Jaeyoon took a sip of his vanilla latte and turned his head toward the hospital room door as it opened with a clatter.
“You said you’d come in the morning.”
Jaeyoon rolled his eyes to check the clock on the wall.
“I didn’t expect you to skip class and come like this.”
Kim Doha frowned at his words. As Doha was about to open his mouth with a displeased expression, he noticed Jung Jinhoo sitting in the chair beside the bed and froze.
“Why is that guy…”
“That guy? You’re not talking about my sunbae like that, are you?”
When Jaeyoon’s brow furrowed, Doha bit his lip.
“Make him leave.”
“Do you realize he’s a year above you?”
“That doesn’t matter at all! I came to talk to you alone.”
Seeing Doha looking unusually impatient, Jaeyoon tilted his head slightly and gave a small smile.
“I don’t particularly want to be alone with you.”
“You think I’m doing this because I want to?!”
“Something seems off.”
“What do you mean?”
Jaeyoon observed Doha as he twisted his expression, narrowed his eyes, and rested his chin on the back of his hand.
“You’re not exactly in a position to make demands of me, are you?”
“…”
At Jaeyoon’s words, Doha closed his mouth. Watching him bite his lip as if his pride had been wounded, Jaeyoon let out a hollow laugh.
‘He still hasn’t come to his senses.’
“I heard you caused quite a commotion at the hospital, insisting on meeting me despite being rejected multiple times… Thanks to you, the nurses have been under no small amount of stress.”
Doha clenched his fist as Jaeyoon’s blue eyes flicked toward him. He had never before felt this sensation of having the power dynamic shifted, of feeling diminished. That alone was devastating enough, but the fact that Jaeyoon was the one making him feel this way made it even more miserable.
‘How did I, how did I ever get myself into this with that guy?!’
“Stop overthinking and just tell me why you came to see me.”
Jaeyoon indifferently observed Doha, whose entire body was expressing that he was extremely upset.
‘Should I call him childish or just stubborn? Why doesn’t he understand that taking this attitude with me in the current situation won’t benefit him at all?’
“…Let’s talk alone.”
Hah, a long sigh escaped Jaeyoon’s lips. Doha clenched his fist even tighter in response.
“Why do you keep trying to make my sunbae leave?”
“…”
“Is there something you can’t say in front of him? Or is it that you can’t be unreasonable when he’s here?”
“This has nothing to do with that guy!”
“Why not?”
“…What?”
Jaeyoon turned his gaze to Jung Jinhoo sitting in the chair. When their eyes met, Jinhoo smiled, half-closing his large eyes, and Jaeyoon smiled back gently.
“You two, don’t tell me?!”
“It’s more shocking that you didn’t know. You made such a fuss about Kim Yeonwoo when you weren’t even dating him, so why don’t you stop talking nonsense about my boyfriend having nothing to do with this and get to the point?”
“…”
“Neither my sunbae nor I are people with time to waste. And I don’t want to have a face-to-face conversation with you. You agree with that, right?”
Doha’s lips twitched. After hesitating for a moment, he finally spoke with difficulty.
“Stop it now.”
“Stop what?”
“Stop what? You ask ‘what’ after ruining an important performance and interfering with my parents’ business? How can you ask ‘what’?! Thanks to you, my reputation at school has hit rock bottom! Because of you, because of that guy, everything…”
“Kim Doha.”
Doha’s mouth closed at the sound of his name. When he raised his head, he froze at the sight of Jaeyoon. Icy blue eyes were staring at him. After sighing briefly and pushing back his bangs, Jaeyoon slowly closed and opened his eyes.
“Can’t you read the situation?”
“What…?”
“Don’t you know what you should be doing to me in this situation?”
“…”
“Did you make all this fuss about meeting me just to throw a tantrum?”
“Tantrum? This sounds like a tantrum to you? After ruining my life?!”
“You ruined mine, didn’t you?”
“-!!”
How can he be so selfish… I was going to pretend to forgive him a little if he at least acted like he was apologizing. To Doha, Lee Jaeyoon really was someone who didn’t matter at all. So much that he couldn’t even think about what he’d done.
“What have you been doing to me all this time?”
“…I did that because you were bullying Yeonwoo. You’re the one who did all those things to Yeonwoo and me without thinking about what you’ve done.”
“Speak properly. I bullied Kim Yeonwoo? How? What exactly did I do? Dislike him? Or grab him by the collar because I couldn’t stand someone getting on my nerves? Let me ask you one thing.”
Have I ever bothered you or Kim Yeonwoo first? At Jaeyoon’s words, Doha couldn’t offer any reply. Seeing this, Jaeyoon burst into bitter laughter.
“You should know your limits.”
“I…”
“Kim Doha.”
“…”
“You don’t seem to have reflected at all. Is this not enough to fix that twisted personality of yours? Do I need to crush you beyond recovery to make you reflect?”
Watching Doha clench his fists so tightly that his nails dug into his palms, Jaeyoon rubbed his forehead and let out a long sigh.
‘Is an apology so difficult? Or does he consider Lee Jaeyoon too insignificant to even apologize to?’
Either way, it’s annoying.
Jaeyoon leaned back against the bed cushion.
“Get out.”
“…What…?”
“I said get out.”
“What the…!!”
Jaeyoon pointed to the hospital room door while indifferently watching Doha’s wavering eyes.
“I have nothing more to say to you. Anything beyond this would just be a waste of time. Get out.”
“Wait, hold on!!”
“…”
“My parents…”
“Ah, right. I arranged for your parents’ business partners to continue transactions for just one week.”
“!!”
“I was going to decide whether to continue or stop the transactions after a week depending on what you do.”
“You…!!”
“It seems the outcome has already been decided, doesn’t it?”
Seeing Jaeyoon smiling brightly, Doha lunged toward him. Jung Jinhoo caught Doha’s arm as it reached for Jaeyoon’s neck, twisted it behind him, and threw Doha to the floor. A painful groan escaped Doha’s lips as his face hit the hospital room tiles. Jinhoo placed his knee on Doha’s back, pinning him down so he couldn’t move.
“You and Kim Yeonwoo are really alike. When words don’t work, you resort to violence first.”
Jaeyoon rested his chin on his hand and stared at Doha, who was glaring back at him.
“What? Did you think you could win with force? What should I do with you two? What would make you reflect on your actions?”
“…”
“Should I ruin you so thoroughly that you’d never even think about setting foot in the theater world again? Or would you come to your senses from the guilt if your parents’ business failed because of you?”
“!!… No. My parents, my parents have nothing to do with this!”
In that moment, Doha recalled the powerless voices of his parents. Even just from the voice over the phone, he could picture what his parents must look like now. Jaeyoon quietly watched as Doha’s shoulders trembled, then turned his gaze away from him.
“I’m curious about something.”
Doha raised his head at Jaeyoon’s voice.
“Why don’t you say it wasn’t you who did it?”
“…What are you talking about?”
“I heard rumors spread at school that you pushed me. But why don’t you deny it wasn’t you? Because of Kim Yeonwoo?”
“…”
“Even though you’ve been cornered like this, Kim Yeonwoo is hiding instead of standing up for you. Why are you sacrificing yourself to protect him?”
“Yeonwoo couldn’t handle a situation like this. He’s terrified of people leaving him more than anything.”
“So you don’t mind taking the blame instead of Kim Yeonwoo?”
“…”
Not abandoning Kim Yeonwoo in any situation. That one thing, Jaeyoon thought, was Doha’s admirable quality. Even in the game, whether it was a happy ending or a bad ending, Kim Doha never abandoned Kim Yeonwoo. While other characters liked Kim Yeonwoo for his good side, Kim Doha liked all of him. Even the ugly sides. Growing up as childhood friends, he thought he needed to protect Yeonwoo, who craved affection and felt lonely. That only he could understand Yeonwoo.
‘Well, that’s not wrong.’
Lee Minho and Im Hangyeol wouldn’t be able to endure Kim Yeonwoo’s ugly side. Han Doyoon might find it amusing, but only until it stopped being interesting. In fact, right now, Han Doyoon had lost interest in Kim Yeonwoo and was bothering me instead.
“Kim Doha, apologize.”
“What?”
“Apologize to me together with Kim Yeonwoo. Apologize sincerely and reflect on your actions.”
“With Yeonwoo…?”
“Surely you’re not so stupid that you don’t know what you’re apologizing for?”
“…”
“Go back today, think carefully about what you did wrong, reflect on it, and apologize to me. Then I promise not to interfere with your parents’ business any further.”
“!!”
“But if you don’t come to apologize with Kim Yeonwoo by tomorrow, there won’t be any more chances.”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
