# Chapter 66
Having failed to burst the cute and mischievous Jaei, Doha demanded corrections to his answer sheet. Thanks to the grader’s generous heart, he had achieved an excellent A+ grade, but it was difficult to understand exactly which aspects had earned such a high score. He kept feeling his crown getting hot as he could only think of his shortcomings and inadequacies. He planned to create a mistake note to grow into a more wonderful lover for Jaei.
Jaei, who had barely managed to maintain his intact form in Doha’s arms, kindly began his feedback.
- Not saying anything mean or raising his voice despite being bewildered and angry (1 point)
- Kissing me intermittently to reassure me even when angry (1 point)
- Not avoiding the situation but making direct eye contact and trying to resolve things through conversation (1 point)
- Honestly expressing dislike without hiding feelings (1 point)
- Showing willingness to listen to and accept my opinion (1 point)
- Having an impressive skull and jawbone with perfectly handsome features (35 points)
- Being Ryu Doha (60 points)
“So that’s 100 points total!”
Jaei shouted, clasping his hands together. Doha was quite shocked by the stunning fact that his base score was 95 points. It meant that even if he had lost points in other categories, he could still have received an A or higher.
He wrapped Jaei’s hands, which were clasped into one round ball, with his own large hands, and planted kisses on Jaei’s shyly closed lips.
“Jaei, so you just like me, don’t you?”
“That’s right.”
Jaei had planned to give Doha a perfect score even if he had misbehaved by lifting him up and spinning him around in the air, saying [For giving an enjoyable airplane ride]. Deeply moved by Jaei’s love, Doha pulled him into his arms and sweetly confessed his heart like a male lead in a drama.
“No matter what kind of pop quiz you spring on me in the future, I’ll never disappoint you.”
“Really? I was actually a bit worried you might be angry about how I could play such a prank.”
“I like pranks. They’re fun. So I’ll always be prepared.”
“Doha, you can test me too when you’re bored!”
Jaei shouted enthusiastically while hugging Doha’s neck. He was confident he could perfectly prove his love for Doha no matter what bizarre trap Doha might set. Because he really, really liked Doha.
Recently, everything that constituted the human Lee Jaei’s life was becoming increasingly complete. His stocks, which had once hit a low of -63%, had now fully recovered and were yielding a 2.5% return. What he had truly thought was completely over had come back to life.
If he had followed Doha and departed this world at fourteen, he wouldn’t have enjoyed any of the dream-like happiness that had now come to him. Time really does solve many things. Even if there are days of struggling while submerged in puddles during the process.
* * *
Recently, Doha had been given two tasks.
One was to prepare a trap to deceive Jaei and confirm his love. However, unlike himself, Jaei was a delicate person suffering from chronic illnesses due to stress, so it wasn’t easy to choose a prank that wouldn’t harm his health.
The other was to hope for the safe resumption of the temporarily suspended drama “Focal Plane Shutter.” If two of Ryu Doha’s chosen projects were canceled in a row, he might become a fairy with the bad jinx of overturning projects. Of course, Ryu Doha personally was a positive young man who didn’t believe in such negative superstitions at all, but he thought the production staff might feel differently.
It was the day before July. Jaei, who had been playing with brain development tools with Doha since morning, left for work first for a meeting about his next project. Doha, after confirming again that Jaei’s next project would not be the French director’s film, stayed home alone and organized the tools. According to Jaei, it seemed he would be doing an educational drama about protecting young animals’ habitats with a wonderful older female actress.
Doha, supporting Jaei’s business, diligently wiped every corner of the house with a cloth. While wiping, thinking that he might be forever focused on housework at this rate, he received a call that a new actor had been confirmed as the male lead.
He would have to reshoot the poster in just three hours. Throwing aside his cloth, Doha hurriedly went to work, so urgent that he didn’t have time to ask about the replacement actor’s identity. Only while moving to the shooting location after completing his hair styling and makeup did he ask his manager who the newly cast actor was. But even the manager shook his head, saying he hadn’t yet been informed of the details.
“Well, I don’t know yet either. I’ve only heard that the replacement actor has a higher price tag. But they say the actor’s side agreed to accept the same per-episode fee without raising it.”
“Really? Is there such a person? Who could it be? And why would such a person do this as a substitute?”
As far as Doha knew, the only male actor with a higher price tag than the one who had dropped out was Lee Jaei. But Doha was Jaei’s closest confidant who knew his movements best, and therefore knew he had gone to protect young animals’ habitats.
With a head full of curiosity, Doha entered the poster shooting location a little later, bowing politely. After bowing to the two female actresses whom he had already met several times, he received plenty of affection from them. Among them, the female lead was a senior sixteen years his senior. In the drama, she would appear as twelve years older, and Doha would play the role of a high school student with a crush on her.
As always, while naturally receiving love and affection from everyone around him, Doha suddenly found it puzzling that he hadn’t received love from Hong Duyoung until the end. Of course, he had never tried to be loved, but he hadn’t particularly tried in front of other people either. While checking his appearance in the mirror, he muttered absently:
“Of course he could like Jaei more than me. But how could he not like me at all?”
While tilting his head with this useless question, a familiar voice suddenly came from behind him.
“Sorry I’m late!”
In that moment, Doha’s eyes in the mirror widened. The voice now warmly echoing in Ryu Doha’s ears belonged to the person he loved most in the world.
Urgently turning around, he looked in the direction of the sound. Jaei, having perfectly completed his styling, was bowing his head diligently while receiving the staff’s warm welcome. He seemed to be acquainted with the actresses too, waving to them, and people everywhere were applauding in great joy that Lee Jaei had been cast.
In this harmonious atmosphere, only one person, Doha standing in his school uniform, couldn’t smile. Even though everyone knew that Lee Jaei and Ryu Doha had a personal friendship, he couldn’t readily greet Jaei. Unable to string together any words, he just watched Jaei from a distance.
It wasn’t because Jaei had deceived him and hadn’t told him until now, nor because he felt competitive due to the different treatment one experiences on set. There was only one reason:
“I’m too excited.”
He was afraid he might embarrass himself in front of others if he didn’t moderately control this excitement. Knowing that prejudice would protect their relationship, he had been expressing affection as if it didn’t matter if their romantic relationship was discovered at Hong Duyoung’s office or on movie sets.
But this time, there was clearly a co-star portrayed as his love interest in the drama. Knowing that Jaei was an actor who didn’t fall in love with his co-stars, there would be no reason for him to feel jealous in a drama of this soft level. However, as a romance drama enthusiast, he wanted to show respect to the co-star and the viewers in his own way. He wanted to do his best so viewers could immerse themselves in the drama.
Soon, Jaei walked up to Doha and greeted him with a simple “Hi.” Jaei smiled shyly, hoping his decision to appear would be a gift to Doha. Doha stared down at Jaei, who was standing before him with a dazzlingly beautiful face, and lightly hugged him. Conscious of the camera filming the making-of video, he didn’t hold him too long and quickly released him.
Jaei, who was much smaller and more delicate than Doha despite having a decent height and build when standing with the female actors, spoke with an embarrassed face:
“I might get criticized if I act with Doha.”
Actually, before stamping the contract, Jaei had let his imagination run wild, anticipating the evaluations he would receive:
“I thought Lee Jaei was young-looking, but seeing him with Ryu Doha, the age difference is noticeable.”
“Wow, the height and physical difference between the main and supporting characters…”
“Doesn’t Lee Jaei lack chemistry with women? Now I understand why he hasn’t done rom-coms until now.”
“Lee Jaei tends to have better chemistry with the same sex.”
“I think Lee Jaei made a mistake here, this will be a blemish on his filmography.”
After imagining the worst, he became needlessly saddened and pouted his lower lip with a sad expression. There was only one reason he had chosen this project, knowing it wouldn’t particularly help his career. He knew well that Doha was worried about his projects being canceled in succession, and he wanted to help Doha.
The poster was released three days later. Jaei deliberately avoided looking for reactions, wanting to avoid the criticism that would pour on him. That’s when he received a message from Doha, who always monitored diligently:
[Jaei, we have a big problem, I think I made a mistake]
After that came a screenshot of a comment on the behind-the-scenes video from the poster shoot:
“What’s this? Ryu Doha is looking at Lee Jaei too sweetly.”
