Beep, beep beep, beep.
Click.
That’s when it happened. I heard the electronic sound of entering a password and Baek Woojin entered the house. It was a very early return home as he had announced in the morning.
“You’re back?”
“Chae Seungyeon-ssi, how is Kkotsu…”
“Shh… He just fell asleep.”
“……”
At my whisper, Baek Woojin peeked into Kkotsu’s room and then closed the door again, leaving only about a finger’s width gap.
“Then let’s have lunch.”
“Lunch? Is it already time…?”
When I looked up at the wall clock, it was well past noon. I had only been nursing him and making phone calls, but I didn’t realize time had passed so quickly.
“Please rest, Chae Seungyeon-ssi.”
Baek Woojin, who entered the kitchen first, was taking off his outer clothing and rolling up his sleeves. Under his white dress shirt, I could see his robust forearms with clearly defined veins.
“Are you going to… cook…?”
“Yes, nothing fancy, just something simple. While I’m at it, I’ll make porridge for Kkotsu too.”
Ah, he knows how to cook… I didn’t know. I thought Baek Woojin couldn’t cook at all since he always had people working for him.
“Since I can’t make anything that smells too much, I’ll just make a simple salad, toast, and tomato scramble.”
“Yes, that sounds good. Is there anything I can help with…”
“No. Please sit. If our movements overlap, it might create noise and wake Kkotsu.”
Baek Woojin, who spoke firmly, washed his hands and began cooking in earnest.
“Then I’ll do the dishes.”
“I’ll do the dishes too.”
“But…”
“Let’s do it that way today.”
“Yes…”
Baek Woojin seemed completely determined today. I simply agreed and watched him cook. He used the tools really quickly and skillfully. He moved to make as little noise as possible while boiling porridge in a pot and peeled tomato skins with his clean hands.
“Hmm…”
A man cooking with a somehow perfect visual… I didn’t notice before, but it was really entertaining to watch.
The completed dishes were, in order, a salad topped with burrata cheese and figs, golden-brown French toast, tomato scramble, and asparagus porridge.
“Wow…”
I exclaimed in admiration. It was amazing how the dishes were made efficiently like in a restaurant, but it was even more surprising that all of this came from Baek Woojin’s hands.
“Let’s eat.”
After cleaning up neatly and washing his hands, Baek Woojin sat across from me and said that. I picked up my fork and tasted each dish once.
“…Does it suit your taste?”
“Yes, it’s really… delicious…”
It was literally amazing. Of course, the salad just had store-bought sauce sprinkled on it, and it was just toast cooked in egg wash and mild-flavored scrambled eggs, but even that was fresh and delicious. It didn’t seem like something he had only done once or twice.
“If you’re this good at cooking, why haven’t you been doing it all this time?”
The food the ajummas made was really delicious too, but with Baek Woojin’s cooking skills, I thought he could have done it himself.
“As I mentioned before, there are many things to do when two men live together. Cooking is especially not an easy task.”
Saying that, Baek Woojin cut all of my toast into bite-sized pieces with a knife. At times like this, he really was the epitome of a well-mannered and gentle man.
“And the ajumma won’t be coming for the next few days. She also has a child to raise, so she needs to be careful.”
“That’s right… Ah, right…!”
Only then did I think of Jeonghan and Eunseong-ssi.
“Wait, excuse me. I’ll make a phone call and come back…!”
I quickly called Eunseong-ssi again. But Eunseong-ssi kept not answering the phone.
Gasp… Is he really planning to come? The young master too, that won’t work…
I anxiously called Eunseong-ssi and the young master alternately. But the two of them didn’t answer their phones as if they had planned it together.
“What’s wrong?”
As I kept struggling with my phone, Baek Woojin approached me and asked.
“No, well…”
Should I tell him…
While I was sweating profusely and worrying, Baek Woojin spoke as if he had noticed something.
“There are several people who trouble Chae Seungyeon-ssi.”
“…”
“In my estimation, first place is Jeonghan’s father.”
“Gasp…”
“Second place seems to be the youngest son of the Gwak family… am I right?”
Looking at Baek Woojin who had guessed exactly right, I opened my mouth wide.
“Tell me. What’s going on?”
“Well…”
I finally decided to confess everything to Baek Woojin.
“Earlier, while Kkotsu was sleeping, he kept looking for Jeonghan…”
“Kkotsu… for Jeonghan…?”
Baek Woojin also seemed quite surprised to hear this for the first time.
“Yes, so I… called Eunseong-ssi… I was just going to ask him to let the kids talk on the phone when they have time later…”
“Is he coming?”
“…”
I glanced at Baek Woojin and then urgently exclaimed.
“No, he hung up the phone unilaterally…! I’ll send him back right away, no, I’ll call him right now to tell him not to come… I’m sorry… I was so, so stupid…”
When I made my full confession, Baek Woojin looked at Kkotsu’s room with a thoughtful expression for a moment, then nodded.
“It’s okay, if there’s someone Kkotsu is looking for that much, I have no reason to stop it.”
“Ah…”
“I think we just need to isolate Kkotsu’s room and be careful not to spread the cold.”
Even though Eunseong-ssi must be uncomfortable because of yesterday’s incident, seeing Baek Woojin thinking of Kkotsu first and genuinely caring for him made my heart ache.
“Won’t you eat more?”
“Oh, yes… Thank you for the meal.”
After eating hurriedly like that, Baek Woojin immediately got up from his seat without any rest and did the dishes. I went over to help him, but Baek Woojin refused, asking me to just check on Kkotsu’s condition.
As he requested, I checked if Kkotsu was sleeping well, changed his wet towel again, and came out.
After that, I kept watching Baek Woojin washing dishes. It was really strange. I had never once in my life thought that someone washing dishes looked cool…
“…”
It was cool. Really cool enough to be completely absorbed watching.
*
In the afternoon, I went outside to meet the kindergarten school bus arrival time. Since there was some time left before the bus Hyeol was on arrived, I wandered around the complex entrance and looked at the real estate flyers stuck all over the utility poles.
Jeonse, monthly rent, half-jeonse…
At first glance, there were many outrageously expensive properties, but there were a few rooms close to the kindergarten, so I tore off and kept the contact information.
Vrooom.
Then I could see a yellow school bus coming from far away. I quickly headed to where the car would stop.
Clunk.
“Hello, Hyeol’s father!”
“Yes, hello, teacher.”
“Dad.”
The door opened and Hyeol popped out next to the kindergarten teacher who greeted me warmly. A smile naturally bloomed at the child’s grip holding my hand.
“Hyeol!”
Then the school bus windows opened one by one and round children’s faces appeared.
“Hyeol, see you tomorrow!”
“We have to play together tomorrow too!”
“Tomorrow you’re going to play with me!”
“No, he said he’d play with me…!”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
