Chapter 81: The Same Person
Son Suhyeon stepped into Ha Giyeon’s room and, rather than looking around, walked straight toward him. He approached the bed where Giyeon was lying and checked his complexion.
He’s asleep...
Ha Giyeon lay there without the slightest movement, eyes closed, face visibly more gaunt than usual. Whether he hadn’t rested properly or something else was wrong, he looked even worse than he had before coming home. Suhyeon reached to tuck Giyeon’s arm—resting awkwardly on top of the blanket—under the covers to make him more comfortable, when a small bandage on his arm caught his eye.
Not far from the bed, an IV stand was set up. It looked like he had been given fluids. Suhyeon began to worry—had he had a high fever? His gaze paused when he noticed a large bandage on the back of Giyeon’s hand.
“......”
The IV had clearly gone into his arm, so why was there such a large bandage on his hand? If they had trouble finding a vein and had to try the back of the hand, they would’ve used a much smaller bandage. But this one was so big it covered the entire back of his hand.
What kind of injury had this small body gotten this time...?
Suhyeon remembered how, the day before, while wiping Giyeon’s body with a wet towel, he had frowned at the stitched-up leg wound and tried to be even more careful. It must have been a serious injury from falling during soccer class.
A stitched leg, a body still burning with fever, accumulating wounds, and a family that only made things worse.
Everything in this house seemed to be tormenting Ha Giyeon. He was terrified that these once-indifferent people were now suddenly showing interest in him. When he was younger, he would’ve been happy to receive even a little attention—but now, even that attention made him so afraid that he kept his guard up at all times. The ones who neglected him and inflicted harm until fear took root—were the ones who called themselves his “family.”
In this house, Giyeon had always been treated as abnormal when compared to Ha Dohoon. He had been cast aside. Suhyeon, at least, had only been treated that way by complete strangers. But Giyeon... he’d been abandoned by the people he should’ve been able to rely on.
And now they stood beside him as if trying to become something meaningful. Why did that feel so revolting? If Suhyeon took his eyes off Giyeon for even a moment, it felt like he’d get hurt again. It made him anxious.