Out of frustration, I turned over to the other side and lightly pushed Eun-young’s short, chubby legs, which were on my stomach, with my hand.
Then, I was wondering if I should get up and have a drink to forget what happened today and just sleep.
‘… uh?’
As I inadvertently turned my gaze to him, I noticed this unknown figure standing tall in the corner of the room.
‘Did I see something wrong?’
I closed my stiff eyelids several times.
But there was no change in what my eyes were seeing. In the dark corner of the room, where even the moonlight didn’t shine, there was this ghost-like figure with jet black hair.
“…!”
They say that when people get so surprised, they cannot even make sounds. It was exactly as I said.
I felt my heart clenching, and I couldn’t even scream, gasping for air.
As if the sound was annoying, something that was leaning on the wall with eyes closed slowly lifted the eyelids.
And then…
“What?”
‘… Uh?’
Contrary to the expectations that there might be some haunting voice, the voice I heard felt so familiar.
‘Ah, for real.’
Needless to say, my mouth hurt. This time, it was Ja-hyun again.
I opened my eyes and looked at the other person’s face and let out this sigh with mixed feelings. I couldn’t hold back my anger, so I jumped up and sat down on the edge of the bed.
I could hear the whining of Eun-young from behind because she must have felt me moving, but that wasn’t important now.
‘Y-you…!’
When I pointed in anxiousness, Ja-hyun took a step from the corner and showed his face.
I quickly withdrew my hand as if I never pointed at him.
“Y-you cannot let me be sane!”
“Keep talking.”
The look in his eyes was too cold for me to continue talking.
“Y-you really… Why are you doing this to…”
Out of sorry, I buried my face in my palms and cried.
Yeah, I won't be able to accomplish anything else if this keeps up.
Because of Ja-hyun, I thought I would have a heart attack before I could pass away like the original Eun-ri does.
For a while after that, I sat on the bed and shook off my shocked heart.
In the end, I started having hiccups, so I had no choice but to find water in the kettle and drink it instead of alcohol.
When I calmed down to an extent, I put the kettle down and rubbed the wet lips with the back of my hand.
While I was doing that, Ja-hyun sat on the chair by the door and watched me.
‘Why is he looking at me like that?’
I put my doubts aside and began by saying, ‘So.’
“What brings you here in the middle of the night? No, since when did you start doing this? I have been awake since a while back, but I didn’t even know you came in.”
“…”
“Besides, how can you step into someone else’s room? At least knock on the door, okay? You should show some presence when coming in. I almost died because of you.”
I was afraid of Eun-young waking up, so I urged Ja-hyun with a hushed voice.
At first glance, my dark, adapted eyes saw a sneer hanging from the corners of his lips.
“You were awake? That is strange. When I came into the room, you were asleep and snoring.”
“What?”
“I clearly was startled awake by the sound of your snoring. You were the one who didn’t notice because you were sleeping, but you are blaming your carelessness on the person who worked for you.”
The sarcastic tone made me raise my voice without realizing.
‘What carelessness! You were the one who snuck in at night; can you please stop blaming others, and I don’t snore!’
“You snore a lot.”
“Is that true? In my 20 years of life, I have never heard anyone say I snore. Then why would I snore suddenly?”
Contrary to my thoughts that he might respond to my words, Ja-hyun sat down deeply on the back of the chair and rested himself like he didn’t care.
“Fine, if you want to believe that, do so.”
“….”
I, who was prepared for a full battle, could only let out a laugh.
And soon I said, ‘Wait a minute’.
“Now that I think about it, it isn’t important whether I snore or not. Right?”
“…”
“Why were you doing that in the corner of the room? Didn’t you have something to say if you came here?”
“Something to say…”
“Yes. If not, why would you come here so late at night? Right? I am right!”
After a short silence, Ja-hyun opened his mouth.
“There is no such thing.”
“What? Then why did you come here?”
“….”
My question about his purpose gave me silence.
“Right, Ju Eun-ri, you told me to clean up that room and come home.”
Uh? I said it? I couldn’t remember it though.
“I did?”
“You did.”
Ja-hyun, who said it, continued.
“I cannot believe that you forgot what you said with your own mouth, in less than a day. As expected, your drain is indeed dull. Wouldn’t it be worthy enough to call your brain a jewel now?”
“W-wait now.”
I didn’t respond to his sarcasm but instead lowered my head and placed my hand on the throbbing forehead.
Now, let us think about it. Did I say that to Ja-hyun today?
“The room you are staying in now… How about you clean up and come to my house? I will tidy up the room.”
Right, I did.
But that didn’t mean he had to come in today. Additionally, I didn’t mean for him to enter the room where Eun-young and I were staying.
I remember saying that I wanted to clean up the room that Eun-ri’s father used and bring Ja-hyun there, but before I could tell him that, Ju Cheol-rim had come and interrupted us.
After that, there was so much work to do, and the incident happened so quickly that I even forgot about the talk I had with Ja-hyun.
I thought Ja-hyun had forgotten too, but I guess he remembered and said nothing.
‘But so what?’
I am innocent!
I will admit that there might be a possibility of misunderstanding, but it isn’t something that wouldn’t be resolved if Ja-hyun had asked me to confirm if he could move into the house today or if I had to clean up before he came just before he vanished from the guesthouse.
So, concluding that I wasn’t at fault and it was Ja-hyun’s fault, I raised my bowing head and looked at him.
“So, who told you to come in this late? If you hadn’t disappeared earlier, I wouldn’t have done this. I meant for you to come in after I clean up the room across from here.”
“Right.”
He said, but his tone felt dull.
‘And even if you came into the house due to a misunderstanding, you should just go to the room across and sleep. Why would you come into a room with just women and cause a misunderstanding?’
“If it is the room across, you are saying I should have slept in that dust out there?”
“That…”
Right, I got convinced.
I know this because I spent a night there myself, but unlike what you can see with your eyes, the eyes entering your lungs was no joke.
No, but when I think about it, it is ridiculous. This guy, who must have been living in a cave till now, is now having a place to sleep better than the cave.
‘This is funny, for sure. He isn’t a young lord who grew up in a well built-home.’
It seems like I have been treating Ja-hyun too well in the past few days. Starting with his mouth to his preference of sleeping, he had turned so picky.
And this was what I hoped for too.
‘Just wait and see. I will do better in the future. I will make you into a person who won't be able to survive a single day outside here!’
With a firm resolve, I nodded slowly.
“Hmm… alright.”
Even now I could have told Ja-hyun to go back to the guest house he was using or to go sleep in the hallway across from the kitchen if he didn’t like dust, but I didn’t.
I knew how great of a person Ja-hyun was, but this was late night, and he was much younger than me, and I wasn’t someone bad enough to kick him out.
“I am letting you sleep here, only for today. Get it?”
Ja-hyun didn’t say anything, but I knew that if he didn’t jump out of the chair, he would have agreed to what I said.
I took a blanket out of the closet and laid it out on the ground. I couldn’t give out more blankets because they were in the storage, but I believed he would understand since it was summer.
Lastly, I took out a wooden pillow and placed it on the bedside. Perfect.
“Right, that is it.”
“…”
“For now, sleep here. I will clean it tomorrow right away.”
“Right away?”
“No, but well, the room across from us will get cleaned soon. Okay? Sleep now.”
Hmm. Without even thinking about covering my body, I climbed into the bed, yawning.
As I lay down and looked at the side, I saw that Ha-hyun was still on the chair with his legs crossed instead of coming to lay down.
“What are you doing? Will you not sleep?”
“…”
“Is that why you never grow tall?”
“I guess you don’t have to care about it.”
“Ah, right. Then you can live with that height forever.”
“Didn’t I say it wasn’t your business?”
I frowned at his answer.
‘No, way, is this guy…’
Seeing that he only reacted about his height, I wonder if he was secretly concerned about his height.
Well, if he insists that he is 20 years old, then his height is short for that.
‘He is cute; at times like this, I look back at my age.’
I barely suppressed the laugh that was escaping my lips.
“Then I will sleep first. You too, head to sleep quickly.”
As I moved, I turned over and laid down with my back to him, meaning I wouldn’t talk to him any longer.
I couldn’t feel him coming down, but I thought he would sleep when he wished, so I just closed my eyes and tried to sleep.
The reason why I kept yawning from earlier was because I thought that this was a perfect change to get a nice sleep.
‘Umm…’
But
‘I couldn’t sleep.’
It seemed like it was purely my imagination. What golden chance?
‘Ah, I am losing it here.’
No matter how many times I close my eyes, I can't get a good night’s sleep at all. I seem to be staying up all night like this.
Aside from the fact that there is so much work piled up for tomorrow, I laid still with my head in bed, and Jong Myung’s creepy smile stayed in my mind, so I decided I couldn’t be wasting time.
‘Even if it means to drink alcohol.’
I was just about to get up from the bed.
“You told me to go to sleep, but you are the one who makes it impossible.”
The calm, drowsy voice echoed gently in a room where only breathing sound could be heard.