By Zephyria While Tae-heun lay wrapped in a blanket in the bedroom, the man prepared an early breakfast. It wasn’t the usual soy sauce egg rice, but a dish with beef. The smell of frying meat wafted into the bedroom.
Tae-heun sniffled and imagined the man’s movements. Since there was no refrigerated meat, he must have taken it out from the freezer to thaw. While the meat was thawing, the man set the rice and chopped vegetables. The sound of water pouring into a hot pot was loud and sizzling. Was it meat soup? Gulp, he swallowed.
While the broth was boiling, the man hurried somewhere and then returned. It was obviously the laundry room. The whole house shook when the washing machine spun. He wanted to go and hang the laundry, but he couldn’t move an inch.
Tae-heun laughed and cried alone. He felt like dying from embarrassment, yet a tender emotion welled up inside him, and he chuckled at the memory of falling into a ditch at dawn. He surrendered his body to the waves of emotions that rose and fell. If he felt sad, he cried; if it was funny, he laughed; if it was embarrassing, he felt embarrassed.
Yet, he couldn’t believe that he was crying over a breakup. How could I, the audacious Lee Seon-jae, no, Kim Tae-heun, have been dumped? In the past, he would have laughed it off as a trivial incident that didn’t affect his livelihood, but now it felt unbearably painful.
The child who had laughed at his grandparents’ funeral, the Kim Ji-yoon who loved being adored by many, was now crying over a mere breakup. Lee Seon-jae, who hadn’t shed a single tear in front of his beloved aunt’s corpse.
Had he chosen the wrong name? He thought it would have been better to visit a fortune teller before picking a new name. He couldn’t help but chuckle at the thought.
But that was only for a moment; he felt wronged and frustrated. He knew in his head that this was a foolish act with no meaning, yet his pride was hurt. How could a mere country bumpkin farmer dislike me? The woman was one thing, but even the boys with dicks were trying hard to get involved with Kim Tae-heun, yet they rejected him. No, if they had just rejected him, it wouldn’t have hurt his pride this much. The man had given up. Just as he had with Kwon Yong-jun, he had also given up on Tae-heun.
Ha. Damn it.
Am I really that unappealing?
Tae-heun looked down at himself through tear-blurred vision.
His face and body were more than enough, and he was well-endowed, so that couldn’t be the issue. Then perhaps it was his personality that was unlikable. Was he lacking in seriousness, talking too much, or was it that he couldn’t appeal sexually? He was overwhelmed with all sorts of thoughts. He embarked on a self-critique that he had never done in his life.
He heard the man passing through the living room and stepping out onto the porch. When he set the basin down on the floor, Tae-heun thought he must be hanging the laundry in the yard. He heard the sound of laundry being vigorously shaken. A moment later, the porch creaked again as the man returned inside.
The child’s door opened.
“Dad, what’s that smell?”
The child, just awake, asked in a sleepy voice.
“What day is it today?”
“No. It’s raining, so…”
The man awkwardly lied. The child wasn’t fooled.
“Come on, Dad. Today is a special day, right?”
“…”
“What day is it? It’s not your birthday, nor mine. It’s not Mom’s memorial day either. What is it?”
“Go wash your face quickly.”
The man changed the subject. The child, deep in thought trying to figure out what day it was, finally replied, “Yes.”
It seemed the man made beef soup on important days. And that important day happened to include the day Tae-heun was dumped.
The child ran around as usual. The floor thudded with every jump of the small body. When the man moved, there was a soft and careful sound, always out of sync.
“Hey, Tae-heun. Can you get up? Should I set the table in the room?”
The man asked cautiously, standing at the doorway, not knowing when he had arrived.
“Let’s eat together.”
His throat was tight, and he barely managed to speak.
The man made a troubled expression. After a moment of thought, he approached Tae-heun. He wiped Tae-heun’s tear-stained face with a towel draped around his neck.
“Thinking about it, this is the first time I’ve been dumped. You know, Ki-beom knows, but I’m kind of good-looking. So I’ve never been dumped until now.”
“Who says that?”
The man asked. Tae-heun looked puzzled by the somewhat random question.
“What?”
“Who dumped you?”
“No, if the person who dumped me says that, what does that make the person who got dumped?”
Tae-heun replied sulkily.
“I didn’t dump you.”
The man said in a voice that was almost a whisper.
“I like you too, Tae-heun. Not in that way, though.”
The man said calmly. He didn’t even blush.
Tae-heun’s mind was overloaded. He blinked, unable to grasp the true meaning of what the man had said. Then he concluded that since the man didn’t blush, it must be a lie. What kind of comforting words would come out at a time like this? It was so confusing.
“Sometimes it’s best to just leave things be. Even a frog can die from a stone thrown carelessly.”
Tae-heun grumbled. The man looked apologetic and didn’t know what to do. Although he had said that, it bothered him that the man was feeling sorry.
“It was a joke.”
“Dad! The soup is boiling! Should I turn off the stove?”
The child shouted.
“No. I’ll do it.”
“Yes.”
The sound of the child running off somewhere could be heard.
“It was a joke.”
“I heard you.”
It seemed he only heard it but didn’t accept it. The man, still looking apologetic, glanced at Tae-heun and wiped his face vigorously with his forearm like a car windshield wiper.
“You should wash your face.”
He glanced toward the living room. He was concerned about the child who would soon face Tae-heun.
“Is it obvious?”
“Not too much… but your eyes and nose are a bit red.”
The man looked at him quietly and chuckled.
“It’s pretty obvious, right?”
“Go wash your face.”
Tae-heun felt a lump in his throat at the kind voice. He bit his lip to hold back tears.
“Hurry and wash your face.”
“… Yes.”
With the man’s help, Tae-heun got up, still wrapped in the blanket.
As he trudged to the bathroom, he stopped at the smell of the beef soup.
“That soup, you made it for me, right?”
Tae-heun asked.
“Yes.”
“You made it on purpose for me?”
“Yes.”
The man answered simply, almost indifferently.
Just a moment ago, he felt so hurt, but now he felt good. The fact that someone had made soup for him, something only made on special days, made him happy. Even if it was because of a breakup. A smile spread across his tear-streaked face.
“If you laugh after crying…”
The man trailed off.
“If you’re going to joke, you should finish it. Why is Ki-beom embarrassed?”
“No, I’m not.”
“What do you mean you’re not? I’m not embarrassed at all.”
When Tae-heun openly scolded him, the man scratched his head and walked awkwardly to the kitchen.
He asked the right question.
Tae-heun could see the clear bite marks on the man’s neck. He didn’t want to tell him right now. He felt sulky. He hoped that the child or anyone would notice before the man did and went into the bathroom.
The man in the mirror had red eyes and nose. He looked just like a drunken mess.
“Still, damn, he’s pretty. Damn it.”
How could he refuse with this face in front of him?
Tae-heun vented his frustration and washed his face with cold water. Whether he was impotent or just had bad luck. He cursed the man inwardly.
When he went to the dining table, the child was already seated and waiting. As soon as Tae-heun sat down, the child stared at him.
“Uncle, did you cry?”
“No, I caught a cold.”
“A cold? Why? You were fine yesterday.”
“I have sleepwalking, so I was wandering outside while sleeping at dawn.”
“That’s a lie.”
“I’m serious. Can you see my feet? I hurt them walking barefoot.”
Tae-heun stuck out his injured foot outside the table for the child to see. The man looked at Tae-heun with a somewhat pitiful expression.
“Wow, it’s real?”
“Of course it is.”
“If you have sleepwalking, you wouldn’t remember, right?”
“Of course not.”
“Then how did you come back?”
“Ask your dad about that. He’s my lifesaver.”
At Tae-heun’s words, the child immediately looked at the man.
The man, who was about to scoop some soup with a spoon, let out a faint sigh and glanced at Tae-heun. It was a look that was quite different from a glare, a bit sulky. It was a look Tae-heun had never seen on the man before. Tae-heun stared at the man’s face as if he wanted to memorize it.
“Dad!”
The child urged for an answer.
“Let’s eat. Uncle isn’t sleepwalking.”
“Come on, don’t ruin it. What’s the harm in playing along a bit?”
Tae-heun grumbled.
“Just eat your rice.”
The man said gruffly.
The child, not understanding what was going on, looked back and forth between Tae-heun and the man. Tae-heun winked at the child, signaling him to eat quickly. The child smiled brightly.
The beef soup was delicious enough to bring tears to his eyes. There was no bitterness from the summer radish at all. Even though it wasn’t in season, the radish was sweet, and the beef was tender. Perhaps because the man said he made it for him, it tasted especially good. He devoured two bowls of soup and rice, just like the child. It was surprising that even while wanting to die from a breakup, he could still have such an appetite.
Tae-heun didn’t want to curl up in the corner of the room. Being alone felt too lonely. It was even more so since he had gotten to know the man and the child.
He climbed into the truck with the two who had finished getting ready to leave. He ignored the man’s insistence that he stay home and stubbornly followed him.
“Then at least rest at the youth association office. If the wound gets wet, it’ll get worse.”
“I’m fine. I can’t rest. I feel like I’ll die if I do.”
Tae-heun insisted.
At his words of desperation, the man could no longer stop him.