Love for Love’s Sake - Chapter 74

Chapter 74

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Cha Yeowoon was perplexed.

Tae Myeongha had taken the lead and was walking faster than usual. Cha Yeowoon thought he must want to quickly return to his grandmother’s hospital room. Considering how startled he was today, it was understandable.

What he didn’t understand was the current situation.

“Senior, why are we here…?”

The emergency stairs were dimly lit. It was reminiscent of the place where Cha Yeowoon and Tae Myeongha had awkwardly kissed. At the time, there was a reservoir outside with willow trees spreading their roots. Tae Myeongha had looked at Cha Yeowoon with difficulty and had repeatedly avoided his kisses.

Now, as Tae Myeongha stood in front of Cha Yeowoon, he seemed tired. Fatigue showed in his disheveled complexion.

However, his eyes were focused on Cha Yeowoon.

“Sen…”

The moment Cha Yeowoon, suppressing his unpleasant expectations, called out, Tae Myeongha steered him against the emergency door. The metal door made a hollow clang.

Their lips met without a moment for Cha Yeowoon to be shocked. He was astonished by the hastily pressed lips. He embraced Tae Myeongha. The stairs leading up and down looked inexplicably dangerous. He had a ridiculous worry that if he didn’t hold onto Tae Myeongha securely, he would stumble and fall.

They kissed longer than ever. Now, embracing Tae Myeongha’s body, overlapping their bodies, and tasting his mouth–all of it felt more familiar.

Tae Myeongha, who used to seem new and strange, had become natural. His voice, scent, and kisses were now part of his daily life.

After the hurried kissing, Tae Myeongha breathed heavily against Cha Yeowoon’s neck. As Cha Yeowoon swept Tae Myeongha’s back and looked at his complexion, Tae Myeongha bit his lips as if he had made a mistake.

The shell, which had always covered the deepest flesh, had peeled away, revealing its wounds. Right now, Tae Myeongha seemed closer than ever.

Tae Myeongha also seemed to know what Cha Yeowoon was feeling. The sound of rain seeped into the quiet emergency exit.

Cha Yeowoon questioned why this was happening.

Although he had tried to understand it as a result of Tae Myeongha’s grandmother’s collapse, it didn’t quite make sense. Tae Myeongha couldn’t seem to find comfort, despite the doctor’s repeated reassurance that it was normal for someone her age.

If Tae Myeongha was his usual self, he would have tried to reassure both his grandmother and Cha Yeowoon. There was something going on. Even if Cha Yeowoon asked, he wouldn’t tell him.

When Cha Yeowoon hugged Tae Myeongha so tightly that it was hard to move, static electricity seemed to spread along the muscles.

There was a deeper side to Tae Myeongha that he didn’t show, even when he would approach first and hold out his hand. It was an unknown that Cha Yeowoon couldn’t possibly guess. However, that too was entirely pleasing.

Age, gender, appearance, in fact, none of it mattered. They were fragments, particles. The composition was okay no matter what. What Cha Yeowoon loved was the existence formed when they came together.

Even if there was someone with the same face or spoke similarly, if it wasn’t Tae Myeongha, he wouldn’t have fallen so deeply.

“I love you.”

Tae Myeongha’s entire body tensed. Cha Yeowoon didn’t let go of Tae Myeongha, who faltered as if trying to retreat.

Cha Yeowoon knew it was a mistake. His confession just now seemed to have made Tae Myeongha cower. Despite knowing that, he didn’t say or do anything to rectify it.

He didn’t want to pretend like it was nothing. It wasn’t a heart that would disappear or become dull after rejection.

The shadows of raindrops on the glass window at night flowed down the stairs.

Tae Myeongha turned his head toward the window. The raindrops reflecting on his cheeks seemed like tears. Although Cha Yeowoon knew Tae Myeongha’s cheek would be dry, he wiped it.

“Regardless of what senior thinks, I love you.”

There was nothing else. No one else. No one had ever made Cha Yeowoon love like this.

For Tae Myeongha, he would do anything.

“Whatever you do to me…”

If this wasn’t love, then what was? Cha Yeowoon asked himself.

Tae Myeongha, speckled with rain shadows, was looking at Cha Yeowoon. The one who saved, liked, and loved.

“…Too.”

Tae Myeongha muttered something, but there was no time for Cha Yeowoon to understand. It was because his collar was being grabbed.

They were kissing so quickly that Cha Yeowoon’s back was pushed against the iron door again, making a noise.

The distant sound of an ambulance siren echoed, mixing with the rain as it hit the glass window.

* * *

“Be careful going up. I told you I’ll carry you.”

Despite my scolding from behind, my grandmother energetically climbed the hill.

“Why carry me when both of my legs are fine.”

After my grandmother slept like a dead person at the hospital and recovered, she had been sulking ever since the taxi ride. Since the hill was steep, I suggested carrying her on my back. However, she detested it. I knew she found it awkward to be treated like a sick patient, but I felt uneasy.

“Why is Grandma so stubborn? Can’t you even listen to your grandson’s request? You’re taking painkillers for arthritis. I’m worried, so just let me carry you this time.”

“It’s because I’m like you. Your stubbornness.”

It was because I had inherited my grandmother’s stubbornness. I forcefully swallowed what I wanted to say. Perhaps she was distressed, but she continued to behave childish.

[ Countdown: 12:02:15 ]

Seeing this made my nerves tighten involuntarily.

“Just rest for today and don’t do anything.”

“But I have to help pick apricots.”

I thought the situation would improve once we got home, but my grandmother’s casual remark brought back tension. Cha Yeowoon was silently listening to the confrontation between me and my grandmother.

“Ah, you collapsed yesterday and now you want to pick apricots. The apricots have all fallen because of the rain.”

“Did you see it?”

“Yeah. I saw it.”

“Did you go to the place where I was going to pick them?”

“Grannie, we’ll go pick them for you.”

For the first time, Cha Yeowoon intervened. My grandmother, who had been busy arguing with me, gently blinked at Cha Yeowoon’s words.

“We can’t. I can’t leave Grandma alone.”

“The doctor says I’m fine, so why are you treating me like a patient?”

“It’s not that I’m treating you like a patient…!”

“I’ll go pick them. Senior, stay with Grannie.”

Just when the argument seemed to escalate, Cha Yeowoon interrupted. Both my grandmother and I, who were about to become angry, were subdued.

“How can I let you do that?”

It would be strange to send a child who would hide his face to pick apricots. I didn’t want to appear like an evil stepmother sending Cha Yeowoon out to pick wild strawberries in the middle of winter.

“You two go.”

My grandmother insisted. Despite my frown, I only received a glance back.

“You nagged me to rest, so what are you complaining about?”

It seemed keeping an eye on my grandmother to see if she would rest and also not picking apricots was out of the question. Judging by her stubbornness, further compromises were impossible.

The least she could have done was pretend to be scared after having collapsed…Well, there was nothing to say since the doctor had said she was perfectly fine.

[ Countdown: 11:56:09 ]

Thinking differently, it might mean that nothing out of the ordinary would happen to her during this time.

I suppressed a sigh and adjusted my mindset. Fine, since it had come to this, we should quickly go pick those damn apricots.

“Where should we go?”

* * *

“Isn’t this illegal harvesting?”

Cha Yeowoon looked around the park at the apricot trees and asked.

“Shh. Keep it down.”

I lowered my voice as I hugged a transparent plastic container in my arms to hide it. My attempt at concealing it wasn’t very effective, considering I could only keep it near my torso.

The elderly woman who had initially decided to pick apricots with my grandmother shot Cha Yeowoon and me a somewhat distrustful look before assigning us a container. It was cloudy, but we were the only two without suncaps and the only two without gloves. Just our outfits alone already made us feel out of place.

I thought we would all collect apricots together, but the plan was to spread out in groups. Amidst residents walking their cute dogs and people exercising diligently, Cha Yeowoon and I were about to illegally collect apricots.

Next to the walking trail, there was a sign that explicitly warned not to pick the fruits within the park.

“Up to three years in prison or a fine of up to $23,000…$23,000? Are they kidding?”

“Shouldn’t we stop now?”

“Yeowoon, they probably don’t even know what they’re doing.”

“…”

“If it seems like someone might report us, let’s bail immediately.”

As I quietly flipped my hood, Cha Yeowoon did the same. From behind, we looked like a pair of aspiring criminals.

Since I wanted to take a path that few people traveled, we walked further inward. It was the walking trail, but it was cloudy, and it was the weekday, so it was less populated than expected.

On the way it smelled of trees, soil, and grass. Unnamed, bright red fruits clustered beneath the green leaves.

“They probably fell due to the rain.”

The apricots we were looking for were found more at our feet than overhead.

I had expected this. Due to the rain overnight, apricots were scattered abundantly beneath the apricot trees.

Although the rain had stopped for a moment, the sky still looked somber and ready to pour at any time. Wet cotton-like clouds filled the sky so densely that sunlight couldn’t be seen at all.

“Should we pick up the fallen ones?”

“If they stayed on the ground, they might be bruised or damaged.”

Cha Yeowoon, who had been squatting to pick up the rain-soaked apricots, said.

“The apricots smell good.”

Cha Yeowoon, holding a handful of golden yellow apricots, whispered. The fresh scent of apricots, which wasn’t noticeable until now, enveloped the air. A tepid drool gathered under my tongue.

“Why did it sound like a line from a commercial when you said that?”

“From what commercial would you hear a line like that?”

“I don’t know. Apricot cosmetics. Apricot perfume?”

“Are those things real? Ah, a bug.”

“Where?”

A caterpillar was crawling across the surface of the apricot Cha Yeowoon pointed to. I thought it would die if we left it alone, so I placed the whole apricot in a bush where no one would step on it. Looking back at Cha Yeowoon, he was smiling.

“What?”

“That’s what I like about you.”

The words ‘I love you’ sprang from my memory like the scent of apricots in the air.

Cha Yeowoon, looking at me whose mouth had sealed shut, smiled and plucked an apricot from a hanging branch.

“I found my father.”

The fruit fell into the empty container.

“A legal guardian has to be present since I’m a minor. We have to meet anyway if we’re going to discuss the contract.”

“What did your father say?”

Standing up, Cha Yeowoon could be seen between the apricot tree branches.

Cha Yeowoon raised the branch upward. The leaves shook, shaking off the dew that had collected. The emerald leaves and the color of apricots seemed to be adorning him.

“Are you worried again?”

If I were to die at this moment, if there was one thing I didn’t want ruined, it would be Cha Yeowoon.