Chapter 155
Tae-geon’s voice, which suddenly rang out, sounded damp as if soaked in water. At the heavy and sorrowful tone that seemed to be suppressing something surging up, Hyeon-woo quickly raised his head to look at Tae-geon. At that moment, Tae-geon’s gaze, full of hot and humid heat, intertwined with Hyeon-woo’s.
The eyes that he had thought were like a bottomless abyss now looked directly at him, as intense and hot as the sun. It felt as if his entire body was being pierced by a flaming arrow. Just as something hot was rapidly spreading throughout his body-
“The world covered in snow.”
Tae-geon’s following words instantly extinguished the massive inferno that was about to consume Hyeon-woo’s mind.
Snapping back to his senses, Hyeon-woo hurriedly stood up, flustered, and began busily tidying up the table.
‘…It’s beautiful, still.’
He had almost fallen into an absurd misunderstanding, deceived by that gaze. Hyeon-woo shook his head vigorously as if to shake off Tae-geon’s voice etched in his mind.
This time, he really thought his identity had been discovered. Well, if he had noticed his identity, he wouldn’t have uttered such silly words like “it’s beautiful.”
Hyeon-woo laughed hollowly. Even for someone with as keen intuition as Tae-geon, it seemed insufficient to identify someone just by their voice. It made sense. Even to himself, meeting again in this place, in this way, seemed implausible.
Hyeon-woo recalled when he first discovered Hak-gyu in the mansion. Even after clearly seeing him with his own eyes, hadn’t he struggled to confirm if what he saw was real because he couldn’t believe it? How much more so for Tae-geon, who couldn’t even see him physically.
He wouldn’t even be able to imagine it. Especially reuniting like this, in an employer-employee relationship.
He felt a strong conviction that his identity wouldn’t be easily discovered until Tae-geon fully regained his sense of smell.
Watching Tae-geon staring blankly at the window made Hyeon-woo’s stomach churn again. He hurried to finish tidying up to leave the room. Sensing this, Tae-geon suddenly spoke up as if to hold Hyeon-woo back.
“What about coffee?”
“Not for a while.”
“Why?”
“Because you need to take your medicine.”
Taking the initiative, Hyeon-woo approached Tae-geon with a glass of water and the medicine.
“You need to take this after every meal for the next three days.”
Hyeon-woo turned one of Tae-geon’s palms upward, tore open the paper pouch, and poured all the pills onto it. Then he placed the water glass in Tae-geon’s other hand.
“You can take these on your own, right?”
Tae-geon, who had been counting the pills by rolling them in his palm, made a displeased expression as if something wasn’t to his liking. That face, which felt like a whine, reminded Hyeon-woo of Jerome. He blurted out without thinking:
“Even if it tastes bad, you have to think of it as yum-yum and take it all.”
At the gentle tone as if coaxing a child, Tae-geon made a subtle expression. Only then realizing what he had said, Hyeon-woo, flustered, unconsciously sniffled. His habitual way of speaking to Jerome had slipped out.
“…It looks like you need the medicine more.”
Curling up the corners of his mouth at Hyeon-woo’s sniffling sound, Tae-geon added playfully:
“I’ll tell my doctor, so you take yours regularly too, yum-yum.”
*
Thanks to inadvertently receiving medicine from Kwon Hak-gyu as well, Hyeon-woo was able to quickly shake off his cold. However, for some reason, Tae-geon’s cold showed no signs of improving.
Hyeon-woo had to feed Tae-geon his meal again today, as he claimed to have no strength to lift a finger even after finishing the three days’ worth of prescribed medicine. The next morning, Hyeon-woo entered Tae-geon’s room accompanied by Kwon Hak-gyu. If it was the cold that had spread to him, it should have improved by now, and he was worried about the symptoms persisting for so long.
Before Tae-geon could react to Hak-gyu’s arrival, which he noticed by the footsteps, Hak-gyu quickly approached the bed, took his temperature, and examined Tae-geon’s condition. Then he clearly stated:
“Stop feigning illness and get up soon, will you?”
Feigning illness…?
Hyeon-woo’s head, which had been fixed on Hak-gyu, whipped around to Tae-geon. Watching Tae-geon, who kept his mouth shut tight without even trying to make excuses, Hyeon-woo clenched his jaw and fist.
Feigning illness. He had been worrying like a fool without knowing.
After Hak-gyu left, a strange chill settled in the room with just the two of them. Hyeon-woo’s footsteps towards his designated spot were fiercer than usual.
“…Are you angry?”
“……”
“Why are you angry? Because I pretended to be sick, deceiving you?”
“……”
“Were you worried about me?”
You’re saying that now…!
Hyeon-woo, irritated at Tae-geon’s frivolous words, turned around and froze.
…Again. He was looking at him with that expression again.
A gaze as if looking at something missed and cherished. His lips, which seemed to have something to say but ultimately closed, looked anxious, and on his face, unable to hide signs of concern, a heat accompanied by a slight expectation had risen.
It was an expression he had never seen before in all the long years he had spent with Tae-geon. That made it even harder to gauge.
Why was he making such an expression? What answer did he want from me?
Surely, he couldn’t be expecting me to say I was worried?
Hyeon-woo, who had been quietly staring at Tae-geon, shook his head with a hollow sneer. He suddenly felt foolish for trying to read Tae-geon’s inner thoughts. He found himself once again paying too much attention to every single expression, action, and tone of Tae-geon’s.
Feeling displeased, Hyeon-woo replied businesslike:
“Yes, I was worried. Anyone would have been, if they were an employee of this mansion.”
“…If they were an employee.”
“……”
“I see.”
For some reason, the voice echoing his words felt bitter.
Tae-geon got off the bed and headed for the bathroom. Perhaps stiff from spending so much time lying down due to his feigned illness, he stopped midway to stretch thoroughly before entering the bathroom. Then he poked his head out the door and called for Hyeon-woo.
“What are you doing, not coming in?”
“……”
He meant for Hyeon-woo to assist him with bathing. He knew for sure that Tae-geon had done everything by himself until he injured his hand, but since that day, he hadn’t tried to wash himself even once.
Hyeon-woo passed by Tae-geon, who was leaning crookedly against the doorframe in a half-undone robe, and entered to fill the bathtub with hot water. Soon, the bathroom was filled with hot steam.
Tae-geon closed his eyes and inhaled, as if relaxing his body in the heat that filled the enclosed space. His deep, large breaths seemed as if he was savoring some scent, making Hyeon-woo’s heart, which had something to feel guilty about, unnecessarily ache.
The bathtub was soon filled with hot water. When Hyeon-woo turned off the faucet, the noisy sound of falling water disappeared, and the bathroom fell into silence.
As Tae-geon, who had taken off his robe, entered the bathtub, the overflowing bathwater splashed and wet the hem of Hyeon-woo’s pants standing nearby. Hyeon-woo let out an unconscious sigh, “Uh,” and bent down to roll up his already folded pant legs even higher.
“Isn’t it uncomfortable?”
Tae-geon, leisurely stretching out his limbs in the warm bathtub, continued:
“Assisting with bathing in that attire.”
Why wouldn’t it be? The clothes clinging stickily in the hot and humid air were unbearably unpleasant. But he wasn’t in a position to complain. Serving Tae-geon without inconvenience was his role here.
“Don’t worry about it. Wearing a uniform during work hours is normal.”
“Well…”
“…?”
Hyeon-woo cast a questioning glance at Tae-geon, who was muttering meaningfully.
“Since I can’t see anything anyway, I’ll pretend not to know, whatever you’re wearing.”
Then, with a slight smile, Tae-geon’s face was full of mischief.
“Well, it’s fine even if you take everything off.”
At those words, Hyeon-woo furrowed his brow sharply and retorted:
“Young master, you could just not call me when you bathe.”
“Why would I? This is so convenient.”
A sly smile was clear on Tae-geon’s lips as he answered shamelessly. Only then realizing this, Hyeon-woo bit his lip as if annoyed.
He’s doing this on purpose now, to tease me!
I’ve completely fallen for it.
“…Just lean your head out, instead of talking nonsense.”
Although he replied nonchalantly as if unaffected, Hyeon-woo’s face was red. Tae-geon, who had leaned his head out of the bathtub, raised the corners of his mouth fully towards such a Hyeon-woo.
“How did you manage to hold back all this time, keeping your mouth shut when you wanted to snap back like this?”
“Very well.”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
