“Ah…”
At Yeonrok’s words, Kim Jeongseong, who made a sound of realization, smiled brightly.
“I misspoke. I see. It wasn’t someone else’s business.”
Seeing the goodwill and trust filling Kim Jeongseong’s face, Yeonrok felt proud. However, that was only for a moment. As if the praise time was over, Kim Jeongseong, who turned serious, began to nag.
“But you were too reckless. Do you know how dangerous car accidents are? Next time, please wait in a safe place. We exist to handle these kinds of things. In the end, didn’t even Yeonrok-nim become endangered?”
“I’m sorry…”
Yeonrok, who had been listening to long, refined nagging all the way home, reflected. Moon Gyeonwoo couldn’t return home together. It was to be safe since he had been hit in the head hard enough to bleed. As a result of Yeonrok actively insisting that his words and actions were different from usual, he was hospitalized.
Returning home like that, the sports car was back in front of the house, all crumpled. Yeonrok was bitterly stroking the hood that was wide open and wouldn’t close at all when he heard a scream.
“What is this!”
Gasp. When he turned around, Choi Hwan, who had returned after finishing his schedule, was standing there dazed. Yeonrok, who had received an expensive gift and turned it into this state in less than a month, averted his gaze in guilt.
“Wh-why is the car like this?”
“Well, something happened…”
Yeonrok explained the circumstances in as much detail as possible. Choi Hwan’s mouth fell open.
“You rammed it with the car I bought you to save the kidnapped Moon Gyeonwoo? You’re bullshitting right now, right?”
It was a story that even Yeonrok found hard to believe. Fortunately, Kim Jeongseong testified from the side that it was true. Choi Hwan didn’t get angry, but seemed devastated in front of the ruined sports car. To comfort him, Yeonrok added an explanation.
“But they said I can get it repaired starting today. They said they’d try to save it as much as possible. Oh, and the President said he’d pay for all the repair costs, so it should be fixed well…”
However, the more Yeonrok talked, the more dispirited Choi Hwan seemed to become for some reason. He looked at him once with a sad gaze, then trudged into the house, causing Yeonrok’s conscience to cry out in pain. It was a moment when another grudge against Yeom Cheonryul accumulated.
Two days later, Moon Gyeonwoo was discharged. Yeonrok, who had been rolling around in the indoor garden, brightened and spoke to him.
“You’re discharged now? Are you feeling okay?”
Looking him up and down, he looked even healthier than Yeonrok in his cast. Since he was hit on the back of the head, there wasn’t a single scratch on the front. Moon Gyeonwoo smiled.
“Thanks to your worry, I’m perfectly fine.”
Perhaps because he was the benefactor who saved him from almost being kidnapped, Moon Gyeonwoo’s attitude was incomparably softer than before. At the unexpected reaction, when Yeonrok’s eyes widened, Moon Gyeonwoo held out the paper bag he had brought in his hand. He inadvertently received it with his non-casted hand.
“What’s this?”
When he opened the paper bag, there were a couple of supplements inside. Yeonrok looked at him with a suspicious expression, recalling when he had treated him as deficient last time and given him supplements good for the brain. Is he teasing me again this time?
“It’s supplements good for bones. I bought them so you’d take them.”
When he took them out and looked at the ingredient list, indeed calcium, vitamins D and K, zinc, and so on were included. Yeonrok, whose wariness had eased, answered awkwardly.
“Thanks. I’ll take them well.”
Receiving pure goodwill without any expression of negative emotions from the other person felt completely unfamiliar and awkward. It was uncomfortable, but it was worth getting a cast on his arm. Following that, Moon Gyeonwoo showed him the shopping bag he was holding in his other hand.
“Did you eat lunch? I bought some sushi on the way, want to eat it?”
“Sushi?”
At the welcome menu selection, Yeonrok was intrigued. Ms. Park truly knew how to cook many dishes, but most were focused on Korean and Western food. When he reached out his hand to receive the shopping bag, Moon Gyeonwoo shook his head slightly.
“I have no intention of making an injured person carry it.”
Then he strode ahead. Following behind, Yeonrok felt really strange. Both Choi Hwan and Moon Gyeonwoo had become this close thanks to Yeonrok’s efforts. Kim Jeongseong had nagged him not to do reckless things, but at this level, it seemed worth doing.
“Wow. It looks delicious.”
Seeing the sushi Moon Gyeonwoo set on the table, Yeonrok swallowed his saliva. It was easily enough for three people. However, there was one problem. The fact that the casted arm happened to be his right one, making it very inconvenient to use chopsticks.
Considering Yeonrok’s difficulties, Ms. Park had prepared food that could be eaten using only spoons and forks. However, with sushi, that was absolutely impossible. Yeonrok struggled to barely grasp the chopsticks. Concentrating, he barely picked up one piece of sushi, but it soon tilted to the side and fell apart, separating the rice and sashimi. When he was about to pick up each piece to eat them.
“You look very uncomfortable.”
Moon Gyeonwoo, who had just been watching how Yeonrok was doing, smoothly extended his chopsticks. He roughly combined the sushi that had fallen on the table and put it in his own mouth, then took Yeonrok’s chopsticks. Then he popped new sushi right into his mouth.
“Uh…”
Yeonrok, who inadvertently had sushi fed to him by Moon Gyeonwoo, widened his eyes. What the heck is this? What did Moon Gyeonwoo just do to me? He chewed the sushi hard with wide-open eyes, trying to question him. However, as soon as he swallowed and opened his mouth, new sushi entered his mouth again. His flustered eyes shook wildly.
‘…Oh. It’s delicious.’
But regardless of being flustered, it really was delicious. Only after swallowing the second piece of sushi did Yeonrok dodge the third piece of sushi approaching his mouth and exclaim.
“Wh-what are you doing?”
Moon Gyeonwoo, still holding the sushi with glossy sashimi trailing a long tail, answered with a completely nonchalant face.
“Your arm is broken. So I’m just helping.”
“It’s not broken. It’s just a hairline fracture, so they said I only need the cast for 2-3 weeks.”
Then Moon Gyeonwoo muttered in a small voice.
“…Isn’t that too short?”
“What?”
Yeonrok questioned, doubting his ears. Are you saying you hope I don’t get better, or what? Narrowing his eyes and looking at him, thinking he was picking a fight, Moon Gyeonwoo called out like this.
“Yeonrok-ah.”
“Gasp. Why are you, why, why calling me like that?”
At the excessively familiar way of addressing him, Yeonrok was horrified as goosebumps rose. Regardless, Moon Gyeonwoo spoke in a very affectionate and friendly voice. It was exactly the kind of warm and tender voice he would only give to his lovers.
“I’m really grateful. If I had been dragged away by that stalker like that, how terribly would I have been treated? It could have been something that left scars in my heart for life.”
“Th-that’s, true.”
Yeonrok, who had been inwardly proud of saving Moon Gyeonwoo, nodded his head. He continued.
“Besides, how rude and annoying have I been all this time? But you saved me like this, so if you’re a person, isn’t it natural to be truly grateful and sorry?”
“Y-yeah, that too, right?”
As the opponent who had been so arrogant and prickly easily admitted his wrongdoing and apologized like this, surprised Yeonrok nodded repeatedly. …That aside, since the sushi stopped coming in, his mouth and stomach felt empty. When he clumsily attempted to use chopsticks again and dropped one stick. Moon Gyeonwoo picked up the chopstick and said.
“Above all, since you got hurt because of me, of course I should nurse you. What do you want to eat? This? Engawa?”
“What’s engawa?”
“Halibut fin. Here.”
Since he lightly dipped it in soy sauce and offered it, Yeonrok inadvertently accepted and ate it again. The awkwardness and embarrassment were brief, as Yeonrok’s eyes sparkled. Eating one piece, then two pieces like that, before he knew it, the next sushi entering his mouth was natural.
Yeonrok, completely captivated by the delicious food, forgot that the person hand-feeding him was Moon Gyeonwoo and earnestly accepted the food. Moon Gyeonwoo’s gaze watching the cheeks puffed up with sushi was pleased.
* * *
Even after that day, Moon Gyeonwoo frequently helped with Yeonrok’s meals. He would pick up side dishes or directly feed him. Since that was quite burdensome, as a result of Yeonrok’s constant practice, he was somehow able to acquire the method of eating with his left hand.
“Look at this. From today, I’m ambidextrous.”
Yeonrok demonstrated using chopsticks with his left hand quite skillfully. He must have been quite annoyed taking care of him all this time, but Moon Gyeonwoo somehow seemed regretful.
“Yeonrok, you must really have good dexterity. You got used to using your left hand so quickly too.”
“Y-yeah.”
He was still flustered whenever Moon Gyeonwoo said nice things, but it didn’t feel bad at all. One day while living like that, he received a call from Kim Jeongseong and came out in front of the house to find a red sports car parked there.
“Yeonji-ya!”
Yeonrok emotionally rushed to embrace the sports car.
