# Chapter 74
Unable to contain his shock, Doha firmly gripped Jaei’s boyfriend in one hand and stared intently at his face. He thoroughly examined him from head to toe to understand the physical characteristics of the person Jaei was dating, then politely bowed his head in greeting. Thanks to Doha’s hand, the other party also offered a greeting.
Afterward, he carefully placed his palm on Jaei’s forehead to check if he had a fever. In a kind and serious voice, he summarized and confirmed Jaei’s shocking statement again.
“So… you gave birth to a doll, raised it, and ended up dating that child?”
“I never said that. I never gave birth either.”
“And you happened to see a ghost?”
Jaei clenched his fist and lightly punched Doha’s shoulder, saying, “You believe in ghosts too.”
Haah, Doha sighed and pressed his lips tightly, firmly holding both of Jaei’s hands and continued speaking thoughtfully.
“Let’s go get a brain scan and counseling tomorrow. I just had one yesterday. It wasn’t that difficult.”
Though he was pretending to be serious, his expression clearly showed he was putting all his energy into teasing Lee Jaei. Jaei glared at Doha and then smashed his forehead against Doha’s. Right after the habitual headbutt, he could see something with his own eyes.
The clover engraved in Doha’s compassionate eyes slowly transformed into heart shapes, eventually becoming very distinct hearts. It was the moment when the speculation that Ryu Doha was attracted to Lee Jaei’s “assertiveness” was confirmed as absolute fact.
Doha, who had instantly fallen deeply in love as if under a spell and was making an affectionate expression by himself, promptly snatched the small Ryu Doha from Jaei’s arms and threw it on the floor. Jaei flared up at that cold and heartless behavior.
“Why are you throwing my boyfriend!”
“That’s me!”
“Oh? So you knew?”
Jaei instantly smiled, blinking his eyes lovingly. Doha, who had felt strangely off since the moment Jaei mentioned the word “baby,” was able to confirm by carefully observing the doll that it had a dot marked on its cheek. Straddling Jaei and pressing down on his body, he cried out miserably about being deceived for a whole two days.
“How could you not tell me we were in that kind of relationship? How could you keep pretending we weren’t? No wonder something felt strange whenever I was with hyung! Hyung, you’re really too much! You’re such a terrible person!”
“Sorry, sorry. Ah, sorry!”
Jaei, flattened under Doha’s body, apologized with a bright laugh. Doha gently pinched and pulled Jaei’s soft cheeks with his fingers and continued. His large eyes were filled with worry and concern.
“You didn’t want to meet someone else during this opportunity, did you?”
“Well~? I might have thought about it.”
After saying such nonsense, his nose and cheeks were bitten by Doha. His head was bitten too, and his ear as well.
Jaei, who had too easily reclaimed Ryu Doha’s love with just one headbutt, was wearing a victorious smile when he rounded his lips and started opening and closing them. Doha probably knew what this action meant between Ryu Doha and Lee Jaei.
Doha, who had instinctively sent a signal of affection like a child by pretending to be a yellow croaker in front of Jaei earlier, unhesitatingly pressed his lips against Jaei’s parted ones. While sharing a deep kiss with Jaei, he could intuitively guess how far he and Jaei had loved each other. After carefully separating his lips, he caressed Jaei’s waist and asked in a low voice.
“We were sleeping together.”
Jaei gave no answer as he caressed Doha’s face and wrapped both his legs around Doha’s waist.
“I’ll sleep over tonight. No, I want to sleep here from now on. I don’t want to go downstairs anymore. I’m scared.”
“Okay, let’s move all your things to this house tomorrow.”
Doha tenderly kissed Jaei’s forehead and started pulling up the t-shirt Jaei was wearing, but paused to ask.
“By the way, is it okay for me to speak informally to you?”
“Yes. You always spoke informally.”
“Did I call you hyung?”
“No. You called me Jaei.”
“How rude.”
“You were really impolite. Usually, you were nice, but particularly when showering or lying in bed together.”
Doha’s eyes, which had been looking down at Jaei, turned red. Pressing down on Jaei’s chest, Doha lightly placed his lips on the bridge of Jaei’s nose before removing them. Jaei whispered ticklishly into Doha’s ear.
“Be impolite to me today too.”
Doha buried his lips in Jaei’s shoulder. The suspension of Ryu Doha and Lee Jaei’s cohabitation, and the experiment of “whether Ryu Doha who lost his memory would fall in love with Lee Jaei again,” ended on just the second day.
* * *
After that day, Jaei returned home to the 10th floor with Doha. Somehow the location had changed, with apartment 902 becoming Ryu Doha and Lee Jaei’s memory storage, and apartment 1002 becoming the home where the two lived together.
While continuing to film the drama, Jaei diligently helped Doha gradually recover his everyday memories without making it too difficult for him.
The 20-year-old Ryu Doha, who had returned from the afterlife in just three days, was clearly finding his memories much more quickly and easily from minor things compared to when he had returned as a child. To the extent that even if Doha were to suddenly “pop and naturally vanish” one more time, there would be no need to worry.
During the filming of episode 6, a small accident happened to Jaei. The actor who had previously shown malice by actually hitting Jaei’s face hard almost really pushed Jaei into the river during a scene. The only fortunate thing was that Doha wasn’t present at that location. If Doha had been there, that person would have drowned on the spot.
In fact, he had been the protagonist of Jaei’s debut work, “Private School – The Fifth Story,” and at that time, he worked under his real name, Lee Jaehee. However, two years ago, he finally abandoned that name and legally changed it. Jaei could guess how his ill feelings toward him had grown.
Although they acted as if nothing had happened on set, the production team seemed to have held an internal meeting. Eventually, he was written out by suddenly dying in episode 7. He finished filming while receiving applause and cake from the actors and staff. Pretending to be a nice person until the end, he smiled and said thank you as he shed tears.
Jaei read the emotion of resentment on his face. Afterward, he cried with him. This wasn’t an emotion that could be simply explained with words like hatred or pity. There were aspects of him that were hateful and pathetic, but at the same time, Jaei understood him. Because they were both actors, and humans too.
A week later, as the former Lee Jaehee exited, a new supporting character was added. Jaei heard that a young rookie had been cast for the role of Doha’s friend. Jaei made an effort not to forget the names of his fellow actors, especially veteran supporting actors, rookies, and child actors. So he had learned his name in advance. Name: Seo Eunho, a seventeen-year-old male actor.
Doha and Jaei, who were doing an outdoor shoot together, were openly exchanging their desire to kiss by opening and closing their lips like beautiful half-moon betas. At that moment, a man wearing the same school uniform as Doha swiftly approached them as they were waiting in the shade and grabbed Doha’s collar.
And he whispered. In a very small voice.
“Found you.”
After checking his costume and realizing that he was the actor they would be performing with today, Doha bowed his head in greeting.
“Hello. By the way, did we know each other before? My head is broken right now.”
He knew Doha. Doha didn’t know him. But Jaei knew him.
Jaei’s pupils trembled incessantly as he stared at him. He was the same soul he had seen at home last time. The thin, pale man who had seemed to be looking for Doha. He had been so disoriented then that he hadn’t realized how young he was. Jaei, at a loss for words, fixed his gaze on the man’s feet. There was a shadow.
The person who was most likely named Seo Eunho, who couldn’t be anyone but Seo Eunho, told Doha.
“After 13 years, you came back and I finally met you, but you left too quickly, so I just followed you.”
The word choice strangely grated on Jaei’s ears. Doha also tilted his head.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about, and I can’t remember properly right now. I wasn’t smart to begin with, so I wouldn’t be able to remember anyway. Don’t get your hopes up.”
Doha clearly drew the line as if to say that even if he tried to remember, they wouldn’t have been anything to each other. Taking advantage of that moment, Jaei extended his hand to Seo Eunho, requesting a handshake. He could grasp his hand. Unlike before, he clearly existed as a human. So had he been reincarnated like Doha?
He continued speaking.
“As soon as I came back, I found my memories. I was reborn in this exact form at the place where I died. The rooftop of the apartment where Hong Duyoung pushed me off.”
At those words, Jaei was startled and covered his mouth with his hand. Was he possibly a victim of a crime committed by Hong Duyoung? Was he originally a 17-year-old child actor? With his pale face and sharp eyes, he definitely had a charming appearance as an actor and was the type Hong Duyoung would like.
Only then did Jaei recall the incident where a 17-year-old child actor had taken his own life due to Hong Duyoung’s continued brainwashing. He had read a post written by the bereaved family and had comforted them. Was it not suicide but murder? His thoughts grew relentlessly, and his mind became complicated. He couldn’t express these emotions outwardly, and couldn’t directly ask what he wanted to ask, making his chest feel tight.
So to summarize, thirteen years ago, he was a seventeen-year-old afterlife classmate who had shared his resentment with the fourteen-year-old Doha in the afterlife?
Just as Jaei, feeling great sympathy for him as an adult, was about to speak, he said to Doha with discontent.
“Hurry up and remember me.”
“You’re only saying what you want to say, so I don’t know what to do. You’re not listening to what I’m saying.”
Doha was being more firm with others than usual to ensure Jaei wouldn’t misunderstand his relationships with other people. Then Seo Eunho said.
“We liked each other.”
At that moment, Jaei’s eyes widened as he thrust his face toward Doha.
“Whaaat?”
This was a completely separate issue from Seo Eunho being an unjustly victimized soul of Hong Duyoung. So does that mean Ryu Doha had a brief affair during his time in the afterlife? Jaei looked at Doha with hurt eyes. Doha snorted as if finding it ridiculous, then firmly said to Seo Eunho.
“What are you really saying? Don’t say whatever you want just because I can’t remember. When I get my memory back, I won’t let you off easy. This isn’t for my sake.”
He omitted saying it was for Lee Jaei’s sake.
Jaei thought he could no longer leave Doha’s memories as they were. As soon as they got home today, he would spend time extracting the memories trapped in his head like a drill sergeant from hell. And he would torture him painfully and interrogate him.
Even though he knew Doha couldn’t have done that, his eyes foolishly filled with tears. Although Doha was certain that he couldn’t have liked someone else at the same time as Jaei, the moment he saw Jaei’s tears, he felt a heart-wrenching pain and knelt heavily in front of him. And innocently said.
“I am hyung’s foot towel. Historically, foot towels have never told lies. Not even once.”
