Midday Guest Chapter 26

Yiwon tossed and turned, clutching his hands together. It was a night where the afterimages of Kim Sunwoo and his employees kept sleep at bay. As Yiwon was readjusting his blanket, he gasped in surprise at the touch of a hand pressing down on his chest.

“Stay still.”

“…I am sorry.”

“You woke your guest up completely. What are you going to do about it?”

“Should I go down and sleep?”

“How does that even translate into that?”

He wondered what the man wanted him to do. Yiwon had no choice but to stay still, but as it happened, he was lying in a direction facing Cha Seokjoo. He should have turned his back. It felt like the timing was wrong to turn away immediately like someone who had been startled, so he stayed there for a long time, staring at him quietly.

Now that he looked, the corner of the man’s mouth was also split.

“A band-aid won’t be enough this time.”

“… .”

“Wait a moment.”

Cha Seokjoo got up and headed toward Yiwon’s room, searching for something for a long while. Just as Yiwon was about to fall asleep from exhaustion while waiting, he returned. An ointment was held in Cha Seokjoo’s hand.

Cha Seokjoo squeezed a generous amount of ointment onto the tip of his index finger. Gauging the wounds in the darkness, Cha Seokjoo directed his gaze toward Yiwon’s lips.

“It’ll be better if you apply something before you sleep.”

A thick, firm fingertip brushed past the corner of his mouth. Once, then twice. A thick layer of ointment settled where he had repeatedly traced the same spot.

His face felt itchy. Was it because of the ointment? When he wiped away the sticky, gooey ointment with his fingertip, Cha Seokjoo clicked his tongue lightly.

“You couldn’t even wait that long and wiped it off?”

“You applied too much…”

“Looking at you, you never let a single word go without a comeback.”

Yiwon fell into thought while looking at the ointment remaining on his fingertip. Glancing up, he saw Cha Seokjoo wiping his hands on his training shorts as he lay down.

He propped himself up on his elbow, raising his body at a slant. Looking down at Cha Seokjoo from a slightly higher position, Yiwon reached out toward his lips.

Slowly, but carefully. Yiwon placed a glob of ointment over the wound remaining on Cha Seokjoo’s lip and moved away.

The lips of the man, who looked like he wouldn’t bleed even if pricked, were warm and soft. Yiwon fell into thought as he savored the warmth lingering on his fingertip where the ointment had disappeared.

Why did I do that?

Before he could find an answer, his wrist was snatched by Cha Seokjoo.

“What.”

“… .”

“I asked what that was.”

“…I was just applying medicine to your face.”

The slowly uttered words colored the space and then vanished. Cha Seokjoo, who had been lying there with his mouth firmly shut, stared at Yiwon. All the while, his fingertip stroked the inside of Yiwon’s wrist.

After a brief pause, Cha Seokjoo let go of his wrist and sighed.

“Listen, sleep as far away as possible.”

“You told me earlier not to go down.”

“Exactly. I’m saying don’t go down, but stay as far away as possible.”

There was no response he could give to such nonsense. Yiwon simply chose to turn his head and lie down. Fortunately, Cha Seokjoo didn’t say anything more one way or the other from then on.

Pitter-patter, tap-tap.

As dawn approached, the rain poured down more heavily. The raindrops hitting the yard were quite thick. The same went for the droplets forming on the window.

It had rained when the assailant burst in, and it rained at the moment Kim Sunwoo led his entire gang inside. The shadows crossing the ceiling and the fierce streaks of rain stimulated Yiwon’s imagination.

He couldn’t just lie there, so he raised his head to look out the window. In the lit yard of Haeundang and the alleyway illuminated by streetlights, no one was visible.

When he lay back down, a chilly sensation clung to his arms and legs. It wasn’t that he felt that way because of the air conditioning; it was closer to a strange sensation that something was going to bite off his limbs.

Left with no choice, he curled his body and lay down. He even balled his hands. Since he still couldn’t fall asleep and was only blinking, Cha Seokjoo asked.

“Can’t sleep?”

“Yes.”

“Why.”

Should he say it or not? Yiwon, who was going to answer roughly with a “Just because,” found different words flowing out of his mouth of their own accord.

“…What if those people come back?”

“Then their throats get slit, I guess.”

Cha Seokjoo said such a gruesome thing as if it were nothing. He was certainly a scary man.

Yiwon glanced at his side. Cha Seokjoo, lying in a straight posture, had his eyes closed. His smooth forehead and high-bridged nose revealed a clear presence even in the darkness.

His gaze, which had been traveling down the elegantly drawn lines, lingered on the lips. As he stared at the loosely set lips, words shared with Shin Heeyoung at the bathhouse suddenly flickered through Yiwon’s mind.

‘I think I could kiss him.’

‘… .’

‘And you think you could do more?’

His face turned red as if it were burning at the thought that appeared out of nowhere. It was a relief to be in the darkness with all the lights out. Since he couldn’t do anything about his heart that began to beat wildly, he swallowed hard and was staring at the ceiling when it happened.

“Just close your eyes. Your mind stays sharp because you keep trying to see something.”

A large hand came to rest over his eyes.

Cha Seokjoo stepped boldly across the intangible line Yiwon had drawn as if it were nothing. When Yiwon blinked several times in embarrassment, Cha Seokjoo pressed down gently with his palm.

“Stop making it ticklish and sleep already.”

His eyelashes brushed against the man’s palm. The moment he realized that fact, his eyelids moved even faster. Yiwon hurriedly placed his hand over the back of the man’s hand. He intended to pull it away, but he ended up just being a person with his hand layered on top.

“Don’t you know how to close your eyes?”

“…Of course I do.”

“Then close them.”

Being near this man strangely made him conscious of things that usually wouldn’t matter. In the end, Yiwon chose to squeeze his eyes shut and curl his fists together.

Not long after, a quiet darkness arrived. Even as his consciousness drifted far away, he felt the lukewarm body temperature touching his eyes continue to linger.

It was impossible to know how long Cha Seokjoo had been creating darkness for Yiwon.

— It is noon.

Yiwon opened his eyes at the sound of the alarm. Fragmented sunlight entered through the window, and cool air poured from the air conditioner hanging high on the ceiling.

As he turned over while wedging the blanket between his legs, a strange scent rushed in. Rubbing his face, he slowly inhaled. It was the scent he felt every time he passed by Cha Seokjoo.

Cha Seokjoo?

The moment he had that thought, his eyes snapped open. The chaos of the previous night unfolded like a panorama, and Yiwon sat up with a start.

The desk clock placed on the table pointed to twelve o’clock.

To think it was already noon.

After blinking with a blank face, he lifted his head. A savory smell wafted in from outside. Walking sluggishly as if drawn by something, he found Cha Seokjoo in the kitchen holding thinly sliced bright red meat, offering a morning greeting.

“Did the baby sleep well?”

“…Yes.”

“How is your body?”

“It’s fine.”

“What exactly is fine that it’s become your passive response? Have you even looked in a mirror?”

“No.”

Cha Seokjoo spoke while tilting his head toward Yiwon.

“The area around your eye is already bruised dark blue.”

Yiwon slowly touched the area around his cheek. Judging by the throbbing pain at just a touch, it didn’t seem like total nonsense.

He was about to pull his gaze away when Cha Seokjoo flicked his hand. When Yiwon approached, the man swayed a thin piece of red meat in front of his eyes.

“Want to attach it?”

“…What?”

“Beef is the best for getting rid of bruises.”

For a moment, he thought he was talking to a village elder. Yiwon pulled his body back and shook his head side to side. The corners of his mouth slanting downward were a bonus.

“I prefer modern medicine over pseudoscience.”

“After I went through the trouble of thinking of you and buying it?”

“…I’ll just take the thought.”

Cha Seokjoo put the meat down and stood leaning against the sink. Thanks to the ceiling being low for his height, his head almost touched it, and he was looking at Yiwon in a stooped posture.

“Anyway, you really have a way of making a person feel disappointed. To cut down the sincerity of someone who went to the butcher shop since morning like that.”

“…I didn’t mean it that way.”

“It sounded that way.”

Yiwon blinked. This was coming from the savior of his life, so he felt like he could put up with this much.

After pondering for a moment, Yiwon stepped closer. When he thrust forward the cheek where throbbing pain remained, Cha Seokjoo, watching that, lowered his head and laughed.

“You seem difficult, but you’re surprisingly easy.”

“… .”

“I’m going to make meat pancakes.”

Only after seeing him smile with his eyes did Yiwon realize he had fallen for the teasing. As Yiwon tilted his head and let out a sigh while glaring, Cha Seokjoo turned his back, saying that glaring with a face like that was useless.

Only now did the flour, egg wash, and meat for pancakes arranged neatly on the tray come into view. Swallowing a sigh, Yiwon poured a cup of water and drank. Cha Seokjoo stood in front of the gas stove with a face that still held traces of a smile.

Sizzle, the meat pancakes placed on the pan made an appetizing sound.

“Should I help you?”

“Baby, go and get the sleep crust out of your eyes first.”

Expelled from the kitchen, Yiwon ran to the bathroom mirror. Did he approach in too defenseless a state? Looking in the mirror, he ended up biting his lip. Although traces of being slapped remained, it wasn’t a massive bruise yet, and there was no sleep crust in his eyes.

Yiwon, gripping the sink, muttered.

“Ah, so annoying…”