MUL - Chapter 2

"Yeoul-ah, you need to breathe."

Mo Taehee's voice was like a breath of life to me, who had even forgotten to breathe. Only then did the breath I had been holding in burst out.

As I gasped for air, my thin chest heaving, Mo Taehee stroked my back with a still-tender look.

"You said you wanted to rest. Let's go inside."

I couldn't understand why things were turning out this way. Why, and what was the reason?

Seo Jaehoon was crazy, so he was an exception, but even when I was left alone with Nam Kangwoo, an unknown tension would flow between us. Compared to Mo Taehee, the tension between Nam Kangwoo and me was cute.

I still couldn't hide my hardened expression. Even though it was a moment when I should have been nonchalant, I couldn't. Mo Taehee's voice, saying that he knew I, Ha Yeoul, had been acting strangely for days and that I wasn't the Ha Yeoul he knew, was tangled in my head.

'I’ve been very patient with you.’

I shuddered at the sudden chill. When I raised my gaze a little higher, his eyes, still soft and tender, were directed at me. Mo Taehee, who had been slowly stroking my back, ran his hand down my shoulder line and gripped my wrist.

"Yeoul-ah."

"...Huh?"

"Were you surprised?"

Surprised? How should I describe this feeling? Um... rather than surprised... I was scared.

"...No."

"I don't care about anything else, but sometimes it feels like Yeoul is going to disappear."

...Shit. Mo Taehee had definitely noticed something. The long, thin thread of tension woven between Mo Taehee and me seemed to be stretched taut.

"Wh-What are you talking about? Disappear? What nonsense—"

"But Yeoul, I think I wouldn't care about anything if I could just have you."

Mo Taehee mumbled words that I couldn't quite understand. The sensation of his fingertips thickly rubbing the inside of my wrist was vivid. It felt like something sticky was clinging to me. The skin where Mo Taehee's fingertips touched was hot.

"Go inside and rest. You must be tired."

...From adapting.

The voice that flowed out like a breath was etched in my ear. It was a very small voice.

Mo Taehee still had an unreadable expression on his face and moved his feet.

It was certain. Mo Taehee, as big as a bear, seemed to have noticed that I, Ha Yeoul, was not Ha Yeoul more keenly than anyone else.

Mo Taehee personally opened the door to my room and laid me down on the bed. He still looked at me with worried eyes, tapping my chest with his warm palm.

"Sleep."

"...I think I'd sleep better if you left..."

"You can't sleep with me here?"

Mo Taehee asked with a slightly pleased expression. I didn't know why that would be a happy thing, but Mo Taehee's face softened.

"I'm really tired... and I hurt."

"Where does it hurt?"

Mo Taehee, who had been narrowing his eyes languidly, widened them at my worried words that I was in pain. His relaxed and languid touch quickly turned urgent, and he pulled up my head, which had been buried in the pillowcase.

"Yeoul-ah."

"No, that's not it. I coughed—cough, cough! You too—ah, I cough—"

I covered my mouth with my hand and coughed as if all the strength in my body was draining away. I was irritated by this wretched, no, pathetic body that seemed to have consumption. I wanted to rip out my lungs and throw them away.

Am I really getting sick? Something incurable. At least with this much coughing, I should have some medicine to take. Asthma medication or even a common cold medicine!

I coughed frantically. I wiped the cold sweat that quickly broke out on my forehead and the tears that welled up like a physiological phenomenon with the back of my hand, and met Mo Taehee's eyes.

"...I'm really tired."

So this is what it feels like to not be healthy. I groaned softly. My voice was full of a metallic sound.

Even I was worried about Ha Yeoul's body with the severe coughing. It wouldn't be strange if I died tomorrow. No, if I die, will I go back to reality?

As I was breathing heavily and lost in such unrealistic thoughts, I grabbed onto my fading consciousness again at the touch of a hand brushing my hair back.

"Should I get you some water?"

"...No, I'm just going to sleep a little. Sorry."

I pulled up the blanket. I pulled the blanket up to my eyes, covering my entire face, and muttered softly to Mo Taehee. Please leave. And thinking that I might have been too firm, I quickly added an apology.

"Sorry."

Even I thought the added words were a bit pathetic.

"Rest. I'll come wake you up when it's time for dinner."

"Ah... okay. I don't really feel like it..."

I blinked sleepily and then closed my eyes tightly. The owner of the room is saying they're going to sleep, so get out now, you insensitive bastard.

I focused on breathing, chewing on the words I couldn't say. I could feel Mo Taehee's gaze sticking to my closed face. Get out, please get out!

I screamed silently and focused all my senses on my ears, trying to hear Mo Taehee's footsteps. I even held my breath to not miss even the smallest breath. And then.

"Yeoul-ah."

"..."

"You have to breathe. Unless you're trying to die."

What a scary bastard... I narrowed my tightly closed eyes and smiled awkwardly. I laughed softly, haha.

"That's... that... I'm a little short of breath. I thought it would be okay if I held it in."

"..."

"Th...at's right... that doesn't make sense...? Haha... ha... sorry..."

I clutched the blanket tightly and moved my eyes towards Mo Taehee. When I looked up at Mo Taehee, who was sitting on the edge of my bed, his firmly closed lips parted and he let out a low sigh.

Mo Taehee keeps creating this strange atmosphere, and it's driving me crazy. No, what does this bastard want from me that he's doing this?

"Sleep. I'll leave after I see you sleep."

He's going to check if I'm asleep and then leave? This...!

Even though I was expressing my discomfort with my whole body, Mo Taehee ignored it and patted my back. Ah, he even closed my wide eyes before patting my back. Telling me to sleep, muttering.

I had no choice but to close my eyes and pretend to sleep, not forgetting to breathe this time.

Mo Taehee didn't take his hand off my back for a single moment until I fell asleep. The languid vibrations I felt on my back made me, who was only trying to pretend to sleep, fall into a real deep sleep like an idiot.

"...Yeoul-ah."

Mo Taehee's voice seeped into the gaps of my fading consciousness. Mo Taehee called my name as if he were calling out to his lost first love.

Ah, it's not my name. It's Ha Yeoul's name. And as for me...

"...Go on a date with Park Min-ah."

I let out the words that had been circling in my mouth and fell into a deep sleep. In that instant, I thought I heard Mo Taehee's laughter.

***

It was noisy outside the door. My mind was gradually becoming clearer, as if it was time to wake up from my deep sleep.

Every time I woke up from sleep, I had some kind of expectation, but I stopped doing that after a week. It was unbearably sad every time a vain hope turned into despair as soon as I opened my eyes and checked my surroundings.

I slowly lifted my eyelids, which were still heavy with sleepiness, and focused on the noise outside the door. Hearing a loud, loud, and even louder voice, it seemed that Seo Jaehoon had come home. 

Seo Jaehoon had never appeared quietly even once. When I listened carefully to Seo Jaehoon's voice, I realized that there was a reason why people say that the loudest voice wins.

I focused on the noise outside and blinked slowly, buried deep in the blanket, and then closed my eyes tightly again at the sound of the doorknob turning. Who is it?

"Hey— Ha Yeoul."

It's Seo Jaehoon.

Seo Jaehoon, who had no manners at all, burst into the room according to his temper and immediately approached the bedside. As I closed my eyes and pretended to sleep, he sat down on the edge of the bed with a thud.

He seems to have been out... Is this bastard sitting on my bed without even changing his clothes...?

From Seo Jaehoon, who was sitting close to me, came the mingled scent of his usual perfume, the scent of the wind, and the ever-present sweet scent. Unlike his boisterous and noisy personality, Seo Jaehoon always smelled fragrant and good.

"Hey—"

The bed swayed as Seo Jaehoon moved. What is he trying to do?

I was a little curious, but dealing with Seo Jaehoon was too energy-consuming. I thought it would be better to close my eyes until another guy came in than to deal with the noisy and flighty Seo Jaehoon, so I still pretended to be asleep.

"Are you really sleeping?"

The sweet scent came closer as Seo Jaehoon leaned his upper body. It was a distance close enough for my breath to touch, and the moist breath touched my cheek and quickly dissipated.

I guess he's trying to check if I'm really sleeping... It seems too close. I was breathing quietly and timing when to open my eyes.

"You… really asleep, right?”

A slightly lowered voice, unlike usual, echoed closely in my ear.​