“Mmm, I’m up. I’ll be out soon.”
“Okay!”
Thump-thump-thump, the sound of Hajo heading back to the kitchen echoed.
Hakyung yawned widely once more and turned to Muheon.
Then, he meticulously checked Muheon’s physical condition.
Muheon gave Hakyung a puzzled look as Hakyung sniffed around like a detection dog.
Hakyung lifted Muheon’s T-shirt, and a basinful of saliva collected in his mouth.
“Are you worried about me right now?”
“Of course, I’m worried! You moved so vigorously on the bare floor!”
“I’m fine. There’s nothing uncomfortable anywhere.”
It was a mouse worrying about a cat, or rather, a tiger.
Muheon chuckled softly at the river dolphin’s cute concern and, in turn, reached out to lift Hakyung’s shirt.
Sure enough, a blue bruise had appeared on Hakyung’s side.
Despite trying to be careful yesterday, he must have failed to control his strength.
Muheon clicked his tongue briefly, seeing that the bruise seemed like it would spread further with time.
It was already pitiful to see a bruise on such a small body.
Of course, if he could go back to dawn, he would do the same thing again.
Hakyung’s eyes widened in surprise as he saw the bruise on his side from Muheon lifting his T-shirt.
“Wow, this is the first time I’ve ever had a bruise like this.”
“Didn’t it hurt?”
“Not at all. It doesn’t even hurt now!”
Hakyung twisted his side this way and that, as if fascinated.
There was no muscle pain or discomfort. In a way, couldn’t it be considered a huge hickey?
Since it was a mark left from intimacy, whether by mouth or hand.
Hakyung, once again using his “manly” logic to dismiss it, grinned.
Muheon, whose lips had been curving up with Hakyung’s innocent smile, suddenly became serious.
He painlessly pinched Hakyung’s round nostril, issuing a warning.
“Why are you smiling when you have such a deep bruise? Don’t suggest doing it in a place like that again. Let’s eat quickly and go to the hospital.”
“Huh…? No, why the hospital?”
“You’re bruised. You need to see a doctor.”
Even a mother hedgehog wouldn’t be this overprotective.
Hakyung grabbed Muheon’s arm, which looked like it was about to run off right away.
It wasn’t a pain that prevented him from getting up, and if he went to the hospital for a mere bruise, it would obviously spread as gossip within an hour.
“Oh, the river dolphin family’s eldest came to the hospital after ‘doing it’?” and so on…
No matter how confident Hakyung was, he couldn’t leave such a humiliating record.
“Do you really want to spread rumors all over town? I’m absolutely not going. Let’s stop talking about this now. Let’s go eat! Grandma will scold us!”
As Hakyung hastily got up, Muheon reluctantly followed.
He wanted to buy medicine and apply it right away, but as Hakyung said, it was impossible in this village.
He made a plan that they absolutely had to leave for Seoul right after eating.
What greeted the two late sleepers was a lavish breakfast spread.
Hakyung’s mouth dropped open as he saw the whole boiled chicken for a breeding hen, prominently displayed in the center.
“Grandma! What’s all this?”
“What do you mean, it’s breakfast.”
“Boiled chicken for breakfast?”
Grandma, who didn’t answer Hakyung’s question, tore off a thick chicken leg and placed it on Muheon’s plate.
“Go on, try it. It’ll be delicious.”
“Thank you.”
Muheon bowed his head slightly and picked up the chicken leg.
Grandma also distributed a chicken leg to each of her grandchildren.
Hajo and Hawaon excitedly tore into their chicken legs.
“Wow, Grandma made something super delicious because we have a new family member, right?”
“Yeah! It’s not even a special day, and we have boiled chicken! Grandma, is there sticky rice with it?”
“Of course, there is. I’ll make you chicken porridge after you finish.”
Hakyung’s ears turned bright red at the conversation between Grandma and his siblings.
It wasn’t like his mother-in-law doting on a son-in-law, but the family’s blatant fussing over Muheon, right from breakfast, made him feel embarrassed and awkward.
Of course, he didn’t dislike it; he was just self-conscious.
Hakyung turned his gaze to Muheon.
Muheon had already finished the chicken leg Grandma gave him in a flash and was now picking at the breast meat.
Then, as if feeling Hakyung’s gaze, he raised an eyebrow.
“Is it delicious?”
“Yeah. Eat quickly. Should I debone it for you?”
Muheon, thinking Hakyung wasn’t touching it because it was inconvenient to eat, immediately began to debone Hakyung’s chicken leg.
The river dolphin family, watching from the side, interjected with exclamations of “Oh!”
Hakyung’s ear tips turned even redder.
Hakyung, who somehow ended up only eating the meat Muheon deboned, was able to finish his meal with the only clean hands.
It was while they were diligently eating fruit for dessert after the meal.
Hawaon, who couldn’t tear his eyes away from his phone screen, poked Hakyung.
“Oppa, Oppa!”
“Huh?”
“Look at this. This video my friends shared, it’s your song video?”
A video of Hakyung covering an idol’s song was shared in Hawaon’s group chat.
Since the video was filmed in a coin karaoke room, the colors and everything were blurry, but his clear voice remained the same.
“Are your friends fans of this idol too?”
“Yeah! That’s why your video keeps getting reposted. I’m trying so hard not to tell them it’s my oppa.”
Hawaon’s shoulders puffed up to the sky.
It was a reaction showing how incredibly proud he was of his brother, even if no one else recognized it.
***
Hakyung, feeling embarrassed once again, awkwardly forced a smile.
He knew how much his siblings had lamented his inability to sing instead of Kim Taeyoung, so their current reaction was even more touching.
He was also grateful for their consideration in not bringing up old stories in front of him.
“Just wait a bit. When I’m on vacation, I’m going to start uploading your videos seriously!”
“Really? Do you have more songs?”
“Yeah. You sang over ten that day. Right, Hyung?”
Hajo showed Hawaon the videos he hadn’t uploaded yet.
Hawaon squealed with delight, as if watching a real idol video.
Hakyung’s shoulders rose as he watched them.
Praise always made the river dolphin dance.
Muheon gently stroked Hakyung’s hair.
The talent to be loved by many purely through one’s voice was rare and precious.
“You like singing, and you’re good at it. That’s great.”
“Yes, yes. I feel really good.”
A hummed tune flowed from Hakyung’s lips.
Muheon, listening to his song, burst out laughing.
Even in the countryside, the nonsensical lyrics remained.
***
They successfully conveyed the wedding news to Grandma, and their life in Seoul continued smoothly.
Now, with the wedding next week, the major tasks would be complete.
These had been the calmest and most peaceful days he had experienced so far.
“Happy, happy, our house river dolphin is happy! H, a, p, p, y!”
Hakyung sang joyfully while cleaning the stairs.
His colleagues at the company had adapted enough that Hakyung’s singing had become their background music, making this possible.
He was singing happily when someone tap-tap-tapped him on the back.
If it were one of the Hyungs, they wouldn’t approach so cautiously… Who is it?
Hakyung quickly turned around.
Sure enough, an unfamiliar face was looking up at Hakyung from the bottom of the stairs.
A small woman with short bobbed hair was smiling brightly at him.
Her hair was so red that he wondered if she might be another sibling of Bugeunrim.
“Hello.”
“Yes, hello.”
Hakyung returned the bright greeting.
She seemed like a guest of his colleagues, but he didn’t know why she was on the stairs instead of in the office.
The customer’s smile widened as she saw Hakyung tilt his head.
She looked at Hakyung’s lips with excessively sparkling eyes.
“That song just now, you sang it, right?”
“Me?”
“I mean, those weird lyrics. The ‘Happy, happy’ part.”
Hakyung flinched at the woman’s brazenness in calling his lyrics weird to his face.
W-was it that weird?
The person who had thoroughly deflated the river dolphin, who had been lost in song, blinked as if she had just paid him an exaggerated compliment.
“What? Is that right? You sang it, right?”
“Yes, yes. I did…”
“Oh my goodness! You sing so well!”
The woman clapped like a seal and extended her right hand to Hakyung, saying, “Nice to meet you!”
Hakyung himself was quite prone to jumping from one topic to another, but this person’s topic-switching speed was as fast as lightning.
He had a feeling that if he took this hand, something big would happen.
As Hakyung hesitated, unsure what to do, a large shadow fell over both of them from above.
“What’s going on? I told you to come to the CEO’s office. Why are you here?”
It was Muheon.
Hakyung quickly turned around and climbed the stairs, standing right next to Muheon.
He looked like a cautious dog when an unfamiliar guest visits.
Muheon, with a familiar gesture, wrapped his arm around Hakyung’s shoulder.
He looked like an owner comforting a startled dog.
The woman, who had been staring at them, made a bewildered expression, then burst out laughing.
Hakyung looked up at Muheon, perplexed by the stranger who kept reacting in unpredictable ways.
Who on earth…?