Vol 2 Ch 87.2

‘What’s wrong?’

In response to Lee Wooyeon’s question, Inseop asked back.

‘I thought you looked bad earlier.’

I’m not, he said, shaking his head and smiling. Lee Wooyeon pressed the tip of Inseop’s lips with his finger.

‘If you’re going to force yourself to smile, don’t smile.’

‘… … .’

‘You have to tell me what you don’t like. It’s hard for people like me to read other people’s thoughts, so please speak to me.’

When Lee Wooyeon casually revealed his flaws and made a request, Inseop could no longer respond.

‘… The ball has been coming this way since a while ago.’

‘Ball?’

As soon as Lee Wooyeon asked, the ball rolled in front of him. In the distance, women in bikinis playing beach volleyball motioned for them to throw the ball. Lee Wooyeon closed the book he was reading.

‘How many times has this been here?’

Lee Wooyeon asked, bouncing the ball over his hand.

‘… Thirteen times.’

Lee Wooyeon smiled and hummed. Then he stood up, shook off the sand, and threw the ball into the air. The moment Lee Wooyeon hit the ball with a snap of his wrist, the ball flew away with a loud sound. It was loud enough that everyone around them turned around.

‘… … .’

Inseop’s complexion turned pale when he saw that the ball had flown too far out to sea. Lee Wooyeon gestured apologies to the group playing volleyball and sat down.

‘Are you feeling better now?’

‘… … .’

‘What’s wrong with your expression? Should I have just burst the ball?’

‘No. I feel like we’ve caused trouble to them for no reason… .’

Lee Wooyeon stood up.

‘Let’s go.’

‘Huh? Home?’

‘No. You said you were sorry. So we can just go and buy the ball back.’

Inseop looked up at Lee Wooyeon with a slightly surprised expression.

‘There’s nothing to be surprised about. Because I’m not a reformed person. I’m doing this because I know that if I leave it as is, Inseop will be crying out of regret for a few days.’

Lee Wooyeon helped Inseop stand up. The two went to a nearby beach goods store and bought a ball and brought it to the group from earlier. Lee Wooyeon neatly rejected the women’s offer to go out for a beer together.

On the way home, Lee Wooyeon mischievously teased Inseop.

‘I didn’t know Inseop was that jealous.’

‘I’m sorry. It’s not a big deal, but it bothers me. I will be careful to prevent something like this from happening in the future.’

Lee Wooyeon looked around in silence as Inseop looked downcast and apologized.

‘Come here.’

He grabbed Inseop’s wrist and entered the simple shower facility. After closing the door, he kissed Inseop. A salty taste came from Lee Wooyeon’s lips after going into the sea. Inseop, who had closed his mouth in surprise at first, soon opened his lips and chased Lee Wooyeon’s tongue. A moderately deep and affectionate kiss followed, and then he stopped and repeated. Lee Wooyeon said while touching the tip of his nose.

‘Be jealous.’

‘… … .’

‘Do whatever you want. Because I’m Inseop’s.’

Inseop smiled shyly and nodded his head. His big eyes, round nose tip, and lovely mouth gave off perfect happiness. Lee Wooyeon hugged Inseop and pressed his body against the wall. At that moment, cold water poured out of the shower. The two quickly became drenched.

The two people looked at each other blankly at the sudden accident. Then, Inseop sneezed softly and said, ‘Oh!’

‘Ahahaha.’

Lee Wooyeon swept up his w** hair and laughed cheerfully. What was so funny was that he couldn’t stop laughing. Inseop, who was w** from head to toe, eventually burst into laughter as well.

 

---

 

As he entered the dark entrance, Lee Wooyeon remembered Inseop from that day without knowing why.

Cheeks smeared with sand, hair matted by the sea breeze, and the bridge of his nose slightly heated up under the beach sun.

It’s clear as if it happened yesterday. Every moment was like that. When he thought about the time he had with Inseop, he was able to picture it as a complete moment, as if someone was running a film in his head.

[I saw a waterfall and a cave today. There were so many people.]

Lee Wooyeon rechecked the message from Inseop he had received earlier. Below that were photos of the places Inseop went to today and the food.

Inseop sent him photos he took whenever he had time. He wasn’t interested in landscape photos at all, so he was going to ask him to send him a photo, but Lee Wooyeon said, “It’s really cool,” and sent him something he didn’t even mean to say.

He felt like he wanted to contact him all day, but he refrained from doing so as much as possible. Inseop placed great importance on his ties with his family. He knew very well why, so he tried not to contact him when he was with his family.

He got out of the shower and was about to go into his room when he found the cat lying motionless in front of Inseop’s door. When Lee Wooyeon made eye contact, the cat was startled and tried to run away, but then let out a low noise. Lee Wooyeon didn’t care and went into his room.

He lay down to sleep, but couldn’t sleep. He thought he needed to take some medicine and was about to go get some water when he found the cat still standing in the same spot. Yesterday, the cat stayed in front of Inseop’s door all night long. It seemed like he thought the owner was locked in the room.

Lee Wooyeon thought it would be better to confirm it, so he opened Inseop’s door. The cat ran into the room as if it had been waiting.

“Nyaa, nyaa, nyaa.”

The cat limped around the room, meowing several times in a small, faint sound. He seemed so depressed that his ears were drooping. Then, when he found Lee Wooyeon, he trembled and ran outside, holding close to the other side of the door.

Lee Wooyeon was about to close the door, but stopped and looked around Inseop’s room. A smile passed through his eyes at the neat and gentle atmosphere of the room, decorated according to his personality. Lee Wooyeon went into Inseop’s room. There were family photos lined up on the desk. Between his parents, his relatives, his siblings, and his dog, Inseop always had a smiling face. While holding up his picture frames one by one to check the image of young Inseop, Lee Wooyeon found his own picture placed at the end.

It was taken at the awards ceremony. Inseop’s back was visible next to him in his tuxedo. If one didn’t look closely, you wouldn’t even recognize him as Inseop. He cut out a photo from a magazine and put it in a frame.

Even something as stupid as this felt endearing.

Lee Wooyeon swallowed his bitter smile and put down the picture frame. At that time, the cell phone he had in his pocket started ringing.

It was Inseop.

“Hello.”

<Were you sleeping?>

“No.”

Lee Wooyeon walked to Inseop’s bed and sat down.

<What were you doing?>

“Nothing much. Is the trip good?”

He expected the answer to be an immediate yes, but Inseop hesitated and said, “It is just so so.”

“Why? What’s wrong? Are you in pain?”

<No. I’m not in any pain. Just a little… .>

When Inseop paused, Lee Wooyeon asked playfully.

“Do you want to see the cat?”

<Yes. I’m worried about John too, Oh yes! I’m here!>

Inseop, who may have sneaked out for a moment, hurriedly announced his location.

“Go in. They must be worried.”

<I’ll contact you again tomorrow. Go to sleep quickly.>

“Okay.”

Lee Wooyeon smiled softly and ended the call. Dropping his cell phone next to him, he flopped down on Inseop’s bed. Not long after, a message arrived from Inseop.

“I was a little depressed because I missed Lee Wooyeon so much, but I’m better now. Good night.”

It was a good night greeting that he added that he had not yet said.

Lee Wooyeon smiled and lay down on Inseop’s pillow. Three days had passed since he couldn’t sleep.

---

 

Lee Wooyeon went into the cat’s room to feed the cat as requested by Inseop, checked the bowl, and frowned. Just like yesterday, there was almost no decrease in feed today. Fortunately, only a little water was left in the water bowl.

Lee Wooyeon cleaned the water bowl and the food bowl and filled them again. Just to be sure, he took out another bowl and poured a different kind of food into it.

It wasn’t that he was worried about the cat, it was that he didn’t want Inseop paying attention to it. He couldn’t sleep, so he changed his clothes and was about to go out for a run by the river, but he saw the cat sitting in front of Inseop’s door.

Inseop’s cat would hide somewhere and not be seen when its owner was not home, and if it even encountered Lee Wooyeon, it was busy running away. It was the perfect cat for Lee Wooyeon. To be honest, he wasn’t even conscious of living together.

“Nyaaa.”

The cat cried for a long time when it saw Lee Wooyeon. Seeing that it was shaking with fear but not running away, it seemed like it really wanted to see its owner.

Lee Wooyeon opened Inseop’s door and immediately went out to exercise. When he returned home after running for several hours along the riverside, the cat was nowhere to be seen.

After he took a shower and swallowed some medicine, he was about to go to bed when he heard a loud banging sound. It was Inseop’s room.

When Lee Wooyeon entered, the picture frame on his desk had fallen and was lying on the floor. The cat that had an accident was frozen in shock.

Lee Wooyeon picked up the picture frame. Of course, it was the frame with a picture of him in it. The frame was completely broken in two and could not be put together. He roughly placed it on the desk and was about to leave the room when he heard a muttering behind him.

The cat was curled up and vomiting. The cat retched several times and trembled. Lee Wooyeon sighed with his eyes closed and brought the carrier from the cat room. When he stretched out his hand, the cat shrank back in surprise. Before taking the cat out, he grabbed the cat and put it in the carrier, then searched for an animal hospital and drove around.

After giving the cat to the vet, he sat in the chair and waited for the results. Soon after, the veterinarian who completed the examination appeared.

“I don’t think you need to worry too much. Cats l**k his fur and throw up what they call hairballs.”

“Is that so?”

When Lee Wooyeon answered, the veterinarian shook his head and carefully checked Lee Wooyeon’s face.

“I thought about it for a while, but when I heard your voice, I knew right away. You are Lee Wooyeon, right?”

Lee Wooyeon just smiled moderately without answering.

“Lee Wooyeon, did you also have a cat?”

“The owner is on a trip and I am taking care of it for a while.”

“I see. But I think the baby is a bit agitated.”

The cat was afraid of Lee Wooyeon from the day he first came home. He was a cat with excellent survival instincts.

“And the x-rays show that his stomach and intestines are so empty, has he not eaten in a few days?”

The food bowl was the same for two days.

“He hasn’t eaten food for about two days.”

The doctor nodded his head at Lee Wooyeon’s answer.

“Sometimes sensitive cats starve when their owner is away or out of sight. He thinks he has been abandoned.”

Lee Wooyeon smiled bitterly. It was a useless worry. He doesn’t know about others, but Choi Inseop wouldn’t have abandoned the cat he raised.

“How about giving her an IV? I don’t want the baby to get dehydrated.”

“Yes, I will.”

Lee Wooyeon waited until the cat had received all the nutritional supplements and then returned home. When he took it out of the carrier, the cat cried helplessly and crawled under Inseop’s bed.

After cleaning up the cat’s vomit, Lee Wooyeon returned to his room.

His nerves were as sharp as razor blades and gave him a headache. He swallowed the pill and closed his eyes. Choi Inseop will return the day after tomorrow as scheduled.