When Your Pain Becomes Mine

In the alleys around her house, Sun was frantically searching for Labong.

She scr.a.p.ed her knees when she fell. She was only thinking of finding Labong and didn't bother to wipe the blood away.

"Excuse me, Ma'am..."

Sun called the lady at the grocery market who was displaying their products.

"Have you seen a little dog recently? His hair is white, and he injured his left hind leg."

Sun described Labong's appearance repeating it to others more than a dozen times.

"I don't know. There are a lot of dogs passing by here."

The lady at the market quickly turned her head, seemingly uninterested.

"Labong! Labong!"

Under cars, in building crevices, on playgrounds, and in parks she searched the whole neighborhood, but she couldn't find him.

"Please, please..."

Sun picked up her phone again and called Gyeonhui, but he still didn't answer.

She wondered if Labong was hit by a car, or if someone had taken him, or if he had been bitten by a big dog. She had a premonition of Labong.

"What do I have to do..."

She could not do anything as panic set in. Sun, with injuries on both legs, sat down.

She had lost Labong, but there was nothing she could do.

A small stone caught her eye, squatting down on her sore legs. It was a common little rock that might be seen on the roadside. Suddenly, in Santiago, the stone she received from Eunwoo came to mind.

Sun stood up again determined. She rushed to Eunwoo's Veterinary Hospital.

***

"Hmm, she's still on the phone."

Eunwoo put down his phone with concern.

He left a message for her because she was on the phone, but he couldn't get in touch with her.

Then, with the sound of a roar, Sun came into the clinic urgently.

"Oh? Miss Sun."

"Ugh, Dr. Park, La… Labong."

Sun desperate, couldn't finish what she had to say. Sun sat still and lowered her head then repeated the same words weakly.

"I... I've lost Labong."

She thought everything was her fault for leaving Labong alone.

It was her fault that she went to work, forgetting the wounded little puppy.

"Yip, yip!"

Then a familiar sound rang in Sun's ears.

As she looked at him slowly in disbelief she could see Labong in Eunwoo's arms.

"La… Labong! Labong!"

Sun rose up and ran to Labong. Eunwoo carefully handed over Labong, and Sun looked surprised and relieved as she held Labong in her arms.

"Why, why is he here?"

"A man brought him here to me. Gyeonhui."

Sun didn't say anything even after Eunwoo's told her.

"He said, he brought Labong here because his bandage came off."

Eunwoo didn't add anything else.

Sun, listening to Eunwoo with an expression of disbelief, quickly turned her gaze to Labong.

"... I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

Sun apologized to him while she was embracing Labong. Labong licked her cheeks gently as if he understood her.

***

After Gyeonhui returned home, he walked through the back yard perplexed.

"ruff, ruff."

Gyeonhui's dog, Terry was uncomfortable at the sight of his owner. He was lying flat on the ground and looked at Gyeonhui.

"So I'll help her to heal the wounds she got from you."

Eunwoo's calm but firm tone of voice wasn't forgotten.

"How dare you... Hah."

He sighed deeply.

"Why do you sigh so much?"

Ojae came out to the yard and asked,

"Ruff! Ruff"

Terry who was excited, then rushed to Ojae, wagging his tail. Terry rolled over asking for a belly rub.

"Hey, look at this guy! Look at you..."

Ojae pat Terry's belly in a friendly way not like last time.

"... What's that?"

"Huh? What?"

"Why is this dog acting weird?"

Gyeonhui asked, seemingly uninterested.

Terry had never wagged his tail before at Gyeonhui.

"Oh, I've fed him a few times when you were sick, and that's all I did."

As Ojae got up, Terry wagged his tail and hovered around him. As Gyeonhui watched Terry doing that, his face slowly turned to stone.

"... Terry. Terry!"

Gyeonhui called him again, and Terry turned his head and looked at Gyeonhui.

"Come here."

Terry heard his voice then walked with his head down, terrified. It was completely different than when Terry ran to Ojae a little while ago.

Reluctantly crawling, Terry looked at Ojae.

"Hey, Terry! Go and get it!"

Then, as Ojae threw the ball, Terry rushed after it and returned it to him with the ball. Terry was looking up at him panting with excitement as if Ojae was his owner.

"Hey, I think you're following me more than usual these days."

Ojae behaved naively and smiled at Terry.

"... I'm going to sell him."

Gyeonhui looked at Terry and said in a sinking tone. However, Terry seemed to have lost his attention to Ojae, and he didn't even listen to Gyeonhui.

"Well, you have to leave now, Mrs. Shin doesn't want you to be late for the meeting."

Ojae confirmed the schedule and said.

"Hah"

Gyeonhui sighed in annoyance. Now, Sun, Mrs. Shin, and even his own dog were getting on his nerves.

Scowling, he turned his body and headed to the living room.

***

There was already darkness outside of the veterinary hospital.

While Sun was on the phone, she reached out and stroked Labong.

"He took Labong to the hospital."

- What's going on with him? Hah, I'm glad.

Eunyoung's voice was heard over the handset.

- Just go home today, you don't need to come back to the office. I'm sure that you're tired because you stayed up all night.

"No. I have to go back to the office."

"What about Labong if you come back here, can the clinic hold him for 24-hours there?"

"No, they won't..."

"Just rest today. You just may have to work harder tomorrow. Got it?"

Sun didn't' answer readily.

Sun always felt guilty about how considerate Eunyoung was to her, but she was always grateful.

"... Thank you."

"You're my employee. I'm going to use you for the rest of my life."

Sun smiled at Eunyoung's words.

"And if you have to leave Labong alone, you should just take him with you to the office."

"... Thank you. I really meant it."

- No, no. I'm tired of hearing that. Get some rest, get something like a dinner for Dr. Park. He always helps you.

"Huh? Okay... "

"Alright. See you tomorrow."

Eunyoung finally hung up the phone.

After the call, Sun slowly moved her gaze and looked at Eunwoo.

As she prepared to leave, Eunwoo was humming as if he were feeling good.

Sun, recalling Eunyoung's words, nodded as if she had made up her mind.

'...Right. He's always been a big help.'

Sun pondered for a moment and carefully called Eunwoo.

"Hey… Dr. Park.

Eunwoo looked back at Sun after he heard her.

"Do you have any free time today?"

It was quite awkward coming from Sun.

"You mean, today?"

"Yes, I would like to buy you dinner because you've helped me a lot recently."

"Well, it's polite to say no at first, but… actually, that sounds great."

Eunwoo continued with a loving smile.

"In fact, I was going to ask you to eat out if you didn't ask. Let's have dinner together."

Eunwoo smiled at Sun.

"But wait a minute."

Eunwoo led Sun's hand and made her sit down in a chair.

Then he bent down on one knee, and carefully rolled up her pants.

"Ah!"

Sun winced upon the pain because blood from her scr.a.p.ed knees had dried and stuck to her clothing.

"... Are you injured?"

He looked at her wounds that were much worse than he thought.

"Oh, yes I'm okay. I fall down a lot."

Sun said with a fake smile.

However, she couldn't stop wincing whenever the wound stung as Eunwoo cleaned it.

Eunwoo was skillfully disinfected and applied the ointments and bandages to her scr.a.p.ed knees.

"You're all set."

"... Thank you."

Sun said as she was rolling her pants down while feeling ashamed.

Eunwoo, smiling, naturally reached out and grabbed her hand.

She felt a swell of warmth with his soft touch.

"Oh my!"

At that moment, Sun tried to stand up but lost her balanced as one of her knees buckled from the pain.

Eunwoo quickly reached out and grabbed her and hugged her.

Luckily, she didn't fall, but Sun later realized that she was in his arms.

"I'm, I'm so sorry."

Sun was embarrassed and stepped back from him.

"It's okay."

He smiled and looked at her gently.

"Now, let's go eat."

Eunwoo led the way smiling as if nothing had happened.

Sun paused for a moment but looked at his wide back. The soft, cool white musk scent from his body remained on the tip of her nose.

26. Familiar man and woman

Late at night, on the road to Gangnam.

"But what happened yesterday?"

Ojae was driving, looking back and asked,

"... Don't even worry about it."

He replied with an indignant tone implying that he didn't want to talk about it.

"Are you seeing her again?"

"Didn't I tell you not to worry about it?"

"If you stayed a night at her place, doesn't that mean you're already back together?"

"Seriously? Shut your mouth!"

He snapped back unable to bear the anger.

Ojae was scared, closed his mouth quickly. But he soon started talking again, seemingly determined.

"I've been thinking a lot, and I don't think this is the right way to protect her."

Gyeonhui then looked at Oaje as if he didn't know what Ojae was going to say.

"We don't know when she's going to get hurt or get sick. But it's inefficient to just leave her like this."

"So? Is there any other way?"

"Of course."

Ojae confidently said while lifting his chin slightly.

Ojae took a moment on purpose before he spoke, but Gyeonhui looked at him with disinterested.

"Hmm, how about we put her next to us."

Ojae felt the eyes of Gyeonhui hurriedly stir as he stated what was on his mind.

"How do we do that?"

"Make the Kids Fan office move into our building as a business acquisition partner."

He looked at him as if he were displeased and said nothing.