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Jakyung's eyes narrowed in concentration. She had applied shaving cream to Ilhyeon's face to shave his beard, but having never used a razor before, her hands trembled. Seeing this, Ilhyeon laughed.
"You don't hesitate when killing people, so why are you shaking like that?"
Honestly, killing people seemed easier.
"Don't talk. Be quiet."
Focusing, she shaved his chin beard with a scratching sound. She had never felt that facial hair looked good in her life. Jakyung didn't grow much facial hair, so shaving was something she did only occasionally, whereas Wanghan and Wangryun would become scruffy after just a day.
But Gang Ilhyeon actually suited his beard. Should she say it made him look a bit more decadent? She wanted to let him keep it, but since he was already in pain, she didn't want him looking even more pained, so she decided to shave it off.
As she stared intently at his cheek while concentrating, a knock-knock sound was heard. Looking back, their meal had arrived. After finishing the shave, she wiped his face with a towel soaked in warm water. While lying in the hospital bed, he had lost weight, making his already sharp features even more severe.
After roughly tidying up, she set up the table on the bed and handed him porridge. She was told he could only eat porridge for a while, so there was nothing but white porridge. She placed the spoon for him, but Gang Ilhyeon only stared blankly. Even when she poured water, telling him to hurry and eat, he didn't think about picking up the spoon.
Ilhyeon asked with a pitiful expression.
"Aren't you going to feed me?"
Jakyung looked at him in disbelief. His left hand was one thing due to the fracture, but his right hand was relatively fine. He'd been like this for several days now. Today, she firmly pointed at his right hand with her eyes. Then he lifted his chin and answered proudly.
"I'm left-handed."
Since when? She remembered him using his right hand when picking up spoons, holding pens, and even when grabbing and shaking his dick! Without even asking where he got the audacity, he pushed the table forward like a sulking child and lay back down on the bed.
Jakyung stared in disbelief. Did he get shot in the head or something? She wanted to shout asking why he was throwing such an uncharacteristic tantrum, but held back. Jakyung sat on the bed and sighed, pushing the table toward him.
"Alright. I'll feed you."
Ilhyeon casually sat up. Through the gap in his patient gown, white bandages were visible. The wound was healing quickly, but she was told he'd need to stay in the hospital for a while longer. She scooped some porridge with the spoon, gently blew on it, and held it out.
"Ah."
When he opened his mouth, she pushed the spoon inside. When porridge got on the corner of his mouth, he licked it strangely while staring fixedly at her. Ah, he wants to eat something else too. Jakyung pretended not to hear and scooped another spoonful of porridge. He stared so intensely that she couldn't tell if he was chewing the food in his mouth or chewing her face.
Seeing a mischievous smile spread across his lips, Jakyung sighed.
"Seriously, what is this..."
Though she grumbled, the sight was funny so she ended up laughing along. In the end, she fed him all the porridge, and after he finished, she even helped him brush his teeth and wash his face. Then she kissed his lips as a reward. Being in the hospital room, time passed quickly.
In the afternoon, Park Taesu came. He smiled so broadly that the corners of his mouth rose on the first day Ilhyeon regained consciousness. It was the most joyful expression she had seen of him so far. While he personally visited once a day to receive work reports, Jakyung waited outside for him to come out.
As she sat there, staff members she recognized passed by and greeted her. According to what she heard, Gang Ilhyeon had postponed Chairman Gang's funeral because he was still bedridden. The company executives' atmosphere had also decided to go in that direction.
And Gang Ilhyeon was told that he would have to appear before the prosecution for investigation as soon as he recovered, to investigate the truth. Public opinion was dominated by the view that there was no need to summon someone who nearly died all the way to the prosecutor's office for questioning, and that it was too harsh for someone who must be grieving the loss of his father.
After Park Taesu left, Jakyung entered the hospital room. Outside the window, the sun was already beginning to set.
"Wait for Taesu downstairs. Go home today."
At the unexpected words, Jakyung's brow furrowed.
"Why...?"
"You can't keep sleeping here. Your leg isn't healed yet either."
Jakyung pointed to the guardian's bed. She was told it was better than ordinary beds, yet Gang Ilhyeon insisted on pushing her to go home and sleep. It felt like she was being chased out, so she was secretly upset. Her feet wouldn't move easily, so she kept sitting there pretending not to hear.
When she persisted in her stubbornness, he gave up and contacted Taesu to tell her to go back first today. Only then did Jakyung's face brighten.
"Then can we sleep together just for today?"
Ilhyeon patted his bed. It wasn't wide, but it wasn't so small that two people couldn't sleep. But she was worried about accidentally touching his wound in her sleep. When she hesitated, he moved his body a bit more to the side. Space was created, and Jakyung climbed onto it. Then she carefully placed her arm on Gang Ilhyeon's chest.
"Does it hurt?"
"No."
"Then is it okay to sleep like this with my arm on you?"
"You're welcome. You can even climb on top and ride."
Understanding the implication belatedly, she frowned.
"Is that all you have in your head?"
"Try having a lover like you. See if you can help it."
He reached out his right hand and gently stroked Jakyung's hair. After touching her hair, his hand went down the back of her neck and touched her back. Pat, pat, his large hand patted her back. Jakyung felt her eyelids growing heavier.
"You know, Representative Gang..."
She called him with a voice tinged with sleep.
"Yeah."
Jakyung hesitated. Still, she thought talking about it would put her mind at ease.
"I'm sorry..."
"About what?"
"Your father..."
She stopped there. He came to the hospital and died, but ultimately it was the same as Jakyung killing him.
"He died because he did something that deserved death, not because of you. Don't think like that."
The hand that had been patting her back slipped inside her shirt and caressed her bare skin. Jakyung's body flinched and stiffened. Ilhyeon buried his face in the nape of Jakyung's neck and took a deep breath. Strength entered the hand stroking her body. To suppress the fiercely burning lust, Ilhyeon thought of the dead Chairman Gang.
Actually, Chairman Gang dying made everything easier. If he felt relieved, would he be a terrible person? On the other hand, regarding the part where Lee Jakyung felt guilt, he had somewhat pretended not to know. If that could bind him, he would use even those feelings. So he could never leave.
He suppressed it with effort, fearing that if his true feelings were revealed, it would make him shudder. Making eye contact and hiding his desire, he disguised himself as a good person and smiled.
"Stop talking and sleep. You look sleepy."
Jakyung, who had been forcing her eyes open, couldn't hold back any longer and nodded. Worried she might touch his wound in her sleep, she turned over and lay facing the outside of the bed. Gang Ilhyeon's breath touched the back of her neck, and his lips touched and separated.
A low whispering voice was heard.
That he liked her a lot. That he had come to love her.
Even in her sleep-addled state, those words reached her clearly.
***
Kang Yoojung, who was making morning rounds, stopped by Gang Ilhyeon's hospital room and was at a loss for words. The nurses beside her also looked flustered. After sending them out, when she approached, Gang Ilhyeon opened his eyes and looked at her. Next to his body, Lee Jakyung was sleeping clinging tightly like a silkworm curled up.
Seeing Lee Jakyung's hand tightly gripping Gang Ilhyeon's patient gown, she was at a loss for words.
Gang Ilhyeon whispered for her to leave.
"Come back later. He's still sleeping."
Seeing him lower his voice as much as possible lest he wake him, Yoojung shook her head and clicked her tongue. At first, she was surprised that it wasn't Jang Ian, and next, she was surprised that he had tried to kill Gang Ilhyeon. What was even more absurd was the fact that knowing all that, he had accepted him.
Furthermore, he had earnestly instructed her never to show it. In short, it meant not to make Lee Jakyung uncomfortable. She must be really into him, she worried but also felt relieved that although it was a man, he was now living doing what everyone else does.
She thought he'd spend his whole life cutting off people's fingers.
But actually seeing it with her eyes, she couldn't adapt at all.
"Leave, quickly."
When Lee Jakyung twitched and moved, Ilhyeon frowned. Yoojung sighed and went out, and the hospital room became quiet. Ilhyeon looked at Lee Jakyung who was sleeping like a log next to him. Every time he saw the curled-up sleeping figure, his heart ached.
He pulled the blanket up to cover his shoulders. He had heard from Kang Yoojung. That during the ten days he was unconscious, Lee Jakyung had sat guarding in front of the intensive care unit every day. He wouldn't listen when told to stop, and sat like a waiting stone in front of it with a soulless face, waiting only for him to wake up.
Perhaps due to the sunlight pouring in from outside the window, his closed eyelids trembled and rose, revealing brown eyes. The dazed face just waking from sleep was lovely. If he had died, he wouldn't have been able to see this face either, and would have been so aggrieved he wouldn't have known what to do.
"Hi. Did you sleep well?"
Lee Jakyung carefully burrowed into Ilhyeon's arms as he smiled handsomely. Just 30 minutes. I'll sleep just 30 more minutes. His mumbling voice was full of sleep. Ilhyeon leaned his body as much as possible toward where Jakyung was. When he brushed aside his soft hair, he burrowed in deeper as if he had been waiting.
The wild cat had now become a perfect house cat.