Chapter 16: The Name Beside His

“Just a moment is enough…!”

“Yoon Jiwoo!”

The name written on that pure white wedding invitation was that exact one.

Those three syllables bursting out from Doyoon’s mouth, as though he too were being chased by something, sounding just as anxious as Haesu himself.

Yoon Jiwoo couldn’t take his eyes off Haesu.

Completely different from Haesu, who would rather shut his eyes tightly and stumble through this place blind than continue looking at him.

Was that why?

Because they were this different?

Was that why I wasn’t enough, but you were?

The moment even such pathetic thoughts crossed his mind, Haesu realized that despite crawling out of that endless swamp, he was still suffering.

All this time, he had ignored the name of Kwon Seha’s lover under the excuse that he simply didn’t want to know it.

Reality approached him mockingly anyway.

Without a single warning.

Screeech—

The chair scraped harshly against the floor as it shoved backward.

Something close to a scream pierced his ears.

At the same time, Haesu shot up from his seat.

Even if he stayed here, he no longer had the confidence to endure it.

He met him.

He found out.

The name and the face he had desperately avoided had finally entered Choi Haesu’s mind.

The ring so openly resting on those soft, delicate fingers.

Even after seeing it directly, he hadn’t recognized it.

Even though Jiwoo’s entire existence had been proof that he was Kwon Seha’s lover.

If someone asked whether he had seen the same ring during yesterday’s dinner with Seha, Haesu would probably pretend not to remember again like an idiot.

Haesu started walking toward the café door.

He had to.

The people quietly spending time in the café began glancing over at the sudden noise.

The moment he noticed even that, it felt like insects were crawling all over his body.

Doing something unfamiliar.

He considered this the price for it.

He stepped into an unfamiliar day thinking he would try to live well, and it had ended up like this.

Regret crashed over him.

Doyoon hurried after him.

He grabbed Haesu’s hand while walking.

“Mr. Haesu. Let’s go. Come with me.”

“……”

“We finished eating. So now we’re going home together, right?”

And instead, Doyoon opened the café door for him.

The entrance Jiwoo had come through became the exit for Haesu.

Separated by a single door, he escaped that place.

Only then did the breath he’d been holding burst free.

Outside, the scenery had not changed much at all.

The buildings and signs he had seen earlier remained exactly the same.

Cars sped past, each carrying somewhere they urgently needed to be.

Only Haesu’s emotions had changed completely.

He slipped free from the firm hand holding his and forced his trembling legs to move.

Until now, he had dismissed it as some strange unidentifiable feeling, but the truth was that Haesu knew exactly what this emotion was called.

“Mr. Haesu. Let’s go together. Where are you trying to go alone…?”

“…Doyoon.”

“Yes. Mr. Haesu. We’re outside now.”

This feeling was undoubtedly defeat.

Different from humiliation or shame.

Rather than the sorrow of someone who failed to obtain something they desperately wanted…

It was closer to endless jealousy.

The resentment he had carried without direction toward the lover of Kwon Seha — the person who forgot Choi Haesu and left him behind — had finally found somewhere to land.

That person wore the same ring as Seha.

While exchanging those rings, Kwon Seha must have confidently promised eternity to him.

All while leaving Choi Haesu behind.

Even though Haesu already knew that truth, directly witnessing it with his own eyes made every heartbreak before this seem insignificant.

“I can go home alone.”

“I don’t want to. I want to take you home.”

The pain rose all the way to the top of his head, but he didn’t cry.

For the first time, he realized that if sadness reached its limit, even tears stopped coming.

“No. I want to walk home.”

In that instant, despair flickered across eyes completely opposite from Haesu’s own dry ones.

To Doyoon, the cheerful morning greeting they exchanged earlier felt almost like an illusion now.

Haesu’s house wasn’t very far from here.

But Doyoon’s anxiety screamed that he couldn’t let him go alone.

Still, with a single insistence that he wanted to walk, Doyoon had no choice but to step back.

It sounded the same as saying he didn’t want to ride in the car.

Once Haesu put it that way, Doyoon could no longer persuade him.

“You don’t need to worry while I’m going home. I’m not running into traffic. I’ll go home. I’ll sleep when I get there.”

“……”

“Thank you for breakfast. See you next time.”

“Let’s meet tomorrow. Promise me that.”

A tremor slipped into the otherwise calm-sounding voice.

Haesu stopped just as he was turning away, caught by Doyoon’s words.

His body remained half-turned.

“Okay. Let’s meet tomorrow.”

The immediate answer reassured Doyoon slightly.

So he decided not to force himself into Haesu’s thoughts any further right now.

Even though the back disappearing before his eyes looked unbearably fragile.

Haesu had always been someone painfully sensitive to small changes.

And so was today’s unwelcome intruder inside the café.

The moment Haesu and Jiwoo saw each other, they immediately understood the other’s existence.

Doyoon couldn’t take his eyes off Haesu as he gradually disappeared farther away.

His fists clenched on their own.

A fury without a clear target rose inside him.

He wanted to run after Haesu immediately.

But it felt like Haesu wouldn’t want that.

And once again, the helplessness that always made him search for Haesu grew larger.

His mind had been elsewhere this entire time.

Ever since hearing the single name Haesu whispered the moment he woke up that morning.

Now Haesu was gone from sight entirely.

The small figure that had remained visible in the distance eventually became a dot before disappearing completely.

Maybe he changed directions.

Maybe he grew exhausted and stopped somewhere along the way.

There was no way to know.

Only vague worry remained, twisting painfully inside him.

In that frantic state, Doyoon had followed Haesu outside without even grabbing his phone properly.

When Haesu suddenly stood up and walked out, Doyoon moved first almost like a madman.

And yet this was the result.

Sighs escaped him continuously as he walked back into the café.

“…Why are you still here?”

“……”

The person before him wasn’t even someone he could properly blame.

Returning to the table, he saw Yoon Jiwoo slumped in the seat Haesu had occupied earlier.

The existence he wished would disappear was still sitting there unchanged, and it made his head ache.

His drooping shoulders lacked strength.

Even without seeing his face clearly, Doyoon could tell Jiwoo was drowning in thought.

Tap—

Jiwoo reflexively turned his head at the sound of approaching footsteps.

As if he’d been waiting, he quickly stood up.

His face was a mess.

The bright smile he wore while approaching Doyoon earlier had vanished as though it never existed.

“I should get going now. Work starts soon.”

“…Looks like you took a half day off too, Doyoon.”

“Yeah.”

Which naturally meant Jiwoo had done the same.

For whatever reason, Yoon Jiwoo was also here on a Friday morning after taking half the day off.

Maybe everything really was coincidence, but the unexpected situation irritated Doyoon first and foremost.

Watching Doyoon’s expression, Jiwoo let out a weak laugh.

That alone hardened Doyoon’s already stiff face further.

He was in absolutely no mood to laugh.

“I didn’t know. I didn’t run into him on purpose.”

“I know. You don’t have to explain.”

Even after standing up, Jiwoo’s uneasy fingers still hovered near the table.

His gaze remained fixed endlessly on the café door Haesu had disappeared through.

Of course he looked upset.

But even though Doyoon clearly found Jiwoo uncomfortable, he made no effort to deny it.

Seeing the countless unsaid words in Jiwoo’s eyes, Doyoon chose to leave the café with him instead.

When he asked if Jiwoo would stand up, Jiwoo nodded carefully.

Even within those few minutes, the wind hitting their faces outside felt different.

Colder.

Sharper.

Even after getting into the car, Doyoon didn’t start the engine for a long time.

The person sitting in the passenger seat now was Jiwoo.

The people inside the café had already stared enough at the three of them.

There was no way Jiwoo failed to notice those gazes naturally following Doyoon when he reentered.

That was why they needed somewhere quieter instead.

It was also the first time Doyoon had Jiwoo sitting beside him like this.

The one who finally broke the long silence was Jiwoo.

“Was that him?”

Even his voice sounded desperate.

Earlier, Jiwoo had even tried to stop Haesu despite how shaken he clearly was, so there was no doubt he had countless things he wanted to ask.

Placing his hands neatly atop his thighs, Jiwoo began speaking again.

“What exactly do you mean by ‘him’?”

Even if he didn’t intend it that way, Doyoon’s words came out harsh.

He paused briefly after hearing himself.

Fortunately, Jiwoo seemed too lost in thought to notice.

Ever since Haesu walked away, it seemed like Jiwoo was trying carefully to organize his words toward the now-sharpened Doyoon sitting beside him.

Doyoon quietly looked over at Jiwoo.

Ever since the moment they first met, Jiwoo had made him uncomfortable for reasons he couldn’t explain.

It was different from simple personal dislike.

There was an unavoidable title constantly attached to him.

Kwon Seha’s lover.

His future spouse.

If not for that, Doyoon sometimes thought even he wouldn’t have treated Jiwoo this coldly.

Jiwoo was a good person.

At least from one human being to another, he was.

Outgoing, lively, bright.

Even if Doyoon never wanted to know it, Kwon Seha had described Jiwoo that way.

From their very first meeting, Jiwoo approached people without pretense.

He was kind, affectionate, always smiling.

He put people at ease.

Maybe if they had met under different circumstances as friends, Doyoon himself might have cherished his connection with Jiwoo too.

Which meant there was no way Chairman Kwon wouldn’t approve of someone like him.

The day Doyoon finally defined Jiwoo as a good person after witnessing countless interactions between him and Seha, he felt strangely sad.

Naturally, Haesu’s face came to mind.

He had no choice but to acknowledge that Haesu’s happiness had become uncertain.