes,” the guy quickly adjusted his sitting position. And then.
What is that?
Kyung Jiho frowned even more on his already frowning face.
With his lips pressed together and pulled up slightly, and his eyes made more distinct, the guy was following the other’s gaze with unwavering eyes. It was the face, the expression typically worn by that kid who sat right in front of the teacher’s desk in school and monopolized the homeroom teacher’s affection. That guy was really annoying back then, but now, being in the teacher’s position, it wasn’t so annoying after all.
Hmm, clearing his throat, Kyung Jiho tried to smooth out his constantly furrowing expression and said:
“Blood sugar.”
Responding with “Yes” and even nodding his head, the guy was still wearing that front-row student expression. The one the homeroom teacher really liked. Earlier it was just not annoying, but now he could somewhat understand why the teacher had liked him so much. He shifted his gaze to the TV behind the guy, then back to the guy who was still making that pretty expression, and said:
“Is it that difficult?”
“Pardon?”
To the guy who asked back with a face that looked like he was about to raise his hand high and shout, “Please repeat that, sir!” he elaborated:
“Like, if you don’t manage it well, you might collapse or something.”
“Ah… yes. If I skip meals.”
“You skipped breakfast today.”
“I ate right after you left.”
Silence fell briefly. After sorting through the situation, he asked again:
“So. You shouldn’t skip meals, but it’s not a huge problem if one meal is a little late, right? Then, that, insulin injection, is that really difficult? Can’t just anyone do it?”
“It is something that takes time to learn, but once you learn, anyone can do it.”
“And you.”
“Pardon?”
“I’m asking if you’re good at it.”
Tilting his head, the guy looked up, rolled his eyes around as if thinking, then with a determined expression, answered:
“I can do it.”
The guy who was showing his determination to do well with his entire face.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
