“What the fuck are you talking about?”
Jo Taejin glared at Doha with bloodshot eyes. Right. Bad guys never easily admit to what they’ve done.
“Don’t play dumb. You’re the one who sent the delivery to the dorm, aren’t you?”
“Ha, what bullshit. Why the hell would I do that?”
Jo Taejin sneered at Doha’s interrogation.
Jo Taejin glared at Doha with bloodshot eyes, vehemently denying it. But Doha couldn’t believe his words. There was no way the words of someone who wasn’t in their right mind could be credible. He was clearly so soaked in drugs that he didn’t even know what he’d done.
Just then, Sehyun, who had finished talking with the company, approached. He looked down at Jo Taejin sprawled on the ground and let out a deep sigh. His eyes were mixed with severe fatigue.
“Sunbae-nim.”
Sehyun called out quietly. Jo Taejin raised his head to look at Sehyun. Hostility burned in his unfocused pupils.
“If the police investigate this, it’s really over.”
Sehyun’s voice was calm. But that calmness felt even more chilling.
“Until now it was drug charges, but this could go all the way to aggravated assault and attempted murder. You know that?”
“……”
“A comeback? Don’t make me laugh. You won’t recover not just as an idol, but as a human being.”
Sehyun crouched down to meet Jo Taejin’s eye level. Then he whispered close to his ear.
“Do you want to rot in a cell for the rest of your life? Or do you want to live quietly like a dead mouse?”
Jo Taejin’s pupils shook. Although his reason was paralyzed by alcohol and drugs, he seemed to instinctively feel fear at the word ‘cell.’ He trembled his lips but couldn’t say anything.
“Choose. Will you call the police here and now and end up plastered across the front page of the news, or will you disappear quietly?”
Sehyun didn’t wait for Jo Taejin’s answer. The answer was already decided. There was no way this pathetic human would choose to go to prison.
“This is your last warning. Don’t ever appear before us again. And don’t even come near hyung.”
Sehyun stood up. He cleanly withdrew his gaze as if Jo Taejin wasn’t even worth dealing with anymore.
“Let’s go, hyung.”
Sehyun grabbed Doha’s arm. Doha stared blankly at Jo Taejin, then was led away by Sehyun and moved his feet.
“Hey, wait. Is it okay to just leave him? That dangerous guy?”
Doha looked back worriedly. He didn’t know what that guy might do if left in that state.
“It’s fine. The company will send people. They’ll handle it.”
Sehyun answered nonchalantly. But Doha felt Sehyun’s hand gripping his arm trembling.
The two quickly exited the alley. It seemed like they could hear Jo Taejin’s sobbing from behind them, but no one looked back.
When they reached the front of the dorm, Sehyun let go of Doha’s arm. Then he exhaled deeply and faced Doha.
“Hyung.”
“Yeah?”
“I’m glad you weren’t hurt.”
Sehyun lightly rested his forehead on Doha’s shoulder. Along with the heavy weight, Sehyun’s warmth was transmitted.
“Really… I’m so glad.”
Sehyun’s voice was soaked with moisture. Doha stood awkwardly and patted Sehyun’s back. Thinking about it again, it was a terrifying experience that made him shudder.
“Let’s go inside. It’s cold.”
The one who should be most flustered by this situation was Lim Sehyun, so he didn’t want to show any signs of being flustered on his end. Doha steeled his heart and headed to the dorm.
* * *
Doha was looking at his horoscope. Life has been hard lately. This can’t be explained unless the energy of the universe is twisted.
The dorm was noisy because of Jo Taejin’s problem. Not being able to sleep at this hour, what kind of situation is this? But what really made him angry was something else.
“My hotteok.”
Not only the half-eaten hotteok, but even the bag Sehyun was holding ended up scattered all over the ground. And in the process of physically fighting with that crazy bastard Jo Taejin, they all got crushed.
The miserable appearance of the hotteok flickered before his eyes. That scene of the sugar syrup stuck thickly to the ground.
Earlier there was no time to deal with it so he roughly threw everything in the trash, but after coming into his room and coming to his senses, he felt achingly regretful.
“That was really delicious.”
The sweet sugar syrup taste that spread throughout his mouth when he bit into it. To have to throw it away without even finishing it. This is something that deserves divine punishment. Jo Taejin, you son of a bitch. Go to prison and eat cold hotteok instead of prison food.
Doha huffed and checked his zodiac horoscope.
**Today’s Fortune – Libra**
**Overall luck:** Today is a day when even if you fall backwards, you could break your nose. Exercise caution in all things. Especially strangers or minor quarrels can lead to great disaster, and you may lose something precious. Lucky item: Sunglasses
Doha let out a hollow laugh. Is this a horoscope or a prophecy? He didn’t fall backwards and break his nose, but his shoulder almost broke.
The lucky item is sunglasses? Isn’t sunglasses in the middle of the night a bit over the top? It’s the same as having no luck at all.
**Love fortune: 💔** Cracks may form in relationships with people close to you. It’s an easy day for misunderstandings and distrust to sprout, so you must be careful with every word.
How is there not a single good fortune, not one. This is also a strange thing.
Doha threw his phone into the corner of the bed. Fortune or whatever, right now he didn’t think he could sleep thinking about the lost hotteok.
Doha massaged his throbbing shoulder and burrowed into the blanket. But the lingering image of the unsettling horoscope wasn’t easily erased from his mind.
* * *
“Mmm……”
Doha tossed and turned, frowning. In his sleep he felt his shoulder aching and unconsciously tried to reach out his hand, but someone gently grabbed that hand and stopped him.
“Stay still, hyung.”
A familiar voice. It was Sehyun. When Doha barely lifted his heavy eyelids, he saw Sehyun’s face sitting by the bedside looking down at him. His hair was slightly wet as if he’d just washed up.
“……What. Why aren’t you sleeping.”
Doha mumbled in a sleepy voice. Instead of answering, Sehyun lifted Doha’s blanket slightly and grabbed the hem of the t-shirt he was wearing.
“Hyung, let me see your shoulder.”
“……Huh? Hey, why are you suddenly taking off my clothes……”
Doha tried to sit up in surprise, but Sehyun pressed down on his chest and made him lie back down.
“You hit it when you fell earlier. I need to check.”
Sehyun unhesitatingly rolled up the t-shirt above his neck. Doha’s upper body was revealed in the soft indirect lighting. A dark bruise was clearly imprinted on his shoulder. It was a trace from when he rushed at Jo Taejin earlier and hit the ground.
“I knew it.”
Sehyun let out a low sigh and narrowed his brow. His touch was careful as he gently stroked the bruise with his fingers.
“Does it hurt?”
“……No. Not really.”
More than the pain, he was a bit more concerned about being half-naked in front of Lim Sehyun right now.
Sehyun held Doha’s shoulder and slowly rotated his arm.
“How does the muscle movement feel? Does it catch anywhere?”
“Mmm…… It’s fine……”
Doha was drowsy and his eyes kept closing. Each time Sehyun’s touch landed, he felt a throbbing pain along with a strange ticklishness, but he had no strength to resist. He just blinked his eyes while leaving his body in Sehyun’s care.
“Fortunately it doesn’t seem to be seriously damaged.”
Along with rustling sounds, a sharp medicinal patch smell assaulted his nose.
“Stay still. I’ll put on a patch.”
Sehyun tore off a large patch and stuck it with a ‘smack’ on Doha’s shoulder. A cold sensation suddenly spread and he became wide awake for a moment, then soon a hot heat rose up.
“Ugh…… It’s cold.”
“Stop whining.”
Sehyun pressed down firmly with his palm to make sure the patch stuck well.
“Thanks.”
Doha muttered with his eyes closed. Without answering, Sehyun pulled down Doha’s clothes again. Then he meticulously covered him with the blanket up to the end of his neck.
“Sleep. When you wake up tomorrow morning it’ll be better.”
Sehyun’s voice sounded like a lullaby. Doha nodded and fell back into deep sleep.
Sehyun gazed at Doha’s sleeping face for a long time. His peacefully sleeping face looked more serene than anyone in the world.
After roughly gathering and organizing the patch remnants left on the bed, Sehyun squeezed his body onto the spot next to Doha.
His own bed was just a few steps away, but strangely he wanted to be here. He quietly lay on his side and looked at Doha’s sleeping face.
He’ll probably jump up startled when he wakes up tomorrow.
But isn’t it the fault of the person who sleeps defenselessly snoring away regardless of who lies down next to them? You need to have some sense of vigilance.
Sehyun slowly traced Doha’s neatly settled eyelashes, straight nose, and soft cheeks. These days when he looked at Doha, he felt something new. Was it because his gaze toward him had changed?
This kind of change doesn’t feel bad.
His face crumpled as Jo Taejin’s face suddenly came to mind, but he quickly regained his composure. Setting aside the many worries filling his head, right now he wanted to rest at ease next to Doha for a while.
His eyelids became heavy as a thousand pounds.
