# Chapter 106
After about 20 minutes, the bathroom door opened. Tae Igyeol stood there blankly in a bathrobe. It seemed he had removed the waterproof cover himself. Water dripped from his hair, soaking his shoulders.
“You washed your hair too?”
“Yeah.”
“How?”
“With one hand while showering.”
If washing hair with one hand was possible, then shampoo and showering wouldn’t be a concern going forward. Mo Eunje sat Tae Igyeol on the reception room sofa and roughly dried his hair with a towel to remove most of the moisture. He crouched in front of him, carefully drying his wet legs and feet, then brought a new hospital gown.
After slipping the pants onto both feet and pulling them up to about knee level, Tae Igyeol stood up, finished putting them on, and sat back down on the sofa. Mo Eunje helped him into the upper part of the gown, adjusting it properly and fastening the buttons. Then he called a nurse to reinsert the IV needle and hang the pack on the stand. Though helping someone into a hospital gown wasn’t such a big deal, after going through the entire process, Mo Eunje felt exhausted and wanted to collapse and sleep.
Nevertheless, Mo Eunje mustered his strength and went into the hospital room. From the bag of packed belongings, he took out Tae Igyeol’s favorite cologne and sprayed it on both sides of his neck. Tae Igyeol usually sprayed cologne on the outer part of his hand rather than the inner wrist, saying that spraying on the wrist would cause it to evaporate quickly as it touched various places. But since his right hand was in a cast and his left had an IV, that approach was skipped.
The subtle, natural fragrance spread, pleasing to the nose. Among Tae Igyeol’s various colognes, this was Mo Eunje’s favorite, so much so that he had bought the same one.
“I thought this was a hospital, but it must be a hotel.”
Tae Igyeol said sweetly with a smile on his lips and an affectionate look in his eyes. It was so cheesy that it gave Mo Eunje goosebumps.
“Shut up.”
“Dry my hair.”
“Too bothersome. At home, you always say you’ll just leave it to air dry.”
Though that had only happened a few times that could be counted on one hand, he confidently generalized.
“I’m a patient. If I catch a cold while my immune system is down…”
“Look at you acting pitiful with that big body. As if your immune system is really compromised. Talking nonsense about catching colds.”
Despite grumbling, Mo Eunje dutifully brought out the hairdryer he had packed and plugged it into the socket. Standing in front of Tae Igyeol face-to-face, he naturally positioned himself between his legs. When he turned on the hairdryer, the mechanical whirring sound filled the air. He ran his fingers through Tae Igyeol’s hair, gently tousling it as he began drying.
While trying to style it properly as he dried, he suddenly felt something touch his lower back. Rolling his eyes downward, he saw Tae Igyeol’s left arm wrapped around his waist.
“Put your hand down.”
“It looks like you might fall.”
Both of his legs were firmly planted on the ground, yet he was hearing such nonsense.
“Stop messing around and put your hand down before I break your left arm too.”
“Eunje-ya, my head is getting hot.”
“…Oh, sorry!”
Startled, Mo Eunje quickly raised his hand to direct the airflow away. Distracted by the arm around his waist, he had been blowing the hairdryer at the hair above Tae Igyeol’s left ear for quite some time. No matter how advanced the intelligent heat control system was, leaving the dryer aimed at one spot would inevitably make it too hot.
“Wow. Nice picture.”
A street thug-like voice came from somewhere. When Mo Eunje turned his head, Ban Hajun was leaning against the reception room doorway with a mischievous expression, and beside him, Gye Minho was rolling his eyes. Mo Eunje confirmed that Tae Igyeol’s hair was adequately dried, turned off the hairdryer, and greeted his friends.
“You’re here?”
“The mood was good, were we interrupting? Should we come back later?”
“Hey, Ban Hajun. Why do you keep saying weird things?”
“Is this the first day I’ve been teasing them? Why are you suddenly getting so serious?”
“I’m not getting serious. Since Igyeol hurt his arm, his friend Eunje can help him out. Can’t friends have that much loyalty to each other?”
While Ban Hajun and Gye Minho were bickering, Mo Eunje glared and brusquely removed Tae Igyeol’s arm from around his waist. This guy keeps crossing the line, using his injury as an excuse because Mo Eunje lets him get away with it.
“Uh… something smells delicious.”
After putting the hairdryer back in the hospital room and returning to the reception area, Mo Eunje spoke as if entranced. The explosive smell of oil and brick oven-baked food wafted through the air. Ban Hajun and Gye Minho were setting up their purchases on the reception room table. Ban Hajun had brought one boneless seasoned chicken and one fried chicken, while Gye Minho had brought two pizzas.
“How could you bring flour-based food when there’s a patient here?”
“Look who’s talking—you brought greasy food?”
“…Tae Igyeol injured his arm, not his stomach.”
“Is this a restaurant?”
Tae Igyeol’s low voice immediately ended Ban Hajun and Gye Minho’s foolish conversation. Mo Eunje was the first to sit down and grab a slice of pizza. As the cheese stretched out, Mo Eunje’s mouth corners stretched upward just as much.
“Wow, what’s with this cheese?”
Rolling the cheese around his finger to properly tear off a piece, Mo Eunje naturally held it up to Tae Igyeol’s mouth first. After Tae Igyeol took a big bite, Mo Eunje sprinkled Tabasco sauce on the remaining part and took a large bite himself. The flavor of the cheese danced wildly in his mouth.
“Delicious, right?”
“Yeah.”
He fed Tae Igyeol another bite from the side without Tabasco sauce and picked up a pickle with his fingers to put in his mouth. He felt a moist tongue intentionally brush against his fingertips, but he pretended not to notice. As he put the Tabasco-sprinkled side into his own mouth, he sensed strange glances. Distracted by the pizza, he hadn’t noticed that Ban Hajun and Gye Minho hadn’t even touched the food and were just staring at them.
“Am I just background now?”
“I’m used to being wallpaper no matter where I am.”
Ban Hajun and Gye Minho spoke in turn, but Tae Igyeol didn’t listen at all and opened his mouth toward Mo Eunje. With an embarrassed face, Mo Eunje made eye contact with them alternately while feeding Tae Igyeol pizza.
“So are you two dating now?”
Ban Hajun asked casually while tearing off a slice of pizza, as if asking whether they’d eaten yet.
“Dating what dating.”
“You can be honest with us. Who else would understand and support you if not us?”
“Stop talking nonsense and just eat.”
Mo Eunje responded sharply when Gye Minho joined in while putting seasoned chicken in his mouth, despite his denial. In the past, Tae Igyeol would have hated such jokes, and Mo Eunje would have joined in the teasing, but now Mo Eunje was the one getting upset while Tae Igyeol maintained a poker face, perhaps because he had something to hide. Still, when he noticed seasoning on Gye Minho’s mouth, Mo Eunje pulled out a tissue. As he reached out to hand it over, his wrist was caught at an awkward distance. Blood was slightly backflowing from the IV line on the back of Tae Igyeol’s hand.
“Hey. Stop being annoying with food on your mouth and eat the fried chicken.”
Haah… this crazy bastard.
Tae Igyeol released his wrist, snatched the tissue, and threw it at Gye Minho with a comment. Mo Eunje was too dumbfounded to speak. But not as baffled as Gye Minho was.
“I was going to wipe it myself after eating, you know? What does it matter whether I have food on my face or not?”
“He should be focusing on the patient, but his attention is being diverted.”
“I want attention from Mo Eunje too. And I prefer seasoned over fried.”
Gye Minho defiantly put a piece of boneless seasoned chicken in his mouth, letting the sauce smear on his lips. This was just childish behavior—Mo Eunje had only tried to hand over a tissue and ended up witnessing immature, low-level antics. He didn’t even intend to wipe it for him, yet Tae Igyeol was overreacting with unnecessary jealousy.
With a deep sigh, Mo Eunje took another slice of pizza, dipped it in garlic sauce, and put it in Tae Igyeol’s mouth. Then he smoothly wiped the white sauce from the corner of his mouth with his thumb and brought it to his own mouth, sucking it off.
“I think Mo Eunje is the strangest person in the world.”
For some reason, Ban Hajun, who had been quietly observing without interrupting, said something meaningless in a serious tone.
“For me, it’s Tae Igyeol.”
Gye Minho chimed in, not to be outdone. They were experts at not recognizing their own strangeness while pinning it on others. Giggling, Ban Hajun was about to put a piece of fried chicken in his mouth when he lowered his voice as if struck by inspiration.
“Suddenly that phrase comes to mind.”
“What phrase?”
“Please just let them love each other.”
“Isn’t it ‘Please just let us love each other’?”
“Who cares? Either way, watching what they’re doing is so annoying I can’t stand it.”
The fried chicken held by chopsticks went into Ban Hajun’s mouth. Mo Eunje, who had put fried chicken in Tae Igyeol’s mouth, tapped the table with wooden chopsticks to get their attention.
“You guys, if you keep talking nonsense that has a negative influence on the patient instead of behaving properly, I’ll ban you from visiting in the future.”
“Wow. Besides the principal talking about ‘proper behavior’ during assemblies, this is the first time I’ve heard someone actually use ‘behave properly’ in real life.”
“It’s not the first time. Last time when he was furious, he used some complicated phrase about the brain.”
Ban Hajun picked up on Gye Minho’s comment. Mo Eunje and Tae Igyeol’s eyes met, and meanwhile, Gye Minho showed off his knowledge proudly.
“Hajun-ah, ‘buwhanaedong’ [following blindly]. Don’t tell me you still don’t know what ‘buwhanaedong’ means? Didn’t you look it up online back then?”
“Of course I know! What do you take me for? Don’t disrespect me just because I know.”
Despite saying that, Ban Hajun didn’t explain the meaning of ‘buwhanaedong’ to the end, and Tae Igyeol was about to speak up. Mo Eunje firmly gripped Tae Igyeol’s thigh, signaling him to shut up and not be spiteful.
Suddenly, Tae Igyeol stiffened and lowered his gaze. Mo Eunje could feel the thigh muscle abnormally contracting under his palm, becoming very hard. Only then did Mo Eunje realize that he had thoughtlessly grabbed Tae Igyeol’s thigh too far inward.
‘…When you touch me, I get hard.’
As Tae Igyeol’s voice echoed in his mind, a chill ran down his spine, and he quickly removed his hand, shoving fried chicken into Tae Igyeol’s mouth. Though he had an intense curiosity to verify whether Tae Igyeol’s words were true, he wasn’t foolish or ignorant enough to blatantly stare between his legs.
