Flowers Are Bait

Chapter 98:

Chapter 98:

“I was worried sick about you all night!” Choo-ja exclaimed through the phone. Her voice was so loud that Lee-yeon had to keep her phone away from her ear to protect it from the shouting. She could hear Choo-ja sniffling on the other end of the line, but she didn’t mention it, and, eventually, the shouting paused when Choo-ja stopped to blow her nose.

“Then Chae-woo called me last night while you were sleeping to tell me that you only had a few minor injuries,” Choo-ja said in a quieter voice. “He was so calm when he told me not to worry.”

“Ah,” Lee-yeon said into the phone, nodding. It had only been a few minutes since she woke up and, while it had surprised her when she found that it was already noon, that wasn’t what bothered her.

What bothered her was the fact that, when she had woken up alone, she checked her phone to find that she had slept through ten missed calls. She wondered how much longer she could’ve been asleep if Kwon Chae-woo hadn’t entered the room just then so that she could answer Choo-ja’s call.

“I’ll be right there,” she told Choo-ja. Her eyes drifted to the shopping bags that Kwon Chae-woo carried. “It’s the memorial day.”

“Don’t worry about it!” Choo-ja told her. “Take it easy. It could’ve been your memorial day, you know.”

Lee-yeon shook her head. “No, I’ll be there,” she said. “You shouldn’t be alone.”

They said their goodbyes and Lee-yeon ended the call quickly. Her legs ached when she tried to move, but, other than that, it wasn’t too bad.

“Where did you go?” she asked Kwon Chae-woo.

He looked down at her hospital gown. He was just looking but his gaze had such a tight grasp on Lee-yeon that she could almost feel it. “Well, you can’t go out like that,” he said simply. He reached into the bag and handed her a set of undergarments.

Lee-yeon took the intimate pieces quickly and meekly hid them behind her back. “How did you pay?”

Kwon Chae-woo scoffed at her and frowned. “The shops below the hospital have everything,” he told her. “I just billed them to our room.”

“But,” Lee-yeon paused as she furrowed her brows, “you’re a patient, you know. Why did you wake me up? I could’ve handled all that.”

Then, Kwon Chae-woo pulled her close and wrapped his arms around her waist. “You can’t just go all innocent on me out of nowhere.”

Lee-yeon hit him on the back as if she was scolding him. Kwon Chae-woo couldn’t hold back his laughter.

He realized that he liked everything about her. He liked the way that she cared about people, even when they didn’t seem like they were coming back. He liked her innocence, and he didn’t want to let her go. He didn’t care about any memories he might’ve lost because he was certain that he had gained something much more valuable.

“I think only stupid people would take their d!ck out when someone is swollen,” he teased her.

She glared at him playfully. “Chae-woo, there’s such a thing called manners, you know.”

“I’d rather do it every day with you than have any manners at all.”

Lee-yeon blinked at his words. She looked like she was about to say something, but she had forgotten.

“Do you not like it?” Kwon Chae-woo asked.

Lee-yeon shook her head. “It’s not that,” she said. “It’s just that... it hurts after.”

Kwon Chae-woo frowned. “I didn’t want to compare but...” he trailed off. “Am I not good anymore?”

Lee-yeon couldn’t find the right words to tell him how she felt.

“I don’t know much,” Kwon Chae-woo admitted. “I just go at it like a dog without any skill, I know. If you want, I’ll learn first. We won’t do it as much... Would that be better?” He closed his eyes guiltily.

“That’s not it!” Lee-yeon burst out, her face turning red. “It’s not that at all! It’s not your fault or anything.”

“Then what is it?”

Lee-yeon looked away as if she was embarrassed. “You’re just... too big for me. I just hoped you’d go a little easier on me, that’s all.”

“I knew it,” Kwon Chae-woo said. He looked at Lee-yeon seriously. “Don’t go out without me.”