X
Join our Discord server and get release updates for every novel you follow.
Join the Server“Just one more time.”
“…Jung-ah.”
“Keep calling my name.”
He leaned his forehead against my shoulder, having drawn closer. Embracing his trembling form, I continued to whisper his name.
Jung-ah, Jung-ah, Jung-ah.
He chuckled softly, then lifted his head. Gazing into his eyes, as calm as a windless lake, I was the first to kiss him.
Our lips, which had briefly touched and parted, quickly rejoined. As our connection deepened, our breaths grew ragged in an instant.
“Joon-hee hyung.”
“Hngh.”
“I’ve always wanted to keep calling you that.”
He confessed that he wanted to call me Yoo Joon-hee, not Yoo Seo-jin—a name that no one else would ever use again.
In this world, he was the only one who remembered me. Likewise, I was the sole person who knew him.
He burrowed his head beneath my clothes, burying his face in my chest, which now felt fuller than before. Each time he nibbled at my hardened nipple, my hips jolted.
“Don’t leave me. Stay by my side, okay?”
“Ah…”
“I don’t want to lose you again, hyung.”
His hand slipped into my pants, circling the moist entrance. He then peeled away the remaining clothes clinging to my knees, aligned himself with my still-tight opening, and thrust deep inside.
“S-slowly—!”
“Joon-hee hyung, look at me.”
“Agh.”
“Please, just look at me.”
As I lifted my hazy gaze to him, kisses rained down across my face. A soft drip on my cheek was the rain of his tears.
Unlike his usual gentle consideration, the lingering alcohol seemed to have loosened his inhibitions, making his thrusts deep. It was a little overwhelming, but thankfully, it didn’t hurt.
“Damn…”
Clenching his teeth to maintain a sliver of control, he pulled back his hips, then slowly re-entered.
His length forced its way into the tightly closed space, filling me completely. The unfamiliar sensation quickly became accustomed.
“Jung-ah, hngh, Jung-ah—”
“Yes, I’m here. I’m right here.”
Perhaps it was the tears welling up, but my vision blurred, yet he remained perfectly clear before me. I, and you, had always been in front of each other.
Only I hadn’t realized it.
“I love you.”
At his heavy confession, I wept silently. Embracing him, who was so close yet still so anxious, I could only listen to the confessions that followed.
“I love you, Joon-hee hyung.”
****
Misfortune, as it always does, arrived without warning.
Everything had been going perfectly. The projects I chose after
I, who couldn’t even love myself, had learned love because of you. Consequently, my ordinary daily life was filled with happiness.
Just when I desperately wished for things to continue this way, the incident suddenly erupted.
[Famous Actor Yoo Joon-hee Faces Expulsion from Entertainment Industry Amid Sponsorship Allegations.]
[Numerous Sightings at XX Hotel Confirm Famous Actor Yoo Joon-hee’s Sponsorship Rumors.]
Articles, unsubstantiated by facts, spread like wildfire. In an instant, everything I had built was tainted with the stigma of being achieved through sponsorship.
Even with rebuttal articles and press conferences, the image of a sponsored actor had solidified beyond reversal. Starting with the advertising industry, everyone began to abandon me.
They say the higher one climbs, the greater the fall’s impact. Back then, I was so intoxicated with happiness that I plunged into an abyss of despair.
One by one, the people by my side departed. As I struggled in the loneliness of no one seeking me out, you were the only one who didn’t abandon me until the very end.
It was my foolish self who pushed you away.
‘I shouldn’t have done that back then.’
Lying beside him, who had succumbed to drink and fallen asleep, I was reliving that day—a memory too painful even to recall.
They say time heals all wounds, but deeply etched trauma doesn’t vanish easily. For me, this incident was exactly that.
Back then, I resented everything. The journalists who published articles without verifying facts, the public who blindly believed them, and the acquaintances who abandoned me.
However, since they were no longer by my side, this resentment and rage were entirely directed at him, who had remained until the end. I knew it was wrong, yet I couldn’t help myself.
“What was the last thing I said to you when we met, hyung? Was it ‘get lost’?”
That phrase, which had become deeply embedded in his heart, was absent from my memory. In those days, there wasn’t a single moment I wasn’t drunk or sober, so it must have been one of the many impulsive things I blurted out.
“I’m sorry…”
I apologized to him as he slept, but I knew it was already too late. Because of the wounds I inflicted, his once brilliant self had withered, and because I had selfishly left, he too had given up on life.
It felt sinful even to ask why. I couldn’t even fathom how difficult it must have been for you to make such a choice. I didn’t know how hellish those three years you endured must have been.
‘It’s all because of me.’
My already fallen existence had become nothing but a burden to you. Unable to shed my petty pride, I had envied, resented, and begrudged your boundless rise.
“You can give up everything. Just let me stay by your side, hyung. Please, just don’t tell me to leave.”
That day, when you, who rarely cried, wept like a child, was our last. If I had known the cruel words I spat out, pushing you away as you knelt and begged, would linger for so long, I never would have uttered them.
“You really are a foolish man.”
I gently caressed his face, which had grown gaunt over the past month. He seemed to have only drunk alcohol and barely eaten, yet he couldn’t possibly be unaware that this would upset his stomach and harm his health.
The reason this man, who was more meticulous about self-care than anyone, had let himself go, was me—both then and now. Because of me, Seon Woo-jung was breaking down.
“Please, won’t you stay by my side this time?”
Foolish Seon Woo-jung couldn’t forget me, even with a second chance. He could have forgotten everything and started anew, so what was so good about me, who only gave him pain and left? What on earth was I to you?
‘I’m not a person worth that much.’
It felt like I was falling into an endlessly deep pit. What was this feeling called? Yes, utter wretchedness. What I felt was boundless, bottomless wretchedness.
You, who returned to me like a miracle, were so beloved, yet I hated myself just as much. You asked me to stay by your side, but how could I possibly do that?
‘Because of me, you—’
I barely managed to compose the surge of emotions. Not wanting to wake him, now finally asleep, I gently removed my hand from his gaunt cheek and quietly stood up.
As I was about to get off the bed, my wrist was caught. Turning back, I saw he was still asleep. It seemed he was merely stirring in his slumber.
“Don’t… go…”
Even in his mumbled sleep-talk, he was holding onto me. I kissed his deeply furrowed brow, wondering what dream he was having, and gently slipped my hand from his grasp.
“Don’t have painful dreams, difficult dreams… Sleep well.”
After a cautious farewell, I left the room, leaving him behind. The moment I closed the door silently and took a step, my leg buckled violently, and I nearly fell.
Fortunately, I braced myself against the wall, preventing a serious fall, but the shock left my breathing ragged. My stomach was also cramping more intensely than before.
‘I think I need to rest a bit.’
I slowly made my way to the sofa in the living room. Only after leaning back comfortably and catching my breath did the tightness in my stomach gradually ease.
I’ll rest for a bit, and once I feel better, I’ll move. First, I’ll go back home, retrieve the luggage I’ve already packed… Is leaving like this truly the right thing to do?
I don’t want to see you crumble because of someone like me anymore; if that’s the case, then disappearing from your life entirely would be the right course of action.
‘It’s too terrible.’
My selfish self couldn’t easily make a decision.
You think this chapter was thrilling? Wait until you read Jinho's Story! Click here to discover the next big twist!
Read : Jinho's Story
