“Ah…”
No wonder she fought evenly with Rashanin. Rather than that, was it fortunate that he was still alive after being hit by her?
“So. How was it?”
Seong-jin kept asking how it was. How was it? The sight of the two vampires fighting…
“Just…”
“Yeah.”
“It was terrifying.”
“And?”
“Just terrifying.”
“What kind of answer is that?”
Since he only repeated that it was terrifying, Seong-jin rebuked him asking what kind of answer that was. But what could he do? No other words came to mind besides that.
No matter how much he recalled it, it was only terrifying. The vampires fighting until they were covered in blood were beyond the realm of humans.
“I’m out of it right now, so I don’t remember well. Just watch the CCTV recording later.”
“As if there would be such a thing. Do you know how unfair I feel? I know this isn’t something to say in front of someone who got hurt, but I’m dying of envy.”
“Then die. There are other things to be envious of.”
“That’s just how I am.”
Seeing Seong-jin shrug his shoulders and laugh made him lose even the will to be angry. He cursed him as a crazy bastard and closed his eyes. Even when Seong-jin asked if he was angry, he pretended not to know and didn’t open his eyes, and soon it became quiet. He wondered if he had gone too far, but still, he wasn’t in the mood to apologize right away. He decided to apologize properly tomorrow when his mind was clearer and just relaxed his body.
Perhaps because he was quite injured, his head hurt and his body felt heavy. In his half-dazed mind, only the image of them fighting until they were covered in blood kept coming up. It was still scary and gave him goosebumps. But now he was curious about why vampires with such great status as successors to grand dukes came all the way to Korea to fight. Whether it was a personal matter or if something truly serious was happening in Korea.
“My head hurts…”
As he delved into the unanswerable questions, his head hurt. Not physically, but for mental reasons. When he said it hurt, Seong-jin, who was next to him, immediately reacted.
“Should I give you medicine? The doctor said to take painkillers if it hurts a lot.”
“It’s okay. I just have a lot on my mind.”
“Take it. Being physically comfortable is the best.”
Because Seong-jin insisted until the end, he had to take the painkiller in the end.
“But why are you here?”
As he stared at Seong-jin putting away the water cup, a question arose. It was nice that he was by his side, but he became curious why a guy who was hospitalized because of appendicitis was here.
“I was being discharged today. And this is the hospital where I was admitted.”
“Ah.”
“I was going through the discharge procedures when I got contacted that you were coming here, so I’m acting as your guardian.”
Even if an appendicitis surgery takes long, one is discharged within a week, but Seong-jin had to be hospitalized for a full two weeks because inflammation developed in the wound. He remembered that during their phone call last night, Seong-jin had bragged that he was finally being discharged and would definitely go see Rashanin’s face tomorrow, and that he had even finished making a restaurant reservation. He had reason to feel wronged.
“Ah, I’m sorry… Earlier too…”
“You don’t need to be sorry. Rather than that, just come to your senses and tell me how it was. It’d be even better if you introduced him to me. So if we could have dinner together, that would be even better.”
“Persistent guy.”
He chided him for being cheeky and persistently clinging, but still, he was grateful that he volunteered to be his guardian and stayed by his side.
“I’m sleepy.”
“Sleep if you’re sleepy. It has sleeping pill ingredients too. This.”
When he said “okay” and closed his eyes, he quickly became drowsy.
*
When the body hurts and there are many thoughts, one doesn’t sleep deeply. In his dreams, Rashanin and Elisabeth were still fighting, he was hot with fever, and his head hurt.
Feeling irritated in his sleep and frowning while sighing, he felt a hand touching his head. The large hand gently swept through his hair as if to say it was alright.
Was it Seong-jin? He was half-awake. Wondering who it was, he opened his eyes. The room lights were off and only the table lamp was on, so he couldn’t see the face. A navy suit made of quality fabric. The serious three buttons were firmly fastened.
Who was the person who dressed like this?
As he was searching his memory, he came fully awake. The moment he opened his eyes, he bolted upright.
“It seems I woke you.”
As expected, it was Rashanin. He was so surprised that his heart was pounding. Because he moved so violently, the wound on his head throbbed, but he didn’t even have time to care about that.
“Your heart is beating abnormally—shall I call the nurse?”
“N-no…”
“If I startled you, I apologize. Please know that wasn’t my intention.”
“Of course… No, before that, why are you here, how…”
He was flustered and couldn’t speak properly, when he heard Rashanin’s light laughter.
“This is the first time I’ve seen you flustered.”
“I was startled…”
His heart rate still hadn’t returned to normal. It seemed he had fallen into a light panic state.
“Your face is pale and you’re even breaking out in cold sweat—are you really alright?”
Checking his complexion, Rashanin’s hand approached his face. It was an insignificant gesture. However, he flinched and stiffened without realizing it. Because he was scared.
At his reaction, the white hand stopped in midair. From above his head, he heard the sound of tongue-clicking. Unable to see what expression Rashanin was making because he was tense wondering how his hand would move. He wasn’t even curious.
His heart was gripped with fear. He knew that he wouldn’t do anything, but the fear didn’t fade.
The white hand moved slowly in the darkness. It didn’t move away but came closer. He squeezed his eyes shut, and a hand was placed on top of his head. Without lying, he froze, unable to even breathe.
“I saved your life, yet isn’t this treatment too cold?”
It was certainly Rashanin who caught him when he was falling. But even so, he was scared. Enough to make his heart stop.
“Don’t be so wary.”
Having said that, Rashanin didn’t say anything else for a long time without removing his hand. It seemed he had decided to wait until he calmed down. It was difficult to be unbothered by the fact that a hand that could rip his head off while he was still alive was touching him.
Still, as time passed, his heart calmed down and his tension gradually loosened. He convinced his head and heart that the man before him wouldn’t kill him with this hand. Thump-thump, feeling his heart rate returning to normal, he deliberately took a long sigh.
“I’m fine now.”
Even when he said he was fine, Rashanin didn’t remove his hand from his head.
“Then I’d like to receive thanks for saving your life.”
“Thank you for catching me.”
“Aren’t you being too obedient? That’s not like you.”
“Didn’t you want that, Rashanin-ssi?”
“That’s right. But since I was the cause, I’m more sorry. I had no intention of getting you involved, but Manuel is a bit aggressive and doesn’t distinguish between things.”
“I understand. But won’t you remove your hand?”
He spoke directly to Rashanin, who seemed to have no intention of removing his hand.
“I don’t want to.”
“Why?”
“Because then you’ll avoid me again.”
“I won’t avoid you.”
“No. I guarantee it. You will.”
“I said I won’t.”
“What if you do?”
Rashanin was confident that I would dodge. For some reason, I felt irritated and wanted to make a childish vow that if I dodged, I’d burn my hand or change my surname.
“If I dodge, you can just put your hand on my head again, can’t you?”
When I offered an appropriate compromise, Rashanin finally withdrew his hand. My gaze naturally followed his hand. His white, well-shaped hand moved as elegantly as a butterfly’s wings. Deliberately slowly. As if showing off that it would reach me.
Rashanin was right. Watching his hand move silently made me scared again. If it came just a little closer, I felt like I’d pull my body back to avoid it. I didn’t want to do that. I didn’t like things going Rashanin’s way, and I didn’t like feeling like I was losing either. I frowned and grabbed Rashanin’s hand that had come right in front of my nose.
I vividly felt Rashanin flinch in surprise through the palm I’d grabbed.
