Different Dreams in the Same Bed (13)
On an extra king-size bed.
Han Siheon slowly opened his eyes. As always, he first checked the mattress’s elasticity. A ten-million-won product that Hollywood actors supposedly used. The bedding set alone cost hundreds of thousands of won.
‘I can’t sleep well anywhere but here.’
When he opened the blackout curtains with the remote control, the Han River stretched out lazily below the window without a breath of wind. It was the most expensive luxury item in this room. Han Siheon, a five-year veteran idol who had plastered everything from pillow covers to a small Buddha statue ornament with luxury brands, was a so-called perfectionist. What was troubling him these days was….
‘Ah, I’m sexually frustrated. The ones who throw themselves at me are absolutely not my type….’
A bed partner.
Having been in the entertainment industry for so long, his relationships were tangled like a beast’s. He’d been through most of the usual suspects. If he wrote a book about his sexual escapades, it would be the size of the Tripitaka Koreana. But meeting outsiders risked scandals, and he had his own iron rule of never touching fans.
Above all, the hardest thing to pass was the looks preliminary round. Siheon had only seen pretty things his whole life, so his standards were disgustingly high. On top of that, even if he’d built the Great Wall with someone, if he got even slightly bored, that was the end. He’d never contact them again.
Han Siheon, a top star and a man living at the very top of the dating market pyramid.
But the reality was poverty amidst abundance. It had been quite a while since he’d been semi-forcibly living a celibate life. They said everyone who’d been stagnant in this industry experienced this problem, but….
‘Ah, I really liked him.’
Lee Dogyeom, the youngest designer at the hair salon.
When he first saw him, he definitely thought he was a rookie idol from another agency or at minimum a trainee. A slender, delicate frame with a small face. Large eyes with eyelashes long enough to cast shadows, a smooth nose bridge, and lips that were plump and red. Unlike his calm features, his bleached blonde hair, the mole under his eye that contrasted with his snow-white skin, and his ears full of piercings were overflowing with bewitching energy. Innocent yet sexy—Siheon’s absolute favorite style.
‘I’ll shampoo you first. Please come this way.’
That haughty cat-like face smiled brightly as he guided Siheon. When he nodded slightly and lay down on the shampoo bed, those long, slender fingers pleasantly burrowed through his hair.
‘Something like this was hiding here.’
‘You must be new here.’
He deliberately struck up a conversation, pretending to know him.
‘I was only an intern for a long time. I’ve only been in the VIP room for a month. I look forward to working with you.’
A gentle, soft voice. Slender fingers refreshingly massaging his scalp. A faint fragrance like wild roses.
‘Ah, I’m getting turned on.’
‘Is the water temperature okay?’
After several confirmations, the head massage was finished. Dogyeom, who’d finished shampooing, raised the bed and pressed close as he squeezed the water out with a towel. Their gazes locked. When their eyes kept meeting, Dogyeom tilted his head.
‘Is there anywhere uncomfortable?’
Of course there was, but… instead of saying where, he lightly grabbed that slender wrist and slid his fingers along the inside.
‘Your arm is so thin. It looks like it might break….’
He sent an obvious sign of seduction. A manly face with a slight crease at the corners of his eyes in a smile. It was his killer expression that fans ranked as number one for causing fan heart attacks. Usually at this point, the other person would sneakily slip him their phone number or business card. Dogyeom’s eyes widened as if surprised, and that expression was also maddeningly pretty.
‘Well, that kind of fresh reaction isn’t bad either.’
However.
‘I’m solid-boned, so I’m fine. I’ll style you now. Go to the chair.’
‘……?’
When Dogyeom naturally pulled his arm away and turned around, Siheon was momentarily flustered. People who drew the line like this weren’t common.
‘Acting expensive. You won’t last long doing that.’
But Dogyeom’s “acting expensive” lasted longer than expected. Even though he’d been hitting on him for several months, he’d never once given him his contact information or asked for it. Later, when he casually tried to touch him, Dogyeom’s expression hardened completely and he even slapped his hand away. He looked annoyed.
‘He looks like a player… but he’s surprisingly hard to conquer.’
“You, what bad thoughts are you having again?”
His manager hyung deliberately scolded him. Siheon lazily shook his head, but Yujin, AETHER’s youngest member sitting next to him, deliberately provoked him.
“You got rejected by that hairstylist.”
“Rejected my ass. Did I confess? Did I do anything?”
Siheon snapped, but Yujin didn’t bat an eye.
“Aw, you’ve been just drooling over him for months now.”
When he glared at that cocky mouth, leader Lee Gahyeon, who’d been absorbed in a mobile game, put it down for a moment and added his two cents.
“You think you’re the only one hitting on him?”
“What? Then who else?”
When Siheon turned serious, a teasing smile appeared on Gahyeon’s lips.
“…He’s popular. Idols like us might be nobodies to him….”
Siheon’s eyebrow shot up crookedly.
“Tell me in detail.”
“Last time I saw that designer laughing and chatting with some rookie actor nobody…. You know, that alpha who’s doing well these days.”
“…Lee Jiseok?”
“Oh? You know him?”
Because they’d run into each other a few times at the same salon. He was thinking that the guy had a decent enough visual that their images overlapped.
“Not knowing the pecking order in showbiz is also a talent, you. You rate actors higher than singers.”
Gahyeon added indifferently. Youngest member Yujin didn’t miss the chance to add fuel.
“Hyung, you’re my CP partner. Are you going to keep cheating? If fans find out our Jinheon line is breaking up, sob sob….”
“Is this crazy bastard losing it?”
Yujin was a beta, not an omega, contrary to his cute appearance. And one whose hobby was eating up alphas, at that. Siheon roughly shook off Yujin who was trying to link arms with him. He got goosebumps. A guy who couldn’t even smell pheromones was trying to get under him while completely sober.
“You disgusting bastard.”
“I’d treat you well if you came to me though….”
“Ugh. The kids need to know about this….”
Gahyeon quietly turned his attention back to his game, but Siheon’s expression had already completely hardened.
‘Well, if he’s pretty to my eyes, he’s pretty to other people’s eyes too….’
Even just the AETHER members were already far too aware of Dogyeom’s existence as a civilian. That’s how outstanding his looks were. If he wasn’t careful, someone might steal him away first.
‘I guess I need to make the first move.’
His pride was a bit hurt, but still, the thought of stripping that pretty thing completely naked made him drool.
‘He looked pretty skilled…. If he straddles me moving that slender waist and does this and that….’
“Look at him. Having bad thoughts again.”
The manager scolded him again.
“Ah, hyung, why do you always pick on me?”
Siheon protested, but the manager was firm.
“Because you’re always the one who gets caught. If you cause another scandal this time, it’s over. You know that, right?”
“Boring.”
It’s just that he had bad luck and only he got caught…. Siheon felt wronged. Since the idol scene was basically a pseudo-dating market, the manager trembled at the mere mention of scandals.
‘This time I absolutely have to settle this.’
A determined smile appeared on Siheon’s smooth face.
***
Smoky makeup. Siheon, who’d even put in golden lenses, glanced at the mirror.
Even though it was a pretty excessive concept, when he did it, the whole creature-from-the-underworld look was quite plausible. Today was the day of a famous men’s magazine photo shoot. As an alpha with a tall height in the late 180cm range and a good physique, Siheon received many solo luxury brand sponsored shoot offers.
“Siheon-ssi, the hair team is here. Get ready quickly.”
“Yes. Thank you for your help.”
Along with the photographer’s introduction, a blonde designer came in pushing an equipment cart. Even under the cool lighting, his facial features came alive beautifully. It was Lee Dogyeom.
‘We’re meeting here?’
Rather than pleasure, Siheon felt a strange thrill. When he greeted him with a beaming face,
“Hello, I’m Lee Dogyeom in charge of hair today. I’ll get right to it.”
After a brief greeting, he went straight into work mode. Even though they were people who saw each other often at the salon, he didn’t particularly acknowledge their acquaintance. His professional appearance with all unnecessary kindness completely gone. Siheon’s eyes behind the golden lenses scanned Dogyeom’s cold face.
‘The atmosphere is completely different today.’
Dogyeom moved his hands busily without a single word. The photographer in charge of today’s shoot was famous for being prickly. Perhaps because of that, Dogyeom was less talkative than usual. He made eye contact only as much as absolutely necessary, then immediately checked the hair volume with his fingertips.
“Please bow your head once.”
The dry professional attitude felt from that pretty face. Siheon unconsciously closed his lips. For photo shoots with many close-ups, even the dishevelment of individual strands of hair was important. When Dogyeom concentrated on styling, Siheon’s hair had instantly transformed into a sexily disheveled, devil-like image.
‘…Huh?’
“Dogyeom-ssi—.”
He was about to compliment him, saying he liked the hair….
“Don’t move. I’ll fix the top volume again.”
The fingertips fixing his hair were quite serious. Not a single drop of the usual softness Siheon had expected was visible.
‘…This is something.’
A strange emotion crept up—whether pride or anger. Even when he tried to turn his head slightly to make eye contact, Dogyeom wasn’t avoiding his eyes but rather had an expression that didn’t see Siheon as a ‘person’ at all.
Only work.
Only the cut.
Only styling.
‘Well, not bad.’
Siheon, who decided to step back for now, entered into his main job in accordance with the shooting cue.
“Good work.”
When the last cut of the shoot was finished, the coordinator rushed over. Siheon immediately removed the stiff lenses first. The large golden lenses had too much of a foreign body sensation, so his eyes had been tired throughout the entire shoot.
“Please take off just the jacket first.”
At the coordinator’s request, Siheon, who’d taken off his clothes, first looked for Dogyeom with teary eyes. A slender silhouette standing far away. Siheon’s face contorted fiercely.
‘Damn, someone already latched onto him.’
The photographer was giving him a business card. Dogyeom smiled broadly as he received the card with both hands. And as if that wasn’t enough, he flirted for quite a while, which looked unseemly.
‘That slut. He’s going around spreading himself everywhere. Damn.’
Siheon waited for the timing when Dogyeom would be alone. When he saw him turn toward the hallway, he quietly followed, muffling his footsteps. Just as he slowly approached and was about to speak to him,
“Fuck, talking about nudes and shit. This trash….”
Dogyeom was taking out the business card he’d just received and ripping it to shreds.
Siheon forgot what he was going to say and froze on the spot. Did he just see that correctly?
‘Lee Dogyeom, what the hell are you.’
What he was seeing before his eyes wasn’t the usually beaming Dogyeom, but a sharp Dogyeom who was prickly and cut things off with one stroke if he didn’t like them.
Siheon felt his body getting strangely hot.
‘…Damn, why does this turn me on more.’
As he quietly turned around without Dogyeom noticing and took out his phone from his pocket.
[AETHER concert VIP – Guest seat invitation tickets available.
Special guest exclusive, tickets that can be given without name inscription]
‘Right. Let me try just one more time. With this much, he’ll come. I’ll make him come.’
Siheon’s eyes slowly narrowed.
‘I won’t let him go this time.’
