As always, Hae-in followed Si-yul to the clinic that morning.
By now, she was practically the mascot of the veterinary hospital, and most of the regular clients recognized her.
She wandered around the hospital as if it were her own home, and if an anxious pet began to cry, she absolutely had to rush over and calm it down before she could relax.
I’m protecting the peace of the hospital, just like I protect the peace of the household, she insisted.
But to Si-yul, it just looked like she was bored.
“Kang.”
“Mm?”
When the clinic was quiet like this, she usually spent time loafing around at his side. Unless clients came in, the exam room was the perfect place for the two of them to chat.
“Yesterday… you weren’t yourself.”
“Was I?”
“You laughed, you got angry—that was the first time I’ve seen you like that. You looked like an ordinary guy!”
Perched like a sphinx, Haein’s words made Si-yul lift his eyes from the magazine he was reading. He let out a small chuckle.
“I am an ordinary guy.”
“…Well, it’s just… usually you act all cool and detached.”
“Because it’s easier that way.”
She thought she understood what he meant.
Si-yul was thoroughly a ‘my pace’ kind of man. He disliked when people spoke to him more than necessary, and unless it was work-related, he was uncooperative about just about everything.
As Haein often thought, he was exactly like a cat. Which was why his behavior yesterday had been such a surprise.
“So why were you like that yesterday?”
“Why? Am I not allowed to smile?”
“That’s not it—you normally hate meddling in things, no matter how they turn out.”
“That’s true. But what can I do, when my girlfriend likes meddling?”
“…So that’s how it is?”
“That’s how it is.”
So this is what they mean when they say couples start resembling each other!
While Hae-in was having her little revelation, Si-yul shook his head, already guessing what she was thinking.
He turned back to his magazine with a faint sigh.
The one who loves more has to give way. That’s just how it is.
“Haah… how did I end up caught by a cat like this?”
“Wha?! I—I wasn’t the one chasing after you…”
RRR.
“Yes, exam room.”
[Doctor, is this a good time to talk?]
The green light on the phone showed it was an internal call—from inside the hospital. Judging from the voice, it was the receptionist.
Haein’s eyes turned sulky. She hadn’t gotten to finish what she was saying. At this rate, anyone would think she had been the one chasing after him.
Si-yul made a point of answering the call right in front of her.
“Go ahead.”
[There’s someone who wants to speak with you.]
“A client?”
[No, I don’t think so. She said her name was Lee Ha-eun, and that you’d recognize it. She’s on hold right now.]
“Ah…”
[Should I put her through?]
Normally, he would’ve brushed it off, acting busy. But this was Ha-eun—the same Ha-eun who had once even shown up at the clinic in person.
And today, he already had a rough idea of why she was calling.
She must have seen Tae-il.
“Yes, put her through.”
Si-yul recalled waking up that morning to find Tae-il already gone from the apartment. His last memory was reassuring him last night that after some rest he’d clear his head.
Did they finally have a real conversation? I hope so.
Even aside from Haein’s sake, Si-yul now genuinely wanted the two of them to work things out. Watching someone grope around blindly, unable to see what was right in front of them, had grown exhausting.
[…Hello?]
“It’s me.”
[Ah, hello. This is Lee Ha-eun. Sorry for calling so suddenly—]
“Never mind that. Did you meet Tae-il?”
When he cut straight to the point, an uneasy silence lingered on the other end.
Si-yul instantly sensed something was wrong.
“What is it?”
[Did… did Tae-il say he was going to see me?]
“No, but I assumed he would. Isn’t that why he left?”
[Then you’ve misunderstood. I haven’t seen him since the farewell party.]
Then where the hell is he?
Both Si-yul and Hae-in, who had been listening, exchanged bewildered looks.
“Then why did you call?”
[Because… I can’t get in touch with him. This morning, he called me, but the moment I answered, the line cut off. And after that—]
“He’s not answering?”
[Right. I just… I have this terrible feeling…]
So he didn’t go to Ha-eun… maybe he went to take care of something else?
Yesterday he’d spent the whole day in a daze. Surely his work had piled up.
[Do you think something might have happened?]
“He’ll be fine. I thought he went to you, but I guess I was wrong. He probably has a lot to do before leaving the country.”
Even as Ha-eun’s anxious voice spilled out, Si-yul didn’t find Tae-il’s disappearance especially concerning.
He’s probably just chickened out and gone wandering somewhere else.
[But… he’s not answering my calls at all…]
“When he comes home tonight, I’ll tell him you were worried. That should be enough, shouldn’t it?”
[…Yes.]
“What could possibly happen, really.”
Even so, once the call ended, Si-yul dialed Tae-il with his own phone.
The call connected, but went unanswered all the same.
“Tch. He’s not answering mine either.”
“…Where could master have gone?”
“How should I know. Coward.”
Resting his chin in his palm, Si-yul clicked his tongue in irritation.
He just couldn’t understand Tae-il. If he’d called Ha-eun in the morning, then clearly he had been thinking about going to her.
Maybe it was the look of disappointment on his face, but Hae-in suddenly began defending Tae-il with all her might. Convincing Si-yul was no easy task.
“Maybe he just hasn’t worked up the courage yet. You can’t expect someone to sort everything out in one day.”
“What else is there to think about?”
“Kang, you’re not the type to agonize over things! That’s why you don’t get how hard it can be! Master… master agonizes over whether he should put a cup in the dishwasher or not, that’s the kind of person he is!”
“…Wow, what a serious dilemma. And for your information, I have worries too.”
Raising a crooked brow, Si-yul leaned back, clearly in a foul mood.
“Do you even know what I worry about?”
“…Me?”
“Smart cat.”
“Well, you look at me so obviously…”
“The one thing I haven’t been able to resolve is this: whether we’ll ever get our own happy ending. Even if it’s a late one.”
Now that was a heavy worry.
At a loss for words, Hae-in did what she always did—she tried to sneak away. The exam room was small, so she had to hurry before he caught her by the scruff of the neck.
“I—I’d better go check the kennels. Make sure no one’s crying.”
“They’re all the usual patients today.”
“…Then I’ll go… say hi.”
Running away was definitely something Hae-in was good at. Well, she was a cat, after all.
________✧⑅˖♡∘˚˳°↝^._.^_________
Because a rush of patients had come in during the afternoon, they ended up leaving work late.
When Si-yul finally returned to the apartment, the elevator reeked of fried chicken and pizza—evidence of his neighbors’ late-night snacks.
Hae-in swallowed hard.
“Kang, is there anything to eat at home?”
“Something sweet you like… maybe some milk candies.”
“What about chocolate?”
“Finished it. Want me to whip something up?”
“Yes!”
Si-yul’s ‘simple’ meals are never actually simple!
Curled in his arms, she flicked her tail, urging him to hurry. Her mouth was already watering as she waited for the front door to open.
But the moment it did, she froze.
The air inside was heavy with the metallic tang of blood.
“Heuk?!”
“What is it?”
“…Meow!” (Blood!)
“Hm?”
The smell was strongest near Tae-il’s room. Hae-in couldn’t even answer properly—she leapt down from Si-yul’s arms and darted toward the source.
Her fears were confirmed when she reached the small trash bin by the living room table. It was stuffed with blood-soaked tissues.
“Meow!”
“What is it?”
“Mrrf!”
Frustrated by her inability to explain, Hae-in rammed her body against the trash can.
It toppled over, spilling its gruesome contents across the floor. Only then did Si-yul understand why she was so frantic.
“…Shin Tae-il!”
The two of them almost never entered each other’s rooms, but this was an exception. With this much blood, he had to be seriously hurt.
Si-yul flung the door open without knocking.
“You—!”
“Hyung-nim?”
“Meow?!”
“What the hell happened to you!”
Inside stood Tae-il, his face mottled with bruises. A haphazard gauze patch clung to his forehead, obviously applied by himself. His arms were bruised, his lip split.
Anyone could see it, even without being a doctor—he’d been beaten badly.
“Ah… ha.”
Tae-il gave an awkward, shamefaced laugh, but of course Hae-in reached him first.
With wide, fried-egg eyes, she began crying.
“Myaaah!” (Why are you like this!)
“It’s fine, it’s fine.”
“Meow! (Who did this to you!)”
He was in such rough shape that even her rough cat tongue couldn’t dare lick his wounds.
The cuts on his face were especially bad, and his knees and feet were swollen red, bruises already forming.
Ha-eun’s words from earlier—her unease over something being wrong—echoed in Haein’s mind.
And I didn’t even sense it!
Tears poured down her face.
“Mrrrow! (I’m sorry, master!)”
“…Move aside, useless cat. You’re not helping.”
It struck Si-yul as strange, seeing Haein cry more for Tae-il than she ever did for him. He knew she was emotional, but tears weren’t going to heal anything.
He pried her off and inspected Tae-il’s injuries himself.
They weren’t deep, but there were cuts everywhere, and the bruises—clearly from fists. Glancing at Tae-il’s own hands, he saw no marks.
Which meant he hadn’t fought back. He had just taken the beating.
“Pretty bad… How did this happen?”
“…I deserved it.”
“There’s no such thing as that. Did you get caught up in a fight? Then we should call the police…”
“I met Ha-eun’s fiancé, Senior Seo Tae-jun.”
“Ah… well, that can’t be helped.”
Changing the subject right away, Si-yul opened the first aid kit next to Tae-il and pulled out antiseptic.
He ripped off the sloppily attached gauze on Tae-il’s face, grumbling because it was obvious someone had only wiped the blood without applying any disinfectant.
“You idiot, you could at least disinfect it properly!”
“Haha… Hyung, I thought Senior Tae-jun wouldn’t recognize me.”
“…You’re not listening to a word I say.”
“He’s a senior from the same university, but we were in different departments. We only ran into each other a handful of times… he was close with Ha-eun, but to me he was practically a stranger.”
“And?”
“…But when I took the business card he’d given me and went to his office, he recognized me immediately—”
“Wait! Why the hell did you even go see him?”
As he dabbed Tae-il’s wounds with gauze soaked in disinfectant, Si-yul nearly jumped. He’d been too focused on the injuries and had completely overlooked the real issue—why Tae-il had gone to see him in the first place!
“Well, this morning… while I was on the phone with Ha-eun to ask if we could meet, I realized… it was cowardly.”
“…Confessing to Ha-eun, you mean?”
“Yes. I realized I should say it to the man who’s dating her first.”
“You went there practically begging to get beaten up, didn’t you?”
Si-yul let out a hollow laugh, completely dumbfounded.
This is worse than the guy who picks up a 100-won coin and insists on turning it in to the police.
“But if I didn’t, it would’ve been dishonorable.”
“Rivals don’t care about honor…”
“Confessing behind his back would’ve been truly cowardly.”
“…Unbelievable. Really unbelievable.”
“Regardless of Ha-eun, I just wanted to say my feelings out loud at least once… That’s what I told him. And then his fist came flying right at me. Ha-ha.”
Good Lord.
Si-yul thought he should be grateful Tae-il had even survived. Judging by the fiancé’s build, the man had definitely trained in something, and if he’d decided to beat him to a pulp, it would’ve been child’s play.
That was like a rabbit hopping straight into a lion’s jaws and coming back alive.
If Si-yul had known Tae-il would pull something this reckless, he would’ve at least coached him in the proper way to confess.
Straightforward. Always straightforward!
“You think this is funny…?”
“…But the senior said he already knew. That Ha-eun had been in love with someone else for a long time.”
“….”
“He said… he had a vague idea it might be me.”
That was something Si-yul had already heard from Ha-eun herself when she’d visited his hospital. He didn’t respond now, but his mouth tasted bitter.
“Like you said, Hyung, it really was my fault. I was too much of a coward.”
“…So what happened?”
“His secretary came in and stopped him, so I was basically thrown out halfway.”
“He even has a secretary?”
“He’s the eldest son of a very well-known family. If I told you the company name, you’d recognize it immediately.”
“That’s enough. I don’t want to hear it.”
Now Si-yul finally understood why Tae-il hadn’t even burned with the will to fight back when it came to Ha-eun’s fiancé. The man was in a different league entirely.
“Come to think of it, Ha-eun was looking for you earlier today.”
“Probably because I didn’t answer her calls.”
“Then go see her tomorrow.”
“…I don’t know. Not until my face heals a little.”
“…Are you an idiot? You should be telling her that her fiancé beat the crap out of you, you fool!”
“What does it matter? I got beaten up because I confessed anyway.”
Si-yul ground his teeth, but Tae-il only laughed loosely.
“If I told her, she’d just feel bad.”
“Ugh! You really are an idiot!”
It began with insults and ended with insults, but Tae-il didn’t look offended. He’d probably gotten used to it after being cursed at so often by Si-yul lately.
Once the treatment was finally done, Si-yul got to his feet.
Truthfully, he wanted to scold him even more, but Tae-il looked exhausted.
“That’s enough. Just get some sleep. And if you’re planning on going anywhere tomorrow, you need my permission first.”
“…Permission for what?”
“Don’t go off on your own again—talk to me first!”
“I feel like I’m relying on you too much…”
“Then rely on me more!”
For heaven’s sake!
Si-yul barked, then quickly grabbed Hae-in, who was trying to linger in Tae-il’s room.
“You too—out!”
“Ni-yang!”
Dragged out of the room almost by force, Hae-in realized just how much of a tsundere this man really was.
Cold and prickly on the outside, but caring. Caring, yet prickly. That was Si-yul.
