Love Line 44

After meeting with Jeong Minjae, Haeyoung headed to a small performance venue in Daehangno instead of going straight home. The indoor venue was about the size of a small theater, but it already looked full with people who had entered before the performance started.

The stage was fairly spacious, and the ceiling was high. Haeyoung, who had been looking around the still-bustling performance venue, turned his head at the presence he heard from the stage. He could see people climbing onto the dark stage, as if it was about to start soon.

Yoon Haeyoung narrowed his eyes to find a familiar face in that darkness. Since she said it was a performance with other bands, maybe she wouldn’t come out in the first set. As Haeyoung carefully looked at the stage, a familiar face soon entered his view. It was Dain standing on stage holding a bass guitar.

‘Haeyoung-ah, I have a performance tomorrow… I was wondering if you could come.’

Dain, who had knocked on his door last night, had asked with a cautious attitude. Looking down at her face that showed worry about rejection while also revealing a hint of expectation, Haeyoung tilted his head.

‘Of course I should go. Were you not going to invite me?’

The playful smile on his lips instantly melted Dain’s tension. Seeing the excited look that gradually rose on her face, Haeyoung spoke as if it were obvious.

‘I said before that I’d definitely come watch.’

He had promised her before during their conversation that he would definitely come watch if she had a performance. Fortunately, since his practical training had ended and his schedule was free, he was rather pleased that Dain was asking him now.

It was yesterday that she had handed him a ticket and turned around after earnestly asking him to make sure to come. Though it hadn’t even been a day since a person changed, as she stood on stage holding a guitar, her usual cautious and disheveled appearance was completely gone.

As soon as the lights turned on the stage, small cheers burst out from the audience at the band’s opening that started with drum performance without any real introduction. Haeyoung also looked up at Dain’s face as she smiled at the audience while strumming the guitar strings.

“For our first song, we played ‘After School Doodle,’ Idaru Band’s regular opening…”

As the lively performance ended, Dain, who had just been excitedly playing guitar, grabbed the microphone. Her slightly flushed face seemed a bit nervous and somewhat excited somewhere.

It was then that their eyes met as she scanned the audience while speaking. Haeyoung raised his hand and waved it slightly toward Dain, who had stopped speaking for a moment. At that small greeting, a bright smile soon rose on her face.

“This time, we’ll play our new song that we revealed on Instagram Live a few days ago. There’s a part here where you all need to sing along with us, okay?”

Her attitude was cautious but not withdrawn, clearly showing that she cherished this time. The way she communicated with the audience was sincere, and she looked happy singing.

That was probably why. Throughout the performance, Haeyoung couldn’t take his eyes off Dain.

After the performance ended, Dain chose to have dinner with Haeyoung instead of eating with the other band members. Haeyoung, who sat at the bar-style table placed in front of the glass window, looked at her with a troubled face.

“…Is this really enough?”

“Yeah, I really love sandwiches.”

As soon as they rushed out of the performance venue saying she was hungry, the place Dain headed to was the sandwich shop right in front. Haeyoung let out an empty laugh watching her carefully unwrap the packaging and stuff her mouth full.

She said she liked bread, and she really did seem to like it. Still, for Haeyoung who had tried to pay for a good performance, it was quite troubling.

“Still. I came dressed for going somewhere expensive today.”

He said, showing off the black jacket he was wearing. Seeing that, Dain put down her sandwich and laughed, shrugging her shoulders.

“I can’t eat anything before performing. I starved all day today too, so I didn’t have the energy to go anywhere else.”

He thought she should have eaten something even more delicious then, but Haeyoung didn’t bother to object to her words. She looked happy enough eating the sandwich, so he thought it didn’t matter either way.

“Besides, I got flowers.”

Dain pointed to the bouquet she had placed on the table and pulled up the corners of her mouth. At her brightly smiling face, Haeyoung also smiled back as if he couldn’t help it.

It was flowers he had bought nearby on the way to the performance venue, and seeing how happy she was to receive them, he was glad he bought them. He, who had been watching Dain, also unwrapped his sandwich and took a bite.

The small shop was quiet for a long while as they both ate their sandwiches without speaking. Dain opened her mouth again after she had finished off the entire sandwich in her hand.

“I felt like I hadn’t made any progress for several years, so I had a lot of thoughts like, ‘Is this as far as I go? Is this my limit?'”

At the words he heard, Haeyoung, who had been sipping warm coffee, turned his head toward her. Dain was looking at the area near the traffic light outside the glass window. Even while conscious of the sidelong glance watching her, she continued speaking while resolutely looking only forward.

“But you said to me… that you liked my songs. That you hoped I’d continue.”

“Yeah.”

“After hearing that, I remembered how much I loved music when I first started. If I give up now, um, I feel like I won’t be able to look in this direction anymore in the future. I felt like what I loved most would only remain as an inferiority complex…”

The voice flowing out gently was trembling slightly. The white sandwich wrapper cut into small pieces was folded in Dain’s hands. The packaging that had been torn carelessly soon became neatly folded into the shape of a square note.

Dain, who had closed her mouth for a moment, looked down as if admiring the paper shape she had folded. Soon the paper she had folded quite meticulously left her hands without regret and fell onto the table.

“So I’m going to try a little longer without giving up.”

Looking at Dain’s profile as she stared ahead, Haeyoung put down the cup he was holding. The corners of her mouth rising crookedly, her sparkling eyes, were showing her firm heart completely.

A voice like a quiet sigh leaked from Haeyoung’s mouth.

“…Dain-ah.”

“Yeah?”

Their gazes met head-on with Dain, who had turned her head at the voice calling her. Looking at the eyes staring blankly up at him, the corners of Haeyoung’s mouth rose. A small dimple showed next to the smile that slightly hung on his lips.

“You’re really cool.”

“Uh, uh…?”

At the words bluntly thrown out, Dain’s eyes widened. She, who had been rapidly blinking her large eyes, soon bit her lips and turned her gaze away.

“Why are you suddenly… saying I’m cool.”

“Just, because you’re cool.”

“I get it so stop saying it…”

Haeyoung let out a quiet giggle watching Dain, who had even turned her head away. It was funny how she was belatedly embarrassed after spitting out cool words with her own mouth.

However, saying she was cool was sincere without a bit of falsehood. He felt a dull shock like being hit on the head while listening to Dain’s words.

Yoon Haeyoung had once thought that giving up was the only way to protect himself. That holding onto foolish attachment in a situation where he couldn’t find a proper answer would be poison to both himself and the other person. And that hadn’t changed much even now.

‘Don’t give up on me.’

But why was it that at this moment, those words he had said insistently came to mind?

The smile that had been hanging on Haeyoung’s lips eventually blurred and distorted. He raised the cold coffee cup and covered his mouth. At the same time, there was only one person in his mind.

Cha Seonwoo.

Haeyoung, who recalled the deep gaze slowly turning toward him, swallowed the cold coffee down his throat without knowing what it tasted like. However, the thirst burning his throat remained.

***

When he returned home by taxi, it was already dark all around. It was when Haeyoung, who had been heading inside the house cutting through the pitch-black darkness, stood in front of the door.

“Haeyoung-ah.”

At the voice heard from the garden side, the hand that had been gripping the doorknob stopped. The voice whose owner couldn’t be mistaken was quiet but as affectionate as usual. However, when he turned his head toward where his voice came from, Haeyoung discovered Seonwoo with a more gloomy smile than usual.

“Dain-ah, do you want to go in first?”

Haeyoung said, gesturing to Dain who was beside him. When she nodded and opened the door to go inside, Haeyoung removed the microphone attached to the inside of his jacket and placed it on top of the mailbox beside the door. Then he immediately moved his steps and entered the garden.

Since he always made phone calls outside the house, he thought maybe he was on the phone with someone in the garden this time too. However, that thought was immediately disposed of and shoved into the trash can the moment he saw Seonwoo’s pale face.

“Hyung. Here…”

He swallowed the question asking what he was doing. As soon as he approached closely, anxiety was mixed in the fingertips that grabbed his collar. Haeyoung couldn’t help but realize that his standing in the garden was to wait for someone.

And that someone was himself. Haeyoung grasped Seonwoo’s fingertips that grabbed his collar. The body temperature curling into his palm was ice-cold. As the lips that had been tightly closed in frustration opened, a short breath burst out.

“I met Jeong Minjae during the day today. You remember him too, hyung.”

“…Yeah.”

“And then I watched Dain’s performance, and on the way home I bought and ate a sandwich for dinner. It got late after the performance ended.”

“Did you?”

“And coming home to see you standing here in this cold weather is driving me crazy.”

At Haeyoung’s rough voice, the other person suddenly let out a quiet laugh. At the faint smile that rose on his pale face, his insides burned even more. He seemed very sulky but didn’t think to blame him and only smiled, which was touching.

“How long have you been waiting?”

“Not very long.”

The words telling him not to be ridiculous circled in his mouth, but Haeyoung suppressed his upset feelings.

“You should have been inside.”

“……”

“Your hands are all frozen.”

It was the moment he was desperately trying to warm the frozen hands by putting strength into his grip. His head reflexively lifted at the gentle voice that settled in his ear.

“…I was anxious.”

What lay in the eyes looking down at him was an unadorned, fragile emotion.

“So I was waiting, Haeyoung-ah.”

Behind the deep anxiety, he was fully contained in those black eyes. The moment he discovered himself wavering in them, Yoon Haeyoung realized how arrogant he had been.

How big a misconception it had been to think he could give him up.

***

[This episode was perfect for Dahae…]

If they had gone somewhere with a good atmosphere for a meal, this kind of mood definitely wouldn’t have come out…ㅠㅠ

(outside the shop.gif)

(sandwich.gif)

(Dain looking at Haeyoung.gif)

Personally, the angle showing the two people from outside the shop is totally my taste ㅠ I thought it was a movie

〈11 comments〉

[I agree, the sandwich shop was a stroke of genius]

[The conversation flow was insaneㅜ Quietly listening to Dain talk and then saying she’s cool at the end is just… it killed me]

└I would have fallen for him too if I were Dain ㅋㅋ

└22 That’s why I’m on my way to register our marriage now ㅎㅎ

└What are you saying again.. Ugh…

[Even the background music was perfect]

└ㄹㅇ Who’s Love Line’s music director ㅠㅠ Aren’t they a pervert? The music made me over-immerse even harder

└What’s the song that came out then?

└Some Day at Twenty

[But Haeyoung’s taste is so consistent lol]

What Seonwoo said when talking to Dain and what came out in the scene where Haeyoung was talking with his friend, the ideal type others tell him about is too consistent lol

Especially both Seonwoo and his friend picked older and tall as his ideal type lol Seonwoo said they were close when they were in college and it really seems true

Seonwoo strangely overlaps with everyone Haeyoung texts but he doesn’t establish hierarchy so I thought he was a cool guy with no interest in others

But turns out? He was just close enough to know everything?

〈27 comments〉

[Oh really…?]

[ㅋㅋㅋㅋ I was surprised seeing the ideal type Seonwoo describes and the ideal type his friend describes being exactly the same]

└Haeyoung’s bewildered reaction is so funny too, everyone else knows but he doesn’t know his own ideal type

└He’s like “I don’t have an ideal type?” lol

[Isn’t Haeyoung’s ideal type exactly Sehee? Older and tall ㅇㅇ]

└I thought this too.. Haeyoung seemed interested in Sehee and I was convinced after seeing the ideal type talk

└ㅇㄱㄹㅇ

[Someone like Seonwoo doesn’t need to establish hierarchy so he doesn’t but he knows everything]

└This, he’s leisurely and mature because he doesn’t need to be wary of others

└But he was keeping Haeyoung in check the day he went on a date with Soyoon…?

└What bullshit is this again lol In the first place, Seonwoo’s feelings for Soyoon didn’t seem that big

└There’s no talk about SeonSo, SoHae, SeonHae in the post at all, why are you fighting…

└Is SeonHae by any chance Seonwoo Haeyoung?

└lol it was natural

[[#LoveLineLegend] Cha Seonwoo’s Tear-Brimming Wistful Moment │#LoveLine]

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〈381 comments〉

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○ bibiqo

[But Yoon Haeyoung is always involved in Cha Seonwoo’s tear-brimming moments lol At this point, isn’t Yoon Haeyoung Cha Seonwoo’s tear-making machine

Honestly my gut is screaming that there’s something between those two]

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○ disnedj • 19 hours ago

[Nope, only you think so lol]

○ Cookieflavor

[3:24 Soyoon is really so pretty… While watching the live broadcast, I thought maybe Seonwoo-nim didn’t express much on the first date because he actually liked her.. Especially at 9:08, the photo of Haeyoung-nim and Soyoon in this scene is so lovely, and I was sad because Seonwoo-nim’s expression looking at it seemed to genuinely like Soyoon]

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○ ChristJooyoung

[I like Seonwoo’s warmth… Even without creating a serious atmosphere, he has his own atmosphere

And sincerity is felt in every word he says but it’s not burdensome… haha

At first I thought he was someone whose insides couldn’t be known

But seeing him unable to take his eyes off the photo Soyoon showed

My heart went flutter too… haha]

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○ Kimbbokjjang

[0:48 But why are his eyes brimming with tears here? Was the words about eating breakfast before leaving that impressive? He seems emotionally rich…]

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