For Ruby — Episode 15: A Puppy's规则 and Egg Rice Rules

"Ugh, r-right…."

With Ruby nuzzling his cheek against her shoulder like an affectionate mutt, Haeseo didn't know what to do with herself, blinking rapidly, her eyes fluttering open and shut.

Back when they'd lived at Baekrimjae—before she'd moved away with her grandfather—she and Ruby had actually been fairly close. With only the two of them as children in that enormous mansion, it had happened naturally enough.

But even when he'd been a little boy smaller than her, he hadn't seemed this clingy. For someone who had never once been like this his whole life, losing his memory must have been devastating enough to crumble him this badly.

The moment that thought landed, Haeseo's chest tightened.

That's right. How frightening it must be for him. And even in the middle of all that, he doesn't blame me at all.

She carefully lifted a hand and gave Ruby's broad back a single, tentative pat. Her awkward touch quickly found its rhythm, thumping his back in a practiced patter.

"Don't worry. I'll take responsibility—all the way to the end. I'll help you get your memories back."

"Really?"

"Yes. Of course."

"Thank you, noona~a."

Ruby, his mouth curling up until his dimples showed, threw his arms around Haeseo and squeezed. Trying to dodge that embrace was what had gotten her into this mess in the first place, but now that she was actually in it, it wasn't so bad. Whew. Letting out a small sigh at her own guilt, Haeseo wound her arms around him and hugged him back.

Pat, pat. Her small palm faithfully kept up its rhythm against his back. She remained blissfully unaware of exactly how slyly Ruby's eyes gleamed as he burrowed into the crook of her neck and breathed in.

My neck feels ticklish…. It's like a puppy's nose is touching me. Such was the dangerously unguarded thought she entertained.

That long, long night, Haeseo dreamed of a suspicious box containing a Doberman with drooping ears.

The poor thing had a spectacular body—muscles rippling everywhere—and yet it kept whimpering as though heartbroken. Feeling sorry for it, Haeseo hurried over. But somehow, the closer she walked, the bigger the puppy began to grow.

What? Or am I the one shrinking?

When Haeseo looked around, the thing that had clearly been a box moments before now loomed before her like a colossal wall.

Shrunk down to the size of a hamster, Haeseo panicked and tried clenching and unclenching her hands. No, at this size I can't—! Just then, a massive shadow fell over her.

Right, the puppy! Haeseo jerked her head up. Getting crushed like this would be disastrous. But what met her eyes was not a black dog.

It was Baek Ruby, in human form, wearing a dog collar.

Aaaaagh. A body several times bigger than the puppy's was toppling down on top of her. No, if he lands on me I'll die. Noooo—

BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.

Haeseo's eyes snapped open at the alarm, and her waist and legs felt unnaturally heavy. Her entire body was pinned under something rock-solid.

"Mmm."

She rubbed her bleary eyes and turned her head—and found herself staring at a face that was, even up close, impossibly small and achingly familiar.

"AAAACK!"

"Too loud…."

The scream had burst out of her entirely against her will, but Ruby merely scrunched his face in annoyance and, if anything, tightened the arm locked around her waist, hauling her firmly into his chest.

Haeseo's soft cheek pressed flush against Ruby's bare chest. Mmm. Every time he shifted in his sleep, the firm muscle squished her cheek this way and that.

"Ugh…."

She squirmed, trying to wriggle free of his embrace, but there was no escaping it. She wasn't even hamster-sized anymore, so why couldn't she push him off…?

Ah, whatever. I give up.

The moment she surrendered, the exhaustion still clinging to her body drained away all at once, and Haeseo fled back into sleep just like that.

Shaa, shaa. The two of them fell into a steady, overlapping rhythm of breathing.

"I think we need to set some house rules."

Clack. Haeseo set a heaping bowl of soy sauce egg rice down on the table and fixed Ruby with a hard stare.

Ruby, who had been summoned straight from the bed and was still mid-yawn, remained stubbornly shirtless.

"Yeah, yeah."

He answered without an ounce of sincerity and moved to sit down—but Haeseo grabbed the back of his chair, locking it in place.

"What now?"

"Rule number one: clothes are mandatory in shared spaces."

"Huh?"

Only then did Ruby seem to realize he wasn't wearing any, and he ran his palm absently over his collarbone.

How does he have zero shame even right after waking up? Unlike her, wrapped up head to toe in an apron over everything, Ruby stood there like a sculpture in nothing but gray sweatpants.

Which meant she could see everything. The magnificent upper body Haeseo so adored. The long neck beneath that small face, and the shoulders fanning out from it at a perfect right angle. Maybe that was why even the collarbones tracing down along his shoulder line looked disproportionately beautiful.

Beneath his jutting, squared shoulder blades stretched long arms and a broad chest. She'd felt plenty of it in her sleep—just how firm and warm those pectoral muscles were. Below them, his torso tapered steadily until waist and hips ran nearly in a straight line.

This was the first time she'd ever come face to face with him like this, bare-skinned. Haeseo's mouth had fallen open without her even noticing.

Pfft. The sound of dropping laughter startled her, and she snapped her lips shut.

"You like it this much, and I'm supposed to cover it up? Fine, I'll just keep being eye candy for you, noona."

"Then no breakfast for you—!"

Haeseo flailed, her face scarlet, and Ruby, done teasing, grabbed some random T-shirt out of the unfamiliar walk-in closet and threw it on.

He'd thought it already, pressed up close beside her all night, but Wi Haeseo was absurdly baby-faced. Not so much a hamster as a fist-sized ball of sticky rice cake. Had she somehow shrunk while he'd been growing taller and putting on muscle all these years?

In an excellent mood from having slept next to Haeseo, Ruby sat down at the table and eyed the spread in front of him. A mound of egg rice rose from the bowl like a small mountain.

"Isn't this a bit much?"

Still, she'd made it. Resolving to finish every bite, he picked up his spoon—only for Haeseo to blink at him in wide-eyed surprise.

"Oh—um, that one's mine."

She slid the mountainous bowl over in front of herself and set before Ruby a dish holding a single, exact portion.

"You eat that much?"

"Yep. You know I always have."

Even as she said it, Haeseo was watching him with a tentative, maybe…? look in her eyes. Clearly hoping something might surface. Ruby shook his head.

Phew. Haeseo let out a sigh, then scooped up an enormous spoonful and crammed it into her mouth, her cheeks bulging instantly as if her mouth were too small for it.

Haah. Nothing was coming back to him. Only unholy thoughts kept welling up instead.

"When you had a morning schedule, part of my job was coming to your place to make breakfast so we could eat together."

"Really?"

"You never had much of an appetite in the mornings. You said having someone eat in front of you helped you get it down, so I always ate with you."

Crazy woman. Posing it as work just to sneak in her own selfish little pleasures. Goddamn. Ruby twisted the corner of his mouth into a smirk.

"Why'd you make it yourself instead of ordering in? I like brunch, or porridge, stuff like that."

He'd worried she'd been run ragged all that time. But contrary to his intentions, Haeseo's face fell a little at his words.

"You said you wouldn't eat anything unless it was my soy sauce egg rice…."

Haeseo, who couldn't cook to save her life, had carried a quiet, well-concealed pride in that fact.

She'd been in and out of Ruby's kitchen constantly, but she'd never once made anything besides this—fried eggs laid over rice, dressed with soy sauce and sesame oil and mixed together.

After she'd admitted to herself that she loved him, it had even made her proud. Even after I'm gone, at least this egg rice will stay buried deep in Ruby's memory.

And all along, it was just a scheme to work me to the bone, huh. The very architect of his amnesia, now forced to hear a truth she'd never wanted to know—her heart ached.

The moment Haeseo's spoon began to slow noticeably, Ruby registered that something had gone wrong. What is it. Did she love soy sauce egg rice that much? Seeing that mountain of rice, honestly, maybe she does. Or is she worried I'm going to ban egg rice from this house?

Fuck, if you love it that much, eat as much as you want. Jesus. I thought a docile Haeseo would be easy to handle—what the hell is this.

From the tangled mess of his mind, Ruby finally dredged up the one sentence he'd picked clean, and said it low.

"Write down rule number two. Breakfast is egg rice. Every day."

Looking back, it was a line that wasted a perfectly deep, manly voice.