Flower Fiancé Chapter 126

“I would have come to see it more often if I knew you’d like it this much. I thought you wouldn’t even enjoy looking at it because you don’t like going into the sea.”

“I thought so too. But it turned out better than I expected. Maybe it’s because I came with you, Mr. Moohyuk, and Geon-i.”

Ji Yeonwoo smiled and wrapped his arms around Choi Moohyuk’s waist.

“I’m learning one more thing since meeting you, Mr. Moohyuk.”

His eyes curved into crescents, and a soft smile settled at the corners of his mouth. Choi Moohyuk, gazing at Ji Yeonwoo like that, pressed a kiss to his crown.

“Let’s go somewhere even better next time.”

Nodding, Ji Yeonwoo stood on tiptoe again and pressed his lips to Choi Moohyuk’s.

∞ ∞ ∞

After the seaside outing, a bomb of work dropped.

Ji Yeonwoo spent his days busily handling pre-orders for <Flower Fiancé>. Coincidentally, Choi Moohyuk also got swamped with work, suffering through late nights day after day.

He said there was an urgent matter at the company. Ji Yeonwoo didn’t know much about company affairs and didn’t try to pry into details, but seeing Choi Moohyuk, as the representative, working late into the night and paying such close attention meant it was no small matter.

To match Choi Moohyuk’s busy schedule of late nights, Ji Yeonwoo moved up <Flower Fiancé>’s closing time by about two hours. It was because he couldn’t leave Geon-i with the housekeeper through the evening as well.

Not long after seeing off the last customer, a call came from Choi Moohyuk.

[Your voice sounds tired.]

Ji Yeonwoo plugged in his wireless earbuds and answered the phone while busily moving his hands.

“It was just a bit more than usual. But you, Mr. Moohyuk… judging by the fact that you’re calling now, are you going to be late again?”

[Hah, it looks like I’ll have to keep working late through this week.]

“Is it that serious?”

[It’s not serious, exactly, but there’s been a hitch in something that was already fully coordinated. It’s overseas-related, so there’s the time difference, and meetings keep happening…]

His voice on the call was so hoarse it was cracking at the edges. While worried, Ji Yeonwoo was also grateful that Choi Moohyuk was busy enough to be that exhausted yet still made the effort to call and show he cared.

“Okay. Don’t worry about us and focus on your work. I’ll leave a bit earlier or do whatever I need to and take care of Geon-i.”

[I’m sorry I can’t pick you up.]

“Instead, let’s go on a trip somewhere even nicer once all your work is done. Christmas is coming up soon, too.”

[…Okay. Don’t wait up—go to bed first.]

“Okay. Don’t come home too late.”

They ended the call with a wistful goodbye. Ji Yeonwoo stared blankly at the call duration of just over ten minutes, then pressed his lips together and let out a shallow breath. Since he called to say he couldn’t come home early, it seemed he wouldn’t be back until 1 or 2 in the morning again today—and Ji Yeonwoo worried about whether his health would hold up.

“Really… is he going to be okay.”

Ji Yeonwoo muttered while staring at the darkened screen, furrowing his brows and biting his lips.

He couldn’t shake an ominous feeling, and then his phone rang again. Startled, he answered, widening his eyes in puzzlement and quickly picking up.

“Yes, Ma’am. I’m almost done here.”

[No, rather than that… I think Geon-i is a bit sick.]

The moment he heard the housekeeper’s voice from the other end of the phone, his heart dropped with a thud.

“Geon-i?”

[He hasn’t been able to eat and has just been fussing for a while now. His temperature keeps rising too.]

His mind went blank. Ji Yeonwoo, scanning the colorful flowers in the shop with a shaky gaze, continued the call while grabbing his coat and wallet.

“Uh… is he, is he very sick?”

Only then did he faintly hear Geon-i’s fussing sounds beyond the housekeeper’s voice.

[I just measured him and his temperature went up to 38.2 degrees. I gave him some fever reducer, but I’m calling just in case.]

Geon-i was a child who barely even fussed about sleep except when he was truly exhausted. He used to whine when it was time for formula because he was hungry, but ever since starting solid food, he’d become so mild-tempered that he barely even whined like that. For that child to be fussing and whining meant his body was in that much distress.

“I’ll be home right away. Thank you for contacting me.”

[Don’t rush and hurt yourself—come slowly. It’s been about an hour since I gave him the fever reducer, so unless it’s serious, his fever should gradually start going down soon.]

“…Yes.”

Sensing from his voice alone that Ji Yeonwoo was flustered, the housekeeper tried to reassure him with positive words.

But how could a parent’s heart, having heard that their child was sick, be calmed by a single sentence? Rushing because he had to get home quickly, he fumbled and pricked his hand on a rose stem and cut himself with scissors.

Still, Ji Yeonwoo didn’t show any sign of pain. No, he didn’t even notice the pain. His mind was so full of Geon-i being sick rather than his own hand hurting that nothing else came to mind.

Hurriedly closing up the shop, Ji Yeonwoo ran out into the street without even thinking to put on his coat. He planned to catch a passing taxi and go home, but today, for some reason, there were no empty taxis in sight.

Just as he was anxiously stamping his feet in impatience, he saw the words “Empty” displayed on the front windshield of a taxi approaching from ahead. Ji Yeonwoo urgently reached out and waved to hail the taxi. Before the taxi had even fully stopped in front of him, he opened the back door and got in, giving the name of his apartment building.

“Driver, I’m sorry, but could you please go a little faster? My son—they said he’s sick.”

Ji Yeonwoo gripped the passenger seat and spoke to the driver, an older man seated in the driver’s seat. Hearing Ji Yeonwoo’s voice, which was on the verge of tears, the driver said nothing and accelerated.

Inside the car speeding along the road, Ji Yeonwoo just clutched his phone anxiously. Suddenly, Choi Moohyuk crossed his mind. He was clearly very busy, working late night after night, but still—shouldn’t he let him know that Geon-i was sick? Thinking that if Choi Moohyuk found out later that he hadn’t contacted him out of worry, he might feel even more hurt, Ji Yeonwoo turned on his phone.

With trembling hands, he pressed the speed dial and brought the phone to his ear as the ringtone sounded. Even though the ringtone hadn’t rung many times, Choi Moohyuk answered.

[Yeonwoo. What’s—]

“Mr. Moohyuk, Geon-i is…”

Ji Yeonwoo’s urgent voice trembled thinly.

∞ ∞ ∞

The front door opened with a loud sound.

Ji Yeonwoo, who had been pacing while holding Geon-i in his arms, turned toward the entrance. Choi Moohyuk, who was always calm and never rushed, was now entering the living room, breathing heavily.

“Geon-i is sick?”

With a face full of worry and a furrowed brow, Choi Moohyuk came closer. It had been less than thirty minutes since the call. He must have rushed over as soon as he answered the phone.

“Is he very sick?”

He looked at Ji Yeonwoo with worried eyes, then lowered his gaze. Geon-i, with a fever patch on his forehead, was asleep with his head resting against Ji Yeonwoo’s chest.

“He kept fussing and finally fell asleep just barely. His temperature went up to 38.5 earlier, but after the fever reducer it came down a little…”

Ji Yeonwoo spoke as quietly as possible, afraid of waking Geon-i.

“Is it okay not to take him to the hospital?”

Choi Moohyuk’s eyes widened in surprise at those words. He brushed back the sweat-dampened hair and carefully pressed the back of his hand against Geon-i’s flushed, reddened cheek. The baby’s skin touching his hand was warm.

“No way. We need to go to the hospital right away—”

Just as Choi Moohyuk was about to scoop Geon-i up and head to the hospital, the housekeeper, who had been watching over them beside them, stopped him.

“Let’s wait just a little longer first. His temperature has dropped to normal range, so if we alternate fever reducers and it doesn’t go back up, it would be better to go to the hospital tomorrow morning.”

Choi Moohyuk looked at the housekeeper with a face full of concern.

“Even if we go now, they’ll only do emergency treatment. No matter how good Sunwoo General Hospital is, just going to the hospital itself is hard and tiring for a young child’s body. If even adults find it exhausting to go to the hospital at this hour, how much more so for a baby?”

Hearing that, it seemed the housekeeper was right.

“I can’t be certain, but around this age, fevers often come and go without any clear reason. It’s called ‘dolchire’ [a common childhood fever around the first birthday]—even healthy babies often get a fever right before their first birthday.”

“Don’t be ridiculous!”