# Chapter 82
Doha gathered all the cotton plushies that had fallen to the floor, clutching them to his chest as he strode into the house with a serious expression. He gently placed 51 dolls on the living room rug and stared intently at the spot Jaei was pointing to.
Indeed, on the table lay two pitiful strands of hair that had lost their melanin pigment. Having clearly expressed his stress level, Jaei collapsed with a thud and stuck to the floor like a rug.
“Doha-ssi, Doha-ssi. Did you enjoy your date with your friend who has a one-sided crush on you? It is one-sided, right?”
Doha carefully scooped up Jaei, who had flattened himself almost indistinguishable from the rug, and moved him to the sofa. Jaei flailed his skinny legs and shouted.
“Thank you for coming back before all my hair turns white. I should be grateful I’m not bald yet, right? At least white hair can be dyed.”
“I’ll shower quickly and come back to hold you.”
“Yes, yes. Hurry and wash up. Quickly wash away that other man’s scent from your body!”
Sensing the gravity of the situation, Doha picked up one of the mini Dohas rolling on the floor, made it kiss the frenzied Jaei, and then tucked it into his arms. Jaei pitifully curled up his body and cradled the tiny cotton Doha doll like an egg.
A while later, Jaei was snugly nestled in the arms of Doha, who had thoroughly washed off any outsider’s scent. To restore the deflated Jaei, who was drooping like a balloon doll that had lost its air, Doha diligently covered the major openings on Jaei’s body with his mouth and carefully blew air into them, as he always did. Only after receiving prolonged artificial respiration from Doha did Jaei regain his complete human form.
Of course, Jaei knew that Doha had gone to spend time with Seo Eunho with some kind of intention. He might seem childish for acting this way despite knowing everything. But from Jaei’s perspective, it was stressful enough to make his black hair gradually turn white.
Wasn’t Seo Eunho the one who claimed that “he and Doha had mutual feelings for each other, and Doha was lying”? Lee Jaei had believed in Doha’s innocence based solely on Doha’s denial, without any other evidence. So today, he had permitted their date purely on his faith in Ryu Doha.
Doha also understood how difficult and painful this had been for Jaei. He gently rubbed Jaei’s cute heart that must have been torn apart and anxious while waiting for him to return home. Then, like searching for a four-leaf clover in a clover field, he checked if there were any more pitiful white hairs that had lost their melanin among Jaei’s rich, glossy brown hair.
After confirming there were no more discolored hairs, Doha began to tenderly kiss every corner of Jaei’s doll-like pretty face and body.
Even if Jaei didn’t have this face and body, Doha would have loved him just as much. He would have loved Jaei even if he drifted around him formlessly like vapor. Conversely, if another soul entered Jaei’s perfectly beautiful body and imitated him, Ryu Doha would never love that soul that wasn’t Jaei. Such a thing could never happen.
“Jaei, Jaei. I truly love your soul.”
Doha, aspiring to be like a male lead in a wonderful drama, always ended up expressing his love to Jaei with clichéd phrases. However, he believed there was a difference between using the same sentence to indirectly express “I love you this much” and filling each letter with sincerity. Thankfully, Jaei was someone who understood that difference.
In response to Doha’s sincere confession of love, Jaei quietly blinked his eyes before breaking into a bright smile of joy.
“I know that even if I had an accident and lost this face, you would still love me. I’ve always thought that. I feel the same way about you.”
Jaei assumed the reason Doha suddenly brought this up was because of the movie they had watched today. Jaei’s film “The Secret Envoy,” which was released worldwide last week, contained a similar heart-wrenching melodrama.
Having confirmed that Jaei’s mood had improved, Doha now began to express his love for Jaei’s precious body. He laid Jaei down on the sofa and flattened him with his own body. While he loved Jaei’s soul more than his body, this lovely vessel that housed Jaei’s soul also needed to be cherished.
After caressing and adoring each other’s bodies throughout the evening, they left the house when night fell dark. They were on their way to watch a late-night movie so that today wouldn’t be remembered as a sad day for Jaei. With hats pulled down low, they planned to take a walk in a place with beautiful night views and drink warm tea.
With Doha in the passenger seat, Jaei started driving and candidly confessed what he had done while Doha was spending time outside with Seo Eunho.
“I had a video call with Sean Alex.”
“What? Were you naked?”
At Doha’s spontaneous question, Jaei gave him a sidelong glance. He completely understood why Doha’s first concern was about his attire during the video call. In the past, whenever Jaei used his dating phone for video calls with Doha, he had never once been properly dressed.
Even during non-sexual, everyday conversations, if he was at home, he would invariably attempt to expose himself. Even when clothed, he would pull his t-shirt up to his collarbones to show his chest, or if not his chest, he would expose his collarbones and shoulders.
Once Doha had innocently asked, “Jaei, don’t you like wearing clothes during video calls?” To which Jaei replied, “No, it somehow feels hot,” and Doha still believed that explanation.
“It was work-related. I talked with the company interpreter together. So I was properly and respectfully covered from neck to toe.”
“You did so well. It must have been difficult to break such a long-standing habit.”
Receiving praise for something so obvious, Jaei shrugged his shoulders and continued.
“It’s about casting. It seems Sean Alex is also involved in production. We agreed to discuss the details when he comes to Korea next month.”
“That’s great. I support you no matter what.”
“I told Sean Alex that I’m seeing someone. And he still contacted me. He doesn’t seem like someone who’s disrespectful or can’t separate professional and personal matters.”
“That’s really great, Jaei.”
“Ugh, but I’m not sure if I should leave you in Korea. Now that I think about it, you seem too eager to send me to America?”
Jaei playfully glared at Doha. Doha affectionately caressed Jaei’s cheek. Reading the intense love in Doha’s eyes, Jaei quickly softened his sharp gaze and smiled, making his cheeks rise plumply.
In reality, Doha was indeed thinking how fortunate it was that he could send Jaei to America for a while. For one thing, Seo Eunho wouldn’t likely make a move to achieve his goal before the drama’s finale. After the final filming, it would be Doha’s responsibility to protect Jaei.
So it was truly fortunate that Jaei had this opportunity to leave Korea at this timing. If that problematic Seo guy came to their company, Doha planned to shamelessly intrude on the meeting and actively involve himself in setting Jaei’s departure date.
Doha silently mouthed, too quietly for even Jaei’s large desert fox-like ears to hear:
I’ll take care of everything here, Jaei.
* * *
As actor Ryu Doha’s screen time increased in the latter half of the drama, with more scenes of him actively expressing affection for the female lead but tearfully failing to win her love, Doha’s popularity skyrocketed.
Doha was still maintaining a position where he wasn’t particularly divisive among viewers. Even when his private life and past were thoroughly scrutinized, only healthy and lovely traces emerged about this young man. Doha could happily enjoy this moment largely because the male lead, Jaei, was achieving good results beyond Doha’s own popularity.
Sometimes Hong Duyoung’s words proved correct. The part about acting coming from experience. Jaei probably couldn’t have successfully carried off such a light and cheerful romantic comedy so successfully in the past. His sweet romantic experiences with Doha had completely melted into his body and naturally flowed into his acting.
From Doha’s perspective, it sometimes felt strange. Jaei was recreating in the drama every moment of being adored by Doha and adoring Doha in return. Doha didn’t even feel jealous when Jaei filmed intimate, lovey-dovey scenes with his co-star.
This was because Lee Jaei was with Ryu Doha in every single moment in the drama. Just like when he had portrayed heartbreaking pain by imagining Ryu Doha as his counterpart while acting out sad love scenes.
As Jaei’s romantic scenes intensified, even Doha’s birth mother, who had been monitoring the show weekly, sent a message of concern:
[Did you break up? Jaei looks like he truly loves his co-star.]
And Doha, a longtime fan of the romantic comedy drama genre, considered such viewer reactions as ‘proof that this drama was successful.’
A week before the finale, Doha was asked this question at the hair salon:
“You’re really close with Jaei-ssi, right? Are Jaei-ssi and Chaeeun really dating?”
“No, that’s all acting. But it’s true that Jaei hyung and Song Chaeeun sunbaenim are close friends.”
Doha answered with a comfortable smile. Publicly, Ryu Doha and Lee Jaei grew up like brothers from childhood and currently lived as neighbors on different floors of the same apartment building. Before Doha’s debut, Jaei had changed his official address to the 10th floor, separating their administrative addresses.
Though no one could imagine it, right now, Ryu Doha was monopolizing Lee Jaei’s love throughout both the 9th and 10th floors of Haesung Winners Castle. Someday, he hoped everyone would know. That he was the one Jaei loved.
