ACTSV chapter 79

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As they returned to their seats, Jingyeom, who had just come out of the restroom, was still sniffing, his eyes red from crying so much.

Wonbeom handed him a plastic bottle.

“Here.”

Soohyuk, who had been watching them enter and exit the convenience store, let out a scoff.

‘A step too late.’

Soohyuk had thought about it too, but Wonbeom was the one who acted, both at the café and here.

When Jingyeom, with his reddened eyes, just looked up and didn’t take the bottle, Wonbeom misinterpreted and opened the lid before offering it again.

“Drink.”

Jingyeom hadn’t initially accepted it because he wanted the lid opened but because he was a bit surprised that Wonbeom was looking out for him.

“…Thank you.”

Jingyeom, his voice still stuffy, took the drink. He hadn’t felt particularly thirsty, but once he took a sip, he found himself gulping it down.

Jinwoo gently stroked Jingyeom’s back, urging him to drink slowly while glancing at Wonbeom and Soohyuk.

Their eyes were solely on Jingyeom. He had become accustomed to this attention by now.

Jinwoo decided it was time to acknowledge that both of their hearts had completely leaned toward Jingyeom.

But accepting it didn’t mean he intended to let them meet Jingyeom.

Meanwhile, Wonbeom’s actions deepened Jinwoo’s thoughts.

‘Surprising.’

He had never seen Wonbeom take care of someone else. He usually solved problems materially.

While he occasionally looked out for Jinwoo, he had never gone out of his way like this before.

‘But what’s wrong is still wrong.’

Before, Jinwoo hoped that Jingyeom wouldn’t fall into their trap, but it was already too late for that.

Moreover, Jingyeom didn’t seem uncomfortable with them; if anything, he appeared to enjoy their company.

As Jinwoo mulled over various thoughts, Jingyeom continued sipping the ion drink.

His mouth was small, and the amount that went in was too little.

“Hoo-ah!”

Although he hadn’t drunk much, his thirst was quenched, and the overwhelming emotions had settled down.

“Feeling a bit better now?”

“Yes… You must have been startled by how much I cried.”

“Yeah. You were really bawling. I’ve never seen anyone cry like that in a movie theater before. Was it that sad?”

Jingyeom tightened his grip on the plastic bottle and slowly nodded.

Earlier, he had been too embarrassed to realize it, but in retrospect, he admitted he might have overreacted.

“What made you so sad?”

“…The thought of never seeing my family again after just reuniting with them… It was heartbreaking.”

As Jingyeom calmly spoke, his hand reached for Jinwoo’s, lightly hooking his finger.

“Parting with family is always a sad thing.”

---

When Jingyeom returned home, he collapsed onto his bed without even taking off his clothes. He had been fine while they were out, but as soon as he walked in, all the strength drained from his body.

They had watched a movie, eaten dinner, visited a bookstore, and gone shopping, so it was quite late.

“Take off your clothes before lying down.”

Jinwoo said as he set down their bags. Jingyeom turned his back toward the wall, pretending not to hear. He felt the edge of the bed sink—Jinwoo had sat down.

“Turn around. I’ll help you with the buttons.”

“I’ll do it myself. You go shower first.”

“Judging by your state… I doubt it’ll be different even after I’m done.”

Jingyeom couldn’t bring himself to deny it. He was genuinely too tired and just wanted to fall asleep like this.

It was a different kind of fatigue from when he worked at the company.

Though the workload was significantly lighter than Jinwoo’s, he always felt utterly drained when he got home, unable to do anything.

Commuting by public transport every day, not properly resting over the weekend due to house chores, and going out with Jinwoo the previous day left him with no time to recover.

When Jingyeom didn’t respond, Jinwoo poked him in the back.

Flinching, Jingyeom buried his face further into the pillow, clearly annoyed.

“I’ll turn you over by force if I have to.”

“…”

“Alright, here we go.”

Jinwoo exaggerated the effort, and Jingyeom’s limp body easily flipped over.

“Pfft…”

Even though there was nothing particularly funny, Jingyeom chuckled despite his weary expression.

His innocent laughter brought a smile to Jinwoo’s face as well.

Things had changed since the days when Jinwoo would carefully watch for Jingyeom’s reactions.

These days, he found himself doing things he never would have imagined before.

Jingyeom had changed, but so had Jinwoo, and he felt it keenly.

As Jinwoo unbuttoned Jingyeom’s shirt one by one, Jingyeom didn’t move an inch.

“Raise your arms.”

Jinwoo instructed, intending to take off the shirt completely, but Jingyeom, still lying down, just squirmed slightly.

“Should I take off your pants too?”

When Jinwoo reached out after already removing Jingyeom’s socks, Jingyeom hastily stopped him.

“Ah… That’s a bit…”

“You don’t like that? Okay, fine. I’ll shower first. When I’m done, you should go right in. You must be sweaty from running around all day.”

“Such a nagger!”

“It’s not nagging. It’s words of love from your dear brother.”

“…Did you read something weird at the bookstore earlier?”

Jingyeom squinted his eyes and turned over.

He had seen Jinwoo standing by the bestseller section at the bookstore.

Most of the books there were about love, and he recalled Jinwoo buying a few.

“Weird? It was just some novels. Ugh… I feel gross. I’m going to wash up.”

Jinwoo grabbed both his and Jingyeom’s clothes and left the room.

The door closed with a click, and the sound of running water followed.

Feeling lazy, Jingyeom lay there, staring blankly before turning on the air conditioner and wrapping himself tightly in the blanket.

He reached out a hand and gently poked the arctic fox plushie at the edge of the bed.

He kept it there despite knowing that Jinwoo would frown at the sight of it.

He rubbed the soft, black nose of the plushie with his fingertips, then sat up.

“You’re coming with me tomorrow. You’ll probably need to stay in the hospital for about a month after surgery, and if I leave you here, Jinwoo won’t leave you alone.”

Jinwoo wouldn’t do anything bad to the plushie, but Jingyeom had seen him glare at it enough times to feel a bit uneasy.

“…I’ll be okay, right?”

Jingyeom pressed the plushie’s cheeks before hugging it tightly. Its round shape was comforting to hold.

After playing with the plushie for a while, Jingyeom let out a deep sigh.

Ever since he had fallen seriously ill, his mind had been restless. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Hoonil, but…

“What if I don’t wake up…?”

“That won’t happen.”

“…Jinwoo.”

He had been so deep in thought that he hadn’t heard the door open.

Jinwoo, with a towel around his neck, came over and sat on the floor, holding Jingyeom’s hand tightly.

“I know you’re worried, but don’t think negatively. Hoonil hyung is doing the surgery. He won’t let you die… Got it?”

The earnestness in Jinwoo’s voice made Jingyeom slowly nod.

He realized that Jinwoo might be more anxious than he was.

“Okay. I’ll trust you and Hoonil hyung.”

Jingyeom smiled brightly, trying to reassure him.

*

The admission process was quick, and soon after, they proceeded with the tests.

Once the results were in, the surgery date was immediately set.

Hoonil advised him to maintain his condition well until then.

Since Jinwoo had taken a half-day off in the morning, he was at the company. Jingyeom sent the news via message, and soon received a call from Jinwoo.

“Hey, Jinwoo.”

— All sorted out. How’s your condition?

“He says he’s fine. The surgery can definitely be done. Aren’t you busy?”

— It’s fine.

— Jingyeom! I miss you!

Jingyeom chuckled at Secretary Yang’s unexpected voice. He could easily picture Secretary Yang shouting beside Jinwoo.

Secretary Yang didn’t attend the farewell party.

Although Secretary Yang wanted to join, he couldn’t due to a prior commitment and apologized, suggesting they meet separately another time.

Jingyeom fidgeted, looking at his own toes.

“Please tell Secretary Yang that I miss him too.”

— He said he doesn’t want to see you.

“What? No! Tell him I miss him!”

— He really doesn’t want to see you.

— Where are you getting these lies from?

— Oh, come on!

Jinwoo got irritated, likely because Secretary Yang was doing something.

“You need to pass on the message correctly. Otherwise, there’ll be misunderstandings!”

— There’s no misunderstanding. Your voice was so loud that I heard everything.

“Ah…”

— Rest well. Don’t play with your dolls or watch too much YouTube. Read the books you bought. I’ll come right after work.

“Got it. See you later.”

— Yeah, I’m hanging up.

After the call, Jingyeom lay on the bed and looked around the hospital room. It was better than last time—apparently, it was a room only available for VVIPs.

Hoonil mentioned that it was his first time seeing a patient stay here. The cost of one day’s stay was quite daunting as well.

The medical expenses were fully covered by Wonbeom. This meant that Wonbeom would also cover the hospitalization costs.

‘But it’s still so expensive.’

It wasn’t just a few days; Jingyeom would have to stay for over a month, which made him anxious about the accumulating costs.

‘It seems like he spends money pretty freely…’

Jingyeom still thought that Wonbeom was involved in multi-level marketing, as he hadn’t corrected that misunderstanding when he talked with Soohyuk.

‘He’s not a top 1% chaebol in Korea, right?’

Although Wonbeom had made a lot of money, Jingyeom felt that it shouldn’t be enough to justify such reckless spending.

Jingyeom hugged the plush toy tightly as he squirmed on the bed.

Although Jinwoo had told him not to play with it, the plush toy was his only friend in the empty hospital room.

“…I’m so bored.”

After being busy for a while, lying around like this made him feel even more restless.

“…I wish it was already 7.”

That’s when Jinwoo would come after work.

Jingyeom continued to roll around in bed with his plush toy for a while.

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