While he was grateful for the porridge Junseok had bought, Hyedam didn’t want to have a long conversation, so he pretended to be tired and exhausted in every way, squeezing his eyes shut and sneaking under the blanket. Though Junseok told him to eat more, seeing him get up from the bed meant the nagging would stop now.
“Something happened, didn’t it?”
Hyedam inwardly swallowed a sigh at Junseok’s words that came along with the sounds of clearing away what he’d just eaten and organizing what he’d bought. Now it was time for interrogation, it seemed.
“What is this every time. Just quit your job. With your experience, where can’t you go?”
If you’re done organizing, just leave. It looks like I can eat what you bought for over a week, so no need to worry about food, and it’s the weekend so I can rest well for two days and go to work.
Hyedam grumbled inwardly and pulled the blanket over his head. I already feel like digging through the mantle to the core in self-loathing, so you don’t need to do it too.
“Just date him.”
Like hell pretending to sleep with his head hidden tightly under the blanket. At the blunt words that dug right in, Hyedam had somehow bolted upright on the bed.
“What. This intense reaction? Ah… were you already dating?”
“…Just go.”
“You like the team leader. And that guy seems to like you too. What is there to life? Just live as you please. Are you worried you’ll hear something like ‘break up with my son’ later? Haven’t you watched too many dramas for that? That kind of melodrama doesn’t work these days. It seems like you’ve already done everything, so being reserved is funny too.”
Standing in front of the refrigerator organizing the porridge neatly, Junseok rambled on and Hyedam’s mouth fell open. This guy who has absolutely zero tact—just how much does he know? His clothes are a bit disheveled, but that can easily happen from a hangover.
Hastily feeling the clothes he was wearing, Hyedam’s gaze fell on his solar plexus visible through the shirt where buttons had disappeared and gaped open. He could see something reddish and purplish, and rolling his eyes slightly to watch Junseok who was still showing his back, Hyedam subtly pulled the blanket up to cover his shoulders.
“Say something that makes sense.”
Instead of hearing ‘break up with my son,’ he’d heard ‘beat the shit out of him.’ Recalling his open-minded parents who made their son work, ordered him around, and said it was okay to beat him up if he didn’t listen, Hyedam groaned and flopped back down.
“To put it bluntly. If they say break up with my son, you say too. I saved that son. I fed him, clothed him, put him to bed, and then he ate and ran. So give me money at least! It’s probably a rich household. Just get enough money to live comfortably eating and playing until you die. Why think so complicatedly? For now, just date or whatever as you please.”
“Okay. I got it, so stop and go. I’ll buy you gopchang next time.”
“Hey. Who asked you to buy gopchang!”
“Just the first verse. Just the first verse. Even my grandmother didn’t nag this much, why are you doing it?”
As soon as their eyes met when Junseok, having apparently finished organizing everything in the refrigerator, stood up his large crouching body, Hyedam waved one hand to convey he should leave quickly.
“Didn’t he give you a hangover cure this time?”
At Junseok’s words that included “I’m going, you bastard,” Hyedam touched his head with the hand he’d been waving.
“Hangover cure.”
As if Hyedam didn’t understand, Junseok pointed it out once more, but Hyedam couldn’t figure out the exact meaning of what he was saying.
“What hangover cure.”
“Last time that guy said so. That he even gave you a hangover cure. That kind of guy didn’t give you one this time? You must have drunk together.”
“When was last time?”
The number of times he’d drunk alcohol with Leo could be counted on one hand. But he’d never bought him a hangover cure. If Robert bought it, then Robert bought it. Just in case there was something he’d missed, wrinkles formed heavily on Hyedam’s brow as he pondered.
“Hey hey. What are you thinking with that aching head. Just sleep. Sleep. Don’t forget about buying gopchang next time.”
“Yeah. Thanks.”
The sound of the front door opening and closing was heard, and Hyedam blankly stared at his small home that a big bear had come in and rummaged through. He could just roll to reach the sofa right next to the bed, and it was two steps to the TV in front of it. What about the kitchen next to it?
Too lazy to buy and decorate things, blinking vacantly in a space that only had what was really necessary, Hyedam let out a long sigh and turned to face the wall. What hangover cure. No matter how much he thought about it, he could only remember Robert giving him one, so it seemed that stupid bear-like guy had gotten confused.
Why make me worry by saying such trivial things. My head hurts like hell. Without thinking long, Hyedam, who’d reached a simple conclusion, closed his eyes. Let’s sleep first. But how can I sleep again after sleeping so much? Like he’d done since childhood, trivial thoughts that followed one after another lasted only a moment before Hyedam fell into a deep sleep.
* * *
“I’m really sorry. Did you wait long?”
“No. I waited exactly 2 minutes and 23 seconds. That’s not even waiting.”
“As punishment for being late, should I buy you coffee on the way?”
“I can add a shot, right?”
“Shots, whipped cream, you can add and drink whatever you want. Want a slice of cake?”
“Hyedam-ssi. You really know what’s up, don’t you?”
“But where are we going now?”
He hadn’t even worried about things like how will I face Leo at work? It would be one thing if this happened once or twice. Just thinking he should do his work with a poker face as usual, his schedule had completely changed with Robert’s phone call.
In the position of personal secretary, there were many cases where he did such a variety of work that he wondered, do I really have to do this too? There had been times in his schedule for trivial tasks like collecting shoes every morning and leaving them at the shoe repair shop. Looking at shoes that were polished every day until they shined yet seemed to have not a speck of dust on them, he’d also polished his own messy shoes while he was at it.
Anyway, today he had to work in sync with Luna, not Leo. Since the party was over, now it was preparing New Year’s gifts or something. Not going to the office and though Luna herself had picked him up at 10 o’clock, an hour later than his usual commuting time, he’d wasted time in front of his door because the door lock seemed broken and wouldn’t close properly.
He’d confirmed it locked and came out right away, but when he returned, it seemed he’d need to call a door lock technician to repair it.
“We’re picking up items ordered at the department store, having a simple lunch, and in the afternoon we need to go around a bit. It’s not something we can entrust to just one place, so when you consider the tastes of the gift recipients and purchase things, it’s always like this.”
Even while drinking the beverage purchased at the drive-through, Luna kept looking at her tablet.
“No job is easy.”
“Right? But I really love looking at and buying things, so I’m enjoying myself to the fullest. How thrilling is the fun of buying things I could never buy with my own money?”
Following Luna’s order, Hyedam had inadvertently ended up buying a hot Americano with added shots too, and while just savoring the coffee aroma, he looked for what he should do.
“Is there anything I can help with?”
“Then, this is a list of items to receive today that I printed out, so please look it over. I do check and receive them one by one, but once things start piling up later, it gets hectic.”
Receiving the file she handed him, Hyedam hesitated for a moment at its thickness.
“How many are there?”
“Please don’t think it’s necessarily one gift per person. There are many things purchased here and sent to England too.”
Watching Luna put down her coffee and eat a sandwich, Hyedam handed her a tissue that was nearby.
“Thank you, Hyedam-ssi. You’re really kind. Too good for Leo!”
What’s kind about it? Is there anyone who doesn’t need tissues when eating a sandwich? The tissue was just within his reach. And why is Leo coming up here?
“There aren’t many places this comfortable with this good treatment, so I have no choice.”
“That’s true. Leo, that guy is cold and blunt, and his personality isn’t that good either, but if he thinks of you as his person, he takes good care of you. Originally his personality wasn’t that terrible, but people are the problem. Don’t you think?”
“Relationships between people are the hardest.”
Hyedam, who’d been smelling the coffee for a while and took a small sip, chuckled at its bitterness. The taste and aroma richer than usual made the bitter taste increase proportionally, but the unique savory taste also increased, complicating his head.
If it were just bitter, he wouldn’t drink it, but the problem was the other flavors that made him endure the bitterness and drink it. It was exactly like Leo. Despite being the fool Ondal. That ambiguity hovering between the smile, favor, and kindness he occasionally showed kept pulling him in.
Every time he resolved that he had to draw the line, had to cut it off cleanly and organize it, whenever he got close to him, everything disappeared like bubbles.
Lost in thought, reading without really knowing what the items on the list meant, that lasted only a moment before entering the department store, Hyedam was swamped with the work pouring in and couldn’t think about anything.
