PHUW 20

Honestly, he did look rich, which explained how he could settle the hospital bill on the spot and own several expensive cars. But in this world, there were plenty of people who looked glamorous on the outside yet were hollow inside. A young man with money who seemed to have too much free time was often either a scammer or a criminal.

He really did run a building construction office, right? But in construction, didn’t gangsters usually get involved? Could it be that the “chairman” he mentioned was that kind of chairman?

While Haeri’s imagination kept spiraling into darker territory, the man in front of him, unaware of his thoughts, sipped his coffee and stared at him as if he might eat him alive. Which only made it scarier.

“So just do whatever makes you comfortable. I’m fine with anything.”

His eyes were icy, but his mouth was cotton candy. It was strange and dangerous. Feeling uneasy, Haeri gulped down his barley tea.

Jeong Mok gathered the empty cups and took them to the kitchen.

“I’ll show you your room.”

Haeri followed him out of the kitchen, down a hallway leading in the opposite direction from the entrance. There were four doors in total, two on each side.

Jeong Mok opened the first door on the left. Like the living room, the room was warmly white and quite spacious. One side had a wide window with a view of green hills, and just below it was a queen-sized bed. A thick, subtly colored rug lay under the bed, and opposite it stood a dresser with a black diffuser filled with reed sticks.

It was a perfect guest room, yet, everything looked brand new. Maybe it had been bought before but rarely used, so it seemed new. But something about it felt like it had been furnished only yesterday.

“Do you like it?”

Whether he liked it or not didn’t matter, he was in no position to refuse, even if it had been a storage room. But this was a hotel-grade room, so his desire for comfort pushed away his unease.

“I like it.”

“The bathroom’s over here.”

Right next door. The bathroom had a freestanding tub and a separate shower booth. There was even a window, with a clear view of the hill behind the house.

“Here are the towels and toiletries. Use them whenever you want. My room has its own bathroom.”

He was telling him to use such a nice bathroom all to himself.

“Since we’re talking about it, why don’t you wash up now?”

Jeong Mok suddenly turned on the shower head over the tub.

“Now? I showered at the hospital before coming here.”

“Yeah, but isn’t your head itchy?”

Ah. He had been worrying about that since earlier, but Haeri hadn’t expected him to just come out and say it.

“Does it smell a lot?”

“Not a lot, just a little.”

His face burned with embarrassment. If he could, he’d hide somewhere.

“If I keep the towel on, the smell will be less noticeable.”

“Don’t do that, just wash it. You’ll feel better too.”

The truth was, for the first three days, Haeri had felt like he would die from the smell of his own hair. Then, at some point, his nose seemed to shut down and he hardly noticed it. But sometimes, when the wind hit just right, he’d get a whiff of the strong scalp odor and be shocked all over again. Maybe because Jeong Mok was tall, he noticed it even more.

“I can’t lift my arms over my head…”

“Don’t worry about that. I’ll wash it for you.”

…What?

When Haeri just stared, Jeong Mok smiled warmly.

“Hyung-nim? Why?”

“What do you mean why? It’ll feel nice once you wash up.”

He sounded so matter-of-fact that Haeri wondered if he was the strange one here. But no matter how you looked at it, one grown man washing another grown man’s hair was…

“My hair’s really dirty.”

“Exactly, so let’s wash it. And we’re both men, so what’s the big deal?”

The fact that they were both men was exactly why it felt weird.

Shhh.

Jeong Mok had already rolled up his sleeves, turned on the shower, and was checking the water temperature.

“Take off your shirt and lean over the tub.”

Haeri felt reluctant, but not to the point of real resistance. The look in Jeong Mok’s eyes was that of a guardian without a trace of ulterior motive as he urged, “Come on.” With no choice, Haeri pulled up his shirt. Jeong Mok even helped him take it off.

Once the oversized T-shirt was bunched up in both hands, Jeong Mok took it and tossed it out the open bathroom door. Seeing the door open gave Haeri a strange sense of relief.

Standing bare-chested, Haeri rubbed one arm with his opposite hand.

“Cold?”

“No.”

The bathroom wasn’t cold. He just felt awkward and self-conscious standing there shirtless.

“Then come here and hold onto the tub. Bend your waist more. That’s it.”

Haeri did as he was told.

He was staring blankly at the smooth surface of the tub when his eyes wandered to the side. Right in front of him were a thick, log-like waist and sturdy legs that held up a powerful upper body without wavering, at about hip height. Every blink drew his gaze to something heavy and full that caught his attention.

What was this man lacking, exactly?

Haeri’s pride shrank a little, remembering the last time he’d showered after surgery and seen his own size. If he kept looking, it felt like it might disappear entirely, so he quietly turned his eyes to the clean white tiles, which brought a bit of peace. Water splashed down onto the back of his neck.

“Not too hot?”

“No.”

A large hand, big as a stew pot lid, was already gripping the back of his head, so there was no room for protest anyway.

Once the hot water ran through his hair, he realized how good it felt that he almost regretted hesitating earlier. As the warmth soaked into his scalp, he let out a long breath.

“Ahhh…”

Jeong Mok, who had been carefully wetting Haeri’s scalp, suddenly set the showerhead aside.

“Uncomfortable? Should we stop if you really can’t handle it?”

What did he mean, “stop” after soaking him this much already?

“No, please keep going. I’m completely fine.”

“If anything feels off, tell me.”

He said it like a dentist. And Haeri could tell he really might stop if he thought there was a problem. He was enjoying it so much that he had to bite back the small sounds threatening to slip out. The cool relief swirling inside him made his whole body tremble.

Jeong Mok soaked his scalp slowly and thoroughly until all the built-up dandruff had softened. Then he set the showerhead down and picked up shampoo. A fresh scent quickly filled the bathroom.

“I’m going to lather it now.”

With the water running, Haeri had kept his eyes closed, which only made him more aware of the careful touch exploring his scalp from the nape of his neck upward.

Well-groomed fingertips rubbed into every oily corner of his scalp. On a scale of one to ten, his touch was a hundred.

From the nape, his hands passed around Haeri’s ears and reached the front. Avoiding the surgical site, he scrubbed as wide an area as possible, and it felt so good that Haeri had to brace his arms against the tub.

This wasn’t the touch of an ordinary person. This was a professional.

“Have you ever worked at a hair salon?”

He unconsciously asked before he could stop it. He was just too relaxed.

“A salon? No.”

“I thought you were an expert.”

Jeong Mok gave chuckled softly at the joke. His naturally deep voice resonated even more in the bathroom.

“It’s not a salon…”

Shhh.

Haeri didn’t catch the rest because the sound of the shower drowned it out. Foam slid down over his face, and before he could wipe it away himself, another hand brushed it off for him. He wanted to ask, but with the soap covering his mouth, it wasn’t the time.

One wash wasn’t enough to clear out all the built-up dandruff. A second round of shampoo followed. After working up a rich lather, Jeong Mok didn’t just use his fingertips this time, he fetched something from the mirror cabinet. A pointed but painless object touched Haeri’s scalp.

“It’s a silicone brush.”

Whatever it was, it was clearly meant for washing hair. He worked it skillfully along the grain, scrubbing the foam through thoroughly.

By the time the second rinse ran down Haeri’s face, his back ached from bending so long. As water dripped from his hair, a large towel dropped over his head.

When he tried to straighten, Jeong Mok’s hands wrapped the towel around his head.

“Stay still, or water will get in.”

Stay still? He was being manhandled like a human spin dryer, rubbed so hard he couldn’t even lift a hand. Only when Jeong Mok seemed satisfied with the towel-drying did he stop, realizing belatedly that Haeri, a fully grown twenty-four-year-old man, could manage drying his own hair. What he hadn’t realized was that Haeri knew how to use a hair dryer.

Using a warm, low-speed setting, Jeong Mok started drying Haeri’s hair, occasionally batting away the towel when Haeri tried to rub it himself. At this point, he wasn’t treating him like a simple amnesia patient but like some clueless idiot.

“I’ll do it.”

“You can’t lift your arms.”

“I can if I lower my head more.”

This time, Haeri spoke firmly and reached for the dryer.

“It’s still inconvenient. Just let me.”

Messing up his short hair, Jeong Mok refused to give it up until it was completely dry.

“All done. Now let’s disinfect the stitches on your head and put medicine on your back.”

He stayed a step ahead, like a young father giving his child a lesson in daily care. Haeri, who had grown up in an orphanage far from parental warmth, felt something strange at the thought.

‘Does he do this with everyone? Is this just his personality? Somehow it didn’t seem like it.’

With detectives, doctors, nurses, and even lawyer Shin Chaehee, Jeong Mok had been polite, even formal, but never this gentle. Haeri was the only one he treated so casually, smiling easily and fussing over him like a kid.

‘It’s suspicious.’

Maybe he was overly sensitive after what Kim Jeongwook had done, but being especially kind to just one person and not others was odd. People should be consistent.

“You’ll catch a cold. Let’s go.”

Yet the man who had just washed and dried his hair so carefully now carried himself with no hint of ulterior motive. It made Haeri feel like he was the one overthinking things.