“Sir, the doctor in charge recommended discharge.”
Lee Hyun’s eyebrows furrowed as he listened to Seungho’s explanation.
“Discharge?”
Lee Hyun muttered in a low voice. Anyone could tell that she was a patient, but he was saying things that didn’t make sense. He scolded Seungho with his eyes.
“In fact they said today was her discharge date…….”
At the word discharge, Seo-hee glanced around and opened her mouth. As her voice grew smaller, Lee-hyun’s black eyes sank into silence.
I guess there’s a problem I don’t know about.
He said she lost her memory, but it seems that even her minor habits haven’t changed. Lee Hyun touched his temple.
Seohee couldn’t meet my gaze whenever any petty issues involving both families came up.
As for our family issues, I couldn’t tell them to Jin Hee-young because most of them were excessively demanding, and I swallowed the things related to Song Yoo-sun and the Gayoon Group as if they were natural.
Hyun didn’t like the idea of acting like a criminal when he hadn’t done anything wrong, so on days like that, he would hug Seo-hee and make love with her especially roughly.
He kept his gaze fixed on her and pushed into her like a madman, as if he wanted to hear even a groan of excitement from her.
Would you understand if I said that I acted like a horny dog because that was the only way to appease myself? Lee Hyun felt a sense of intimacy with the Seo Hee he knew, but at the same time, he felt inexplicably angry.
“Speak up, Seohee.”
It’s okay. Hurry up.
Lee Hyun lifted the blanket that had fallen down as if comforting her. Then he gently touched the back of her hand with his fingers.
“Today is the day I’m discharged from the hospital. … … The cast came off… … .”
Seohee spoke slowly, slightly sticking out her left foot. She still seemed to be hesitating. Lee Hyun listened to her words patiently without complaining.
“But I don’t have money… … .”
Ha, Lee Hyun snorted as if to say that was the most shocking thing he had heard today.
“I decided to discuss it with the social work team later on.”
Seohee added her explanation, lowering her head as she was rejected several times, saying that even that could be difficult because her identity was not certain.
Lee Hyun’s black eyes were filled with a deep darkness, as if they were going to swallow everything floating in the air.
I kept my mouth shut for fear that all the pent-up emotions inside me would explode out, but Seohee continued to talk.
The corners of Lee Hyun’s eyes slightly rose.
The usual Seohee would have kept her mouth shut without adding any excuses or explanations. But the current Jin Seohee was talking at length. Lee Hyun nodded, saying that she could talk as much as she wants, because he was happy about that.
“When I woke up, two weeks had already passed. I waited for over a week for my memories to come back. They said it could be temporary since it was an accident.”
“They told you to wait?”
All you have to do is wait? Is that all modern medicine can do? Lee Hyun asked crookedly, unable to straighten his twisted lips.
“If your memory doesn’t return by the time you are discharged from the hospital, then there is no choice but to go to the police station and have them check your background… … .”
Seohee’s voice lost its strength again. Ah, the police station. Lee Hyun gently pulled up his chapped lips and wrapped his hand around Seohee’s back.
“I see, honey.”
It was my fault for wandering around without even finding you. Seungho flinched at Lee Hyun’s mumbling words.
If only the police had investigated sooner, they would have had less time to leave her all alone.
Lee Hyun thought as he rubbed her bruised wrist.
Ah, if that was the case, then those who tried to kill you would have rushed in after finding out that you were still alive. He swallowed the words he couldn’t bring himself to say and lowered his body again.
Neither Seo-hee suddenly disappeared, nor was she hit by a car on a national highway in Ganghae-si, where she had no connection with. None of it made sense.
How far is it from Hanseo to Ganghae? It was not a place she could come to, having literally disappeared without her car, wallet, or cell phone.
Just thinking about it made Lee Hyun’s face turn red.
“How about your body?”
What difference would it make if he asked the doctor when she was told to be discharged? Lee Hyun decided to ask Seo Hee directly. It would be a hassle to go all the way to Hanseo.
Seohee hesitated. Lee Hyun unconsciously brushed his neck. What was he asking to a person who always said she was okay? It was obvious that she would say she was okay even if she was sick, so he turned his head towards Seungho.
“Well…….”
Lee Hyun’s eyebrows furrowed at the slightly different answer. As Seo Hee bit her lips as if choosing her words, Lee Hyun reached out and pulled his hand back out of habit. This time, too, he waited patiently for her to speak.
“……I don’t know.”
I don’t know, that one word was enough. Lee Hyun interpreted it to meaning ‘It’s not okay.’
“Director Jeong.”
“When the doctor talked about discharge, he said that it wouldn’t be too difficult to move her around Hanseo. However, he said that it would be best not to stand for long periods of time or walk for more than 30 minutes for the time being.”
He nodded at Seungho.
“I will go through the discharge procedures and come back.”
After Seungho reported, he gave various instructions to the people behind him.
As Seo-hee touched her forehead while listening to the exchange of words about copies of medical records, details, and video records, Lee-hyun approached her in one stride.
“Does it hurt?”
Seo-hee shook her head with a blank expression. Lee-hyeon put the back of his hand on her round forehead, as if he didn’t feel reassured even after looking into her clear eyes.
As Seungho was leading the people out, a nurse came over and offered to remove the remaining needles.
Lee Hyun crossed his arms and stared at the back of Seo Hee’s hand without blinking. His eyes were sharp as needles, as if he wouldn’t let her off even if she left a single wound.
“Please press for about 5 minutes.”
The nurse spoke lightly and disappeared. Before Seohee could move her hand, Lee Hyun quickly approached her. He lowered his body and pressed the back of her hand.
How much time has passed?
Seohee, who had been watching his hand passing over hers without moving, averted her gaze.
“I think it’s time to stop.”
At Seo-hee’s words, Lee Hyeon lazily ran his hands over her lips as if he felt regret. He felt empty as the warmth he had felt under his palms disappeared.
“Sir, I think the secretarial team can finish the discharge procedures. Would you like to leave first?”
Seungho, who had come back after going out for a moment, said to Lee Hyun, who had one hand stuck diagonally in his pocket.
Seungho knew better than anyone that the longer the processing was delayed, the darker Seohee’s already pale complexion would become, and if that happened, Lee Hyeon would find it quite unpleasant.
“Clothes.”
Seungho handed him a neat shopping bag as if he had been waiting for it.
“I’ll have the car waiting.”
After Seungho left, Lee Hyun approached Seohee while holding a shopping bag.
“I don’t think you have anything suitable to change into.”
At Lee Hyun’s words, Seo Hee let out a short sigh. Her expression showed that she had not thought that she would need clothes to be discharged. She took the clothes and looked at the floor once and at Lee Hyun once.
“I’ll draw the curtains.”
While she was changing clothes, he opened the drawer next to him and saw a familiar one-piece dress. Seo-hee liked wearing white one-piece dresses so much that Lee Hyun thought she liked things like that.
Lee Hyun’s eyes, looking at the dirt on the bottom of the pure white one-piece dress, sank coldly.
The sleeveless halter-neck one-piece dress with dense frills was the one Seo-hee was wearing on the day Lee Hyeon went on a business trip.
When he was about to burst out like a dog, Lee Hyun got up and started walking with steady steps as if he was holding on to a weight.
It was an extremely silent walk.
Damn it.
Lee Hyun’s eyebrows furrowed fiercely.
He was feeling overwhelmed by his emotions, and rubbed his throat with one hand.
The one-piece dress was weakly crumpled in Lee Hyun’s hands.
“I’m all dressed up.”
Lee Hyun suddenly woke up from his thoughts at the sound of Seo Hee’s voice. He roughly packed Seo Hee’s few belongings into a shopping bag.
‘I thought it happened right before I got back from my business trip.’
It was a misjudgment. Everything happened on the day he left.
Lee Hyun was furious that he found Seo-hee not just a month after she disappeared, but after a six full weeks.
‘Who dared to do this to you?’
The anger that had been lingering in the corner of his eyes rose to his forehead. A deep line was drawn between his straight eyebrows.
Lee Hyeon pulled back the curtains, swallowing down the urge to grab Seo Hee’s shoulders and ask her what happened.
Seohee, wearing a neat beige one-piece dress, turned around and stumbled.
Seohee!
Lee Hyun’s face was more disgusting than the staggering person. When I hurried to help her up, she seemed flustered too, and grabbed Lee Hyun’s arm tightly.
“I feel dizzy for a moment… … It’s okay.”
After repeating the same action of blinking, and blinking, the hand that had been holding his arm went down. Hyun squinted his eyes as the spot where the warmth had disappeared felt empty.
As Seohee took a step forward, Lee Hyeon leaned in without hesitation.
“Don’t be surprised.”
Lee Hyun hugged her tightly as he watched her brown eyes grow wide.
“Ah.”
Seo-hee, who didn’t know what to do with her suddenly heightened field of vision, put her hand on Lee-hyeon’s neck.
It was a very long time.
The brown eyes that holds me, the shadowed eyelashes, the soft skin.
The small body he held in his arms, and the familiar smell.
A thick emotion, as dark and murky as a black pupil, came rushing in.
I want to touch her. I want to swallow her. My eyes were hot with the urge to bite her. My heart was pounding wildly as if the blood was rushing through my body.
At that moment, she blushed as if she had been painted with watercolors and hugged his neck as if she was pulling at his collar.
Then, as if running away, she buried her face in Lee Hyun’s shoulder. Thump thump, a loud sound of someone’s heart beating was heard.
