Cough. Cough. Cough. Kim Byeong-Ho coughs as soon as he wakes up. He searches for the switch and turns on the light.
"You're awake." Kim Areum, who is entering her brother's bedroom, She was sitting in the living room when she heard him coughing.
Byeong Ho blinks and rubs his eyes for them to get adjusted to the room's light.
"What are you doing here? How long have I been asleep? What time is it?" Byeong Ho asks his sister. He was searching for something while still on the bed.
"Stevie called me, telling me you had collapsed upon returning home after spending the night outside. Looking for your phone?"
"Mhm. Where is it? Do you have it?"
"No. It's in the living room. Let me go and bring it to you."
Areum returns with the phone and gives it back to her brother.
He looks alternately at his phone, then back to his sister questionably.
"Yes. Yes. I turned it off. Some numbers kept calling nonstop. We didn't want to disturb your sleep. I think the person dialed the wrong number, though."
He didn't say anything. He switched the phone on and put it down after checking the time before getting out of bed.
There was a thought niggling at the back of his mind that he's forgetting something. He felt like whatever it is that he's forgotten is important, but he couldn't put his finger on it.
"Argh." He massages his aching forehead.
Knock. Knock. Knock. Stevie knocks on his door.
"Come in, Stevie." Areum responded. "What is it?" Areum asks.
Stevie turned to Byeong Ho and said, "Sir, you left your other phone at home when you stepped out last night. I thought you might want to return the calls."
Byeong Ho takes his main personal phone from Stevie and dismisses him before he checks and sees the countless texts and missed calls.
Most were from his friends who were out of the country, spending their vacation holidays all across Europe.
His father will only allow him to have half the vacation period to himself. Which will start in a week.
Right now, he still has to work at their company for a week more before he goes on his vacation holiday too.
For him, he plans to go to the Maldives for his short holidays.
It's ten minutes to five o'clock in the evening already. He still felt like he'd forgotten something, but since he couldn't remember, he decided to go and bathe first before anything.
He nodded and threw the phone on his bed before turning to his sister. "Aren't you leaving? Or you're going to stand there and watch me change?"
"Ew. Gross. Why would I want to watch you change?" Areum grimaced at the visualization that her mind conjured up from the absurd comment from his brother.
She kicks him in the knee, making her older brother fall back onto his phone on the bed before turning to leave the room.
"Ouch!" Byeong Ho gave a short laugh and brought the phone off the bed before putting it on his nightstand, as he should've done earlier.
He got up from the bed again and went to the wardrobe to change into a bathrobe before heading into the washroom.
"I'm sorry that my messages came to you instead, disturbing your peaceful night..." Byeong Ho turns the shower off immediately those words echo in his mind.
This! This is what he's been trying to remember since waking up but couldn't recollect.
How could he forget something of such importance? How was he able to even forget he weird turn of events last night?
He felt somewhat embarrassed just thinking of what had happened between him the boy. How could he have allowed things to get to that extend?
The latter part of their encounter that night...
(From this part to Chapter 22, are all a Flashback of their first encounter that night. You can skip it and continue from there. It will still make sense. It's only for those who want details.)
"Aahhh." Doyun groaned in pain as he laid down on the bed he had made on the floor.
Byeong Ho was unable to sleep because the younger guy had been tossing and turning since he laid down.
He rolled to the edge of the bed and looked below at Doyun from up there, who had his hand on his forehead and kept groaning. He seemed to be in pain.
"Hey! Are you okay? What is wrong?" Byeong Ho asked but got no answer.
"Hey, are you okay? Do I need to call the ambulance?" He asked him again but still got no response.
He wanted to tap him, but he is someone who is quite concerned about one's personal space, so he didn't know if the guy would like that.
"Aahhh." Doyun groaned again; his headache was becoming worse. The heat has spread to the rest of his body, and he feels really feverish and quite weird.
As the younger guy continued to toss and turn on the floor in pain, Byeong Ho also started to worry.
He stretches a hand to tap the groaning guy and to ask him whether or not he wants to be taken to the hospital.
But the guy turned abruptly, and his hand that was placed on his forehead earlier hit Byeong Ho's against the side of the bed.
The action caused Byeong Ho to lose his balance, and he ended up toppling down onto the poor guy, who was already in pain.
"Ouch! Ahh." Doyun shouted in pain as the heavy body fell on him, their faces and noses clashing together.
"Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. I didn't mean for this to happen." Byeong Ho frantically apologized as soon as he pulled his head up but was still fully lying on top of the younger guy.
He was taller and more muscular, so he needed to get off the poor guy as quick as he could.
"I'm really sorry. I just wanted to check." He said as he tried to get off the younger guy. But...
"Shhh." Doyun shushes him up and places his thumb on Byeong Ho's lips as he firmly holds the older guy in place by the waist.