PA 8

“Cha Junhyuk, why are you going this far?”

“Right now, getting your hand treated is the priority.”

“Junhyuk.”

Junhyuk acted as if he didn’t even hear Yejun’s cry and urgently started the car. The place they arrived at was not a hospital, but the underground parking garage of a residential-commercial complex.

“There are too many eyes watching, so I called a doctor to my place.”

“……”

“Let’s go up.”

Junhyuk wrapped an arm around Yejun’s shoulders and spoke as if to gently soothe him. Yejun didn’t even have the presence of mind to look around. With his head hung low, he entered the apartment, practically being held in Junhyuk’s arms.

“Come in.”

Only after stepping inside the front door did Yejun raise his head. Junhyuk took Yejun’s hand and led him down a long hallway and into the living room.

There was no time to look around the apartment and admire it. A middle-aged man who appeared to be a doctor stood up from the living room sofa, approached Yejun, and spoke.

“It’s not torn as much as I thought.”

“Dr. Kim, everything is ready.”

The woman who had been waiting with him seemed to be a nurse. She placed the medical instruments on the tea table and spoke to the man who appeared to be the doctor.

“Sit here and let’s take a look at the wound.”

“Dr. Kim, will his hand be scarred?”

Junhyuk asked Dr. Kim with a worried expression. Dr. Kim cut a large piece of cotton soaked in alcohol, first wiped away the blood, and then examined the wound from various angles.

“I don’t think it will scar badly. For now, let’s treat it.”

Dr. Kim began to treat Yejun’s wound with skilled hands.

☂︎

After the treatment was finished, only Junhyuk and Yejun were left in the apartment. An awkward air settled heavily between the two. Yejun, who was only now slowly coming to his senses, had no idea what to say to Junhyuk first. He sat still like a guilty person, unable to say anything.

“Yejun.”

The one who broke the awkward silence flowing between them was Junhyuk. Junhyuk placed a warm cup of jasmine tea in front of Yejun. However, Yejun shot up from his seat and spoke urgently.

“I feel like I’ve been too much of a burden to you. You came back from the MT just because of me…. I’m really sorry. And thank you. I’ll be going now.”

“Yejun.”

Junhyuk called out to Yejun as he grabbed the shoulder of the man who was trying to leave in a hurry.

“It’s okay. You can rest comfortably here today.”

“B-but….”

No matter how much Yejun tried to shake off Junhyuk’s touch, Junhyuk did not easily let go of the hand holding him. Then, he pulled the struggling Yejun, who was trying to get away, into a tight embrace and spoke as if pleading.

“Lee Yejun, if you’re having a hard time, just cry a little.”

Held in Junhyuk’s warm embrace, Yejun was suddenly overcome with a wave of sorrow, and tears began to pour out. Yejun, whose secret he had never wanted to show or tell anyone had been discovered, felt wronged and sad. Why,

Why only me….

In Junhyuk’s large embrace, Yejun began to cry, his shoulders heaving like a small child.

How long had he cried? His ragged breathing gradually calmed, and the tears that had been streaming down his face slowly stopped. Only then did Yejun realize he was being held in Junhyuk’s arms.

“S-sorry.”

Yejun, now in his right mind, hurriedly pushed against Junhyuk’s chest and pulled away from his embrace.

“For what?”

“I feel like I’ve shown you too many things I shouldn’t have….”

Then he couldn’t even lift his head and mumbled his words like a criminal. Junhyuk held Yejun by the shoulders, bent down to meet his gaze, and asked again.

“What was there that you shouldn’t have shown? Out of everything that happened today, what did you do wrong, Yejun?”

“……”

Junhyuk was right. Whenever the house became a mess and was completely turned upside down, Yejun, though it wasn’t his crime, was always busy hiding the fact from others. At Junhyuk’s gentle gaze, tears that he thought had dried up began to flow again. Junhyuk cupped Yejun’s cheeks and carefully wiped his tear-soaked eyes.

“No, he makes a living with his face, how could he touch his face?”

The spot where Hyungyu had slapped his cheek was red and inflamed. Junhyuk went into the kitchen, made an ice pack, and carefully placed it on Yejun’s red cheek.

“I got a call that your mother has been taken to the hospital. You can go see her tomorrow, so sleep here today.”

“…Thank you.”

Junhyuk went into the dressing room and brought back new underwear and comfortable clothes. Then he held out the clothes to Yejun and spoke.

“The underwear is new. I tried to find the smallest size clothes I could, but they’ll probably be a bit big on you. Take these, go in and take a shower, and come out.”

“Thank you.”

“Lee Yejun, from now on, saying thank you is forbidden.”

“Huh?”

“You’ve been saying nothing but thank you to me this whole time.”

“Ah….”

Yejun gave a faint smile at Junhyuk’s gentle chiding. Relieved to finally see Yejun smile, Junhyuk pushed him into the bathroom.

While Yejun was washing up, Junhyuk went down to the underground parking garage and brought up the two bags he had tossed in the back seat of the car. He checked Yejun’s clothes, intending to wash them all. However, it seemed that the clothes, heavily stained with bright red blood, would still have stains even after being washed. Junhyuk thought for a moment, then took out his phone and made a call.

“Manager Park.”

— Yes, please speak.

“I’ll send the size by text message, so please prepare a few sets of clothes by tomorrow morning.”

— I understand.

After finishing the short call, Junhyuk also went into the bathroom in the bedroom and started to wash up.

A short while later, Yejun, who had finished showering first, sat on the sofa and looked around. It was an excessively luxurious and fancy apartment for a university student living alone. The duplex-style luxury officetel had three rooms and a large kitchen on the first floor alone.

Junhyuk, who had finished his shower, slowly approached Yejun with only a large bath towel covering his lower body. Junhyuk’s body was made of firm, sculpted muscles with not an ounce of fat.

“You’re all washed up?”

“Y-yeah.”

Yejun, not knowing where to look at the nearly naked Junhyuk, answered while purposely looking elsewhere.

Junhyuk’s clothes were, as expected, big on Yejun. In Junhyuk’s eyes, Yejun, who looked like he was wearing his dad’s clothes, seemed lovely and cute. Junhyuk carefully straightened Yejun’s clothes and continued.

“The clothes are quite big on you.”

“Cha Junhyuk, you should hurry up and put on some clothes and come out.”

Yejun couldn’t bring himself to make eye contact with the naked Junhyuk, who kept loitering right in front of him, and urged him on. The bath towel, haphazardly covering only his lower body, looked like it was precariously about to fall off.

“The dressing room is over there.”

Junhyuk let out a chuckle at Yejun, who seemed greatly flustered. Then he sauntered slowly into the dressing room and changed his clothes.

“You’re hungry, right? What do you want to eat?”

Junhyuk, who had changed quickly, came out of the dressing room and asked as he walked toward the kitchen.

“It’s okay. I don’t want to eat anything.”

“It’s because I’m hungry. Besides, you didn’t eat anything earlier and even played in the water. You must be much hungrier than me….”

Only then did Yejun realize he hadn’t eaten anything since lunch. Yejun immediately got up from the sofa, walked toward the kitchen, and spoke carefully.

“Should we have ramen?”

“You want to eat ramen?”

“Yeah, something simple.”

Junhyuk turned Yejun, who had come closer to him, around, sat him down at the dining table, and said.

“I’ll whip it up and serve you right away, you just sit here.”

“…Okay.”

While Junhyuk was cooking the ramen, Yejun checked his phone. He saw a missed call from Eunseong and hurriedly called her back.

“Mom.”

— Yejun, what happened to your hand?

“The wound wasn’t as deep as I thought, so I got it treated simply.”

— That’s a relief…. But Yejun.

“Yes.”

— Some people, who said you sent them, kept insisting I should go to the hospital, so I’m at the hospital now.

“Ah… they’re people my friend sent.”

— Is that so?

Yejun found Junhyuk’s kindness a little burdensome. He was hesitating to answer, wondering if it was okay to let his mother stay at the hospital. Just then, Junhyuk placed the pot of ramen on the dining table and snatched Yejun’s phone.

“Mother, I am Yejun’s friend, Cha Junhyuk.”

— Ah… yes.

“Yejun’s hand is all treated. So you don’t have to worry about Yejun. Mother, you can just sleep comfortably at the hospital today. We will come to see you tomorrow.”

Yejun reached out to take back the phone that Junhyuk had taken, but Junhyuk raised the hand holding the phone high up. Yejun stood on his tiptoes and lunged at Junhyuk with all his might, but he lost his balance. Yejun fell right into Junhyuk’s arms, and Junhyuk, sitting down on the chair with Yejun still in his arms, held him tightly so he couldn’t even struggle and continued the call.

— Thank you, student. Not just for our Yejun, but for me as well….

“Not at all. I will come to see you with Yejun tomorrow.”

— Yes, thank you.

After finishing the call, Junhyuk grinned and handed the phone to Yejun.

“Junhyuk.”

“If I didn’t push you like this, you wouldn’t have taken your mother to the hospital, would you?”

“Even if I did, I would be the one to do it… why should I be indebted to you?”

Yejun got out of Junhyuk’s arms, stood up, and let out a grumble. Junhyuk held Yejun’s hand tightly and continued.

“Yejun.”

“……”

Junhyuk called Yejun’s name and met his eyes. Yejun felt like he was being sucked into Junhyuk’s eyes, which were as black as a lake on a deep night.

“It’s okay to lean on someone when things are tough.”

“……”

“Don’t try to face everything alone.”

Junhyuk’s hand holding Yejun’s was truly warm. Junhyuk pulled Yejun closer and held him firmly in his arms.