As soon as he lay down on the bed, Euiju’s phone vibrated.
Bzzzz-.
Because it was placed on the shelf, the vibration rang strongly as if there was an earthquake, and he could feel the body of the boy next to him flinch. Euiju quickly reached out and grabbed the phone.
「Noona」
Euiju glanced at Haeseong. Since he had caused a huge fuss earlier when he said he was going out to answer a call, there was even less chance of that happening now.
‘What should I do?’
Euiju, who had been briefly lost in thought, let out a deep sigh and said.
“…I’m going to answer the phone.”
“……”
Haeseong didn’t answer. Euiju, who had been watching his reaction, sneakily answered the call.
[Euiju-ya. What on earth happened? What was that sound earlier? I was so worried after it cut off like that. Are you okay?]
Euiyeon’s urgent voice was full of worry for her younger brother. Since she had over ten missed calls, Euiju opened his mouth quietly as if apologetic.
“Something came up. I’ll tell you the details tomorrow when I get home. Is Roun asleep by any chance?”
[Hyung-ah-!]
The shrill voice of the youngest coming through the phone instantly transported Euiju to his warm home. It naturally made the corners of his mouth turn up and warmed his heart.
“What? Our Roun, you’re still not asleep? Why weren’t you sleeping?”
Euiju’s gentle voice filled the interior of the hospital room.
[Mmm. It’s not my bedtime yet.]
“It’s almost nine, so it is. You didn’t eat today, Roun. Weren’t you hungry?”
[Eeng…… I didn’t want rice, I wanted to eat cheesecake. When are you coming, hyung-ah?]
“Hyung will come tomorrow. When I come, I’ll buy our Roun a cake, so you can’t scold hyung too much. Got it?”
[Mmm… I miss you.]
As soon as the youngest finished speaking, Euiho’s voice was heard through the phone.
[Ah, I want to talk to Euiju hyung too! Big noona always stops only me!]
[Lee Euiho. I said hyung is busy.]
[Right. You need to grow up a bit! Oppa is coming home tomorrow anyway, so be patient!]
Listening to the voices of his family bickering and squabbling, laughter naturally burst out. Barely suppressing his smile, he spoke to Roun, who would be waiting for his voice.
“It’s late now, so go to sleep. Hyung-ah misses Roun too. Good night, Roun-ah.”
[Okay. You have to come early tomorrow!]
Click.
As the call ended, the hospital room was instantly enveloped in silence. It was an embarrassing and awkward silence that made his neck stiffen for no reason.
Why was it that whenever he talked with his family, he couldn’t pay attention to his surroundings? Hadn’t he also received an embarrassing barrage of questions last time when he talked with his family in front of others?
“Ahem.”
Euiju let out an embarrassed cough and put his feet down from the bed.
“…Then I’ll turn off the lights. Sleep well.”
Even at Euiju’s words, Haeseong lay facing the other direction without moving. He didn’t seem to be asleep, but there was no movement, which was puzzling.
After turning off the lights with the switch next to the bed head, he immediately lay down. Through the window, moonlight bloomed in full and poured into the hospital room engulfed in darkness.
The surrounding noise that had been unsettled subsided, and the surrounding air calmly enveloped his body. It was truly an elegant scene, but he had no time to enjoy that scenery because he was concerned about the boy lying next to him.
‘Will I be able to sleep?’
He had his eyes closed for 5 minutes, but sleep didn’t come easily. He only became sensitive because he was concerned about Haeseong lying next to him without moving.
‘Should I just get up and organize the schedule or something?’
Glancing to the side, Haeseong’s chest was slowly, deeply swelling and deflating. Euiju’s eyelids, who had been silently watching that, gradually began to close. As time passed, Euiju’s consciousness also became hazy.
It was a life he had been running through frantically since starting management work. Moreover, today he had experienced that major incident and had been carrying Haeseong around all day, so the accumulated fatigue was considerable. As he began to relax little by little, his body’s muscles began to loosen. Unable to overcome the increasingly heavy eyelids in the quiet stillness, he closed his eyes. His mind became hazy and drowsy.
It was just before Euiju fell into the grip of sleep. At that moment, a low voice flowed from Haeseong, who had been lying without moving.
“…Use informal speech with me too. Why don’t you do it with me?”
A young voice piercing through his hazy consciousness stimulated his ears.
‘What suddenly……’
Even in the midst of being out of it from fatigue, Haeseong’s random words were funny. Euiju tried to answer him, but because his consciousness had already been half devoured by drowsiness, he missed the timing to answer. He barely moved his mouth, but no voice came out.
“Are you not answering because you dislike me?”
An embarrassing silence flowed. Had about 30 seconds passed? Even at Haeseong’s random words, Euiju, who had been about to fall asleep for a moment, became slightly alert again as the bed subtly shook. Because he had been sleeping with his younger siblings and had sharp and sensitive hearing, he could easily catch even small movements.
He could feel the silhouette lying next to him approaching closer this way.
‘…What is he doing?’
Tap-
Haeseong, who had lightly tapped Euiju’s stomach with the back of his hand, narrowed his eyes while observing Euiju’s reaction.
“Are you asleep?”
“……”
“You’re pretending to sleep.”
What should he answer? Actually, he wanted to fall asleep like this without answering. He was really on the verge of falling asleep at any moment, so his consciousness was hazy. However, because he was fidgeting next to him, he thought he should just open his eyes.
Right at that moment, Euiju’s body instantly stiffened at Haeseong’s following action.
‘What the……!’
“Geez, why is this so uncomfortable……”
It was none other than this. Because Haeseong had suddenly crawled between Euiju’s spread arms and laid down just like that.
“……”
Haeseong, who was lying down using Euiju’s arm as a pillow, also seemed awkward as his body was rigid. Euiju, whose sleep had instantly vanished, stiffened not knowing what to do, but Haeseong spread Euiju’s arm wider and began to settle himself comfortably.
‘What on earth is this……’
Because he never dreamed he would give an arm pillow, which he only gave to his younger siblings, to a seventeen-year-old child actor, strength went into Euiju’s body. Strength went into his stomach and his whole body stiffened, but Haeseong only clung closer as if he hadn’t noticed.
Haeseong clearly thought Euiju was asleep. When Euiju opened his eyes slightly and looked down, Haeseong was contemplating whether or not to place his arm on the stomach of the person holding him. Euiju, whose mouth corners almost went up momentarily, pretended to sleep again with detachment.
As if he had finished his brief contemplation, a light arm placed on his stomach was vividly felt. Now there was not a single gap between the two.
Thump thump. Because their bodies were stuck together, Haeseong’s heartbeat could be felt. Perhaps he was anxious without him, his heart that had been beating rapidly gradually changed to become stable.
Had he been that anxious? What the child had experienced was a major incident enough to leave trauma, and his psychological state before the incident occurred had been running at its worst. Because an adult he could lean on was right next to him, Haeseong seemed to be reassured by that alone.
Before long, he could feel the strength in Haeseong’s body release and gradually relax.
Ssaek, ssaek.
Haeseong had fallen asleep.
“…This is absurd. Really.”
To wake only his innocent sleep and then fall peacefully asleep himself. Euiju let out a laugh as if absurd. Thanks to that, Haeseong, who was stuck to Euiju’s chest, also shook along with him.
He looked down at Haeseong, who had fallen deeply asleep in an instant, perhaps very exhausted. Looking at that pretty and beautiful face, Euiju somehow felt strange emotions welling up.
“……”
While having a gentle, clean, and clear face like his own younger siblings, only his temper was vicious and foul. While loved and revered by everyone in South Korea, he was experiencing loneliness deeper than anyone.
An immature and pitiful young child who didn’t even know the fact that his loneliness was excruciatingly deep.
Euiju felt pity for this child. Haeseong was facing the camera alone in a world without a single adult to lean on. Though he was seventeen years old, he felt deficiency due to severed affection but wasn’t aware of it at all. Though he had aged, his heart hadn’t grown at all, and though his body had grown, there would have been no opportunity to mature mentally.
Looking at the child sleeping with a peaceful expression as if Euiju’s embrace was a safe zone, tender and moving emotions that could only be felt from family boiled up. The pity for Haeseong that he had been turning away from to draw a line while treating him professionally until now had reached 100 degrees today and clearly revealed itself prominently.
‘…What should I do with you?’
Euiju, who had been silently looking at the small face sleeping obliviously to the world, raised his hand and gently brushed up his hair. That appearance looked tender as if treating his own younger sibling.
Euiju carefully moved Haeseong’s injured arm aside and pulled him into his embrace. The gradually tilting moonlight warmly enveloped the two people, continuing a pleasant stillness.
Euiju’s hand, which had been gently patting Haeseong’s back, gradually slowed down. Just before falling into the grip of sleep again, Euiju slightly raised the corners of his mouth and whispered carefully in Haeseong’s ear.
“Sleep well. Haeseong-ah.”
As if answering, Haeseong unconsciously moved his lips in his sleep.
At that sight, Euiju let out a small laugh.
