“You said you liked this too. Why ask when you already knew?”
“Oh, yes—drink up. Driiink up.”
“What do you mean, ‘drink up’? Watch your mouth.”
It’s not my mouth that’s foul—it’s the text you sent, you know?
After Yu-bin stayed for a while and left, Seo Yeon-woo fell into another fit of anxiety. Her phone was still silent, and she had no idea what to do about the situation. Now she really felt like everything was over. Unable to sit still, she paced restlessly around the hospital room until the place seemed to spin. Time passed helplessly, and eventually Yeon-woo crouched down with a blank expression, biting at her innocent fingernails.
Knock, knock—
How much time had passed? Someone knocked on the hospital-room door. Thinking it was a doctor or nurse, Yeon-woo remained lost in thought, staring out the window.
‘Hey, human.’
‘Hey, Seo Yeon-woo!’
She heard someone call her name. It was Han-gyeol. Snapped back to reality by his shout, Yeon-woo turned her gaze toward him. Han-gyeol had a straw between his lips and gave her a little nod. Following the direction of his nod, she shifted her gaze and saw Seo-won standing there. Startled, Yeon-woo hurriedly got to her feet. She nearly fell, but managed to regain her balance at the last second and, thankfully, preserve what little dignity she had left.
“Is it okay if I come in?”
“Ah, yes! Of course.”
She had naturally assumed Seo-won wouldn’t come, but he had actually shown up. The first emotion Yeon-woo felt at this unexpected turn of events was relief. Even after reading a text so absurd it was practically unbelievable, he had really come to see her. She was grateful.
“Oh, this. I didn’t know what you liked, so I picked something safe.”
Seo-won handed Yeon-woo the fruit basket in his hands. She reached for the handle, and their hands lightly brushed. Seo-won didn’t seem to think anything of it, but Yeon-woo was in complete turmoil on her own. Her face grew hot, her heart pounded, and her hand trembled.
“You really didn’t have to bring this... You could’ve just come.”
“Still, it’s a hospital visit. It felt a little wrong to come empty-handed.”
“Ah, thank you.”
The two of them sat facing each other at the table in the hospital room. Everything had gone well up through the greetings, but the silence that followed made the atmosphere painfully awkward. Yeon-woo especially had no idea what to do and couldn’t even look Seo-won in the eye. Her behavior left Seo-won puzzled. It was the complete opposite of how she had acted in her texts, and he couldn’t figure out which version of Yeon-woo was the real one.
“You said you wanted to see me, so I came, but you won’t even look at me.”
Cough, cough. A cough burst from Yeon-woo’s mouth in her panic. The embarrassment rising from deep inside turned not only her face but even her ears bright red. She repeatedly fanned herself with her hand to cool the heat flooding her face, but it refused to fade. Seo-won watched her and laughed.
“Yeon-woo, you weren’t drunk yesterday, were you?”
“N-no!!”
Her sudden shriek made Seo-won flinch. Seeing his expression, Yeon-woo realized she had overreacted and felt even more embarrassed. She wanted to run away from the room.
“As you can see, I’m a patient, so I can’t drink. Ha-ha.”
“You’re a really funny person, Yeon-woo.”
“Me?”
“Yeah.”
“W-why...?”
“Yesterday and today, you act incredibly awkward in person, but then you send such lively texts. At first, I was a little scared because I couldn’t tell which side of you was real. But now that we’re together and I keep finding myself smiling, I think it’s kind of fun.”
Yeon-woo stared at Seo-won with wide, round eyes. She was slightly unsure whether he was simply kind or just unusual. The moment she saw the text Han-gyeol had sent in her place, she had thought he was insane. The fact that Seo-won considered that text lively suggested he wasn’t exactly ordinary himself.
“You’re not, like, suffering from split personality disorder or anything, are you?”
“Uh...?”
“Ah, I’m kidding. Sorry—that joke was pretty lame, wasn’t it? I’m kind of like that. Ha-ha.”
The silly joke, followed by his immediate apology at her bewildered reaction, made Yeon-woo let out a little laugh.
“Oh—you smiled!”
“What?”
“You just smiled. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you smile before.”
Had she not? Come to think of it, after narrowly escaping death, she hadn’t exactly been in a lot of situations worth smiling about. She had probably spent most of her time looking troubled. Seo-won smiled even more brightly at her, delighted that she had smiled, and Yeon-woo’s heart reacted. His smile seemed to brighten the space around him with its warmth. It tickled. What was this feeling?
“You have a beautiful smile.”
“M-me?”
“Yeah. It’s pretty. You should smile more often.”
I’m going to lose my mind. Those were the only words Yeon-woo could think of. She was truly about to go crazy. Her heart, which had been fluttering, began pounding as if it had malfunctioned. How could he say things like that with a face like his, as if it were nothing? Seo-won was definitely guilty of something.
“Oh, right. I was going to greet you like this when I saw you today, but I forgot.”
“What?”
“Hello, I’m Seo-won.”
‘Pfft—hahahaha!’
Han-gyeol, who had been watching the two of them from the side, burst out laughing so hard that he sprayed banana milk everywhere. The moment Yeon-woo heard Seo-won’s words, she covered her face with both hands. She was so embarrassed she could have died. If there had been a mouse hole, she would have hidden in it immediately.
“What’s wrong? Are you embarrassed?”
Yeon-woo parted her fingers slightly and peeked at Seo-won through the gap. But Seo-won’s face was brimming with mischief, so she had no choice but to cover her eyes again.
‘God, I really want to die.’
“Yeon-woo.”
At Seo-won’s call, Yeon-woo slowly lowered the hands covering her face. She shot a glare at Han-gyeol, who was still clutching his stomach and cackling, then cautiously looked at Seo-won.
“I should get going. I have to go to work.”
“Ah... okay.”
She hadn’t thought they’d been together for very long, but when she checked the time, quite a while had passed. Yeon-woo felt a little disappointed, but there was nothing she could do.
“Yeon-woo, what are you doing tomorrow? If you’re free, would you like to have lunch with me?”
The unexpected question left Yeon-woo dazed. He was saying he would come back tomorrow. She had been worrying about what excuse she could use to see Seo-won again after they parted today, so hearing him offer to come first was better than she could have hoped for.
“Uh—I have to come here tomorrow anyway. If that would make you uncomfortable...”
“No, no! Not at all! Let’s have lunch together!”
Seo-won didn’t actually have any reason to come to the hospital tomorrow. He had business nearby and thought it would be nice to have a meal with Yeon-woo while he was in the area. He didn’t know exactly why himself. He simply found Yeon-woo interesting, and since he had to eat anyway, having someone to eat with sounded nice.
“What do you like?”
“I eat pretty much anything!”
“Got it. See you tomorrow, then.”
“Okay. Get home safely.”
Seo-won turned and left the hospital room with a warm smile to the very end. Yeon-woo waited until the door had completely closed. The instant Seo-won disappeared from view, she began stamping her feet and acting completely hysterical.
“Reaper! You heard that too, right? He’s coming tomorrow! He said he was coming back tomorrow!”
“Tch.”
“Wait, this isn’t the time for that. I should put something on my face or something. Reaper, do you have any makeup?”
“Do I look like I would?”
“Then how is your face so white when you don’t put anything on it?”
“Are you making fun of me? This isn’t white. It’s pale.”
“It’s okay. It suits you. It suits you.”
“You’re definitely not normal.”
Yeon-woo seemed to be babbling without even knowing what she was saying. Han-gyeol shook his head and walked over to the refrigerator. When he took out a bottle of banana milk, Yeon-woo had somehow come up beside him and wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug. Completely flustered, Han-gyeol dropped the banana milk in his hand. Ever since becoming a reaper, Yeon-woo was the first human to touch his body. He stood frozen, blinking silently.
“Thanks, Reaper! This is all thanks to you. Do you need more banana milk?! Should I buy you more?!”
“W-will you get off me already?!”
Even after he shouted, Yeon-woo showed no sign of letting go. Han-gyeol deliberately tapped the arm she had injured, but Yeon-woo didn’t seem to feel any pain. Instead, she grinned foolishly and stretched both of Han-gyeol’s cheeks. Thoroughly enraged, Han-gyeol lunged at her as if he meant to kill her, but Yeon-woo dodged and ran around the room, smiling from ear to ear the entire time.