Chapter 47
Chapter 47
“You were really surprised earlier, weren’t you? Even shed a few tears.”
Jae-gyu, of all people, was comforting Bom. His own arm was practically in tatters, yet he was worried about her.
Upset, Bom changed the subject.
“But can we really take someone else’s truck?”
“It’s mine.”
“Huh?”
So he had another car. The pickup-style Jeep was a deep dove-gray. For some reason, it looked familiar. Bom silently followed Jae-gyu and climbed into the truck.
“Let’s go, quickly.”
Time was of the essence, but Jae-gyu just sat there, lost in thought, without even starting the car. Bom was on pins and needles.
“Jae-gyu, quickly—”
“Bom.”
Jae-gyu, who hadn’t buckled his seatbelt yet, suddenly turned his body. Their faces were close.
“This.”
His thumb gently pressed against Bom’s eye. The lingering tears were wiped away.
“You cried because of me, didn’t you?”
“That’s not what’s important right now—”
“It is important.”
Ugh, why is he like this? Bom inwardly stamped her feet in frustration. She needed to treat his burn, which looked painful just to see, but Jae-gyu was talking about something else entirely.
“Why did you cry?”
Jae-gyu still showed no sign of moving. Bom anxiously blurted out,
“You’re right. I don’t know why I cried, but seeing you hurt just made my heart ache, so…”
Jae-gyu’s eyes wavered. His large hand cupped Bom’s face. Bom closed her eyes without realizing it.
“Mmm… haa.”
She didn’t know how she’d read the look in Jae-gyu’s eyes before he kissed her. Bom parted her lips, searching for the warm membrane.
“Jae-gyu… mmm.”
Soft, moist tongues tangled, beginning to make wet, squelching sounds. It was a different sensation than hearing it in bed. It was also strange to feel bright light even with her eyes closed.
What would Jae-gyu’s expression be like, kissing her under such bright light? Bom cautiously opened her eyes. Sure enough, Jae-gyu had been looking down with his eyes open, and their gazes met.
Bathed in light, Jae-gyu’s eyes, seen up close, were brown. His light brown skin was so smooth that not a single pore was visible.
The fact that such a handsome face had almost been burned made Bom tremble anew. Jae-gyu pulled his lips back slightly and whispered in a deep voice,
“Didn’t you miss me? Ha, you avoided all my calls too.”
“That’s…”
“Good thing I came all this way because I missed you.”
Chop, chop. Their lips met and parted a few more times. Oh no. The words ‘I missed you’ made her body tingle. If things continued like this, she’d…
‘This can’t happen.’
Bom barely managed to compose herself and calm her racing heart.
“Let’s go, to the hospital first. Quickly.”
At her firm words, Jae-gyu licked his lips regretfully and buckled his seatbelt.
“I told you I’m fine.”
“Quickly! Don’t delay any longer.”
At Bom’s urging, the car immediately set off. Bom’s eyes darted busily, checking the window, then Jae-gyu’s injury, then back again.
“I should have cooled it with cold water first. Why didn’t I think of that?”
“We’ll be there soon, so calm down.”
“I was just so surprised earlier…”
“It wasn’t as hot as I thought. Just take a left at that intersection, and we’re right there.”
Hearing they were almost there, some of the tension eased. Bom leaned back against the car seat. Only now did the car’s interior register.
It was, as expected, a neatly cleaned car. Though it wasn’t the car she usually rode in, the cool scent that always emanated from Jae-gyu’s car was the same. Below the rearview mirror hung a photo of him with Han-gyeol.
“I didn’t know you had another car.”
“Ah, well, today’s an event, so I came in this to help transport things if needed.”
While they were stopped at a light, Bom subtly asked something she’d been curious about.
“Have I ridden in this car before? It looks familiar.”
“Looks like you remember a little.”
“Huh?”
“We’ve met before.”
Bom’s eyes widened, and Jae-gyu, with a slight smile, began his story.
“It was last year.”
She had always thought her first meeting with Jae-gyu was in the staff room in January of this year. She couldn’t help but be surprised to hear they’d met even earlier.
When could they have met? There was no way she’d forget a man like Jae-gyu.
“During Han-gyeol’s entrance ceremony, you know that parking lot behind the building I was just talking on the phone in front of?”
“Yes, we met there?”
She didn’t have a car, so she had no reason to go to the parking lot… As Bom racked her brain, a memory flashed.
“Ah!”
Could it have been then? It was when Bom had just arrived here. It hadn’t been that long ago, but it felt like ages.
“You cried next to my truck.”
That’s right! Bom’s face flushed crimson. That was this man?
It was March 2nd of last year, the first day of school. When she’d first been dropped into this unfamiliar place, her heart tangled with anxiety, Bom had been incredibly startled by the hostile tone of the people she greeted nervously in the staff room.
She later realized it was a misunderstanding caused by her unfamiliarity with the local dialect, but at the time, she couldn’t bear the thought that she had become an outcast even here.
It was even worse when Teacher Hong Jeong-pyo, sitting next to her, spoke to her. Disguised as a joke, he pried into Bom’s personal circumstances.
[You wouldn’t have come down to this rural corner just to ‘heal.’ Teacher Bom, you caused trouble in Seoul, didn’t you? From the looks of it, it’s a man problem. Right? I’m a regular psychic.]
When he brought up ‘man problems,’ tears welled up. She was angry at his rudeness, and terrified by the fact that he wasn’t wrong.
Bom rushed out of the staff room and headed for the parking lot behind the main building. There, she hid beside a large parked truck and wiped away her tears. So, on that day…
“Looks like you remembered. Right?”
“A little.”
“You cried so hard then, Bom, this car practically became a flood victim.”
“…”
Bom, who had been crying without knowing there was someone inside the truck, instinctively took the tissues offered through the window that had quietly rolled down.
[Here. Something sweet is best when you’re crying.]
Along with the wad of tissues, there was also a large plum candy.
“Why did you run away then?”
“So that was you, Jae-gyu… I had no idea.”
Her flushed face showed no sign of cooling down. The memory of her sobbing loudly grew clearer and clearer.
“Please forget it.”
“How could I forget that day? Your sobbing kept coming to mind, so sometimes when I came to school, I’d carefully look for you, Bom.”
This was the first time she’d heard he’d been watching her, coming and going. Was it because she hadn’t paid attention to her surroundings? Last year, she’d always worn earphones and stared at the ground on her way home from work.
“You always looked so miserable, it bothered me the whole time.”
“And then…?”
“You know, the day I went to the staff room to get Teacher Hong.”
He was talking about the day he’d suddenly called her beautiful. The light changed, and the car smoothly turned left.
“That day, when you looked at me and smiled… I thought you were an angel. It was a strange feeling. You’d been miserable for a whole year, and then you smiled at me like that.”
Her chest tingled again. She still didn’t know much else, but it really did seem like she and Jae-gyu were fated. To think that the first person to show her kindness here was Jae-gyu…
“Angel, what angel? I thought you were a gangster, Jae-gyu.”
“What are you talking about, boss?”
“…I told you not to do that!”
While they talked about their strange connection, they arrived at the hospital. The two of them completed registration and went straight into the examination room without waiting.
“So, you were hit by tteok everywhere?”
“Not just tteok, sir. Hot, oil-soaked tteok-twigim splattered on him, sir. Please take a good look.”
The surgeon asked several times, as if he couldn’t understand, but Bom took it upon herself to act as his guardian and explained the situation again.
The examination itself was slow, but the treatment was swift and systematic. Thanks to this, Bom was gradually able to calm her excitement.
“It’s a First-Degree Burn.”
“Really? That’s a relief. I was worried because it splattered everywhere. Where, where did he get hurt?”
At Bom’s words, Jae-gyu listed the burned areas one by one. His neck, his lower back, his right forearm, and… He suddenly glanced down at his pants.
“Here too.”
“What? There? Oh no!”
Her voice had risen without her realizing it, and Bom hastily clapped both hands over her mouth.
“You seem noticeably worried.”
“…”
“The function is perfectly fine, apparently.”
What ‘function’ was he talking about? Whatever it was, it was a function Bom had no need for.
Fortunately, Jae-gyu’s nonsense didn’t last long. After the emergency treatment, other treatments followed.
After receiving a steroid shot, Jae-gyu was treated with a red regenerative laser. Curious, Jae-gyu asked three times if it really worked.
After applying burn ointment and getting dressed, Jae-gyu left the hospital with a refreshed expression.
“Let’s get dinner together before we go home, Bom. As a thank you.”
“You saved me, Jae-gyu, so I should be thanking you.”
“Alright, what should we eat? How about we go a bit further back, not just around here? Get in first.”
Just as they got into the car and were about to leave, Jae-gyu’s phone started vibrating in his pants pocket. It wasn’t just a quick buzz or two.
“Who is it?”
At the persistent vibration, Jae-gyu pulled his phone from his pants.
Bom glanced over from beside him and saw it was an unsaved number. Jae-gyu also tilted his head, as if he didn’t recognize it.
“Answer it.”
“Alright. Just a moment then.”
Jae-gyu answered the call, put it on speakerphone, and lowered his voice.
“Hello?”
-Uh, there. Is this Seon Jae-gyu’s phone?
The voice from the other end of the line sounded elderly. The man, who seemed at least in his sixties, asked anxiously.
-Is it? It is, right?
At these words, Jae-gyu’s expression crumpled. The elderly caller seemed to be someone Jae-gyu knew. Bom quietly listened in on the call.
“It is. Why?”
-Oh my, Jae-gyu!
Calling his name outright, the old man began to sob uncontrollably. Bom, utterly flustered, looked at Jae-gyu. Unexpectedly, Jae-gyu seemed a little angry.
“Your business. What is it?”