FHO 126

Side Story 14. First Summer

As June arrived, more and more households began pulling out the fans they had tucked away in storage. Hand fans were placed within arm’s reach wherever one went, and frozen water bottles occupied a whole section of the freezers.

The sunlight was already stinging, as if foreshadowing the sweltering heat to come. Even Happy, who usually roamed around with dirt on his muzzle, sought out only the shade today.

It was a season where the mere touch of skin, sticky with sweat, could spark irritation. Haon, who had a high body temperature, had been worrying about the approaching summer since the flowers began to fade, but In-ho was not. He believed his own cool body temperature could help cool Haon down.

He had underestimated the heat of the countryside.

“Mngh…”

Whining in his sleep, Haon flailed his arms and flipped over. In-ho, who had been sleeping with Haon tucked in his arms, was woken up when he took a hit to the chin from Haon’s swinging hand.

“Haon-ssi?”

Because the blow was hard enough to leave his chin tingling, In-ho momentarily thought Haon had hit him on purpose. After checking Haon’s deeply asleep face, In-ho let go of his bewildered expression and chuckled.

He touched Haon’s slightly parted lips and tried to wrap his arms around him again, but he was coldly rejected.

“Hot…”

In-ho let go of Haon, who was trying to squirm away, feeling stifled in his embrace. Was it that hot? Since In-ho was naturally constitutionally insensitive to heat, he tilted his head in curiosity as he sat up.

Now that he looked closer, Haon was sweating. Unaware of that, In-ho had even covered him with a blanket. With the windows and doors all shut tight, not a single breeze could get in, so it was only natural that it would be hot.

In-ho slid the door wide open and grabbed the fan lying on the wooden floor. Since the weather had grown warmer and flying insects had increased, they had kept the doors shut whenever they were inside.

Even though In-ho said it was fine, Haon had stubbornly insisted on closing every single door and window. Despite being so sensitive to the heat.

Pulling the blanket back, In-ho covered only Haon’s stomach and fanned his peacefully sleeping face. Watching Haon tilt his head following the cool breeze, In-ho smiled and glanced around the room.

Where should he install the air conditioner? It seemed there would be no suitable spot unless he moved the bookshelf that took up an entire wall. He decided he should discuss it with Haon-ssi once he woke up.

“Wa… ter… melon…”

“Hmm?”

Suddenly, Haon’s lips moved, searching for watermelon. In-ho stopped fanning and leaned in close to listen.

“Aren’t you… eating…?”

Seeing him ask while even gesturing with his hand, In-ho suppressed a laugh that made his shoulders shake. Fearing that a loud laugh would wake him, he barely held back the sound and asked back.

“Shall we eat some?”

He whispered softly and brushed the sweat-dampened bangs away from Haon’s forehead. Seeing him look for food in his sleep made him look incredibly adorable.

After stroking his plump cheek and giving him a light kiss, In-ho continued to wave the fan to cool him down. It was a problem; it seemed Haon had already suffered a bit of heat exhaustion.

Lately, Haon had been tiring easily and sleeping more. In particular, his post-meal drowsiness had worsened, and his eyelids would grow heavy as soon as he finished eating. Even now, after eating a full lunch, he had been nodding off while sitting on the porch, so In-ho had carried him inside to sleep.

Still, it was a relief that he hadn’t lost his appetite. If anything, it felt like he was eating more than before.

In-ho slid his hand under the blanket covering Haon’s stomach, a smirk playing on his lips. Perhaps because there were more days where he fell asleep immediately after eating, he actually felt some belly fat. Just a little bit.

It was while he was carefully stroking the soft, mochi-like flesh.

“Is he sleepin’ again?”

The Village Head poked his head in from outside the main gate. Despite being over eighty, he was still healthy enough to chop firewood. He claimed that living cheerfully was the secret to his health.

“Is that boy pregnant or somethin’? Why’s he sleepin’ so much?”

The Village Head clicked his tongue, seeing Haon sprawled out even though the sun was high in the sky. Still, he lowered his voice, having no intention of waking him.

In-ho chuckled, stood up, put on his slippers, and stepped outside. Seeing that he had come all the way to the house, it seemed there was another favor to ask.

“Did ya have lunch?”

“Yes. Did you eat, Village Head?”

“Of course I did. Look at the time.”

Looking back at Haon, the Village Head laughed heartily, saying the lad sure sleeps a lot. No one could possibly criticize Haon’s pure face as he lay there like a child.

In-ho, turning to follow the Village Head, checked on Haon one last time and suddenly remembered something.

“Village Head, I don’t think I can go out today because I hurt my leg.”

“Hurt your leg?”

Blinking, the Village Head scanned In-ho’s legs, which had been walking out perfectly fine. His face looked as if he were wondering what on earth In-ho was talking about.

“Ah, I think I hurt my arm.”

In-ho smiled slyly and massaged one of his arms. His arms, packed with muscle, didn’t look like they could be easily injured. In reality, his arms and legs were all perfectly fine. He simply didn’t have the time to follow the Village Head.

“I’ll help you with the work tomorrow.”

The Village Head examined In-ho’s arm and burst into a loud laugh.

“Haon told ya to say that, didn’t he? To say ya were sick if it looked like they’d make ya work.”

Seeing In-ho respond with a smile, the Village Head shook his head exaggeratedly. Since the weather turned hot, Haon had been going around warning the village elders to stop using In-ho-ssi as a laborer. Because of that, the elders were walking on eggshells around Haon and couldn’t ask In-ho for help.

“It ain’t that sort of thing, so just follow me.”

Patting In-ho’s shoulder, the Village Head pointed outside the gate.

“You’ll regret it if ya don’t come.”

With a meaningful expression, the Village Head leaned in and whispered into In-ho’s ear. In-ho leaned down for the shorter elder, looking intrigued.

Once the whisper was finished, the Village Head nudged In-ho’s firm side with his elbow and asked, “Well?”

“You’re comin’, right?”

“Just a moment.”

Without hesitation, In-ho stepped back toward Haon. He placed the fan by Haon’s head and turned on the electric fan. As if that weren’t enough, he almost left but returned to angle the fan’s head toward Haon’s legs. And just in case, he covered him with the blanket.

“Goodness, you practically serve him. Why not just carry him around on your back?”

“I’d like to, but he won’t let me carry him every day.”

“Lord have mercy.”

Following the boisterously laughing Village Head, In-ho looked back at Haon one last time. Haon was still in dreamland. Intending to return quickly before he woke up, In-ho hurried his pace. He figured Haon would sleep for at least another hour.

However, contrary to In-ho’s expectations, Haon woke up early. Almost immediately after In-ho left the house, he tossed and turned and slowly opened his eyes.

“In-ho-ssi?”

As soon as he woke up, Haon looked around, searching for In-ho. He crawled toward the wooden porch and, upon confirming that In-ho’s shoes were gone, his expression slumped. He was certain that someone had snatched In-ho away as a laborer again.

“I told him to say he was sick…”

Haon looked worriedly at the scorching sunlight and yawned. Sitting on the porch, he switched the fan to high blast to cool down. As if that weren’t enough, he brought out the hand fan as well.

Perhaps because he had just woken up, he felt exceptionally hot. Feeling a bit bored in his mouth, he dragged his heavy body to the kitchen.

After much deliberation, what Haon brought out was ice cream. Not just one, but two.

With a cold ice cream in his mouth, he rubbed the other unopened one against his neck and chest. As the sweetness hit his tongue, his eyes snapped open and his mood improved.

Sitting right there, Haon polished off both ice creams in an instant. Even though he was the one who ate them, he looked at the empty wrappers with a bit of surprise.

“I should have eaten them with In-ho-ssi…”

Thinking back, he didn’t know why he ate them alone. Maybe because he was thirsty.

Swallowing the remaining sweetness in his mouth, Haon looked toward the kitchen door. For some reason, he felt like eating something more, but after some thought, he resisted. He decided to eat it with In-ho-ssi when he returned.

Is this why I’m gaining weight?

Yawning repeatedly, he rubbed his sleepy eyes and tidied the blanket. He hadn’t intended to take a nap today, but because In-ho-ssi had laid out the blanket, he had succumbed to it.

Feeling a bit uneasy that he had become lazy, he tried to memorize English words posted on the wall.

Haon had started studying English anew this year. Thanks to having a wonderful teacher right by his side, he was learning with enjoyment.

“Today, weather… so hot.”

His skills weren’t improving rapidly, but he could roughly grasp what he was trying to say.

“Where, my honey, go.”

“I miss you,” he murmured, staring at the firmly closed main gate. Even though he knew In-ho would return on his own soon, he felt an inexplicable sense of anxiety.

Anxiety?

Suddenly tilting his head, Haon touched his chest with a puzzled look. He didn’t know why he felt this way. It wasn’t the first time In-ho had left without a word.

Had he felt like this back then? Was he… this uneasy?

“That’s strange.”

Unconsciously fiddling with In-ho’s outer garment, he soon put on his shoes. The moment he decided to go out and find In-ho, his heart calmed down surprisingly.

Haon laughed off his fluctuating emotions. At that point, he didn’t think much of it. He was naturally a slow-witted person.