When his mind returned, as soon as he opened his drowsy eyes, his waist throbbed.
Pain accompanying waking up wasn’t an uncommon occurrence. It was like a rite of passage he experienced every morning.
But he had never blacked out like today.
“…Yesterday.”
Dohyeong, who had been muttering alone, tried hard to recall the previous day. Just as he was fumbling through his memories for a while, there was something that crossed his mind.
‘…Hyung.’
Calling Haesung quietly and climbing on top of his body.
And what came to mind after that was the image of Haesung positioned above him.
An excited expression and a face distorted by the rushing heat. And even the reddish sunset light that enveloped them.
“Crazy.”
Dohyeong buried his face in both hands. He clearly felt his ears heating up red to the tips.
“Really, crazy. Kim Dohyeong.”
It wasn’t the first time spending the night with Haesung, but there had never been a moment when he was proactive.
Just as he was shuddering with embarrassment, Haesung, who had been sleeping soundly, slightly opened his eyes.
“…Bold Kim Dohyeong.”
At the continuing words, Dohyeong stopped moving.
When he creaked like a robot and looked to the side, he saw Haesung chuckling.
“I was shocked. To have our Dohyeong-ie like this—”
“St-stop! Stop it.”
Hearing his words was so embarrassing that Dohyeong reached out and covered Haesung’s mouth.
“I, I don’t remember. I really don’t know. So stop talking.”
Liar, Haesung’s eyes were saying that.
Because he couldn’t keep facing those eyes, Dohyeong unknowingly whipped his head around.
“I, I’m going to wash up. You said we’re going on a date today.”
Just as he was about to hurriedly leave, Haesung grabbed Dohyeong’s waist and pulled him toward himself.
In an instant, he was in his arms. He felt breathless.
“I liked it though.”
At the voice flowing quietly into his ear, his entire body heated up.
“I support Kim Dohyeong-ssi’s transformation.”
The words that followed with giggling laughter further fueled his embarrassed feelings.
Dohyeong escaped from Haesung’s arms in one go and ran to the bathroom.
Normally, he would have added complaints like “why are you like this” or “don’t tease me.”
As soon as he closed the bathroom door, he sank to the spot. He made a whining sound while covering his face with both hands.
“Really, crazy.”
So drink less. There was crying mixed in with his soliloquy.
But regretting it now was already past.
How should he look at Haesung’s face from now on? His head was already spinning.
***
The two people who finished preparing got in the car while embracing an awkward atmosphere.
No, actually only Dohyeong alone felt awkward.
“Still embarrassed?”
“…Yes. Very much.”
Dohyeong, who couldn’t even make eye contact, was just cute.
In a romantic relationship, furthermore in a relationship that would become a married couple’s bond again, being proactive wasn’t something to be embarrassed about.
Well, since it was always a relationship led by me, it might be awkward.
Although he very much wanted to tease him more, he didn’t want to be hated by Dohyeong for useless pranks.
“Let’s go. Please follow me well for today.”
Believing that he would naturally return after spending the day, Haesung slowly exited the parking lot.
The sunlight that would brighten the two people’s day poured down dazzlingly.
Dohyeong, who had been staring at the pieces of sunlight falling on the car window for a long time while avoiding his gaze, carefully opened his mouth.
“…Wasn’t it strange?”
“What?”
“Yesterday, me doing that.”
Haesung, who had been thinking about Dohyeong’s words carefully, pressed his lips firmly to hold back laughter.
“No?”
“I came on too strong… you didn’t dislike it?”
“Dohyeong-ie, do you dislike it when I come on too strong?”
“No way. Not at all!”
Finally, he looked at him with an urgent answer. Haesung, who met his gaze, chuckled.
“Then, would I have disliked it?”
When he substituted by switching positions, he seemed to understand a little.
Still, he couldn’t help being embarrassed, so he shrank back and looked outside the window again.
If he didn’t dislike it, that’s fortunate. This time, laughter leaked out with a grin.
Shortly after, a familiar song flowed through the quiet car.
“Oh, this…”
“Someone loaded it up a lot. The playlist.”
“This is still here?”
At Dohyeong’s surprised voice, Haesung just smiled and didn’t say anything else.
Somehow his heart felt strange. Long ago, the playlist he had saved was still playing. He thought Haesung would have naturally covered it with other songs.
He couldn’t hold back the laughter that leaked out while ruminating on the emotions blooming one by one.
After driving for a long time, they arrived at a familiar restaurant.
“Hyung, this place is…”
“Remember?”
“…How could I not remember?”
“I came here alone last time, and I wanted to come again.”
Haesung firmly held Dohyeong’s hand. His face looking at him was full of smiles.
“With you, Dohyeong-ie.”
He said it was a date, but perhaps it was a special day when unfulfilled dreams came true.
He had just come to a restaurant, but for no reason he felt choked up.
Dohyeong followed as Haesung led him inside. Perhaps he had made a reservation in advance—as soon as Haesung gave his name, the staff guided them to a corner seat.
It was that seat Dohyeong had called a prime spot.
“This seat is still the same.”
How should he explain this feeling?
These emotions he felt at this moment when something he thought would never happen again naturally unfolded.
With an overflowing heart, he sat across from Haesung.
After finishing their meal, Haesung led Dohyeong again.
“Where are we going this time?”
“Who knows. Once you follow me, you’ll find out, right?”
He didn’t bother to ask anymore where they were going.
Because he believed without doubt that wherever they went, Haesung would give him a surprise.
The place they arrived at in his car was the movie theater “without people” that Dohyeong had mentioned.
“You, remembered everything?”
“My head forgot for a moment, but my body remembered. I confirmed it last time. And the movie is this.”
What Haesung held out was a ticket for a movie featuring an actor Dohyeong liked.
“The one you said you wanted to see ended its re-release period. Let’s watch that at home later.”
“…Hyung.”
“Instead, the actor you like recently filmed a movie. This one has good reviews too.”
“You don’t like romance.”
“I came to like it thanks to whom?”
Is he making an effort for me?
Or, as he said, does he really want to do everything together because he’s come to like me?
Either way, it was enough that Haesung reached out his hand for me.
Dohyeong smiled brightly and held hands with Haesung.
After going on broadcast, the most comfortable and good thing was that it was okay to walk around holding hands and linking arms with Haesung.
No one looked at them strangely. Only the novelty and surprise of discovering Haesung and Dohyeong followed.
In the screening room where ads were playing, the two sat down crossing through the darkness.
Not too far back, not too front. A center seat at a moderate position.
Dohyeong sat side by side with Haesung and held hands with their fingers interlocked. Repeating a ridiculous prayer asking that if this was a dream, please help him never wake up.
The movie ended in an instant. They said it was a romance movie, but how could there be so many sad scenes? Dohyeong, who had been sniffling even while leaving the theater, glanced alternately at the surroundings and Haesung.
“Hyung, but is this okay?”
“What is?”
“There are quite a lot of… people.”
“What about it?”
“If stories about seeing us come out for no reason…”
He knew what Dohyeong was worried about. But even that felt lovely.
Haesung, who had chuckled, grasped Dohyeong’s hand even more tightly.
“You seem to be forgetting something, but we can be confident now, can’t we? We even went on broadcast and spread the news everywhere.”
Ah, Dohyeong made an expression as if he realized something.
“Don’t worry for no reason. Now… then, what should we go do now? Should we have a cup of coffee? Or should I move up the grand finale I was thinking of?”
“What’s the grand finale? Is there something else?”
What kind of event will he surprise me with this time? Dohyeong smiled widely and moved closer to Haesung.
“There is. Then should we do that first?”
“Anything. As long as it’s with you, hyung, whatever it is, I like it!”
It’s like taking around a puppy.
The two people went to the parking lot holding hands tightly and got in the car.
He faced the straight road with a heart pounding with anticipation. After driving for some time, familiar scenery gradually came into view.
“…This is.”
Even at Dohyeong’s muttering, Haesung didn’t say anything.
The place where the car finally stopped was in front of the old house where the two had lived together, but where Dohyeong ultimately remained all alone.
Haesung got out of the driver’s seat and opened the passenger door.
“Why are we here…?”
“Get out first.”
He got out of the car with a dazed heart. And he moved his steps as Haesung pulled him.
The place where the two people’s footsteps stopped was in front of the front door.
“Are we going in?”
“No. Here.”
Haesung, who said that, took out a small box from his pocket.
When he opened the box, what was visible was one sparkling diamond ring.
“…Hyung.”
“When I thought about it, neither before nor this time was there a proper proposal. Of course, I did something similar last time.”
Dohyeong raised his head to look up at Haesung.
“I’m not the type with good sense like other people, so I couldn’t decorate anything. If I spent money, I could definitely make a pretty space, but… I wanted to do it entirely with my own strength.”
Haesung smiled awkwardly. After looking for a long time at Dohyeong, who was looking up at him with round eyes, he knelt on one knee.
“I know there’s no such thing as forever. I might hurt you again, and you might have a hard time because of pathetic me. But I’ll promise one thing.”
Haesung, who took the ring out of the box, put it on Dohyeong’s fourth finger. It was a design that could be layered with the ring he had given before.
“I won’t give you the same wounds as before. I’ll try. For you, I’ll change.”
“…Haesung-ie hyung.”
“So Dohyeong-ah, with me…”
He grasps Dohyeong’s fingers.
Would it be okay for me to dare speak of a second marriage with Dohyeong?
Can I be confident in saying I’ll take responsibility for his happiness?
No, I can’t judge a path I haven’t taken by making assumptions.
In the end, I’m the one who can’t live without Dohyeong, so I have no choice but to hold onto him somehow.
“Just one more time, will you marry me?”
There was no reason not to accept his sincere words.
No, I never sent Haesung out of my heart in the first place, so there wouldn’t even be a reason to refuse this confession.
Dohyeong smiled brightly with tears streaming down his face. And he nodded and hugged Haesung tightly.
“Thank you.”
“…I’m also, thankful.”
“For holding my hand once more. For letting me be Jung Haesung’s Kim Dohyeong. Thank you.”
Haesung chuckled at the words of Dohyeong in his arms and stroked his back.
This must be what it means to have one’s heart completely full.
All these emotions he felt for the first time in his life were given to him by Dohyeong.
With just that thought, while savoring his willing heart, he buried his face in his shoulder.
“Who’s talking?”
It was a perfect proposal.
Haesung’s own expression that filled his heart, neither excessive nor lacking.
In front of the house that was once in the present progressive but became the past, the two people promised a sincere forever.
Let’s live trapped in love forever now, that there won’t be a second discord.
At Haesung’s sweetly whispered words, Dohyeong wore a profuse smile.
