A Rather Different Life.
The Doctor.
The call lasted for three minutes.
Inspector Oh was very surprised to receive a call from an ex-gangster and greeted Sunggyu like an old friend.
"So, how can I help you?"
"Well, I heard of your new job and wished to be your first client."
"Okay. You're really my first customer by the way."
"I thought you were doing this for over a month."
"I did. But business is so slow that I'm thinking of going back to the force. But nevermind that now, how can I help you?"
"I need you to help me find a person. A lady, probably in her forties."
Sunggyu could hear from the other line that Inspector Oh was scribbling something down on a piece of paper.
"Any specific location? Heck you're probably better at this than I am."
"I'm turning rusty. She's in Taiwan. A travel agent."
"Name?"
Sunggyu checked his laptop one more time before answering the Inspector.
"Jung Eunji."
Woohyun was in a huge dilemmia.
He stuck in two difficult choices.
Either to sleep beside Bomi and suffer.
Or sleep on the couch and suffer too.
The moment he placed Bomi on his bed, she was already sleeping soundly and looked so innocent. She hadn't move a single bit since she got drunk and had mumbled some stuff while sleeping. Woohyun didn't know if he should be happy that the things she had mumbled was either about him, or about her mother. The only difference in the content was that she said - I miss you omma, while his was - Namu's a jerk. He was on par with the number of times said with her mother. Yet, the content did made him a little sad.
Did she really dislike him?
Was he doing the right thing by bringing her here and forcing her to live with him?
He wanted her to like him naturally, or maybe like how he had fell for her, he wished she was willing. Yet looking at the way things were, Woohyun was afraid that Bomi might just be like his past. She had never told him anything about herself nor shown any form of interest or fondness for him like he had for her. He caressed her cheeks lovingly and thought long and hard about what he had done.
Was he going to trap her here forever if she doesn't return his feelings?
Woohyun shook his head.
Refusing himself to think about something like that.
It was too painful. Just thinking about it made his heart hurt.
Woohyun covered Bomi with his blanket and walked out of his room and went to sleep on the couch. Although he would love to sleep beside Bomi, he knew it wasn't right. He was the Mi-dearest of the house for so long. He knew what was right and what was wrong, and if he did scold the others for sleeping beside their parnters before marriage, he sure wasn't going to do the same. He took a can of beer from the frige that seemed to be depleting all of a sudden and went to the living room. It was probably Sunggyu who kept drinking recently, or just within these two days.
Woohyun drank a can and thought about what kind of life Bomi had lived before he found her. Could it be that she was forced to give money to ensure her mother's safety? But regardless of what the truth was, Bomi being abused was already a fact, and as a doctor, he wouldn't allow the abuser walk freely on this world. Or more importantly, as the man who loves Bomi dearly, he couldn't allow that abuser to walk at all.
Woohyun crushed the empty beer can in his hands and dropped it to the floor. As Woohyun tried tossing and turning all night on the sofa, all he could think about was to crush that lowlife like how he had crused that almost non-existence beer can right now. He wouldn't never forgive that guy for hurting Bomi, and as bad as it might sound, he didn't mind losing his doctor's license for it.
Bomi woke up at four-plus the next morning.
She had been working so much for so long that her body automatically wakes her up when it was time for work. She got up quickly and looked around. Woohyun wasn't around, in fact, he was nowhere in the room. She quickly went to his bathroom and took a quick shower, not minding to wear back the same clothes since she was sure Yvonne had burned the clothes she had came with yesterday.
She made that very clear to Bomi last night.
She used Woohyun's towel and hoped he wouldn't mind it at all. After that, she used her fingers to brush her teeth, putting the toothpaste onto the tip of her forefinger and brushing it like a normal brush. Bomi has happy to even have toothpaste since she had limit her own usage to save money. It wasn't a lot, but it was still money. After that, she walked out of the room, it was still dark but since she was already used to the dark, she could see someone sleeping on the couch uncomfortably.
It was Woohyun.
Her heart didn't feel good that Woohyun had let her have his bed when he should be resting more. He was still recovering from the fever. And since she didn't want to wake him up, she went to his room and took his comforter out and spreaded it around Woohyun. After that, she gave in to her own urge and brushed her hands against Woohyun's soft hair.
Gosh but he was beautiful.
She gave a small smile before leaving the house. Although she shouted loudly last night for Sunggyu to open the door, it was actually a smiple lock that could open from the inside. However, going out was easy and coming in needed a key or a password since their house was so advanced. Bomi made sure everything was locked tightly and closed the door tightly yet quietly so that she wouldn't wake Woohyun up. After that, she tied her hair and wore her cap before running to the local newspaper center. Strangely, their house was nearer to the station than where she used to live, therefore she walked slowly with ease.
The morning was cold but thankfully she had Woohyun's sweater around her. Her other clothes weren't as warm as just this sweater alone and she thanked Nana for getting this sweater for her. Although her shorts were short, she wasn't very worried. Since there was practically no one out in the morning at this hour. She rushed towards the station still and the newspaper uncle was already there waiting for her. He was surprised to see Bomi showing off her legs and openly leered at her. Bomi felt very uncomfortably and quickly took the newspapers and threw them to all the rich housings' insides where they collected their newspaper outside their door than their gates.
She was done by six-thirty, taking around one and a half hours to finish and headed to her other work place.
Bomi didn't know if she was unlucky or not, but that outlet so happened to close down. She reached there and saw her other collegues and boss waiting outside, handing out their pays for what they had worked so far. Bomi was shocked to see them closing down and asked where they were going.
"There's competition coming up and the boss thinks we won't be able to compete against them. So he's moving out now, just so he doesn't have to pay more lossesin the future. I'm so sorry girls, I did try telling him to change his mind but you know the boss. Ridiculous."
Bomi smiled sadly before collecting her pay and thanked all the people that she had been working with for more than a year. It was sad to leave but they promised to keep in touch. Bomi didn't have a phone though, so she couldn't get their numbers. But they were good girls, and gave her their address so that she could write to them whenever she's free. Bomi thanked them with a hug and said good bye.
It was nice to have friends. But since she couldn't truly enjoy their companiship, she thought it was better if they forget her. She was heavily debted and no amount of money was able to buy her out. She had no choice. She started walking back to the house. It was already eight o'clock when she reached and she could hear a lot of commotion coming from the house. She wondered what was going on and before she could press the doorbell, the main door flew opened and a frantic Woohyun appeared right in front of her.
He was in such a rush when he woke up and found Bomi missing. Sungyeol had woke up early to made breakfast when he decided to ask Bomi what she likes to eat. It shocked him that she wasn't in bed and he quickly switched on all the lights and called Woohyun up. The Doctor woke up instantly and touched the comforter that was on him, it was supposed to be in his room, why was it outside with him?
Everyone woke up when Woohyun shouted for Bomi. He saw that her bag was still here but there wasn't any handphone or wallet with it. He started panicking, asking everyone to check if Bomi had went into their room. When there was no trace of Bomi in the house, he decided to head out to find her, to check if she was nearby, maybe she had just left.
The moment he saw Bomi outside the door, he pulled her in and gave her a crushing hug. Bomi coughed slightly and told the strong man to let her go. But Woohyun refused to listen and just hugged her dearly.
"I thought you left. I thought you left when I was asleep."
"What?"
"You can't leave, you've paid the rent!"
He carried her into the house and everyone calmed down when they saw that Woohyun had found her. He realized she was freezing cold and placed her on his lap and covered the comforter around them. Bomi tried a thousand ways to get away but Woohyun was just too strong. She pouted at the man and looked away, trying to hide her blush from him, but not the family. They chuckled at their cute behaviour.
"Where did you go just now? I thought you promised Woohyun oppa not to leave."
"I wasn't going anywhere. He just assumed again that I was leaving. I went to work. I deliver newspapers in the morning."
"Dressed in this? Won't that be very dangerous?!"
Bomi could feel a killer glare from behind her and refused to turn back and check. She just allowed Woohyun's hands to wrap around her waist tighter and let the warmth from him seeped into her skin and bones. It felt so nice in Woohyun's embrace.
"I don't have any other clothes. Yvonne said she'd burned my clothes from last night-"
"I did. Nothing is left."
"-and Namu threw all my clothes away. So I'm only left with this. It's warmer than what I had though. So it's all good."
"We know it's warm, but your shorts are too short."
"I have nothing else. I didn't want to bother the ladies and Namu's clothes are way too big. I thought of getting a bigger sweater but it may make things even worse? I don't know. If only the smart Doctor hadn't threw my clothes away."
Woohyun scoffed from behind.
"Then we'll just get some more clothes. And a closet."
"A closet?"
"I'll pay for it. It doesn't make sense that a house doesn't have a closet for the rentee."
"Is that so...?"
Bomi thought for a while and finally let herself lean on Woohyun's strong chest comfortably. She could feel Woohyun smelling onto her hair but if she turned to whack him, their face would be too close for comfort for her. She decided to just ignore and pretend she hadn't notice what Woohyun was doing.
"You smell nice. You'd used my shampoo right?"
"Yea. And soap and toothpaste. I should pay you back, wait! I got my pay!"
"No no no it's fine. It's free of charge from the renter. I just wondered why don't I smell this good."
Bomi scoffed and tried leaning away from the erted man. Sunggyu laughed from the dining table.
"Because she's a girl Nam. And all girls smell nice."
"Damn that's the first time I heard something nice coming from you, to me."
"Well enjoy it. Because I don't give compliments on a daily basis. And certainly not to you only."
"That's fine enough for me."
Suddenly, a loud growling sound came out of nowhere and Woohyun felt the stomach beneath his arm was churning around. He wanted to laugh but it would be too obvious to his family that it was Bomi's. Nana looked shocked.
"Have you eaten?"
"No. I was supposed to work at the fast food restuarant now but the place had just closed down. I always have breakfast there. Free bread!"
"What time did you wake up?"
"Four-thirty. Biological clock."
"You were up so early and you haven't eaten yet?!"
Bomi flinched at the loud voice and quickly hid herself within Woohyun's embrace. She got scared that someone so kind was getting mad at her and quickly tried to get away. Woohyun stopped her.
"Would you please stop running away! She's just asking you a question."
"I don't want to make her mad. She's pregnant for heaven sake. You call yourself a doctor Namu?"
"All the time. And I know her condition, but she's just asking you a question with a shocked tone. She's not going to hurt you."
Bomi relaxed visibly and turned back to smile at Nana. Sunggyu noticed two things. Firstly, Bomi was afraid of anyone getting mad or rising their voice, and secondly, she leans to Woohyun for support. Whether she knows it or not, she would check in with Woohyun before relaxing. What he didn't like was that she was still afraid of them. So he set her straight. He walked foward to the couple and sat on the couple table.
"Bomi listen to me. In this house, I shout the most. And I get fierce if things don't go my way or if anyone gets hurt. Normally, what you did earlier on, I should scream at you for leaving home without telling us, but Woohyun has already told you so. And I don't think you deserved another scolding for something like work when all of us were asleep."
"Thank you."
Sunggyu smiled. Bomi looked atonished at the handsome in front of her. Just yesterday she hated Sunggyu so much because he was rude and loud. But today, he looked like a small eyed angel. Woohyun covered her eyes.
"Yah, what are you doing now Namu!"
"I don't allow you to stare at Sunggyu hyung like that."
"Please, I know he belongs to Hyuna unnie. But people like all of you were made so that people like me could stare. You're just beauitful and you don't know it. So don't stop me."
They laughed at what she said. But then to Woohyun, hearing Bomi calling him (actually it was them but he's one of them so yeah) beautiful made him happy. But he did wished she would only call him beautiful though. He sat up straight and felt Bomi inching her further away from his back, the small movement made him cough and he pulled her closer to him to cease the movement. She was rubbing her against his thigh and it was distracting him.
"Why can't I just sit in another corner and have the comforter?"
"Because I slept outside for you. And I'm cold."
"What a weakling. I told you I should take the couch. You're sleeping in the bed tonight."
The way she ways it makes Woohyun even lustier than he already was. He tried to keep his gaze away from his family. They ignored Woohyun who was distracting Bomi right now and told him to stop talking. Because if he continues to talk, they would all be late for work.
"Let me continue. So like I said, I shout. We all do in fact, and we shout not because we're mad or we're angry at you or because we hate you. It's just the way we communicate. You not eating breakfast is like breaking a huge law in this house. So you have to eat, I don't want you to faint on the street while you deliver newspapers and Woohyun goes ballistic at home."
Bomi nodded virgously.
"Perfectly understandable. I can see why you're so worried, he does get very extreme."
"Yoon Bomi stop singing the same tune with Sunggyu hyung. He's getting married!"
"Really? Congratulations!"
"We are? But Sunggyu oppa hasn't proposed to me yet."
Everyone turned to stare at Woohyun, who just shrugged and said they would be married in the future anyway.
"Then what about you Namu, will you ever get married and leave me alone?"
"You wish don't you, but I don't mind staying single because of you."
"And did I say I was going to stay single because of you. Keep dreaming Namu."
"Always honey."
Bomi irked at Woohyun's shameful confession again and tried shifting away again.
"I thought I told you not to move away anymore."
"There's something that keeps poking me."
The whole house bursted out into roars of laughter while Woohyun blushed red. Hyuna asked Sunggyu what everyone was laughing at but Sunggyu was too caught up in his own laughter to answer her. He just told them all to quickly get ready for work since they had closed their stores long enough. Hoya and Dongwoo were laying on the floor, too exhausted from laughing. They crawled towards the rooms and the washroom quickly.
"I'll leave you two here while we go wash up, gosh this is one exciting morning."
Sunggyu walked away while holding onto his stomach and limping to his room. It was just too hilarious. When everyone was gone, Bomi tilted her head at Woohyun and asked what was everyone laughing about. She then tried shifting away to get away but Woohyun stopped her instantly.
"Stop moving."
Bomi realized Woohyun's voice had gone lower and slightly huskier. She turned back and saw that he was sweating and really red. She placed her hand on his forehead and checked his temperature. Why was his body heating up?
"Is your fever back, how are you feeling?"
"I'm fine. It's just, uhm, hot right now."
"Then I better get off. I'm feeling warmer now."
Woohyun would rather die than let Bomi stand up and see his . That would be so embarrassing that he might just kill himself. Bomi frowned when Woohyun pulled her back onto his lap, the thing poking her was getting very annoying honestly.
"Namu what's that hard thing?"
"It's my damnit!"
It took just three second for Bomi to start screaming. And the whole house laughed again when they knew Bomi had found out about Woohyun's secret . But Bomi wasn't screaming because of shock, she was screaming because of fear. Woohyun had to calm her down and cover to stop her screams. Bomi only got more afraid and started pushing away from Woohyun, trying to hit him and get away as far as she could. Woohyun sort of sense what was wrong - He had seen enough patients like this to know what was wrong.
"Bomi it's me. It's Woohyun, you don't have to be scare, I won't do anything to you, I promise!"
But Bomi was beyond hysterical, she was too scared that she couldn't hear what Woohyun was saying. He turned her around but she was so afraid that she closed her eyes and refused to open them.
"Bomi look at me, please baby look at me. It's Woohyun, it's your Namu. I won't hurt you, please open your eyes and look at me. I'm so sorry I didn't meant to scare you. Please Bomi don't scare me, please open your eyes and look at me. Bomi!"
She opened her eyes slowly and when she saw Woohyun in front of her eyes, she let out a pant of relief. She smiled and almost cried when she saw it was Woohyun. She was so happy that she willingly hugged him tight. Woohyun felt her trembling with fear. Her whole body was shaking and she was crying. Some of the guys came out and saw Bomi hugging Woohyun and thought the Doctor had succeeded, but when they heard the soft cries of Bomi, they stopped in their tracks. Getting Woohyun's attention, they gestured what was wrong. He just shook his head slightly and went into his room while carrying Bomi in one arm and taking the comforter with us.
He mouthed to the guys to not disturb him and closed his doors. He got onto his bed but then he realized how tensed Bomi had became and he got onto the floor instead. Covering them both, he let her cry till she had no more tears. He took out his phone and texted the hospital that he was taking another day off at work because he had something to clear at home. They allowed him the leave without any complications, he was long overdue on a leave anyway. The Doctor had actually worked for three years straight without resting and the hospital thought it was high time their Dr Nam got sick. That was the only way he could rest.
Slowly, he heard his family going out to work, they sent him a message that they left some breakfast and needed leave. Woohyun thanked them and turned his head around slowly to check on her. Bomi had stopped crying but was too quiet for his liking. He stared into her eyes when she turned her head.
"I'm sorry Namu. I mistaken you for someone else."
"That's alrig- Wait, what do you mean you mistaken me for someone else?"
"I-I-I mean.. I mean.."
"You were screaming and crying and you're going to lie to me now?"
Bomi kept quiet, she didn't dare face Woohyun's serious and hard face right now.
"Somebody tried to.. tried to.. hurt you. Am I right?"
Bomi looked back at Woohyun and saw nothing but worry and pain in his eyes.
"Would you hate me if I told you the truth?"
"No. But I'll get very angry if you lie to me again."
She looked down.
"I ran away. I managed to ran away from him."
"Who is he?"
"I don't want to talk about him!"
The uneasiness in Bomi's voice was unmistakable and Woohyun let the matter drop, for now. He hugged her close but his hand was gripping onto the blanket so tightly that he knew if there wasn't he comforter there, his nails would pierce through his own flesh. Bomi saw the action and look straight at the handsome face.
"Do you hate me now? I know I'm dirty, I told you that from the very beginning. I should leav-"
Woohyun punched his low bed frame and created a hole. Bomi was so shocked that she quickly pulled Woohyun's hands towards and checked if there were any injuries, she then blow onto it and began rubbing the pain away. Woohyun stared at her, lifting her chin up towards her. He stared at her hard.
"Don't ever say you're dirty. I told you before, no one should ever say the girl I love is dirty. Especially not yourself."
"But why me Namu, I'm nothing. Why do you even love me?"
"Because you were there at the moment I needed you. You woke me up from my nightmare."
"Just like that? That simple?"
"How complicated do you want it to be?"
Bomi looked up at the face that changed from embarrassement, fear, anger and then kindness. She bit her lips and then kissed Woohyun on the cheek, the man got so surprised that he had forgetten about bickering with her.
"Thank you Namu. But t-this doesn't mean I'm accepting you. No way!"
"You won't now, but you surely will one day."
"Don't bet on it. What makes you think I would fall for you?"
"Haven't you?"
"How can you be so confident?"
Woohyun grinned.
"Because I love you so, and I know one day I will finally get you to love me."
"That's kinda sad you know, love should be given freely."
"It should. But the kind of love that you have to earn is much more desirable for me."
Bomi finally got up from Woohyun and scrunched her nose and lips at Woohyun. She told him to not think so much, but Woohyun just never gives up. She did kiss him earlier regardless of what she was singing right now. That was evident for him that he stood some chance.
"So what are you going to do today?"
"Find another job I guess. I need the money."
"For?"
"To pay rent of course!"
Woohyun knew Bomi was still hiding but no worries, Sunggyu would dig to the bottom of her secret.
"Don't work at the construction site anymore."
"What? Now what gives you the rights to stop me from working there?"
"Nana told me you got injured at the site."
"Only because I was worried for you. I really should ignore you."
"Then all the more you're not going back. Look we have work here-"
"I can find work on myself thank you very much!"
Woohyun scratched his forehead.
"Nana's pregnant and there's only Dongwoo working hard downstairs. Sungyeol is very paranoid about his wife and the other married couple needs some time to take care of Ren. It would be nice if you could help them. Consider it as a job. We pay pretty well."
"Then why didn't you guys consider hiring someone else?"
"We did. But they stared at our face more than they worked. It was agonizing."
"I don't think I sho-"
"You should and you will. Or would you rather Nana comes up and asked you herself?"
Bomi's eyes got very wide.
"No! I'll agree. Just don't let her get hurt. She's so kind!"
"And I'm not?"
"I honestly have no idea what you are Namu."
Woohyun loved how she calles him Namu, it was like a nickname that only he could have from her.
"Come on. I took off today, let's go shopping!"
"And spend your money? No way!"
"It's either you buy new clothes or wear my clothes everyday. I wouldn't mind of course, you look really y-"
"Stop! I don't wanna hear it from you, you ertic man!"
"Fine. Either you go with me, or I'll buy everything I see. I should tell you, I can buy alot."
Bomi groaned in defeat.
"Oh alright! You drive me crazy you know."
Woohyun laughed loudly and strolled towards her. He kissed her cheek and walked to the bathroom to get ready. But before he closed the door, he winked at Bomi and replied her previous statement. It made Bomi blushed again.
"It's good to know."
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