# Chapter 07.
However, Jaei’s parents strongly opposed his return to Haesung Winners Castle. Jaei began arguing with his parents over the moving issue. Lee Doha, who participated as a team member in the official family argument time in the living room, didn’t take anyone’s side and kept looking back and forth between his parents and Jaei.
“It’s not like you have good memories of that house, so why do you insist on living there again?”
“You know, I always wanted to keep living there. Even back then, I never said I wanted to come back to this house. If you dislike it so much, I’ll just go live by myself.”
“Fine, do whatever you want. You’re grown now, so figure it out yourself! You’re not cute anymore! You’re ranked last in Seoul!”
Doha was the one who became flustered as the fight seemed to be concluding with Jaei’s independence.
“What? No! Hyung, take me with you!”
The fourteen-year-old youngest who had been maintaining neutrality in the fight between his parents and brother ended up revealing that his number one priority was his brother in this crisis situation. With his palms blocking the resentful gazes of his mother and father, he earnestly appealed to Jaei once more.
“I’d be okay living with you in an igloo or a thatched house. Even a pop-up tent would be fine. I don’t need my uniform ironed, and I’ll grow up well on my own. So please let me live with you, hyung.”
“Ah, really. I knew this would happen. He likes me best in this family.”
Jaei raised the corners of his mouth in a smile, shrugging his shoulders and speaking arrogantly toward their parents. With expressions heavy with a sense of defeat, the parents left the living room, saying, “There’s no point in raising children. Doha, you’re second to last.”
That year, when Jaei moved out of the family home carrying Doha, who had grown quite big, on his back, their parents decided to leave Korea to expand their business abroad. Doha naturally had no intention of going to study abroad with his parents. He planned to live his entire life as a package deal with Jaei. He intended to stick so close to Jaei’s side that others might perceive them as a buy-one-get-one-free product. Of course, this wasn’t something he had gotten Jaei’s agreement on.
After their parents, who had frequently taken care of Doha while living in the same neighborhood, left, Jaei began his role as Doha’s primary guardian. He decided to take a complete one-year break from acting projects and take a leave of absence from school. The reason was just one: to devotedly take care of Doha, who had become a fourteen-year-old middle school student.
Doha was now in a situation where he needed to adapt to the new environment of middle school, and puberty was approaching. Because of this, Jaei felt a heavy responsibility to ensure that the seed he had picked up would bloom healthily.
Feeling obligated to be a good guardian, Jaei, who hadn’t been able to sleep properly for days, bit his nails and joined a parents’ community. Eventually, he began to handle everything from housework to parenting without help from adult relatives or housekeeping assistance.
After finishing his hagwon classes after school, Doha would return home immediately without spending time with friends. Wanting to increase the time spent with Jaei even by just one second, he would run instead of walk if the pedestrian path wasn’t crowded. To cut down his time, he imagined he was actually being chased by someone while running, and his appearance was so convincing that at least one person each day would end up running along with him.
When he urgently opened the front door and entered, Jaei came out to greet him and embraced him tightly. He held Doha in his arms without minding that his body was dirty and soaked in sweat from rolling around at school all day and running home. Doha caught his breath in Jaei’s arms and thought it was good that he had come home as quickly as possible. Jaei took his school bag and asked:
“You didn’t come home alone, right? You came with Hyunjin?”
“Yes. Of course we came together. I never go anywhere alone.”
It was a kind lie for Jaei’s sake. However, Jaei suspiciously asked with an expression that seemed to see through everything:
“But it looks like you ran again today? Does Hyunjin run with you every time you run? Does Hyunjin willingly run with you?”
“The hagwon is so far from home, I have to run. If I don’t run, it takes too long.”
“It’s a five-minute distance.”
“I want to get to you in three minutes.”
Since becoming a guardian, Jaei worried about Doha’s safety almost excessively. Doha willingly handed over his phone to him and allowed the installation of a location tracking app. Always stay in safe and bright places, always with a trusted adult, always with friends when there are no adults around, don’t go to dangerous places, come home before dark, run away if a stranger talks to you. But contrary to Jaei’s concerns, nothing dangerous ever happened to Doha.
Whenever Doha returned home after spending time interacting with others, whether positively or negatively, and was embraced by Jaei like this, he felt that Jaei was his destination. Today too, the fourteen-year-old boy had lived his day to the fullest he could, just to return to Jaei.
When Doha changed his clothes, Jaei stood by his side like a detective, examining every corner with sharp eyes. He was checking if there were any injuries. Afterwards, he confiscated Doha’s uniform, saying he would put it in the washing machine. After rummaging through Doha’s uniform pockets to check the contents, Jaei began his slow, awkward nagging:
“If a stranger approaches you and asks if you want to be a celebrity, run away without question. You’re still too young to be a celebrity. Don’t climb high places, don’t go near water, be careful of cars. Call me immediately if you get hurt or if something dangerous happens. And if you feel sick, shout and ask people for help. Got it?”
“Yes, I got it.”
“You’re the kid who says it’s okay even if I squish you like a pancake for 30 minutes. You didn’t move for five hours when I fell asleep using your knee as a pillow, and you got a cramp in your leg. No matter how much I knead your cheeks, you never complain and just stay still. Are you modeling clay?”
“When you do it, it doesn’t hurt, I don’t mind, and it’s fun. If other kids touch me, I say I don’t like it. If they hurt me while playing, I shout at them to stop. And there’s a kid in my class who studies tarot, and they said I was modeling clay in my past life.”
Jaei poked Doha’s white and soft modeling clay-like cheeks with his index finger and said:
“If someone else pokes you like this, you should first break their finger. Once you break it, I’ll find out who they are and either reattach it or do something else. What if they try to poke your cheek and accidentally poke your eye? That’s dangerous.”
“Nothing dangerous happens to me. I’m lucky. I met you because I’m lucky.”
Even though he was talking as if it was annoying, he felt very good that Jaei was interfering in his life to the point of being excessive. However, Jaei suddenly became sensitive to Doha’s answer and shouted loudly:
“Don’t think you’re going to be lucky!”
Doha looked at the seriously raised voice of Jaei with surprised eyes.
“Are you angry?”
He had rarely seen Jaei get angry in his life. Jaei, whose cheeks had turned red from excitement, shook his head saying he wasn’t angry, then tried to speak playfully:
“Was I being sensitive again? It’s because this is my first time raising a middle school student. Boys are fearless, so they get hurt a lot in middle school. I got hurt a lot even though I was pretty careful. Always falling down in the street…”
Nodding at Jaei’s kind explanation, Doha gathered his change of clothes and wrapped his arms around Jaei’s waist. Though he was still smaller in height and build than Jaei, he had caught up quite a bit compared to when he started at 130cm. Jaei had stopped growing after reaching 178cm, and Doha’s growth plates were just beginning to work in earnest.
“I love you, hyung.”
“…”
“I’ll listen to you well. I’ll do everything you tell me to. If I made you angry, I’m sorry. So don’t be angry.”
Holding Doha, who was as kind as he looked, Jaei stroked the round back of his head and kissed the crown of the child’s head with a quick peck.
“I’m sorry for getting angry. I love you too. Since I feel really sorry, you’ll make dinner today.”
“I’m really good at cooking. I’m better at cooking than studying.”
Middle school student Lee Doha was the type who spoke and thought ahead of himself in front of Jaei, and freely told lies with an angelic face. Although Jaei knew he would be eating undercooked rice for dinner today, he pretended to be fooled by Doha’s words.
Every day they spent together was as fun and happy as if they were on a camping trip. On weekends, they went grocery shopping together at a large supermarket, and when Jaei clumsily prepared meals, Doha did the dishes. When Doha ran the vacuum cleaner and washing machine, Jaei, ranked number one as the most beautiful man in the world while mopping, did the mopping and ironing.
They exercised together in the park, washed up clean, and then sat on the sofa with cozy lighting in the dark night. Jaei leisurely selected scripts and scenarios for next year’s projects, and Doha, lying with his head on Jaei’s lap, did his best to comment on Jaei’s work selections.
“Hyung, that one is really terrible. Ugh.”
“Is it that bad? It’s by a very famous director.”
“Why hit someone if you love them? It’s really strange. I know everything. Famous director uncles make actors do weird things saying it’s art. Your first movie was weird too. You kept scrubbing on your hands and knees.”
However, he was involved not as a viewer or audience, but as a person who loved Lee Jaei, full of personal feelings. Jaei smiled and stroked Doha’s fluffy hair, who was deeply upset.
“Did you watch that movie? You promised me you wouldn’t. I asked you not to watch it because it’s embarrassing for me. Why aren’t you keeping your promise to me?”
“Umm, I’m sleepy. I want to go to sleep.”
Suddenly, with heavy eyes, Doha avoided answering and headed to the bedroom in a hurry. After slipping into bed and covering himself with the blanket, Jaei appeared in the room a while later. Doha, who had claimed Jaei’s arms, placed his hand, which had grown quite bony, like a seashell on Jaei’s large ear.
Doha remembers that season as the happiest time in his life. The golden age of Lee Doha’s life, the spring of his fourteenth year.
