76 – In the Infirmary (3)

With a rustling sound, Hayoon groggily opened her eyes. She couldn’t even remember when she had fallen asleep. She had been curled up, covered with a blanket, with her eyes closed for a long time, and then she must have drifted off.

As she blankly pondered this, she felt a gentle tapping on the blanket covering her. It wasn’t a touch meant to wake her, but rather a habitual patting, as one would give a sleeping child. From that touch, she immediately knew who it was.

Only one person would treat her like that in this place. She straightened up from her curled position and lifted the blanket, revealing Kim Seonah, who was looking at her with surprised eyes.

“…Kim Seonah.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. Did I wake you?”

“No, it’s not that.”

Of course, she had woken up to the sound of her coming in, but Hayoon shook her head and said in a subdued voice. Then, she paused for a moment before slowly uttering,

“…Your duty is over, I guess.”

“Yes. It’s almost dawn. More importantly, Hayoon.”

“What?”

“…Did you, perhaps, cry?”

“Wh-what?”

At those words, Hayoon quickly wiped her eyes with her hand. But there was no moisture left, nor did she feel any tear tracks.

Confirming this, Hayoon breathed a sigh of relief inwardly and said,

“Th-there’s no way. And why would I cry? I never even cried when I was a man!”

“But you cry and wail every time you get punished or during Mr. Choi’s afternoon lessons—”

“Sh-shut up! That can’t be helped!”

It was inevitable that tears would come out when she was punished because it hurt, and during Mr. Choi’s lessons, which mostly involved sexual acts. Her tear ducts seemed to malfunction and pour out tears whenever she felt pleasure, so what was she supposed to do?

As she shouted with a flushed face, Kim Seonah chuckled and said,

“I’m just kidding. More importantly, how’s your back?”

“…The pain has subsided a bit since I took the medicine.”

“That’s a relief. So trying to get the medicine wasn’t a completely useless endeavor.”

At those words, Hayoon recalled her kissing the medic. The intense and deep kiss. And the subsequent… passionate lovemaking. Remembering those things made her feel down again.

“You don’t look well. Are you okay?”

Seeing Hayoon’s dark complexion, Kim Seonah asked with a worried expression. Normally, Hayoon would have brushed it off, but she didn’t want to do that now.

Hayoon pressed down on her throbbing chest with her hand and slowly opened her mouth.

“Hey, Kim Seonah.”

“Yes, Hayoon.”

“Stop calling me ‘Hayoon-ssi’ now. And drop the honorifics.”

“…Why all of a sudden?”

It wasn’t exactly sudden, as she had asked Kim Seonah to speak casually before.

She had let it go back then, saying it was a habit, but she didn’t want to now. Besides, just because it was a habit didn’t mean she couldn’t change it. She spoke casually to Hongryun and Jin Siwon just fine.

And more than anything, she didn’t like the way it felt distant. If she were only speaking informally to Hongryun, Hayoon wouldn’t have said anything.

But Jin Siwon speaking casually meant that the distance between them had lessened, didn’t it? Hayoon didn’t like that.

However, she was too embarrassed to say all of this, so Hayoon spoke with an unnecessarily angry voice.

“Just do as I say!”

Kim Seonah didn’t answer, but stared at Hayoon with wide eyes. Then, she crookedly raised the corner of her lips and said,

“Then Hayoon should also stop calling me ‘Kim Seonah’ so formally and just call me by my first name.”

“Wh-what?”

“Come on, hurry. Say ‘Seonah’—”

“Why should I?!”

“Then I’ll just keep doing what I’ve been doing.”

Kim Seonah said with her arms crossed. Hayoon looked at her with a flustered expression at her uncharacteristically firm attitude.

‘This can’t be happening…’

Considering Kim Seonah’s usual demeanor, this kind of reaction was completely unexpected.

She had thought that even if she was a little flustered, she would soon listen to her, but instead, she was making demands?

Hayoon moved her lips as if to say something, but closed them again after seeing Kim Seonah’s expression. It didn’t seem like she would change her mind unless she accepted her demand.

In the end, it was Hayoon who surrendered first. She repeatedly clenched and unclenched her fists, unable to hide her nervousness, before slowly opening her mouth.

“Se-Seon-ah…”

Kim Seonah almost burst out laughing at the voice that was not only trembling but also as small as an ant’s. However, she managed to swallow her laughter with superhuman patience and tilted her head, asking,

“I can’t hear you, your voice is too small.”

“Th-there’s no way! I definitely said it!”

“Even if you say that, I really didn’t hear you. Could you say it again, clearly and distinctly?”

“Guh…!”

Hayoon’s face turned bright red and she trembled before opening her mouth.

“Se-Seonah…!”

“Haha!”

Kim Seonah couldn’t help but burst out laughing at the voice that even cracked from how nervous she was. Hayoon, who had been blankly staring for a moment, trembled and said with a flushed expression,

“Y-you laughed, didn’t you?! You have no idea how hard it was for me to say that!”

“But Hayoon is so funny and cute.”

“Cu-cute?!”

“And why is it so hard to just say my name?”

“Because it’s embarrassing, obviously!”

Hayoon had never called anyone by their first name alone in her entire life. She had always used their full name in a formal manner, so calling someone by their first name alone felt very awkward and embarrassing.

Of course, this was an emotion that Kim Seonah couldn’t understand at all. As she giggled, Hayoon punched the innocent pillow and said,

“Anyway! I did it, so you call me casually too!”

“Okay, Hayoon. Is this how it’s done?”

“…You’re annoying!”

Hayoon punched the pillow again at Kim Seonah’s natural way of speaking, unlike her own trembling attempt. Kim Seonah smiled and asked as Hayoon punched the pillow, sending feathers flying.

“But really, why did you suddenly tell me to speak casually? You’ve never said anything before.”

“I have said something before, I told you to speak casually before, didn’t I?”

“Did you? Well, it’s true that you didn’t say anything.”

That was true. Even though she had said that, she had let it go when Kim Seonah said it was a habit. But she didn’t want to tell her the whole truth. As Hayoon stopped punching the pillow and remained silent, Kim Seonah sat on the bed and said,

“Tell me. Why did you suddenly feel that way, huh?”

“…Were you always this cheeky?”

“I’m just acting the same as always?”

Just changing from honorifics to casual speech made her feel a bit cheekier. As Hayoon was thinking that, Kim Seonah moved closer and urged her on.

“Don’t change the subject. What happened?”

“I just thought it wasn’t nice that you only spoke casually to Jin Siwon while always using honorifics with me.”

“You speak casually to Hongryun too, though?”

“That bitch isn’t someone I’m close to.”

“That’s true, but is that all?”

At those words, Hayoon looked at Kim Seonah with a puzzled expression.

“Is that all… what else should there be?”

“I saw you. I saw Hayoon peeking through the curtains.”

Hayoon’s body jumped at the words whispered in her ear as if telling a secret. She looked at Kim Seonah with a flustered expression, and she raised the corners of her lips and said,

“Why are you so surprised? We even made eye contact, there’s no way I wouldn’t know.”

“Th-that’s true, but…!”

But she didn’t expect her to say it directly. As Hayoon swallowed those words, Kim Seonah sighed and grumbled.

“Really, I told you to go to bed early because I didn’t want to show you that, but you even secretly peeked… I’m disappointed in Hayoon.”

“How could I sleep in that situation!”

“That’s true. But you could have just pretended not to know.”

It’s not like I wanted to do it. Kim Seonah said that before whispering in a subtle voice.

“Or, did you want to see it?”

“Ugh…! There’s no way!”

“They say strong denial is strong affirmation~”

Hayoon clenched her fists and trembled at the teasing words.

I can’t just punch her. Whether she would obediently take it or not was another matter, and her words weren’t entirely wrong, so Hayoon sighed and released her clenched fists and said,

“That’s enough about that! Mr. Gan isn’t here, so go back to the dorm—”

“Are you really going to stop here?”

“What are you talking about?”

“You still haven’t properly said it. Why you suddenly felt like telling me to speak casually.”

“I told you. It’s because you only do it with Jin Siwon—”

“Hayoon.”

Hayoon flinched as Kim Seonah grabbed her clenched hand and moved closer.

“Wh-what… why are you suddenly setting the mood?”

“Let’s be honest with each other.”

“I’m being honest now. There’s nothing else…”

“Really? That’s all there is to it?”

Hayoon rolled her eyes back and forth at the words that kept asking for confirmation.

Then, she squeezed her eyes shut and muttered.

“…No.”

“If not?”

“I-I was jealous… of you doing those things with Mr. Gan…!”

What on earth is this girl making me say! Hayoon thought as she continued to speak.

“It felt like I was losing you to that damn guy, so that’s why. Jin Siwon was just an excuse… I just, I didn’t like you doing that in front of me… that’s all it was.”

“Does that mean… you like me?”

“Like…”

No. Hayoon, who was about to say that, took a deep breath and opened her mouth.

“Maybe, I think so.”

Whether that was a feeling of affection or a feeling of love was uncertain. It had only been about ten days since she had met Kim Seonah. She didn’t know if time was important for emotions, but it couldn’t be completely unrelated.

But it was too much to package this as affection. As Hayoon answered and closed her mouth tightly, Kim Seonah moved even closer.

Shoulder to shoulder, a distance where their chests slightly touched. And a distance where their faces would touch if she lowered her head, Kim Seonah whispered.

“Then, do you want to kiss me?”

“Ki-kiss…?”

“Like you did with Mr. Gan.”

Like she did with Mr. Gan. Hayoon’s face flushed as she muttered.

“A lo-lover’s kiss…”

“…Now that I hear it like that, it’s a little embarrassing. I don’t know how that person said those words with a straight face.”

“Ugh…!”

At those words, Hayoon glared at Kim Seonah, rolling her eyes. Didn’t that mean that she was embarrassed by what she had just said? But she didn’t care and put her hand on Hayoon’s cheek, turning her head and making eye contact before saying,

“So, are you going to do it or not?”

“….”

Instead of answering, Hayoon slowly nodded. As if she was very embarrassed.

Author’s Note

The infirmary part ends here.

Thank you for the sponsorship, Blessing!!!

I will write hard!!!