Flower Fiancé Chapter 132

“Let’s do it just one more time. I’ll make it the best Christmas ever.”

“…Please spare me.”

Ji Yeonwoo lowered the corners of his eyes and pleaded out of the blue. Seeing that, Choi Moohyuk burst out laughing.

After exchanging playful banter, Choi Moohyuk and Ji Yeonwoo ended up tangled in each other, sharing kisses.

The aftermath of the heat cycle was greater than expected. Though the heat cycle ended in just a day and a half, his legs and waist had no strength, so he couldn’t walk properly, forcing him to lie down for an entire day afterward.

In the end, they were able to bring Geon-i back from the main house after three days.

∞ ∞ ∞

Choi Moohyuk, having finished getting ready for work, fastened his buckle and entered the dining room. Just then, the housekeeper, who had finished preparing the meal, set a warm bowl of soup on the table.

Stopping in his tracks, Choi Moohyuk quickly scanned the dining room, then looked around the living room.

“Hasn’t Yeonwoo gotten up yet?”

“No. I was about to mention it—he hasn’t come out yet.”

“…Is that so?”

Widening his eyes in puzzlement and lost in thought, Choi Moohyuk turned and walked to the bedroom. Opening the closed door slightly and entering, he saw Ji Yeonwoo still asleep in the darkened bed.

“Yeonwoo, you need to wake up.”

Sitting on the edge of the bed, Choi Moohyuk carefully turned Ji Yeonwoo’s shoulder toward him. The body that had been lying motionless began to stir slowly, letting out a faint moan.

Lately, he had been sleeping much more. Ji Yeonwoo had said the shop had gotten much busier since Christmas, and it seemed the effects were catching up with him.

As he gently stroked his sleepy face, the eyes that had been closed all along opened slightly. Ji Yeonwoo, looking up with half-lidded eyes, squirmed and moved, then rested his head on Choi Moohyuk’s thigh and wrapped his arms around his waist.

“Are you going to work?”

“Yeah. I have to leave now.”

“Hmm. I see.”

Still not fully awake, both his movements and speech were slow. Finding him as adorable as if he had turned into a sloth, Choi Moohyuk stroked his cheek with the back of his hand—then paused.

Come to think of it, his temperature seemed a bit high? Realizing belatedly that the skin touching his fingertips was warmer than usual, he slipped his hand inside the back of his neck and then checked his forehead.

“Wait, don’t you have a fever?”

“I think I might have a slight cold. I’ll go to the hospital in the afternoon if I have time.”

“Better to go to the hospital in the morning and then go to work.”

Hearing the worried voice, Ji Yeonwoo lifted his head and smiled.

“It’s not that serious. Don’t worry, just go to work.”

Then, bracing himself against the bed, he raised his body, lightly touched Choi Moohyuk’s lips, and pulled back.

“Have a good day. See you in the evening.”

Unlike Ji Yeonwoo, who smiled with his eyes and said goodbye, the worry didn’t leave Choi Moohyuk’s face.

The afternoon, after lunchtime, was the quietest part of the day. Office workers who had gone out for lunch had returned to their offices, so it was also a time to catch one’s breath after the rush from opening until then.

“Hwaam…”

Yawning languidly, Ji Yeonwoo stretched his arms high up toward the sky. Lately, a feeling of stiffness hadn’t left his body. On top of that, he felt like no matter how much he slept, fatigue never lifted.

Rolling his neck left and right, Ji Yeonwoo took out a general cold medicine from the drawer. He thought about going to the hospital, but decided it was better to take the medicine, see how it went, and then go rather than rushing to the hospital right away.

He also had a slight fever, so it seemed like a mild case of body aches. But the symptoms were different from the typical colds he’d experienced before.

‘Come to think of it, I think something like this happened before.’

Standing in the middle of the flower-filled <Flower Fiancé>, lost in thought, Ji Yeonwoo suddenly recalled the time when he was carrying Geon-i.

“Oh, wait…”

The unusually increased sleep duration, the slight fever, and the mild body ache.

Ch 64

As he organized the thoughts coming to him in succession, Ji Yeonwoo calculated how much time had passed since his last heat cycle. It seemed about a month had passed… Muttering softly, Ji Yeonwoo instinctively set down the cold medicine in his hand and picked up his phone.

Fidgeting with his phone in both hands, hesitating, Ji Yeonwoo searched for “Dr. Kim” and made the call.

After a few rings, Dr. Kim answered.

“Hello. How have you been? I’m contacting you because I have a favor to ask. No, it’s nothing serious. I was wondering, is there a date when I could get a test done? The sooner the better, please.”

Pausing briefly, Ji Yeonwoo hesitated, then continued.

“Oh, well… it’s for me.”

∞ ∞ ∞

The relay of meetings that had started in the morning finally ended near quitting time.

Letting out a low sigh, Choi Moohyuk got off the elevator. As he walked down the corridor and passed the secretary’s office, his executive secretary, who had just hung up the phone, urgently handed him a note.

“Representative, we’ve received a call from Dr. Kim at Sunwoo General Hospital.”

“From Dr. Kim?”

Taking the note, Choi Moohyuk widened his eyes in puzzlement.

“He said he’d been trying to reach you but couldn’t, so he called the secretary’s office instead.”

“What’s the matter?”

Meeting eyes with the employee seated next to him, the secretary carefully continued.

“He said that the madam is currently at Sunwoo General Hospital.”

“Right now, what did you say? Who’s at the hospital?”

Hearing that, Choi Moohyuk’s eyes widened.

“He said Dr. Kim was contacting us on his behalf because the madam was undergoing tests.”

The moment he heard that Ji Yeonwoo was at the hospital, the image of him lying sluggishly that morning came to mind. The pale, bloodless face that couldn’t seem to wake up flashed before him, and his heart plummeted.

Choi Moohyuk canceled all his remaining schedules and immediately headed to Sunwoo General Hospital. Even while driving, all sorts of thoughts crossed his mind.

Had it not been a simple cold after all? The words “undergoing tests” kept nagging at him.

Pushing away the ominous thoughts that kept flooding in, Choi Moohyuk parked in the ground-level lot close to the hospital entrance and ran toward the lobby.

Just then, he ran into Ji Yeonwoo, who had finished all his examinations and was coming out of the hospital.

“What happened. Where, are you very sick?”

Full of tension, Choi Moohyuk uncharacteristically rambled and fired off questions. Seeing that, Ji Yeonwoo rather looked flustered.

“Mr. Moohyuk, first calm down. How did you get here?”

“I got a call from Dr. Kim. That you were at the hospital getting tests done.”

“Oh…”

“What’s going on. What tests did you have done?”

His tone was calm, but his trembling eyes were not hidden. Seeing him look so visibly anxious, Ji Yeonwoo looked dumbfounded and then gave an awkward laugh.

“That wasn’t my intention when I mentioned it—it seems it was conveyed incorrectly.”

“Conveyed incorrectly? What do you—”

Only then sensing something was off, Choi Moohyuk widened his eyes in puzzlement. Ji Yeonwoo started to speak, then stopped and looked around. As luck would have it, they were in front of the hospital lobby, drawing the attention of passersby.

“There are too many people here. Let’s go to the car first. I’ll tell you on the way home.”

Ji Yeonwoo grabbed Choi Moohyuk’s arm and walked toward the parking lot. For someone who was sick, his expression was far too bright. Being pulled along by his hand, Choi Moohyuk tilted his head in puzzlement and stared at Ji Yeonwoo’s round head of hair.

Once inside the car, it was quiet. It was so silent that not even breathing could be heard—until Choi Moohyuk broke it.

“Now tell me. What’s going on.”

Ji Yeonwoo, who had been hesitating and fidgeting with his hands, finally spoke with difficulty.

“I’m sorry. I figured anything that happens at Sunwoo General Hospital would reach you anyway, so I was going to tell you beforehand so you wouldn’t worry if you found out later that I had tests done—but I never expected it to get distorted like this.”

Holding the steering wheel with one hand and turning his body entirely toward Ji Yeonwoo, Choi Moohyuk stared at him, waiting for the next words.

“It’s not that I’m seriously sick or anything. I was going to take medicine because I seemed to have a mild cold, but it reminded me of something similar I’d experienced before.”

“Something similar?”

“When I was carrying Geon-i.”