“It’s not that you must come home, you can just keep staying there. Just drop by home occasionally and keep in touch. If possible, it’d be good if that friend you’re indebted to also comes and greets us.”
“……”
My face crumpled even more strangely.
“What’s the scheme?”
Hyung shrugged.
“What scheme? Father is also getting older now and as friends who pass away appear one by one, his heart is softening a bit.”
Not even in his 70s or 80s, what. Father was just in his mid-50s now. Moreover, I’m certain he’d be that same personality right until he dies.
“Anyway, from now on, drop by home occasionally and the hospital too. Contact us often. Quit the academy moderately too. You need to learn proper company work too.”
Learn company work now? Didn’t you say it runs well without me?
I just closed my mouth and stared at hyung’s shameless face for a long while. There’s definitely something going on. But I also knew well that even if I poked this cold-blooded person, not a drop of blood would come out.
Going home even briefly was something worth thinking about. There were some things I needed to bring out anyway, and if so, it was better to go in when father wasn’t there. On the other hand, I also calculated that if I said I was going home, the runaway Kwon Jukyung would return. I hated the thought of him being with Seo Jehyun even a little longer, it was driving me crazy.
But there was also the possibility that Jukyung wouldn’t return whether I vacated the house or not. Having caught the opportunity to live with his one-sided love interest, he might not want to let it go.
Thinking that, something surged up.
Bad bastard. It should be Kwon Jukyung’s tailbone that gets hurt.
I returned to the academy in time for evening classes with spiteful thoughts. I needed to eat dinner before class, but I had no appetite. My stomach just burned pointlessly. Should I buy some antacid?
Tomorrow was the weekend, so I planned to go into Jukyung’s house and pack some luggage first. After organizing my mind, I wanted to meet Jukyung, talk, and reach some conclusion somehow.
What the hell, I’ll just lay it all out. The circumstances of how I ended up pretending to be a beta though I didn’t mean to deceive, and that I’m an omega but came to like you, Kwon Jukyung, a beta bastard. I’ll just confess and if I get rejected, that’s that.
Still, I intended to ask if you also liked me a little. And honestly, I wanted to hear a yes to that question. Even if I can’t win against that Seo Jehyun person.
If what I felt was just my own delusion that he liked me, I planned to hear that answer clearly from Jukyung’s own mouth. Even though he said he likes someone else, I didn’t want to do something like lingering around him pathetically. Such miserable feelings would only gnaw away at myself. I thought I needed to acknowledge the facts, cut it off, and turn away. I should also stop fighting by spitting out words I don’t mean in a twisted mood like last time. It was an emotional problem, but the solution needed to be rational.
Steeling my mind like that, I was entering the house when I stopped mid-opening the front door. It was because Jukyung’s shoes were there. I was surprised that Jukyung had returned, but more than that, I was surprised that the shoes weren’t neatly in the shoe cabinet but were rolling around in the entrance. It was the first messy scene I’d seen since I started freeloading at Kwon Jukyung’s house.
If Kwon Jukyung had come, the lights should be on, but the house was submerged in darkness with only the entrance sensor light on. In the dimly brightened view, I also saw a briefcase, jacket, and tie that had been thrown down. The scent of Jukyung, a bit thicker than usual, floated in the room where no heating had been turned on at all.
What the hell is this?
Feeling complex and unstable in many ways, I slowly entered the house and turned on the living room light.
“Kwon Jukyung.”
I called out, but there was no answer. I stood for a moment listening and straining my senses, but I couldn’t feel any sign of a person anywhere. Besides the bag and clothes, nothing else was particularly in disarray. I took off my outer coat and hung it on the sofa—normally it would have to be taken off precisely in the dressing room, but the situation was unusual—and entered the bedroom with its door open. The bedroom was equally dark. When I turned on the light and looked around, like the living room, there was no person, only clothes scattered about.
Pants, shirt, socks, even underwear.
And those traces led like the pebbles in <Hansel and Gretel> to the bathroom inside the bedroom. No, the pebbles in <Hansel and Gretel> at least showed the way home, but these clothes somehow gave an ominous feeling as if luring me to the witch’s candy house. I furrowed my brow and looked toward the bathroom. No sound of water or sign of a person moving could be heard. I swallowed and put my hand on the bathroom door.
I opened it all tense, but I wouldn’t just run into Kwon Jukyung casually coming out after showering, right? No, would that be better? Anyway, we’re close enough to sometimes shower together. Being teased for trying to peek at him showering seemed like the best situation right now.
Honestly, Kwon Jukyung’s things being scattered carelessly like that was an unusual matter. Maybe he came home barely managing by himself because he was seriously sick somewhere. A normal person would have gone straight to bed and collapsed, but there was a high possibility that germaphobe instinctively sought the shower room before the bed even in a serious condition. What if he collapsed mid-washing in the bathroom or somewhere in the dressing room right now? My heart rushed and I roughly grabbed and turned the bathroom handle.
Or wait.
I stopped mid-pulling the door.
Since he’s such a handsome guy, a stalker might have attached from somewhere and followed him home. If not that, maybe a robber broke in. It’s a well-secured place, but you never know with these things. My spine chilled at the passing thought.
I hurriedly went outside and grabbed a mop from the kitchen. It would be nice to have a baseball bat or golf club, but unfortunately, Kwon Jukyung’s house had no such things. Firmly holding the mop in my right hand, I carefully opened the bathroom door.
“Ugh.”
The humidity trapped in the narrow space poured out all at once. And together with that humid air, a thick fragrance covered me as if a perfume bottle had been smashed. It was Kwon Jukyung’s cologne. It was definitely Kwon Jukyung’s cologne, but….
I hesitantly stepped back. Was it too intense? My heart started pounding crazily at the scent that felt familiar yet unfamiliar. It wasn’t that I’d imagined something anxious or that worry had attacked. It was a strange déjà vu. A feeling of skin tingling and consciousness becoming faint for a moment. Yes, as if a heat was coming to me.
Suppressing the strange feeling of wanting to rush in and also wanting to run away, I stepped into the dressing room. The inner bathroom door that should have been closed was open. I quickened my steps a bit and looked into the bathroom. The spacious bathroom was submerged in silence except for the sound of water droplets falling. The shower booth was empty, and I could see Kwon Jukyung’s long arm draped limply over the elongated bathtub next to it.
“Ya, Kwon Jukyung!”
I threw the mop I was holding into the dressing room and quickly approached the bathtub. Jukyung was submerged like a corpse in the filled bathtub with his eyes closed.
“What’s wrong with you? Why are you like this? Are you sick?”
I looked at Jukyung’s exposed face and brought my hand to his forehead in surprise. The moment I touched it, his forehead that felt cold instantly heated up and became hot. The water droplets falling from his hair were too cold, so I also dipped my hand in the bathtub water. It was cold. It wasn’t simply at the level of hot water having cooled down. It seemed he’d been taking a cold bath, having filled cold water from the beginning because his body was hot.
“What is this? Are you crazy? Do you think it’s midsummer right now?”
I shouted in alarm. Kwon Jukyung slowly opened his eyes.
“Kang Doyun.”
Jukyung grabbed my hand and brought my palm to his cheek. His pupils looking up at me were hot and seemed moist. Wet corners of his eyes, slightly flushed cheeks. Even his lips were redder than usual, and the breath escaping between them was somehow unstable. The skin of his forehead touching my palm was also hot. Does he have a high fever? Is that why he’s doing this? No, it’s not like we’re isolated in a remote mountain lodge—if you have a fever, you should go to the hospital or call 119, so what the hell are you doing right now?
“You seem to have a fever, so what are you doing like this? Get up. Let’s go to the hospital.”
I removed Jukyung’s hand and put my hands under his armpits to lift him up. Jukyung put his arms around my shoulders and seemed to obediently try to raise his body.
But the moment I, who had been bending my knees, tried to stand up, Jukyung suddenly pulled with strength. My body, losing balance at that force, tilted toward the bathtub.
“Uh, uwaah?”
Splash.
My left thigh caught on the bathtub edge like a lever and I slid into the bathtub fully clothed. Though I flailed my arms and grabbed the edge and Jukyung, it wasn’t a position where I could easily regain balance, so I had to submerge completely, even my head, before standing up. Cold water permeated my entire body in the blink of an eye, and finely broken water droplets splashed everywhere.
“Puh, puwah, ugh, it’s cold!”
I ended up in a position as if sitting down with my legs crossed over the bathtub edge, splashing around while balancing with one hand and wiping my wet face with the other.
It wasn’t a mistake but clear intent. Damn Kwon Jukyung hadn’t simply lost balance while clinging to me, but had pulled me into the bathtub with force. Watching me barely straighten my body after floundering, Jukyung laughed lowly. See? I wasn’t grabbing an innocent person at all. Looking at Jukyung’s eyes curved as if truly pleased, I was dumbfounded.
What the hell is that expression? Is he not sick but drunk? No, to be more honest, it seemed more like drugs than alcohol. I glared at Jukyung with my face all scrunched up.
“Ya, are you craz—uwah.”
Before I could properly confront him, my body flipped backward again. It was because Jukyung pushed my shoulder back and grabbed the leg that had been hooked on the edge, pulling it toward him inside the bathtub. This time I appropriately displayed quick reflexes and grabbed both edges, but I couldn’t avoid the disaster of my head submerging once before coming out. It was because the bathtub was too large and wide.
“Why are you doing this, seriously? This bastard is craz—huk.”
