* * *
Junhee lowered the car window, letting the rushing wind hit his face as he struggled to calm the nausea roiling in his stomach.
Just then, the voice of Ki Taeryu, who had just finished a phone call, reached his ears.
“I’ll find him for you.”
“…….”
“I’ll take care of everything, so if you have any energy left for looking, use it on me instead.”
Was he telling Junhee to drop everything and devote all his energy to making their relationship official?
It didn’t make sense for him to go to such lengths simply because Junhee was the one who could finalize their marriage.
Junhee had always been like a lone camel on a desert, solving, enduring, and carrying everything by himself.
So why did he keep insisting on handling Junhee’s problems for him, as if it were second nature?
Could it really be, as absurd as it sounded, that the feelings Ki Taeryu claimed to have for Junhee were genuine?
Instead of digging into the reason, Junhee clung to his last shred of hope and responded:
“…Please, I’m asking you for help.”
“Na Bodam… Na Bodam!”
Junhee burst into the staff locker room in a hurry.
“Huh? Hyung…? It’s Junhee Hyung!”
Surrounded by employees, Bodam dashed over to Junhee, burying his face between his legs.
“Na Bodam, you…!”
“Hyung! Look, Bodam bought this! Hurry, look!”
As if completely unaware of how much worry he had caused, Bodam excitedly pulled a chocolate pastry out of his sky-blue daycare bag.
“Na Bodam! Do you think that’s what’s important right now? Do you even know how worried I was? When daycare ends, you’re supposed to go straight home! How could you wander out just for a pastry? Are you out of your mind?”
Seeing Bodam safe brought a wave of relief, but that relief quickly boiled into anger born of accumulated worry.
“Hyung… Are you mad? Don’t be mad…”
Perhaps expecting praise, Bodam looked up at Junhee with teary eyes, his lips trembling.
Junhee’s face turned red as he smacked Bodam lightly on the butt a few times.
“Na Bodam! What if something bad happened to you because you wandered off alone like that? What if you got hurt?”
“Bodam… Bodam… Waaaaaah! Hyung is mean!”
“You’re the one who did wrong, but I’m the mean one?”
When Bodam finally burst into loud tears, the room descended into chaos.
Apologizing to the employees for the disturbance, Junhee took a deep breath to calm his anger.
Meanwhile, Bodam distanced himself from Junhee, curling into a corner and sniffling.
“…Na Bodam, come here.”
“No! Junhee Hyung is mean!”
“Come here before Hyung gets even angrier.”
“I don’t want to go!”
“You…!”
Just as Junhee felt his anger rising again, Bodam’s small body was suddenly lifted into the air.
“Let’s go, little one.”
“Junhee Hyung’s boss…”
Bodam, now perched in Ki Taeryu’s arms, blinked up at him with wide eyes but didn’t resist.
With no other choice, Junhee bowed apologetically to the employees and followed the two outside.
“Yes, Mom. I found Bodam.”
The voice of the daycare director on the other end of the phone rang with relief.
“Oh, thank heavens, thank heavens!”
Junhee let out a long sigh.
“He said he took the bus by himself to go to a grocery store. It’s the one I took him to once before. Apparently, he wanted to visit the bakery there. He’s not hurt, but it’s too late now, so I’m going to feed him dinner and take him back to the daycare. Don’t worry, Mom.”
Ending the call, Junhee held the phone in both hands and extended it toward Ki Taeryu.
“Thank you.”
Returning the borrowed phone, Junhee reached out a hand toward Bodam.
“Na Bodam, stop clinging now and come to Hyung.”
“No!”
Bodam pouted and buried his sulky face deeper into Ki Taeryu’s shoulder.
Junhee’s simmering frustration began to boil over again.
“Hyung said, come here.”
“No! No! Junhee Hyung is mean!”
The more Junhee pressed, the more Bodam dug himself into Ki Taeryu’s hold.
“…Na Bodam, you’re really…”
Junhee sighed, frustrated.
While part of him knew he’d been too lenient, another part understood why Bodam was acting this way.
The daycare director was always busy, and with so many children to care for, affection was spread thin.
Even Bodam, as the youngest and usually the most doted on, wasn’t exempt from this.
“…Bodam, let’s talk, okay?”
“No!”
“The kid said no,” Ki Taeryu interjected.
Junhee shot Ki Taeryu a sharp glare.
It was one thing to be scolded, but being undermined like this made Junhee’s anger redirect toward Ki Taeryu.
“What do you think you’re doing? Hand Bodam over, now.”
“Hey, kid, do you want to go over there?”
“No!”
Junhee’s patience was nearing its limit.
He could excuse Bodam as just a child, but Ki Taeryu treating the situation like a game infuriated him.
“We need to eat and get him back home. Now hand him over—”
“You shouldn’t just scold him; try coaxing him instead.”
Seeing Ki Taeryu gently patting Bodam’s small back only twisted Junhee’s insides further.
‘This guy… giving advice like he’s done nothing wrong.’
The hypocrisy was infuriating.
Ki Taeryu, who’d casually broken someone’s head just because he didn’t like them, had no right to lecture him.
Junhee swallowed his pride and addressed Bodam again.
“Okay, Na Bodam. Hyung is sorry for yelling. I was just worried about you, that’s all, okay?”
“You’ll yell again!”
“I won’t, I promise.”
“You didn’t keep your promise last time, either…”
“…I’m sorry.”
Junhee’s shoulders slumped.
He felt terrible for having smacked Bodam in his moment of panic, especially when he’d never laid a hand on any of the daycare kids before.
Even though it was too late now, he couldn’t shake the regret.
Seeing Junhee struggling to reconcile, Ki Taeryu finally stepped in.
“If you forgive him, I’ll buy you whatever you want to eat. Anything at all.”
“Bodam’s not that hungr—”
A loud grrrr interrupted Bodam’s words, and he quickly closed his mouth.
He must’ve been starving after skipping lunch.
“Tell me, what do you want to eat most?”
“Then…”
Bodam suddenly leaned in and whispered something into Ki Taeryu’s ear.
“Wow…!”
As the round table filled with various Chinese dishes, Bodam’s mouth dropped open in surprise.
When Bodam immediately reached for the food with his fork, Junhee quickly gave him a brief warning.
“Bodam, you should say ‘thank you’ before you start eating.”
“Uncle… no, Boss, thank you!” Bodam whispered into Taeryu’s ear, his words mixing with the aroma of the food, which turned out to be jjajangmyeon (black bean noodles).
Even when he asked, it seemed like only they were in on the secret, never sharing it with him, and now, here they were, at this place.
It was the same Chinese restaurant in the hotel Junhee had visited before.
Just as if they had been waiting for them, the chef appeared and began recommending dishes suited to Bodam’s taste, explaining them one by one.
The chef’s determination to serve them well was so overwhelming that it felt a bit burdensome.
“Is it good?”
“Yeah! It’s super delicious!”
Bodam, with black bean sauce smeared all over his mouth, smiled brightly.
“Did you want jjajangmyeon?”
“Yeah. When Hyuni hyung went to school for the first time, Mom ordered it for me, and it was so, so delicious!”
It seemed like he was talking about the entrance ceremony in March.
“I see. Since there’s a lot, don’t rush eating. Chew your food well.”
Junhee gently wiped the sauce from Bodam’s mouth with a napkin, nodding his head.
It seemed like Bodam was really hungry, as his plate quickly emptied every time Junhee filled it.
Bodam’s stomach also grew rounder with each bite.
Now that his stomach was full, Bodam seemed to relax, so Junhee readied himself to scold him again.
“Bodam, from now on, if there’s something you want, don’t go out alone. Always tell hyung.”
“Didn’t Junhee hyung pick up the phone?”
“…Did you try calling?”
“Yeah. But Mom said it was turned off.”
After transferring the SIM card to an old phone, it often turned off by itself…
‘I didn’t realize he would have called in the meantime.’
As soon as payday came, Junhee vowed to get a new phone.
“Hyung didn’t pick up the phone… and since hyung didn’t come to see me, I thought hyung was mad.”
“…Why would hyung be mad?”
“Because I ate two of the breads you gave me.”
“Is that something to be mad about?”
“You told me not to be greedy, but I thought hyung was mad because I was. So, I thought if I bought hyung’s favorite chocolate bread, maybe hyung would come to see me and be less mad…”
At Bodam’s words, Junhee was momentarily lost for words.
He tightened his grip on the napkin in his hand.
“Hyung, don’t hate me.”
“…Why would I hate you?”
It felt like he had swallowed a whole spoonful of horseradish as his nose tingled, but he desperately held back.
The child’s struggle to avoid being hated by someone felt too familiar to Junhee.
“Really?”
“Yeah. Really.”
Junhee, holding Bodam’s small hand tightly, silently prayed.
Please, let Bodam grow up without becoming a flawed adult like him.
Carrying the peacefully sleeping Bodam and brushing his hair, Junhee sighed deeply.
On the way back to Hanbit Orphanage.
Sitting in the passenger seat, Junhee absentmindedly stared out the window at the passing streetlights and checked the time.
It was already past nine o’clock.
He subtly turned his head, and their gazes met—his black eyes locked with Bodam’s.
“…Why do you keep helping me?”
The words he had been holding in slipped out without him realizing it.
* * *
Nice
I think the answer is a bit obvious junhee 😏