Contract Marriage with Memory Loss on Top - Chapter 40

Why did he take out this key of all things? Ki-won, locked in curiosity, caressed the tip of the key.

‘Did he find it while trying to take out the USB?’

It was the easiest guess to make. Ki-won recalled asking Yeon-woo to bring the USB in the study drawer. He must have discovered the key then, and if he took it out for some reason, the mystery was easily solved. Moreover, he must have been distracted after his heat cycle hit after going out. It made sense if he dropped it while struggling in the living room. 

Ki-won, pocketing the key, changed his intended destination and headed to the storage room. He had a sneaking suspicion that Yeon-woo might have noticed something.

Ki-won’s purposeful movements were swift. Arriving at the back of the storage room in an instant, Ki-won reached out his arm and felt the top of the shelf. As Ki-won rummaged around for a while, a moment came when his brows furrowed. The object that should have been at his fingertips had disappeared without a trace. Only then did Ki-won realize that the arrangement of the storage room had changed slightly. 

Not only the order in which things were lined up, but unfamiliar handprints could be seen between the dust piled up. Especially the dust on the bottom of the shelf was heavily swept away, confirming the suspicion that the arrangement had changed.

‘I haven’t heard any reports about the storage room being cleaned recently.’

The managers were not allowed to enter any place other than the designated areas, and they had never violated this so far. Even if they had cleaned, they would have left a record. Moreover, the current state of the storage room could not be seen as having been cleaned. Just the placement of objects had changed and dust was swept away here and there. Ki-won took a step back and examined the highest level on the shelf.

“Ah.”

Then what caught his eye was Yeon-woo’s half-open bag. In Ki-won’s memory, Yeon-woo’s carrier had been placed on the very top. Maybe things spilled out while trying to take something out of the bag. It was a plausible guess for Yeon-woo’s clumsiness. In fact, only the objects around Yeon-woo’s bag were in disarray.

Then it should be around here. Ki-won, now certain, checked near Yeon-woo’s carrier. As expected, his prediction was not wrong. The wooden box was placed behind Yeon-woo’s bag. Ki-won, with a much more relaxed complexion, carefully examined the outside of the box.

The box was very old and vulnerable to impact, but surprisingly it was intact without any broken parts. Since the position of the box had changed, Yeon-woo must have seen it. It was a moment when Ki-won’s firm eyes wavered.

‘Is it a coincidence?’

Ki-won pictured the wooden box and the key lying in the living room in his head. It was hard to judge whether this could be considered a simple matter. Of course, he could have “accidentally” dropped the box while taking out luggage. But the key that went with it was not. Out of so many objects, how did the key to the wooden box end up in Yeon-woo’s hands?

Relief was only for a moment, and Ki-won’s mind was soon filled with an uneasy feeling. The suspicion that Yeon-woo might have noticed something did not easily go away. He could quickly find the answer by checking the CCTV in the house, but the surging turmoil intensified.

He seemed to need to calm down a bit. Ki-won, who decided to stop thinking for a moment to find composure, took the box and left the storage room. 

When his head cooled down, the concerns that came to mind disappeared in an instant. Judging rationally, Yeon-woo must not have seen the contents of the box. If he had, he wouldn’t be able to treat him so casually like this. It would have definitely shown on his face even if he tried to hide it.

‘I’d better get rid of it, just in case.’

Ki-won decided to move the box and key to a place out of Yeon-woo’s sight and took a step.

***

It’s driving me crazy. Yeon-woo, fidgeting his feet in the bathroom, drooped his shoulders with a look of despair dripping from his face. He couldn’t open the bathroom door for fear of running into him, so it was the second time washing his face and the third time brushing his teeth. It was even more desperate because the embarrassment didn’t go away by doing this.

Should I go out or not? After worrying for a long time, Yeon-woo closed his eyes tightly and turned the doorknob. Squeak. The door, which would have opened smoothly on a normal day, was troublesome today. Yeon-woo, with his fur standing on end, scanned his surroundings with narrowed eyes. Fortunately, there was not even a shadow of Kwon Ki-won in the bedroom.

It seemed that the tension was released due to being overly relieved. As soon as the sigh ended, the muscle pain that he had forgotten suddenly came to him. He should have gotten muscle pain medicine when he went to the hospital. A groan with a hint of regret leaked out involuntarily. Yeon-woo, grabbing his waist, laid his body on the bed with a groan.

The moment the soft mattress touched his back, what came before the drowsiness was the memory of the day before. Are you crazy! Yeon-woo, startled, sat up abruptly and writhed in agony. 

‘Yes, this is normal. It can’t be forgotten so easily….’

The location was the bedroom of all places. The unforgettable memories kept flashing before his eyes and disappearing, and each time Yeon-woo had to swallow his humiliation with a whimper.

How can he sleep in the same bed with him in this situation? It was absolutely impossible. It seemed like he should sleep on the living room sofa or something, but that would be no different from openly letting him know that he was conscious of it. It would be the most unsightly thing to show signs of being conscious of it after saying to forget it and that it was just an accident.

Can someone please turn back time? Yeon-woo, exhaling hot breaths, lay back down on the bed like a person who had lost all his strength.

It hurts. Even in the midst of this confusion, the pain that could not be ignored was coming up from a part that was hard to ignore. Yeon-woo gently bent his legs and tried not to be aware of the source of the pain. It’s a place that shouldn’t hurt originally. At least not while living with Ki-won.

Yeon-woo, who had pulled the blanket up to his head, pulled it down again with a long sigh. No. It would be stranger if it suddenly didn’t hurt. Various thoughts raced through his mind. Yeon-woo, having organized his thoughts, slapped both cheeks with a force that wouldn’t hurt and put strength into his eyes.

Yeon-woo’s evenly heaving chest fluctuated greatly for a moment. It was because he inhaled as much air as possible. Yeon-woo decided to soothe and comfort the pains he had been trying to endure by changing directions. Leaning his lower back against the bedside, he massaged his thighs and pelvis and tapped his sides. The tense muscles relaxed even with a little force, and the coolness spread evenly through the pain.

“You must be hurting too…”

Yeon-woo recalled Ki-won’s wounds that he had tried not to acknowledge. Should I have applied ointment? The image of red lines drawn all over his shoulders and back flashed in his mind. The wounds that looked so stinging that he thought they wouldn’t heal well if left alone. It would be difficult to apply the ointment directly because there were parts that his hands couldn’t reach.

What should I do? In fact, it was meaningless to worry. He knew it would be resolved if he applied the ointment directly, but it was difficult to bring up the words. No, should I say I’m afraid?

‘…Afraid?’

Yeon-woo, who had been thinking in succession, ruminated on the emotion he had thought of. Yes, perhaps the emotion that preceded shame and humiliation was fear. Fear that Kwon Ki-won would think of him as a strange person or avoid him.

For some reason, his heart, which had been quiet, began to beat rapidly. It was funny that he was afraid of Ki-won’s contempt after doing something hateful. Yeon-woo, who had crookedly raised the corners of his mouth bitterly, rubbed the corners of his eyes. If the reason why it was difficult to face Ki-won was like that, there was no need to avoid it on purpose. It was an emotion that would subside only when he acknowledged his mistake and finished the matter properly.

‘Let’s apply some ointment.’

It was when the thought came to an end. With good timing, there was a sound of movement, and Ki-won came to knock.

“Yeon-woo, I’m coming in.”

In the meantime, while the answer was buried in hesitation, the bedroom door opened in a gentle curve.

“Why are you so stiff.”

Ki-won reached out to the table as if he had come to get the tablet PC in the bedroom, and let out a light laugh. Only then did Yeon-woo become convinced that Ki-won was acting as if nothing had happened the day before. That was because, unlike him who tensed up just by facing the other person, Ki-won’s behavior was no different from usual.

Yeon-woo stared at Ki-won’s back, who was about to go back, and parted his heavily closed lips. Even at the moment of speaking to him, his heart was beating wildly, reddening Yeon-woo’s neck.

“Um, hyung.”

Shouldn’t this fever stop rising? While speaking to Ki-won, the hot heat was still bothering him. Ki-won stopped his steps that were going well as if listening to Yeon-woo’s hesitant voice and met eyes with Yeon-woo.

“Yes, Yeon-woo.”

“Shall I… apply ointment for you?”

“Ointment?”

“On your back… the wound on your back…”

Ki-won quietly looked at Yeon-woo’s face, who was mustering up courage, and answered as usual.

“You want to?”

It was a short answer, but it was a voice deeply imbued with warmth. At the same time, Yeon-woo’s insides, which had been burning up, were slightly dampened.

“Take it slow.”

Ki-won threw a word at Yeon-woo, who was moving in a flurry to find ointment, and took off the T-shirt he was wearing and threw it away. Yeon-woo, who was glancing at the sight, had to put strength into his stiffly hardened fingertips.