I swallowed my cough with all my might, looking back and forth between Nam Kangwoo, Park Min-ah, and Mo Taehee. Mo Taehee, seeing my flustered state, shrugged slightly as if he had anticipated this situation. These... these... crazy bastards...
"So, Kangwoo, you're leaving too."
Mo Taehee stated more than asked. Nam Kangwoo nodded instead of answering.
I'm the only one who wants to go, only me.
I felt like crying. And Park Min-ah looked like she was about to cry any second. Her fair and pretty face flushed red.
Mo Taehee, roughly clearing the table with his big, thick hands, placed the mugs and untouched desserts on a tray.
"Yeoul-ah, should I pack some more dessert for you to take home?"
"...Huh?"
"To eat at home."
Ah, I nodded vaguely at Mo Taehee's question. Instead of those oblivious bastards, I was looking around, trying to gauge Park Min-ah's mood. I was thinking about what to say, what to say to make Park Min-ah feel less hurt. But then.
"I’m leaving. And Yeoul-ah, if you were this sick, why did you even ask to meet?”
Leaving behind a resentful question in a testy voice, Park Min-ah stormed out of the cafe before even hearing my answer. I couldn't even close my gaping mouth.
"Ah..."
I couldn't even hold back the sigh-like groan that escaped me.
Confirming Park Min-ah's quickly receding figure, I leaned back against the sofa. The tension drained away, and my energy seeped out. Those damn bastards ruined everything. I didn't even bother to lift my slowly closing eyelids and let out a long sigh.
"Ha Yeoul, are you okay?"
Nam Kangwoo leaned down, bringing his face close to mine.
"...No."
My voice was so low that even Nam Kangwoo seemed worried, asking if I should go to the hospital. What hospital? I was just completely drained. Unlike the three of them, my energy starts at 1/3. So, it's bound to run out faster.
My hands were shaking. My body, which had been so tense, was also shaking as if my body temperature was dropping. I was still wearing Seo Jaehoon's coat, but I was cold. Perhaps my face looked pale, as a lukewarm hand touched my forehead.
"Ha Yeoul."
"...Yeah."
"Open your eyes."
At the touch of his hand tapping my cheek, I barely managed to lift my heavy eyelids. I only opened them halfway and fixed my gaze on the area around Nam Kangwoo's chest.
“…Why on earth did you guys…” come?
I mumbled in a voice like a dying candle. At that small, tiny question, both Nam Kangwoo and Mo Taehee chuckled. Is it funny? Is this funny?
I'm completely screwed. If I were Park Min-ah, I would never meet me alone again.
"...I'm really... out of energy..."
Damn it. How can this wretched body not even last two hours outside? How did I even go to school? I'm really curious, curious.
I blinked slowly. As my body, which had been intermittently trembling, started shaking violently, Nam Kangwoo's eyes wavered helplessly. Mo Taehee, who had returned after clearing the table, also quickly noticed my deteriorating condition and cursed in a low voice.
"Carry him.”
It was Mo Taehee who said that. At that word, I opened my eyes wide and shook my head as if I hated it to death. I couldn't leave this place in that ridiculous state.
"Just wait a little bit... I'll walk. Right now... ha... I can't go."
I said slowly. Nam Kangwoo and Mo Taehee listened intently to my voice. Nam Kangwoo took off his coat and put it over my lap, then pulled me closer. I leaned my head on Nam Kangwoo's shoulder in a fairly natural manner.
Mo Taehee, who had been watching the scene with a displeased expression, put the packaged dessert box on the table with a thud and stared at me and Nam Kangwoo.
"Want anything else to drink?"
Mo Taehee asked in a disgruntled voice. I said no in a voice that sounded like I was about to die, and Nam Kangwoo looked down at me and nodded.
"Hot chocolate."
At the order of a drink that didn't suit Nam Kangwoo at all, I laughed weakly. Making a whooshing sound. Those damn bastards were still sitting next to me, in front of me, and I, with my waning energy, just found this absurd situation a little funny.
I was squinting with blurry vision before finally closing my eyes. Mo Taehee went to order another drink, and Nam Kangwoo silently kept his place. Occasionally, the breath that touched my forehead tickled, and when I frowned, a cool hand gently smoothed out the wrinkles.
"Ha Yeoul."
"..."
"Just stay home for the time being. I'm so worried, how can I let you go outside."
At Nam Kangwoo's nagging, I just closed my eyes even tighter instead of answering. I didn't want to come out either, if this was going to happen. I should have just invited Park Min-ah to my house.
I vowed to find a way to invite Park Min-ah to my house somehow when I regained some energy and went home.
How long had I been closing my eyes like that? I lifted my eyelids at the sound of something being placed on the table. A hot chocolate with warm steam rising from it was placed in front of Nam Kangwoo. I didn't really feel like eating it, but the sweet smell made me swallow involuntarily.
"I ordered it for you to drink."
"...What?"
"You have low blood sugar, if you don't drink this now, you're really going to die."
Looking at Nam Kangwoo's lips as he spoke in a low voice, I thought to myself that I was really a handful. A walking hospital, truly.. At this point, it was a wonder that Ha Yeoul was still alive.
I trusted Nam Kangwoo's words implicitly and reached out a trembling hand to grab the cup, but even that was too much effort, so I sighed softly.
Shit. It would have been a hundred, a thousand times better to be reincarnated as a flower blooming on the side of the road.
Nam Kangwoo stared at my hand like that, then naturally took the cup instead and brought it to my lips. He even blew on the steaming hot chocolate.
At that action, I sighed deeply. Go show that kindness to Park Min-ah, you crazy bastards...
My two roommates were fighting over whether to put me in the passenger seat or the back seat. So childishly.
Mo Taehee insisted that I should be in the passenger seat no matter what, and Nam Kangwoo insisted on laying me down in the back seat and taking care of me himself. They had been fighting over that the whole time I was slowly emptying half of the hot chocolate. I'm tired of even calling them crazy bastards now, tired.
Unable to bear it any longer, I carefully moved my hand and tapped the table. I don't have any energy, so my voice doesn't come out loud either. The clear sound of "tap-tap" drew their attention.
"I'll just... if you give me a ride... I'll lie down alone in the back seat and go. I don't feel good anyway... I want to go comfortably. Or... just put me in a taxi..."
"No way."
"No way."
They both said no at the same time, as if they had rehearsed it. They're so in sync. I didn't hide the sigh that escaped me and let it out long.
"Then stop fighting... it's embarrassing."
Even as it was, gazes kept gathering on the table where we were sitting. These bastards all have loud voices, so even if they speak quietly, it'll be heard, but they deliberately said everything so that everyone around could hear. It's shameful. Arguing about whether to put me, a grown man, next to them or in the back.
The people around naturally scanned Mo Taehee and Nam Kangwoo, then scanned my face with puzzled eyes. It's humiliating. Seeing my pale face, some gave awkward smiles, some gave pitiful smiles, and some gave slimy smiles that I couldn't understand. Why? Why are they being slimy...?
I tried to figure out the meaning, but I quickly gave up. I was tired, and I didn't want to spend the energy I had filled with hot chocolate just to figure that out. Maybe they just felt sorry for me, or maybe their conversation was a little strange, or something like that.
"Let's go now..."
"Should I carry you on my back, Yeoul-ah?"
Mo Taehee said something absurd at my words to leave. I wanted to ask him back if he would go on someone's back, but as always, I held back and smiled slightly. No, I even shook my head to clearly convey that I didn't want to.
Nam Kangwoo got up first and reached out his hand towards me. As if to tell me to grab it and get up.
But I was very quick-witted, so I grabbed the back of the sofa as a support and got up. I was sure that the moment I grabbed Nam Kangwoo's hand, it wouldn't be let go until I left this cafe and was seated in the car. It would have been the same even if I had grabbed Mo Taehee's hand. I had to cut off the bud from the beginning.
I swayed a little and stood up straight. Even with this small movement, it felt like the energy I had barely filled was seeping out.
Nam Kangwoo stared blankly at his hand floating in the air, then moved his body leisurely. As if he knew it would happen. This flawless bastard very naturally put his arm around my waist. Not only that, but he said in a low voice, with his lips very close to my ear, that I was going to fall over like that.
The hand around my waist gently rubbed over my clothes. So startled, I blurted out, "This crazy bastard," without realizing it.
"Ha Yeoul, where did you learn such words?"
As expected, those words were heard very well by Nam Kangwoo.
"Ah, no...! I just... I wish you'd let go..."
I pleaded in a small voice that seemed to be crawling in. It wasn't like I was asking him to hold on to me, I was just asking him to let go, but I had to be so desperate. Damn it...
Mo Taehee, unable to watch any longer, walked around the table and came to my side. As he pulled my arm, which was pitifully placed on Nam Kangwoo's arm, my body fluttered and was pulled into Mo Taehee's arms. Even though it seemed impossible to be any more humiliated than this, my weakness in being pulled away so easily was all the more humiliating.
"Nam Kangwoo, enough is enough."
"What?"
"It's my turn now. You drive."
No, what does that mean? What do you mean it's your turn?
I looked up at Mo Taehee with a dumbfounded face. No, more than that, let me go.
"Let's go."
Mo Taehee threw the car keys he was holding towards Nam Kangwoo. Without even glancing in that direction.
What was surprising was that Nam Kangwoo caught the car keys, and what was even more surprising was that Mo Taehee lightly grabbed my waist and left the cafe with me seemingly trapped in his arms. Too fast to even feel ashamed of the position.
Without even having a chance to use the energy I had regained with the hot chocolate, I was quietly laid down in the back seat of Mo Taehee's car. With Mo Taehee's firm thighs as my pillow. What the hell...
And so, I headed home in the most uncomfortable position without moving a muscle.
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