MW 9

“He seems to have mild hypothermia, and his condition is not good due to overlapping malnutrition. As you can see, the bruises are also quite severe.”

“Malnutrition?”

Jaeha frowned and asked, wondering for a moment if he had misheard.

It wasn’t that he didn’t know the word malnutrition, but it was the first time in his life he had seen someone with it.

“It seems he hasn’t been receiving proper nutrition for a long time, as his bones and organs are weak and smaller than average. Moreover, his pheromones are unstable due to his innate disposition. This is the first time I’ve seen a case like this…….”

Dr. Lee, trailing off his words, glanced at Jaeha and fell silent. He closed his eyes, looking down at Yijae who was barely breathing, exhaling hot breaths.

“To be honest, it’s hard to find a single part of him that’s okay, even speaking empty words. It would be best for him to come to the hospital for a detailed examination. For now, I’ll send the medicine right away, so please help the patient get as much rest as possible.”

Even with a brief diagnosis, Yijae’s condition was a mess. As Dr. Lee closed the door and left, the room was once again filled with a quiet silence.

A small frame and faintly felt, unstable pheromones. And the sight of him trapped in an empty warehouse.

What kind of life has Seo Yijae lived……. Jaeha’s mind, which had been quietly lost in thought, grew increasingly complicated.

“Euh…….”

At the faint groan, Jaeha immediately checked Yijae’s condition. Yijae, who had been in a deep sleep due to the medicine, was crying and panting. His face was deeply furrowed, and his whole body, soaked in fear as if being chased by something, was trembling.

“Shh……. Don’t cry.”

“Heueu. Heuk…….”

“Everything will be okay.”

As Jaeha gently stroked his panting body and slowly patted his chest, the trembling body began to calm down. He watched Yijae like that for a long time. Slowly, he looked at him, and then slowly rose from his seat.

⁺₊❆₊⋆

“Eung…….”

For some reason, the inside of the blanket was as warm as the faint memory of his parents’ embrace.

‘……Warm?’

Yijae, whose eyes flew open at the sensation he would never experience in reality, looked around where he was lying. The window was enormous, and the ornaments throughout the room were clearly very luxurious at a glance.

‘Where am I?’

He slowly tried to recall his memory and squeezed his eyes shut. He had been found by someone in the warehouse……. and came to that man’s house…… and then he had no memory.

‘Wh-what time is it…….’

Startled, Yijae raised his head and looked out the window; it was already dawn, with the sun just beginning to peek out.

‘Oh, no!’

He had spent a day in a strange place without even knowing when he had fallen asleep.

In a hurry, Yijae quickly got out of bed and looked for his outerwear. But no matter how hard he looked, his brown coat was nowhere to be seen.

Finally giving up his search, he walked to the door, then stopped and slowly left a note on the memo pad on the table.

I’ll be going first. Thank you. I won’t forget your kindness.

He wanted to say goodbye in person if possible, but there was no time. In his urgency, Yijae limped and left the room. Unlike Jaeha’s warm house, when he went outside, the harsh winter wind swept past his whole body. Yijae looked at the air that spread out whitely with his breath and started walking again.

⁺₊❆₊⋆

“Seo Yijae. Where have you been all this time to be crawling in now?”

As he cautiously opened the door and entered the house, Mrs. Lee, who had been waiting for Yijae, glared at him with a cold face and said.

Yijae lowered his head even further at the madam’s actions, her red-lipsticked lips chewing nervously and her hand slamming the table.

It seemed she hadn’t heard from Dohae and misunderstood that he had run away. Mrs. Lee, looking down at the silent Yijae, shot up and slapped his head hard with her palm.

With a thud, Yijae’s body staggered greatly. His still-unhealed body fell weakly to the floor, and Yijae trembled.

Mrs. Lee, looking down at Yijae with emotionless eyes, clicked her tongue at the sight of him seemingly making a fuss after just one hit.

“This won’t do. You are not to take a single step out of this house for the time being. I need to fix that insolent attitude of yours once and for all. This won’t do!”

“……”

His vision blurred again. At the dizziness that followed, the corner of Yijae’s lip trembled.

“Why aren’t you answering! Do you not care what happens to your mother now?”

“No, heut, no! I was wrong, Madam…….”

Yijae, thinking of his mother lying in the hospital bed, shed tears, his face drained of color. His mother might be in trouble because of his greed.

“I’m sorry, M-Madam. My mother did nothing wrong. I’ll listen to you from now on, okay? Please…….”

She looked down at Yijae, who was clinging to her ankle and crying his eyes out on his knees, and frowned in displeasure.

“How dare you touch me! Enough. Don’t come out until I call for you. Understand?”

Yijae watched the back of Mrs. Lee, who had disappeared after slamming the door shut with a ‘bang,’ and cried his eyes out on the floor.

“Heueuk, e-eomma…….”

The floor was cold and hard, as always. Last night’s events seemed like a dream, and that warm sensation remained only in his memory.

Yijae thought of Jaeha’s face, who had saved him from the darkness, and reached out a hand that would never reach him.

⁺₊❆₊⋆

He hadn’t been able to go out since that day, but since he couldn’t go out freely even before, he could accept it calmly.

And so, the days passed quickly, and the day to go to school finally arrived. Every day was thrilling at the thought of being able to have the college life he had never dared to dream of.

Yijae, who had woken up early in the morning despite having tossed and turned late into the night, took out the new clothes that Secretary Oh had brought him a few days ago and put them on.

They were said to have been sent by Chairman Gu as an admission gift, but he had found them too precious to even touch for the past few days, and had only looked at them.

‘Oh my gosh, I love it so much…….’

Yijae’s cheeks flushed red as he looked at his reflection in the small bathroom mirror. After rubbing his reddened cheeks for a long time, he picked up his bag, which contained a notebook and a very old pencil case, and slowly left the house.

‘Hoo…….’

Even though it was March, a cool breeze touched Yijae’s exposed nape. He pulled the hem of his pants, which exposed his ankles, down as far as he could, took a deep breath, and walked toward the main house.

How long had he waited for Dohae in front of it? The time was already past 8:30. Mrs. Lee had instructed that he had to commute with Dohae as a condition for being sent to school. Because of that, Yijae, who could only go to school when Dohae came out, anxiously chewed his lip and tapped his feet in place.

After pondering for a long time, he finally decided to go inside the main house. While loitering in front of the entrance, receiving glares from the maids, he saw Dohae coming down to the first floor, ruffling his messy hair as if he had just woken up.

“Hey. Who do you think you are to come in here. Do I have to see your face first thing in the morning to make me want to puke?”

Yijae, looking at the shouting Dohae, hesitated and opened his mouth.

“School…… we have to go together…….”

“Ah. This fucking idiot is losing his mind again.”

Unlike his lower face, which laughed with an ‘as if’ expression, his eyes were cold. Dohae reached out and grabbed Yijae’s head, shaking it violently. Even in the pain of his hair being torn out, Yijae held back his tears.

It was because he remembered the picture of his mother that Secretary Oh had brought him last night. He had heard that a new drug developed with Chairman Gu’s help was scheduled to be prescribed to his mother, whose condition had recently worsened. So, he had to avoid getting on the bad side of Dohae and Chairman and Mrs. Gu at all costs.

When he opened his closed eyes, he felt a stinging pain in his left cheek. Dohae, looking at the bloodstain on his ring, opened his eyes viciously, as if annoyed.

“Fuck! Disgusting. You’re fucking pissing me off first thing in the morning, aren’t you?”

“……Sorry.”

“Don’t. Open. Your mouth.”