# Chapter 103
Mo Eunje was forced to wake up just after 7 AM, with nurses coming in and out since early morning and Tae Igyeol having woken up as well. When he had lain down last night, he thought it would be uncomfortable to sleep on the sofa, but he unexpectedly slept soundly. Even after waking up, he felt refreshed without any stiffness.
Around 7:30, a tray with rice, soup, and several side dishes was served. Mo Eunje quickly raised the bed table so the tray could be placed on it. Perhaps because it was a VIP room, an employee finished explaining the nutritional components of today’s menu and gave him a piece of paper with additional explanation.
“This is a list of meals prepared for today. Please check the menu you want and give it to us when we come to collect the empty dishes. If there’s anything special you’d like to eat, please let us know anytime.”
Looking over the paper, there were three main dishes each for lunch and dinner. It was an excellent meal plan that didn’t require asking for anything special. The lunch menu listed braised chicken, spicy chicken stew, and ginseng chicken soup, while the dinner menu listed stir-fried octopus, soft-tofu seafood stew, and braised octopus. Without asking Tae Igyeol, Mo Eunje circled ginseng chicken soup for lunch and soft-tofu seafood stew for dinner. Just seeing the words “spicy chicken stew” and “stir-fried octopus” made his mouth water, but since Tae Igyeol couldn’t eat spicy food, there was no choice.
The employee who brought the food left, and Mo Eunje sat on the edge of the bed, preparing to feed Tae Igyeol properly. As he opened each lid one by one and picked up a spoon, Tae Igyeol, who had been watching indifferently, made a comment.
“Are you going to feed me?”
“If you don’t like it, forget it.”
Even if it was clumsy, there was nothing he couldn’t eat using his left hand. However, it bothered Mo Eunje that blood kept flowing back and disappearing in the IV line connected to the needle whenever Tae Igyeol exerted force with his left hand. It wasn’t like his hand would wear out from feeding him, and since Tae Igyeol had previously fed him porridge when he was suffering from body aches and muscle pain, this was just part of taking care of a patient.
He picked up some bulgogi that was simmering in the earthenware pot, placed it on top of the rice, scooped it up with a spoon, and held it in front of Tae Igyeol’s mouth. Tae Igyeol looked at the approaching spoon somewhat stupidly for a moment, then grinned and opened his mouth to eat it. Mo Eunje selected side dishes in the order he wanted to eat them and put them on top of the rice, and Tae Igyeol diligently opened his mouth.
“Is it edible at least?”
“It’s not tasty.”
Tae Igyeol complained, despite having eaten everything Mo Eunje had put in his mouth, whether rice or side dishes. Given the excellent meal plan and his smiling face, it was absurd to claim he was eating something that didn’t taste good. Moreover, Tae Igyeol preferred his food mildly seasoned, so hospital food should suit his taste. He couldn’t eat spicy food, and he didn’t touch salty food either, to the point where when ordering delivery, he would leave a note asking for the food to be made bland.
“Aunt and Uncle are almost here. They’ll arrive in 10 minutes.”
He informed Tae Igyeol after seeing a message that appeared as a preview notification on his phone screen. Tae Igyeol, who had just taken a sip of water, immediately grimaced.
“Tell them not to come. What’s the point when you’re here?”
“No Impressionist Giant allowed.”
“Haa…”
He put stir-fried kimchi on top of the rice he had scooped with the spoon and fed it to him, then added half a rolled egg. Despite sighing as if he was displeased, Tae Igyeol opened his mouth like a baby bird and ate everything given to him well. Seaweed soup was served, and Tae Igyeol held the bowl with his left hand and drank it. Every time he exerted force with his hand to hold the soup bowl, blood would appear and disappear in the IV line fixed to the back of his hand with a Band-Aid, which was quite concerning.
“It would be more comfortable for both of us if they didn’t come, so why are they insisting on coming…”
“Should they not come when their son is hospitalized? Have some decency. When Aunt and Uncle arrive, please behave nicely. You know they’re both tender-hearted, so don’t be mean. Yesterday, Aunt looked terrible from the shock.”
“I’m mean by nature, so how can I behave nicely?”
“Should I go home and ask Aunt to take care of you? Will you behave nicely then?”
“…”
Tae Igyeol cast a resentful look at him. The method to make him listen was surprisingly simple and straightforward. Although it felt bad to exploit his feelings this way, there was no choice. Even without having been a parent, he could somewhat understand what Tae Hyunseok and Song Yeonhwa must be feeling. If he, as just a friend, was in this state, how much worse must it be for his parents?
After finishing the meal, he pressed the call button, and an employee came to collect the dishes. They also confirmed the menus chosen for lunch and dinner. They asked if they should prepare a meal for the caregiver as well, but he declined. No matter how good the meals were, he didn’t want to eat hospital food when he wasn’t even a patient.
“Let’s brush your teeth and wash your face. Do you want to wash your hair too?”
“And shower.”
“Let’s shower in the afternoon. I’ll buy a waterproof cover for your arm. But won’t your pain get worse if they remove the IV for a while?”
“I’ll endure it. I was sweating from playing basketball yesterday, but I couldn’t shower, so it’s stressful. I hate being unclean more than being in pain.”
“When I was sick, you said I wouldn’t die from not showering for a day.”
“I would die.”
He gives a predictable answer, as expected of Tae Igyeol. Others might think he’s being excessive, but Mo Eunje knew his nature well, so he just accepted it. He knew him so well that even when Tae Igyeol was drunk before, he had meticulously wiped between his toes with wet wipes.
They went to the bathroom together, hanging the IV pack on the stand. Standing in front of the mirror by the sink, he wrapped a towel around Tae Igyeol’s neck, feeling somewhat nervous since it was his first time helping someone else brush their teeth and wash their face.
“You sit here.”
He sat Tae Igyeol on the edge of the luxurious bathtub and generously squeezed toothpaste onto the toothbrush. Holding his nape, he began brushing. Mo Eunje was burning with a strange sense of responsibility to faithfully fulfill his assigned duty. Tae Igyeol, who had entrusted everything to him in a defenseless state, looked cute like a large child, making him want to smile repeatedly.
After safely finishing brushing his teeth, they went to the sink. After having Tae Igyeol bend over, he turned on the water by pushing the faucet lever, and a criticism flew in.
“Don’t rub so hard. Do it gently.”
“Do you think I haven’t seen how you wash your face many times?”
Mo Eunje tended to scrub his face vigorously with face wash, washing noisily and quickly, taking only 10 seconds to finish. In contrast, Tae Igyeol would calmly and gently roll the face wash on his face, then rinse by splashing water about 30 times with minimal contact with his face. Mo Eunje wondered if Tae Igyeol’s method even provided a feeling of cleanliness, as one should feel a squeaky-clean sensation after washing.
“Face me.”
He held Tae Igyeol’s nape with his left hand and tried to splash water on his face with water cupped in his right hand, but it didn’t feel right.
“Look at me now.”
He lathered up the face wash and gently rubbed it on his cheeks first, then carefully rubbed his forehead, bridge of nose, nostrils, and chin. The key was to do it with relaxed fingers, using just the fingertips, as Tae Igyeol did. It was so frustrating that he felt like he would burst, but he exercised patience and rolled gently. If it had been him, he would have already finished washing his face, scrubbing vigorously with his palms, and even washed his hair by now.
“Look forward again.”
The ultimate challenge remained: how to rinse off the face wash without touching the face. First, he washed the lather off his hands in the running water, then splashed water on Tae Igyeol’s face. Once, twice, three times…
“Ah, this is frustrating. You stay still.”
He gripped his nape firmly to prevent him from moving and rubbed Tae Igyeol’s face with his right hand full of water, as if washing his own face. He could feel Tae Igyeol grimacing through his palm, but he didn’t stop. If he didn’t like it, he was the type who would remove the IV needle and put on waterproof tape to do it himself.
“Done.”
“What kind of crude way to wash a face…”
He wiped the moisture from his face with a towel and looked at him as if daring him to continue complaining, which made Tae Igyeol trail off and sigh. Mo Eunje had thought he would insist on not washing his face until he brought his usual face wash from home, but that was a misconception. The cleanliness-obsessed guy had given up on his usual product.
“Let’s wash your hair later when you shower. I think you could sit in the bathtub with your head resting on the edge, and I could wash it from the outside, but I’m afraid you’ll get all wet.”
“Yeah.”
It would be great to have a shampoo chair like they use in hair salons, which was unfortunate. While racking his brain for a clever solution, a plausible idea came to mind. Instead of doing everything himself, he could check if the VIP room offered a shampoo service, and if not, he could take Tae Igyeol to a nearby salon for a shampoo.
As he was leaving the bathroom with Tae Igyeol, having reached a satisfactory conclusion, Song Yeonhwa and Tae Hyunseok arrived. It wasn’t even 9 AM yet. Even though they had gone home yesterday because he insisted on staying at the hospital, they must have been terribly worried all night.
“Did you already have breakfast? I rushed here to help Igyeol with his meal since his right hand is like that.”
“I already beat you to it, Aunt, so you wouldn’t have to trouble yourself. I helped him brush his teeth and wash his face too.”
Mo Eunje boasted with a broad smile, lifting his shoulders high. There was no way Tae Igyeol would open his mouth to be fed by someone other than him. Even if his parents fed him, he would rather spill everything while eating with his left hand or refuse to eat at all. The same applied to washing his face or brushing his teeth. Due to Tae Igyeol’s difficult temperament, Mo Eunje needed to return to the hospital before lunchtime to feed him.
“I’ll go home to pack some things and come back.”
“Don’t take a taxi. Use my car.”
“Okay. Is there anything you want to eat? I’ll buy it on the way back.”
“Kimchi fried rice that you make.”
“Why are you asking Eunje for something that would trouble him? I’ll go out and buy it now.”
“With bacon and pork belly.”
Although Song Yeonhwa scolded him, Tae Igyeol didn’t listen at all and added more requests. Mo Eunje gestured to Song Yeonhwa to just let it be, and although she looked displeased, she kept quiet. Just as adults have their own relationships, they had their own relationship too.
“Anything else?”
“No. Just come back quickly.”
“Do you want Uncle to drive you? Do you want to go together?”
“No. Uncle should stay and keep Igyeol company. I’ll go by myself and come back quickly.”
He declined Tae Hyunseok’s kind offer, grabbed his phone, and turned around. As he was leaving the hospital room, he heard a conversation that simply conveyed the business at hand.
“What happened?”
“Your guess was right. When I looked into it, there were quite a few kids who got injured playing basketball with that gang. We’re going to gather them all and provide legal representation. They won’t get away with it easily. But you should stay in the hospital for a few more days…”
It seemed the matter had escalated, but he trusted it would be resolved well since the adults had stepped in and experts were involved, so he closed his ears. He didn’t want to get involved in troublesome matters.
