By Zephyria 
Eun-myeong struggled to recover.
His body had been frail from the start. No matter how much the man had decorated the inside of the prison cell, a prison cell was still a prison cell. It was swarming with dust, and the germs were no joke.
Furthermore, no matter how high the heating was turned up, the air was too cold for Eun-myeong, who was exceptionally sensitive to the chill. It was only natural for his immunity to plummet. And in such a ragged state, he had suffered through those events.
Eun-myeong truly hovered between life and death.
Doctors had to swarm around him, fighting for every second.
To the man, who had never so much as caught a cold since childhood, this could only lead to anxiety.
What if something went wrong? The man trembled with anxiety every single day. He attended to Eun-myeong’s every need, barely eating or sleeping.
He could not bear to leave the baby’s side for a single moment.
How could he possibly do so? Even if he tried to step away for just one second, Eun-myeong would sob and cry. His face looked so pitiful…
Knock, knock. A sound came from the door. The door opened even though the man had not told them to enter. Unexpectedly, it was Bear.
Bear, who never moved without the man’s permission, called out to him.
“Boss.”
Even then, the man’s gaze was entirely fixed on Eun-myeong. His cheeks, flushed red from the fever, could not have been more beautiful.
“You need to receive treatment.”
Bear was a subordinate who would have played dead on the floor if the man told him to die. Despite this being the first time he spoke of his own volition, the man didn’t even give the words a second thought.
“You have to wake up soon and eat.”
He rambled while looking down at Eun-myeong, as if he were incapable of understanding anyone else’s words.
Conversely, Eun-myeong, lying on the bed, was in a state where he couldn’t understand anything, yet the man continued to want to tell him things.
“Autumn is almost over; things like roasted chestnuts…”
With a small laugh, he flicked his finger against Eun-myeong’s cheek.
In truth, the man’s own condition looked more severe than the reclining Eun-myeong’s. The piece of cloth that had been shoved into his side as emergency first aid had slipped out. The end of the cloth dangled from his waist.
The part that was splayed open like a tongue was soaked deep red with blood. It was a truly grotesque sight.
Despite being there as a guardian, he behaved like a psychiatric patient.
Ridiculously, and truly ironically, it was a peaceful afternoon. Sunlight poured through the large window of the VIP room like rays of light.
“Wa…”
“Are you thirsty?”
The man slid his firm arm beneath Eun-myeong’s neck. Then, he let water flow moistly into lips that looked difficult to part due to dry skin.
Then, perhaps because it became easier to open his lips, Eun-myeong began to drink the water well.
Gulp, gulp.
The Adam’s apple protruding in the middle of that slender throat could not have been more beautiful. He wondered if this was what it felt like to be full just by watching someone else eat.
The man sighed exaggeratedly at his own deep and yearning love, which grew more potent by the day, like whiskey.
If he overflowed with this much love, Eun-myeong would soon realize who held the upper hand in this emotional dynamic.
Ah, just thinking about it made the relationship feel so delightful. The man had never once let anyone stand above him, yet he wore a deep smile as if he were looking forward to it more than anything.
While he was spending this twisted, sweet time alone…
“Eun-myeong.”
Lee Eun-joo stormed into the hospital room. As soon as she saw Eun-myeong lying in bed, she covered her mouth with her hand and began to sob.
“This is all because of you, Kang Pyeong-won.”
Even as she buried her face in the bed and wailed, the man ignored her and wiped Eun-myeong’s forearm with a towel.
“I applied so much cream, tsk.”
Having cleaned Eun-myeong’s pale body well, he took out the cream container again. He twisted open the lid and scooped a generous amount of ointment onto his finger. He rubbed it onto Eun-myeong’s skin, spreading it carefully over his arms, legs, stomach, and back.
The skin that had been breaking out in rashes was finally starting to calm down, but then something red and blotchy broke out again. The doctor said it seemed like an allergy. He suspected it was because of the changed bedsheets this time.
“If you hadn’t gotten involved with Eun-myeong, he wouldn’t have suffered like this.”
No matter what Lee Eun-joo prattled on about beside him, none of it penetrated the man’s mind.
Then.
“I really can’t bear how pitiful my brother is.”
It was when Eun-joo reached out her hand toward Eun-myeong’s cheek. With a snap!, the man gripped Eun-joo’s wrist tightly.
“Don’t touch him.”
It was a force so strong it felt as if he were crushing the veins in Eun-joo’s wrist. Eun-joo’s arm trembled violently.
Looking up at the man, Eun-joo involuntarily held her breath. She had never seen eyes so filled with madness in her entire life.
It was as if his eyeballs had been dipped in blood and pulled out, the capillaries burst beyond repair. The bones surrounding his eye sockets revealed sharp contours, and parts of his shirt were stained red.
Overwhelmed by the murderous intent emanating from him, Eun-joo couldn’t say a word and only swallowed hard.
“…”
Eun-joo thought that this was the true form of Kang Pyeong-won. His shell had been completely stripped away.
Then.
“Ngh…”
Eun-myeong stirred with his flushed cheeks. Immediately, the man shoved Eun-joo’s arm away and whipped his head around.
“Yes, baby, are you awake?”
It was a completely abrupt change in tone. Eun-myeong still had a staggering fever. He was lying in bed, almost in a coma.
The man spoke tenderly as if Eun-myeong had actually woken up, as if he were trying to coax him out somehow.
“Cowardly human, taking advantage of a child’s illness to occupy his side.”
Having regained her senses, Eun-joo didn’t hesitate to sneer.
Naturally, she expected him to grab her by the collar. To her surprise, the man simply let out a short laugh. Eun-joo’s face crumpled at this unexpected reaction.
“Do you think Lee Eun-myeong could be happy without me?”
The words that flowed from the man this time were directed at Eun-joo.
“I see that Lee Eun-myeong’s biological mother is still alive.”
At the following words, Eun-joo gasped.
She wasn’t even curious how the man knew. He had plenty of people at his beck and call and overflowing wealth. Finding out a secret of birth would not have been difficult.
“Turns out, she had two children.”
Eun-joo bit her lower lip hard.
“Right, was the other one you?”
“W-what on earth are you trying to say?”
At his words, a memory that Eun-joo had forgotten—or rather, tried desperately to bury—surfaced from the far reaches of her mind.
Unlike her, who was a bit older, Eun-myeong had been a baby and likely didn’t remember. That they had entered the orphanage together.
Eun-myeong had been very beautiful since he was young. Because he was quiet and lovely, many families wanted to adopt him.
Every time, Eun-joo had interfered. She felt that if even Eun-myeong left, she would be left alone in this world. She blocked it with that petty selfishness.
Though it was an act born of childish thoughts in her young heart, that sense of guilt remained like a shackle, holding Eun-joo back even as an adult.
“If you sold a brother like that to a piece of trash like me for a cheap price, you should just disappear.”
“I…! I never sold Eun-myeong to you.”
She struggled helplessly. Whenever memories of the past surfaced, she felt so sorry for Eun-myeong that it was overwhelming. While it was already hard enough to take care of herself, she had to carry young Eun-myeong like a piece of luggage and run twice as hard.
She had truly run without a moment’s rest, without ever looking back at her own life…
She saw Eun-myeong held in his arms. In all her life, she had never seen Eun-myeong look so comfortable, wrapped in something like an egg in a nest.
Furthermore.
“Bo… ss…”
Such a word leaked through the lips of Eun-myeong, who should have been hovering between life and death.
At that, Eun-joo was completely lost for words. Even while not in his right mind, Eun-myeong was seeking the man. She felt like a complete loser.
There was no gap at all for her to wedge herself between the two of them.
Eun-joo sat there like a misplaced sack of barley, and after accepting the fact, she quietly stood up.
“Still.”
After uttering a low word, she left the place like a ghost.
“Let me know when Eun-myeong wakes up.”
The sound of the door opening and closing was heard behind them, but the man didn’t give her a single glance.
He carried Eun-myeong to the bathroom, and held him in his arms, patting him to sleep. As the weather grew cold, he wrapped a scarf around Eun-myeong’s lower abdomen.
He looked down at the face breathing softly with closed eyes.
The round forehead, the white cheeks where veins seemed almost visible, the eyelids thin as tissue paper, the softly curved nose, the upper lip slightly pouting.
He buried his nose deep into the nape of Eun-myeong’s neck. He opened his lungs wide and greedily inhaled Eun-myeong’s scent. Yet, the thirst did not subside because he was not reflected in Eun-myeong’s eyes.
Would the day come when he could talk of love to those lips again?
If only that happened.
“Shall we live like this for the rest of our lives?”
Holding you in his arms once you wake from your sleep, just spending a lifetime talking of love.
What wealth could be greater than that?
As a man, he truly wanted nothing more, so please, just wake up now.
“Come back to me completely now.”