PEN Vol 2 Ch. 6

“Hah…”

Whenever Cheon Sejoo offered Sejin the worst option, Sejin usually complied rather well. Upon hearing the threat of being carried, Sejin frowned, swallowed his irritation, and briefly puffed out his cheeks before relaxing his expression.

With a resigned expression, he gestured for Cheon Sejoo to lead the way, and Sejoo stifled a laugh as they continued walking.

The pediatric clinic was only about a five-minute walk from the shopping center where they had been. Though it was a short distance, they had to cross a busy street with lots of traffic, which meant Sejin needed to stand at a windy intersection, exposed to the cold.

Thankfully, with Sejoo’s jacket draped over Sejin, the cold was more bearable than it had been when they first came out of the apartment. Sejin huddled deeper into the warmth of the clothes, trying to shield himself from the biting wind.

It was then that Sejin noticed something unusual. The wind that had blowing at him suddenly seemed to have slowed down.

“……”

Glancing up, Sejin saw that the man, who had been standing a distance away, had come closer and was now blocking the wind from hitting him. Because he had given his suit jacket to Sejin, he was left wearing only a thin shirt, and through it, the outline of the tattoo on his back was faintly visible.

As Sejin stared blankly at the hazy figure of the tiger etched onto Cheon Sejoo’s broad back, he found himself gazing at the man silently.

He had thought the man’s sympathy wouldn’t last more than a few days, a week at most, but this life had already gone on for over a month.

Throughout that time, Cheon Sejoo treated him no differently than when they had first started living together. The man’s attention toward him neither increased nor decreased.

‘Instead of wasting time telling me to back off, you’d better get used to it. Because until you leave, I’m taking full responsibility for you.’

And just as the man had promised, Sejin was gradually getting used to the man who was trying to take responsibility for him.

“Let’s go.”

Sejoo reached out and placed a hand firmly on Sejin’s shoulder. Standing beside him, shielding him from the wind, Cheon Sejoo’s presence felt solid and dependable. Sejin, unable to handle the strangeness of the situation, glanced away, sneaking peeks at the man from the corner of his eye.

Cheon Sejoo, however, continued to stare straight ahead. Despite the inconvenience Sejin had caused him, making him late for work, there wasn’t a hint of annoyance or irritation on his face.

Seeing Cheon Sejoo’s indifferent expression, Sejin felt an odd fluttering sensation deep within his chest.

Sejin couldn’t even remember the last time he had gone to the hospital with his mother. All Kim Hyunkyung’s husband, who was constantly out and about, gave her was an ever-growing pile of debt, and in order to protect her precious son in such circumstances, she had to get up early and go to work every day.

Though she cherished Sejin dearly, ironically, because she loved him, her top priority was always work.

So, this was Sejin’s first time going to the hospital with an adult man. In fact, walking side by side with another man like this felt awkward as well. As far as he could remember, he had never walked with his father like this, not even once. His father had always been either walking ahead angrily of him or completely absent from their lives.

“Go on in.”

As Cheon Sejoo led him into the pediatric clinic, the warm, quiet air inside greeted Sejin. He felt the chills that had been making him shiver begin to subside, and he proceeded to register for the appointment using the tablet on the reception desk.

Throughout the entire process, Cheon Sejoo stayed by his side. He sat with Sejin while they waited, and when he noticed Sejin’s lips turned blue from the cold, he brought him a cup of hot water from the dispenser.

The kindness and warmth the man showed him were so unfamiliar to Sejin. Gripping the paper cup tightly in both hands, Sejin kept his gaze fixed on the floor, as if unsure of what to do.

“Kwon Sejin. Sejin, please come in.”

Suddenly hearing his name being called, Sejin lifted his head and saw a nurse standing in front of the consultation room, looking in their direction. As Sejin stood up from his seat, the nurse’s gaze shifted to Cheon Sejoo sitting beside him.

“Will the guardian be accompanying you as well?”

At the nurse’s casual question, Sejin unconsciously bit his lip. The man wasn’t Sejin’s guardian. He was simply someone who had initially tried to sell him off, only to change his mind and hire him as a housekeeper. Sejin had no intention of placing the man who had driven his mother into a pit of debt in the position of his guardian.

And yet…

“Yes, I’ll come in with him.”

Sejin couldn’t refute the man’s response.

Responsibility—did this man really intend to take responsibility for him until he becomes an adult?

Why?

You’re not my father, you’re not even my uncle…

Deep inside his heart, a voice echoed with doubt. What Sejin was trying to suppress by denying it was the growing sense of expectation buried in one corner of his mind.

No.

This man will end up abandoning me too, just like everyone else….

Even those who were bound to him by blood hadn’t taken responsibility for him, so it was only natural to think that this man would eventually discard him as well.

As Sejin tried to recall the hateful memory of his father and uncle’s retreating figures the last time he had seen them, he forced himself to rein in his wavering heart.

⊹˚. ♡.𖥔 ݁ ˖ ⊹˚. ♡.𖥔 ݁ ˖

Sejin’s cold lasted for a full week. As Cheon Sejoo had worried, it turned out that it was because he had caught the flu.

During the time Sejin was unable to even hold himself up properly, Cheon Sejoo took care of him, giving him medicine and feeding him porridge. By the time he finally managed to get out of bed, Cheon Sejoo found himself heading alone to the department store after work.

While Sejin had been bedridden, Ipdong (the beginning of winter) had passed. As the season began to change to early winter, the wind had become even colder, so Sejoo went shopping to buy him a new winter jacket.

“Welcome. Are you shopping for yourself?”

As soon as he stepped into a popular outdoor brand store that many kids frequently wear these days, a smiling clerk quickly approached him and asked. Cheon Sejoo shook his head quietly and awkwardly responded.

“No, it’s… for my younger brother. A boy about this tall.”

He raised his hand to about the height where Sejin’s head would be. The clerk nodded and led Cheon Sejoo over to the store’s display of best-selling padded jackets.

The microfiber padded jackets, came in beige and khaki. Cheon Sejoo stared at them for a moment before picturing Sejin’s delicate and pretty face and eventually chose the beige one. The lighter color seemed like it would suit Sejin well.

Arriving home with the jacket in his hand, Cheon Sejoo paused as he stepped through the door, suddenly worried about how he should give it to him.

Although Kwon Sejin had softened quite a bit these days compared to when they first met, it was still hard to imagine him easily accepting such an expensive gift.

He couldn’t exactly force him to accept the gift, and he didn’t want to bring up Kim Hyunkyung to push the issue as it might only reignite the guarded distance that had finally started to ease. After all, Cheon Sejoo was only human, and having someone in the same house constantly on edge around him wasn’t exactly pleasant.

As Cheon Sejoo mulled over how to approach the situation, he entered the living room and saw Sejin who was preparing for dinner turned toward him. Their eyes met briefly, Sejin giving him a quick glance and greeting him before returning his attention to stir the pan again. Cheon Sejoo watched his back for a moment, then approached him silently.

“Kwon Sejin.”

At the call of his name, Sejin turned his head and looked at him. Conscious of Sejin’s gaze, Cheon Sejoo pulled the padded jacket from the shopping bag.

Sejin’s expression turned wary as if questioning if a fashion show was about to happen. Ignoring Sejin’s bewildered face, Cheon Sejoo awkwardly forced his arms into the padded jacket, which was clearly too small for him.

“I got this as a gift. What do you think?”

“……”

Naturally, Sejin’s expression was anything but pleased. He stared at the ill-fitting beige padded jacket that didn’t even zip up and left 10 centimeters of Sejoo’s wrists exposed, looking as if he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

“Did you pick that up off the street?”

“……”

“Whoever gave that jacket to you must not like you very much. They didn’t even bother to check your size?”

His judgment was sharp. This wasn’t exactly the reaction Cheon Sejoo had been aiming for. His eyebrow twitched slightly as he took the jacket off. But in the end, at least his goal was achieved. It was the perfect situation to pass on the jacket off to Sejin.

“You’re right, it doesn’t fit me. But it’s too good to just throw it away, though. Want to take it?”

His words were half-hearted, but Sejin, who had been adding mayonnaise to his rolled omelet, turned his head again toward him and shot him a sharp look.

His transparent eyes briefly scanned over Cheon Sejoo’s brazen face while his hands continued to roll the omelet.

“…….”

“If you don’t want to wear it, I’ll just throw it out.”

There wasn’t a single trace of hesitation on the man’s face as he spoke. Sejin easily recognized that his words were a lie.

There was no way someone would give such a childish-looking padded jacket to a guy like Cheon Sejoo, and it didn’t seem like he was the kind of person to make a mistake by bringing back an ill-fitting garment without checking the size.

Sejin bit his lip and hesitated because he knew full well that Cheon Sejoo had bought the padded jacket specifically for him.

Ever since the man had taken him to the hospital, or rather, as this strange cohabitation dragged on longer, Sejin found himself growing dependent on him more and more. He began to expect that maybe, just maybe, this gangster-like man might be different from his father or uncle. He thought there was a chance that Cheon Sejoo could be the first responsible adult to enter his life, someone who would actually let him live here comfortably in his house until he became an adult.

He had tried to suppress those expectations, afraid of being disappointed. But it was getting harder to do so. No matter where the man had come from, or what his background was, Sejin couldn’t help but think lately that Cheon Sejoo was different from his father or uncle. He couldn’t hide his growing hope anymore.

“…Okay, I’ll wear it.”

At Sejin’s reluctant reply, Cheon Sejoo’s lips curved into a smile as he lifted the jacket in his hands and held it up under Sejin’s chin. Just as he had expected, the beige padded jacket suited Sejin perfectly.

With that gift marking a turning point, Cheon Sejoo and Kwon Sejin’s relationship seemed to take a step forward. The atmosphere between them softened a little, and they no longer felt as uncomfortable around each other.