DI Ch 194

Whether it was due to rose-tinted glasses or memories of first love, the more I thought about that time, the better it seemed. Five years had passed, and nothing had changed. Although I first saw him seven years ago, I fell in love with him five years ago… Ah, including the time here, it’s been 26 years?

As I tried to calculate the exact time, I suddenly felt my cheek being pulled somewhere. I thought it was just my imagination, but the feeling grew stronger, making me flail in surprise. What the hell? Panicking, I flailed my arms and legs, hoping he’d help.

Even when I told him to stop laughing and help me, he just kept smiling and gradually drifted away. I wanted to see him more. I just wanted to see him a little longer. Feeling regretful, I asked him to hold onto me. As I spoke, I remembered the times I used to hold onto him, and it made me choke up, unable to take my eyes off him.

At that moment, I woke up abruptly, and before I could gather my thoughts, my cheek was bitten. Ah, uh, what is this… It was surprising, but literally, my skin was being bitten, and then my cheek was sucked on. I couldn’t even open my eyes properly, but in my startled state, I flailed about. Finally, my cheek was released with a slightly embarrassing sound.

What is this? Bewildered, I lifted my head, and the culprit who had been tormenting the cheek of a sleeping person just smiled brightly, closing his eyes at my dumbfounded gaze.

“Hello, my first love.”

For a moment, I saw the nineteen-year-old Tae Seong-je in his twenty-nine-year-old face. Everything seemed to sparkle before my eyes, and my heart started beating rapidly. After staring at him blankly for a while, I suddenly came to my senses and stumbled over my words. So, mentioning first love as soon as I opened my eyes…

“Did you see my phone?”

“Yes. When did you change it?”

“Not long ago. Ah, I didn’t think you’d find out so quickly.”

My face felt like it was burning, so I pretended to rub my cheek while hiding my face with my arm. I had jokingly changed his contact name from “My Love” to “First Love” as a joke, thinking he wouldn’t notice for a while since he didn’t need to contact me when we were together. But he found out much sooner than I expected.

“I sometimes look at the messages you send.”

My arm dropped immediately. He held onto my arm and pressed his palm firmly against my forehead. Even though he could tell from the situation and my expression that I wasn’t feverish from being sick, he seriously checked my complexion. By the looks of it, I probably wouldn’t be able to sneeze freely from now on.

“Let’s eat.”

Seemingly satisfied that there was nothing wrong, he quickly moved away after planting a kiss on the cheek he had been tormenting. Rubbing my tingling cheek, I checked the meal that had been brought up to the bed. I was hungry, so anything would have been good, but the usual bland menu had changed a bit. It seemed I could now eat food with a little more flavor, as the number of side dishes had increased significantly.

The sound of the kiss echoed in my ears, and I absently touched my earlobe before picking up my spoon. As for the cheek teasing, well, he sometimes expresses himself strangely, so I decided to let it go. It would be too much trouble to say something about every little thing.

“If you’re sleepy, just eat lightly now and…”

I yawned because I hadn’t slept well and had just woken up, and it seemed he was about to suggest I take a nap after eating, but he trailed off without finishing his sentence. It must have really shocked him. He couldn’t even easily tell me to just sleep. I felt sorry for him. As I was wondering what to do, I suddenly felt something refreshing in my mouth.

“Hyung.”

“Yes?”

“You shouldn’t brush a sleeping person’s teeth. Don’t do that next time. I’ll do it myself.”

Trying to change the subject as naturally as possible, I planted a kiss on his left cheek, just as he had done to me. There was even a scent of lotion as if he had wiped my face too. Come on, I can move properly now, so he should just leave these things to me. Even though I want to show only my good side, the other person has no intention of cooperating, so it’s awkward. Just look at him now. Who would think that’s the face of someone who wouldn’t do this willingly?

Thinking he was hopeless, I smiled slightly, but then suddenly I became curious about whether my legs were okay. To check, I put aside breakfast and quickly stood on both feet below the bed. Unlike before, my legs didn’t wobble like a newborn giraffe’s.

Satisfied, I looked at him and proudly spread my arms. He pulled me by the waist, perhaps intending to hug me. I didn’t resist and followed his lead, naturally sitting on his thighs. Even though I’m not a child and this doesn’t seem right, I stayed still because he was so happy to see me stand for just a moment, and I could see him trying to hide his anxiety about me falling.

“That’s great. Really great.”

“You said so, hyung. That everything would be alright. So don’t worry anymore. Only good things are left to happen.”

We hugged each other for a moment, overwhelmed with emotion. Watching him be happier about my recovery than I was made me both happy and sad. I just hoped there would be no more nights where he stayed up worrying about me.

Using his firm thighs as a cushion didn’t seem right for eating, so I settled between his legs. But this wasn’t really a proper setup for eating together either. He waited for me to take just one spoonful of rice before quickly adding side dishes as if he were serving me.

He used his right arm to handle the chopsticks and wrapped his left arm around my waist, holding me tight, seemingly not caring about his own meal. Even though it was a late breakfast, almost like lunch, he didn’t seem hungry at all and was only focused on adding side dishes to my spoon.

“Hyung, eat while you’re doing this. You eat first.”

First, I needed to move since his breakfast was across from mine. Honestly, we both needed to eat well. I couldn’t eat before, but I could tell from his complexion that he hadn’t been taking care of his health.

“I am eating. Here, your favorite.”

Instead of rice, he quickly brushed off my words and offered me meat. As the food approached my mouth, I unconsciously opened it to eat, then was surprised. The meat was so tender it seemed to melt in my mouth. I was already happy that I could eat less bland food due to my less restricted diet, but for it to be this delicious? I understood now why he had been singing praises about eating hanwoo (Korean beef). Regardless of whether it was pork or beef, I could tell it was good quality meat, and I couldn’t help but express my admiration.

“This… is delicious. But I don’t really have likes or dislikes when it comes to food.”

“Don’t be a picky eater and say things like that. Try this too, ah.”

I’m not a picky eater. I just have preferences and less preferred foods. Maybe it’s because I’m six years older now. Tae Seong-je tends to see me as too young. I complained earlier that I wasn’t seven years old, but he doesn’t even see me as twenty-two, more like 22 months old. I don’t understand how he can ask when I’ll grow up when he’s the one treating me like a child.

“Here, ah.”

When I refused to open my mouth out of frustration, he urged me to try it quickly, saying it was delicious. Aren’t all vegetables the same? But after eating it, I asked for more. Then I asked for it with the meat from before. Everything tasted good no matter how I ate it. How can spring vegetables be this delicious?

“It’s much better than your salad, right?”

“…It is, but why bring up my salad?”

I asked skeptically, wondering why he suddenly mentioned the salad I occasionally eat as a snack when we live together. He then spoke in an upset voice, as if he had been waiting for this moment.

“When I first saw that, I didn’t know what to do so I couldn’t say anything, but don’t eat it anymore. How do you think I feel when you eat something tasteless when I’ve filled the fridge with delicious food?”

“I eat that for my health. Does it really matter if it’s tasty or not?”

“If you’re concerned about your health, just eat what I’ve prepared for you. Are you so desperate that you have to grind chicken breast and pour it over salad? At least add some salt.”

I was just trying to get some protein… I wanted to explain, but he seemed to be expressing his true feelings that he couldn’t before, so I felt a bit dejected. However, everything he had prepared or bought for me to eat was so delicious that I had nothing more to say. He seemed to know exactly what kinds of food I liked.

Even so, to think he thought I was eating weird food. Feeling down, I held out my rice bowl to him.

“Just one more bowl, please.”

“Why aren’t you eating much? Don’t you have an appetite?”

“No, it’s just that since I just woke up, I think if I eat too much, I’ll feel bloated.”

He seemed even more disappointed that I only ate two bowls, especially now that my diet restrictions were lifted and I could eat such a variety. I felt the same, but we would be eating lunch soon, so I couldn’t overeat.

Only after I finished my meal did he pick up his utensils. This time, with the roles reversed and me holding the chopsticks, it felt a bit like playing house, which was enjoyable. Unlike him, I’m not really sure about specific food preferences, but I roughly know what flavors he likes and dislikes, so choosing side dishes wasn’t difficult. The problem was that even after carefully selecting them, he tried to feed me, so I ended up having to bring each bite close to his lips.

“Hyung, ah.”

When he was feeding me, I felt a bit sorry thinking it must be bothersome to feed someone like this, but now that the positions were reversed, it wasn’t bothersome at all. Rather, even his eating looked cute, which was troubling. I started liking him because he was cool and mature, but I never dared to think he was cute. And now, seeing this grown man as cute… But he’s mine.

“Why are you smiling?”

“Because I’m happy.”

Tae Seong-je belongs to Seo Seung-won, and that fact made me happy. I wanted to write my name on his body so badly that I wished I could secretly do it when I had the chance. I should do that. This time, I’ll try to do it well without getting caught. Unaware of my mischievous plan, he just smiled along with me in this peaceful moment.