TWELVE 44

“Seungkyung-ah.”

At first, I thought I was hearing a voice in a dream.

“Seungkyung-ah.”

But the moment a soft warmth touched my cheek, my eyes snapped open. Gi Seoin occupied my blurry, post-sleep vision. I rubbed my cheek, feeling dazed.

“Seungkyung-ah. Eat breakfast and then go back to sleep.”

“Uh-huh…”

His low, sweet bass voice sounded so good that I wanted him to keep talking. I felt like I could fall back into a deep sleep if he did. However, the moment I saw the tie around Gi Seoin’s neck, I snapped to my senses.

“Are you all ready for work?”

“Yeah, I just wanted to see you eat before I left.”

Gi Seoin helped me sit up. In truth, I could manage to lift my body on my own, and although it was slow and uncomfortable, walking was technically possible.

Nevertheless, I sat in the 0. I couldn’t refuse when I thought of this luxury I was enjoying as Gi Seoin’s tenderness.

“Did you eat?”

“I had something light.”

I looked down at the table. He had prepared a feast for me that felt almost excessive for breakfast, yet he said he’d only eaten something light himself.

“It would be nice if we ate together.”

“Really?”

The corners of Gi Seoin’s mouth curled up. It was a smile so beautiful it made my heart ache for a split second. It was to the point where I wondered if I had just unconsciously delivered some incredibly good news. And then…

“Then let’s eat together starting tomorrow.”

The moment I saw the look in Gi Seoin’s eyes as he watched me with his chin resting on his hand, last night came flooding back. It was the deepest night of all the time we had spent together since becoming friends.

Wait, but can we even still call our relationship ‘friends’?

Last night, we kissed.

Because it was something more fantastical than a fantasy, I hadn’t been fully conscious of it.

Now that I realized it, I knew exactly what that sensation on my cheek had been when he woke me up. Gi Seoin had woken me by calling my name so softly—“Seungkyung-ah”—and kissing my cheek. That gaze he held me in now, and that pretty smile… they also represented the fact that our relationship had entered a new phase last night.

We were no longer friends. Because friends don’t kiss.

“I’ll be back by 6:00 at the latest. If anything happens, make sure to call me.”

Gi Seoin said as he put on his dress shoes. I nodded.

“I will. Don’t worry too much since I’ll just be resting. You’re a natural worrier.”

“I am. I’m so worried that part of me wants to take you to the office.”

Whispering that with smiling lips, Gi Seoin suddenly leaned down toward me. Reflexively, my shoulders jolted. Gi Seoin pressed his lips to my forehead.

“Should I take you with me?”

It was definitely just lips landing there, but my mind went blank as if I’d been hit by a hammer.

“Seungkyung-ah, are you okay?”

“Huh? Oh, uh, yeah. I’m fine.”

I rubbed my forehead. It was hot. My entire body felt like it was boiling, starting from the spot where Gi Seoin had touched.

Gi Seoin looked down at me, his eyes widening briefly before he let out a chuckle.

“Cute.”

What did he just say?

“I’m off. Get some rest.”

“…Uh, yeah. Drive safely.”

Until the moment the front door closed completely, Gi Seoin kept snickering while looking at me. I remained in the same spot for a long while after he left.

Is this a dream or reality… Suspicion began to bubble up that this Gi Seoin might be a fake. Maybe I didn’t just injure my limbs but hit my head and fell into a coma? That’s why I’m seeing this impossible hallucination. Though I wondered if a hallucination could possess such vivid warmth.

I went to the kitchen and gulped down cold water like a person drifting through a desert. Meanwhile, my heart fluttered again because Gi Seoin had left a cup out on the counter where I could easily reach it even while sitting in the wheelchair.

So Gi Seoin had been hiding this kind of tenderness along with his feelings.

I don’t know if there’s a strange ingredient in the medicine I’m taking, but my tear ducts have become very sensitive lately. I rubbed my warming eyes.

I felt like my face would swell if I kept this up, so I washed with cold water. It felt awkward because I had received Gi Seoin’s help for even a simple face wash ever since I was hospitalized. For a moment, I resolved to be careful not to get too used to him, but then the thought occurred that maybe it was okay to be used to him now.

No, let’s not conclude anything. Right now, I was way too excited.

Come to think of it, we did kiss, but we never actually said the words ‘let’s date.’ Then does that mean we aren’t dating? Is that right? Having reached this age without a single romantic experience, I didn’t know what was standard.

On the other hand, Gi Seoin… seemed to have built up quite a bit of dating experience behind my back, so he would know the answer.

Then again, isn’t it more childish to specifically say ‘let’s date’ out loud when you’re twenty-eight? Don’t adult romances just coolly kiss and… well, get deeper that way?

As I continued that thought, I felt like a child who had only grown in body and age.

It bothered me that Gi Seoin hadn’t asked to date, and my mood soured when I thought of the women—several of them—whom I had seen with him. I wanted to just enjoy this situation for what it was, but that proved quite difficult.

[Seoin: I arrived at the office.]

[Seoin: Did you take your medicine?]

I was spaced out in the wheelchair when the phone rang; checking it, I saw it was a message from Gi Seoin. I wrote a reply.

[Yeah haha I took my medicine and washed up and I’m resting! Work hard!!]

Following that, I was about to read the messages I hadn’t checked yet when I realized I had forgotten something very important.

I had to contact Jeon Juseok.

“…Speak of the devil.”

I chuckled hollowly at the guy’s name appearing on the black screen.

The moment I pressed the call button, I switched it to speakerphone and held the phone as far from my ear as possible.

—Hey, you son of a bitch!

As expected, Jeon Juseok started by screaming.

—Where are you? You seem hell-bent on dying, so I’ll come find you right now and wreck your shit. Spill it. Where are you!

I swallowed a rising sigh and opened my mouth.

“Hyung, I’m sorry. Things came up.”

—Things my ass, fuck, you think this is okay? To me, it just looks like you’re begging me to kill you.

“I was hospitalized. I lost my phone too, so I just got a new one yesterday…”

—Oh, sure. I’m sure you were hospitalized.

“It’s true. If you want, we can go to the hospital together and check.”

—Wow, look at you acting all confident. What, did you decide to pull an insurance scam now? A guy who has nothing but his healthy limbs suddenly hospitalized? You think I’d believe that?

“Really…”

—Enough. I need to see your face and talk. Where are you. Don’t even think about lying and saying you’re at home. I know damn well you’re not there.

He must have come looking for me at my house after all.

“Fine, let’s meet and talk. But I can’t go far. I injured my leg, so…”

—Just call out the address. I’m going to go there and snap your neck.

Despite those words, Jeon Juseok would never actually snap my neck. That’s because I was an important source of money for him.

Jeon Juseok had never held a proper job in all his years. Under the wishes of my aunt and her husband, he had spent the last nine years as a perennial student under the pretext of preparing for law school, failing the entrance exams over and over.

The allowance he received from my aunt and uncle surely had its limits, yet Jeon Juseok’s spending had no bounds. In that regard, I was a very convenient source of funds. Even though he had taken out a loan on my behalf for my great-aunt’s funeral expenses, I was the one paying back the interest upon interest.

I checked the address once more and gave it to Jeon Juseok. I felt extremely uneasy about calling him near Gi Seoin’s place, but I had no other choice. At the very least, I had to prove in person that I was actually injured so he wouldn’t have anything else to say. I couldn’t afford to give him even the slightest leverage.

—I’ll be there by 3:00. Stay right there.

“Then by 3:0…”

Jeon Juseok hung up without listening to me. Since the appointment was set, his business was finished. It was such typical behavior for him that I wasn’t even offended.

It wasn’t even 1:00 yet, but with my broken body, I had to start preparing early. It took over thirty minutes just to change my clothes.

After debating between the wheelchair and the crutches, I chose the crutches. I felt like being in a wheelchair with the loud-mouthed Jeon Juseok would draw unwanted attention.

2:40 PM. I left the house early. I decided to meet Jeon Juseok at the park in front of the apartment complex. I didn’t want to cause a scene at the apartment where Gi Seoin lived, and the park had many people passing by, so there was less worry of him doing something to me.

I waited on a park bench, and Jeon Juseok finally showed up closer to 3:30. I spotted him getting out of a taxi and stood up using my crutches.

“Fuck…”

Jeon Juseok, finally facing me, spat a wad of phlegm.

“You’ve really become a cripple, haven’t you?”

“I told you. I was out of it because I had surgery. But I’m sorry I was out of reach.”

“How did it happen?”

His tone wasn’t one of worry at all; he seemed to be asking out of simple curiosity.

“A… thief broke into the house.”

Technically it wasn’t a thief, but I explained it the easy way.

“Man, was that thief an idiot? Any moron can see there’s nothing to steal in that shitty house of yours.”

Chuckling, Jeon Juseok cast a shifty look around the area with a snide smile.

“By the way, where are you staying?”

“…A friend’s house nearby. It’s hard to live alone, so my friend was being considerate.”

“You had a friend who lived in a neighborhood like this?”

Suddenly, Jeon Juseok snapped his thumb and middle finger together with a loud crack.

“Ah! I know. The guy who was at your house. That stuck-up looking prick, right?”

I didn’t say a word. It was because I didn’t want to talk about Gi Seoin to this guy. However, Jeon Juseok smirked as if he’d received the answer he wanted.

“Just as I thought, it’s that guy. His face was all polished up, unlike yours.”

“Anyway…”

I hurriedly brought up the main point.

“I lost my wallet right now, so I’ll go to the bank, get things settled, and send the money right away.”

“That’s a given. What does that guy do? Does he own this place? Or is it a monthly rental?”

But why was Jeon Juseok ignoring the money talk he was so obsessed with and showing interest in Gi Seoin?

“I don’t know things like that.”

“Tsk, if he lives here, it means he’s filthy rich…”

Jeon Juseok muttered while rubbing his chin. At that moment, I felt like I had bumped into someone and turned around.

“Seungkyung-ah.”

Why was Gi Seoin, who was supposed to be at the office, here?

Of all times, now.