Can I come in? The rest of the words didn’t follow. When he gave his name, the door immediately opened wide to greet Eunchan.
“Eunchan……!”
Miro, who burst out, tightly hugged Eunchan’s waist while repeatedly calling Eunchan’s name. At the quite strong arm strength, Eunchan groaned, feeling his ribs getting crushed.
“Ah, it hurts!”
At this, Miro loosened his strength but didn’t separate from Eunchan. Rather, he buried his face in Eunchan’s nape and began to whine.
“Why…… did you only come now?”
“Are you crying right now?”
At his neck getting somewhat damp, Eunchan asked Miro in surprise, but no answer came back. He wanted to forcibly detach Miro and check his face, but since he was greatly outmatched in build and strength, Eunchan had to give up. Rather, when he relaxed his body, it seemed more comfortable.
Miro confined Eunchan in his arms like hugging a teddy bear received as a Christmas present. Miro, who hugged him tightly without gaps, was happy holding Eunchan, but because Eunchan was a person, he kept flinching, feeling suffocated.
“Miro-ssi.”
“I was waiting……”
“Wait, first let me breathe,”
And he also wanted to close the open hospital room door. He didn’t want to show people the strange scene of two men hugging. Eunchan kept fixing his head that kept turning toward Miro and pleaded for a moment of time. Eunchan carefully loosened Miro’s arms and checked his face. As expected, his eyes were full of tears as if he’d been crying.
“Why are you crying?”
“Because Eunchan came late……”
“If you knew how I got here, you couldn’t say that……”
Eunchan, who’d come after abandoning the boss and Hyungsik in South Chungcheong, sighed softly. Then he held Miro’s hand, closed the hospital room door, and led Miro toward the sofa.
“Sit down.”
He wanted to check Miro’s wound. Eunchan sat Miro on the sofa and knelt in front of him.
“Did you eat?”
“No, what grudge do you have against your hands?”
Miro naturally checked on Eunchan’s meal, and Eunchan screamed in surprise seeing Miro’s ruined hands. Though he hadn’t even unwrapped the bandage on the injured right hand yet, the left hand was also wrapped tightly with bandages.
“You must be hungry……”
“How badly hurt are you to be bandaged like this…… Why is it like this?”
Eunchan whispered while intertwining Miro’s straight fingers with his own fingers.
“Are you worried about me?”
“Shouldn’t I be?”
“……Good.”
At the out-of-the-blue question, when Eunchan showed a positive sign, Miro smiled brightly. At the halo that shone for a moment, Eunchan briefly closed and opened his eyes. Why does he look so happy? Even though there was nothing to be happy about, Miro was extremely pleased and delighted. His upturned eyes and corners of his mouth were pretty, so Eunchan ended up smiling along without realizing it.
“Don’t smile.”
Not knowing he was smiling too, Eunchan reproached Miro. Instead of answering, Miro raised his right hand and stroked near Eunchan’s forehead, which was still wet with sweat.
“I’m important, right?”
“……”
“I’m more than Hyungsik……”
Though he didn’t know why Miro was so wary of Hyungsik, Eunchan decided to give the answer Miro wanted to hear.
“I abandoned the boss and Hyungsik in South Chungcheong right now. To come here.”
As expected, Miro made an expression like he was going to die of happiness. Miro, who repeatedly pressed his lips tightly together and released them, then began to shake his body while suddenly hugging Eunchan again, as if unable to handle the overflowing emotions.
“You did well!”
“You shouldn’t laugh after crying.”
At the clear laughter that spread like water droplets along with Miro’s scent, Eunchan raised his arms and embraced Miro’s back. Though his build was bigger than his own, his thin backbone could be felt directly, as if he hadn’t eaten well.
“Don’t hurt yourself, and eat well……”
“Okay, okay!”
Still, when he was with him, Miro seemed to eat well and sleep soundly. Because Miro’s warm embrace was somehow welcome, Eunchan delivered the nagging his grandmother had done to him when he was young.
“Are you okay now?”
After stroking each other while hugging for a while, Eunchan separated his body and asked.
“Yeah.”
Though his complexion was still white like flour dough, only his pretty eyes had a faint rosy tint. Eunchan stroked Miro’s black hair and pushed his hair back behind his forehead. His neat forehead stood out.
“I heard on the way here that you have a rare blood type.”
“Yeah……”
“Then you have to be more careful about bleeding.”
Even at Eunchan’s words, Miro couldn’t concentrate at all and kept hugging Eunchan’s neck and whining.
“Are you listening to me?”
“It’s okay. Does Eunchan want to eat?”
At his brightly smiling face, Eunchan couldn’t nag anymore and nodded. While eating, he had to feed Miro too. Since both hands were unusable, nursing from now on…… was Eunchan’s responsibility.
* * *
While Eunchan roughly showered and came out, a lavish table was set in Miro’s hospital room. At the Korean set meal filling the table in front of the sofa, Eunchan dropped his towel and looked at Miro. Miro sat obediently with both hands placed on his knees, looking at Eunchan.
“What did you order again?”
“Because I’m hungry……”
“No, shouldn’t you be eating porridge? Put down the chopsticks. How are you going to eat with those hands?”
“I, I should feed Eunchan.”
“Never mind.”
Roughly shaking off his wet hair, Eunchan sat next to Miro still in his bathrobe.
“Eu-Eunchan smells good.”
“It’s because I use good shampoo. What do you want to eat first?”
Miro, who naturally sniffed Eunchan’s nape while going “sniff sniff,” laughed. Eunchan pushed away Miro’s head and answered it was thanks to expensive shampoo.
“Wi-will you feed me again?”
“Can you eat with those hands yourself? Then eat alone.”
At the words spoken because it seemed he couldn’t eat directly with injured hands, Eunchan felt Miro getting excited. When Eunchan, who wanted to tease him, put down the chopsticks saying to eat alone, Miro hurriedly urged Eunchan.
“No, no…… Give me that……”
When he picked up the vegetable side dish Miro pointed at and brought it to his mouth, he opened his mouth like a baby bird. Eunchan also scooped a spoonful of rice and fed him. Though his own meal was naturally postponed, it was okay. Miro smiled and chewed deliciously whatever Eunchan brought him, and Eunchan also gave him warm scorched rice water from time to time in case his throat got blocked.
Soon Miro’s rice bowl showed its bottom, and when it became Eunchan’s turn to eat, Miro picked up a spoon. Miro, who scooped up a full spoonful of rice, brought it to Eunchan’s mouth. Eunchan chewed the rice Miro gave him while getting side dishes. It was a strange way of eating, but neither expressed dissatisfaction. Miro kept observing Eunchan’s moving jaw muscles with a happy face, and Eunchan was half out of it between hunger and fatigue.
Soon, after finishing the long meal, Eunchan looked at Miro.
“Can you give me some clothes to change into?”
There were still plenty of unopened clothes in one corner of the hospital room. Without the stamina left to go through them one by one, Eunchan asked Miro.
“Okay!”
“Comfortable clothes. Like pajamas.”
Yawning long, Eunchan stretched. He kept his cell phone turned off. Since tomorrow was the weekend anyway, he planned to go into hiding for a while. Time was needed until the boss’s anger subsided. Eunchan confirmed his choice was right as he watched Miro take out clothes one by one and worry. That person was somehow uneasy to leave alone, kept weighing on his mind, and was pitiful somewhere.
Though he wasn’t in a position to sympathize, he still couldn’t help being drawn to him. Eunchan eventually permitted Miro one side. One side of the room with a time limit of “until catching the stalker.” However, he still didn’t know if the tenant would obediently leave.
“Just give me anything.”
“Whi-which one do you like better?”
“The right one.”
When he chose the clothes that looked cooler at least, Miro held out the clothes in his left hand.
“What, why ask if you’re going to do this?”
“This one’s prettier……”
As if wanting to dress him in pretty pajamas too, Miro mumbled softly and hid the other clothes behind him. Eunchan got up from his seat and received the clothes Miro gave him.
“I’ll change and come out. Lie down on the bed.”
“Why?”
“We have to sleep. I’m really tired.”
Though it was early evening, Eunchan, whose accumulated stress was severe, answered in a drained voice. Miro looked at Eunchan’s tired face with pity and soon nodded.
“Okay, I’ll pu-put you to sleep……”
I don’t need that. Still, being worried about wasn’t a bad feeling, so Eunchan just didn’t answer and headed to the bathroom. Somehow he was embarrassed to strip naked in front of that person. Eunchan, who entered the bathroom, roughly stuffed the wet bathrobe into the basket inside the bathroom and shook off his hair that still had moisture remaining.
The light beige-toned clothes Miro gave him were neat and cool. Short-sleeved shirt and shorts. Clothing suitable for hot summer. However, it bothered him that it was a burdensome brand to wear as pajamas. He planned to take the clothes he’d worn and wash them again. He just hadn’t decided yet whether he should wash them himself or even get them dry-cleaned.
When Eunchan opened the door and came out again, the inside of the hospital room was lit only with a pale orange light. Miro was diligently tidying up on top of the bed, and whether someone had come and cleaned it up in the meantime, the table was clean with nothing on it.
“I’ll fall asleep right away.”
A cozy atmosphere and a quiet space. Eunchan already knew how soft that hospital bed was. Eunchan, who roughly threw his still-turned-off cell phone on the nightstand, approached the bedside.
“Hu-hurry and lie down.”
“You lie down next to me too.”
To Miro, who lifted the blanket to make a place for him to enter, Eunchan gestured for him to hurry and lie down too. Just like a shy young child, Miro carefully lay down facing Eunchan’s side. Eunchan had raised the air conditioner temperature thinking of Miro, so inside was somewhat hot. However, because he liked the coziness the blanket gave, Eunchan obediently shared one blanket with Miro.
