# Chapter 71.
In the past 19 years, had Doha ever looked at me like this? Right now, Ryu Doha’s large eyes were filled with curiosity and wonder about the human being named Lee Jaei.
There was still no heart-shaped light in his eyes. The previously distorted heart had transformed into something closer to a question mark. Nevertheless, Jaei was feeling a new kind of excitement that he had never experienced before.
The truth was, Doha and he had never gone through the ritualistic process that most adult couples experience when becoming lovers. When they first fell in love, they were like two sticky rice cakes merged into one. They were each other’s daily life and habit, growing together until they eventually reached a point where one couldn’t tell if you were me or I was you.
When they started loving each other for the second time, they already knew each other too well. Of course, the rejuvenated Doha would have had time to get to know Lee Jaei from the beginning. But when Lee Doha realized his feelings for Lee Jaei were those of a lover, he was already fourteen years old. He knew too much about Lee Jaei.
Maybe that’s why. Jaei now felt somewhat embarrassed, as if he was going through the subtle stage of getting to know each other before starting a relationship with Doha. Though he might be the only one moving ahead, perhaps.
Whatever relationship Doha forms with me, he gets a perfect score. Professor Lee Jaei can’t help but give biased grades to student Ryu Doha’s answer sheets.
With a fluttering heart and prettily blinking eyes, he answered Doha’s question.
“If you keep holding me, your arms will hurt. So will my ribs and armpits. We’ll both end up just feeling pain.”
“You’re light. Sunbae-nim is the lightest person I know. And I’m strong, so it doesn’t bother me at all.”
Doha tried to deceive Jaei with a glib response, but Jaei didn’t fall for his sweet talk.
“…I’m sure. Since you haven’t held anyone else yet.”
He stroked Doha’s head, who was vigorously heading toward his fifth hour of life, while looking at him with sympathetic eyes.
Before leaving work, Jaei returned the phone to Doha. He began the process of recovering Doha’s memory by teaching him the very complicated lock pattern that Doha had set himself. Even though Jaei had only shown him once, Doha remembered the pattern perfectly.
However, a problem soon arose. Doha began experiencing severe headaches from the moment he started checking the memos and messages he had written himself. Heat rose to his head, forming red circles on his pale cheeks, and after feeling nauseous, he vomited and came back.
Jaei looked worriedly at the suffering Doha, placed his hand on Doha’s forehead to check for fever, and hurriedly changed his plans.
“Just don’t do it, Doha. If it hurts, don’t force yourself to recover your memories. Your condition is the most important thing right now.”
Jaei knew that when Doha had left his side before to regain his memories, he had suffered for more than a month, shedding many tears and fainting several times. He thought this time would be much easier and quicker since it was the second time, but if Doha was struggling, there was no need to rush.
If both of them weren’t working and were taking a break, he could nurse and care for Doha while quickly helping him recover his memories. Right now, neither of them had that luxury.
Given the situation, he decided not to restore Doha’s memories until the drama filming was complete. He thought it would be best to let only the memories that naturally recovered during daily life return, and postpone everything else until after the drama filming was finished.
While patting Doha’s back, Jaei tried to view this situation positively. The person named Ryu Doha, and the time that Ryu Doha and Lee Jaei spent together, weren’t going anywhere.
In fact, he was curious whether Doha would fall in love with him again in this situation. He also felt excited at the prospect of building their relationship gradually like other couples, eventually leading to dating.
Additionally, he remembered worrying about how hearts appeared in Doha’s eyes whenever he looked at him. It wouldn’t be a good look for two men who are in a competitive relationship over a woman in the drama to be shooting heart-filled gazes at each other. Thinking it would help Doha’s acting career and the quality of the production, Jaei felt immediately at ease.
However, all of this would only last until the drama filming ended. Before the wrap-up party after the final shoot, he would definitely restore Doha’s memories. Even if the worst happened and Doha came to like someone else, he would make sure everything returned to its rightful place.
While Doha went to the hospital for tests with his manager, Jaei sent up items necessary for Doha’s daily life to the previously vacant Winners Castle apartment 1002. The hired workers moved Doha’s furniture and daily necessities from apartment 902 to the floor above and cleaned up.
He thought separating their living spaces completely would reduce Doha’s pain, rather than living together in the house where they had done all sorts of things. And so, for the first time in 19 years, Ryu Doha and Lee Jaei temporarily stopped living together.
The sentimental items that used to be in apartment 1002 had already been moved to 902 by Doha long ago. Still, just to be safe, Jaei had blocked off the room they had used together during Doha’s childhood in apartment 1002, preventing anyone from entering. Apartment 1002 had been transformed into a place where Doha couldn’t recall any childhood memories at all.
A while later, Doha arrived with his manager after completing his brain scans at the hospital. Until the test results came out, they couldn’t accurately determine his condition, but the hospital had tentatively diagnosed Doha’s symptoms as temporary memory loss due to stress.
Even knowing that going to the hospital wouldn’t solve the problem, Jaei had sent Doha there to get a diagnosis because there were various events related to drama promotion, including the production press conference. He planned to distribute press materials in advance to prevent misunderstandings among stakeholders and the public. Since everyone publicly knew that Doha had recently gone through difficult times, it wouldn’t be hard to gain understanding for this situation.
Jaei picked up Doha from the parking lot and they got into the elevator together. Doha followed Jaei’s hand as he pressed the button for the 10th floor, and with a slight wince from his migraine, asked:
“Is my home really on the 10th floor?”
“Yes, yes. Our home is on the 9th floor, and your home is on the 10th.”
“Why does that sound like a lie?”
Doha moved his fingertip to the number 9 and tilted his head slightly, bringing his face closer to Jaei’s. Jaei, who was blatantly lying, took a deep breath and rolled his eyes, while Doha stared at him with suspicious eyes before nodding and stepping back.
“Fine, let’s just go with that. When I recover all my memories later, I’ll know how many lies you’ve told me.”
Jaei shrugged and smiled as he led Doha out of the elevator to apartment 1002. He held Doha’s hand and had him enter the passcode himself. The passcode had been changed to a completely different combination of numbers from the one they originally used.
As he opened the front door, Doha began to experience flashes of past memories like lightning. Seeing the completely lifeless interior of the apartment, he laughed as if he’d expected it. Then, examining Jaei’s face carefully, he spoke quietly:
“I might suddenly…”
“…”
“Come downstairs. Even if it’s dawn.”
After a moment of holding his breath and staring at Doha, Jaei smiled and whispered softly:
“Call me when you need me. I’ll come up anytime.”
* * *
The next day, after finishing their respective outdoor shoots, Doha and Jaei met again to film brief promotional content for the drama to be uploaded on the broadcasting station’s official channel. As Doha had declared to the senior who had hit Jaei’s face yesterday, he swung his fists vigorously while filming scenes where he fought and rebelled against him. After all, isn’t it the natural order of things for a person to keep their word once they’re born?
The actors gathered for the content filming were Lee Jaei, Ryu Doha, and actor Kim Ilhun, who would make a special appearance in episodes 1-4. Jaei had recommended him out of a sense of responsibility for the canceled release of the film “Detox.”
On his second day of life, seeing Kim Ilhun for the first time, Doha was politely glaring at him with honest and diligent eyes. As soon as Kim Ilhun saw Doha, he asked again if he “really couldn’t remember past events,” and after confirming this fact, he clung affectionately to Jaei in front of the camera.
Sitting to Jaei’s left, he unnecessarily looked at Jaei with affectionate eyes, then chuckled and stroked Jaei’s hair, or let slip words that seemed to find Jaei cute in his deep, resonant voice. Jaei cut off such behavior like a knife, and Doha, sitting on Jaei’s right, stared fixedly at Kim Ilhun whenever he did such things.
The three actors received tablets and began a personality test to check the personality types of their “real self” and “character in the drama.” Doha, who hadn’t yet reached 36 hours of life, still needed more time to get to know himself better, but this allowed him to respond more instinctively.
Soon, Kim Ilhun, holding the tablet, revealed the results of the personality test and added an explanation.
“Jaei-ssi got INFJ, Doha-ssi got ESFP, and it says you two don’t have good compatibility. I got ENTP, and it says that Jaei-ssi and I have perfect compatibility.”
“Hmm?”
Jaei made a questioning sound and tilted his head. Doha, who had been staring at Kim Ilhun from beside Jaei, raised his hand toward the camera and proudly announced:
“I don’t believe in these things.”
