Thankfully, Hae-sook noona didn’t bother pointing out the lie.
“Even so, you said all you did was dust. It’s not like the place turns into a sweatbox without AC like my house does. That one’s just plain frail. I knew it the moment I saw him holed up at home, too lazy to even walk, let alone exercise.”
Noona, why are you saying that in front of Choi Seol. As if it wasn’t bad enough that he already gives me grief about not exercising.
“I agree with that, actually.”
See, there it is. Latching onto that like he’d been waiting for it.
“Exactly. You’ve seen it yourself this past week, haven’t you? This one thinks dipping his feet in the front yard counts as exercise.”
“It really is pretty severe. At this rate he’ll be needing one of those elderly mobility scooters before he even hits forty.”
“That’s what I’m saying. You haven’t even been up the mountain behind the house with Yeoreum, have you. That’s his maternal family’s mountain, and he made it, what, ten steps? Panting like he was dying, you’d think he’d just summited Everest.”
“Is he really that bad?”
“I’m not that bad.”
I finally couldn’t take it anymore and spoke up. The voice that came out was thick enough to surprise even myself. Not just my throat—my whole body felt like waterlogged cotton, heavy and drooping. Still, forcing myself to move, I managed to push my upper body up.
A brief wave of dizziness passed, but a sharper, stinging pain pulled my head toward my arm instead. A needle was stuck in there. A long, thin tube that unmistakably looked like an IV line ran up to a bag of fluid. Staring blankly at the clear liquid flowing into my body, wondering what on earth was going on, I felt an obvious stare on me.
“That’s an IV drip.”
Looking up, I found the two of them watching me with more worry in their eyes than I’d expected.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah, as you can see. But…”
Trailing off as I glanced around, the scenery in front of me was nothing like what I’d seen right before passing out. It wasn’t entirely unfamiliar, though. I’d come here a few days ago to get Choi Seol’s wound disinfected, and a week before that too, riding in an ambulance for the first time in my life, all thanks to Choi Seol.
“Is this the hospital?”
“Ugh, you weakling.”
Noona ruffled my hair without mercy. Even though she didn’t seem to be putting much force into it, my head lolled and wobbled around far too easily.
“N-noona. I’m dizzy.”
“You collapsed.”
“…What?”
A flash of an image suddenly crossed my mind. My hand instinctively went to the back of my head. Thankfully, there were no stitches or bandages to feel. Still, you never knew.
“Your head’s fine. Everything else checks out too. Looking at you now, your memory seems normal as well.”
As if reading my mind, Choi Seol, who’d stayed silent until now, finally spoke up. I’d been too out of it to even remember he was there.
“Are you okay?”
“As you can see, I’m fine.”
“You fell down together with me earlier. Did you hit anything, or get hurt anywhere?”
I recalled the sensation of Choi Seol’s weight pressing down on top of me at that moment. In the end, since my head hadn’t been hurt, it must mean Choi Seol had protected me, but I couldn’t recall it at all. Noona answered in his place.
“Both of you ended up rolling on the floor, but Choi Seol’s fine too, aside from a slight bruise. The doctor was actually impressed, said it was remarkable he came out this okay after slamming into that jar. Though if it’d been you, you might’ve come out with something broken.”
The implication was probably meant to be that we were both incredibly lucky, but I went serious instantly.
“He hit the jar? Did it break, by any chance?”
I asked Choi Seol, and he shook his head.
“It didn’t break. Things happened too fast for me to check properly, but I’m sure of that much.”
“Really? Phew, thank god.”
I let out a sigh of relief, hand over my still-startled heart. That thing really was expensive, I’d heard. My uncle had said something about it fetching the price of a whole house at auction. I’d been trembling with anxiety thinking I might have to become a servant if it had actually broken, so hearing it was safe was a huge relief.
But somehow, I’d been feeling a sharp stare directed at me for a while now. Not from Choi Seol—Hae-sook noona was glaring at me with an expression dripping with contempt. Under her gaze, feeling unfairly wronged, I asked in a sulky voice.
“…What.”
“What kind of person worries about a jar before their friend? Because of that, your friend ended up with bruises on his national-treasure-grade— no, I mean, his body. It could’ve easily ended up with cracked bones.”
“Officer.”
“Cracked bones?”
The difference in severity between a simple bruise and cracked bones hit completely differently. More startled now than I’d been over the jar, I stared at Choi Seol.
“Where’s it bruised? Let me see.”
Before I could even think it through, I’d already reached for Choi Seol’s shirt. It was his flinch, his upper body pulling back instinctively, that snapped me back to my senses.
“Oh, sorry.”
“…It’s fine.”
Choi Seol answered a beat late.
“It’s nothing serious, so you don’t need to worry.”
He seemed to be adding that kindly, maybe out of concern that I’d worry, but it only made things more embarrassing. What exactly was I trying to do just now? Strip his shirt off to check myself? Disgusted with myself, heat rushed to my head.
“Han Yeoreum, what’s wrong now? Your face is all red.”
“It’s just hot.”
Noona was clearly watching the whole thing and knows exactly why, smug as ever. I wanted to just ignore that grin she was giving me, but right now, looking at Choi Seol’s direction was even harder. In the end, I used noona as an escape and kept the conversation going with her.
“Anyway, that aside… how did I even get here? Don’t tell me it was an ambulance again?”
“Ah, that felt like too much of a hassle on my conscience, so I borrowed my dad’s truck and loaded you up myself. I could tell at a glance you weren’t in serious condition.”
“Then there wasn’t even any need to come to the hospital in the first place.”
“Well, that’s true, but… eh, you never know, though.”
Did noona’s eyes just dart to the side just now? I think I had a pretty good idea whose strong insistence was responsible for me lying here right now. Glancing sideways myself, just to check, I immediately met Choi Seol’s eyes. He’d apparently been watching this whole time. Not quite brave enough to look straight at him yet, I lowered my gaze, landing on the needle stuck in my arm.
“So why exactly am I hooked up to this?”
It was strange enough to begin with that just nearly falling had caused me to actually pass out. Thanks to Choi Seol protecting me, it didn’t even seem like I’d hit anything.
“The hospital said it’s probably just heat exhaustion combined with built-up stress that made you faint. Other than that, nothing else seems wrong. Just in case, I asked them to give you an IV and we’ve been waiting.”
“Stress…”
The heat, sure, but fainting from something like stress felt almost absurd. I was the type to get stressed easily, sure, but I’d never once lost consciousness over it before. Was there something recent serious enough to cause that?
Don’t tell me it’s because of Choi Seol?
Even so, that seemed like a stretch. Glancing at Choi Seol, our eyes met again, without fail, just like before. The persistent staring was starting to feel like a lot to handle.
Why’s he acting like this again. It reminded me uneasily of that first day at the hospital. If anything, it seemed even more intense now. At a time like this, having noona around was a relief. Without her, things would’ve gotten unbearably awkward.
That’s when it happened.
“Well, since I’m here anyway, I’ll swing by the station real quick. Got a call earlier, seems like I need to go deal with something because of a junior officer.”
“What? Why?”
Why leave at this exact timing. I was just thinking a second ago how relieved I was that noona was here.
“What about getting home? How am I supposed to get back?”
“Call a taxi.”
“You’re telling a sick patient right now to take a taxi?”
“Your color’s actually looking the best it has in days, probably thanks to the nutrient drip. And isn’t a taxi ride smoother than the truck anyway?”
“Noona, what are you talking about. Obviously riding with someone I know is more comfortable than some total stranger driving.”
Honestly, a stranger’s car would’ve been more comfortable. I already got carsick easily, and the truck had been way too bumpy. On top of that, a taxi let me stay quiet the whole ride without issue, while riding with someone I knew meant the pressure of having to keep the mood going the entire way. But none of that mattered right now, either way.
“And besides, I don’t even have any money. I’m starving on top of it too.”
“Money’s right here.”
Choi Seol pulled a familiar-looking wallet out of his pocket and held it up.
“Brought yours just in case. Got your phone too.”
“Oh, thanks.”
I happily took the phone and wallet from him. Managing to grab all that in such a chaotic situation—that really was Choi Seol for you. Though admittedly, my habit of carelessly tossing my wallet and phone wherever in my room probably helped make that easy.
Wait a second, that’s not the point.
“Happy now? I’m off then.”
“W-wait. Noona? Noo—”
Before I could even grab her, noona walked straight out of the hospital without looking back. For some reason, her retreating figure looked oddly relieved. Now that I thought about it, maybe noona was running away too. Maybe she’d realized Choi Seol’s current state wasn’t great and decided to dump him on me instead. What on earth happened while I was out cold?
“Surprised, huh?”
Since Choi Seol showed no intention of talking even after noona left, I ended up speaking first.
“Sorry. I didn’t expect myself to pass out there either. And on top of that, I dragged you down with me like some kind of water ghost and got you bruised too. You must’ve really had it rough. Twice in the ER isn’t exactly an experience worth repeating.”
“…….”
Please say something. Forcing a bright smile was starting to make my face cramp. Getting no response even then, I finally let out a deep sigh.
“Are you actually okay, though?”
“I’ll be leaving tomorrow.”
“…What?”
The words, barely registering, made me ask back blankly.
“Leaving, what do you mean?”
“Exactly what I said.”
For the first time, Choi Seol avoided my eyes, a bitter smile tugging at his lips.
“I was too shameless. I just barged in and leaned on you without any sense of boundaries, when you had no obligation to me at all. I think I just ended up being a burden.”
“No, there’s some kind of misunderstanding—”
“I’m sorry.”
“That’s not it, just listen to me—”
“I’ll head out first thing tomorrow, so you won’t have to worry about this anymore.”
“W-wait a second.”
“Thanks for everything.”
“Argh! Just wait a second, will you!”
Frustrated, I finally raised my voice. I could feel everyone’s eyes turning toward us, of course, but there was no room to care about that right now.
“This is sudden, I know, but it’s not like I can’t understand why you’d make this decision. I’m the one who suggested you go back home first, after all. So, I know it’s a little ridiculous to say this now, but even so, this isn’t the way to do it.”
I knew full well Choi Seol hadn’t wanted to leave even up until this afternoon, so if he was acting like this now, the reason was obvious. It meant it was because of me, and that made me feel like the genuinely terrible one in this.
“The reason I told you to go check on your old place wasn’t because you were a burden. I just… I just, I mean, it’s because I…”
I should’ve thought this through before opening my mouth. How was I supposed to say that it was because he’d been my first love ten years ago, because I liked him so much it hurt, because being around him scared me—scared that the feelings I’d worked so hard to bury would start stirring all over again?
