Ten Weeks of Care
Wow, it’s been a while. This screen….
The familiar UI felt comforting. True to a failed app, nothing had changed or been updated in the months since.
The memory of those days softened the frozen set of her lips into a smile. There had been a time when they’d talked on this thing all day long….
“Is there a restore button?”
“This one?”
“Yeah. Hit it.”
The moment she pressed it, the grayed-out chat rooms sprang back to life.
“They’re all back. Holy shit, we’re saved.”
“Good enough?”
So… was it resolved now? Ji-eum waited quietly, watching Kwon Beom-ju scroll through the old chats, eyes flicking. Every time he rubbed his chin, the pure gold on his finger flashed. The sharp edges of his gaze were slowly easing. She let out a quiet breath of relief.
“Then… now….”
Ji-eum carefully held out her hand.
Beom-ju seemed to have cooled off, and her Educational Technology lecture was about to start; she needed to head inside.
“Give me the drink back. I’ll grab you a fresh one. That one’s from Seung-jo, so….”
She stretched her arm toward the can.
“What?”
Beom-ju had been about to hand it over without a fuss, but the instant he heard her words he jerked his arm high into the air. Eyes wide, he looked like some kind of demon had possessed him.
What’s with him? Hadn’t the mood just settled?
“Ah, so this is the one that bastard gave you earlier?”
Ha, has he actually lost it?
“It’s mine. Give it.”
He completely ignored the firm hand she thrust out again, acting as if he might fling the raised can behind him. Flustered, Ji-eum hopped up trying to snatch it, but it was hopeless.
“Give it here, I said give it!”
She rose onto her tiptoes and waved her hands wildly, but it did no good. After a few more futile reaches she gave up and glared up at him with cold eyes. Beom-ju didn’t look away.
Sparks crackled between their locked gazes.
“Hey. Didn’t you say it yourself on ThumpPle? You clearly told me you hated this stuff.”
He was right. She had said that back then. Why did this guy have such a terrifying memory?
“So? I’m still going to drink it.”
“You’re going to drink it? Wow. I was originally going to give it to you, but now I really can’t.”
This time Beom-ju retreated in quick strides. With those long legs, each step covered serious ground; in an instant he was pulling away from her.
“Why are you taking someone else’s stuff?”
A few passersby glanced over at the rising voices.
What am I even doing…? Normally she would have given up and let him go by now, but somehow stubbornness flared up inside her.
“Give it!”
“Are you an idiot? That bastard doesn’t even know what you hate!”
“W-what….”
The bull’s-eye hit made Ji-eum’s voice tremble. All the quiet hurt and disappointment she’d been nursing alone—Beom-ju had seen straight through it in one glance.
“You were so damn wistful about it I figured he must be insanely handsome…! But looking at him earlier, his face was just meh?”
“So what does that have to do with anything…! Hand it over!”
“Don’t wanna.”
Wow, talking to him is completely useless. Unable to hold back any longer, Ji-eum strode toward him. The moment she reacted, Beom-ju sped up, moving backward as if daring her to catch him. Eyes and mouth both laughing, he was clearly enjoying this. Furious, Ji-eum refused to lose and closed the distance.
She had chased him right up until only one step remained between them.
“Hurry up and give it, or else….”
“Hey….”
The smirk vanished from Beom-ju’s face in an instant.
“Hurry….”
“Hey!”
Just as Ji-eum stopped with that final step left, a huge shout slammed into her ears—and Beom-ju casually flung the drink can aside and shoved her hard out of the way.
KWAANG…! A dull, heavy impact exploded against her eardrums.
“What was that just now….”
Dazed, she lifted her head. An unbelievable scene slowly came into focus. The spot where she had been standing mere seconds ago was complete chaos.
A kickboard sprawled across the sidewalk blocks, a stranger, and next to the kickboard a massive figure lying crumpled….
“Kwon… Kwon Beom-ju….”
Ji-eum clutched her shaking legs and somehow managed to reach him. A curse thick with pain rode the spring breeze to her ears.
“…Ugh, fuck.”
“A-are you okay? Snap out of it! Open your eyes properly!”
She pressed close and gave him a light shake. Beom-ju covered his face with his huge left hand.
“Ah…. Don’t look at me….”
“No, move your hand! Kwon Beom-ju! Kwon Beom-ju!”
“Quiet down a bit.”
Students on campus were flocking over like clouds at the sudden accident. The murmuring grew louder, yet no one stepped forward. Ji-eum gripped Beom-ju’s shoulder—his whole skin flushed red from the pain—and shouted through tears.
“Over here! Someone call 119! Hurry!”
Stepping out of the emergency room doors, Ji-eum walked the sunlit street beside a Beom-ju who already looked noticeably thinner. The sky was high and blue; forsythia and magnolia were shyly bursting into bloom. The pastel warmth of the scenery stood in complete contrast to the midwinter Siberian chill between the two of them.
“…….”
Ji-eum glanced up at Beom-ju, who hadn’t spoken a word since being brought to the hospital. The thick cast on his right arm seemed to bother him; he kept shifting awkwardly.
The image of him being carried on the stretcher still flickered before her eyes. He was so enormous it had taken three paramedics just to lift him. Absolute pandemonium.
The result: ten weeks of recovery, compound multiple fractures of the right hand.
“You’ll need to be careful for a while. Moving it will only make the cast period longer.”
Why did he have to get so obsessed over someone else’s drink… she thought, then the guilt crept in that this whole mess had happened because she’d deleted the app and left him waiting under the wisteria.
“I’m sorry. No, thank you. No, I’m sorry…. Anyway, because of me.”
She was still searching for what to say next when Beom-ju, who had been trudging along, suddenly stopped dead in the middle of the road. Then he spun his huge body around and stared straight at her.
Meeting those flashing eyes, Ji-eum swallowed hard without meaning to.
“Is that all?”
“…….”
She genuinely didn’t know the right words. Saying thank you for saving her and getting hit by the kickboard in her place felt awkward; saying sorry when she hadn’t even been the one who hit him felt equally strange. But the fact that Beom-ju had gotten hurt trying to protect her was undeniable.
“It happened because of me, so I’ll make it up to you.”
“Just with words?”
She followed the short chin-jerk of his reply and looked down. The thick cast swayed. She had never intended to brush it off with talk alone. While waiting outside the ER she had already thought of something.
“Um…. I want to do something to cheer you up? Or, show my gratitude….”
Luckily the part-time wages she’d been saving for a Europe trip were still untouched. The kickboard rider who caused the accident had already contacted the insurance company, so compensation wasn’t a worry—but separately from that, Ji-eum felt a moral responsibility. She was determined to do whatever she could.
“I don’t really know. How much would be enough?”
A hundred thousand won? No, two hundred thousand? No. He’s my savior—spend a little more. Okay, five hundred thousand. She settled on the amount inwardly. She wanted to give more, but with electricity bills rising this was the realistic limit. Even this was a huge sum for her. Five hundred thousand was basically a month’s rent….
“Hey.”
“Huh? Ah! Sorry, I was spacing out…. Um, can you give me your account number? Just a sec, I’ll put it in my phone….”
As she reached for her phone to take a note, Beom-ju waved his casted arm back and forth in front of her.
“Ugh, shit….”
Pain was plain on his furrowed brow.
“Someone got hurt and you’re trying to settle it with money?”
“Huh?”
“It happened because of you, so you need to take proper responsibility.”
“Re… responsibility?”
“Yeah, responsibility. Don’t think you can brush it off with some pocket change. What, planning to just run off again?”
The bull’s-eye made Ji-eum ask carefully, looking sheepish.
“Then how am I supposed to take responsibility?”
“With your body.”
…Body? Ji-eum stared at him blankly, her gaze traveling from his head down to his feet and lingering for a moment on his thighs.
Seeing the clearly defined contours, she jerked her head up in shock.
“With my body… what exactly does that mean…?”
Surely not. The cautious question made his casted arm twitch restlessly. Every time it moved, the gold ring glittered brilliantly in the sunlight.
“Ha…. You’re filthy-minded, you know that?”
Beom-ju let out a hollow laugh.
“Hey. What are you thinking? Nurse me.”
“Nurse you?”
“Yeah. Until I’m all better. I can’t use my right hand.”
“…….”
Out of nowhere, nursing him. They’d said the full cast would come off in four weeks at the earliest, then switch to a half-cast or brace with physical therapy. The whole treatment process totaled ten weeks.
“…You’re telling me to nurse you for ten weeks?”
Is he serious? Ji-eum asked again, staring hard at Beom-ju’s face. She examined it carefully for any hint of teasing. But Kwon Beom-ju’s expression was utterly serious.
“So I’m supposed to live with just my left hand?”
“…That won’t work.”
This guy is completely serious.