The day after drinking with Hyeyoung, when he mustered the courage to call Chahyun, an automated message saying the number didn’t exist played. Chahyun had been out of contact for a week since then.
‘Don’t tell me we’re breaking up like this? Without even a final goodbye?’
He could find out the changed contact information through Hyeyoung, but even if he called, that would be the end of it if Chahyun didn’t answer. He was tempted to visit the hospital or company, but somehow couldn’t muster the courage. It was obvious he’d be stopped by security personnel, and he was afraid Chahyun would react with disgust.
After finishing cleaning up the stage with a gloomy mood and about to leave work, Hyeyoung said.
“Looks like it’s raining a lot outside. Do you have an umbrella?”
Sure enough, the umbrella of a customer who seemed to have briefly gone out to smoke was soaking wet. Yiyoung smiled weakly at Hyeyoung and shook his head. Hyeyoung continued.
“There should be umbrellas customers left behind in the storage. Go find one and take it.”
“I’ll just get rained on. See you tomorrow.”
He was already feeling drenched inside, so he had no motivation to look for an umbrella. Even if he actually got rained on, it didn’t seem like he’d feel more dejected than this.
As he said goodbye to Hyeyoung and left the shop, the day they started dating suddenly came to mind.
It had rained that day too. Since all the umbrellas collected in storage had been given to customers, Yiyoung had planned to run to a convenience store after work. But just then, Chahyun had come to pick him up.
It was right after they had just started exchanging text messages following their introduction at the whiskey bar through Hyeyoung. At the time, Chahyun would visit the whiskey bar from time to time. Yiyoung was always glad for Chahyun’s visits, but that day his heart had fluttered.
Yiyoung, who had gotten soaked in the brief moment of getting into the passenger seat of the car parked in front of the building, had said to Chahyun.
‘Thanks for coming to pick me up. I definitely thought this morning that I should bring an umbrella, but I forgot.’
‘That’s unexpected. I thought you’d be meticulous about everything, Yiyoung-ssi.’
At the absurd praise, Yiyoung scratched his temple awkwardly and made an excuse.
‘My mom used to always come pick me up on rainy days. So I got into the habit…’
Even to his own ears he sounded like a complete spoiled child, so Yiyoung couldn’t finish his words and groaned.
He had hated rain since childhood. Knowing this well, his mom would bring an umbrella to Yiyoung’s school or workplace every time. Thanks to that, even at twenty-eight years old, Yiyoung hadn’t developed the habit of bringing an umbrella even on days when rain was obviously coming.
This was severe enough to be criticized as being too spoiled, but Chahyun answered calmly.
‘You grew up loved by your mother.’
That was really true. But since Chahyun was the only one who had said it that way, Yiyoung was a bit surprised.
Everyone who saw Yiyoung was too busy badmouthing what an immature troublemaker his mother was, so they seemed to have no time to mention the most important fact. Yiyoung was tired of advice from people around him saying wouldn’t it be better to cut ties with his mom. So Chahyun’s words were comforting.
Chahyun added with an expressionless face and voice.
‘From now on, I’ll make sure you don’t have to worry about bringing an umbrella.’
Despite his stern expression, the words somehow sounded like a confession, leaving Yiyoung blinking at Chahyun in bewilderment. Soon he realized that Chahyun wasn’t being stern but was just nervous. Then his face gradually reddened. Yiyoung’s heart pounded so frighteningly that until they arrived home, he could only occasionally purse his lips and couldn’t give any answer.
When they got out of the car, the rain had stopped.
Chahyun kissed him under the streetlight on the hill overlooking the poor neighborhood where Yiyoung lived. His lips were soft and warm, completely unlike his cool impression. Only when their lips met did Yiyoung realize that Chahyun was trembling.
When their lips parted, Chahyun muttered in a low voice with his face red up to his forehead.
‘Should we meet as lovers starting tomorrow?’
Yiyoung nodded vigorously without hesitation.
After that, Chahyun came without missing a single day whenever it rained. Though it was only for 4 months, Yiyoung felt like days of not getting rained on without bringing an umbrella would continue for a lifetime.
‘It’s not even my first relationship, but how naive.’
No matter what, he really hadn’t known it would end so emptily like this.
Yiyoung climbed the underground stairs of the whiskey bar with a complicated expression.
As expected, a heavy rain seemed to be pouring as the fierce sound of rain outside the building echoed all the way to the stairway passage. Yiyoung stepped on the last stair with listless steps and widened his eyes.
“Huh?”
In front of the building, close to the road, Chahyun was standing holding an umbrella.
Behind Chahyun’s back was parked a flashy-looking car he’d never seen before. The suit he was wearing was also much more splendid than what he’d seen before. Perhaps because of that, even though his handsome face and tall physique were the same, he seemed like a completely different person.
Rather than being glad that he had come, Yiyoung’s heart sank.
‘…Did he come to say let’s break up?’
Chahyun approached. Soon Chahyun, who had gotten close, tilted the umbrella slightly toward Yiyoung and asked with cold eyes and voice befitting his cool appearance.
“So. You were my lover?”
“…”
He wasn’t sure anymore.
The man before his eyes looking at him with contemptuous eyes like in the hospital room didn’t feel like a lover, let alone someone he knew. He was exactly like a strange man who had Chahyun’s face and body.
So Yiyoung froze, at a loss for words.
As he stood still like that, Chahyun continued in a low, emotionless voice.
“Let’s talk.”
They had to have some conversation, whatever it was. Yiyoung nodded stiffly.
Then Chahyun, who had been standing below the threshold of the building entrance, held out his large palm toward Yiyoung. It was a gesture meaning he would hold his hand so he wouldn’t slip on the wet floor.
It was an action Chahyun had done often before, but the difference was his cold gaze.
Looking at this, it seemed that even before, rather than actions stemming from affection for Yiyoung, it was simply ingrained manners. At the feeling that it probably wasn’t kindness shown only to him, Yiyoung suddenly felt disappointed. In any case, he couldn’t ignore it, so Yiyoung took Chahyun’s hand and stepped down the stairs.
Thanks to Chahyun generously making room for him under the umbrella, Yiyoung was able to get in the car without getting a single drop of rain on him. On the other hand, Chahyun, who had held the umbrella over Yiyoung while he got in the car, sat in the driver’s seat with one shoulder and back wet.
Yiyoung glanced worriedly at Chahyun holding the steering wheel.
‘Is it okay for him to drive?’
It hadn’t been long since the accident that was serious enough to nearly scrap the car.
Fortunately, Chahyun drove as calmly and carefully as before without showing any signs of discomfort. Only that felt familiar, so Yiyoung even had hope that perhaps Chahyun might not have amnesia.
Yiyoung looked down at his fidgeting hands on his knees and thought foolishly.
‘Maybe he didn’t come to say let’s break up.’
He was the man who had sent him a text saying he loved him right before losing consciousness in the accident.
Perhaps Chahyun had been dating Yiyoung quite seriously. Of course, considering his background, it was an absurd wish, but no matter how much he thought about it, Chahyun didn’t seem like he would have confessed with the intention of dating casually and then breaking up. The Chahyun that Yiyoung knew wasn’t such an inconsiderate person.
‘If that had been his intention, I would have done my best somehow too.’
Though all that came to mind was Chairwoman Moon Igyeong holding out an envelope of money saying ‘Break up with Chahyun.’ But wouldn’t he just refuse that? To become that shameless, he’d have to muster all his courage, but…
Just then, the car decelerated sharply with a screech!
“Ugh.”
Yiyoung, who had been lost in thought, had his head snap forward and then the back of his head bumped against the headrest. Looking ahead, the car’s front wheels were way past the line in front of the crosswalk. It clearly looked like he hadn’t been able to reduce speed at a yellow light.
‘He must have forgotten to check the signal while following the car in front.’
Perhaps because the already flashy car was sticking its nose out several steps forward, pedestrians crossing kept glancing at the driver’s seat. Chahyun glared sullenly at the pedestrians who looked curious or sent displeased glances.
At his expression showing no reflection on his own mistake, Yiyoung suddenly broke out in a cold sweat.
‘A beginner. He’s a beginner driver.’
Chahyun had definitely lost his memory.
Yiyoung unconsciously gripped the seatbelt tightly with both hands and carefully opened his mouth.
“…You don’t remember me at all, do you?”
