PIA 137

Two full weeks after waking up, Ji-an finally went out for the first time. Although he had been frequenting the hospital during that time, he didn’t count those as going out.

Today’s destination was also the hospital, but the main purpose wasn’t his own treatment. Ji-an was visiting the person who had been involved in the accident at the hotel entrance that day.

With arms full of gifts and food, he visited with a nervous heart. Not only the person involved but their family members warmly welcomed Ji-an. They joked that thanks to the compensation from Jeong Hee-young, both their body and mind were comfortable, and that they weren’t badly hurt.

Although an injured body couldn’t be the same as before, hearing those reassuring words allowed Ji-an to remove a few more stones that had been weighing on his heart.

Since he was at the hospital anyway—joking that he might become a regular—Jeong Hee-seo hugged Ji-an tightly.

Jeong Hee-seo decided to see a counselor as Kim Han-seok had advised. It was necessary to soothe the trauma of the time when he had lost Ji-an and to move forward. Ji-an fully agreed with this.

While waiting for him, Ji-an decided to meet Woo-seok as well. After waiting briefly at a cafe in front of the hospital, the door jingled open and Woo-seok appeared.

“You’re here.”

“That’s all you’ve got to say? You’re a father now.”

Saying nonsense about maintaining dignity as a father, Woo-seok sat across from Ji-an. He grumbled about how long it had been, saying he might forget his face, but contrary to his words, his forehead was etched with worry.

Ji-an accepted the shopping bag he tossed to him. Opening it, he found it full of baby clothes for Poggles. Some had big green frogs on the chest, others yellow chicks.

Although he had never properly shown Woo-seok the baby’s face, Ji-an was grateful for Woo-seok’s thoughtfulness.

“Enough of that. If you’re grateful, just send me some photos of my nephew. About 100 will do.”

“What nephew? You’re so immature, you could be our Poggles’s friend.”

Ji-an laughed and joked.

“Friends are good. I welcome that.”

“Look at you. Since when did you get so witty?”

“All baby clothes are cute. They’re so tiny. Everything was adorable. I almost bought out the whole store.”

Once they finished looking through the clothes, an awkward silence settled between them. Woo-seok rubbed his thick fingers across his eyebrows repeatedly.

“You’ve lost a lot of weight. What happened? Did they find out the cause?”

Instead of answering, Ji-an shook his head. He neither had the confidence to explain it comprehensively nor expected him to believe him.

Clicking his tongue in frustration, Woo-seok gulped down his sweet juice in one go.

“…Is Hyung-nim okay?”

This time, it was Ji-an who was quite surprised. He almost snorted the juice he was drinking out through his nose.

“Hyung-nim? What hyung-nim? Whose hyung-nim?”

“Who else could it be but him?”

“Wait, since when did he become your hyung-nim?”

Ji-an’s wide-eyed response made Woo-seok frown. His expression as he recalled past events wasn’t particularly pleasant.

“He came to see me once when you were lying there like that.”

When asked why, Woo-seok crunched on ice cubes.

“Well, to ask if I knew anything you liked, like songs or movies. Said he wanted to play them by your bedside…”

“…”

“When he said he didn’t actually know much, it made me feel, well, a bit…”

A pang of sadness struck Ji-an’s heart. He could picture Hee-seo’s agonizing days when each one must have felt like a year. Despite laughing and holding hands as they went to counseling, Ji-an reminded himself not to underestimate the difficulty of healing.

At a loss for words, Ji-an just chewed on the straw of his drink. Woo-seok wore an uncharacteristically complex expression.

“Treat him well from now on. Don’t act like a crazy Chihuahua. And don’t do weird things. Though I guess you probably won’t anymore.”

“…”

“Even though you’ve had a baby, I’m still your friend. So if you have any worries, tell me right away.”

“Are you crazy? What does having a baby have to do with friendship?”

“Ah, anyway, that’s what I mean! Just understand the gist of it!”

When Woo-seok called himself his friend, for some reason, a lump rose in Ji-an’s throat. That’s why he ended up speaking loudly and changing the subject.

Even though you’ve changed, you’re still my friend.

He didn’t say it like that, but that’s how it sounded. Ji-an just felt that Woo-seok had instinctively sensed and guessed it. Even if asked whether he was interpreting things too favorably, he couldn’t deny it. Because that’s how it sounded.

Ji-an followed Woo-seok’s lead and crunched on ice.

“Yeah, whatever.”

He only affirmed the idea of friendship in his mind. He also only expressed his gratitude internally. Instead, he bowed his head, pulled out his phone, and sent Woo-seok a flood of pictures of Poggles.

“Wow, photos of my friend—” Woo-seok said with a broad smile. It was the kind of smile that made Ji-an smile along with him.

* * *

“Hello.”

A young man who didn’t fit the company atmosphere at all greeted cheerfully. How on earth did that person manage to get in here…?

At the entrance to the General Manager’s office, the new employee who had been placed there not long ago wore an expression full of wariness as he looked at the unfamiliar visitor.

A bright, innocent expression with a clear smile, a light blue knit cardigan with white stripes, beige cotton pants, and pristine white sneakers. Even his attire provided no clues to categorize this person. Moreover, his behavior was strangely confident, making it difficult to treat him as an uninvited guest.

“Ji-an! When did you get here?”

“Secretary Yoon!”

At that moment, Secretary Yoon, who had been walking from afar, recognized Ji-an and ran over happily. The new employee sighed in relief, thinking his caution had saved him.

Ji-an shook Secretary Yoon’s hand vigorously and handed over the shopping bag he had brought. He had filled it with snacks and desserts so heavy that his palms had turned white from gripping the handles. He had worked up a sweat just carrying it.

“Is hyung inside?”

“Yes. He just came in after finishing a meeting. Perfect timing.”

Secretary Yoon winked and gave a thumbs up. It seemed Jeong Hee-seo was in a bad mood due to work-related matters. If things had continued like this, there would have been a cold atmosphere until evening. Ji-an’s timely arrival seemed to brighten the atmosphere, even prompting Secretary Yoon to do a little celebratory dance.

“Go on in, quickly—”

Ji-an headed inside, pushed by his back. When Ji-an jokingly suggested he might just head home instead, Secretary Yoon feigned collapse, playing along. Seeing how much he enjoyed these antics, Ji-an figured that spending time with Jeong Hee-seo had turned him into a bit of a middle-aged man himself.

Ji-an caught sight of his reflection in the black marble, adjusted his hair, and cleared his throat.

“Hyung!”

He called out loudly as he pushed open the glass door.

The large chair that had been turned away swiveled half a turn. Jeong Hee-seo, who had been on the phone, covered the receiver with his hand and stood up.

“Then please summarize the call content and send it by email.”

He ended the call with a brief greeting and strode over, extending his arms. Ji-an didn’t hesitate, throwing himself into the embrace with a wide grin.

“Are you busy?”

“No.”

He’s always busy, but whenever asked, he always says he’s not. He snatched the small shopping bag from Ji-an’s hand and sat on the sofa.

“What’s this?”

“I stopped by the family home and played with grandmother and Yi-seo, and brought everything we made last time.”

Just opening the mouth of the shopping bag released a strong sweet scent. On top were white, elongated candy sticks.

Ji-an quickly reached out, grabbed three of them, and waved them in front of Jeong Hee-seo’s nose.

Jeong Hee-seo raised his eyebrows askew. Ji-an, guessing what was on his mind, burst out laughing. Yes, it was exactly around this time.

“So, Seo Ji-an-ssi, how would you like me to take responsibility—is that what I said?”

“You said, ‘So, how would you like me to take responsibility? Seo Ji-an-ssi.'”

Ji-an imitated Jeong Hee-seo’s voice poorly. As if to say it’s all the same, he shrugged and sat on the man’s lap.

“The responsibility has been taken. Honey, darling, give me a kiss.”

Laughing with happiness, Ji-an’s pheromones seemed to be bubbling out. With only the two of them in the office, it was as if all restraints were off. Jeong Hee-seo, who had been kissing him repeatedly, buried his nose just below Ji-an’s ear.

“That day too, this scent caught my attention.”

“You fell head over heels for me.”

He neither denied nor confirmed Ji-an’s playful response. He even nodded in agreement.

“Because of the rut inducer, my memory is hazy, but the person I thought was the culprit showed up with a pregnancy test. I had been preparing myself thoroughly… I must have lost my mind for a moment and given you an opening.”

“You were preparing? To take me to the police station?”

“That was the plan, but I got distracted by your scent.”

Recalling that day a year ago, he smelled Ji-an again as if licking him.

“It’s different now. You’re always unique.”

“It’s probably because something changed due to that rut inducer guy. Since it’s a bit confusing to say ‘Seo Ji-an’… maybe like ‘another me’? I don’t know if he was joking, but he said he gave me an ‘irresistible pheromones.’”

Jeong Hee-seo looked at Ji-an intently.

“There’s really no need to change anymore, right?”

Ji-an nodded habitually. After that, Jeong Hee-seo asked Ji-an almost every day. It was Ji-an’s role to answer a hundred or a thousand times whenever he did. If he could alleviate his anxiety that way, he was willing to do it as much as needed.

Ji-an even felt a sense of mystery from him, who believed without any resistance the story about coming from another dimension or having another self.

It was a story he had blurted out with the reckless thought of “what if he doesn’t believe it,” but he listened very seriously.

Ji-an had no regrets because after telling him that story, his anxiety symptoms and insomnia had improved significantly.

“The one-year condition that guy initially set has now passed. Really, truly, there’s no going back. There’s no reason to, either.”

That guy must be living happily over there too.

Everything had been settled. Now Ji-an had absolutely nothing to hide from Jeong Hee-seo. This openness had made his increasingly spoiled behavior grow worse by the day, but Jeong Hee-seo seemed to welcome even that.

Oh, and there was no need to reveal that he was a half-sibling to Seo Ji-hyuk.

‘When you were in a long sleep, I went through every speck of dust in your pockets. To see if there were any clues…’

Jeong Hee-seo confessed his illegal act like that. He said he had thoroughly investigated Ji-an’s background using every means and method available. But the actual cause was in another dimension. He admitted defeat, saying he could never beat Ji-an.

He probably would never be able to beat him. He didn’t even have the desire to try to beat him.

As Ji-an was smiling at these idle thoughts, Jeong Hee-seo added with a serious expression.

“Would you laugh if I said I even looked into… shamanic rituals?”

“Shamanic rituals?”

“If you had woken up just one day later, I would have squandered 500 million won. That’s what a shaman who does date readings for politicians charges.”

“Ahahaha—” Laughter burst out sporadically.

“You find that funny? Is that amusing?”

Jeong Hee-seo hugged Ji-an tightly. He pulled him into his arms until he was breathless and gently rocked him.

“Today, instead of going home, shall we two go on a trip far away?”

Ji-an tilted his head and pressed his lips to his cheek.

“What about Poggles? I left him with grandmother.”

“Well done,” he said, returning the kiss.

“Ji-an, today, let’s play just the two of us.”

The touch moving firmly below his waist and the increasingly deep kisses clearly showed his intentions, making Ji-an blush. His ears turned bright red as he wrapped his arms around Jeong Hee-seo’s neck.

With his brown eyes now sparkling without anything to hide, Ji-an pressed his forehead against Jeong Hee-seo’s.

“Okay. Let’s play, just the two of us.”

Their breaths mingled with the whisper. As if responding to Ji-an’s pheromone, Jeong Hee-seo’s pheromone also rose. Like a blooming rose bush in the middle of a dense forest, Ji-an leaned his body against him.

The happiness of the two people who had endured together through a whirlwind year, through all four seasons, was just beginning.

<Epilogue End>