Be My Baby - Vol.2 Chapter 5 Part 2
It felt like he had dozed off for a moment.
Seonwoo, who had fallen asleep on the sofa for just a moment while waiting for Eungyo, frowned slightly at the somewhat familiar ceiling he saw when he opened his eyes.
The bluish walls of the ceiling and the familiar lighting.
Looking at that ceiling he had become used to seeing every time he opened his eyes, Seonwoo thought, I definitely slept in the living room, so why am I seeing the bedroom ceiling? And the next moment, he sat up with a start.
“Aaack!”
This was definitely the bedroom, and where he was lying now was the bed.
Scratching his head, wondering why he was here when he definitely slept on the sofa, he first checked the time on the clock.
6:03 AM.
It’s about time to get up and prepare breakfast.
“No wonder I feel hungry…”
Marveling at his instinct that woke him up when he was hungry despite sleeping so deeply, he carefully got up from the bed and gently pushed open the door.
Then he cautiously surveyed the living room.
Fortunately, the living room was empty.
There was no sign of life from the bathroom or dressing room inside the bedroom, and since the living room was empty too, he must be in the study.
Thinking that it wasn’t time for Eungyo to wake up yet, Seonwoo diligently left the room and headed for the kitchen.
Then, after checking the refrigerator, he started preparing another lavish breakfast.
He took out the marinated bulgogi and grilled it, heated up the leftover soup from the refrigerator, cooked bacon and prepared salad, toasted bread, brewed coffee, and took out pickled cucumbers, seasoned lotus roots, mustard kimchi, and various side dishes to set a full table. Just as the rice finished cooking right on time.
After confirming that the coffee had finished brewing, Seonwoo poured coffee into a mug, placed the cup on the table, and checked the time.
It was approaching 6:40 AM.
Thinking it was about time for hyung to wake up, he carefully went to the study and knocked on the door.
Then he spoke softly, almost whispering.
“Hyung, breakfast is ready.”
But there was no answer.
At this time, he would usually either come out first or at least make some noise, but the inside of the study was strangely quiet.
Just in case, he knocked on the door again, but still, there wasn’t the slightest sound.
“…Hyung?”
In that excessively quiet atmosphere, he carefully grabbed the doorknob of the study, turned it, and peeked inside.
But the inside was empty.
Everything was neatly in its place, tidily organized.
Blinking at the too-clean study scene with no trace of anyone having been there, he looked around again, but it was still empty.
Just in case, he left the study again and went into the bedroom, checking the bedroom, bathroom, and dressing room, but they were all empty.
The house was large, but unnecessarily spacious in each area, with only five rooms in total.
Bedroom, living room, study, dining room, and kitchen.
There were no other rooms at all.
Wondering if he might be in the fitness room on the second floor, he went up to the second floor, but he wasn’t anywhere in the house.
Then, thinking he might be in the parking lot, he went out the front door to the parking lot, but it was empty too.
“Huh…?”
He thought for a moment that maybe he hadn’t come home yesterday, but that wouldn’t explain why he had been sleeping in the bedroom.
As he wondered if he might be sleepwalking, he suddenly felt scared and quickly went back to the living room to find his phone placed on the table.
Then he hurriedly dialed his number and pressed the call button.
No matter how he thought about it, he had no memory of going to the bedroom himself, so he held his left hand over his pounding heart while holding the phone with his right hand and waited. After a moment, the call connected.
“Yeah.”
“Um, it’s Seonwoo…”
“I know. What is it?”
“Well, I woke up and you weren’t here today…”
As he tried to ask indirectly if he hadn’t come home yesterday, Eungyo quickly answered.
“I came in at dawn and left early. I have a lot of work, so I’ll be leaving for work at dawn and coming home late at night for a while.”
“Ah, I see…”
“Why? Did something happen?”
“I think I fell asleep in the living room, but when I woke up, I was in the bedroom.”
“I just moved you because you were rolling around in the living room.”
“I see…”
“No matter how tired you are, sleep in the bed. You should be picky about where you sleep. It’s not good to sleep just anywhere.”
“Yes…”
Sleeping on the lab sofa, on the floor in a sleeping bag, and even on the sofa when returning to the dormitory tired… He had gotten used to sleeping anywhere and actually slept well, so he hadn’t thought much about it, but realizing that hyung didn’t like that, he made a mental note to be careful in the future. Just then, he noticed that hyung’s voice sounded a bit rough.
“But, are you alright?”
“What?”
“Your voice sounds really tired…”
“I’m fine. It’s just because I’m busy.”
“…Are you coming home late today too?”
“I told you I’ll be busy for a while. I’ll be coming in at dawn, so eat dinner first and go to sleep. And think hard about the answer.”
At this homework given once again, Seonwoo sighed for the first time during a call with Eungyo, sounding displeased.
“Yes…”
“Well then.”
With those last words, the call abruptly ended, and Seonwoo, who had stopped in place for a moment, put the phone down on the table and plopped down on the sofa.
Then he scratched his hair.
While the homeowner was busy with work, coming in at dawn and leaving for work at the crack of dawn without even getting a few hours of sleep, here he was, a freeloader, thinking about preparing a hearty breakfast with meat, soup, and all sorts of side dishes.
“I wonder if he ate…”
Having heard that he hadn’t had dinner yesterday either, he felt guilty, sorry, and not good, sitting on the sofa, when suddenly overcome by intense hunger, he looked back at the dining room where a lavish table was set.
While he felt guilty, that was one thing, and since the food was already prepared, he had to eat it.
With a sense of duty that he must absolutely not waste food, he got up from his seat and headed to the dining room.
And thinking that tomorrow he should wake up earlier and prepare breakfast for him, he trotted to the dining room and emptied all the rice bowls set out, even finishing the breakfast prepared for hyung’s share.
Then he vowed that today he absolutely wouldn’t sleep and would wait for hyung.
However, the one who visited the house that afternoon was not Eungyo, but his secretary.
“What?”
“He says that since work has piled up, making commuting difficult, he’ll be moving around from a hotel. He asked me to bring clothes and shoes that he can wear for the time being.”
At the words of the man who suddenly came to the house around dinner time, Seonwoo tilted his head.
He knew who this was because he had seen him passing by with Eungyo every time he hung around Cafe Mila, so there was nothing strange about his message, but honestly, he was a bit surprised.
“…Um… a hotel?”
“Yes.”
“…Is it closer to the company?”
“Yes. It’s not only closer, but in case he needs to work overnight, he can work inside the hotel too. It’s a hotel just 5 minutes away by car, so it’s good for mobility.”
“Ah…”
Although it was said to be in the city, the distance between the company and this apartment was about 20 minutes during commute hours, give or take.
If it’s a hotel 5 minutes away, he can save 30 minutes round trip per day, and if overnight work is possible at the hotel, that’s understandable too.
Thinking that he also stays at the lab, sleeping on a sleeping bag when busy, Seonwoo nodded.
“I see…”
“I’ll pack the clothes.”
“Yes.”
Since he couldn’t pack his clothes anyway and didn’t know what he wore, he reluctantly stepped back and quietly waited in the living room for the secretary hyung to come out.
Thinking it would be sorted out in three or four days no matter how busy it was, he waited, but the secretary hyung who had gone into the bedroom came out with an unexpectedly large bag and about seven suits in a row.
Surprised by the luggage that looked like he was going on a long trip, Seonwoo stood up from the sofa and looked at the man carrying the luggage.
But he, not noticing that gaze at all, bowed his head politely and gave a final greeting.
“Then, I’ll be going now. I’ll see you next time, Doctor.”
“…Yes, goodbye.”
Even as he reflexively bowed in greeting, his gaze strangely wouldn’t leave that bag.
His mother and father, who are currently in Africa, often went on trips for seminars, lectures, and business trips, so he roughly knew how many days’ worth of luggage it was by looking at it, and usually that much luggage was for trips between ten days to two weeks.
Wondering if he wouldn’t be coming home for two weeks, he then shook his head thinking, ‘No, it can’t be.’
His father and mother’s luggage was that much with extremely few clothes packed, and hyung changes clothes every day… so that’s probably why there’s so much luggage, it’ll probably be a week at most, Seonwoo comforted himself.
But as one day passed, then two days, and three days, as the fourth day approached, he began to have an ominous feeling that he might not return for a very long time.
***
