If Silk Flowers Bloom by the Water’s Edge Chapter 56

There were four guests in a guest room that would have been perfect for three. In the room, filled with Yirok’s soapy scent as if he had just washed, an awkward silence lingered. Yirok, the owner of the guest room, sat on his bed, slowly scanning the uninvited guests. His expression clearly said, I have no idea why you all are here.

The main culprit who gathered them, Chaehwa, clapped her hands, breaking the awkward air. The gazes of the three uninvited guests, who had nowhere else to look, shifted to Chaehwa.

“So… we met on the way.”

But her greeting didn’t help much, and Yirok’s expressionless face remained.

To explain the whole story, it was like this. While she was taking Shinwoo to Yirok’s room, she ran into Jansi, who was pacing around one spot. Jansi, who rarely showed interest in where anyone was going, made a request that wasn’t quite a request.

“Can I… go with you, too?”

In a situation where she had already said she was taking Shinwoo, it was difficult to flatly refuse only Jansi. Just as she was thinking what a big deal one more visitor would be, she met Chaho, who was playing with a ball. Chaho, kicking the ball around, saw the group and declared that he would join them too.

Refusing Shinwoo, Jansi, and Chaho all at once might have made it seem like she wanted to have Yirok all to herself. If she was going to say no, she should have said so from the start with Shinwoo.

Seeing Chaehwa enter with the three of them trailing behind her like a string of beads, Yirok even closed his book in a fit of temper. Yirok, who had been treating them with the same expressionless face from the moment they entered, looked as if his illness had already been cured.

Among the faces sitting in a neat row on the chairs, starting with Chaehwa, there was unlikely to be anyone he was happy to see. Shinwoo sat politely, but his thoughts were unreadable, while Chaho was tapping his foot and looking around the room. Jansi kept her head bowed, so her face was hidden. As the silence continued, Chaehwa tried to smooth it over with a smile.

“How are you feeling?”

“Why did you bring along a bunch of people I didn’t ask for?”

Chaehwa and Yirok’s words came out at the same time, and the atmosphere flowed into an even colder place. Chaehwa cautiously checked the mood, then leaned out. She whispered into Yirok’s ear.

“They followed me. I didn’t bring them.”

It was Yirok’s secret that his ear grew hot from Chaehwa’s soft breath. With no other choice, his heart softened, and Yirok opened his book. Then, the voice of the excluded Shinwoo cut in.

“I can hear everything, my lady.”

“Huh?”

“That you didn’t bring us, but that we followed you. I can hear it all.”

Coughing awkwardly out of embarrassment, Chaehwa returned to her seat and pretended to be distracted. Just as she was thinking it would be better to take the uninvited guests and leave, Chaho made a move. He reached for the basket of tangerines on the table.

“Can I have one of these?”

“This is… what I gave you, isn’t it?”

As soon as Jansi pointed to the tangerine basket with her finger, Chaho quickly snatched a tangerine. There was emotion in his hands as he mercilessly peeled the tangerine. Jansi, ignoring him, asked about Yirok’s condition.

“How are you feeling? Are you okay?”

“Hey. Eat this.”

Chaho forcefully pushed the tangerine against Jansi’s lips. But Jansi’s lips did not open. Jansi took the tangerine Chaho offered in her hand and set it aside as if for decoration. In the meantime, Shinwoo stole one from the tangerine basket and held it in his own hand.

Were they all sharing tangerines because they had nothing to say? Shinwoo carefully peeled the tangerine and passed just the flesh to the person next to him.

“Please have some, my lady.”

“Hm? I’m fine.”

Though she said that, Chaehwa accepted the tangerine with a beaming smile. However, the tangerine, which seemed to hesitate for a moment in Chaehwa’s hand, soon traveled to Yirok’s lips.

“Here. You need to have your daily vitamins.”

Yirok let out a hollow laugh and turned his head, but Chaehwa’s hand was persistent. He wouldn’t be able to win against a hand that followed him around so tenaciously. The moment Yirok’s lips showed a gap, the tangerine popped right in.

“Delicious, right?”

Seeing Chaehwa so happy, as if she were the one eating it, Yirok quickly lowered his eyes. Everyone except Chaehwa knew the meaning of that expression. That he was struggling to hold back his laughter. The smile on Shinwoo’s face, the one who had peeled the tangerine, vanished.

“But you said you were sick. You don’t look sick at all. Are you all better?”

But Chaehwa stepped forward like a spokesperson and met Shinwoo’s gaze.

“He may look like this, but he’s so frail.”

Chaehwa’s defensive words struck Shinwoo’s ears like shards of glass. Shinwoo looked at his wristwatch with unfocused eyes and stood up from his seat.

“If you say so, my lady, then it must be true. I think I’m disturbing Yirok, so I’ll be leaving first.”

“Oh, ah… Bye!”

Without even seeing Chaehwa waving her hand, Shinwoo turned his back and roughly opened the door. Sensing it was time to leave, Chaho grabbed Jansi’s wrist and stood up with her.

“I, I’ll stay a little longer….”

“We’ll get going too, my lady. Let’s play basketball together when you’re all better.”

“Chaho, Chaho….”

Chaho dragged Jansi, who was clinging to his leg, not wanting to go, and went outside. They even closed the door behind them, leaving Chaehwa and Yirok feeling as if they had just watched a loud movie.

“Why did they even come?”

Chaehwa’s mutter echoed in the quiet room. Yirok, closing the book he couldn’t read anyway, took out a blanket. As he finished preparing for bed, his wrist slipped from Chaehwa’s hand. With her hand now empty, Chaehwa immediately turned her attention to the now-closed-eyed Yirok.

“Why so early? You have to tell me where you’re sick before you sleep.”

“I’m all better.”

“Really?”

Chaehwa boldly placed her palm on Yirok’s forehead. Unable to avoid it, Yirok made eye contact with the cheeky lady. Chaehwa, having breathed energy onto his lukewarm forehead, smiled cheerfully.

“You’re almost all better, my Yirok.”

“…Did you not want to come alone?”

“Hm?”

“I asked if you didn’t want to come alone.”

Hearing the difficult-to-understand question, Chaehwa snatched her hand away as if she had been burned. Yirok, who hadn’t opened his eyes, seemed to know it was an awkward question and tried to talk his way around it.

“Pretend you didn’t hear that. You can go now. I’m not sick anymore.”

“Yirok.”

“……”

“Ah, Yirok.”

Chaehwa, fearless again, flew over and sat on his bed. Even though the bed shook, Yirok stubbornly refused to look back. Chaehwa playfully moved her hand to grab his shoulder and shake it.

“I was…”

Thwack. Yirok caught Chaehwa’s soft, pliable hand, stopping her. Who was it that poured oil into his lake-like, calm eyes? They were eyes that could cause a huge incident if even a spark flew. The force of Yirok’s grip tightening on her wrist was frightening.

Yirok, sending only his hand and gaze this way, didn’t say anything meaningful. In the ripening atmosphere, Chaehwa read his heart differently.

“Were you upset about that? That I came with other people and not just by myself?”

“…So this is a zoo. And I’m a sick monkey. Isn’t that right? You told me to call. I didn’t know that would be another one of your pranks.”

Chaehwa didn’t pull her captured hand away; instead, she pushed it further in. Only after she was sure she had a firm grasp on Yirok’s hand did she move her arm. When she pulled like she was pulling a rope, Yirok’s body turned completely toward Chaehwa.

The two became entangled, with Chaehwa ending up on top of him. Yirok, looking flustered, grabbed Chaehwa’s shoulder with his other hand. Chaehwa’s braided hair came undone and tickled his cheek. It felt like they could count each other’s pulses through their clasped hands. Chaehwa listened to Yirok’s quickening pulse and smiled brightly.

“Can you feel it? Doesn’t your body feel a little more at ease?”

“We don’t necessarily have to be in this position to do that.”

“I wasn’t treating you like a zoo monkey. When I got your call…”

“Get off.”

“I was so happy.”

Yirok’s scattered energy was admirably finding its place again. It meant he had passed the stage where he could feel spasmodic pain. Therefore, the fact that he had called Chaehwa herself…

“Call me often. Yirok.”

…had a high probability of being a fake illness.

Struck off-guard by the words “so happy,” Yirok’s hand was like a scarecrow’s. As if afraid she would miss Yirok’s reddening earlobes and cheeks, Chaehwa’s eyes moved like a camera shutter. After compulsively collecting his reactions, Chaehwa slowly backed away.

When she let go of his hand, Yirok sat up as if to tidy his disheveled self. Strange things were witnessed all over Yirok’s body as he rubbed his face with his palm. White places turned red, his gaze was trapped, and for that reason, Yirok seemed all the more like a man.

“Yirok.”

When Yirok slowly removed his hands, his face was hidden behind a plausible expressionless mask, but he couldn’t do anything about the fervent emotion in his eyes. She didn’t want to tease him, not even as a joke. Yirok’s expression was that much of a mess. She also couldn’t guarantee that her own face wasn’t a mess.

“I’ll come visit again tomorrow. Just me.”

Chaehwa decided not to say that Yirok’s discharge could be moved up. After all, the time spent visiting him in his small guest room wasn’t so bad.