FL Chapter 38

The next evening, his mother was admitted to the hospital. They got a single room because all the shared rooms were full, and they were given a single room at the same price. It was unbelievable.

Seeing his mother happily praising him for keeping his junior close, Heewoon barely managed to keep a smile on his face. He told his mother that he rescheduled the tutoring for his student to another day and spent the night in the hospital.

Early the next morning, his aunt arrived.

Auntie probably came either because his mother called her or she was worried about the relationship between his mother and Heewoon. It seemed more likely to be the former.

While preparing for surgery and receiving an IV, his mother kept telling Heewoon to go to school.

“I can skip the morning classes.”

“Isn’t attendance important?”

“No, not anymore…”

Heewoon stopped talking. Not anymore because I received 5 million won from Seo Kangwoo, so I don’t need to rely on scholarships anymore?

“I’ll do well on my exams, so it’s okay to be absent for a day.”

“Is that so?”

“Oh my. Even if Heewoon went to school, would he really be able to concentrate on his studies without feeling uncomfortable?”

His aunt intervened, and his mother reluctantly nodded. His mother glanced at Heewoon briefly and patted his aunt’s arm lightly.

“Unnie, have I told you this? Our Heewoon always gets scholarships. You know how smart those kids in his school are, right?”

“You’ve actually said it countless times.”

His aunt replied in disbelief.

“Getting a scholarship at the second-best university in Korea after SNU isn’t easy.”

“That’s nice-, your son is doing so well.”

Watching his mother and aunt bicker, Heewoon pretended to look out the window.

Just as his mother said, it wasn’t easy. That’s why he couldn’t get a scholarship last semester. Moreover, the tuition fee at the second-best university in Korea after SNU was one of the highest too.

Without his mother knowing, Heewoon had applied for a student loan. He received the university acceptance letter and was so happy that he would fly away at 20. That had been foolish of him now that he thought about it.

The surgery, which made Heewoon nervous, went well without a hitch.

Heewoon and his aunt listened to the doctor’s explanations. The doctor said that healthy individuals could be discharged within a day, but it would be better for his mother to be discharged with more time to recover. And Heewoon agreed.

“Heewoon, your mom told me that she would return the money…”

His aunt brought up a topic that she hadn’t mentioned in front of his mother.

“Yes, Auntie. I’m really grateful, but I have some savings, so I’ll be fine. And… I’m getting a lot of help from my junior who knows this good hospital.”

“Really? But if your hospital stay gets longer, the bills could add up. Oh, right. They said they would give you a single room at the price of a five-person room.”

His aunt shook her head and looked at the door of the hospital room.

“Ah, I’d like to be hospitalized for a few days in a single room like this too.”

Awkwardly, Heewoon smiled as he listened to his aunt’s grumbling.

Then suddenly, he looked at his aunt’s face.

His aunt was a very strong person. When loan sharks came to their house and threatened them, even close relatives and friends pretended not to know them, fearing trouble.

The only reason they had a moment of peace was that they sold our apartment and gave them half the money. Heewoon wondered if his older brother, who had taken the remaining half and ran away, were to come back, what kind of things would happen again…

No, the loan sharks had said that if Heewoon paid back the money regularly every month, no problems would arise. He remembered the unsuiting gruff guy who encouraged him. As a prestigious university student, he would be able to pay off the debt in no time.

Anyway, under these circumstances, it wasn’t good that his aunt kept meeting his mother and lending them money. Those loan sharks were brilliant at finding nooks and crannies to get money out of.

“Auntie, thank you so much.”

His words came out heavily, and his aunt stared at him intently. Her eyes blinked slowly, as if she knew everything.

After his mother woke up from anesthesia, they had a short conversation, then Heewoon went to school. His aunt went back to Cheonan later that night, and Heewoon slept on the supplementary bed.

Heewoon had wanted to stay in his mother’s hospital room as long as possible, but from the next day onwards, his mother pretty much chased him out.

“Did you not hear what your Auntie said? This is a vacation for me.”

Although his mother’s recovery was a bit slower, she seemed relatively fine. Heewoon had no choice but to leave the hospital around 8 pm.

After leaving the hospital, Hee-woon staggered to the bus stop. He had eaten dinner at the Korean restaurant in front of the hospital, but he was still a bit hungry. Fortunately, he saw a stall selling hotteok near the bus stop. The smell was so enticing. Just by the thought of eating hotteok, he felt like a lot of his tension was relieved.

“Hello, I’d like to have one hotteok, please.”

Heewoon reached for his wallet to pay, but he froze at the spot. There was no way that the card would work for this amount. Heewoon took out cash for the first time in a long time. This was also the money Seo Kangwoo had given him to pay for the taxi fare.

As he absentmindedly watched the hotteok sizzling away with a clattering sound, Heewoon checked his phone and saw a message from Seo Kangwoo.

[Are you going to sleep at the hospital?]

During the past few days Heewoon was preoccupied with his mother’s situation, Seo Kangwoo hadn’t bothered him much. Kangwoo essentially hadn’t called him at all

[No.]

Heewoon replied. As soon as the message was sent, he immediately received a call.

–Have you had dinner?

A soft voice came through the phone.

“Yeah, I‘ve had it.”

Seo Kangwoo asked in detail about what he had eaten, if it was tasty, and so on. Heewoon replied that he had eaten a simple Korean meal and it tasted so-so.

It wasn’t until later that he got to the point.

–Come to my house right now. It’s the weekend anyway, so it’s okay to sleep over, right?

“Yeah.”

–Take a taxi.

“Yeah.”

As Heewoon nodded his head, the merchant handed him a hotteok. Heewoon handed over a thousand-won bill and took the hotteok.

“You must be calling your lover.”

The man chuckled. It seemed like he had been hearing Heewoon’s report on his mundane daily life. Heewoon frowned slightly.

Lover? Even though their relationship was the threatening guy and the being-threatened guy.

Heewoon gave a brief bow in response and walked along the road. He held a hotteok in one hand and his phone in the other.

–Are you with someone right now?

“Huh? No one.”

–I heard someone’s voice.

The soft voice became a bit vexed.

“Oh… I bought hotteok. It must have come from the merchant.”

–Is that so?

Heewoon had a feeling that Seo Kangwoo might be checking with the person in charge of monitoring him, so he hesitated for a moment before saying.

“And I used cash because card payment wasn’t accepted.”

–Hmm?

“I bought hotteok, but card payment wasn’t accepted… so I used cash.”

There was a brief silence on Kangwoo’s end, then he let out a small laugh.

–You did well.

Heewoon wondered if he didn’t need to tell Kangwoo these kinds of things. Heewoon’s face turned red, and he brushed his cheek with the back of his hand. While doing so, the hotteok accidentally touched his cheek, and he exclaimed, “Ouch, it’s hot!”

–Why?

“The hotteok… it’s hot.”

Ah… Woo Heewoon. Kangwoo mumbled as if he was exasperated and suddenly asked.

–Did you get a taxi?

“Not yet. I’m about to.”

–Tell the driver to reach as quickly as possible.

“Okay.”

–Tell him you’ll pay double.

Heewoon hesitated a bit to respond because he hadn’t tried such a thing before, and it felt like a waste of money. Although he shouldn’t care since it was Seo Kangwoo’s money.

–You’re not responding to me?

“Ah, yeah, yeah.”

After ending the call, Heewoon asked the driver to go as quickly as possible and that he’d pay double the fare. Heewoon was quite surprised when the taxi arrived very quickly.

Standing in front of the main gate, Heewoon pressed the intercom button, and the heavy gate opened slightly. Heewoon stepped through the gap and wiped the grease from his lips onto the back of his hand. He couldn’t throw away the paper cup from the hotteok, so he held it in his hand.

Before Heewoon could properly stand in front of the doorway, it swung open, and a hand reached out. Heewoon was pulled inside, crashing into a firm embrace.

Kangwoo held Heewoon so tightly that he could hardly breathe, then released him. His gaze fell on the paper cup Heewoon was holding.

“Was it delicious?”

When Heewoon nodded, Kangwoo, who had been staring at him, leaned down and kissed him. Kangwoo grabbed Heewoon’s hand as their lips met in a deep kiss, causing Heewoon’s legs to weaken. When he almost stumbled, Kangwoo chuckled and kissed the side of Heewoon’s head.

Heewoon, with one hand holding the paper cup, looked around. The house was so spacious that finding a trash bin was difficult. Kangwoo glanced at him and casually took the cup from his hand. Have a seat on the sofa. Then Kangwoo let go of his hand and headed towards the kitchen.

Kangwoo, seeing Heewoon’s hesitation, took the paper cup from his hand and walked toward the kitchen.

“Sunbae, what would you like to drink?”

“…That, if you have water.”

“Are there even houses with no water?”

Hearing the mischievous tone in Kangwoo’s voice, Heewoon cleared his throat.

A moment later, Kangwoo returned with a cup. Most of the cups in Seo Kangwoo’s house were glass, and Heewoon took it carefully, fearing he might drop it. He didn’t know much about cups, but it looked expensive. And after witnessing someone get hit on the head with one like this, he became more cautious around glassware.

“How is your mother?”

Kangwoo asked. Heewoon stared at the ripples on the surface of the water, took a sip, and then replied.

“She seems fine.”

His strained words came out surprisingly smoothly. Kangwoo nodded and turned his gaze outside the window. Outside the window, the trees were swaying slightly, shedding their leaves. After observing Kangwoo for a while, Heewoon finally spoke up.

“About that, Kangwoo…”

However, Heewoon froze with his mouth open. The word that tried to escape his mouth was ‘thanks’. He had intended to say thank you to Seo Kangwoo.

Kangwoo turned to Heewoon, his head tilting slightly. His gaze landed on Heewoon’s parted lips, and the tip of his tongue peeked out slightly.

“You’re quite the player”

“Huh?”

“It’s all good. I really like that about you.”

The corners of Kangwoo’s lips were raised, and he pulled Heewoon’s arm strongly. Almost falling into Kangwoo’s arms in midair, Hee-woon accidentally lost his grip on the glass he was holding.

With a shattering sound, the glass cup broke into tiny pieces. Kangwoo paid no attention to it. Heewoon’s eyes flickered to the floor, losing his focus. His lips were let go and his gaze fell to the floor.

Then, their lips met once more. Kangwoo bit his lower lip hard, as if telling him to stay focused. Kangwoo stood up while carrying Heewoon in his arms.

Kangwoo left the living room with steady steps. Heewoon wrapped his arm around Kangwoo’s neck and kept his gaze on the shattered cup on the floor.

The tiny shards of glass glittered dazzlingly in the reflection of the colourful lights on the ceiling. Heewoon thought that was a bit strange.

That it was more sparkling when it was shattered compared to when it was in one piece.

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