# Chapter 72
“I thought you were sleeping. Is your stomach bothering you?”
As Mo Eunje flung open the door and approached with combative strides, Tae Igyeol shifted his gaze from the TV and asked with concern.
“We need to talk.”
He pressed the pause button, and the cars racing on the TV screen froze simultaneously. Mo Eunje didn’t even think about sitting down and instead stood there looking down at Tae Igyeol. The latter, who had been sitting askew with his arm draped over the sofa backrest and legs crossed, rotated his shoulders as if they were stiff before assuming his usual proper posture.
“Go ahead. What did you want to talk about?”
It had been good up to the point of boldly throwing off the blanket and coming out, but Mo Eunje wasn’t sure how to start the conversation, and various words just lingered on the tip of his tongue. However, he didn’t want to cowardly beat around the bush and test the other’s feelings. That would only lead to more speculation, confusion, and misunderstanding. So Mo Eunje opted for a somewhat reckless frontal approach.
“I’ll ask you directly. Is it me?”
“What is?”
“The person you’ve been in love with. Is it me?”
His heart pounded violently, hoping desperately that the answer would be no. He felt extremely anxious and uneasy, unable to be certain what answer would come out of Tae Igyeol’s mouth.
“…I already told you it’s not.”
“You say it’s not with your words, but your eyes tell a different story. I know my question is very rude, and I’m really sorry for that, but please tell me clearly. Is it me?”
“Did you eat something weird? What do you mean my eyes are saying something different? You devoured that king crab stew and now you’re talking nonsense.”
There was irritation in Tae Igyeol’s voice as he spoke with a look of disgust. It was completely different from earlier. This was the Tae Igyeol that Mo Eunje knew all too well—neither unfamiliar nor strange. Even the eyes that had revealed distinct emotions earlier now seemed emotionless. Perhaps earlier, Mo Eunje had misjudged due to the moonlight and the atmosphere. Feeling relieved by Tae Igyeol’s reaction, Mo Eunje sat down beside him and pointed out the suspicious circumstances one by one.
“No, it’s just that no matter how much I think about it, it seems like it’s me. But that doesn’t make sense. So I’m asking you to be clear so I don’t misunderstand or imagine things on my own.”
“Hey, I get that you’re full of self-love, but that’s going too far with self-consciousness. You’re the one acting like you want me to like you.”
“Has this guy gone crazy? What nonsense are you saying?”
“…”
“Anyway, you said you’ve been in love with this person for 10 years, right?”
“So what?”
His response was as if to say, “What’s the problem?” Mo Eunje was even somewhat desperate, as he needed to completely resolve his suspicions in order to avoid awkwardness with Tae Igyeol.
“Among the people you’ve known for 10 years, there’s no one you still contact and are close with except for me. You wouldn’t be in love with someone you can’t even contact, so the only conclusion is that it’s me. Are you really sure it’s not me?”
“It’s not, you lunatic. I can’t believe the nonsense I’m hearing. I keep in touch with Cha Hyunwoo too, so why would you be the only conclusion?”
“Uh… what? You’re in contact with Cha Hyunwoo again? Since when?”
This was an unexpected development. Of course, when told that his first love had continued until now, Mo Eunje had placed Cha Hyunwoo as the number one candidate, but he had thought himself more likely than Cha Hyunwoo. Now there was hope that it might not be him after all. It seemed that once a person starts thinking in one direction, they begin fitting the circumstances to match their assumptions.
“He contacted me first around last winter, and we met separately a few times for drinks.”
“Really? Why… didn’t I know? Why didn’t you invite me?”
“He changed his contact information and cut off communication with all his other friends because he didn’t want people to know about his divorce. How could I invite you?”
“Oh…”
Mo Eunje didn’t know that Cha Hyunwoo was divorced. He especially didn’t know that Tae Igyeol had met Cha Hyunwoo separately for drinks. The weight of the scale tilted back toward Cha Hyunwoo. Considering their parents’ relationship, there was no way Tae Igyeol would have feelings for him, so Mo Eunje wondered why he had made such a misunderstanding. He must have been temporarily insane. Embarrassed, Mo Eunje gave an awkward smile while observing Tae Igyeol’s reaction.
“Igyeol, I’ll apologize formally. I’m sorry. I must have really been full of self-consciousness. Hah, even though I thought there was no way, I was terrified at the possibility it might actually be me…”
“Would you stop already?”
“Yeah, sorry. And thank you for answering well without getting angry, even though I was being rude.”
Perhaps because his tension had eased with relief, indigestion suddenly surged up. Until just now, it had just felt bloated, but now it felt completely blocked and uncomfortable. He felt a mild headache and slight dizziness.
“Why is your face so pale? Are you that worried about me liking you… Wait, you’ve got indigestion.”
Tae Igyeol, who had been incredulous, immediately assessed the situation. Now there was no need to hide it, so Mo Eunje nodded right away and confessed.
“Yeah, I think I’ve got serious indigestion. It’s killing me.”
“That’s why I told you to digest first and then lie down, but you never listen. Getting indigestion after eating that delicious king crab stew because of your own misconceptions. This is why I said there’s no need to buy you expensive food.”
“No giant lectures, please. My head is pounding.”
“Sigh…”
Tae Igyeol threw him a look of exasperation before getting up from the sofa and heading to the living room cabinet where they kept the medicine box. He gathered digestive medicine, disposable alcohol swabs, cotton, and a pen-shaped acupuncture tool. The acupuncture tool was used for bloodletting when Mo Eunje had severe indigestion, and it had appeared in the house at some point.
“Please don’t make it hurt, Dr. Tae Igyeol.”
“Seeing how you’re joking around, I guess it doesn’t hurt that much.”
After taking two digestive pills with liquid medicine from a brown glass bottle, Mo Eunje made his request politely, but what came back was a tone twisted with mischief and spite.
“No, I’m literally one step away from death. Hurry up.”
Mo Eunje habitually placed his feet on both of Tae Igyeol’s thighs as he sat on the floor and extended both hands. Tae Igyeol skillfully massaged his hands and arms, then disinfected his thumb with an alcohol swab and pricked it with the acupuncture tool. As if it was completely blocked, his pale hand showed no signs of bleeding.
“Tell me if it hurts.”
Tae Igyeol held Mo Eunje’s arm and stroked it downward as if to gather blood.
“If I tell you, will you prick me without it hurting?”
“How could I prick you without it hurting? I’m just telling you to say something.”
Tightly squeezing his thumb to prevent blood flow and pricking it a couple more times, a small amount of dark red blood formed. Now that the blood point was open, Tae Igyeol pressed hard to squeeze it out, which hurt much more than being pricked with the acupuncture tool.
After wiping the less-than-a-drop of blood with cotton, he did the same to the other side, gathering blood, disinfecting, and pricking with the acupuncture tool. Fortunately, this time blood formed with just one prick.
“Now that you’ve taken the digestive medicine and we’ve done the bloodletting, you should feel better, right?”
“Give me your hand.”
After cleaning up the trash and putting the acupuncture tool back in its place, Tae Igyeol sat down next to him and showed his wide palm. Mo Eunje put his feet up on the sofa, sat cross-legged, and twisted his body to face Tae Igyeol, placing his hand on top of Tae Igyeol’s palm. As the other pressed firmly, the area between his thumb and index finger gradually felt refreshed.
If he had pinpointed the core issue and asked directly and clearly when it came up on the rooftop earlier, he wouldn’t have had to worry alone and get indigestion. Tae Igyeol had even given him the opportunity to ask who it was, but he had been too scared to show his feelings and had just fretted anxiously. Now he almost wanted to laugh at himself.
It wasn’t a relationship that would easily grow distant, nor was he a person who could easily be lost…
“So Hyunwoo got divorced?”
“Yeah. Last fall.”
Cha Hyunwoo divorced last fall and contacted Tae Igyeol in winter. Since Tae Igyeol had silently left and unilaterally cut off contact with Cha Hyunwoo when he had flooded the group chat with pictures of his daughter after getting married, the circumstances matched his statement about trying to give up on his one-sided love once.
“That’s unexpected. How did he contact you of all people…?”
“What’s unexpected? He contacted me to borrow money.”
“Money? What money all of a sudden?”
“Seems like he took out a loan to open a cafe, failed, and got some debt.”
“Ah… So did you lend him money? How much did he ask for? No, don’t answer that. Both you and he have privacy, and I asked something too deep.”
Tae Igyeol continued to harbor feelings so strong that Mo Eunje couldn’t even imagine—feelings he couldn’t stop. Since Cha Hyunwoo was divorced, it meant there was no legal problem if the two of them connected emotionally. Mo Eunje couldn’t gauge whether this was a good thing or not.
“If he’s divorced, what about his daughter? Is Hyunwoo raising her?”
“No. She was taken. But he said he meets his daughter once a month when their schedules match.”
“She must have grown a lot. What’s Hyunwoo doing these days? I think the last time I contacted him was last summer.”
“…He started working at my father’s company early this year, learning the job. As a road manager.”
“What? At Ila Actors? Did you introduce him?”
“Just… It happened that way somehow.”
Tae Igyeol answered indifferently with an uncomfortable expression as he took Mo Eunje’s other hand. When Ban Hajun had asked for an introduction just to get one audition opportunity, Tae Igyeol hadn’t even bothered to listen, but he had arranged for his first love and one-sided love interest, who had contacted him last winter, to start working and learning at the company since early this year. Mo Eunje had known that Tae Igyeol had a kind and delicate side despite pretending otherwise, but seeing him looking like he would do anything for love made him feel strangely unfamiliar.
