# Chapter 47
Doha wrapped a scarf tightly around Jaei’s neck as he came out in his outdoor clothes. To prevent people from easily recognizing the undisputed top actor in his 20s, he adjusted the scarf to hide his soft, pretty nose and lips. Half of his small face was covered.
However, Doha looked with dissatisfaction at Jaei, who was obediently fluttering only his eyelashes while entrusting his styling to Doha. It was impossible to hide actor Lee Jaei’s presence just by concealing the lower half of his face.
“Why are you still handsome when I’ve covered everything except your eyes?”
“Because my eyes are handsome.”
“I see.”
As Jaei’s fan, a day wasn’t enough to praise his beauty part by part. Doha reluctantly added a baseball cap. When he put the hat on his small head, a shadow fell over Jaei’s large, pretty eyes. But even the shadow couldn’t hide Jaei’s fatal beauty.
Since Lee Jaei was a figure who suited darkness more than light, he ended up flaunting deep, soulful eyes under the shadow. Anyone could see he was someone who had just jumped out of a movie screen.
So Doha added horn-rimmed glasses. Though his celebrity aura couldn’t be completely concealed due to his innate qualities, Doha was satisfied with this level. Jaei, finally allowed to step outside after Doha’s approval, followed behind him and said:
“It’s fine not to cover up like this. Wouldn’t it be less suspicious to walk around confidently?”
Doha, who had pressed the elevator button, reached his hand toward Jaei and answered:
“Because I’m going to hold your hand while we walk.”
However, Jaei didn’t take that hand and firmly shook his head.
“That’s not possible. You’re a celebrity too.”
“Jaei-ya, this is all planned. I want to have a scandal with you.”
“I see.”
“If you look confident, I’ll just seem like a younger brother you know. If you hide your face like this, we look like a suspicious couple. If kids from our school see us, they’ll spread rumors on their own. We can officially deny it.”
“Right. I really hate hearing that I’m dating Hong Duyoung. I should replace the man in the rumors with Ryu Doha.”
Having gained insight, Jaei joined Doha’s scheme and eagerly took his hand.
They held each other’s hands tightly without gloves, walking together on the lightly accumulated snow. They walked amicably like any couple to the apartment complex. But as soon as they reached the sidewalk adjacent to the road, they began an intense battle of wills without an inch of compromise.
It was a battle to let the other walk on the safer inside part of the sidewalk. This competition had been ongoing since Doha was 16 when he considered himself nearly grown-up. Both sides had their own valid reasons.
“I should be on the outside by default. This is the official position my mom assigned to me. You foolish cat, getting startled when a car makes a loud noise.”
“Don’t be so cocky when you’re only the size of a squirrel. You must be crazy. Even with all your memories back, you’re not afraid of things with wheels?”
Of course, the outcome of this fierce competition was always Doha’s victory. That was because Doha was twice as strong as Jaei. Knowing that he couldn’t beat Doha with strength, Jaei interlaced their fingers and pulled him hard toward the deeper inside of the sidewalk. The pair of fools walked sticking close together, noticeably far from the road.
When crossing the pedestrian crossing, Jaei glanced sharply at Doha. The 20-year-old Ryu Doha, who had grown up under Jaei’s exceptional protection, shamelessly raised one hand high. This too was something he had been thoroughly taught by Jaei in his second life. At that point, Doha confronted Jaei with a brazen face:
“Lee Jaei, why aren’t you raising your hand?”
“Because I’m an adult.”
“I’m an adult too. Quickly, you raise yours too.”
Jaei, who had flinched and tightly clung to Doha’s sturdy arm when the voice guidance for the visually impaired sounded, narrowed his eyes and raised his hand high. After safely crossing the pedestrian crossing, he stroked the back of Doha’s head with a satisfied expression.
He took a deep breath of the cold morning air and exhaled. While happily enjoying the feeling of walking to school with Doha, he carefully brought up something he couldn’t say the night before due to the chaos:
“Whenever you want to meet your mother, just tell me. I’ll try to arrange it.”
“Before that, I want to get permission from Mom and Dad to go meet my birth mother.”
Here, ‘Mom and Dad’ refers to Jaei’s parents who took responsibility for Doha’s second life. Doha thought that following this order was a way of showing respect to those who had readily picked him up and raised him.
“But I’m not sure if Mom and Dad will believe that I’m Ryu Doha. I don’t think they will.”
Doha, who had once been firmly rejected by Jaei’s parents regarding the ‘Lee Doha’s sudden natural occurrence theory’ when he was young, tilted his head and added. Jaei, who had also proposed the ‘Ryu Doha reincarnation theory’ to his parents early on but was thoroughly refuted, nodded vigorously:
“They definitely won’t believe it. Our mom and dad are really good people, but they have no childlike imagination.”
However, Jaei thought it might not be necessary to make adults understand this situation.
“If you’ll feel better getting permission, just tell them you want to meet your birth mother. Don’t say everything honestly, but don’t lie either. Then they’ll understand on their own. Like, ‘Seungha has finally overcome his confused feelings and wants to meet his mother.'”
“I see. I thought I had to tell them everything honestly and get permission.”
“Parents don’t need to know everything about their children. Of course, you shouldn’t hide anything from me.”
Jaei, loving Doha who hadn’t changed at all, brought his hand to his lips and kissed the back of his white hand. Finding himself on the receiving end of Jaei’s affectionate attack on the street, Doha looked around with an overwhelmed expression. However, somehow, not a single student from Haesung High School was in sight to spread the seeds of their hot romance rumor, even though there had been no notice of a changed school attendance time.
Soon they arrived in front of the school, but the gate was firmly locked. Doha, who was attending school for the first time in two months, tilted his head with a puzzled expression and questioned:
“What’s this? It should be January 9th, winter vacation. I checked three times before coming to Korea.”
However, Jaei had known from the moment Doha tried to deceive him by wearing his school uniform at home that they would eventually meet this conclusion. Facing the ending he had anticipated, Jaei slightly furrowed his brow and said with a sympathetic expression:
“Today is January 1st.”
* * *
Doha, who started fulfilling his schedule as soon as he returned to Korea, opened an official SNS account and a video channel for his own content. Around the time comments like [How is our baby named after summer when he was born like a peach?] started appearing on company-produced vlogs and making videos, a project meeting with Director Hong Duyoung began.
Immediately after regaining his memories, Doha realized that Hong Duyoung’s screenplay, which had been decided as his next project, was telling the story of Ryu Doha and Lee Jaei. For a while, he was greatly angered by his shamelessness and clutched at his chest. However, he wanted to know what story he was trying to tell at the end.
Eventually, Doha ended up being dragged to dance academy every morning by Jaei’s hand. He also started a deadly diet to create a tall but firm and slim dancer’s body.
After hearing in detail about the moment of the accident that Doha remembered, Jaei was bedridden for two whole days. It felt like swallowing gravel. It sat on his chest, scraping his esophagus. However, he tried not to show these emotions to Doha. Lee Jaei’s feelings soon become Ryu Doha’s feelings. He wanted to convey only positive emotions to Doha.
Participating in this film with Doha might be the only way to reveal Hong Duyoung’s crimes and gather evidence. It’s unknown whether Hong Duyoung was simply an enabler or more deeply involved in the incident. Anyway, before it was too late, Jaei wanted to punish him according to the crimes he had committed.
Already, 13 years had passed since the year of the accident. During that time, Hong Duyoung had gained and enjoyed too many things.
Hong Duyoung called Doha, who was playing a child role, to a preliminary meeting attended by the producer, director, and lead actors. Role A, which was modeled after Hong Duyoung, was played by a middle-aged senior actor. Jaei naturally took on the role of dancer B, a character modeled after himself.
There, they had their first meeting with the actor selected for role C. Hong Duyoung adjusted the detailed settings of C to match Doha. The child actor’s age range was raised to high school student, and since Doha was the child version of C, he cast an actor with a similar height to match Doha’s build. He was actor Kim Ilhun, who was the same age as Jaei. Though his career wasn’t as impressive as Jaei’s, he too was building his own solid filmography while being recognized for his acting skills.
Hong Duyoung interpreted the relationship between B and C as more than friendship but less than love. However, he implied that the artistic connection between A and B was true love. The additional script he received contained the exact words Hong Duyoung had directly said to Jaei until now.
That was fine, but the stage directions interpreting those lines induced vomiting. Feeling nauseated while confirming Hong Duyoung’s dirty inner depths, Jaei eventually spat on the printed script.
The child actor for B also appeared at the meeting. Thus, Doha and Jaei’s counterparts were cross-matched, with a total of four people in one space. As always, Hong Duyoung’s instructions came down:
“Develop real emotions. More than friends.”
It was a strangely ironic situation. Jaei noticed that Hong Duyoung had deliberately called even the child actors who had no overlapping shooting schedules to gather all four in one place. He’s now imagining that Lee Jaei regards “Ryu Doha’s brother” as “the real Ryu Doha” and harbors affectionate feelings. How interesting this situation must be for him to watch.
At that moment, Doha stared at Jaei. Jaei also looked at Doha. Jaei confirmed jealousy and anxiety in Doha’s eyes. There must be a big difference between seeing the result of your loved one’s work and watching the process. And right now, there must also be a complex light in his own eyes.
Jaei knew that Hong Duyoung was observing them closely. Even at this moment, he’s using others’ emotional changes as material for his work. Doha was also sufficiently aware of Hong Duyoung’s intentions.
Jaei put his lips to Doha’s ear to whisper and covered his mouth with his hand. In a very small voice, he conveyed the most important whisper of this moment.
What kind of sweet nothings would Hong Duyoung imagine he was whispering to Doha?
“Let’s go eat a sandwich. Italian BMT on flat bread.”
After hearing this whisper, Doha furrowed his brow and laughed emptily as if in disbelief. With an infinitely serious and grave expression, he bit his lip and then met Hong Duyoung’s eyes. At that moment, as if to show off, he put his lips to Jaei’s ear and answered:
“No jalapeños and lots of olives. Add shredded cheese.”
