By Zephyria 
“Police station? I’m not going there either. Cha Min-ho, you’re going to nurse me back to health.”
“Just move aside for a second.”
It was absurd to talk about nursing him back to health over a simple nosebleed, but calming the agitated guy was the priority.
“You’re not answering! I’m really bleeding out here! I’m going to write a dying message on the hallway floor with this blood. ‘The killer is Cha Min-ho.’”
It seemed the unexpected encounter with a stranger had really bothered him. Min-ho swallowed a sigh and replied as gently as possible. Though to Won Gyu-oh’s ears, it probably sounded blunt.
“Stop talking and just move.”
“…”
“So I can stop the bleeding. I’m worried.”
After a while of rubbing his back and persuading him, the grip that had been tight enough to burst finally loosened. In that gap, Min-ho quickly pulled away and examined Gyu-oh’s face. Because he had wiped it haphazardly, blood was smeared here and there, and the area around his eyes looked red. He didn’t know if it was from anger or because the blood had rushed to his face. Regardless, since the blood was flowing almost to his lips, he quickly grabbed some tissues.
“Why aren’t you answering?”
“Answering what?”
Out of all the things the guy had been screaming and snapping about while throwing a fit, he had no idea which part required an answer. He pressed down on the bridge of the nose and wiped the blood with a tissue. Although the height difference wasn’t huge, it wasn’t comfortable to reach out with both hands to stop the bleeding. Even though a Hyung with a pierced side was struggling to reach, this ungrateful bastard Won Gyu-oh kept his head held high.
“…You didn’t answer a single thing. Why do you vaguely know that person? Are you really done thinking about other guys? If you find out who it is, are you going to go say hello? If I die of anger, are you going to nurse me?”
If you’re dead, do you even need nursing? He had a question about the last part, but for now, calming him down seemed more important. It was because the streaming nosebleed showed no sign of stopping.
“I don’t remember at all. And don’t you think the doctor didn’t know me either? So it’s certain there’s nothing between us, and I’ve forgotten his face now. Even if I find out who he is, I won’t say hello.”
“…”
“And if I die of anger, the nursing… can’t you tell by the fact that I’m stopping your nosebleed right now?”
As he answered each point, Gyu-oh’s stiff upper body gradually slumped. By the time he spoke the last sentence, he had lowered himself to a height that was easy to treat.
“Anyway, I’m aging because of Cha Min-ho.”
That was something Cha Min-ho often said to Won Gyu-oh. It felt unfair to hear such a reprimand when he hadn’t even done anything wrong. Still, he was glad that Won Gyu-oh seemed much calmer than before.
Since the bleeding seemed to have subsided, he dragged him to the bathroom. After wiping away all the blood from his cheeks, under his nose, and his lips, he finally looked decent again. His eyes were still red, but not to the extent that sparks were flying like before.
At Gyu-oh’s sudden claim of feeling dizzy, they went to the sofa and sat side by side. As he endured the heavy weight of the man leaning completely against him, a thought suddenly occurred to him.
It seems Won Gyu-oh’s strengths and weaknesses go to complete extremes when he’s in a relationship. He had always felt a bit of craziness in him, but the Won Gyu-oh he faced after signing this one-month ‘non-contract’ was beyond the word ‘craziness.’
“…I think I understand now why you’ve been dumped so much.”
Words that should have remained as thoughts slipped out of his mouth. He immediately regretted it, but it was the truth. He hadn’t understood how Gyu-oh had been dumped every single time during his few past relationships, but perhaps…
“Whaaat?”
“Just saying.”
“Are you hinting that you’re going to dump me in a month? Where do you think you’re laying the groundwork?”
As his voice threatened to get louder again, Min-ho quickly wrapped his arm around his shoulder. It was a bit burdensome to have such a large guy clinging to him, but he couldn’t have him having another nosebleed.
“No. Just stay still, okay?”
He patted his back as if soothing a child. The movement of trying to squirm out of the embrace gradually subsided. Perhaps because he had turned off the heat before the water boiled over, Gyu-oh quickly became quiet.
“Sigh.”
Dating Won Gyu-oh would be truly exhausting. He’d have to put up with him clinging and sucking on his tongue and lips at all hours. Seeing him get jealous over nothing and have a nosebleed, it felt like he’d need to devote twenty-four hours of attention to satisfy him.
“Sighing is forbidden.”
“…Fine, forbidden.”
The identity of the doctor had to remain buried in his memory. Since it wouldn’t come back to him, it seemed he wasn’t a particularly important person. He just had to let it be, as Gyu-oh had threatened to book hypnosis therapy to find out what the doctor was thinking. He felt more tired than when he was working; he wondered if he was imagining it.
He blinked his hollow eyes and closed them. Still, with Won Gyu-oh by his side, a sense of peace quickly returned. He was able to sleep comfortably as he had wanted, and discovering new sides of Won Gyu-oh was actually quite fun.
So, he thought that maintaining this relationship for a long time might not be so bad.
Perhaps, even beyond a month.
* * *
Using Gyu-oh’s expression, they had done an ‘open run’ for discharge and were now in the car heading home. Because Gyu-oh had threatened—not exactly a threat—that he would kiss him passionately in the lobby if they went to the office, they had no choice but to head home. The Won Gyu-oh he knew had absolutely no hesitation about such crazy antics, so the probability of him actually doing it was close to 99 percent.
“Yeah, I got it.”
—Yeah. I wrote the names on them, so don’t get confused and make sure they’re delivered correctly. I heard Jae-hee Unni got a fountain pen last time?
Whenever Ji-ho sent gifts, she always sent portions for others as well. Not just for Gyu-oh, but for the friends he worked with.
At first, Min-ho thought she just did it because she was close to him, but he later found out that they had provided Ji-ho with financial help several times behind his back. They called it ‘pocket money,’ but who gives hundreds of thousands of won every time just because a friend’s younger sibling is living alone in a foreign country?
Ji-ho also sent gifts from Germany every time as her own expression of gratitude, and they were extremely pleased even with the smallest things. Bike gloves worn until they frayed, handkerchiefs in jacket pockets, pins on ties, earrings worn every summer. Whenever he found traces of his sister among his friends and colleagues, Min-ho wondered if this was how it felt to have a family.
“Usually, it takes two weeks to arrive. It’s not cold here yet, so it’s fine.”
And he was grateful to those who allowed him to feel that emotion with Ji-ho as well. Perhaps that was why he lived more fiercely and desperately in his position. To pay back the emotional debt in some way.
—Got it! Someone’s calling me, so I have to go. Call me again!
“Yeah.”
—Don’t just say it, actually do it!
As expected, having been fooled once or twice, she wasn’t easily deceived. Min-ho leaned back into the seat and let out a faint smile.
“I really will. Just go already.”
—…And take it easy with work. I’m going to video call you tomorrow. Bye!
The only thing she had said after a brief hesitation was her worry for him. Looking down at the screen where the call had ended, Min-ho fiddled with his side. He thought it was a relief that this part hadn’t been discovered.
“Ji-ho is full of energy.”
Gyu-oh added a comment, having heard the voice over the phone. He seemed to be about half her weight, yet their energy levels seemed similar.
“I think her personality changed a bit after going to Germany. She’s probably happy because she’s doing what she wants to do instead of living a tedious life here.”
He lowered the sun visor and looked at his face in the palm-sized mirror. Thanks to sleeping well and consistently eating meals, snacks, and supplements while at the hospital, he felt he had gained some weight. His eyes, which were always bloodshot, looked better, and the dark circles had faded. He figured he didn’t look embarrassing enough to see his sister.
“It’s probably because she doesn’t want to burden Hyung with her worries.”
“…”
“When she talked to me, her voice was the same as before.”
Min-ho, who had been looking in the mirror, slowly shifted his gaze. Gyu-oh, who had stopped the car at a signal, subtly reached out. Before he even realized it, he felt a hand brushing over his eyes.
“…I guess so.”
Worry was familiar, but the touching body temperature was still very awkward. However, since it didn’t feel uncomfortable, he quietly accepted Gyu-oh’s touch.
“Looking at your face now, Ji-ho will probably worry less.”
“Now I finally look like a human, right?”
Until now, I had always been told that I looked tired regardless of what I did, but I hadn’t particularly realized that my face looked worn down. Looking at myself now, it truly hit me just how much of a mess I had been all this time.
“Totally. You’ve been sleeping well these past few days, right? Seems like you aren’t even having nightmares.”
At those words, Min-ho’s hand, which had been pulling the sun visor back up, came to a sudden halt.
“Ah.”
He was right. The nightmares that had followed him into his dreams almost every single day had stopped appearing starting from that day. The day he had overcome his fear and thrown himself forward with the sole determination to save Won Gyu-oh. It had been since then. For years, the dreams had led to the same lines and the same ending, but that day was different, and when he woke up, he had even felt a sense of liberation.
“I’m telling you, it’s all because I’m stuck right by your side. Am I right or not?”
“…….”
He couldn’t respond to the rather brazen question as he usually would. Just as the boy said, the fact that he was able to break free from the nightmares that had tormented him so relentlessly was largely thanks to Won Gyu-oh.