NILWM - 27

Ye-seo, who was crouched down, turned her head. From the officetel entrance, Han Joo-hyuk was running toward her.

“Senior...?”

She managed to stand up, but her vision was blurry. She thought it was just because of the heavy rain. But when Han Joo-hyuk came closer to the awning, she realized it wasn’t the rain.

Suddenly, she felt all the strength drain from her body, and she lost her balance. Her body tilted to the side, and her head hit the cold wall.

That’s strange, this shouldn’t be happening... I only skipped one meal. But I haven’t been sleeping well lately.

Just before she closed her eyes, she heard a shout calling her name, like a ringing in her ears. A large hand came and wrapped around her shoulder, and the touch was warm. She wanted to feel that warmth a little longer, but her consciousness couldn’t hold on.

Her hazy mind flickered for a few seconds, like a broken lightbulb, before it went out completely.

________________________________________

Park Sung-joon entered the hospital close to 11 p.m. The large private clinic with an inpatient ward was brightly lit, even at that late hour.

“What am I going to do, seriously? Argh, you idiot! You should have just made one phone call before you went.”

If he had just said that Ye-seo was waiting at the cafe downstairs, it would have been fine. He felt guilty for how he had completely forgotten about it and caused this whole mess.

“But why did she wait so foolishly, too? She knows his number, she should have just called or texted.”

As he mumbled to himself, he had already arrived in front of the hospital room. When he knocked, Joo-hyuk opened the door and came out silently. Sung-joon’s heart skipped a beat at the sight of the grim expression on his face, which he had never seen before. He led Sung-joon to the lounge and closed the door behind him.

“Hey, is Ye-seo okay? What happened that she collapsed? Man... I went to catch that scammer, and his sister was begging and pleading so much that I completely forgot to tell you.”

“Yeah, well. It would have been better if you had just made one call before you went.”

“Hey, you...”

Sung-joon swallowed hard. His cousin’s face, which he hadn’t seen for half a day, was very unfamiliar. He had known him for over 20 years, but he had never seen him look so angry. To be precise, he looked like he was about to explode. The cold tone of his voice an hour ago was not a mistake.

“You’re really mad. Is Ye-seo okay?”

“She was exhausted from a lot of fatigue. I’m going to have her stay here tonight and take her home tomorrow.”

Joo-hyuk didn’t look at him anymore and turned his head. Sung-joon blinked. Watching him suppress his anger, he grew more and more curious about what was going on between him and Ye-seo.

“Joo-hyuk, you...”

“The money. Did you get it all back?”

“Huh?”

“You said you caught the scammer.”

“Oh, right. He even brought his own sister to beg and plead, and he finally gave it back. I confirmed the bank transfer on the spot.”

“Good. That’s a relief.”

Joo-hyuk ran his hand through his hair as if he were tired.

“It’s late, you should go. You didn’t have to come all this way.”

“What? Do you know how scared I was when you called me earlier?”

The feeling of his whole body trembling when he got the call an hour ago was still vivid.

• “Oh, Joo-hyuk. Are you still at our place, helping my sister with her website? I forgot to tell you because the scammer called me, but Ye-seo was waiting downstairs at the officetel. Did you two meet?”

• “What? When?”

• “Around 7:30? You didn’t meet her? But at this time, she’s probably already gone home...”

• “F***.”

At the sudden curse that came through the phone, Sung-joon was so scared that his heart almost jumped out of his chest.

• “Why are you telling me this now!”

Click. The call was mercilessly cut off. When he called again, Joo-hyuk had already taken Ye-seo to a nearby hospital. Before Sung-joon could finish his recollection and say anything else, Joo-hyuk turned his body.

“Tell Ms. Park that her website has been restored. And tell her that the consulting on my end is finished.”

“Aren’t you going home?”

“I’ll take care of it.”

“Joo-hyuk.”

He started to speak again, looking at Joo-hyuk’s back as he was about to turn away.

“You...”

You like Ye-seo. And a lot, at that.

“No, never mind.”

But he couldn’t bring himself to ask and let the words trail off. Seeing Joo-hyuk’s still-tense face, it seemed best to get out of there as quickly as possible.

“I’ll get going. Tell Ye-seo I’m sorry, too. I’ll apologize to her properly at school, but...”

“I will.”

The two of them walked out of the lounge side by side and headed for the elevator. Joo-hyuk watched him press the elevator button before turning back.

Was it a mistake? His footsteps heading back to the hospital room didn’t look light at all.

________________________________________

Ye-seo sat up, her lips slightly parted. Han Joo-hyuk walked into the hospital room as soon as she finished eating the porridge the nurse had brought and finished a phone call with her mother, in which she vaguely said she was staying at a friend’s house. He then calmly began to back her into a corner.

“Are you out of your mind? You know my number, you could have called me to check in. Who told you to wait so foolishly until you collapsed?”

Of course, he hadn’t told her to come to the officetel and wait. It was entirely her own decision. It was also entirely her own fault that she hadn’t called or texted him while she was waiting.

“You don’t eat on time and you didn’t even realize you had a chill from the rain. Are you a child? You can’t even take care of your own body.”

Did he really need to be so cold and harsh? Ye-seo was about to say something back, but she bit her lip. In any case, she couldn’t get angry at the person who had brought her here, had her hospitalized, and was staying by her side until close to midnight.

“I’m really sorry for being a bother, Senior. I’ll transfer the hospital fees right now... Oh, I’ll just pay for it myself when I’m discharged tomorrow.”

“It’s already been paid in full, so don’t worry about it. That’s not the problem right now...”

He sighed in frustration, then pulled the chair closer and sat down again. He continued in a cold tone. His voice was frigid, but his posture—sitting with his arms crossed—was full of a willingness to listen.

“Now, tell me. What was your reason for coming here?”

“...”

“Min Ye-seo.”

“I wanted to see for myself. If you were really living with that woman. If you were dating.”

And she also wanted to ask him again about what he had said before. He had said he couldn’t date her even though he liked her because he had no intention of dating anyone, so why was he meeting that woman? Had his feelings for her completely changed now? And if so, was the only problem in this situation her feelings alone?

“Park Yeon-ji is the CEO of an online home shopping company. The reason she came to pick me up at school all this time was because she asked me to check the website’s security.”

He told her a half-truth mixed with a little bit of a lie. He didn’t say a word about the fact that he had deliberately acted ambiguous, as if they were dating, because he knew she was watching.

“She’s getting married soon. The date is set for early January next year.”

“What...?”

“She’s Park Sung-joon’s sister. And Sung-joon is my cousin.”

He added with a sigh.

“In other words, Park Yeon-ji is my cousin, too.”

“That woman... was Senior Sung-joon’s older sister?”

The fact that she was related to Park Sung-joon was surprising, but that wasn’t what was important right now. That woman, Park Yeon-ji, was his cousin! They weren’t romantically involved!

“That’s right.”

He nodded calmly. Ye-seo stared blankly up at him before slowly lowering her gaze. A deep sense of relief spread through her heart, making her shiver. She was being foolish. Nothing would change even if she felt relieved.

“Is that all you wanted to confirm?”

Han Joo-hyuk broke the long silence and asked. His eyes were completely unreadable. That gaze drove Ye-seo crazy. The look in his eyes, which she couldn’t figure out what he was thinking, that walked the line between affection and indifference yet also seemed to contain something else, was always a heaven and a hell that tortured her with false hope.

“No. There’s more.”

Ye-seo opened her mouth again. The words just flowed out, as if some sort of courage had welled up inside her.

“I wanted to know if you still care about me... if you still like me but are dating or living with another woman... And if so, what you’re thinking. That’s why I came. For the last time.”

After a few seconds of silence, Han Joo-hyuk spoke. He was sitting up straight with his legs crossed and arms folded, but something completely detached from that arrogance was intensely palpable.

“My feelings for you are the same. Now and back then.”

“...”

“So... no.”

He ran his hand through his hair in a messy way and closed his eyes. She still couldn’t understand his intense struggle. Since he still had feelings for her, he wasn’t gay, and he wasn’t weighing his options with another person. So why couldn’t he date anyone?

“Senior. Are you sick?”

“...”

“I’m asking if you have a disease. Some sort of... special... physical or mental...”

He’s not a terminally ill patient or something similar, is he? She thought he couldn’t be, but she carefully brought it up.