# Chapter 67
Jaei urgently checked the behind-the-scenes video of the poster shoot. He knew very well that Doha’s attitude toward his favorite genre, romance dramas, was extraordinary.
In the video, Doha did his best to restrain expressions of affection toward Lee Jaei and maintained his position of appropriately receiving attention and cuteness while standing shyly next to the female actor who plays his unrequited love interest in the drama.
However, there was one problem—every time Ryu Doha looked at Lee Jaei’s face, three small heart-shaped lights appeared in his pupils. Amazingly, the light reflected in Doha’s pupils actually changed into hearts the moment he looked at Jaei. Even more remarkably, because his eyes were large, the heart shapes were very clear and visible.
“Why are his pupils like this?”
Shocked, Jaei replayed the video dozens of times. When Doha looked at others, the light in his black pupils clearly took the form of pointed stars. But when he looked at Jaei, they became hearts.
How could such a thing be possible? Of course, the most surprised would be Ryu Doha himself, the owner of these mysterious pupils that output the light of truth in geometric shapes.
Jaei clenched his fist and bravely checked people’s reactions while he was at it. Though he pretended to be fine, stress had actually built up from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head. Every night, he played meditation music and repeatedly conditioned his mind to be okay even if the reactions weren’t good.
This time, he wanted to be Doha’s stepping stone, even if it meant devaluing himself. For a very long time, Lee Jaei had climbed to high places by stepping on the poor corpse of Ryu Doha, so now he wanted Doha to gain a genre advantage, step on him, and move forward to a leading role in his next project.
Of course, it would be best if both of them succeeded together, but even if only Doha did well, Jaei could achieve his goal.
However, after checking the comments, Jaei soon had his eyes full of tears and made a pitiful sound.
“Hing.”
Doha’s heart-shaped pupils had become a huge topic. Apart from that, there were none of the negative reactions Jaei had worried about. Most comments were supportive of Jaei, and even to Jaei’s eyes, his chemistry with the actress wasn’t bad. Anyone could see they looked good together. Reactions toward the young, fresh, tall, and handsome Doha were also passionate.
Meanwhile, Jaei could spot the nickname of Ryu Doha, or more precisely, the cute Lee Doha who had been following Lee Jaei around for 8 years, leaving supportive messages everywhere.
“Lee Jaei hyung is the pride of South Korea.”
Though his face grew hot from Doha’s shamelessness, the stress level that had reached the crown of his head came down to his shoulders. Jaei wiped his tears and pressed “like” on comments supporting Ryu Doha and other actors, then sent a message to the actress playing opposite him.
[I’m really trusting you, noona. The fact that the reactions aren’t bad is all thanks to you ㅠㅠ]
Thanks to this, he finished the shoot with a light heart and enjoyment. Humming a tune, he picked up Doha, who had been filming at a high school building today, and they went home together. Jaei had a schedule for tomorrow, but Doha, whose scenes were relatively fewer than Jaei’s, had three days free until his next shoot.
They washed their bodies squeaky clean together and sat side by side on the sofa. Doha planned to spend the next three days training to hide the hearts in his pupils. He turned on the light above his head, held a hand mirror, and alternately looked at Jaei and the mirror to check the state of his pupils. Jaei recorded Doha’s efforts on video.
Amazingly, it was true. It wasn’t just a visual illusion that happened by chance in that video. The light reflected in Ryu Doha’s black pupils really did change into hearts the moment he looked at Lee Jaei. Jaei, who first recognized this mysterious fact, was greatly surprised, covered his mouth with his hand, and backed away.
After checking the video Jaei had taken, Doha asked in a bewildered voice:
“Jaei, you didn’t know either?”
“I really didn’t know. Your eyes always sparkle so much.”
Of course, Doha’s gaze toward him was always full of love. But he never imagined that the ‘light’ in his loving eyes was literally this ‘light.’ No matter how sensitive Lee Jaei was, he couldn’t detect that Doha emitted heart-shaped light when looking at him.
Of course, there were people who had discovered it, but he believed that was possible because they were third parties who could simultaneously observe the two of them in video.
Realizing that correcting his gaze was impossible, Doha quickly gave up on training. It seemed there was no solution except to stop loving Jaei.
Jaei curled up his body small and sat between Doha’s legs, holding a hand mirror in his left hand and a phone camera in his right, alternately looking at Doha and the mirror to check for changes in his own eye light. It was certain that Lee Jaei loved Ryu Doha just as much as Ryu Doha loved Lee Jaei, but he felt quite discouraged that he couldn’t be like Doha.
“Why can’t I do it…”
“Jaei, Jaei.”
Recently, Doha had developed the habit of calling Jaei’s name twice, just as Jaei did to him. This was because Jaei had said he called Doha’s name twice “because he liked him.”
“Yes, yes, Doha.”
“It’s natural that you can’t do it. How could such a thing be possible? It doesn’t make any sense.”
“Then why can you do it?”
“Well, that’s because I—”
It was the moment when he was about to answer, “What can’t someone who died and came back to life do?” The news that Hong Duyoung had confessed to his crimes himself flowed from the TV they had turned on before the drama started.
Since it was such a high-profile case, it was reported in the media faster than the investigation results could be conveyed to them. Doha immediately grabbed his phone and searched for the article, while Jaei silently held his breath and focused on the news. Among several incidents, Hong Duyoung admitted that he had indeed planned and commissioned the “Haesung-dong 14-year-old boy hit-and-run death case.”
Hong Duyoung had been hiring famous law firm attorneys, constantly playing the media, and persisting in claiming that everything was untrue. Since public opinion was on the side of the actual victims, and it seemed impossible to cover the sky with one’s palm, Doha and Jaei had been disconnecting from the reinvestigation process. They believed that time would eventually resolve everything.
Hong Duyoung hadn’t particularly repented or confessed out of guilt of conscience. The motorcycle driver who had been keeping silent along with Hong Duyoung finally surrendered and produced all the evidence that he had been commissioned to commit murder. It seems that Hong Duyoung, who had nowhere else to retreat, changed his attitude to confession and remorse in order to receive a reduced sentence.
Of course, I think it won’t go his way. He still has many other crimes that need to be revealed.
Jaei, with his eyes full of tears, looked at Doha with a smile on his lips. Doha also looked at Jaei with a strange expression, twitching his cute lips, unclear whether he was smiling or crying.
As Jaei gently stroked Doha’s cheek, suddenly Doha’s body became a bit strange. Though it’s an impossible expression, the frame behind Doha’s face was faintly visible through him. Jaei stammered as he called out to Doha.
“Doha. My eyes are strange.”
“What’s wrong with your eyes? Did you practice making hearts too hard?”
Doha reached out his hand toward Jaei’s face. At that moment, a scream escaped from Jaei’s mouth. Doha’s hand passed right through Jaei’s cheek. Only then did Doha realize his state wasn’t normal and looked down at his thighs.
Ryu Doha, who had suddenly appeared in the world one day, was once again vanishing from the world.
“I didn’t come here to resolve a grudge…”
He was so dumbfounded that he couldn’t even scream. He just mumbled to himself dejectedly.
Doha soon accepted the reason for his disappearance. Doha had a reason why he absolutely had to return to this world. The fourteen-year-old Jaei had wanted to die following Ryu Doha due to the guilt embedded in his heart, and Doha had returned here to soothe Jaei’s guilt and prevent his death. And at this very moment, the valid reason why Ryu Doha had to stay in this world had completely disappeared.
Tears flowed down.
“Jaei.”
“Don’t go, don’t go. Doha. Please. Please don’t go.”
Jaei’s small chin trembled as he continuously screamed and then began to plead desperately. Jaei tried to reach out with both hands to grab Doha, but his hands just swung through empty air.
Doha firmly shouted toward Jaei, whom he could no longer touch.
“I’ll come back. I’ll definitely come back. I will absolutely return.”
This was Ryu Doha’s new resolution and promise.
“Don’t go! Please…”
Jaei wailed as if about to pass out. But regardless of Jaei’s pleas, Doha completely disappeared. He had suddenly appeared as a child one day, and then left as if he had never been there. Only one person remained in the home where the two had been together.
Jaei, left alone, belatedly delivered his final greeting that he couldn’t convey when he was fourteen.
“Goodbye, go without pain today. Farewell. Farewell…”
And then he fainted.
Was he losing Doha again because they had caught the real culprit who killed him? If he had known it would turn out like this, he would have just stayed still. He wouldn’t have resolved Doha’s injustice or gotten rid of his own guilt.
Would Doha really be able to return? What if he comes back again without his memories? It would be okay since he knows how to help him find his memories, but what if he’s a polar bear? Even if he returns as a human, what if he’s eight years old? Baby Doha would be really cute, but just imagining their age gap of 19 years was horrifying. At that level, they’d be father and son. When would he ever raise that kid and be able to kiss him?
Even in his collapsed state, Jaei’s unconscious mind continuously created numerous frustrating scenarios. He gradually lost his will to live. Suddenly, his eyes flew open. The Lee Jaei who was Ryu Doha’s lover was still unconscious, but the actor and entertainment company CEO Lee Jaei’s self awoke with a start and sat up abruptly.
“No way. You must come back!”
He shouted resoundingly. Doha absolutely had to return before the next shoot. If he missed his shooting schedule, things would get beyond imagination. Jaei stopped crying, ran to the balcony, knelt down, and began to pray—or more precisely, warn—the heavens.
“Return Doha within three days! Exactly as he was at twenty years old!”
Since he couldn’t tell whether Doha had soared to the sky or sunk into the ground, he sent warnings in both directions. Rookie actor Ryu Doha must never miss a shooting schedule. Now that filming had just resumed, such a thing absolutely must not happen. This was a very valid reason why he had to return.
He believed in actor Ryu Doha’s sense of responsibility. Even if stacking boxes in hell was waiting for him again.
