“I told you not to talk.”
“Me. I knew…… that Executive Director Gye was…… someone I couldn’t trust…….”
Yeohwi hung his head. Grief welled up inside him.
“But, I hoped for a slight chance. He suddenly contacted me and kept saying son, son……. Because he called me his son…….”
Dowon tightened his grip on the steering wheel. The sound of leather twisting could be heard.
“Without realizing it, I wondered if it m-might be real……. Because I was too young back then, I thought maybe there were adult circumstances I didn’t know about. So, heurk, if grandfather really did something wrong……. What if he tried to use dirty money on Dowon-ssi, and if that’s why my parents passed away…….”
“…….”
“I’m really stupid, right? Urk, I must be an idiot…….”
Eventually, tears welled up in Yeohwi’s eyes.
“I deserve it. Always getting tricked, always getting fooled……. Wh-why am I like this……. Like an idiot…….”
“…….”
“Dowon-ssi…… I’m sorry.”
Strength entered Dowon’s leg pressing the accelerator. The vehicle shot forward like a bullet. Faster and faster. Even faster. As if leaving everything that had passed behind and moving only forward.
***
Drip, drip. The sound of medication descending through the transparent tube cut through the silence.
“……Ugh.”
Yeohwi laboriously lifted his eyelids that felt as heavy as if lead weights were hanging from them. What came into view was a familiar ceiling.
It was the bedroom in Dowon’s house that he’d used as his solitary refuge.
But somehow the air he felt was unfamiliar. It was mixed with something like the smell of disinfectant.
When he tried to move his body, pain like being beaten all over with a steel club surged like waves.
A heavy cast was fitted on his right leg, and thick bandages were wrapped around his waist so he couldn’t move at all. Most horrifying of all were both hands sprawled limply outside the blanket.
Fingers wrapped tightly in white gauze like a mummy. A throbbing heat pulsed with his heartbeat from where the fingernails had been ripped out.
“You’re awake.”
Before he’d fully regained consciousness, a low sunken voice came from the darkness.
Yeohwi turned his head with difficulty.
Beside the bed, Dowon sat in a single velvet armchair.
He wasn’t looking at documents, nor was he working.
He was just staring down at Yeohwi lying in bed with his chin propped on his interlaced hands. As if he’d been up for several nights, dark circles had risen under his eyes, and his lips were parched.
“…….”
“…….”
Silence settled between the two like fog.
Rather than relief at having returned alive safely, an awkwardness that made them feel too distant from each other weighed down the air.
“……I’m sorry.”
Yeohwi, who had been watching Dowon’s mood, opened his mouth first in a cracked voice.
His vocal cords hurt as if scratched, and a bitter taste lingered on the tip of his tongue.
Dowon didn’t answer. He just stared at Yeohwi without moving. Those eyes were so heavy that Yeohwi lowered his gaze.
“I keep doing pointless things.”
“…….”
“It wasn’t like I was trying to drag down Dowon-ssi…….”
He tried to smile self-deprecatingly but his lips trembled and he ended up crying. Soon Dowon slowly raised his body.
He sat on the edge of the bed. The mattress sank deeply and the distance between the two narrowed. Dowon reached out and swept Yeohwi’s disheveled bangs aside.
“I mobilized the security team.”
A low, calm voice. It was closer to an emotionless report.
“I’ve already identified the escape routes of the bastards who ran away. It’s only a matter of time before I catch them.”
“…….”
“And Gye Sanghoon.”
At that name, Yeohwi’s shoulders jumped.
“I’ve already caught his tail. We’re on the verge of securing his person too. He has no hole to escape through.”
Dowon’s eyes flashed fiercely. He had no mercy to bestow on that rat bastard. He looked straight into Yeohwi’s eyes and asked.
“When I catch him, what should I do?”
“……What?”
“I’ll give you the authority to dispose of him. It’s the price for your blood.”
“…….”
“You decide.”
Dowon glanced down at Yeohwi’s ruined hands. Both hands wrapped in bandages and unable to move.
“I’ll handle it however you want. Whether to make him pay the price through the law, or…… pay him back the same way.”
Yeohwi slowly raised his head and looked into Dowon’s eyes. He felt like he was gradually sinking into those jet-black eyes like obsidian. Dowon didn’t blame or interrogate Yeohwi’s clumsy actions. He was only asking how to resolve it.
So that’s Dowon’s way, he thought. Realistic measures came before emotional comfort. That was who Dowon was.
“……Later.”
Yeohwi answered weakly. Right now, the existence before his eyes was more desperate than revenge or retaliation.
“I’ll think about it later. Right now…… I just want to be with Dowon-ssi.”
“……Alright.”
Dowon didn’t ask anymore. Instead, he pulled up the disheveled blanket and covered Yeohwi up to his chin.
“Rest. You have a fever.”
Dowon only said that and tried to withdraw. It was the moment he raised his body from the bed to return to the chair.
“Um, Dowon-ssi.”
“What.”
“I……. Mmm, I’m hungry.”
Yeohwi mumbled. It was something that popped out because he wanted to hold onto Dowon somehow but had nothing to say.
Dowon checked his wristwatch. It was long past mealtime. He reached toward the intercom on the table beside the bed.
“I’ll tell Mrs. Park. I’ll have her bring you some porridge at least.”
As Dowon was about to pick up the receiver, something heavy pulled at his clothes. It was Yeohwi. Unable to use his fingers, he was clumsily holding Dowon’s sleeve sandwiched between both bandaged arms.
Dowon stopped and looked back.
“……Dowon-ssi.”
Yeohwi looked up at him with wet eyes.
“Can’t Dowon-ssi do it?”
“……What?”
“I know this isn’t the time to act spoiled like this……. My hands are like this so I can’t eat alone.”
Yeohwi raised his gaze and stared at Dowon.
“I’d like to borrow my husband’s hands.”
Dowon’s brow twitched.
“You have the nerve to make me wait on you even at this point.”
“……Can’t I?”
Yeohwi asked with drooping eyes. It was a face on the edge of a cliff, looking like he’d burst into tears again if rejected.
“Are you very busy? Do you need to go back to the company?”
Dowon looked at Yeohwi’s face and the thick bandaged hands holding his sleeve in turn. He should refuse. It’ll spoil him. This crosses the line. Reason warned him so.
“……Phew.”
Dowon picked up the receiver.
“Mrs. Park, please bring up some of the porridge you made.”
After putting down the receiver, he sat back down with his buttocks on the bedside. Only then did a faint color return to Yeohwi’s face.
“Dowon-ssi is going to feed me, right? That’s it, right……?”
“I’ll ask Mrs. Park to do it.”
“What? Really?”
“Don’t whine.”
“But.”
Yeohwi glanced at Dowon with anxious eyes. But contrary to his cold words, Dowon didn’t move and remained sitting in that spot.
“You know……. You didn’t take off that watch.”
“What.”
“While looking at the watch, did you think of me a little……? Like, maybe you missed me or something.”
“Where would I have time for that? I was too busy.”
“But you didn’t take it off. You’re still wearing it even now.”
“Should I take it off right now and throw it in your face?”
Dowon clicked his tongue and swallowed a sigh. A matching wristwatch. What use was that thing in the current situation.
“Yours is broken anyway. No, I should say it’s smashed to pieces.”
“Ah…….”
Only the remains of what had been a watch were left at the abandoned factory. It was damaged beyond repair, to the point where it could never be worn again.
“You told me to keep it safe. You…… tsk.”
Dowon clicked his tongue again. Somehow the scale of the accidents seemed to be getting bigger. At Dowon’s eyes clearly showing displeasure, Yeohwi read the mood and groveled.
“I’m really, really, really sorry. Damn, those bastards……. Why did they have to touch the watch of all things…….”
“It’s fine. Be glad that’s all. How fortunate your skull didn’t crack.”
“It would’ve been better if my head cracked. Wounds heal someday. They’ll reattach, right.”
“You’d die. Would they reattach?”
“I’m young and healthy so I’m fine.”
“Ha, if you’re that fine, eat by yourself.”
“No, Dowon-ssi, ah!”
As Yeohwi tried to cling to him, the bedroom door opened with a knock. Mrs. Park entered carrying a tray. The savory smell of freshly made abalone porridge filled the room.
“Young master…… Are you conscious?”
Mrs. Park carefully approached the bedside. Her eyes were red.
“Look at these hands……. How much pain must you have been in.”
“I’m fine, ajumma. I’m sturdy, you know.”
Yeohwi tried to smile. Mrs. Park sniffled and set down the bowl of porridge on the nightstand.
“I’ll feed you. Since you can’t use your hands…….”
As she was about to pick up the spoon, Yeohwi looked at Dowon and subtly shook his head.
“Give it here.”
Dowon extended his hand to Mrs. Park.
