# Chapter 76
Doha’s gaze and voice were more firm and solemn than ever before. At this moment, Jaei could feel that the intense signal Doha was sending was “I will protect you.” What could he be questioning, and what was he trying to say?
Jaei, who had abruptly stopped crying, nodded and gently caressed Doha’s reddened eyes with his fingertips.
“Doha, Doha. Don’t cry. I won’t cry either.”
He couldn’t understand how such a beautiful face could have looked like a dragon face. He must have been temporarily insane. Doha’s face was far more beautiful and lovable than a well-ripened summer peach with juice dripping down.
Jaei cupped Doha’s cheeks, marked with red circles, in both hands. Before hearing what Doha wanted to say, there was something he wanted to ask first.
“I know you love me the most. I’ve never doubted this even once.”
“I only love you. That’s what you want to hear, right?”
“Even the you I don’t know? Even when I wasn’t by your side?”
Jaei knew that Doha had already expressed his heart with his earlier words: “I wouldn’t do anything to make you cry.” He also knew it was a childish and immature question. But he wanted to hear the answer in clear sentences.
Ryu Doha’s love was the foundation of Lee Jaei’s life. Ryu Doha was his breath, and the love Doha gave him was the force that maintained and propelled his existence.
Doha answered.
“If I had come to like someone else, why would I have returned to you? How much… how much I tried to return to you…”
Recalling the past time, Doha choked up and bit his lip tightly. Jaei was curious about that time when Doha had tried to save his words as much as possible except for expressing how difficult it had been. Now Doha would share all his memories of that time with him.
He wrapped his arms around Doha’s neck. He was grateful for monopolizing Doha’s love throughout all his time, spanning life and death.
“Thank you. I’m really sorry for being so greedy.”
“Lee Jaei. I’m the same. I’d like you to tell me that you love only me too.”
“Yes, yes, of course I do. Though I’m not sure how things will turn out after today’s incident.”
Jaei added playfulness to his painful and sorrowful gaze and voice. At that moment, Doha’s hands painfully pressed into Jaei’s trapezius muscles. Jaei shrank his body and shouted with a painful groan.
“I might hold a cheating event by inviting another man once in a while! Look forward to it!”
Then Doha, who had bitten the tip of Jaei’s pretty nose, stretched out his arms like a spider web and imprisoned Jaei’s body in his embrace again. Hugging Jaei until he almost burst, he whispered in his ear with a voice full of possessiveness.
“You’re a part of me… I’m much greedier than you think.”
“No, I know you’re greedy. You’re really greedy when it comes to me. That’s why I like it so much.”
Putting away all sadness and anxiety, Jaei kissed Doha’s forehead and said.
“Let’s take medicine and go to sleep now. You’re running a fever. Since you’re having a hard time, let’s talk about the rest tomorrow. I also have filming in the afternoon. Let’s wash up and get some sleep.”
“I’ll do everything for you. Just relax and stay still.”
Doha, who alternately kissed Jaei’s eyelids, stood up while holding Jaei in his arms. In front of the bathroom, he undressed Jaei, sat him in the bathtub, and filled it with warm water. Just as he had always done before losing his memories, he washed Jaei’s hair and body.
By the time Doha wrapped Jaei’s body in a large towel, wiped away the moisture, and dried his hair, dawn was already breaking. He finally put Jaei to bed and covered him with a blanket. Having fulfilled his duty, Ryu Doha swallowed some medicine and then staggered and collapsed.
Thanks to that, Jaei had to jump out of bed with his freshly washed body and heave refrigerator-sized Doha onto his back, heading to the emergency room. Jaei, who had foreseen Doha’s physical condition but had let him do as he pleased, cheerfully said to Doha, who was groaning on his back.
“You’re starting to be a handful too, Doha. Hmm?”
Isn’t that what love is all about? Rather than pursuing efficiency, it’s about wastefully spending energy on each other and making it grow even bigger.
* * *
As the lead, Jaei’s filming schedule became tighter as the broadcast began and episodes progressed. Naturally, Doha had relatively much more free time. So Jaei was able to adjust the schedule by pushing back Doha’s schedule and bringing his own forward. In other words, Ryu Doha ended up being hospitalized for two days.
Despite having incredible recovery ability, Doha, who was forcibly hospitalized by Jaei, was staring blankly at the 20cm Ryu Doha doll and Lee Jaei doll that Jaei had left by his bedside.
“They don’t match.”
In this hospital room, there were two Ryu Dohas and one Lee Jaei. There was a mathematical error. So Doha temporarily hid the Ryu Doha doll. One Ryu Doha and one Lee Jaei in one space. Only then did he feel a sense of stability.
Jaei stayed by Doha’s side all morning, taking short naps and nursing him before going to work. Whether it was a mistake or intentional, he left behind the phone he used for dating next to the two cotton balls.
Doha, who had shared phone lock patterns with Jaei after they started dating, had never once sneaked a look at his phone until now. But at this moment, his curiosity was exploding.
Wasn’t this the phone used only to communicate with him and take photos and videos? That means if he opened it, there would only be traces of Ryu Doha. But after arriving at the hospital, Jaei had continued to tap on the screen busily while using this phone, even with Doha beside him.
Since Jaei’s phone seemed to be saying, “Doha, Doha. Open me and look at me right now!” Doha had no choice but to draw the lock pattern he had set and check the contents.
The browser was open. Doha ended up seeing his portal site search history with his own eyes.
[Boyfriend loves two people at the same time]
[Man with a past]
[Boyfriend two-timing and lying]
[How to forgive a partner who denies everything]
[Hiring a lawyer for a crime of passion]
His large hands trembled. He thought everything had been well resolved. But was he preparing for a breakup while searching for things like this, even as he stayed by his side and spoke words of love? Does that mean he didn’t believe his sincerity?
With a crestfallen expression, Doha next checked the website visit history. There was a trace of accessing an anonymous bulletin board called “Hate Board” 2 hours ago. He was logged in with his ID, and there was a freshly written post.
Title: My partner of 19 years says there was someone else
I’ve been dating from childhood until now, for 19 years. We firmly believed we were everything to each other. About ten years ago, my partner briefly went abroad to study. They returned soon and loved me unchanged.
But now a person who studied in the same place as my partner at that time has appeared and says they and my partner liked each other. In a three-way confrontation, my partner flatly denied it ever happening, and that person replied, “Then you made me misunderstand.”
Their story was briefly written, and the comments were filled with [Break up immediately][Of course, they’re lying, just trying to get through the moment], [That bastard is really despicable], [Dating for so long and long-distance relationship lol nothing more to say], [Stay strong. I also broke up with someone I dated for 6 years for the same reason and met a better person, living well now. It might be hard to break up due to emotional attachment, but be brave].
“I’m innocent. There’s no one in the world who loves more purely and cleanly than I do. I can’t break up, Jaei.”
While the pure man Ryu Doha was tearing at his hair, a text message arrived from an unknown number. Surely Jaei didn’t contact anyone other than Ryu Doha himself with this phone. However…
[We’ll set up a meeting on a day that’s convenient for you. I’ve already informed the director that actor Lee Jaei has accepted the casting for this film after much deliberation…]
“I give a big round of applause to the actor’s passion for acting, who has decided to perform sex scenes with two French actors.”
Jaei, who had pressed hard on his work phone to change the sending number and sent a planned message to his dating phone, stretched out. Feeling good, he hummed a tune while preparing for the next scene.
He had left some very interesting content for Ryu Doha, who was trapped in the hospital with overflowing energy, and hoped he would enjoy it well until he got off work.
Although he had only caught some sleep briefly at the hair salon and in the car, his condition wasn’t bad. The saying about enduring with mental strength was spot on. While working, he drew energy from the future and exerted superhuman strength. That’s why he discharged faster than anyone else after work was done.
After the drama began airing, viewer opinions started trending toward “Doesn’t Ryu Doha have too little screen time?” and “Please increase his screen time.” Jaei was subtly appealing to the director and writer that it might be good to increase his screen time in later episodes to create more tension in the love triangle.
After finishing work, Jaei received information about the boy presumed to be identical to Seo Eunho. The 17-year-old boy who ended his life by falling from an apartment rooftop due to Hong Duyoung’s brainwashing. The bereaved family of that boy, who had dreamed of becoming a popular actor and acted as an extra and in bit parts, consisted of only one older sister.
She recently posted an appeal that the cause of her brother’s death was due to Hong Duyoung’s brainwashing. There was no exact evidence, and since her brother had taken his own life anyway, she couldn’t take any further action. Jaei conveyed through a representative his willingness to help resolve the boy’s resentment to his sister, and was able to receive a photo of the contents of the diary the boy had written. However, the boy’s name wasn’t Seo Eunho. There was no way to confirm his face.
But the name that remained in Doha’s memory was indeed Seo Eunho. After reincarnation, Seo Eunho lived in an orphanage and obtained the name and identity of Seo Eunho. And he made efforts to be cast in the drama that Doha and Jaei were appearing in.
Jaei went off work to the hospital where Doha was hospitalized. He entered the private room where he was breeding Doha, carrying various foods that Doha liked. Despite being a patient, Ryu Doha had pulled out his IV and welcomed him on his knees.
“You’ve arrived, master.”
On the TV, Jaei’s movie “Fruit Bat” was playing. Jaei briefly stared at the screen blankly and then looked down at his man with pitiful eyes. Doha continued solemnly.
“You are my parent and master. I have nowhere else to go.”
