Chapter 15: The Name Written Beside His

“It feels really awkward coming outside on a day I’m not supposed to go to rehab. It’s been a while.”

“What are you planning to do this afternoon?”

“Uh… I’m not really sure yet. I haven’t thought that far.”

“Forcing yourself to figure everything out isn’t always good either. Wouldn’t it be okay to spend today just thinking about what you want to do?”

Was it really okay to waste time like that?

Haesu, who had already spent years doing almost nothing with his life, thought absurd things surprisingly well.

The version of himself from the past few years would probably laugh hearing this.

Should he tell him about the dream?

That Kwon Seha had said the exact same thing in both reality and dreams.

Should he tell him about the promise they made — that he would try to live well in the end?

He considered it for a moment, but eventually decided there was no reason to say any of it.

He didn’t want to keep using Doyoon as a link connected to Seha.

Even if the connection to someone disappeared, he still wanted them to remain good to each other.

That was the kind of relationship he wanted.

His slightly parted lips closed again.

As Haesu casually picked at a hangnail, Doyoon quietly looked away from him as well.

It was already past eleven.

Neither of them made the first move to stand up.

A sluggish warmth drifted down Haesu’s back.

He leaned more comfortably against the chair.

Soft piano music flowed from the speaker directly above them.

He couldn’t remember the title, but it was a familiar melody.

In a day that still felt entirely unfamiliar, that tiny bit of familiarity alone calmed him.

Pushing away the dull emptiness soaking into him, Haesu opened his mouth.

He wanted to thank the person who shared this strange morning with him, ate together with him, spent time beside him.

“Breakfast was good.”

“Then I’m relieved.”

“I left a lot behind though. There was too much.”

There was no embarrassment on the smiling face that said those words.

Doyoon couldn’t take his eyes off that smile for quite a while.

Ding—

The café door opened, and the wind barged in freely.

The glass chime hanging nearby swayed on its own and rang softly.

Someone entered the quiet weekday café alongside the breeze, where only the two of them and a handful of others sat.

Without thinking much of it, Haesu instinctively looked toward the sound.

And then a face tugging at some blurry memory inside his head entered his sight.

“Doyoon?”

Even though Haesu had been the first to look toward the person entering the café, the newcomer greeted the man sitting across from him first.

Doyoon, who had been maintaining eye contact with Haesu the entire time, turned toward the entrance at the sound of his name.

His eyes widened slightly in surprise.

It was definitely someone he had seen before.

Where had he seen that face?

It didn’t take much thought.

It felt like a memory from only a few hours ago…

And then, suddenly, Seha’s company came to mind.

Only then did all the scattered memories begin piecing themselves together.

The café he stayed at before meeting Seha yesterday.

The pretty hand that picked up Haesu’s dropped phone.

And those round eyes he remembered finding particularly memorable.

The man also seemed to recognize Haesu soon after, looking equally surprised.

“Huh? You’re the person from the café yesterday!”

“Ah, yes… hello.”

So they knew Doyoon too.

The question filled Haesu’s mouth, but he didn’t say it aloud.

The expression on Doyoon’s face after glancing at him didn’t look normal.

Haesu had enough awareness to notice that much.

For a moment, he almost wondered if Doyoon disliked the man.

Otherwise, there was no reason for him to wear such a cold expression — one so rare that even Haesu had only seen it a handful of times.

Doyoon’s tightly shut lips offered no proper reply, making the atmosphere awkward.

Meanwhile, the man with the gentle eyes simply looked happy to have unexpectedly run into Doyoon.

The distance between them narrowed.

Just as the man reached a few steps away from their table, Doyoon finally spoke.

“Mr. Jiwoo. It’s been a while.”

“It really has. Have you been doing well?”

“Yes. I was planning to contact you, but I’ve been busy these past few days. You know how it is.”

“Of course. I haven’t contacted you either.”

Haesu quietly listened to their conversation.

So his name was Jiwoo.

Jiwoo.

Even his name suited him perfectly.

Overall, there was something about him that reminded Haesu of a cute little animal.

The neat clothes he wore matched his atmosphere incredibly well.

His softly permed hair swayed slightly in the breeze, making his gentle speech and mannerisms appear even more lovable.

He looked comfortable around Doyoon.

Not close, exactly, but familiar.

After thinking that far, Haesu realized staring so openly at someone else’s conversation probably wasn’t polite, so he turned his head away.

Instead, he began looking around at the café decorations and interior again, completely unaware of Doyoon glancing at him from time to time.

He really does look cute.

The hands that carefully brushed dust off Haesu’s fallen phone matched their owner perfectly.

The bright look in his eyes when he returned the cleaned phone had reminded Haesu of a puppy he once met at a vacation pension years ago.

“I saw the person sitting in front of you yesterday, Doyoon. You remember me, right? I didn’t know you two knew each other.”

“…Mr. Haesu?”

The soft-looking hands folded neatly together as Jiwoo pointed toward Haesu.

Both pairs of eyes turned toward him.

Caught off guard, Haesu darted his gaze around desperately before finally looking toward Doyoon for help.

Doyoon’s eyes held the same confusion.

Not being able to read what he was thinking made Haesu’s head hurt.

Should he greet him again?

Did he really have to?

It wasn’t like they’d ever meet again after today.

But Jiwoo’s unnecessarily bright and cheerful face made it impossible not to respond somehow.

Unable to coldly brush him off and tell them to continue their conversation without him, Haesu awkwardly answered.

“Ah, yes. Yesterday at the café, um… anyway.”

He tried to explain they met before he went to see Seha, but failed to find the right words and ended up mumbling vaguely instead.

Haesu wanted to hold his forehead and sigh at how stupid he must’ve looked in front of someone he barely knew.

Eventually, after roughly organizing his thoughts, he answered Doyoon, whose expression still hadn’t softened.

“I was waiting at a café near Seha’s company before meeting him, and we met there. I obviously didn’t know he was someone you knew, Doyoon.”

The moment Haesu said that—

The strange awkwardness hanging between the three of them suddenly fell completely silent.

The atmosphere sank as if someone had dumped ice-cold water over it.

Flustered, Haesu let out an awkward cough.

His gaze moved back and forth between Doyoon and Jiwoo.

Even Jiwoo, who had been smiling the entire time since entering the café, began showing an unreadable emotion.

And then, Doyoon avoided Haesu’s eyes.

Soon after, he lowered his head.

The moment Haesu saw that, a terrible feeling started rising slowly from deep inside him.

Maybe it was because he had spoken one particular name aloud.

Seha.

Out of everything in Haesu’s sentence, that was the only thing capable of provoking reactions like these.

Which meant all three people sitting here knew that name.

Honestly, he hoped that wasn’t true.

He wished every thought in his head was completely wrong.

It was an unkind wish carrying no clarity about what exactly he wanted or hoped for, but still, he wished for it.

He desperately hoped this terrible feeling wasn’t revealing the truth.

“…You know Seha?”

Now what kind of answer was Choi Haesu supposed to give?

At this exact moment, hearing the familiarity hidden in Jiwoo’s voice when he said Seha’s name, Haesu no longer knew who he was supposed to speak to or what he was supposed to say.

“Seha, Kwon Seha. He’s my boyfriend. How do you know him?”

The naturally added explanation repeated itself over and over inside Haesu’s head.

Pretending not to hear it wouldn’t turn Jiwoo’s words into a lie.

It didn’t feel like it would.

Even Choi Haesu — even he — couldn’t stop thinking about Yoon Jiwoo after only briefly meeting him.

Someone like that didn’t feel like the kind of person who simply passed through another person’s life.

Why did it have to be him?

Why, of all people…

Every instinct slowly crept closer.

As if trying to buy Haesu time, his thoughts organized themselves one by one.

A man who knew Lee Doyoon.

Someone who knew Kwon Seha.

Unlike the formal way he called Doyoon’s name, the familiarity in the way he spoke about Seha approached Haesu heavily, before calmly introducing himself as something far beyond merely “someone who knew Seha.”

“I…”

Kwon Seha’s lover was asking him a question.

If asked how they knew each other…

There was nothing Haesu could say except that they were nothing to each other now.

Ever since Jiwoo walked in, everything had pointed toward a single truth.

Maybe Haesu had only been desperately trying to deny it.

“Mr. Jiwoo. Can we continue this another time? I need to head back to the office as well.”

“…Wait a second. I thought maybe you were the person I’d heard about…”

“Jiwoo.”

Even at a glance, Doyoon looked urgent as he cut Jiwoo off.

Seeing that, Haesu suddenly felt all the scattered puzzle pieces clicking together.

The reason Doyoon’s expression hardened the moment he saw Jiwoo was because of Choi Haesu.

Why couldn’t he remember that name sooner?

The confusion and anxiety quickly twisted into self-blame.

A single white piece of paper he had stared at countless times surfaced in his mind.

Kwon Seha’s wedding invitation.

Stiff, elegant, expensive-looking.

A cruel notice announcing Seha’s departure from his life.

And beside Kwon Seha’s name, neatly written next to it, there had been another name.

That name was…