Cold (2)
Cold (2)
"Noona, I'm sorry but can I have some water..."
"Just a moment!"
After setting the porridge down on the table, A-ra dashed outside
and handed me a cold bottle of Poccari she'd just taken out of the fridge.
Jeong-hwan must have bought it and put it in there earlier.
"I saw it in the fridge earlier. Did someone stop by?"
"Jeong-hwan gave me a ride home."
"I'll have to thank him separately later. Say ah~"
I kept accepting the spoonfuls of porridge A-ra offered me.
And once I had eaten a certain amount, there was nothing left in the bowl.
Seeing that, A-ra gently stroked my head again.
"That's it. Our Seong-hwan ate every last bite."
"Yes, Mom."
A-ra had started teasing me, so I teased her right back.
Truthfully, about half the reason I said it
was because I wanted to hear A-ra call me 'Daddy' just once.
"Seo... Seong-hwan-a... do you know how cute you are?"
"I don't know, Mom."
"Grrrrr..."
It seemed my aegyo had worked.
A-ra, looking like she might die of happiness, buried her face in the bed,
let out a small yell, and then hugged me tight.
"This must be why all the mothers in this world can keep going."
"What kind of feeling is it?"
"How should I put it... like a responsibility that only ever felt heavy and burdensome suddenly feels a little lighter?"
"Noona..."
A-ra was always working hard, saying she'd provide for me and take responsibility,
holding back some of the things she wanted to do for herself.
In truth, even if A-ra quit being an idol entirely,
she wouldn't have any trouble making a living...
"That's cool..."
Perhaps because my face had flushed red again, A-ra placed her cold hand on my forehead.
I nuzzled my cheek against that hand, acting a little spoiled like a cat.
"Seong-hwan-a, how many hours did you sleep today?"
"W-Well..."
I couldn't bring myself to say I'd come home and watched medical documentaries.
That was because when I'd called A-ra to tell her I was leaving school early, she'd told me to take my medicine and get plenty of rest.
"Hmm... our Seong-hwan, even when you're sick, you want to see if you can pull one over on noona?"
"Hngh..."
A-ra placed her hand on my lower half.
The motion of her hand resting on that long, unbearably sensitive part of me
felt, for some reason, thoroughly mischievous.
"Seeing as you still have enough energy to watch TV or play on your phone even though you're sick,
maybe I need to pull one out of you so you'll sleep soundly?"
"I'll... I'll sleep quietly...!"
"If you were going to listen to noona, don't you think you would have done it already?"
Maybe it was because her hand movements grew firmer, but as she kept touching that unbearably sensitive area,
a pleasure that was hard to endure began to well up.
The tingling sensation reaching deep into my bones felt like it could become addictive.
No, I was already addicted to this pleasure.
If all my remaining strength was drained here, I would definitely end up conking out,
even though it was only 6 o'clock, so I struggled a little.
Because right now, going to sleep felt like too much of a waste of time.
"Ah-ah, what did we say noona's hands are?"
"Y... Yakson (Healing Hands)..."
"So you should stay still, right? Noona is just stroking your tummy because I'm worried about you."
After saying that, she slowed the pace of her firm stroking,
and began to trace slow, gentle circles clockwise.
"B...But... your hands are too cold..."
"This spot has a lot of heat, so it's fine."
"Hngh......"
Then, she began reaching her hand into even deeper places.
Though, by deeper places, I just meant around my waist and sides.
"Sniff sniff... Seong-hwan-a, you haven't washed yet?"
"I... only changed my clothes."
"Then I guess noona will have to wash you?"
"N-Noona, I really will sleep quietly..."
"Sorry, but Seong-hwan has already used up a full day's worth of trust."
A-ra, who had her hand inside my clothes,
pulled it back out.
And then, she began peeling off my clothes layer by layer
before sweeping me up in a 'princess carry' and lifting me.
"Looks delicious."
Seeing A-ra's face and expression as she licked her lips at the end,
I squeezed my eyes shut.
*
In the end, I was washed and came back out,
and was dressed piece by piece by A-ra, just like a little kid, then laid down on the bed.
If there was one thing different from before, it was that A-ra had taken my phone and the remote control with her.
She said she'd sleep in the other room today since I shouldn't be moved.
"But I can't fall asleep even though I'm trying."
The clock was still pointing at 8 o'clock, a bit early to sleep.
I wasn't the type who slept a lot in the first place, nor was I the type to fall asleep just because I was sick,
so forcing me to sleep wasn't really much help anyway...
"Now that I think about it..."
A few months before graduating high school, A-ra had gotten me a new phone,
so I remembered putting my old smartphone in a drawer.
Since I'd brought that drawer with me as-is when we moved, if I wasn't mistaken,
my old phone would be in this bottom drawer.
"Let's see..... there it is."
It was an old model smartphone that had been released a long time ago,
but it was more than enough for watching YouTube or browsing the web.
Since A-ra hadn't taken the charger,
I plugged it in and charged it just until it could power on, then turned it on.
- Ding ding ding ding ding ding
I covered the speaker with my finger to muffle the notification sound that suddenly rang out.
Since I hadn't reset it, all the push notifications that had piled up since last year were flooding in at once.
And, as expected, A-ra had sharp ears; she opened the master bedroom door to track down the source of the alarm sound.
"Where is... that notification sound... he's asleep."
Just before A-ra opened the door and came in, I had pulled the blanket all the way over my head
and begun making breathing sounds.
Since I didn't know whether I snored or not, I just made appropriate breathing sounds, and given that A-ra let it pass,
it seemed I didn't grind my teeth or snore when I slept.
"Seong-hwan-a? Are you asleep?"
"Mnyaa...."
"Why is my husband so cute..."
A-ra smiled brightly and sat down on the chair placed beside the bed.
Then, she pulled the blanket down just enough to see my face
and began poking my cheek repeatedly.
"If I don't do this, it doesn't feel like I've finished my day."
It seemed A-ra watched me sleep and poked my cheek every single night.
Considering that, A-ra often went to sleep later than me,
so how was that possible?
"Alright then, noona will be off now. Sweet dreams."
A-ra leaned her face in and kissed my cheek.
No, she was about to.
Midway, perhaps remembering that I was lying down sleeping because of a cold,
she smiled bitterly, stroked my cheek, and stepped toward the door one step at a time.
And then.... before A-ra left.
The spare phone I had stuffed under the bed let out a loud notification sound.
- Ding......
"......."
"......."
A-ra's expression, which had been smiling bitterly,
rapidly turned cold, and she flipped up the blanket covering me.
And, the first thing that entered her eyes
was the sight of her husband clutching the spare phone tightly.
"Seong-hwan-a? What's going on here?"
"N-Noona, you see... I was so bored..."
"Haah... I thought if I pulled one out you'd sleep quietly..."
A-ra let out a sigh and walked up onto the bed slightly on her knees.
And then, she reached her hand toward my waist...
and pulled down both my pants and underwear in one go!
"Guess I'll have to do it one more time?"
"Y-You're joking, right? If we do it one more time... it'll sting, not just be sensitive..."
"Then you should have listened to noona and quietly fallen asleep."
And then, A-ra walked toward the door
and turned off the soft orange lamp that had been dimly lighting the room.
That... was my last memory of that day.
***
I greeted a clear and refreshing morning, a complete 180 from yesterday morning.
My head, which had been boiling like lava, was now lukewarm like a calm lake,
and my body, which had ached as if it might tear apart at any moment, felt light and soft.
I came out of the master bedroom and entered the room where I sensed a presence,
only to find A-ra fast asleep.
She looked as if she wouldn't notice if someone kidnapped her, she was sleeping so soundly,
but this was my wife, who would open her eyes the moment you just approached her side.
I felt both grateful and sorry that she had taken care of me all day yesterday,
so I decided to use the cheat key I possessed.
I took my phone from the table placed in the corner, stepped outside,
and called Jeong-hwan.
"Jeong-hwan-a. You awake?"
- No, I woke up a while ago and sat down at the computer.
"I'm thinking of using the cheat key today. Can you take an order?"
- Of course. How should I set it up?
"Two of them, 8kg each. All cleaned and prepped."
- Must be nice being rich; you're going all out.
"That's because A-ra eats a lot."
I finished placing the order I had previously asked Lee Min-ho about.
He said he'd pack in a ton of freebies too, so even I was starting to look forward to it a little.
A-ra would like it too, right?
*
"Wha... What is all this?"
"How is it? I called Jeong-hwan this morning and asked him to get these for me."
A-ra, who had come out after playing a racing game,
looked at the dining table and was greatly surprised.
That was because two 8kg king crabs, caught and brought in this morning,
were completely filling up our kitchen island table.
On top of that, there was the enormous amount of sliced raw fish and spicy fish stew we'd received as a complimentary service.
It was an amount that made me wonder once again whether the two of us could possibly finish it all.
"Noona, you didn't even eat dinner yesterday because you were taking care of me, right?
So I felt really sorry."
"Seo... Seong-hwan-a..."
A-ra looked at me with eyes that seemed even more glistening than usual
and pressed her lips to mine.
As expected, A-ra seemed moved by the unexpected feast.
"Chu-up...... smack...... puh-ha... I feel like I'm going to fill up on noona's saliva at this rate."
"I-is it that much?"
"First, hurry and sit down."
I calmed A-ra, who was starting to feel around my lower body,
and had her sit in a chair.
Then, I turned on the heat under the spicy fish stew and tore off a steaming-hot king crab leg
and held it out to A-ra.
"Eat a lot."
A-ra, who nodded her head emphatically at my single sentence,
accepted the king crab.