The next morning too, Taeju took a walk around the mansion. Today’s call was from Hyeonju. Hyeonju, the daughter of the vice president of the only domestic casino for Korean nationals, was a pretty decent partner.
‘Where’s your cousin’s house?’
“Gangwon-do. Want to come visit?”
‘As if you’d even open the door if I actually showed up.’
Hyeonju was cute as she glared at him without malice while subtly revealing her true feelings. Taeju imagined Hyeonju barging into this house while snorting.
“I’m living here as a guest too, so bringing a woman in on top of that seems a bit too much.”
‘Who says I want to live there.’
What reaction would Seok Iseo have if he saw his cousin’s girlfriend? This time, his laughter didn’t end with just a brief snort.
“Come if you want. I’ll send you the address.”
‘Really? Is it really okay to come?’
“Come.”
‘If I go all the way to Gangwon-do and you don’t even show your face like last time, it’s really over.’
Taeju burst out laughing. Even while gritting her teeth in frustration, she couldn’t say she wouldn’t come. That transparent heart of hers was cute.
If you were to point out Taeju’s style, it was this type of preference. People with raw, naked emotions that he could grasp and shake around, yet who made him bestow sympathy and generosity.
“Come quickly, I miss you.”
He couldn’t say they were in a dating relationship with Hyeonju. Their contact was irregular, and when busy, more than a month would pass without knowing. But when they met, they were intimate like lovers, and their time in bed was nothing short of hot.
At that one sentence, Hyeonju answered immediately, ‘I’ll make time.’ She hung up just like that.
It was fortunate that when saying he missed her, he didn’t need to explain the reason.
If he said he missed her because his body was heated, such a reaction would probably be hard to expect. He didn’t know how heated his body was—even his cousin right before his eyes seemed arousing.
Even while talking with Hyeonju, he reflected on Seok Iseo. He was a strange man.
All day yesterday, the two were in the workshop together. Seok Iseo rustled about doing something as he always had, and Yeon Taeju sat in an appropriate spot and observed him like that until he was tired.
At some point, the ajumma approached and left a cup of coffee before disappearing. The coffee received after waiting over 2 hours was decent enough to drink.
‘Is it okay?’
The man who seemed absorbed in his rough sketch somehow knew and asked immediately. The staring gaze even gave the feeling of eagerly waiting for an answer.
‘It’s good.’
After finishing his walk around the house and entering the dining room, like yesterday, Seok Iseo was sitting quietly in front of the dining table. Seok Iseo lifted his gaze that had been looking around the table area to meet eyes, then looked at his rice bowl again.
“Hyung, did you sleep well?”
Unlike yesterday, today he came in late even knowing he was waiting. Because he wanted to see him waiting for him obediently.
“How about you?”
“I always sleep well.”
Taeju sat down in the seat across from him at the long dining table and picked up his utensils. Only then did Iseo finally begin eating as well.
“Where does it hurt?”
The pale face that had been lowered toward the rice bowl slowly rose and turned toward Taeju. He just shook his head without saying anything. But it was strangely unconvincing. It really wasn’t nothing.
On his face so white it was transparent, the lips that bore the only hint of color were white today too. Taeju carefully watched the slightly parted lips.
“Your complexion doesn’t look good.”
He lifted his bottom from his seat and reached out his arm. When he touched his forehead, warm, sticky heat was immediately transmitted. The moment Taeju’s eyes narrowed, Iseo hastily pulled his face back. Taeju’s hand stopped alone in mid-air.
“You have a fever?”
“Don’t touch me.”
“Auntie, do you have a thermometer?”
“Leave it. The fever will pass soon.”
Taeju’s smiling face gradually hardened. His irritation already rose a bit at being told not to touch. The auntie stopped mid-step while bringing a thermometer.
“Don’t worry about it, and I told you not to touch me.”
“You seem to have a fever, please give me the thermometer.”
“It’s fine. Put it away. It’s not like this is the first or second time.”
“Since you already brought it, please give it to me.”
“I said it’s fine…”
This time Taeju’s hand completely encompassed everything from the jawbone to the entire cheek. What’s the big deal about just this much touching? It was a hand extended out of antipathy toward Seok Iseo acting as sensitively as possible.
But when Seok Iseo’s face was fully caught in his hand, the antipathy became powerless.
The phrase on side mirrors suddenly came to mind. Objects are closer than they appear in the mirror. Seok Iseo’s face is smaller than it appears to the eye.
Whether his hand was large or Seok Iseo’s face was small, it covered one entire cheek. A visual impact, so to speak. Surprised by that, his assessment of Iseo’s body temperature came belatedly.
“You’re hot.”
So Taeju’s voice came out slightly hoarse. Hot. Definitely hot. The small face was radiating heat intensely.
Seok Iseo’s grasp of the situation was remarkably slower than his own. He couldn’t pull his face back like before, nor could he fight back.
“Where’s the medicine?”
Standing up as is, Taeju received the thermometer from the auntie and checked his temperature.
“38.9 degrees.”
“Leave it. Let me eat and then take it.”
At their standoff that wasn’t quite a standoff, the auntie carefully read the room and retreated. Taeju stood next to Iseo and silently looked down at him.
Seok Iseo had no intention of getting up. He just sat there and slowly brought spoonfuls of rice to his mouth. For some reason that was infuriating. He didn’t know why that ghastly pale face was so infuriating.
“Do whatever you want.”
Yesterday he’d watched those eyelashes from across the table, but today he was watching them from above. And he set down the thermometer noisily next to him.
Why am I so pissed off? It’s not like Seok Iseo said anything harmful or unreasonable to him.
He actually knew why. There was one reason why he was getting furious over nothing. His cousin hyung, who looked manageable enough to swallow in one bite, kept getting uppity.
“Taking care of a sick person is definitely tiring.”
Even he thought it was an absurd thing to say. Iseo looked absurd too.
Taeju looked down at Seok Iseo and smiled, wrinkling his nose bridge.
“What?”
“I’m saying it’s not how I feel.”
“Is your speech always like that?”
“What speech?”
Taeju asked innocently, pushing his face close. Ridiculously, when they got close with just a span’s distance, Seok Iseo pulled his bottom back and increased the distance. Even when getting sharp, he seemed to dislike getting close.
“Ah, is my speech arrogant, hyung?”
Seok Iseo, with his deathly pale lips pressed tightly together, glared silently.
“If I offended you, I’m sorry. What I was just thinking came out of my mouth.”
Red blood rushed to his previously pale complexion. He seemed angry enough for blood to surge vigorously.
“But I’m offended too. Because hyung didn’t listen to me.”
“What are you talking about? Not listening…”
“From now on, whatever I say, listen to me right away. Hyung.”
Taeju’s large hand this time wrapped around Iseo’s shoulder. He could feel the thin frame and hot heat beneath the fabric.
The shoulder trembled and shrank. At that, Taeju snorted a few times.
“My personality is already shitty, but it pisses me off to make it even more fucking shitty.”
Taeju casually smiled and brushed past Seok Iseo’s eyes growing wide enough to fall out.
“Enjoy your meal. Take your medicine. Whatever medicine it is.”
Taeju left the dining room right away.
Blue veins bulged at his temples. Taeju twisted his head left and right, making cracking bone sounds. His actions were like a punk and his face looked like a total punk.
“Fuck, a bite-sized morsel is acting up.”
Just because he’s being treated as hyung for having money, he really thinks he’s the hyung. Whether he was secluding himself, confined, or really convalescing, he didn’t know his personality was so fucking shitty.
“Ahjussi! Where’s my car!”
He quickly crossed the lawn that would be somewhere between the garden, golf course, and clay shooting range. Taeju yelled at the employee. The person who’d been repairing the estate deck straightened his bent knees and looked back at Taeju.
