“We’re still friends though, right?”
Yuho asked, and Soi nodded while wiping away tears with her hand.
The two of them smiled at each other for a long while. It was an awkwardly enduring time.
“Cut! Okay!”
The last filming ended smoothly.
This web drama had higher overall quality than Yuho’s disastrous debut work.
These days, web dramas were said to be a gateway for new actors, but among them, there were bound to be works and actors that got weeded out. Yuho’s first work was like that.
Hoping that his second work would see at least a little light, Yuho shared his filming thoughts in front of the making camera.
“I had so much fun throughout the filming, and I really hope many people will watch it. Soft and Sweet Romance, fighting!”
The web drama filming schedule ended completely with a small group of cast and staff gathering to take a final group commemorative photo.
“Yuho oppa. Can I keep in touch with you?”
“Yeah. Sure. Contact me anytime if you need anything.”
Soi asked, and Yuho answered without much thought. He hadn’t noticed the ulterior motive felt in Soi’s actions.
“Yuho. I’ll contact you. Let’s have a meal together next time.”
“Yeah. Take care. Seonchan.”
He brushed off Seonchan’s goodwill lightly as well.
As if that wasn’t enough, Yuho asked Juseung in the car on the way back to the dorm.
“Juseung hyung. I think Seonchan likes Soi, right?”
“Well. I’m not really sure.”
“When we were taking pictures earlier, I think Seonchan was being wary of me.”
“Was he?”
He was working hard at barking up the wrong tree by himself.
* * *
“Why are you here?”
As soon as Yuho entered his room, he asked Inhan, who was lying on his bed. Inhan was sitting on Yuho’s bed in outdoor clothes, chatting and laughing with Yeomin.
“I called you earlier.”
“Ah.”
Yuho thought “oops.” During the web drama filming, he had checked Inhan’s missed call but forgot to call him back.
“I forgot.”
“Wow. That’s too much.”
“It was the last filming day, so I was out of it.”
“It’s fine. You can ignore Jung Inhan’s calls.”
Yeomin said to Yuho as he got up from the bed. He seemed to be leaving now, carrying a large luggage bag on his shoulder. Yuho asked Yeomin.
“Leaving now?”
“Yeah. I’ll go and come back in two days.”
Yuho just let Yeomin be as he approached with arms spread wide. Yeomin familiarly hugged Yuho with both arms and shook their bodies back and forth. Inhan quietly watched the two of them.
“Our beloved Yuho hyung. Even if you miss me too much, you can’t cry.”
“Yeah. I won’t cry.”
“But I will.”
“Do well with filming. Don’t skip meals because it’s bothersome. Don’t call me because you’re bored.”
“As expected of our Yuho hyung. So sweet.”
Yeomin released the hug and held both of Yuho’s hands. Then he swung their hands from side to side and said affectionately.
“I’ll call you.”
“Yeah. I said don’t.”
“Okay. I’ll do it as soon as I arrive later.”
“Yeah. I’ll put it on silent and sleep well.”
Like a spear and shield conversation, the two continued their farewell greetings.
Yeomin, Yuho’s roommate of 6 years, was like a real younger brother who played around and clung to Yuho the most among the members. And he was a member who poured out excessive affection to Yuho as much as Inhan did.
“Then bye-bye.”
Yeomin gave Yuho one more hug out of reluctance. Yuho patted Yeomin’s back and responded in an affectionate tone.
“Okay. Be careful.”
“Yep.”
Then Yeomin waved his hand vigorously and gave his final final greeting.
Yuho also waved back in response to the greeting. Still, today’s goodbye greeting ended relatively short.
“I guess it’s real.”
As soon as Yeomin disappeared, Inhan’s tightly shut mouth opened. When Yuho turned around, Inhan was propping his chin with one hand and looking at Yuho. Yuho asked Inhan curiously.
“What is?”
“That you like being taken care of.”
“Huh?”
Wondering what he meant, Yuho pondered the answer and quickly got it. It was a story about Yuho’s ideal type.
Setting aside when that story was from, he hadn’t really taken care of anything in particular. Yuho was incredulous at Inhan’s dissatisfied-looking face.
“I take care of you too.”
“Really?”
“I tell you to do well with filming, eat well, and not get hurt too.”
“That’s not enough.”
At Inhan’s attitude of openly wanting differential treatment, Yuho moved his steps to the bed. Then he perched his bottom on the bed and leaned his body back. Yuho’s head landed precisely on Inhan’s stomach. Yuho spoke matter-of-factly while feeling Inhan’s hand rummaging through his hair.
“You’re like this because you’re lonely.”
“If you know that, then be nicer to me, hyung.”
“Don’t act like this to me and get a girlfriend.”
“Are you serious?”
“Yeah. I’m serious.”
Yuho thought that way would be more comfortable. Then the hope he shouldn’t have and Inhan’s attention focused on him would gradually fade away, he expected.
At Yuho’s answer, Inhan showed an indifferent reaction. At that moment, Yuho’s phone rang a couple times, and thinking it might be Yeomin, Yuho immediately checked his phone. But the one who contacted him was Im Soi.
Soi – [Photo][Photo][Photo]
Soi – [These are the photos we took together earlier! Thank you for everything, oppa!]
From Soi, two full-shot photos of her and Yuho with their arms linked and one selfie had arrived. Yuho was about to reply to Soi without much thought. He was going to simply send a greeting without any intention of continuing the conversation.
“What? You two took photos together?”
But before that, Inhan’s question came first. Yuho answered Inhan nonchalantly.
“Ah. Yeah. She wanted to take them in front of the coffee truck earlier.”
“Even a selfie?”
“Yeah.”
“When did you take this?”
“Earlier, as soon as the coffee truck came.”
It was just words said as they came to mind, but after saying them, it seemed open to misunderstanding.
Yuho added unnecessarily like an excuse.
“I mean, right after I sent you a message.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
“Are you going to keep in touch?”
“Huh?”
At Inhan’s persistently continuing questions, Yuho felt puzzled. Inhan’s face was quite serious to consider it just probing. When he thought about whether he’d seen this face before, nothing came to mind.
“The work is over now. I’m asking if you’ll keep in touch.”
Inhan asked Yuho in a strangely sharp tone. Yuho turned his head to look at Inhan. At the same time, their eyes met with Inhan still propping his chin with one arm. Yuho impulsively said to Inhan.
“Yeah. I’m thinking of meeting her once.”
“What?”
Inhan asked back with a surprised face. He should have stopped there. Yuho wanted to cross the line once more.
So he decided to do the confirmation kill he’d already repeated over a hundred times once more. This time with the determination to properly end it.
“I’m thinking of trying to date Soi.”
I didn’t plan to use her like this. Yuho apologized to Soi inwardly and waited for Inhan’s reaction. He was also confident he could pass off any reaction calmly.
At Yuho’s answer, Inhan pulled back his body as if surprised and repeatedly asked questions.
“Ah. Really?”
“Yeah.”
“How old was she again?”
“Twenty-two. Same age as you.”
“Is she nice?”
“Yeah. She’s nice.”
“Small and needs a lot of care?”
“Well. She seems like that. But why?”
“Perfect.”
Is it right for the word “perfect” to come out at this timing? Yuho asked back curiously.
“What is?”
“It’s your ideal type. A young girl you can take care of.”
I never said a girl though. At Inhan’s attitude of being certain as if he’d realized something great, Yuho showed an indifferent reaction.
“I guess so.”
“That’s great. I think you’d suit each other well. You’d be so cute together.”
Inhan said that and smiled prettily.
The smile on Inhan’s lips resembled the face from that moment when he fell in love, so Yuho’s mouth tasted bitter. That a smiling face could hurt someone this much, Yuho realized anew.
“Right? I should ask her out.”
“Yeah. Be sure to introduce her to me later.”
Inhan said to Yuho still with a smiling face.
Why was he the one crumbling when the words were thrown hoping Inhan would be hurt? Yuho blamed himself, thinking he had foolish expectations. Right. This kind of reaction is natural for someone who doesn’t love you. Knowing and accepting were different matters.
“I didn’t know you’d talk to me about this kind of thing, hyung.”
Inhan muttered as if to himself and let out an empty laugh.
Yuho sat up right there. Then he turned around to look at Inhan and asked.
“What about you?”
Yuho now thought this was the limit. He was even thinking that it might be a better choice to confess and ruin this relationship.
So Yuho asked Inhan.
“Why did you reject Eunseol noona?”
At Yuho’s question, Inhan made a troubled face again. Then he also sat up and asked Yuho.
“Can I date her?”
At Inhan’s unexpected reaction, Yuho was momentarily at a loss for words.
Why was he asking him that? Even though Yuho knew the reason, he wanted confirmation from Inhan.
“Why are you asking me that?”
“Just. Because I want to ask you, hyung.”
“If I don’t give you permission, you’ll live alone forever?”
“If you tell me to do that, hyung, I could.”
“Ha.”
Yuho understood Inhan’s question intention exactly. And at the same time, his reason flew away.
“Were you not dating all this time because of me? Because you were watching my reactions?”
Surprised by Yuho’s suddenly sharpening reaction, Inhan reached out his hand to grab Yuho’s shoulder. Then he hesitated again and pulled his hand back.
