Struggle Chapter 139

“Is that some idol these days?”

At the question from the executive director standing beside him, Lee Taerok locked his phone screen. And placing it into the inside pocket of his jacket, he answered.

“It’s my nephew.”

“Oh, my. So it was your nephew.”

Saying he’d asked because he wasn’t well-versed in idols these days, the executive director, out of awkwardness, tacked on an extra remark while pretending to flip through the photos. Though it ended in failure, since Lee Taerok had already put the phone in his pocket.

“Your nephew is quite handsome.”

Since Lee Taerok’s older brother had long since stepped away from the management of the head office, it was only natural that the executive director didn’t know Nanyoung. The secretary, standing before them, silently lowered his gaze.

For small talk, you certainly picked a poor topic.

His boss extremely disliked anyone meddling in his private life or acting familiar with it.

“I’ve hardly ever seen anyone use a photo of their nephew as their wallpaper.”

And a fully grown nephew at that. The secretary, who agreed with that part, inwardly added the retort.

“I’m also terribly fond of my nephew. Especially watching him grow up from a young age, he feels like my own child and all.”

Why did the elevator seem so slow today. The secretary bit his tongue in the awkwardness. He didn’t even want to imagine what expression his boss was wearing. As if even with age, embarrassment was unavoidable, the executive director kept talking. Which made things all the more uneasy.

“I don’t know much about his childhood. I didn’t see him much.”

At last, his boss answered. In his usual curt tone. The executive director gave a hearty laugh, as if trying to smooth over the awkward atmosphere somehow.

“Still, it seems you are quite fond of your nephew.”

Finally.

The secretary inwardly cheered. Finally, the elevator had arrived at the executive parking level. The moment the doors opened, the secretary dashed out as if fleeing and pressed the ‘open’ button.

The boss who met his eyes drew up the corners of his lips.

“Crazy about him.”

It was an unaccountably chilly smile. As if hiding some enormous secret, deceiving others….

And then Lee Taerok left. Leaving the executive director behind.

∞ ∞ ∞

The house was steeped in a hushed atmosphere. Nanyoung had always been far from boisterousness, and his voice and movements were never loud, but now, he was clearly different from usual.

Entering the hallway, Lee Taerok found articles of clothing dropped like the breadcrumbs laid by Hansel and Gretel. They were Nanyoung’s, but it was certainly behavior unlike him. Silently picking up the clothes one by one and following them, he came to the kitchen. On the dining table sat a glass of water and medicine. Cold medicine.

Two compartments of the strip packaging were empty. Placing it back into the medicine box, Lee Taerok filled the half-drunk glass with warm water. And while the water was filling, he washed his hands.

Was there any need for more clues to grasp the situation? No, it was enough.

Lee Taerok left the clothes in the laundry room, brought the glass of water, and entered the bedroom.

The moment he opened the door, hot air rushed at him. It wasn’t just because of the stuffiness from the door being firmly shut. He approached the bed and sat down at the head of it. He saw Lee Nanyoung, curled up, breathing out with a hiss. A youthful face that had barely turned twenty-one. Lee Taerok raised his hand and laid it on Nanyoung’s forehead. His forehead was quite warm. It had already surpassed the range of a slight fever.

At the touch that met him, Nanyoung opened his eyes. His gaze was faintly hazy, unfocused.

“…When did you get here?”

It was rare for Lee Nanyoung to call Taerok by any name. He merely spoke to him, and answered. He was unlike Lee Taerok, who set Lee Nanyoung’s photo as his wallpaper, and when the very few who discovered it asked who it was, introduced his lover without hesitation as his nephew.

“Just now.”

Nanyoung blinked his eyes. Even that seemed too much for him.

“If you’re sick, you should call.”

Taerok was strict about mistakes. Even if he was out of his right mind from being sick right now, wrongdoing must be scolded. Left alone, it would become a nasty habit. The habit of not showing he was sick and enduring it alone. Whether sad, distressed, sick, healthy, or happy—at any of those times, Lee Nanyoung should seek him out.

“I thought you’d be busy….”

“That’s not something for you to concern yourself with.”

Nanyoung was his lover, but he was also still at a young age. Though he had just become an adult, merely aging doesn’t make one an adult right away. Lee Nanyoung also needed to throw tantrums a bit, without worrying about the circumstances of adults. But Nanyoung always behaved as if he didn’t know how to do that in the first place. At times like this, Taerok couldn’t understand his brother and sister-in-law. If you know your child was born with a weak constitution, shouldn’t you raise him to know how to be a little more spoiled? Lee Taerok could not fathom the hearts of his brother and sister-in-law, who, having raised a child in their arms due to illness, wished him not to become an ill-mannered brat. No, even if he did fathom them, it didn’t matter. Lee Nanyoung now had to adapt to a new way of living.

“Still, though….”

“Since when have you been sick?”

It was Lee Taerok, who had memorized that Nanyoung had an afternoon class today.

He didn’t change his clothes. In order to take Nanyoung to the hospital right away.

After checking the time, he turned on his phone with one hand. He was about to tell his secretary that he’d be going to the hospital and to make an appointment.

“In the morning I was okay….”

Taerok clicked his tongue in displeasure.

At breakfast, he had thought Nanyoung was a bit slower and more dazed than usual. Nanyoung had said it was because his exams were over. That he had been keyed up because of midterms and then the tension eased.

If Taerok, troubled by that sight, hadn’t pulled forward and reorganized today’s schedule, Nanyoung would have been sick the whole time alone. Without even calling. Lee Taerok was displeased with Nanyoung’s lies, and his consideration too.

“We’re going to the hospital.”

“I don’t want to.”

Even in his weakened state, Nanyoung stubbornly insisted, resolute.

Since childhood, being taken to the hospital had been a frequent occurrence, and once there, being admitted was all too common. The hospital was a horribly unpleasant and tiresome place.

“I’m not indulging your stubbornness.”

But Lee Taerok was not someone with whom such childishness would work.

“You didn’t listen to my words either.”

At the childish retort, Nanyoung was dumbfounded and glared at Taerok. The man, who looked as though not even the tip of a needle could penetrate him, answered nonchalantly.

“I told you to contact me whether anything is going on or not.”

“…”

He had felt his condition worsening the moment he arrived at school. If he had contacted Taerok then, as he’d said, he would have come right away. Nanyoung does not wish for that. Lee Taerok was a person who drew attention not because of his clothes or his car, but by his mere existence. Even if they were simply a same-sex couple, there would be whispers behind their backs, let alone as uncle and nephew. Having been born uncle and nephew and become lovers, the less conspicuous they were, the better. But Lee Taerok did not understand that. He was autocratic and selfish.

“You should be upset too.”

Lee Taerok pulled Nanyoung’s arm and wrapped it around his own neck. Nanyoung hugged the firm neck and tried to smell the scent from his embrace, but couldn’t perceive it well and let out a sigh. Because of the fever, he couldn’t even catch scents properly. But since he could still recall it, he buried his face against Taerok’s chest and mumbled.

“…Because you’re upset because of me?”

“Yes.”

Every time he answered, his chest reverberated with a low hum. It was a deep timbre. He laughed lowly.

“As expected, you did know and still did it. Seeing you like this, the mean streak truly shows you are my nephew.”

∞ ∞ ∞

Nanyoung gazed at the falling drops of IV fluid. Having a constitution where his veins were hard to see and difficult to find, he had to be stuck multiple times this time as well. Because the veins would burst if pricked even slightly wrong, a vein once a needle had been inserted into could not be used again. It was familiar. Wearily so.

Lee Taerok entered the hospital room. Turning at the sound, Nanyoung saw that at some point Taerok had loosened his necktie and was only in his shirt. He had a mask on because of Nanyoung, who had been diagnosed with the flu, but one could tell just from the furrow of his brow that he found it bothersome.

In the end, as soon as he came in, he pulled the mask down under his chin.

“You’ll catch it. Don’t take it off.”

“I’ve never caught something like a cold.”

As if it were an illness only the likes of you would catch, Taerok answered indifferently. Then he came closer, bent over, and checked Nanyoung’s arm. His left arm having already been stuck all over, the IV had to be connected to his right. It made it hard even to look at his phone.

“Still, I’m glad it didn’t come down to my foot.”

Nanyoung said it as if trying to be brave. Taerok looked down steadily at that Nanyoung. With an expression that said, is that something to be proud of.

“…It’s not like I’m sick because I want to be sick, so why are you angry.”