Chapter 8 The Night Before (1)

It was my first time using my phone for playing around. I stared at Seo Jihee, wondering what she watched when there was no customer, and she showed me a video. It was called mukbang, and there were ten hamburger sets and three fried chickens. I realized that people could make money from this as well.

I wasn’t interested, but it was perfect to kill time, so I lay on the bed and entered the site Seo Jihee taught me. She said everything would pop out if I searched for the food I wanted to eat, so I thought of what I wanted to eat. Jajangmyeon. I suddenly thought of it.

As I searched it, various videos appeared. When I clicked the one on the top, a man in glasses arranged a few bowls of jajangmyeon, jjamppong, tangsuyuk, kkanpunggi, and introduced the food. My mouth watered. I skipped to the eating scene. The man slurped the noodle and smacked his lips disgustingly. My ears were uncomfortable by it, so I played another video, but the other person also smacked his lips.

Why do they eat disgustingly like that? I lost interest that wasn’t even there and quickly tossed my phone. I recalled Yeon Woojeong who was the complete opposite of those people. He ate without making any sound and unenthusiastically.

I thought about Yeon Woojeong doing something like this. Even though Yeon Woojeong is good at everything, I’m sure he can’t do things like this. He can’t make money either. I laughed.

When will Yeon Woojeong come? It was already past 9 p.m., but he has yet to come home. It wasn’t something new, though.

I took my phone again, and this time I searched for cars. There was a sparkling car, so I clicked on it. It was a video explaining the advantages and disadvantages of a car after riding it. It was quite interesting.

I finished watching the 30-minute video, and I heard the faint sound of the door opening. I quickly got up and walked down the stairs. When I walked down half of the stairs, I saw Yeon Woojeong coming in.

“Mr. …”

Yeon Woojeong walked quickly to his room. At a glance, his expression was not good. Did something upset him? I slowly walked down the stairs and approached him, but Yeon Woojeong suddenly took off his clothes after entering his room.

I stopped like that and only blinked my eyes. Yeon Woojeong took off his clothes with slow but somehow irritated movements, leaving only his underwear, and moved to the bed. Then he pulled the blanket over his head.

I felt unfamiliar with Yeon Woojeong acting like a furious child. I walked forward, silencing my steps, picked up the scattered clothes, folded them roughly, and put them aside. The blanket heaved noticeably. I came closer to the bed, but somehow, I hesitated to reach out my hand.

“Mr. Yeon.”

I called him carefully, but there was no answer. Eventually, I grabbed the blanket and pulled it down. As expected, the blanket was pulled down so easily. Yeon Woojeong was closing his eyes. His hair was disheveled, and there were lines on his forehead. When I reached out to touch his forehead, he opened his eyes. The eyes looking at me were sharp. Soon, the sharpness subsided as he slowly closed and opened his eyes.

“It’s cold.”

“You’re the one hot.”

“Your hand is originally cold.”

“Is it a fever? Have you taken some medicine?”

“I got a shot earlier. You don’t need to worry.”

I stopped Yeon Woojeong from trying to pull back the blanket. He let out a sigh and closed his eyes. I slowly took off my hand. It felt like his fever also melted my hand.

A sick Yeon Woojeong.

I had seen him complaining and groaning, but it was the first for his figure in pain. I was blank for a while at the view I had never thought about. I looked at Yeon Woojeong breathing out roughly, then I entered the kitchen. After taking some ice cubes from the freezer, I put them into a plastic bag and wrapped that plastic bag with a thin towel. When I returned to his room and put it on Yeon Woojeong’s forehead, he sighed. It was a relief that his expression looked a bit comfortable.

I sat on the pillow side and looked down at Yeon Woojeong. When I put my hand on his nape, it got wet with sweat. I took a towel I had soaked from the bathroom. I felt weird seeing a man, who used to sleep late even though he got home early, collapse like this as soon as he got home. He also looked a bit lonely, taking off his clothes first, laying down on the bed, and pulling over the blanket as if he was used to it.

It wasn’t a hard task to wipe him whenever his body got wet. Rather, it was fun. Though I was not sure if I could express it as fun. A situation where Yeon Woojeong, who looked good on his own and didn’t need any help, couldn’t lift even a finger and I took care of him. How would it be if he were like this every day? I guess it wouldn’t be bad, but I didn’t like Yeon Woojeong being sick. 

Yeon Woojeong let out small sounds every so often. It wasn’t a sound he let out on purpose, but groans under the influence of fever. It was strange. He was the one sick, but it felt like I was sick as well.

I poked his cheek. He didn’t show any response. I touched Yeon Woojeong’s nape once again. It was still hot.

I got worried as his condition was still the same even after two hours. I shook Yeon Woojeong’s body.

“Mr. Yeon. Mr. Yeon.”

After shaking him a few times, Yeon Woojeong heavily opened his eyes. He rolled his eyes to look for me.

“… Is it morning?”

“No. It’s night. Is it okay to not take medicine?”

“Yeah. Go sleep. You’ll catch a cold.”

I thought it would be better if I could catch a cold instead of him. I felt enervated just from looking at Yeon Woojeong in pain.

As I only looked at him in silence, Yeon Woojeong reached out his hand and tickled my palm with his forefinger.

“It happens once a year. I’ll get better once I sleep.”

“… It’s weird that you’re sick.”

He laughed at my words. Yeon Woojeong took hold of my hand and clasped it.

He closed his eyes again. The bedroom turned silent. I held my breath because I shouldn’t annoy him, but he put up his other hand on his forehead, touching the ice bag, and then laughed again.

“You know what?”

“What?”

“Because the lights are on when I get back… it certainly…”

He closed his mouth without even finishing his words. When I wondered if he had fallen asleep, I heard his voice again.

“Feels I’m home.”