#107
“…Jealousy, you say.”
It would be a lie to say it didn’t bother me. When I imagined Jin Woohyeon sending affectionate glances to someone else, holding their hand, and whispering love in a low voice, my insides became a little turbulent.
But this was his work. To become a better actor, he needed to broaden his acting range, and to do that, he’d inevitably have to do romance scenes.
It’s natural to separate work from personal matters, but still…
“If you’re not jealous, I was thinking of trying something like a passionate melodrama for my next project. There’s actually one that came in…”
“…”
“Ahaha, okay. Sorry. I’m sorry.”
Jin Woohyeon burst into laughter at my inevitably sulky expression. He pulled me into a tight embrace and pressed his forehead against mine, soothing me with a gentle voice.
“I’m joking. Nothing like that came in, and even if it had, I would have turned it down. If I break into that genre right from my screen debut, my image would be consumed too quickly.”
“…”
“I have no plans for romance for a while. I don’t even have time to be like this with hyung.”
He tapped the tip of my nose and whispered.
“This is something I already discussed and settled with my agency. Actually, the CEO brought it up first, asking if it wouldn’t be better to refrain from romance for a while.”
“Why?”
“They wanted to maintain the image that was imprinted through the program appearance a little longer. People were calling it pure devoted love.”
I ended up laughing along at the joke about how viewers wouldn’t be able to immerse themselves if such a person suddenly appeared in a drama.
Though he said that, I truly believed he would have done really well even if he had done romance. Actor Jin Woohyeon seen through the camera would have looked like a completely different person—so much so that I wouldn’t even think of that easygoing and romantic twenty-five-year-old who appeared in ‘Can Love Be Transferred Too?’
“You’ll do well.”
I touched his cheek and whispered my secret to him.
“Actually, whenever I missed you, I watched the web drama you were in.”
Jin Woohyeon’s eyes widened. It seemed like a sparkling light appeared in his dark pupils.
“You watched that? It must have been clumsy since it was my first time standing in front of a camera.”
“Not at all.”
It wasn’t empty words but the truth. His acting was so polished that I couldn’t believe it was his debut work. Even though it was clearly a familiar face with a familiar voice, he looked so unfamiliar, like a completely different person.
“It was amazing.”
I bumped my forehead against his and said.
“Just like you said, it really seemed like you were living someone else’s life. I thought, this must be the possibility you wanted to test…”
His piercing gaze was a little embarrassing, but since this was something I really wanted to tell him, I decided to be brave.
“You were cool.”
Would he be happy? Embarrassed? Or would he playfully show off?
My expectations were completely off the mark. Jin Woohyeon didn’t answer for a long while, just staring at me quietly.
Just when I was about to carefully ask if I had made some mistake.
“…Ah.”
After a long silence, he sighed softly and pulled me into his arms. Suddenly buried deep in his embrace, I mumbled and asked.
“Why?”
“Just because.”
“…”
“Because I’m happy.”
Because I loved him holding me so tightly that my whole body felt warm, I just stayed still for a long time.
While having such small conversations nestled close to Jin Woohyeon, I fell asleep again without even knowing when. I seemed to have relaxed in the soft warmth enveloping my whole body and the cozy pheromones.
How long had I been asleep like that?
I opened my drowsy eyes and looked around. Jin Woohyeon, who had been moving while minimizing any sounds, approached me and checked my temperature.
“It’s almost gone.”
“…”
“Did I wake you by being noisy? Sorry.”
Instead of answering, I slowly shook my head. As always, Jin Woohyeon was quiet. I had simply woken up naturally.
Looking at his appearance, ready to leave, Jin Woohyeon slowly rubbed my forehead with his thumb and said.
“Sleep a little more. It’s only four o’clock.”
“Going straight to the filming site?”
“Yes. My manager hyung came to pick me up. It seems the filming got moved up.”
He glanced at the wardrobe and added.
“Should I bring some spare clothes to keep here? Is that okay?”
“Yeah.”
Would it just be okay? Rather, I wanted to ask him to do that. Because every time one of his belongings appeared in this house that felt somewhat empty, I realized that not only my future but also my present was changing.
I refused his suggestion to lie down more and even saw him off. As if I wasn’t the only one feeling reluctant, Jin Woohyeon also held me for a long time at the entrance and rubbed his cheek against my neck.
“Can I come see hyung if I finish early?”
I patted his back and answered.
“I’ll wait.”
I suddenly thought, what if our relationship became a little more natural than this? If we became a relationship where we could be together a little longer, would this reluctance lessen?
Such an impulse slipped out between my lips.
“…I want to live together.”
Then Jin Woohyeon let me go and asked.
“Do you really want to live together?”
His dark pupils stared directly at me. He seemed to want to distinguish whether it was just a lament I had blurted out, or if I really wished for that.
“There are quite a few problems to solve, but I think it would be good to consider it.”
“Yeah.”
“Normally I would have said to think about it lightly…”
His eyes softened as he drew a gentle and affectionate smile.
“Since our relationship is what it is, think about it seriously. Because I’m serious.”
After a brief kiss, Jin Woohyeon left the house.
I rubbed my palms, which had broken out in a light cold sweat, on my clothes and swallowed.
“When are you going to get used to this, really.”
It’s somewhat unfair that even though my desire to improve is so earnest, my body won’t follow.
Jin Woohyeon was a good person. He had become a much more romantic lover than I had vaguely imagined. I liked how he readily matched my slow pace, didn’t blame my old fears, and walked with me.
That’s why I became anxious. Just as Jin Woohyeon was to me, I wanted to be a good person to him too. I wanted to be someone who could fill his empty spaces and provide what he needed.
‘The problem is that unlike me, he doesn’t seem to lack anything in particular.’
Clearly our relationship was as good as it could be, but I thought that the subtle sense of discord I sometimes felt might be due to this imbalance.
I quickly shook my head to brush away such useless thoughts. I knew that this kind of anxiety wouldn’t help our relationship at all.
There was plenty of time before work. After finishing the household chores I’d been putting off and even taking the medicine Jin Woohyeon had left behind, boredom began to creep in.
‘People have been talking so much about Love Transfer lately.’
I hadn’t watched the broadcast because seeing my face on screen felt too unfamiliar, but I was still curious about people’s reactions. More precisely, I was curious about what people in the world thought of Jin Woohyeon.
After hesitating for a moment, I picked up my phone. Since I wasn’t usually the type to use social media much, I had to fumble around for a while, but I managed to find enough to satisfy my curiosity.
[Lee Chan seems to have thought that appearing on Love Transfer would be quite an opportunity in his life ㅋㅋ but the fact that it was actually the opposite is the funny part… In reality, he’s the one who exposed all his cards and is getting cursed at left and right, talking about whether he’ll face legal consequences or not, while Sanho hooked up with a passing Benz and became super happy with his current boyfriend]
└ If there’s one thing that trashy ex-boyfriend did well, it was becoming a bridge for his current boyfriend ㅋㅋㅋㅋ shibal what kind of program is this?
[If they were friends for 10 years and lovers for 10 years but broke up and became strangers, you can imagine how bad it must have been]
└ Sometimes I wish Sanho would step forward and say something to deliver the final blow, but other times I just want him to live quietly and happily like now…ㅠㅠ What is my heart even thinking
As expected, Lee Chan was getting beaten up by people. Looking a bit more, it seemed there was quite a lot of noise surrounding the shopping mall ‘Marinette’ that was coming out.
It wasn’t just that his image-making failed, but there were also problems with the shopping mall. Thinking of Lee Chan, who must be desperate to solve things somehow, made me sigh automatically. Not because I felt sorry for him or pitied him, but just because it was absurd and pathetic.
Judging from Lee Chan’s personality that I had observed, he would try to find an easy way out somehow. Usually by relying on others’ goodwill or using people. His biggest flaw was his weak sense that he should find answers within himself or make efforts on his own.
There was going to be a follow-up filming for ‘Can Love Be Transferred Too?’ soon. So before that, Lee Chan would try to meet me and ask for something.
But I had already blocked him, and if Lee Chan had noticed that fact…
Bzzzz.
As if proving my prediction was right, my phone vibrated and a freshly arrived message appeared on the screen.
A text from an unfamiliar number, written in a familiar tone.
Messages
Talk to me.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
