Chapter 27: Someone Else’s Name

Even after going this far, the person right in front of him still gave no proper reaction.

This is the first time it hasn’t worked at all.

Just as Haesu finally realized how strange the situation was becoming and forced himself to open his eyes, something landed softly against his lips.

Warm.

Gentle.

It was unmistakably the feeling of someone’s mouth.

The kiss that seemed like it would end quickly didn’t pull away.

It felt as if every breath leaving Haesu was being swallowed whole by the other person instead.

Because he believed it was Seha, his body didn’t tense in alarm or fear.

But the persistent tongue greedily stealing even the small sighs escaping Haesu’s mouth eventually forced his lips apart.

“Wait…”

Like someone desperately craving something, the other person sucked softly at Haesu’s tongue.

Kwon Seha was especially greedy this morning.

The moment Haesu’s breathing became uneven from the prolonged kiss, the other person noticed instantly and finally pulled away for a brief moment.

Haesu suddenly grew curious about what kind of satisfied expression Seha must be making right now.

Just as he tried opening his eyes to look at him properly, something covered them instead.

A hand.

His vision went completely dark.

Unable to see anything, Haesu had no choice but to surrender his saliva, his breathing, everything.

The tongue teasing him gently one second suddenly stole the entirety of his tongue the next as though it already belonged to him.

When the roof of his mouth was scraped lightly in the process, a violent shiver ran from the top of his head all the way down his spine.

His entire body tingled instantly.

“Mm— ngh… stop, stop…”

Haesu only thought one thing.

Kwon Seha really is impossible.

The moment he heard the pleading in Haesu’s voice, the kisses finally stopped.

But the hand covering Haesu’s eyes still didn’t move away.

With nothing visible in the darkness, Haesu gradually lost the need to open his eyes at all.

Drowsiness slowly returned again.

At this rate, he felt like he might simply fall asleep once more.

Only right before consciousness faded completely again did the hand finally leave his face.

The person who had been kissing Haesu waited until he fully drifted back to sleep before immediately throwing off the blanket.

He carefully slid both legs out of bed, but the moment his feet touched the floor, they nearly gave out beneath him.

His trembling legs somehow carried him across the room toward the door.

Then he hurriedly opened the door leading to the living room and escaped the space where Haesu had fallen asleep again.

But he couldn’t walk any farther than that.

His body slowly collapsed straight to the floor.

Only after leaning his shaking shoulders against the door did he finally release the breath trapped inside him.

“Ah, seriously…”

The person sitting there like an idiot in front of the door while clutching his hair wasn’t Seha.

The one who had just kissed Choi Haesu was not Kwon Seha.

It was Lee Doyoon.

He had originally been about to tell Haesu it wasn’t morning.

But the instant those familiar casual words slipped from Haesu’s lips, Doyoon froze completely.

Inside the darkness, Haesu clearly wasn’t seeing Doyoon at all.

And because Doyoon knew there was only one person Haesu could possibly mistake him for, both his body and thoughts stiffened instantly.

He had done something awful to someone half asleep.

The hatred and irritation that surged through him the moment Haesu mistook him for another man overwhelmed his self-control entirely.

Doyoon could only stare at the mumbling Haesu like a broken person himself.

And then the moment he heard the word “kiss,” his mind went completely blank.

When Haesu started squirming slightly, trying to open his eyes, Doyoon acted before thinking.

The only fortunate thing was that Haesu believed the person lying beside him was Kwon Seha.

And realizing he felt relieved about that immediately afterward made Doyoon feel like an absolute fool.

The hand that had covered more than half of Haesu’s face only moments ago trembled visibly now.

His palm was soaked with sweat from how tense he’d been.

Soon guilt crashed into him all at once.

He shouldn’t have done that.

Not to someone asleep.

Not to someone incapable of even recognizing who stood in front of him.

Doyoon knew all of that perfectly well.

Which only made the guilt hurt more.

And yet, if he went back to that moment again, he knew he would probably do the exact same thing.

That realization stabbed mercilessly at his conscience.

His ears and face remained burning red for a very long time.

The moment he woke up, Haesu sat upright immediately, unable to tolerate the stiffness in his body anymore.

While staring blankly into the air, he unconsciously scratched at his cheek repeatedly.

It felt like someone had been touching that spot over and over again.

Bright sunlight poured in through the nearby window.

Frowning slightly, he slowly looked around the room.

Strange furniture.

Clothes he didn’t recognize lying around.

A bathroom door completely unfamiliar to him.

The instant he realized everything around him was different from what he knew, the room suddenly felt foreign — until yesterday’s memories finally surfaced.

This was Doyoon’s house.

Not only had he stolen someone else’s bed, he had apparently slept deeply enough to lose track of time entirely.

Earlier, after Doyoon left the room, an intense headache had struck him almost immediately.

Eventually, unable to endure it, Haesu gave in to the overwhelming urge to sleep.

He vaguely remembered touching the pill bottle and opening it.

The memory flashed briefly through his mind before Haesu suddenly jumped out of bed.

“Doyoon?”

Walking into the living room, he searched for him.

The unmade bed made him hesitate briefly, but he still wanted to find Doyoon first.

No matter how he thought about it, he felt he owed an apology for sleeping in his bed like that.

“Doyoon, where are—”

He didn’t even need to look around much.

Doyoon sat right there on the sofa.

For some reason he looked unusually serious, but the moment he noticed Haesu, his expression softened immediately.

Seeing that, Haesu walked toward him without much concern.

“You were uncomfortable because I stole your bed, weren’t you? See? I told you I’d become a burden.”

“There was another bed available, so why would I be uncomfortable? Did you sleep well? Anywhere hurting?”

“No. What time is it now…?”

When he woke inside the bedroom earlier, sunlight had been pouring through the windows so brightly that Haesu assumed it was already morning.

But the sky outside the living room windows was dark now.

Not evening.

Night.

So I really slept until nighttime.

Honestly, it wouldn’t have surprised him if an entire day had passed.

At least he hadn’t spent literally all day sleeping while leaving Doyoon alone.

“Did you already eat dinner?”

“Not yet. I was waiting to eat with you.”

“That’s good. Can I use your kitchen and refrigerator then?”

“Of course.”

It had been a long time since Haesu cooked anything.

Truthfully, he wasn’t even hungry yet.

But he wanted to do something.

Even if Doyoon didn’t expect anything from him, sitting around doing nothing in this house made Haesu uncomfortable.

There weren’t many things he could do well.

Still, he quietly recalled the things Seha taught him long ago while taking ingredients out of the refrigerator one by one.

With both arms full, he turned around only for Doyoon to silently carry everything over beside the cutting board for him.

It was one of Haesu’s favorite dishes, which probably explained why it was the only one he truly felt confident making.

He washed rice.

Then decided to make soybean paste stew.

Spotting zucchini inside the vegetable drawer even made him feel slightly happy for a moment.

“Looks good.”

“Really? I’m curious too.”

“Yeah. I think it turned out okay. Go sit down.”

The recipe itself wasn’t anything special, but Haesu still felt relieved he hadn’t forgotten it.

For a brief second another familiar face surfaced in his mind again.

Only after noticing the dangerously hot induction stove in front of him did he force those thoughts away.

Soon he placed the bowls down in front of Doyoon, who sat at the table looking unusually excited.

The tofu and zucchini floating inside the stew remained perfectly intact, still shaped exactly as Haesu cut them.

For once, he felt satisfied with himself.

“This is literally the only thing I know how to make.”

“Hm? It’s good though. I feel like you’d be good at other things too.”

“Honestly, this is the only thing I actually learned properly. I’m glad it tastes okay.”

Whenever Seha tried teaching him other dishes in the past, Haesu never listened seriously.

You can just cook for me anyway.

He used to say selfish things like that.

Now, strangely enough, he regretted it.

Maybe I should’ve learned properly after all.

Sitting across from Doyoon, Haesu slowly lifted his spoon.

After eating and sleeping, there was no chance he’d fall asleep again anytime soon, which meant he needed to think about what came next.

Most importantly, he needed time to think.

About when he should leave this house so Doyoon would stop worrying so much.

About the day steadily approaching.

About what Choi Haesu should do when it finally came.

Everything felt vague and difficult, but he didn’t want to keep postponing it anymore.

“I have rehabilitation sessions on Tuesdays and Thursdays.”

“Same time every week too, right?”

“Yeah. I always schedule them for the same hour.”

“Did you do the homework?”

“…How do you know there’s homework?”

The conversation had been flowing naturally until Haesu suddenly stared at Doyoon with complete confusion.

He’d never mentioned it to anyone before.

Sometimes even he forgot about it entirely, so how did Doyoon know?

Doyoon laughed softly at Haesu’s shocked expression.

He remembered the disorganized corner of Haesu’s apartment.

Books scattered carelessly everywhere.

Scripts piled up.

Sheets marked with rehabilitation dates stacked in one corner of the room.

“Haesu, you’ve never done any of it, have you? Even the practice checklist your therapist gave you. The self-evaluation sections were completely blank too.”

“……”

“Now that I know, we can work on them together properly from now on, right? Your therapist’s going to be surprised.”

Though Haesu stayed silent, Doyoon never pressured him for an answer.

As if no response was necessary at all.

Even though someone like this should probably feel burdensome, Doyoon never showed it.

Watching Doyoon — warm, kind, bright — Haesu found himself thinking something unexpected.

Whoever became important to this man might really stay happy for the rest of their life.

And for the first time, Haesu imagined someone eventually standing beside Doyoon too.

Just like Jiwoo had appeared beside Kwon Seha.

If someone someday appeared for Lee Doyoon as well…

Then perhaps Choi Haesu could finally let everything go completely and remain alone without regret.