"DOCTOR!!"
The deep voice bellowed so loudly the entire room jumped.
"Y–Yes? What is it, sir?"
The staff member looked genuinely frightened; the guy looked like a full-
grown yakuza.
"Can my spouse come in with me? If I can't have them with me the whole
time, I'm not doing this!"
The plea made Star want to dig a hole and disappear. The nurses blinked at
each other, then looked at the small figure who scratched their head with an
awkward smile.
"Heh… hehe…"
"O-Of course. They can."
"And I want to hold hands the entire time."
"Yesss, sir…"
On the operating bed lay the big-bodied patient who was explicitly told not
to move, yet still called out every few seconds.
"Star…"
"Yes?"
"Baby~"
"Yesss~"
"Darling."
"…"
"DARLIIIING!"
"YESSS!!"
It didn't take long before everything was over.The one who held his hand
through every fear kept both palms wrapped around the blindfolded man's
hands the whole time.
The small guy flashed a bright smile at the towering creditor now pale and
sweating and led him out of the room.
"All done," the doctor said as they handed over the prescription and
explained the post-LASIK care to the person accompanying the patient.
"You did so great, seriously~" The smaller hand cupped the rough cheek,
grinning ear to ear, then lifted the phone to show Didi. That one screamed
through the call like she'd just won some kind of matchmaking pageant.
"My eyes hurt like hell. Am I gonna go blind? Why the hell did I have to do
this just to fuck somebody? I literally endured all this pain just so I can screw
my own debtor you, babe. Shouldn't I be calculating the pain-to-sex ratio per
day?
Hmm… two, maybe three times a day sounds fair~"
"Fair about what exactly? That's your eyes, you know?"
"Hey! Don't run away from this babe promised. You're not escaping~"
"…Are you really thirty?"
Rock the reckless young master with the face of a villain and the
temperament of a male lead finally agreed to get LASIK. Who would've
thought his eyesight was minus four hundred? How did this man survive
thirty years like that?
The big, tattooed, terrifying-looking man lay trembling on the operating bed,
face pale, clutching my hand tight the entire time. It felt like I was the
husband holding my wife's hand while she was giving birth or something.
I couldn't tell if he held on because of pain or fear. He looked almost pitiful
but for his own sake, he had to get it done. I didn't know why this rich guy
this man who looked more like a gangster made me feel like I was…
someone special. We met because of problems, lived together because of
problems.
And yet those problems slowly unraveled as our hands held tighter. I never
thought the darkest sky would let me see the brightest stars until now. I
didn't know when taking care of him stopped being an obligation and turned
into something I wanted to do. I didn't know why listening to him complain
about literally everything in the world felt… comforting. Why the man who
avoided people and preferred being alone with his cars suddenly spoke to
me so openly.
Day by day, waking up and seeing each other became normal no more
commands like before, just… talking. I didn't know why I liked a car-
obsessed man when I didn't even like cars. I never thought I would care. But
whenever I watched Rock touch, clean, or admire his cars, I understood a
little more. Those cars weren't objects they were like pets he deeply
cherished. No wonder he was furious the day he learned one of them had
exploded. Rock wasn't as heartless as I thought.
I asked myself many times why a car lover like him would choose to swerve
out of the way for a jaywalker crossing on a green light even though he
wasn't at fault. A man who'd rant endlessly over a single scratch on his car
still chose a human life over the vehicle he adored. Someone with that kind
of humanity… was actually pretty sweet. Rock didn't bring me here to be a
servant like I once assumed. He brought things into my life people, chances,
perspectives that changed me completely.
From someone who only stared at the ground, I learned to look up at the sky
again. He brought good people like Didi, who taught me that I had value just
by looking into a mirror and learning to love the person reflected there. He
taught me to stop shutting myself off when given opportunities, and not to
judge people by what's on the surface.
And I learned something about the car that exploded from Didi. I was angry
at first, but… it really was partly my fault. Rock got hurt because of me. If
he'd been inside, he might've died. So I wanted to atone for that to take care
of him as best as I could. I didn't know he'd actually notice my sincerity until
he finally confessed.
I didn't fall for him because he was rich.
I don't even like cars.
But I fell for the sincerity he showed. For Rock the strange, rough,
unexpectedly adorable man. The moment we reached the room, the small
guy was pulled straight onto the older man's lap. Rock, still blindfolded from
the LASIK, wouldn't let him be more than an arm's length away, calling for
him constantly and demanding affection like now, wrapping his arms around
the smaller waist while they sat on the sofa.
"Babe~"
"Hm?"
"Why'd you go quiet? Thinking about something?"
"I'm just happy, you know? You finally got LASIK. That's the best doctor in
the country you're definitely gonna recover."
"Why do you want me to see so badly? Sick of putting in my contacts and
eye drops for me?"
"No. Even if I'm not doing that, I'd still be doing other things for you. I just…
want you to see clearly.
To see me clearly."
"Damn~ that's sweet enough to give me chills."
"You need to poop or something?"
"Hey! Kid! Don't kill the mood I'm trying to be romantic!"
"You're never romantic, okay? Just be yourself. I can't handle anything
weirder than this."
"You little… babe…"
Late at night, the spacious bedroom glowed softly.
One entire wall was a glass display filled with model cars of every kind, lit by
warm amber lights from the ceiling and the soft glow slipping from under the
king-size bed.
Expensive variegated monsteras lined the corners, and the balcony wall was
reinforced glass one pull of the thick gray curtains and the entire city
unfolded in a sweeping one-hundred-eighty-degree view.
It was a quiet night without moonlight, but the sky was scattered with tiny,
glimmering stars. It had been so long since the night sky looked this
beautiful. Life had been a rushed blur surviving, striving, running in circles.
So much scrambling just to stay afloat that beauty no longer reached the
eyes. Life drifted wherever society's currents pushed.
The path to follow was always the path everyone else had already trampled
through. What once kept the heart steady eventually turned frightening pretty
faces hid cruelty, and the ones who didn't care for the world often turned out
more honest. To endure all that and finally meet someone who changed
everything…Finding the right person really isn't easy at all.
But thank the cruelty of that day because it led to someone who wanted to
stand beside him. Someone who cleared the gray and made everything
sharp and bright again. On the wide bed, two bodies of different sizes lay
side by side, staring up at the stars while soft classical music filled the
silence. A large hand intertwined with a smaller one in the middle of the
mattress.
(Rock: Lying here holding hands, looking at stars… feels damn good, but
when the hell am I gonna get lucky? Kid dragged me to the doctor, took care
of me a whole week, my vision's clear now, I can see him perfectly and
somehow I still haven't gotten any. Tragic.)
Chapter22.
"I never thought about stargazing before, you know that, babe?"