As I approached the officetel’s main entrance, a convenience store appeared on the right side of the sidewalk. Through the glass door covered in various posters, rows of products were visible.
Looking around just in case, I ended up spotting something familiar.
Right in front of me—it was definitely that. The same kind of chocolate I had handed to Min Siheon during our first meeting.
Cha Seung-ah had slipped it into my bag as a joke, and it ended up becoming the spark that started my connection with him.
“Should I get some?”
He looked like the type who wouldn’t even glance at sweets, yet he’d said he actually ate the chocolates I gave him.
After we’d met a few times, I had casually asked out of curiosity, and I remembered him saying he ate it the day he received it.
“You ate that? The chocolate.”
“Of course. Sorry for thanking you late. It was good.”
“That’s enough for me. But honestly, you don’t look like someone who’d like chocolate. Guess it’s your taste after all?”
“Yeah, I was surprised too.”
“What are you talking about? You are speaking Korean right now, aren’t you?”
“Haha!”
For some reason, Min Siheon laughed out loud at what I said. Back then, he looked genuinely happy.
They say you give an extra rice cake to someone who’s sick. For no real reason, I felt like buying it for old times’ sake. Well, calling it a memory might be an exaggeration—it wasn’t that long ago.
“Have a nice day.”
By the time I snapped out of it, the chocolate was already in my hand. Porridge, medicine, and now chocolate too. Once Min Siheon recovered, I felt like I’d have to make him buy me a meal or something.
I really needed to hurry over to Min Siheon now. I’d told him to stay in bed, but I had zero confidence he’d actually listen.
After entering the password he’d given me, I opened the front door and stepped inside. A long hallway stretched ahead, along with a sleekly designed elevator.
“I seriously can’t get used to this.”
Even though I’d regressed, my family was still as middle-class as ever. Seeing a place like this felt like stepping into another world. Well… technically, it was another world.
“Come to think of it, Kang Taeyoon was rich too.”
As I stared blankly at the ascending floor numbers, I was reminded again that this was a world inside a novel. According to Go Heemin, Kang Taeyoon was also living alone in an officetel nearby.
I’d heard that Go Heemin had moved out of his family home as well. Based on the story Cha Seung-ah had told me, he was probably being summoned to Kang Taeyoon’s place so often that it practically looked like semi-cohabitation.
What does that have to do with me? On the surface, Kang Taeyoon seemed to blend in well with our group.
But in reality, it was closer to him putting up with us because of Go Heemin, who had to maintain social ties.
I didn’t know whether Go Heemin had noticed that, but the two of them still hadn’t fully taken the form of a proper couple.
That long stretch of time before they truly ended up together was probably what gave Min Siheon an opening to step in.
To be honest, I was on Min Siheon’s side. More precisely, regardless of whether he fell in love with Go Heemin or not, I just didn’t want him to end up with an unfortunate ending.
At first, all I’d thought about was avoiding him because he was a sub-top—just another character in the story. But maybe because we kept running into each other so often, I’d grown attached to him without realizing it.
Lost in uneasy thoughts while staring into space, I barely noticed the elevator reaching the 19th floor. After the doors opened, I headed toward Min Siheon’s place in the left corner.
Checking the message he’d sent earlier, I entered the passcode. I could faintly sense someone moving inside.
Beyond the opened door, the dark interior of the apartment came into view.
“Huh? You were awake?”
And standing there was Min Siheon himself. Unlike his usual perfectly styled appearance, he was dressed only in a pair of training pants.
He leaned against the wall beside the shoe cabinet. Strands of messy hair fell over his pale face.
But seriously—why was someone who was sick practically half-naked? Min Siheon was literally wearing nothing but those training pants. Wherever he’d tossed it, his top was nowhere to be seen.
My gaze lingered on the waistband resting low on his hips before meeting his eyes as he crossed his arms and looked at me.
He was tall, with broad shoulders and defined abs lining his wide chest. Even though I was just looking at another guy’s body, I felt oddly embarrassed and cleared my throat.
“Ahem… you feeling really bad?”
He was already pale, but now he looked even more drained, which made it hard not to stare. I’d guessed from how well clothes suited him, but Min Siheon’s body was far more muscular than I’d imagined.
As he brushed his hair back in a smooth motion, I felt like I’d witnessed something I shouldn’t have seen. Just yesterday he’d been smiling like sunshine, yet now a rough, feral energy clung to him.
…What am I even thinking, standing in front of someone who’s sick? I quickly pulled myself together and stepped inside.
The door closed behind me. After setting the medicine and porridge on a nearby cabinet, I was about to proudly show him the chocolate I’d brought.
“Hey, I brought porridge and medicine. Oh, and guess what else I got—remember th….”
“…Jungwoo, I’m sick.”
Min Siheon staggered toward me and leaned his entire weight against me. At the same time, I sucked in a sharp breath.
This crazy guy. The words never made it out of my mouth. A large body at least 8 cm taller than me collapsed into my arms like he was acting spoiled.
His burning warmth seeped through my thin shirt, and I could hear a pounding heartbeat. He was pressed so close that I couldn’t even tell whether it was my heart or his.
…Did he hallucinate Heemin because he was sick or something? I nodded to myself at that oddly convincing theory.
If it had been Go Heemin—smaller than me—he might’ve toppled backward. In that sense, maybe it was better that I came instead. I decided I’d definitely make Min Siheon thank me later.
For a moment I staggered under the sudden weight, but once I regained my senses, I grabbed his arm as his strength drained away.
Even with my 180 cm frame, his arm was so thick and solid that I couldn’t wrap my hand around it fully.
It was impressive how Min Siheon hid such a monstrous body behind that pretty face and pale coloring.
But that thought didn’t last long—I realized this wasn’t the time to be admiring a patient.
“Hey, what are you doing suddenly leaning on me like that? I get it, so move for a second.”
“…I really hurt. Don’t push me away—it makes me sad.”
“…Does it hurt a lot?”
With his face buried at the base of my neck, Min Siheon made it clear he had no intention of moving. I bit my lip as the faint sound of our hair brushing together filled my ears.
His body against my hands felt lukewarm compared to how little he was wearing.
Considering his usual body temperature, this meant he was still running quite a fever. By normal standards, it might’ve seemed like the fever had gone down, but for him it didn’t look good yet.
Then I felt his body growing warmer by the second. The speed was so fast it felt like I was holding a giant hot pack.
This feels kind of strange… but I couldn’t just shove away someone who said he was hurting. So I gently patted his back.
It was embarrassing, being like this with another guy, but having that kind of thought inside a BL novel felt ridiculous anyway.
“Jungwoo….”
“Alright, let’s go inside first. Eat some porridge, take medicine, and sleep. If you stay here, your cold’s just going to get worse.”
“…You’ll stay next to me today, right?”
“You don’t see that I skipped all my afternoon classes because of you? Next time we have group work, I’m totally using that against you. You’re responsible for my grades now.”
“Okay. I’ll take responsibility for you.”
“Why’d you leave out the grades part? That’s the most important thing.”
His clinginess was about five times worse than usual—he must really be feeling awful.
He kept chuckling for no reason, his breath spilling against my neck. The ticklish sensation made me twist my shoulders, trying desperately to pull away.
After coaxing him, telling him we couldn’t stay like this forever, he finally agreed to go to the bedroom.
“Let’s go.”
Min Siheon nodded as if satisfied for some reason. I picked up the cooling porridge and medicine, slipping the chocolate I’d been awkwardly holding into my pocket.
His room, which we reached without even putting on slippers, was dark despite it being daytime—the blinds covering the windows blocked out the light. A king-sized bed, a small side table, and a standing lamp. The minimal furniture felt very much like Min Siheon.
In the otherwise tidy room, the only thing out of place was the rumpled blanket. It looked like he’d jumped out of bed the moment he heard the door open.
First, I patted his back and sat the swaying Min Siheon down on the bed. Then I went into what looked like a dressing room and found a top that probably matched the pants he was wearing.
Walking around half-naked while sick didn’t seem like a great idea. Sure, even just wearing the pants suited him like a painting, but staring at it for too long made me strangely self-conscious.
As if he had no idea how I felt, Min Siheon shook his head when I held out the clothes. Was this a side effect of being sick? The 23-year-old kept acting like a three-year-old.
“Hurry up and put it on.”
“I took it off because I had a fever and wanted to cool down.”
“Give me your forehead for a second.”
I paused mid-scolding, realizing his explanation made some sense. When I reached out and pressed my hand to his forehead, he really did still feel unwell.
He wasn’t burning up like he sounded on the phone earlier, but there was still a lingering heat.
Since he insisted this felt better, maybe letting him cool down like this was fine. …I’d probably get used to the embarrassment eventually.
“Your hands are cold. Feels nice.”
“I’m not an ice pack, you know.”
Min Siheon pulled my hand down to his cheek like it was an ice pack and rubbed against it with his eyes closed. Seriously, I can’t deal with this guy.
In the end, I forced him to lie down and pulled the blanket over him.
“Other people need to see you like this. Min Siheon’s whole cool image is ruined.”
“I never had that to begin with.”
“Wow, what a thing to brag about. I’m going to reheat the porridge, so don’t fall asleep. You can’t sleep yet. Got it?”
“Okay.”
“You’re good at answering, at least.”
As I grabbed the porridge and medicine and started toward the living room, Min Siheon murmured something under his breath from the bed.
“…Now that it’s… decided like this… I can’t… let go….”
“Huh? I didn’t catch that—do you need something?”
When I turned back to check, he shook his head, lying there as if it were nothing.
“No. …Hurry back.”
“You’re unbelievable.”
Seeing how completely he’d turned into a spoiled child, I felt like I needed to get the medicine into him as soon as possible. Somehow, it felt like a heavy gaze was following me from behind.
