Chirp chirp chirp. Morning sunlight squeezed through the window gap along with the chirping of birds.
“Mmm……”
Doha tossed his stiff body and opened his eyes. His shoulder ached. It must be because his muscles were shocked from grappling with Jo Taejin yesterday. Still, thanks to the pain relief patch he’d put on, the throbbing pain had subsided considerably.
‘……But why is it so heavy?’
A pressure weighing heavily on his chest. Thinking it might be sleep paralysis, he half-opened his eyes and looked down, and Doha couldn’t help but be shocked.
“……!”
Right before his eyes was the top of Lim Sehyun’s head. Very close, too.
With his face buried in Doha’s chest, Sehyun was sound asleep, oblivious to the world. One leg was draped over Doha’s thigh, and his arm was firmly wrapped around his waist—a perfectly clingy position.
Doha was so dumbfounded he was speechless. What was that posture that looked so comfortable and familiar?
Come to think of it, he remembered putting on a pain relief patch half-asleep last night. This was maddening.
“Hey! Lim Sehyun!”
Doha let out a shriek and pushed Sehyun away. But Sehyun didn’t budge an inch and instead burrowed further into Doha’s embrace, mumbling.
“Mmm…… just a little more……”
“What more! Get up, you bastard!”
Doha struggled with all his might. With that momentum, Sehyun’s body, which had been precariously perched on the edge of the bed, tilted.
Thud!
“Ahhh!”
With a dull sound, Sehyun rolled off onto the floor. Only then did Sehyun wake up and sit up, clutching his disheveled hair.
“Ah…… My back.”
“You, why are you here again!”
Sitting on the floor, Sehyun blinked as if wronged.
“I guess I fell asleep after putting the patch on you because I was tired.”
Yawn. Sehyun answered nonchalantly and yawned. He scratched his messy bed hair vigorously.
“Please sleep in your own bed.”
Sehyun rubbed his bottom while making groaning sounds.
“Ugh, I thought my back was going out. Hyung, take responsibility. If I can’t dance today, it’s all your fault.”
“Such an exaggeration.”
That’s when it happened.
The door burst open roughly and Yunbeom barged in. He was already ready to go out.
“Hey! What are you guys doing! How can you still be lying around!”
At Yunbeom’s shout, Doha and Sehyun both flinched.
“There’s no time, hurry up and just come out.”
It was the start of a war-like morning.
* * *
“Mmm……”
Haram had been dozing off in the car when he woke up to noisy sounds. It was the sound of members getting into the van parked in front of the dorm one by one.
“Ah, I’m really tired.”
Yunbeom sniffled as he climbed into the back seat, and Eden also sat next to him with a half-asleep face. Finally, Doha and Sehyun appeared.
‘Huh?’
Haram rubbed his eyes and looked at the two.
Sehyun was walking while sticking close behind Doha. Doha tried to shake Sehyun off by shrugging his shoulders as if annoyed, but Sehyun didn’t care and either linked arms with Doha or grabbed onto the hem of his clothes.
“Ah, get away from me! I told you it’s hot?”
“Do you have no sense of the seasons? How is autumn hot?”
“It’s no different from summer yet.”
Sehyun giggled and pretended to rub his face against Doha’s nape. Doha was horrified and pushed Sehyun’s forehead away with his palm.
“Why are you being so gross. Are you still half asleep?”
“Seeing hyung wakes me right up, what are you talking about.”
The more Doha pushed him away, the more enjoyable Sehyun seemed to find it.
Haram tilted his head. Although the two were close normally, it wasn’t to this extent. Sehyun wasn’t usually the type who liked skinship, and Doha had an indifferent personality and hated anyone clinging to him.
Sehyun got Doha into the car first, then naturally sat in the seat next to him. Then he leaned over as if to fasten the seatbelt for him.
“I’ll do it myself.”
“Stay still. It’s twisted.”
Sehyun’s hand brushed past Doha’s waist. It was a very brief moment, but to Haram’s eyes, that touch seemed oddly clingy.
What’s with these two?
“……”
Haram gulped. Really, is there something going on between them?
“Haram-ah, did you sleep well?”
Just then, Doha noticed Haram and spoke to him. Haram was startled and smiled awkwardly.
“Ah, yes! I just woke up. Hyung, did you sleep well last night?”
“Huh? Oh, well…… so-so.”
“Did you sleep well, hyung? I couldn’t sleep a wink because of you tossing and turning.”
“What are you talking about.”
Sure enough, the content of Sehyun and Doha’s conversation was strange. They were sharing a room so they seemed to have gotten closer…… But why are they sleeping in the same bed? The atmosphere flowing between the two was unusual.
Lately, the two had become so close that it seemed like they had their own world that couldn’t be penetrated. Especially Sehyun’s sticky gaze looking at Doha and the frequency with which he sought him out was indescribably often.
‘Suspicious. Too suspicious.’
Haram narrowed his eyes and observed the two. He’d have to keep watching with eagle eyes from now on.
* * *
Gone was the terrible puffy face from this morning, and everyone had shiny faces. Now they looked somewhat presentable.
Doha was checking the stage costume while waiting for OnX’s turn.
That’s when Cheolhwan came into Doha’s line of sight. Since all the members were in the car, it had been awkward to ask, but there was something he was curious about.
“Cheolhwan hyung.”
“Oh, Doha.”
Cheolhwan came over to Doha’s side.
“What happened yesterday?”
“Jo Taejin?”
“Yes.”
“First, I talked to his company. I explained the whole situation, and they also knew that Jo Taejin wasn’t in his right mind.”
Cheolhwan let out a sigh.
“On the condition that we don’t turn him over to the police for now, we got a written pledge that he’ll never come near you guys again. They said they’d send him to the hospital for treatment. Honestly, if a police investigation starts now, it’ll be tiring for us too, and since we’re on air, it’s obvious it’ll get noisy……”
Cheolhwan gauged Doha’s reaction. If Doha, the victim, wanted to, they could report it to the police, but the judgment was that covering it up quietly was the best option in the current situation. Doha nodded.
“Yes. I understand. You must have handled it well, hyung.”
“I’m sorry. I should have paid more attention.”
“No. It’s not your fault either.”
Jo Taejin had really bothered many people.
Doha brushed it off coolly. Anyway, that guy’s life itself had fallen to rock bottom, so rather than further punishment, it was better to just isolate him. Besides, after the embarrassment he suffered yesterday, he wouldn’t do anything strange again.
“And, about that featuring thing.”
Cheolhwan changed the subject.
“Have you decided what to do?”
Doha thought for a moment. It was difficult to coldly refuse a request from a senior. Moreover, from the company’s perspective, it wasn’t a bad opportunity.
Most of all, he was bothered by Yungyeom’s sincerity in cooking for him and even coming to visit in person to hand over macarons while asking.
“I’ll do it.”
“Oh, good! You thought well!”
Cheolhwan brightened up.
“Then I’ll convey that. I’ll try to coordinate the schedule so it doesn’t overlap as much as possible.”
“Yes. Thank you.”
Cheolhwan turned around with a bright face. Doha let out a deep sigh. Suddenly he worried about how to explain this to Lim Sehyun.
“Hmm.”
He distinguishes between public and private matters, so not particularly…… Wait, but why am I watching out for Lim Sehyun’s reaction?
Suddenly this thought seemed very strange. Why exactly was he watching out for Lim Sehyun’s reaction? He knew that Lim Sehyun didn’t particularly like Seo Yungyeom, but wasn’t that a personal matter?
Doha stared intently at his own face in the mirror. His brow was slightly furrowed. It was unmistakably the expression of someone with a guilty conscience.
‘Lim Sehyun doesn’t like Seo Yungyeom? That’s his business.’
Objectively speaking, there wasn’t really a reason for Sehyun to dislike Yungyeom. It’s just that he was strangely on edge from their first meeting, and now it had reached the point where he had a fit whenever his name came up. Well, it could be rivalry, or maybe they just don’t match. The chemistry between people is originally capricious.
‘But what does that have to do with me.’
Featuring is strictly business. Suddenly he felt very professional for thinking like this. Not too long ago, he’d been causing a fuss about leaving the team no matter what.
Don’t tell me he’d been brainwashed by Lim Sehyun too? Is this that famous gaslighting……?
One thing was certain. The fact that the existence called Lim Sehyun was becoming a much bigger and more troublesome tumor in his life than expected. And an ominous premonition that it would become increasingly difficult to remove that tumor.
“Ah, whatever. What do I care.”
Doha deliberately shook off his idle thoughts and shook his head.
“Hyung!”
Was it an auditory hallucination? Thinking of Lim Sehyun made him hear Lim Sehyun’s voice.
“Hyung, what are you doing.”
It wasn’t an auditory hallucination. As always, Lim Sehyun was hovering around him. Was he a satellite or what?
“Why are you spacing out?”
It was annoying, yet he was also used to Lim Sehyun pulling him along like this. Had he become a body that couldn’t do anything without someone pushing him……
“Move. Move.”
Doha moved as Sehyun pushed his back.
