ACTSV chapter 20

* * *

Since he hadn’t received any messages about using the card, Jinwoo thought that perhaps it was Director Sun who bought it for him. However, there was no reason for him to give it to Jingyeom.

When he opened the shopping bag with the most familiar logo, there was a neatly packaged bag inside.

As he took it out, Jingyeom woke up and came outside.

Jinwoo put the bag back into the shopping bag as he exhaled a short breath.

“Was this a gift from Director Sun?”

“…Yeah.”

Jingyeom spoke slowly, then yawned loudly as he approached Jinwoo and sat down beside him, hunched over. He still looked sleepy.

“Jinwoo…”

Jinwoo turned his head as he moved the shopping bag.

“My stomach feels weird…”

His stomach, chest, and throat still felt tight.

He definitely ate a lot.

He had to move a little and then sleep, but maybe he laid down too soon.

“Where does it not feel good? Why isn’t your watch on?”

“…I fell asleep as soon as I got back.”

After Jinwoo got up, he put the watch that was on the shelf into Jingyeom’s left hand.

The watch’s battery, which hadn’t been charged, was barely alive.

Looking at Jingyeom’s face, tiredness could be seen.

When he reached out and pressed it against Jingyeom’s forehead, it was warm.

“Exactly where does it hurt?”

The reason why Baek Jingyeom used the word “hurt” like a weapon was here.

Jinwoo tried tirelessly to keep Baek Jingyeom from getting lost.

He gave everything, did what he wanted, and tried to live a comfortable life.

The word “hurt” from Baek Jingyeom’s mouth stabbed Jinwoo’s heart like a sharp knife.

It was a place where no amount of hardening could be done properly. But he couldn’t feel that pain properly.

All of Jinwoo’s nerves were always aimed at Baek Jingyeom.

Jingyeom scratched his stomach and looked at Jinwoo’s face with big eyes.

“It’s not hurting, I ate too much earlier!”

He quickly said.

In front of him, he suddenly felt that he shouldn’t say the word “hurt.” When he called earlier, Jinwoo’s voice was full of emotions.

Saying that it hurts is like touching his nerves. Jingyeom thought he had to be careful and smiled.

“Just seems to have strained myself. Just that, everything else is fine. Look at this. My heart rate is fine.”

Showing the watch screen, he actively emphasized that everything was fine.

“…I should still have some digestive medicine left from last time.”

Jinwoo withdrew his hand from his forehead and stood up. Despite saying he was okay, his stiff expression didn’t relax.

Jingyeom watched Jinwoo’s back as he searched for the digestive medicine, pressing firmly between his thumb and forefinger.

He was convinced he needed to change Jinwoo’s attitude towards Baek Jingyeom, even if only a little.

This could never be a good relationship between them.

In a situation where he only knew Baek Jingyeom as a villain and the overall story of the novel, it was incredibly fortunate for someone to take care of him. Nevertheless, this didn’t seem right.

Then how could he improve this relationship?

Jingyeom pushed out his lips and moved them left and right.

First, his goal was to tell Jinwoo not to take care of him excessively or to overextend himself for Jingyeom’s sake.

Just now, he felt uncomfortable for having turned on the old stand that emitted a weak light instead of lighting a fire.

Even though he said it right away, he could tell it would take several more times to fix the problem.

Things repeated over a long period become habitual. Knowing he couldn’t change them in a short time, he had to change them slowly, as if learning.

“Hyung, eat this.”

While Jingyeom was having various thoughts, Jinwoo handed him a cup with digestive medicine and water in it.

After looking at the pill, Jingyeom made a round face, and his mouth was full, popping his cheeks. He picked up the pill with his lips and swallowed it.

After swallowing, he stuck out his tongue and made a “yuck” sound at the stuck pill.

Jingyeom looked at the water in the cup with tears in his eyes, closed his eyes tightly, forced himself to swallow again, and forcibly swallowed the water again with tears in his eyes.

This time, the pill was swallowed through the throat, but the bitterness that remained in the mouth was so strong that it was difficult.

“Ugh…”

It wasn’t like I had thrown up, but after swallowing water all at once and taking a bitter pill, that sound came out involuntarily.

Jinwoo took a chocolate from the shelf and unwrapped it. The rustling of the wrapper caught Jingyeom’s attention.

“Ah!”

Jingyeom opened his mouth wide as if urging Jinwoo to give it to him. However, instead of ending up in Jingyeom’s mouth, the tempting chocolate went into Jinwoo’s.

“…What’s this!”

“What?”

“I thought you were going to give it to me!”

Jingyeom’s pout finally brought a smile to Jinwoo’s face.

Jingyeom’s pale complexion from his upset stomach wasn’t as serious as it seemed, which Jinwoo had known all along.

Furthermore, Jingyeom had opened his mouth so naturally, something Jinwoo had never imagined before.

Jinwoo shifted the chocolate in his mouth with his tongue, moving it to the other side.

He felt the bittersweet taste that he hadn’t had in a while since he didn’t usually enjoy sweets.

“That’s right, this is the taste.”

This chocolate had been sitting around for quite a while. Jinwoo hadn’t eaten it because it contained caffeine.

Jingyeom, who had gotten up from his spot, looked over the shelf where Jinwoo had taken the chocolate. He rolled his eyes around but found nothing.

“Is there none left? Was that the last one?”

“Yeah. That was the last one.”

“…Does it taste good?”

Hearing that it was the last one, Jingyeom glanced up at Jinwoo, clearly wanting some chocolate.
Jinwoo’s lips curled into a grin.

“There are candies, though.”

“Can I have some? I won’t eat too much, just one. Okay? My mouth is so bitter…”

He looked so pitiful, hands clasped together as he spoke, that Jinwoo couldn’t help but laugh.

His mood, which had slightly calmed down when he found the shopping bag, had plummeted with the mention of being in pain.

Yet, seeing Jingyeom looking up at him, asking for just one candy, made everything else seem insignificant.

He simply wished for Jingyeom to be healthy and to always be by his side.

Jingyeom lay down on the bed while Jinwoo spread out a blanket on the floor and lay down. Jinwoo seemed uneasy about sleeping in the room and kept tossing and turning.

“Since we’re sleeping in the bed…”

“I’m fine with the floor, but you’re not. If you sleep on the floor instead of the bed, you’ll end up in pain the next day.”

“When we move, let’s get a bigger bed. …No, by then we’ll each have our own rooms.”

Jingyeom suggested getting matching door plaques and placing a large sofa and TV in the living room. He also proposed adding a dining table in the kitchen and creating a snack storage, chattering away.

Jinwoo, who had been staring at the ceiling, wore a light but contented smile.

“Let’s get a drum washing machine and a dryer. Then we can dry clothes right away.”

“That would be convenient.”

“Right? And we should get a styler too… Oh, should we get a place with three rooms? One for a closet to hang all your clothes.”

“Wouldn’t your clothes outnumber mine?”

Jingyeom, who was lying on his side and looking at Jinwoo, buried his face in the pillow and squinted his eyes.

It was true that Jinwoo’s clothes might be more numerous, so he had no response. After pouting his lips a few times, he spoke again.

“While we were wandering around the department store earlier, there were so many clothes that would look great on you. But I didn’t have enough money to buy them.”

“You should have bought what you wanted. I told you to use the card.”

Jinwoo, who had been lying straight, turned onto his side. His gaze met Jingyeom’s, who was on the bed.

Even with all the lights off, the streetlights outside provided a faint glow that illuminated the room. It was bright enough to see each other’s faces.

“I wanted to buy them too. But since I didn’t know the size, I memorized the store to go back later.”

The store where they had picked out the suits. Although expensive, they were indeed elegant.

The fabric felt nice too. There were quite a few things that would suit Jinwoo well.

If they sold what they had outside, they’d definitely have enough money to buy the suits. Tomorrow, Jingyeom planned to check the full price online and list it on Carrot Mart.

With that, he would buy Jinwoo some meat, clothes, and shoes. He was also thinking of paying off the debt together. He decided to take his time figuring out what he could do with his current body.

---

For the first time, Jingyeom slept at home. After spending two nights in the hospital, waking up at home felt refreshing.

Last night, they fell asleep while chatting about various things. He vaguely remember waking briefly to the sound of his phone alarm in the morning, then Jinwoo patting him and going back to sleep.

When he checked the time on his phone, it was already 10 o’clock.

Jingyeom furrowed his brow and stretched his arms and legs while lying down.

“Ugh… Ah!”

He intentionally made noise, rolling around before getting up. The back of his head was pressed down from sleeping. After blinking absentmindedly, he straightened his body.

“Alright!”

He had planned what to do today in advance, so he needed to hurry.

Despite being busy with getting ready for work, Jinwoo had managed to cook and leave food ready in that short time. There was stew and side dishes too.

He wasn’t hungry since he had just woken up. Moreover, he had taken digestive medicine, but the food from yesterday still hadn’t settled.

He looked at the dining table and decided to eat later. He first washed up thoroughly after figuring out how to turn on the boiler, despite shivering from the cold.

Wrapping his head in a towel, he opened the door wide. The sky was incredibly clean, without even a trace of fine dust.

Although he had mentioned moving yesterday, he felt it would be a pity not to see the open view anymore.

Jingyeom smiled and, holding the newspaper he had found while organizing last time, went outside.

He thought it would be better to take photos in the open rather than inside.

Since the background couldn’t be newspapers, he laid out enough paper to cover the space for the items and moved everything neatly.

* * *