PHUW 14

Whether he was asleep or awake, Haeri felt the same, tired and in pain. Did he really have to tease him like that on top of it? He was annoyed, but I wasn’t in a position to talk about it. Ahn Haeri just pouted.

“How’s the pain?”

“My body’s exhausted, but the headache’s a little better now.”

Though someone’s teasing had made his mood even worse.

“How’s your back?”

“I think it’ll hurt if I move, but right now I can’t feel anything. I still have a fever.”

“Good thing the painkillers worked.”

His earlier imagination about a hidden-chaebol-problem-solver persona felt ridiculous now. The conversation with Jeong Mok was warm and calm. He really needed to stop writing useless dramas in his head. Embarrassed for no reason, he sniffled lightly.

“They’ll move you to a hospital room once it’s ready.”

“Yes, the nurse said that. But it’s just a bruise, do I really have to be hospitalized? They said my head was fine.”

It was just a small gash, they only stitched it twice and put on some gauze.

“Your back’s badly hurt. If a bruise is that deep, you can get sepsis, don’t you know that? You could die.”

Jeong Mok spoke sternly. Sepsis or whatever it was, hearing the word “die” sent a chill down his spine.

“You’re going to pay my hospital bills again, right? I feel bad.”

“Why are you the one worrying about that?”

“I can’t pay you back.”

Haeri said it plainly. Honestly, it wasn’t like he had a way to pay it back anyway.

“I never asked you to.”

“Why not?”

Now he was really curious. What was going through this guy’s head?

“It’s just hospital bills. It’s not a big deal.”

Not a big deal? Tch. Life really was unfair. Because he was the secret child of a chairman, brain surgery and CT scan costs were nothing to him. Now that he thought of it, even the car he’d just ridden in looked like it cost hundreds of millions.

He was grateful. Truly, deeply grateful that Jeong Mok had saved him, brought him here, and was even paying his bills. But for some reason, it still stung a little.

‘If hospital bills are nothing, he could’ve at least given me cab fare in front of the police station.’

Even just enough to get to a PC room would’ve kept him from ending up in that homeless shelter. And then maybe none of this absurd crap would’ve happened. It wasn’t even his money anyway, but seeing him treat that kind of money like pocket change right in front of someone desperate made him upset.

“Must be nice to be rich.”

It was half genuine awe, half sarcasm. He was in no position to say something so cheeky, not after all the help he’d gotten. But instead of getting angry, Jeong Mok laughed.

“Do I just look rich?”

“Are you making fun of me right now?”

He tried to scoff in disbelief, but his back hurt so bad he couldn’t make a sound and just grimaced. Jeong Mok laughed, he didn’t look worried, only more amused.

“You seem to have some energy now.”

“That’s not energy, I’m just angry.”

“What are you angry about?”

Forget it. If he could, he would’ve turned away with a dramatic huff like some grumpy old man. But he couldn’t because of his back, and that just made it more frustrating.

“You’re sulking?”

The word was engraved across his furrowed brow. Haeri glared at him with all the force he could muster. This guy seriously enjoyed teasing an injured person.

Jeong Mok’s personality was way worse than he looked. Tie back that messy hair and put a suit on him, and he’d fit the title of ‘Executive Director’ perfectly.

Even as he was being glared at with a face full of attitude and resentment, Jeong Mok just kept smiling, as if he was enjoying it. Did he just laugh a lot?

And it wasn’t just that. Despite his blunt tone and cold appearance, he was surprisingly considerate. Haeri hadn’t even asked, but when he looked thirsty, Jeong Mok went to a convenience store and brought back a bottle of water. He unscrewed the cap himself, stuck in a straw, and even held it to Haeri’s lips.

Haeri had wanted to say no, but ended up drinking it anyway.

At this point, he started to wonder. Honestly, he should’ve asked from the beginning. But everything had been so chaotic, he hadn’t gotten the chance until now.

“I know I’m not really in a position to say anything, after getting so much help, but… I’m just curious, so I’ll ask. Why are you being so nice to me?”

“Don’t say ‘you,’ say Jeong Mok. Didn’t I tell you? You caught my attention.”

Did he? Haeri racked his broken brain to check. But since waking up in the ER, he was pretty sure he hadn’t heard that.

“I don’t think you did.”

“Really? Then I’m saying it now. You caught my attention. That’s it, satisfied?”

Huh. Why did it sound so casual and easy? Hadn’t he ever heard that you shouldn’t take in random stray animals? The fact that there was no special reason made it even harder to trust. Was this some kind of trap? A money pit? What if he got used to all this and something bad happened?

“People don’t usually do all this just because someone caught their attention, do they?”

“I don’t know. You’re the first person who’s caught my attention like this, so I don’t know what’s normal.”

What he was saying made no sense. But the way he looked Haeri straight in the eye, like it was perfectly obvious, somehow made it sound believable. People were different, after all. It could happen. But, was this really okay?

He tried imagining it from the other side.

Not only had he lost his memory after crashing at someone else’s construction site in the middle of the night, but he turned out to be a complete orphan with nowhere to go. He ended up staying at a homeless shelter, got bullied, and was getting beaten when he called to beg for help. If he were the one with too much money and time on his hands, what would he have done?

‘I probably would have gone to help. But paying all the hospital bills and fussing over a bottle of water? I don’t know about that.’

That part depended on the person. To Haeri, being taken care of in such detail felt a little strange. But there must be people out there who are just like this. Maybe that was all it was.

No matter how annoying Jeong Mok’s attitude could be, he was grateful for his unusual consideration. At the same time, he felt sorry for being such a bother all the time.

“Sorry for being such a hassle.”

“You don’t need to apologize. I’m the one who decided to care, after all.”

That was true enough. He had asked for help, but he’d never asked to be looked after this carefully.

“Right. But, why did you suddenly switch to informal speech?”

“Why, am I not allowed?”

“…It’s not that you can’t. You’re older than me, anyway. Even if you weren’t, you’ve already saved my life twice. You could curse at me or point your finger in my face and I couldn’t do anything about it.”

“So how did you end up there?”

“At the shelter? The detective introduced me. I had nowhere else to go.”

“Why didn’t you have anywhere to go?”

Jeong Mok frowned as if he really couldn’t understand.

“I’m an orphan. I don’t remember anything. Of course I don’t know where I lived before.”

Haeri’s face stiffened as he answered.

“That’s not what I mean. Why did you just leave the police station without waiting?”

“I didn’t leave. You left first.”

The feeling of being let down that day resurfaced. How could he ask why he hadn’t waited, when he was the one who’d disappeared, leaving someone who just got out of the hospital behind?

“I didn’t just leave. The parking lot was jammed and I had to move my car. I told you to wait, but you didn’t.”

“What? You told me to wait? Really?”

“Of course. Why would I lie?”

“I don’t remember hearing that.”

“You didn’t listen at all.”

Jeong Mok clicked his tongue.

“Then again, you probably weren’t in any state to hear it.”

Despite the irritated response, Ahn Haeri felt strangely lighter.

“So you did say to wait. I thought you’d just left because you were done.”

“We’re not just strangers who’d leave without saying goodbye, are we?”

Those words jabbed Haeri in the chest. The disappointment he’d been holding onto melted away.

“Right. We’re not. I guess I misunderstood back then.”

“Was it just me? So you thought I was the kind of guy who’d just leave without saying a word.”

“That’s not it… sorry.”

He apologized, but his eyes and mouth were smiling.

So that really had been Jeong Mok’s car that circled back that day. He should have waited a little longer. Or rolled down the window and looked around.

“How’d you end up getting beaten at the shelter?”

“That…”

He really didn’t want to answer.

For the first time, he understood why victims of sexual harassment don’t report it. He hadn’t been raped, but just the fact that a middle-aged man had looked at him that way was humiliating as a man. He wanted to erase the whole thing, so he kept his mouth shut about that part.

He’d only overheard, but it sounded like Jeong Mok was talking about criminal charges, so it seemed serious. And Jeong Mok had hit Kim Jeongwook. If Haeri insisted on hiding his pride, Jeong Mok could end up in trouble. He couldn’t throw mud on the man who’d shown him such generosity.

So he left out all the disgusting glances and advances from the other men and just said the shelter manager, Kim Jeongwook, had made his life hell. After all, the sexual part was only his feeling. He didn’t have any hard evidence.

“Why would he bother you if you were just minding your own business?”

“How should I know? Maybe he’s just trash.”

Ahn Haeri forced himself to sound casual as he went on.

“Who knows how many psychos are out there these days? And with a nobody like me, a memoryless, homeless orphan, I’m the perfect target.”

As he spoke, Jeong Mok’s face changed. The faint smile he’d worn, saying Ahn Haeri seemed full of energy, disappeared and turned into a cold, stony expression.

“That’s all?”

It wasn’t a question, it sounded like he’d caught the things Haeri hadn’t said. Haeri nodded.

“From what I heard on the phone, that didn’t sound like all.”

“That’s really it.”

Sudden fatigue made his eyelids heavy. He forced them open and looked right at Jeong Mok’s face, which was all seriousness.

“You helped me this time. If it hadn’t been for you, it would have been bad. I really mean it, thank you.”

“I didn’t do it to get thanked.”

“I know. But I’m still grateful.”

“That’s enough, just rest.”

Since he’d been told to stop, Haeri closed his mouth. Jeong Mok didn’t say anything else either.