Chapter 89 (2/2)

But then he stopped. Those yellow eyes were still looking at him.

‘This cat…’

He recalled what he had said once. The cat had been staring at him from within someone’s arms. He frowned hard to recall who it had been. He blinked.

A series of images rushed through his head. All those smells he had detected, Myohan’s smell and another smell he’d never felt before then, and those yellow eyes flashing in warning. He grinned.

“I knew it.”

Then he said with confidence, what he had pretended to be ignorant of because he didn’t want to tell Myohan about it.

“You’re not a cat.”

Chookjae had been living with his grandmother for more than a decade. They didn’t have much money and had to get the government’s help, but he was still happy. His grandmother loved him and he loved her back. With her, he would be happy even in much poorer conditions.

“I’m home.”

He went home right after classes. Sinsul asked him to play soccer, but he turned him down flat because his grandmother was waiting for him.

‘I should massage her shoulders after we have dinner.’

He thought so as he entered his home, but it was too quiet there.

“Granny?”

His gaze went from the empty living room to his grandmother’s bedroom that was half open. He knew her. She never took a nap at that hour. It didn’t feel good, but he tried to dismiss the feeling as he went into his grandmother’s room.

“Why are you…”

What he saw first was his grandmother on the floor. Her face was deadly pale.

“Granny…”

Chookjae quickly went to her. He turned her with shaking hands. Her hands drooped. He took a deep breath as he held his unconscious grandmother. It felt like the world was crumbling from under him.

Only a few students were left in the classroom. Myohan and Shihuang never went down for lunch, and Yuja and Sinsul were listening in worry.

“So?” Yuja asked as he raised his glasses. They could hear Sinsul gulping hard. Chookjae had come to visit Class 1. He answered as he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes.

“I brought her home early in the morning.”

Three people let out a sigh of relief at the same time. One was from Yuja, another from Sinsul.

“What, Myohan?”

“….What?”

The last sigh had come from Myohan who had been listening to everything while pretending not to pay attention. Yuja looked like he couldn’t believe it, so he snorted. Myohan didn’t seem to care at all that he’d just been busted while eavesdropping.

“She just had a high fever because of a cold. She’ll be fine.”

He had been so surprised when he saw her unconscious. He thought she had passed away. It took him a little time to calm down and notice she was feverish. He called 119 and broke into tears. He wailed and wailed, and by the time the medical team got there, it looked like he was the patient.

She was his parent, guardian, and his only family. She had never been sick. He was sometimes scared of her and had never thought of her as weak. So now, the image of her pale face was embedded in his mind. He just couldn’t forget it.

“Well, that’s good.”

“Yes.”

Just thinking about it again made his heart beat faster. He had to take a deep breath. He hadn’t gotten a wink of sleep last night, and now the stress was coming to him.

“Then let’s go to your place and hang out!”

“Sinsul, sit.”

Sinsul got up with twinkling eyes, but Yuja made him sit down again and scolded him.

“She just left the hospital this morning, how can you be so rude?”

He sounded cold, but he was right. Chookjae scratched his cheek as he thought of how his grandmother had been perfectly fine by the time she got home. Nevertheless, she needed to rest. Sinsul quickly waved his hands.

“No, no! I didn’t mean…”

“Tomorrow.”

The three all turned at the quiet voice.

“Tomorrow, I’ll go with you.”

It was Myohan. He had gotten rid of his uninterested look and was looking straight at Chookjae. Chookjae looked at those twinkling eyes and nodded. He just couldn’t refuse.