daffodil

11

After removing the bullet and carefully stitching the wound, Lee Han had already fallen asleep.

Seo Jaehee: “...Are you sleeping now?”

The area under his eyes was shadowed with deep dark circles, and he looked pale, as if the weeks since I’d last seen him had taken their toll.

Seo Jaehee: “.....Tch… I’ll let it slide…”

After carefully checking the bandage several times, Seo Jaehee, too, drifted off to sleep.
.
.
.
(The next day)

Lee Han opened his eyes to the cool sunlight streaming down.
It took him a little while to look around and figure out the situation.

Lee Han: “....Where is…”


Just as Lee Han tried to sit up, a sharp pain shot through his left shoulder and he sank back down.
His left shoulder was tightly wrapped in a white bandage.
Only then did everything from the day before begin to come back to him.
After the gunfight, he’d fallen into Seo Jaehee’s yard, and while Seo Jaehee was skillfully tending to his wounds…he’d fallen asleep.

Lee Han: “....Damn it.”


Seo Jaehee was still asleep beside him.
With both hands tucked under his head, the blanket covered him completely as he curled up.
Lee Han was about to pull the blanket over him when he lightly woke Seo Jaehee.

Lee Han: “...Jaehee, wake up.”

Seo Jaehee didn’t move at all, as if she were in a deep sleep.
That said, Lee Han, with his injured shoulder, couldn’t exactly carry Seo Jaehee elsewhere either.
That was when it happened.

Han Dongmin: “Miss Jaehee?”

Han Dongmin and Kim Donghyun, who had knocked and come in, met each other’s gaze.

Han Dongmin: “....Who are you.”


Kim Donghyun: “...And you?”


A strange tension crackled between the two men.
Seo Jaehee slept on, oblivious.

Kim Donghyun: “...Are you her fiancé?”

Han Dongmin’s face twisted.
Not just a fiancé, but “the” fiancé?

Han Dongmin: “...I am Miss Jaehee’s fiancé, yes, but what do you mean, ‘the’ fiancé?”


Kim Donghyun snorted, mocking Han Dongmin, then turned his gaze back to Jaehee.

Kim Donghyun: “Jaehee, wake up. The floor’s cold.”


Han Dongmin was annoyed by everything: his words being ignored, the sneer from the unfamiliar man, and even the familiar intimacy and tenderness shown toward his own fiancée.

Han Dongmin: “I asked who you are.”


Kim Donghyun just averted his gaze slightly and tossed out one line.

Kim Donghyun: “...I’m her older brother.”


At the word older brother, Han Dongmin’s expression darkened even more.
He had never even heard that Seo Jaehee had an older brother, and besides, the two of them really did look completely different.
But seeing Seo Jaehee still lying there on the floor with the cold dawn air rising up from it, he hurried into the room and checked on Jaehee first.
Carefully lifting Seo Jaehee into his arms, Han Dongmin moved cautiously and laid Jaehee down on the bed.

Han Dongmin: “...Since neither of us seems to want Miss Jaehee to wake up, let’s go talk outside.”

Kim Donghyun and Han Dongmin quietly left Seo Jaehee’s room.