* * *
In the empty waiting room, Wooyeon was staring into space as if he’d lost his soul. Unlike ordinary surgery patient waiting rooms, the VIP waiting room had a bed, massage chairs, and even refreshments prepared, but he couldn’t touch any of them. He kept recalling the image of his mother entering the operating room.
When he lowered his head, tears that seemed to have dried up fell again. Then, the automatic door opened and Jeonghan entered.
“They said the surgery has started.”
“Yeah…”
“It’s hot, so be careful.”
What Jeonghan handed to Wooyeon was hot chocolate. Warm heat spread into his palm.
“He’s a skilled doctor. Your mother will be okay.”
At Jeonghan’s words, Wooyeon nodded silently. Wooyeon just held the hot chocolate in the takeout cup in his hand, looking like he had neither the thought nor the leisure to drink it. Jeonghan, who had been watching such a Wooyeon, opened the hot chocolate’s opening and gestured for him to drink. Only then did Wooyeon slowly raise his hand and bring his lips to the hot chocolate.
“Do you feel a bit better?”
“Yeah…”
In truth, there was no way he’d feel better, but Wooyeon just said so. On the waiting room monitor, the words “In Surgery” were displayed along with his mother’s name.
“That’s a relief.”
Jeonghan bent his waist and caressed the cheek of Wooyeon who was sitting. The gaze that had lost focus soon turned toward Jeonghan. His already forlorn face was wet with tears and his eyes were swollen pink.
“Thank you for today.”
Jeonghan’s lips curved in a peculiar arc. It was a face that felt satisfaction rather than joy.
“I’ll never forget… for my whole life.”
“Your whole life?”
Jeonghan echoed Wooyeon’s words. With a somewhat unstable face, Wooyeon just looked at such a Jeonghan’s face. Soon the takeout cup Wooyeon was holding was placed on the table by Jeonghan. Jeonghan’s fingers came into Wooyeon’s empty hand, and Jeonghan gently but quickly wrapped around the back of Wooyeon’s ear and cheek. It was also an instant that Jeonghan’s face approached.
“Mm…!”
Their lips overlapped and Wooyeon’s lips opened by Jeonghan’s lips. His tongue invaded inside roughly, and the hand that had been interlaced with Wooyeon’s hand slipped out and wrapped around Wooyeon’s waist.
Jeonghan sucked on Wooyeon’s lips and laid Wooyeon down on the sofa. Behind Jeonghan, the words “In Surgery” on the monitor flickered. Wooyeon clenched his fist and pushed Jeonghan’s shoulder. Even that was trembling.
“What is it?”
Jeonghan had an expression that seemed somewhat annoyed. Wooyeon wanted to explain that somehow it felt like they shouldn’t do this right now, but when he saw Jeonghan’s face, his mouth wouldn’t open. Though he also thought he shouldn’t refuse, he couldn’t concentrate because of thoughts about his mother.
“Right now, right now…”
“Right now what?”
Irritation was evident in Jeonghan’s voice. Wooyeon somehow felt suddenly scared and couldn’t say anything to Jeonghan. Jeonghan’s fingers touched Wooyeon’s lips that were wet with his saliva. Jeonghan didn’t seem to intend to listen anyway.
“When you kiss me, close your eyes properly.”
Jeonghan grabbed Wooyeon’s chin and kissed him again. This time it became even rougher than before. When Wooyeon didn’t open his lips, Jeonghan bared his teeth and bit Wooyeon’s lower lip, and Jeonghan finally inserted his tongue between the lips that opened while moaning. His mind became hazy at the sensation of wet mucous membranes rubbing together. As strength gradually left Wooyeon’s arms that had been trying to push Jeonghan away, Jeonghan lifted Wooyeon’s arms to drape them over his shoulders.
“Haa.”
When Wooyeon barely breathed out like a sigh at the briefly separated lips, Jeonghan’s breathing became rougher. At the lips swallowed again, he felt Jeonghan’s pheromones. When Wooyeon shook his head and tried to avoid it at the unfamiliar sensation, Jeonghan caught him again. It was a kiss where one person ran away and one person chased. When the entangled tongue was sucked by Jeonghan, Wooyeon made a thin moaning sound with their lips still pressed together. Jeonghan’s excitement was clearly conveyed to their touching lower bodies.
“Sunbae.”
Jeonghan’s low voice had become even lower. When Jeonghan’s hand that had released their lips rubbed Wooyeon’s chest, Wooyeon even felt somewhat hot. Wooyeon raised his wet eyes to look at Jeonghan’s face. His mind was completely blank after their tongues had mixed messily.
“You’re pretty when you listen well.”
It seemed to be about Wooyeon closing his eyes. Jeonghan stroked his head as if treating Wooyeon like a puppy, then briefly gave a baby kiss that made a smacking sound. Even knowing this kiss was meaningless to Jeonghan too, Wooyeon’s heart pounded. After confirming Wooyeon’s face that had flushed red, Jeonghan laughed with a snickering sound, then unbuttoned the top button of Wooyeon’s shirt.
“When you cry, it turns me on more, sunbae.”
Wooyeon’s eyes shook. Jeonghan was smiling with a face familiar to Wooyeon, unsuited to his obscene words.
Tok tok tok.
Jeonghan continued to unbutton the shirt. Wooyeon wasn’t foolish enough not to know what Jeonghan’s actions meant. In his head, Jeonghan’s rough kiss and the image of his mother entering the operating room mixed together. He could give more than just a kiss. Though Wooyeon thought it was natural, tears somehow came. Tears flowed from the corners of lying Wooyeon’s eyes.
“…Jeonghan-ah.”
His brain was on the verge of overload. Unable to bear it any longer, Wooyeon raised his arm and stopped Jeonghan’s hand. Already about half of the shirt’s buttons were undone. Though he thought Jeonghan might get angry, Jeonghan’s face was calm.
“Right now, right now… I can’t do it. Sorry, I’m sorry…”
At the face with a cold light, Wooyeon suddenly became scared. Wooyeon was crying profusely while gauging Jeonghan’s reaction. Jeonghan looked at such a Wooyeon with an expressionless face, then soon smiled gently again and wiped Wooyeon’s wet cheeks.
“Sunbae, do you know that’s the first time you’ve called my name?”
Jeonghan kissed the cheek of Wooyeon who was panting and crying. Wooyeon felt somehow more miserable, clung to Jeonghan and cried, and Jeonghan held such a Wooyeon and patted him.
And around the time Wooyeon stopped crying, the words “In Surgery” on the waiting room monitor changed to “Surgery Complete.”
* * *
When they came out of the waiting room at the announcement that the surgery was over, dawn was breaking outside the hospital. Soon doctors poured out of the operating room taking off their masks, saying the surgery ended well and to watch the prognosis carefully.
As the terrible tension released and Wooyeon’s legs staggered, Jeonghan, who had been by Wooyeon’s side until then, caught him.
“I’ll take you home, get in.”
Mother went back into the intensive care unit, and since visits to the intensive care unit were only possible at designated times, there was no other way even if he stayed at the hospital. In the case of critical patients, hospitals sometimes requested guardian standby, but Wooyeon’s case was excluded.
Jeonghan opened the passenger seat of his car parked in the hospital parking lot and put strength into the hand wrapping around Wooyeon’s shoulder to seat him. It was a different car from the one he’d ridden before. Wooyeon sat quietly in the car. Today, he’d incurred a large debt to Kwon Jeonghan that he couldn’t repay even more than with money. Not long after, Jeonghan got in the driver’s seat, and Jeonghan’s gaze turned toward Wooyeon.
“First, let’s go home and sleep a bit.”
Jeonghan leaned his body and fastened Wooyeon’s seatbelt. At the face that had come closer, Wooyeon’s eyes looked at Jeonghan. Perhaps since his mother fell ill, it was the first time someone had taken care of him like this. When their eyes met, Jeonghan smiled brightly and tapped Wooyeon’s cheek with his finger, then leaned back against the driver’s seat.
“The surgery went well, so she’ll be okay.”
“…Yeah.”
Without knowing how he’d found out the address, Jeonghan entered an address near Wooyeon’s house in the navigation without asking Wooyeon and started the car. Wooyeon felt strange, but decided not to ask Jeonghan how he knew.
The roads on weekend morning were quiet. Only then did Wooyeon think it was fortunate that today was Saturday. If it had been a weekday, he might have been fired from his part-time job. He wasn’t normal either, thinking about part-time jobs when his mother was so sick.
Tall buildings passed quickly beside the gray road. The car’s low exhaust sound seemed to weigh down Wooyeon’s chest.
“And I spoke well to the hospital. They’ll take more care than before, so don’t worry too much.”
Jeonghan said while gently turning the steering wheel. Wooyeon just nodded without answering.
“You’re tired from not sleeping, right? Want to close your eyes for a bit?”
“No…”
Jeonghan had also stayed up all night. Though it was about his mother who was more precious to Wooyeon than anyone, even though it wasn’t the case for Jeonghan. Even the words of thanks felt shameless, so Wooyeon couldn’t open his mouth.
Thanks to the quiet road, the car soon arrived near Wooyeon’s house. After parking the car in front of a laundry that didn’t operate on weekends, Wooyeon unfastened his own seatbelt, then unfastened Wooyeon’s. With a clicking sound, Wooyeon’s eyes met Jeonghan’s again. Jeonghan saw Wooyeon’s long eyelashes trembling, then tilted his head slightly to the side and approached.
Even before their lips touched, when the tips of their noses brushed against each other, Wooyeon tightly closed his eyes. Laughter leaked from Jeonghan’s lips watching that. Warm body temperature was felt from the large hand wrapping around his cheek. The tongue grazing his teeth and palate was gentle.
“You listen well now?”
From the lips that hadn’t moved away yet, he felt Jeonghan’s breath mixed with his pheromones every time he spoke. Only then did Wooyeon gently open his eyes, and when their eyes met, Jeonghan smiled and caressed his cheek with his hand.
