# Chapter 70
Doha, releasing the man’s hand he’d been holding, brought his hands to his navel and gave a respectful bow to his senior who was like the sky above him. The other person, recalling what Doha had said to him, flared up for a moment. However, being the type who was very conscious of his reputation, he quickly left the scene, aware of the gazes around him.
With a brazen smile on his lips, Doha raised his head and stared at Jaei standing beside him. Currently, Ryu Doha was merely a newborn not yet 3 hours old, but he had already seen more than 30 celebrities at the hair salon and on set. All were handsome and beautiful, but among them, Jaei was exceptionally beautiful. The moment their eyes met in the mirror in the dressing room earlier, it felt as if someone had forcefully plugged a socket into his heart, sending electric currents through it.
On Jaei’s pretty cheek remained a reddish handprint. Instinctively, he reached his hand toward Jaei’s cheek but stopped his movement before his fingertips could touch it. He understood that he was close friends with Jaei, but he wasn’t sure if they were close enough for him to caress his cheek.
Should his heart be torn apart like this just because a fully grown adult male actor was slapped during acting? He clearly seemed to like Jaei a lot. Whether as a brother or as a person, or whatever.
At that moment, Jaei, who had been waiting obediently for Doha’s touch with his hands gathered near his chest, slowly moved his head. Doha watched Jaei’s careful movements with round eyes. Jaei, closing his eyes gently with a happy smile, placed his face against Doha’s palm on his own and began rubbing his cheek against it.
Cute.
That was the only word that came to Doha’s mind at this moment. He had no memory of spending time with Jaei, but valuable information was added—that he was quite a cute person. Realizing they were close enough to caress each other’s faces, Doha rubbed Jaei’s soft cheek with his thumb as he pleased and asked:
“Why did you just let yourself get hit? It was clearly intentional.”
If they had grown up like brothers since childhood, he would naturally have used the term ‘hyung’ and spoken informally. But his heart felt awkward about immediately speaking casually. He decided to use the most comfortable title and speech style for the moment. He thought Jaei would understand since he knew his state wasn’t normal. Jaei flinched slightly at Doha’s speech, which felt distant, but soon smiled and answered:
“It would be unprofessional to show that in front of the staff and create a bad atmosphere on set. Unless I speak to him separately when we’re alone.”
“He deliberately grabbed your nape, dragged you, and slapped your ear with his palm. If I had a phone, I would have called 112 right away.”
“I see. I didn’t notice because I was immersed in character.”
He knew the man had hit a place he shouldn’t have. How could the person who was hit not know? But if he thought it was intentional, he’d only hurt himself and get tired, so he didn’t want to interpret it negatively if possible. There was no way to prove it was intentional either.
Lee Jaei is a person who avoids misunderstandings only through tremendous effort, and the other person is someone who has managed his image well. Trying to establish right from wrong would only trouble himself. In fact, he strongly believed that having such unworthy thoughts would lead to a downward spiral, while having a kind heart like his would make everything work out well.
Doha, with his brow deeply furrowed, cupped his palm like a conch shell around Jaei’s ear, just as he had always done since childhood. After gently rubbing the area where pain might still remain, he playfully muttered:
“You don’t look like it, but you’re quite foolish.”
“What did you say? Say that again.”
Jaei, who had recently been called a genius cat by Ryu Doha, flared up.
“Nothing, nothing. As expected, a top star is different.”
Doha, who had humbly placed both hands on his navel again, bowed respectfully with a slick voice. Jaei pinched Doha’s forearm gently, not to hurt, and then sent him to the set. While Doha was rehearsing, Jaei ran to the waiting room and grabbed his phone.
Since Doha began exchanging lewd and decadent messages with Jaei, he had also been using separate phones for work and dating. The lewd messages were of such a level that if they were made public, both would have to leave the entertainment industry.
Today, Jaei felt incapable of managing four phones, so he only brought his and Doha’s work phones to the set. After Doha finished shooting shortly, he planned to return this phone to him first and help him slowly regain his memories. Then, he intended to guide him to the warehouse of memories when they returned home.
He returned to the set and watched Doha’s filming scene. Doha, who was about to complete his first 3 hours of life, was convincingly acting as if he were in love with an older lover. Watching him, a useless thought suddenly invaded Jaei’s mind.
Wouldn’t it be much easier for Doha to act now that his gaze toward Lee Jaei had turned from a heart to a clover? After all, Ryu Doha is clearly in a state of having no one he loves right now. However, he had no intention of temporarily stepping back from his position as a lover for the sake of Doha’s excellent acting.
Jaei stared intently at the 4-hour-old Doha chatting affectionately with his female co-star after finishing the shoot. Captured by the horrible imagination that hearts might have formed in Doha’s eyes as he looked at her, Jaei’s hands began to tremble.
Currently, in Jaei’s mind, ‘complete faith in Ryu Doha, who was designed to love Lee Jaei’ conflicted with ‘but he’s been reborn and is now acting like he loves someone else.’
“Doha, you shouldn’t do this to me. How could you do this to me?”
Of course, Doha hadn’t done anything yet. To accurately check Doha’s eyes, which might do something unpredictable in the future, Jaei stretched out his long neck, showing off his slender, long neck. A moment later, when he came to his senses, Jaei was following Doha—who was walking and having a friendly conversation with the actress—like a puppy. Doha wasn’t giving him the slightest glance.
“Doha, Doha…”
He tried to call his name but quietly swallowed it. He didn’t want to interrupt her words of encouragement to Doha just because he was feeling impatient. In such a harsh environment, after checking Doha’s eyes with all his might, he confirmed there were definitely no hearts in them. Only after confirming the three diamonds sparkling in Doha’s eyes did Jaei stop his hand trembling.
To celebrate the end of his trembling, he tried to break free from being a puppy and join their conversation as a dignified colleague, but the sound of setting up a new set was heard from afar. Despite being a familiar sound, the sudden loud noise startled him, and like a fool, he tripped over his own feet and fell forward.
“Ahhh!”
Doha, who had been walking with his senior, conversing with his hands politely folded in front, only then noticed Jaei falling, having followed him silently like a cat. Four hours after Ryu Doha’s birth, he had never deployed his peripheral vision and reflexes this nimbly. Doha, who had been breathing the air from high up at 189cm, was suddenly flat on the floor, catching Jaei’s body with one arm.
Doha’s solid, thick arm quickly wrapped around Jaei’s torso as soon as his body touched it. Using his core strength that he had developed in his previous life, Doha stood up abruptly while holding Jaei in his arms. Thanks to this, Jaei ended up suspended in midair, clinging to Doha’s neck in front of numerous staff and actors.
At this moment, Jaei, positioned at the highest point, looked down at the approximately 50 pairs of eyes focused on him. His face flushed hot with embarrassment. Doha, like a round boy in a boxing ring, carried Jaei high and continued walking, while Jaei, acting like a star, waved his hand to those who were concerned about him and answered loudly:
“I’m fine! I’m not hurt, so please continue with your work!”
Doha, carrying Jaei, tightly closed his mouth and was doing his best to hold back laughter. Jaei, with a gentle smile, secretly tugged hard on Doha’s hair. Ignoring Jaei’s pleas to put him down, Doha continued walking and as soon as he entered the waiting room, he put his hands on Jaei’s sides and lifted his body up once more.
He tilted his head this way and that, looking at Jaei with interest. Right now, Doha was building his own database about Jaei from scratch.
“Sunbae-nim. Do you always fall like this on your own? I’m sorry, I don’t remember anything right now.”
Jaei judged that Doha’s current attitude was similar to ‘exploring the characteristics of a small animal picked up from the road and feeling its cuteness before making it a pet.’ Sensing that his position had changed, Jaei kicked his feet and pleaded once more:
“I fall about once every five years. Put me down.”
“What will you do if I don’t put you down?”
“My ribs hurt.”
“Bear with it for a bit.”
That’s right. This guy, reborn for the third time, was neither a same-aged friend who never lost his composure in any situation, nor a lovable baby who started as a very small and cute younger brother. He was a playful adult junior, younger in age, whose mind was a blank slate, making him incredibly innocent.
A Ryu Doha with a new relationship with Lee Jaei had been born.
