I just stared at Lee Jiwoo collapsed in the darkness with a dumbfounded expression. After doing that for a moment, I turned on the living room light. Only then could I see his face in more detail.
His face was deathly pale, his eyes scrunched up tight, his lips groaning, his body trembling violently…
“Ha.”
Still, as if he didn’t want to freeze to death, Lee Jiwoo wriggled like a caterpillar and burrowed into the blanket. My sleep had already completely fled at this unbelievable situation.
“Excuse me.”
I sat down by his bedside and spoke quietly. When Lee Jiwoo opened his eyes, I saw his hazel eyes clouded and murky. I looked down at him with cold eyes and forced a smile, pulling up the corners of my mouth.
“If you were going to drink, you should go home, wash up, and sleep there. What are you doing coming here?”
“……”
“Do you know what time it is?”
At least 4 AM or later would have been better. Because it would almost be morning. But now it had just passed midnight. Anyone could see it was the middle of the night. Where the hell did he learn the manners to knock on someone’s door at this hour?
“And I told you I was sick. But what are you doing coming here at this hour completely drunk?”
As I spoke, I suddenly started getting pissed off. Even if I were fine, this would be annoying, but to show up out of the blue when my body and mind were already completely wrecked.
I had already accumulated too much stress to let this slide generously.
“Just sleep for now. Sleep and we’ll talk about it tomorrow when you wake up.”
However, I couldn’t exactly lecture a drunk who had already collapsed. I couldn’t kick him out either, so I figured I’d rather put him to sleep quickly and have a conversation again when he woke up tomorrow.
As I kept staying outside the electric blanket, I started getting chills too. Too lazy to get another blanket, I kicked Lee Jiwoo’s side away and lay down next to him roughly.
And as I reached out to turn up the temperature controller one more level, I heard a small mumbling voice by my ear.
“Tomorrow…”
When I turned my head, I saw Lee Jiwoo’s face. Right then I realized. Ah, I didn’t turn off the light. Fuck, I have to get up again… Ah, so annoying!
“You’re my…”
Whether Lee Jiwoo was babbling something or not, I seriously considered just ignoring it and sleeping with the light on, when I was startled.
Lee Jiwoo was crying. Tears overflowing from his eyes streamed down along his temples.
“You said we’d see each other tomorrow…”
“…What?”
“Tomorrow…”
Lee Jiwoo, who kept muttering the same word, squeezed his eyes shut. And a pitiful sob flowed feebly through his lips.
“Even so, why are you crying? You’re a grown man!”
“Uuung…”
“Whoa…”
“Huuuung…”
Whether it was unfortunate or fortunate, Lee Jiwoo didn’t cry loudly. However, it was even more chilling because it sounded very faint, like the wailing of a ghost.
“Just how much did you drink… Get up for now. I’ll give you some water so drink it.”
“Don’t wanna.”
As I was about to stand up on my knees, Lee Jiwoo raised his upper body and grabbed my collar tightly.
“What don’t you want?”
“I don’t wanna drink water…”
Watching him whine and shake his shoulders from side to side, my mouth fell open without realizing it.
“Just hold me.”
“……”
“Hurry…”
Watching Lee Jiwoo throw a tantrum like a child, I hugged his shoulders carefully with a reluctant expression. Lee Jiwoo sobbed continuously in my arms like a pitiful patient.
“I kept waiting.”
“What?”
“Because you said we’d see each other tomorrow…”
“……”
At his slurred mumbling, I recalled the phone conversation we had yesterday. To be precise, I hadn’t said we’d see each other tomorrow, but that I’d contact him tomorrow.
But I couldn’t nitpick such details with a drunk who couldn’t even stand properly.
“So you waited until past midnight and then came here 10 minutes later?”
When I asked in bewilderment, Lee Jiwoo shook his head. Every time his soft hair swayed, it seemed to emit cold air. His body was still too cold, so just in case, I asked again.
“…Don’t tell me you were waiting continuously in front of the front door?”
“Yeah…”
“……”
My mouth fell open again at the unbelievable words. I grabbed his shoulders and roughly pulled him away. His face was pale to the point of being bluish, and his eyes and nose tip were red as if they might bleed.
“Since when?”
“After I hung up earlier… Hurry up and hold me.”
“That’s impossible. At that time…”
Lee Jiwoo whined and burrowed into my arms. Holding his cold body tightly, I just blinked. Is he really in his right mind? Is he crazy enough to want to freeze to death? Looking closely, his clothes were incredibly thin too.
“Even so, what are you doing waiting there like that? You should’ve worn warmer clothes at least… No, you should’ve waited inside somewhere.”
You foolish human, the words rose to the tip of my throat.
“Yeah, I drank alcohol so I wasn’t cold.”
It was crazy talk. I hugged Lee Jiwoo’s body with all my strength and pressed his head against my chest.
“Drinking alcohol doesn’t make you not cold.”
“Uuuup!”
“Your blood vessels just dilate and blood rushes there so you mistakenly think you’re warm. Geez, you stupid bastard.”
Maybe because his body was frozen and he had no strength, Lee Jiwoo desperately flailed his limbs but couldn’t escape from my arms. I felt like putting him in a headlock and banging the top of his head repeatedly, but I let him go at this point.
“Are you a doctor?”
Lee Jiwoo glared at me like a child and said something childish. I clicked my tongue and stood up from my spot. Then Lee Jiwoo suddenly clung to my leg.
“Don’t go!”
“No, I’m just going to get some warm water.”
“I don’t want to, just stay here. I’m not going to drink water.”
Why is this bastard acting like this? I sat back down and had no choice but to hug Lee Jiwoo again. Whether my sense of smell had adapted or not, the vibrating alcohol smell also gradually started becoming familiar.
“I’m having such a hard time…”
As if trying his best to stick even a little closer somehow, Lee Jiwoo wriggled for a while. While doing so, he poured out his pitiful feelings incoherently.
“My head hurts and I’m cold… I kept saying we should meet.”
His crying was so desperate that even though I did nothing wrong, I felt guilt. I couldn’t even say that I was sick too.
“I’m sorry.”
“I want to see you every day, but you don’t touch me much…”
“……”
“You don’t even hold my hand…”
The clothes around my chest were gradually getting damp. At this point, I suspected whether something bad had happened to Lee Jiwoo. Logically, there was no reason for him to be this upset over not seeing me for just two days.
Maybe he just had something sad happen so he got drunk and is crying while saying anything? I seemed to understand because I sometimes used to do that with friends when I drank in the past.
At times like this, it was best to just listen without prying into this and that.
I hugged Lee Jiwoo tightly. And with my warm hands, I continued to knead his frozen hands, transferring warmth. Meanwhile, his crying also gradually stopped.
“Seoun.”
“Yes.”
“I really hurt…”
“That’s why, why did you drink so much? When you drink, your stomach just gets upset and your head hurts for no reason.”
When I clicked my tongue and scolded him, Lee Jiwoo slightly raised his head and glared at me. I trembled my shoulders as if frightened.
“Oh my, how scary.”
“I’m thirsty.”
“Yes, yes. I’ll bring it right away.”
I stood up with a deep sigh, supporting myself on my knees. I worried he might cling to my leg again, but he looked up at me and then stuck out his lower lip. And whether he was really sulking or not, like a pubescent child, he flipped the blanket over himself up to the top of his head.
With complicated feelings, I shook my head while looking at the bulging mound of blanket, then went to the kitchen. I took water from the refrigerator, poured it into a kettle, and warmed it appropriately on the gas range. Then I filled the largest tumbler with warm water and went to Lee Jiwoo.
“Get up and drink.”
At my words, Lee Jiwoo got up like a zombie and reached out his hand.
“Why is it hot?”
“It’s not good to drink cold things after drinking alcohol. It’s not that hot, so just drink what you’re given.”
He glared at the water in the tumbler for a while, then just barely touched his lips to it. Does he think I poisoned it? I watched him fuss around like a cat for a while as if observing a monkey at the zoo.
