Chapter 24
Taeri, who had entered the room, sat on the sofa with his legs crossed, observing Juha’s movements.
21 texts that Lee Juha had ignored.
17 calls that Lee Juha had ignored.
His anger had flared up and died down dozens of times, but he wanted to see his face and ask. Why the hell he was acting like this.
With cameras everywhere, he couldn’t confront him openly, and it was driving him crazy.
Taeri had something he absolutely had to say to Juha. But with him avoiding him like this, Taeri’s patience was starting to run thin.
If he had done that body slam earlier, maybe he would have gotten through to him somehow.
However, Lee Juha acted nonchalant as if nothing had happened.
Taeri fell into thought as he watched him, wondering how to make that prickly sandpaper listen.
“I’m done washing up. You should wash up too.”
Juha came out of the bathroom, toweling his hair.
“Yeah. I should wash up. Since I like being clean.”
At Taeri’s resentment-filled tone, Juha lowered his towel and stared blankly. Taeri hid his surging irritation and went into the bathroom.
Around the time Taeri finished his shower and was coming out, there was a knock at the door.
“I’ll go get it.”
Juha ran to the door as if fleeing. His urgent steps showed he didn’t want to face Taeri for even a single moment.
The people standing at the door were filming team staff members.
“Hello. What’s the matter?”
“The camera in this room isn’t recording, so we need to do some maintenance. We need to check the audio too, so we’ll remove the cameras for now. They’ll be reinstalled tomorrow.”
“Okay. Come in.”
As Juha moved to the side of the door, three staff members entered and removed cameras installed here and there. There were more than expected, so Juha was startled without realizing it.
“Um, the camera in the bathroom also seems to be malfunctioning due to a lot of steam, so I think you should check that together.”
Taeri, who had come out of the bathroom, actively participated in finding cameras as if he was going to remove every single camera in this room.
“Yes. There are a lot of cameras, probably because the room is big. We need to film a few penthouse first night scenes today, but the camera director has gone home. We might film the scenes separately tomorrow, so keep that in mind.”
“Yes. Juha, did you hear that?”
Taeri naturally asked Juha.
“Yes? Oh, yes. I’ll prepare well like it’s the first night.”
After saying it, the nuance of his words was strange. Anyway, whenever that damn Choi Taeri got involved, Juha felt like he became an idiot.
The staff who had removed cameras for about 30 minutes left the room with a “sleep well” greeting.
Now it was really just Taeri and Juha, alone together.
When the cameras were there, he had somehow muttered to fill the audio, but now there was truly only silence.
“I’m going to sleep first.”
Juha was the first to turn away. Then Taeri strode over and blocked his path. The already tall kid looked threatening with a frown on his face.
“Lee Juha. We have something to talk about, don’t we?”
“What? We’ve been talking until now. Let’s talk about the stage again tomorrow.”
He knew he was being shameless, but there was no other way. Juha knew what he was going to talk about. That’s why he had to try his best to avoid it even more.
Juha stepped around Taeri, who was standing like a prime minister, and approached the bed. Taeri’s eyes wrinkled with annoyance.
He couldn’t not know that Juha had been avoiding him since that night. Moreover, that face that couldn’t hide anything clearly showed discomfort about what happened that day.
“Hey, Lee Juha. Fuck, Lee Juha!”
Taeri shouted at his back.
As soon as he heard the word “fuck,” Juha’s steps came to a complete stop.
“Why are you cursing?”
Juha asked with his brow furrowed. Then Taeri blocked his path again.
“Are you a hit-and-run?”
A hollow laugh burst from Juha’s mouth. Hit-and-run. Juha, who had lived like a rigid monk until now, had heard the most ridiculous thing in his life.
“What kind of bullshit is that?”
Juha shouted irritably.
A knock sounded, cutting through the heated air.
“Ah, what now?”
Taeri irritably ran his hands through his hair as he headed to the door. Juha watched his movements with his brow furrowed.
A junior staff member from the filming team was standing at the door.
“Oh, hello.”
“I think I dropped a lens cap. Let me look for it.”
“Yes. Come in.”
Taeri smiled kindly as if he had never raised his voice and opened the door. At times like this, Choi Taeri was annoyingly good at managing himself like a celebrity.
The young female staff member entered the room, looked around, and soon found the black lens cap that had fallen on the floor.
“Here it is. Thank you. You must be tired, so rest.”
“So all the cameras are removed now, right? This isn’t like a hidden camera or anything, right?”
The staff member burst into laughter, finding Taeri’s repeated questions to confirm amusing.
“Yes. The other rooms all turn off after 10 o’clock anyway, so sleep comfortably.”
“Thank you.”
Juha also bowed from behind.
As the heavy door closed, Taeri turned around. Storm clouds gathered in the room again.
Seeing Taeri’s resentful glare, Juha’s fighting spirit flared up again too. Right, running away wasn’t originally in his nature. So it would be refreshing to clash at least once.
“Why the hell are you acting like this? Are you playing with me? Or do you regret it after doing it once with me?”
Taeri spoke first. In his life, being someone’s plaything and then being discarded was impossible. From Taeri’s perspective, he thought he had shown his sincerity to that extent, so naturally he expected to become closer with Lee Juha after that night. But contrary to Taeri’s expectations, Lee Juha’s behavior until now was incomprehensible.
Intentionally avoiding him was frustrating enough to drive him crazy, but Taeri was furious at Lee Juha’s attitude of not even wanting to have a conversation.
“Does regretting it make what happened between us disappear? I’m so embarrassed, really…”
“Can you only speak that crudely?”
Taeri’s voice rose with irritation. He was infuriated by how such nasty words could come from Lee Juha’s pretty face.
“Aren’t both you and I pathetic? Not even the first competition, but right after the first episode of the broadcast, we couldn’t hold back and did that?”
“No, I’m not pathetic.”
Even at Juha’s words, Taeri was resolute.
“I think we’re both a bit pathetic.”
The facial muscles of Taeri, who was suppressing his anger, trembled.
That night wasn’t something Taeri had done impulsively. From right after the group lodging ended, Taeri had been constantly debating whether to contact Juha or not. During that time, Taeri endlessly questioned himself. Whether it was okay to be frantically infatuated with Lee Juha during this important period, whether he would regret it.
But in the end, Taeri chose to reveal his feelings to Juha. Because the size of those feelings was too much for him to bear alone.
Not knowing those feelings, Lee Juha had spent the night intertwined with him, then secretly went home at dawn and continued avoiding him, and now what he had to say was merely “I think we’re both pathetic.”
“Choi Taeri, let’s come to our senses. I really want to debut. This program is my last chance.”
Lee Juha’s voice softened considerably as if trying to calm the excited Taeri.
“I want to debut too. This is my last chance too!”
Taeri said, pounding his own chest.
“It wouldn’t be your last chance. Even if this fails, you have plenty of opportunities. But I don’t!”
“What I want to ask is whether you really regret what you did with me!”
Taeri still persisted about that night. Then Juha’s eyes sharpened once again.
“I don’t regret it. I’m not the kind of person who does things to regret.”
“Then what’s the problem? Why are you treating me like this? Who said the audition was ruined? I told you from the beginning. I’m doing this because I want to debut with you. We just need to be careful from now on! Why are you blatantly ignoring me?”
At Taeri’s words, Juha bit his lips deeply. He couldn’t bring himself to ask, ‘Do you do this with everyone you want to debut with?’ Trying to avoid the truth, Juha kept getting tongue-tied. He couldn’t stand how pathetic he was, going in circles without even properly finding a subject to fight about.
At first, he was afraid. Choi Taeri was too big a disruption to Lee Juha’s quiet life. In this program where he was trying his best to achieve his dream with the last opportunity given to him, meeting Choi Taeri and having their relationship deepen to this extent was unexpected.
They were both still young, so it was like that. They were so tense that they needed someone to rely on. If not that, then it was because the desires he had suppressed until now had burst out. Juha did his best to rationalize this situation with all kinds of reasons.
But now he was afraid this emotion might cross the line. So he felt like he would rush toward Choi Taeri regardless of debut or anything else, corrupting his own life.
And after coming to his senses a bit more, he felt wronged. Because it seemed like he was the only one whose emotions fluctuated dozens of times a day.
Choi Taeri seemed like all of this would be familiar to him. Just like everything he had done to him from the penthouse until now was skillful, controlling emotions too.
Choi Taeri jumping around like that now was just because being hit-and-run was the first time in Taeri’s life.
If he continued clashing with Taeri like this, the death match might end not just as death but as a complete wipeout. Then debut or whatever would just be over.
It hurt his pride, but it would be better to honestly confess and cleanly shake it off. Only then could he focus on practice starting tomorrow. Juha made up his mind and opened his mouth.
“I’m bothered.”
Juha said, biting his lips tightly.
“By what?”
“Why are you so good at it?”
As soon as he said it, Juha regretted it. At the question without an object, Taeri narrowed his eyes and tilted his head.
“At what?”
“How many people have you done it with?”
“…What?”
Taeri asked back as if dumbfounded.
Whatever, I don’t care.
Juha started pouring out words randomly.
“You and me. We’re twenty now. How many men have you done it with until now to be so good at it? No, never mind. Fuck, I’m the crazy one for asking this.”
Juha bit his lips tightly again and ran his hands through his hair. After spitting out a few words, he was breathing hard again.
Just mentioning this made Juha’s pride hurt to the point of going crazy.
“Don’t tell me you’ve been angry until now because of that?”
Suddenly Choi Taeri’s eyes widened.
It must be absurd. Even I’m absurd for saying such things.
Even after saying it, Juha couldn’t hide his sense of injustice. He couldn’t say even more that ‘I like you, but you seem to only want my body.’
“Ev-everything. Everything bothers me, I’m going crazy.”
Not knowing those feelings, Taeri’s cheekbones twitched. It looked like he was holding back laughter, making his mood even worse.
“Why are you laughing, you crazy bastard?”
Juha spat out the words irritably.
Even after being cursed at, with no particular reaction, Taeri’s rigid face began to crack strangely. His eyes narrowed and the corners of his mouth rose wickedly, looking delighted and amused.
“Hey, this isn’t the time to laugh…”
“I researched. From the day I left the dorm until right before you came, continuously. Because I wanted to do it with you.”
Choi Taeri’s answer, spoken with a pleased smile, was absurd.
“You think that makes you good at it?”
Even when Juha shouted, Taeri’s lips kept rising. Seeing that look made him even more annoyed.
“It worked well for me though?”
To say such things with a proud face. Well, if it really was his first time, it wouldn’t be wrong to say he had talent in that area rather than dancing. That night, the flow was never broken even once, and Juha didn’t even have time to think of other things.
Rather, recalling the night with Taeri that had made Juha even more frantic, anger surged from within. Then this time Taeri shot back.
“What about you then? Was it your first time? How were you so good at…”
“This bastard really…”
Juha covered his mouth before worse words could come out of Taeri’s mouth.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
