When Your Pain Becomes Mine

Chapter 60: Chapter 60.

 

***

After the meal, Gyeonhui came out to the garden, sat in his chair, and looked out. It was hard because of Sun’s back pain, but he still focused on his dog, Terry. Terry was still looking at him with raised eyes like he was always afraid of Gyeonhui.

After a moment of thought, Gyeonhui pulled out the jerky made of cow liver that he had hidden behind him.

Gyeonhui was told that it was Terry’s favorite snack. Terry saw the jerky, instinctively raised his upper body, and responded. The light of hope was in Gyeonhui’s eyes, but Terry soon gave up on him, leaning back and only looking at the jerky with his eyes.

“Damn…”

He was frustrated with Terry’s reaction.

‘Drrrr.’

Then the door opened, and Ojae came out to the garden.

“Ruff! Ruff!”

Terry wagged his tail like he had been waiting for him, and hovered around Ojae.

“Hey. Knock it off. Stop tickling me.”

Ojae stroked Terry’s head as if he didn’t like it. As Gyeonhui watched them, Gyeonhui frowned.

“Are you sure this is what Terry likes?”

“Yes. That’s the one.”

“But why doesn’t he eat it?”

“Really? Give me that.”

Ojae handed over the jerky to Terry. Terry immediately bit the jerky, chewed, and swallowed it.

“He loves it, see?”

“He certainly didn’t eat it a second ago… huh…”

Gyeonhui sighed and frowned. Ojae, understanding the situation, approached him.

“So did you think that Terry was going to react differently at once? Think about what you’ve done to him.”

“What did I do to him!?”

He yelled and stared at Ojae. Terry, stunned by the yelling, screamed and hid in the corner.

“Look at that. You still have to try harder.”

Ojae ticked his tongue.

“What the hell do you want me to do?” He yelled.

“You can buy a dog with money, but the only thing that makes your dog wag its tail is by loving them.” Ojae gently stroked Terry.

“What?”

“They get panicked because you’ve suddenly changed. Everything needs to be adapted slowly with time.”

“Time to adapt?”

“Yes. Come and see.”

Gyeonhui reluctantly approached Ojae.

“Now, try again. Try to stroke him like this.”

Ojae gently stroked Terry’s head.

“Do you think I’ve not done this? I’ve tried it already.”

“I know. Try it again. Slowly, gently, sincerely. Come on.”

After scowling, Gyeonhui reluctantly reached out after contemplating for a moment. Terry, terrified, procumbent his body to avoid his hand and fell flat.

“Huh…”

Gyeonhui barely endured. He took a deep breath and slowly reached out again.

After a while, he finally managed to get a rough touch.

“Now slowly, gently. Not the way you want, make Terry feel comfortable.”

Ojae stressed once again. He carefully stroked Terry with all the patience in him.

“Right. That’s right.”

Gyeonhui didn’t like how Ojae was talking to him, but it was time to focus on Terry rather than Ojae.

After many minutes of petting the dog, Terry’s sensitive body grew a little softer.

Terry carefully reached out his tongue and cautiously licked Gyeonhui’s hand once in a while.

“Wow!”

Surprised, Gyeonhui, widened his eyes and looked at Ojae. Ojae nodded with a smile, seemingly knowing that this would happen.

“Now, go and play.”

When Ojae released Terry’s leash, Terry became excited and ran to the other side of the garden.

Gyeonhui looked at his finger that Terry licked just a little while ago and thought.

“… Was it too sudden?”

“What do you mean?”

Ojae had heard Gyeonhui’s words and asked, seemingly in doubt.

“… Yesterday, I told her to start all over.”

“What do you mean to start over? No way, you… to Sun?”

Ojae eventually understood and seemed surprised. Gyeonhui nodded silently with a firm expression.

“… What did she say?

It was hard to spit that out with his own mouth, so he bit his lower lip. The response itself already allowed Ojae to understand what was going on.

“I’m sure that she would have been surprised. I’m also astonished.”

“If she asks me to come or go, I have to do what she tells me. She also told me to wait until she calls me again. I’ve given her my whole heart, and this is what she does to me…”

Gyeonhui clenched his molars while he recalled what happened yesterday clearly.

“Huh? That’s what you always said.” Ojae bluntly responded.

“What?”

“Don’t you really remember anything?” Ojae seemed somewhat surprised.

If I say come or go, you’d better do what I say.

He had to obey the orders this time, but it was a familiar pattern of conversation between him and her.

“Oh…”

At the same time, he remembered that day he had forgotten.

She was looking at him in the cold rain and asked him what she had done wrong with her trembling voice.

His vision went blank like he had been hit in the back of his head with a hammer. Those words felt so different when he had said them compared to when he had heard them.

“Now… I know what I’ve done…”

He felt bitter and sore, as if his heart burned. He could hear the sound of cracking from his molars.

“… What should I do?”

Ojae looked at him with sympathy after hearing this.

“You have to approach her with all your heart. Sincerely, and slowly. Do your best.”

He held his throbbing thumb with all his strength like he had determined something.

***

After not sleeping well, Sun struggled to get back to sleep on the bed.

She tried to sleep a little bit more, but she couldn’t because of her back pain. Her abdominal pain would relax to some extent with some medicine, but her back pain was a different problem.

“Ah…”

She struggled to get up and headed to the kitchen.

Suddenly, when she looked into the mirror in the living room, she noticed her swollen eyes and how terrible they made her look.

She was fortunate to be able to rest all day without any appointments.

She started boiling water on the gas stove and put three colorful character heating packs in the pot.

“Huh…”

She took a few steps, but her eyes were stunned and dizzy. It was so hard for her even to stand, so she quickly returned to bed and fell down.

“Arf, arf.”

Labong squealed under the bed like he knew that she wasn’t feeling well. Sun reached out and placed Labong on the bed.

“You don’t need to worry about me. I’m okay.”

As Sun stroked Labong, he lay face down on her arm.

A warm, small weight was pressed down on her arm.

Feeling that she is not alone, she became calm.

“… Thank you.”

She gently stroked Labong and slowly closed her eyes. She fell into a deep sleep.

***

Gyeonhui laid on the living room couch and stared at the ceiling blankly.

‘Sincerely… with all my heart…’

It was easy to say, but it was totally up to him to show his sincerity.

No matter how much he thought about it, he always treated her with all his heart. Since Gyeonhui thought about her all the time, so he still met her while he was so busy, and he clearly expressed what he liked or disliked.

‘What the hell is it really, treating someone with all my heart?’

He had a headache.

“Huh…”

However, a sigh was slightly popping out of Ojae’s mouth. Gyeonhui looked up and saw Ojae, and Gyeonhui quickly turned his attention to his own thoughts.

“Auh…”

Again, Gyeonhui heard a sigh of frustration from Ojae.

“What is it?” He asked.

“What?”

“What’s going on?”

“No. Nothing.”

Gyeonhui raised himself up as he watched Ojae mumble the end of his sentence.

“Something’s going on with you. Tell me.”

Maybe it was because they’ve been together since childhood, but they knew each other better than anyone, especially regarding what they had in mind.

After a while, Ojae struggled to speak. “Because of Eunyoung…”

“… Kids Fans?” Gyeonhui recalled her after a moment and later asked.

Instead of answering, Ojae nodded slowly.

“What about her?”

“… She’s got some story.”

Gyeonhui furrowed his brow since he didn’t know what Ojae was trying to say. After a brief pause, Ojae struggled to speak.

“… She’s divorced.”