* * *
“W-Wait a second.”
Something’s weird today.
I’m weird too.
Normally, I’d just brush it off—Taehwan’s acting strange again, and leave it at that.
But before I knew it, I pushed him away with surprising force.
Just because he touched my waist a little.
After all the years he’s helped bathe me and clean me up…
“What’s wrong?”
As expected, Taehwan looked confused, like he couldn’t understand what just happened.
Maybe I was being too sensitive.
Maybe it wasn’t even Taehwan acting weird—maybe I was projecting my own weirdness onto him.
He’d never touch me with bad intentions…
Maybe it was just the lingering memory of being held by someone else.
Still… Even if I understood it rationally, it still felt strange to touch him again.
I was restless, uneasy.
Like something bad would happen.
Especially here, in my family’s home—this was the worst place for something like that.
I quietly shuffled back to my spot and slipped under the blanket.
I pulled the covers up to my nose and peeked out just enough to meet his gaze.
Taehwan was watching me, grinning in disbelief.
At least he didn’t seem offended—he probably just found me ridiculous.
I said, trying my best to sound and look nonchalant:
“Let’s… sleep, yeah? It’s late.”
“Yeah. You should. You’ve been out and about all day.”
“Mm… I’m exhausted. You too—good night.”
“Yeah. If you get scared from a nightmare, you can sneak under my blanket.”
“……”
I didn’t even have the energy to react to that snarky joke he always throws out like a reflex.
I just shut my eyes and pretended to fall asleep.
He let out a short laugh at how obvious I was being but soon lay down himself.
Before long, I could hear his steady breathing nearby.
‘Why am I like this today? Is it… because of the kiss?’
Meanwhile, I couldn’t sleep at all.
I was hyper-aware of him.
Just hearing him breathe made my chest flush hot, made my stomach churn.
I had to turn my back to him—anything to block him out.
My heart was pounding like crazy.
I started to worry it might actually burst.
I pressed a hand to my chest, praying he couldn’t hear it, and forced myself to try to sleep.
…It felt like the kiss had left a mark on me, one that had now spread across my whole body, painting me a deep, burning red.
“I thought I’d be satisfied with just one time. But I guess not.”
I must really like Taehwan a lot.
Even though I’d turned my back on him earlier, when I woke up, I was nestled in his arms.
And not even under my own blanket—I’d somehow crossed completely into his side.
The sheets felt totally different.
It wasn’t enough that I’d wandered into his space in my sleep—I’d burrowed into his arms and probably disturbed his rest, too.
It was still dark, but Taehwan was awake.
He stroked my cheek and whispered softly:
“…It’s hard to hold back, Jaehee.”
Or maybe I wasn’t even awake.
Maybe this was a dream.
Because… his breath was so close.
His lips were right there—close enough to brush against mine if I leaned in just a little.
The moment I realized that, it got hard to breathe.
It felt like I was already sharing his breath.
Every exhale from him made me flinch.
Just when I thought ‘Please, just…’, Taehwan sighed and pulled away.
The sensation that almost touched my lips drifted to my forehead instead.
He brushed aside my bangs and kissed me there—again and again.
Then he wrapped both arms tightly around me.
“…Haah. God, I’m such a piece of shit…”
What was he talking about?
‘Trash?’
No—he was wrong.
I wanted to say so, to deny it clearly, but I was just too tired.
I couldn’t wake up properly.
I managed to force my eyelids open, barely halfway—but even that didn’t last three seconds before they fell shut again.
His warmth, his familiar scent and presence—it lulled me right back into sleep.
In the end, I lost to my sleepiness.
My mind slipped fast into the dark.
But just before I completely drifted off, I tightened my arms around him.
To tell him: ‘You’re not trash. You’re my precious friend.’
And to hope that my heart would reach him.
Whether Taehwan calling me “trash” had been a dream or reality—I couldn’t tell.
But maybe because I’d gone to sleep feeling anxious, I ended up having a nightmare.
As dreams often go, I couldn’t remember the exact details, only that it had been frightening.
What gave me some comfort, even while stumbling through that nightmare, was the unwavering belief that Taehwan was with me.
But when I opened my eyes—he wasn’t there.
And it’s not like I had woken up particularly late either.
As I stared blankly at Taehwan’s neatly folded bedding, feeling a little lost, Eunyul—who had gotten up before me and was already having breakfast—answered my unspoken question.
“Taehwan-hyung got a call early this morning and left in a hurry. You should check your phone.”
“Oh… right.”
I’d forgotten I even had a phone. I still wasn’t used to owning one, so it kept slipping my mind.
Just yesterday, I’d found it in my bag while unpacking and discovered a flood of messages from Taehwan, making me smack my forehead.
And now, I’d forgotten it again.
I scrambled for my phone.
Sure enough, there were messages from Taehwan, just as Eunyul had said.
[MyFriendTaehwan]: Sorry. Something urgent came up, so I had to leave early.
[MyFriendTaehwan]: Have fun. I’ll come pick you up tomorrow morning.
[MyFriendTaehwan]: If anything happens, even something small, text me.
“Work…?”
It was Sunday. What kind of work happens on a Sunday?
Though Taehwan had adapted incredibly quickly, he was still a rookie combat hunter.
He was technically still in a probation period and belonged to the Management Bureau.
It was probably the Bureau that called him.
Han Jihye had gone into the Bureau for work yesterday even though it was Saturday—and now they’d taken Taehwan too.
I felt a flicker of resentment toward the Hunter Management Bureau for the first time.
Couldn’t they at least let people rest on the weekend, unless it was a dire emergency?
Sure, gates and dungeons don’t care if it’s a weekday or a weekend, but still.
Couldn’t they at least assign shifts or something?
“I thought we’d be spending Sunday together…”
A sigh slipped out.
I had thought I’d get to spend the whole day with my dearest friend at my place, together with my family.
It felt unfair, but there was nothing I could do.
What was done was done, and dwelling on it wouldn’t change anything.
It’s not like today’s the last day on Earth, I told myself as I sat at the table with Eunyul to eat breakfast.
“Oh right, speaking of Taehwan-hyung…”
“Yeah?”
“You know the stuff you used in the hospital? Taehwan-hyung was gonna throw it away since he’s already got most things set up at his new place and wanted to start fresh—but, well, you know our mom. She brought it all back.”
“I see. I remember Taehwan bringing back most of it.”
“Exactly. It wasn’t even that much. He should’ve just tossed it. But now that we’ve got it, you should go through it just in case. I’ll take care of whatever’s left after.”
“Okay, I’ll check it out. Thanks for bringing it over.”
“No problem.”
Eunyul placed a box in front of me, and I opened it immediately.
It was filled with old, familiar things I hadn’t seen in a while.
Visually, they felt unfamiliar—but when I closed my eyes and touched them, I could tell they were “mine,” worn by my own hands.
One by one, I picked them up.
Each item brought back a flood of memories.
It had been a tough time, sure—but now that it was in the past, it was all just memories.
Thinking back on those days gave me a warm, almost tofu-soft feeling in my chest.
I hadn’t even been discharged from the hospital that long ago… but so much had happened since then that it felt like another lifetime.
That said, most of what was left wasn’t worth keeping.
It looked like Taehwan had taken everything important.
What remained were half-used supplies or things broken in the chaos of dungeon transitions—nothing worth hanging on to.
No point carrying all this clutter just for the sake of nostalgia when you’re trying to start over fresh.
‘Maybe I’ll keep one or two things…’
Sifting through the items with a lingering sense of regret, I came across a notebook.
Flipping through its pages, I saw messy, wobbly handwriting covering it.
Back when I practiced writing at the hospital, the lady (yeosanim) would always shower me with praise—but I guess it was always followed with “for someone who can’t see.”
Now that I can see, it looks like a child scribbled with their non-dominant hand.
The letters were hardly legible, and the lines were all over the place.
I felt so embarrassed I snuck a glance at Eunyul to make sure he hadn’t seen.
But then it struck me.
“Oh, come to think of it…”
There it was.
Among all this junk—something important.
Something I should never have forgotten.
* * *
