TMWCL Ch 3 part 2

Yeoreum came out after cleaning up after her meal and washing up. Haegun was still sitting in his seat.

“It’s nothing big. Can you just leave a little later?”

“…Shall I?”

It was awkward, but it was better than being alone. It was comforting to know that if she fainted, there was someone around to take her to the hospital. Haegun could easily carry her in one arm and take her to the emergency room.

When the body is sick, the mind becomes weak. The health of the body and mind are like the front and back of a sheet of paper. So if there is a stain on one side, it can easily spread to the back. In fact, Yeoreum wasn’t afraid of fainting and getting seriously hurt. She just didn’t want to be alone. More specifically, she didn’t want to feel the emptiness that remained whenever someone left. At least, just for today.

Yeoreum lay down on the bed again. She had dried her hair, but the bedding grew damp. The room, which should have felt stuffy due to the lack of air conditioning, felt cold. It might have been due to the cloudy weather outside, but she felt like she was experiencing chills. Even after taking medicine thirty minutes ago, her condition did not improve much.

“Thank you. You can go now. Do you want me to see you off?”

Haegun’s gaze was fixed on her legs underneath the blanket. When she had come out of the shower, she had changed into a pair of shorts. Her wound from her stumble yesterday must have been exposed.

“Never mind that. Do you have ointment for your knee?”

“No.”

“Wait here.”

Haegun called someone. He gave instructions in a calm voice. Not even thirty minutes later, they could hear someone hurriedly climbing up the stairs outside followed by a knock on the door. Taehyuk’s voice, deliberately quiet, could be heard from outside.

“Hyung-nim, I’m here.”

Yeoreum knew the soundproofing wasn’t good, but this was quite bad. She pretended to be asleep and stared at the wall without moving. She felt pathetic like this pathetic apartment. Haegun went to the front door as if this was his own place and opened the door to receive the plastic bag from Taehyuk.

“Is she very sick?”

“She’s on the brink of death.”

“Wouldn’t it be better to take her to the hospital to get some IV fluids?”

She flinched at the mention of an IV, but Yeoreum continued to pretend to be asleep with all her might. It wasn’t an emergency, so she could go to the hospital later if need be. Honestly, she wanted to save the IV option as a last resort.

“We’ll see. You may go.”

“Yes, sir.”

She heard the sound of the door closing and the sound of someone going down the stairs almost simultaneously. Haegun approached Yeoreum, holding the plastic bag in his hand.

“Yeoreum.”

“……”

“I know you’re not sleeping.”

Yeoreum turned around and looked up at Haegun as he sat down on one side of the mattress. The mattress edge sank under his weight.

“Pull your knees out and apply this.”

“I don’t have to do that. It’ll be fine.”

“Are you scared?”

“About what? Do you really think I’m a kid who’s afraid of the sting of disinfection?”

“Yeoreum is a kid. You hate getting shots.”

“How do you know that?”

“Your shoulders shook when Taehyuk brought up the IV.”

“……”

“It won’t hurt, so just take out your leg.”

Yeoreum pushed out her sore legs. A fairly large portion of her knees and calves were scraped up. Haegun let out a short sigh and looked at her legs and her face repeatedly. Yeoreum avoided his gaze.

“I’m still young, so it’ll be okay if I just leave it alone.”

“I know.”

Haegun pulled out the ointment and opened the cap and seal. Then he held up the tube of ointment that was squeezing out.

“Here.”

“I’m supposed to do it?”

“What, should I do it?”

“Do I really have to apply that?”

Yeoreum’s eyes shook. The clear ointment clinging to the mouth of the tube looked like it would sting. It was already stinging from the water from the shower, so why did she have to apply this too?

“If Yeoreum won’t do it, I will.”

“……”

Yeoreum looked up at Haegun. Their eyes met. Haegun’s eyes were unusually dark, even for an Asian. In the dark room, the two of them looked at each other, relying on the faint light of the cloudy sky coming through the small window. A strange tension lingered in the air.

Why did she feel this way? She felt like it wouldn’t be so bad if he applied it himself. For a moment, the temperature seemed to rise slightly. She couldn’t tell if it was because of her own feverish temperature or something else. Her head was boiling, her knees were throbbing, and her legs were aching. And the inside of her thighs felt strange.

“Just a few days ago, you wouldn’t even sit next to me in the car. Now, not only do you let me into your place, but you’re even asking me to put ointment on you.”

Haegun brought his fingertips to the ointment. The transparent jelly oozed onto the tip of his index finger.

“It’s good that we’re getting close, but you shouldn’t ask a strange man to do this.”

“You said you were my dad’s friend.”

“So what? Can your dad’s friend touch you like this?”

“…It’s for medical treatment. Please use a cotton swab and be gentle.”

“I don’t have a cotton swab.”

Haegun’s fingers absentmindedly touched her knee.

“Ah.”

She groaned in surprise even though she wasn’t in any pain. Haegun’s gaze turned back to her face. Yeoreum held her breath without realizing it. His eyes hardened.

“Does it hurt?”

“No.”

Haegun slowly moved his finger. It really didn’t hurt. Since a scab had already formed, the ticklish sensation was stronger than the pain. The wound was quite large, so the area that needed to be treated was also fairly large. Yeoreum pressed her thighs together.

She glanced up again and looked at Haegun. He stared intently at her wounds with an unreadable face. Whether it was at the barbecue restaurant or in her studio apartment, wherever she met him, he looked completely out of place. Even the act of applying ointment on her knees with such an indifferent expression seemed so far removed.

Haegun took his finger off of Yeoreum’s knee.

“You apply the rest.”

“I don’t want to get any on my hands. You finish it, Ahjussi.”

“Ha.”

Haegun let out a sigh as his brows furrowed. Yeoreum was once again impressed by his handsome appearance. He paused for a moment before bringing his finger to her knee again. Feeling embarrassed, Yeoreum avoided his gaze. His fingertip slowly rubbed the wound. Why? The area between her legs felt ticklish, and her lower abdomen tightened. It was a strange feeling. But she didn’t want to tell him to go away. Suddenly, his fingers pressed down hard against the wound.

“Ow. Ahjussi, why did you press on it?”

“Don’t look at me.”

“I can’t even look at you?”

“No.”

Yeoreum pouted.

“Why not? You’re handsome, aren’t you? It’s only natural to want to look at handsome men.”

“You’ll wear my face out.”

“Well, if it wears out even more, your face will get so sharp that your jawline will be able to cut people.”

Haegun chuckled. The atmosphere lightened somewhat.

“Where did you learn such words?”

“I have a friend named Soojin.”

“Are you two close?”

“Yes. She also helped me get dressed up on the day I went to see my dad.”

“You say you don’t like getting dolled up, so why did you come looking so pretty?”

Pretty. He said she was pretty again. Every time he said this, she felt ticklish for some reason. Was it because he was handsome? Thankfully, her face was already flushed from the fever, so he wouldn’t notice her blush.

When her reply was delayed, Haegun continued.

“Maybe you still wanted to look good in front of your dad.”

“It’s not that… I just wanted to look like my peers. I’m not good at dressing up and stuff. My clothes aren’t that nice either. Plus, my room had flooded recently, so I barely had any clothes… No, you don’t need to know about things like that.”

While Yeoreum was rambling, Haegun applied the ointment to her other leg.

“You’ve endured a lot.”

“……”

Instead of answering him, Yeoreum stared at Haegun’s fingertip as it touched her shin. Did she really feel this hot from just one finger? The heat was so intense that it made her eyes water.

“Does it hurt anywhere else?”

“No.”

“Okay then.”

Haegun put the bag of ointment and medicine aside and got up from the mattress. Creak. The springs of the cheap mattress made a noise.

Tap, tap-tap, tap-tap-tap.

As soon as he got up, streaks of rain appeared on the small window. It had been cloudy all day, and it seemed that it had finally started to rain. Pitter-patter. The sound of rain was particularly loud on the rooftop. Heavy rain poured down in all directions, from the rooftop to the window.

“You can go once it stops raining.”

Haegun’s gaze turned to Yeoreum, who was sitting on the bed with her knees up and her legs exposed. Even with her legs out, his gaze never strayed from her wounds or her face.

“You don’t have an umbrella, right?”

“That amount of rain won’t kill me.”

“But it’s still better if you don’t get drenched in the rain. I only have one umbrella, so I can’t lend it to you. I don’t want to feel guilty if you end up getting sick.”

He let out a short sigh and sat back down, leaning against the wall.

“Get under the blankets and go to sleep. I’ll leave once it stops raining.”

“Okay.”

It seemed like the atmosphere was slowly easing up. As soon as she closed her eyes, the tension left her body, and she relaxed. There was no air conditioning in this room. The only thing she had to combat the heat was the sputtering fan that made noise whenever it was turned on. But unlike Yeoreum, Haegun was in good health, so she thought he must be feeling hot.

“…Ahjussi, aren’t you hot?”

“It’s always like that in the summer.”

“That’s true. The summer is always like that…”

Her mind grew dizzy.

After falling into a deep sleep, the room grew dark. Yeoreum shivered from an unbearable chill even though she was wrapped in a blanket. Tsk. She thought she heard the sound of someone’s tongue clicking, but she couldn’t tell if it was a dream or reality. Soon, something like a cold towel was placed over her forehead and eyes.

“Are you cold?”

“Nnng…”

She thought she heard a voice. Was it her mother… But the voice was too thick and dry to belong to her mother. Now that she thought about it, her mother couldn’t be here. Tears welled up in her eyes.

Suddenly, something solid wrapped around her. It smelled like the refreshing scent of men’s aftershave. The thing that had wrapped around her body was firm and warm. The tears quickly stopped. She burrowed into the warmth.

“I think you need to go get a shot.”

Even though she was teetering on the edge of reality and dreams, she clearly heard those words. Yeoreum quickly shook her head. Something firm and warm wrapped around her trembling body and let out a low chuckle. Yeoreum dug even deeper. She felt something wrap tightly around the back of her head.

“You’re not cold.”

The words had power. She believed whatever it said. Maybe that was why. The cold truly went away. As soon as her body stopped shivering, heat began to rush in. The warm, solid thing that had been covering her body also disappeared. A cold towel was placed on her forehead again.

“Looks like you’re comfortable now.”

After hearing those words, Yeoreum’s mind went completely black.

Yeoreum fell into a deep sleep, her face tilted towards the refreshing scent of aftershave that lingered on the bed.

* * *

When she opened her eyes, it was morning.

After waking up from a good night’s sleep, the fever and body aches had completely disappeared. She still had menstrual cramps, but they weren’t as bad as the day before.

“He left.”

As soon as Yeoreum got up, she walked to the front door. The old apartment had no automatic door lock, so unless someone locked it with a key from outside, it had to be manually locked from inside. Just as she moved to lock the door, she heard a noise from outside. Yeoreum opened the front door.

“Ahjussi?”

The owner of the sound was a stray cat passing through the rooftop. The cat was startled and quickly ran to the opposite building. Yeoreum changed her clothes that were damp from cold sweat and headed to the shared washing machine to do her laundry. She needed to wash her pillowcase and blankets for the same reason, but since drying them was difficult, she decided to do them all at once on a day when it was nice out. While she was washing her clothes, she repeatedly told herself that she wasn’t delaying washing the blankets because she didn’t want the smell of his aftershave to be washed out, but the more she thought about it, the more it felt true.

“Did his smell get on the sheets while he was applying the ointment yesterday?”

Haegun wasn’t there, but the bed still held the familiar scent. But Yeoreum knew. He had sat at the bottom of the bed where her legs were when he was applying the ointment, but his smell had permeated through most of the outer sheets of her bedding. She vaguely recalled the previous night. Did the firm body she had burrowed into belong to Haegun? Yeoreum remembered the wet towel that had fallen off the bed, half-dried, in the morning. Her fever had gone down, but her face was flushed once again.

“I’ve lost my mind.”

She let out a silent scream and punched the bed. She didn’t want to accept the reality of yesterday’s disgrace. She had never drunk enough liquor to get drunk before, but she thought it would have been better if she did.

“And how did he even get here? I don’t remember telling him my address.”

Yeoreum stopped moving and raised her head as she realized the fact that she had never told Haegun the address of her new place.

“This ahjussi is a gangster bastard, so finding Yeoreum’s address was no trouble at all.”

It was true. And Haegun wasn’t just a regular gangster. If he were the executive director of Sungha Construction, wouldn’t that make him a high-ranking official or gangster? So investigating a common citizen like Yeoreum wasn’t a big deal. She unfolded the drying rack, hung her laundry, and picked up her phone. The only people who would call her were Soojin and Seungwoo. She turned on the fan that the previous tenant had left behind and moved it so that it was blowing towards the laundry. The fan spun, making a squeaking noise.

Yeoreum thought for a long time before finally calling the number that was on her list of recent calls. After hearing the phone ring three or four times, Yeoreum began to regret making the call. Just as she was about to end the call, the screen changed to one that said ‘Call in progress’. She heard a familiar voice on the other end.

[What is it, Yeoreum.]

Flustered, Yeoreum dropped her phone on the bed. Then she hurriedly picked it up and held it up to her ear.

“Ahjussi.”

[What brings you to call me first? Are you feeling sick again?]

“No. That’s not why… Thanks to you, I’m all better.”

[Then it must be because you felt sad that I wasn’t there when you woke up.]

“……”

[Looks like I’m right.]

“That’s not true.”

[Then shall I stop by after work to check if everything’s okay?]

“It’s okay. I’m really all better.”

[Alright, Yeoreum. I’ll see you later.]

“Are you listening to me?”

[I’m listening.]

“Liar.”

[It’s true, though. Isn’t that right, you guys?]

Y-Yes, sir! From the other end, a group of bewildered men’s voices could be heard. It seemed that there were quite a few people there, not just two or three.

[See? The other ahjussis agree.]

“…Ahjussi, what were you doing just now before you answered the call?”

[Thinking of Yeoreum.]

“I’m hanging up.”

Yeoreum ended the call. Her heart was racing. Boom, boom. Was this that thing? Arrhythmia or… yes, PTSD. It must be because she trembled whenever she heard the sound of a gangster’s voice. Worrying about how disadvantageous it would be for her to get a job if she received psychiatric treatment, Yeoreum got into the shower.

Because she didn’t want to greet him in such a shabby state two days in a row.