By Zephyria 
Hearing the unscrupulous conversation, Yeon-rok, unable to bear it any longer, squeezed out the last of his strength to thrash about. Choi Hwan, this time, casually placed his leg over Yeon-rok’s body.
“Should I hold it down too? It’ll probably speed up the recovery. We can also shorten the contact time significantly.”
“No!”
“Ah, right? Then Hyung can hold this arm.”
“I said no!”
Neither of them listened to Yeon-rok. Soon, Yeon-rok grew tired and quieted down on his own. He was frowning deeply, and Choi Hwan, as if playing with a toy, casually massaged his arm and said in amazement.
“Wow. He’s really hot.”
“He has a fever. I gave him antipyretics earlier, so it should go down soon.”
Exhausted, Yeon-rok didn’t even have the energy to react to the rude words spoken about him. It seemed like the porridge he had eaten earlier was already digested. The two began to chat, with Yeon-rok between them.
“Did you get the research funding I mentioned last time?”
“Yeah. CEO Yeom Cheon-ho’s investment was quite substantial. Since I’m his Name partner, the branch office probably couldn’t ignore the request. Our Hwan is worried about Hyung too.”
“Honestly, Hyung should get it all.”
It was a very unfamiliar story to Yeon-rok. No, it wasn’t entirely unfamiliar. He seemed to recall Yeom Cheon-ho mentioning investing in both Choi Hwan and Moon Kyeon-woo last time.
Moon Kyeon-woo and Choi Hwan continued to share trivial stories with each other. Every single one was new information to Yeon-rok. Moon Kyeon-woo’s colleague being a parachute hire, Choi Hwan majoring in science, Moon Kyeon-woo surprisingly having a specialist license, or anecdotes about people around them.
He felt like he wasn’t even there, crumpled up in the blanket, feeling alienated and listening forlornly. Suddenly, Moon Kyeon-woo brought up a story that Yeon-rok also knew.
“But Hwan-ah, can you not go to clubs anymore?”
“Uh…”
Yeon-rok’s ears perked up. He was curious if Choi Hwan would be brazen even in front of his Darling. Instead of promising not to go right away, Choi Hwan said this.
“Why don’t you come with me next time, Hyung?”
Where does that guy keep his brain? Yeon-rok expected Moon Kyeon-woo to get angry. But after a moment of silence, Moon Kyeon-woo unexpectedly agreed.
“Hmm… Okay. Let’s go together.”
Moon Kyeon-woo seems to be very patient. But Yeon-rok had no intention of interfering, so he soon stopped caring. Anyway, unlike with Yeom Cheon-ho, the two seemed to get along quite well, so at least they wouldn’t invite him on their dates.
Listening to the conversation between the two, Yeon-rok fell into a doze. He woke up several times during the night because his body ached from the fever, and each time, the two were still giggling beside him.
His position had also changed, as if they had adjusted Yeon-rok several times. Choi Hwan had Yeon-rok tucked under his arm or half-leaning on him like a cushion. Sometimes he vaguely woke up to the beep of a thermometer, and sometimes he woke up in surprise when a cold towel was slapped on his face, though he didn’t know who put it there.
Even while groaning in pain, Yeon-rok slightly eased his very sulky and sad heart. One of them was practically treating him like a cushion, but it was definitely better than suffering alone. Because there was nothing more heartbreaking in the world. As he drifted off to sleep and woke up again, the two were rummaging through a fruit basket.
‘Isn’t that mine?’
He wasn’t particularly happy about it, but since Choi Hwan had bought it as a gift, the ownership clearly belonged to him. But he was too lazy to argue, so Yeon-rok was slumped over like a wilted vegetable. While they were debating which fruit to eat, Moon Kyeon-woo picked up a few pieces and got up.
“Wait here. I’ll ask Park Yeo-sa to peel them for us.”
“Okay.”
While Moon Kyeon-woo was away, Choi Hwan was chuckling while watching short-form videos. He picked off a few grapes and, noticing Yeon-rok waking up with a grumpy face, held them out.
“Oh, do you want some too?”
“No.”
But he stubbornly shoved the grapes into his mouth. He really didn’t listen to a word anyone said. As he reluctantly chewed, Choi Hwan moved his hand without hesitation. Only then did Yeon-rok realize that Choi Hwan’s hand was not on his arm like before, but groping near his chest. When that shameless hand touched his ‘name,’ Yeon-rok screamed.
“Where do you think you’re touching?!”
“So feisty.”
Feisty… Yeon-rok trembled with anger. He yelled at him to take his hand off his clothes immediately, and Choi Hwan reluctantly removed his hand. He had an utterly brazen attitude, as if he had been asked to do something unfair.
“What’s the big deal about touching?”
“You’ve touched your Darling, haven’t you? Go touch him!”
But for some reason, there was a strange lack of response. Yeon-rok looked at him suspiciously, and Moon Kyeon-woo came back with well-peeled fruit. The two shared the fruit while giggling again, and then Choi Hwan held out an apple as if doing him a favor.
“Hey. Apples are good for you.”
“I don’t want any!”
As Yeon-rok turned his head this way and that, Moon Kyeon-woo snatched the apple slice and shoved it into his mouth with a menacing look. It was an act of rebellion, as if to say, why are you making me do this to my Darling? Overwhelmed by the force, Yeon-rok unwittingly bit into the apple that Moon Kyeon-woo was feeding him. Then Choi Hwan grumbled.
“You always refuse everything I ask you to do? You’re so biased.”
I wish I could just punch that bastard in the mouth once…
Yeon-rok chewed the apple as slowly as possible, intending to prevent him from feeding him any more fruit. Crunch, crunch… Then, suddenly remembering something, he hurriedly opened his mouth.
“Did you come to my room last night?”
“Me? I was passed out drunk. Come to think of it, you were locked in the bathroom, right? That’s hilarious.”
Choi Hwan openly mocked Yeon-rok, but he was too creeped out to get angry. If it wasn’t Moon Kyeon-woo or Choi Hwan, then who could it have been? It could only mean that some unknown person had entered his room and tried to do something to him while he was locked in the bathroom. Yeon-rok asked the two of them.
“Has anyone entered my room at night? Or tried to?”
And the answers he received were as follows.
“I lock my door when I sleep.”
“What kind of idiot wouldn’t lock their door? How many people work in this house?”
Then Moon Kyeon-woo said to Yeon-rok in a rather pathetic tone.
“You’re not having some delusion that someone broke into your room, are you? If someone tried to force open a locked door, the alarm would go off. It’s impossible.”
Yeon-rok, now labeled as the idiot who didn’t lock his door, shut his mouth. On the one hand, he was scared. Didn’t it mean that someone who knew he didn’t usually lock his door had approached him? If so, it was likely one of the people who came and went from the house to work.
‘Wait, if the bathroom door hadn’t been broken, could I have been in big trouble?’
It was unexpected that his misfortune could turn into luck. Anyway, he should definitely tell Kim Jeong-seong or Yeom Cheon-ho about this. As Yeon-rok pondered, he squirmed to get out of the blanket, but Choi Hwan wrapped it even tighter.
“Here he goes again.”
“Let go! I have something to say to my secretary Hyung.”
“At this hour?”
Startled by the word “hour,” he looked at the clock and realized it was well past 1 a.m. He had thought it was afternoon because the two were chatting without sleeping.
“Tell him tomorrow and just sleep now.”
Choi Hwan said in an annoyed tone and halfheartedly patted the blanket. Moon Kyeon-woo took out some cold medicine as if telling him not to disturb their cozy time together. Yeon-rok hesitated because he felt a little sorry to call Kim Jeong-seong, who was probably busy at this hour. Moon Kyeon-woo put the nail in the coffin with his words.
“You can’t contact him anyway. He said he urgently went on a business trip to the US on a late-night flight yesterday, so he won’t be able to answer even if you call.”
While Yeon-rok was sick in bed, Yeom Cheon-ho and Kim Jeong-seong seemed to be working hard. He gave up and closed his heavy eyes again. His fever had gone down a bit, but he hadn’t fully recovered, so he fell asleep quickly.
How long had he slept? Yeon-rok groaned and opened his eyes again. This time, it was quiet around him. He forced himself to lift his heavy eyelids, thinking that they had finally left. Unexpectedly, the two were still in his room.
Choi Hwan was lying sprawled out, holding his phone in one hand, sleeping comfortably. Yeon-rok was casually pushed to the side under his arm so he could sleep comfortably. Moon Kyeon-woo was also sleeping next to Choi Hwan, curled up on his side. A quiet shadow fell over their faces. Yeon-rok thought in his sleep.
‘They’re the most hateful and obnoxious people in the world, but they’re somewhat tolerable when they’re sleeping.’
He couldn’t agree with the saying that similar people become Name partners, but he could understand the saying that they have similar tastes. Otherwise, there’s no way they could all be so handsome.