Come Back

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The bodyguard assigned by Lee Hae-seong was waiting in the parking lot in front of the building, not in the underground parking lot. Choi Hong-seo, deep in thought, got off the elevator and went through the hotel-like officetel lobby and out the main gate.

Haa. I raised my head with a sigh and saw his figure at the end of his white breath.

“……”

The RV that was supposed to be waiting was nowhere to be seen, and instead, Lee Hae-seong’s sedan was parked there. Lee Hae-seong, wearing a knit without a coat, straightened his body that had been leaning against the sedan and slightly spread his arms. He didn’t want to disappoint his smile. While looking around, Choi Hong-seo held the strap of his crossbody bag and walked towards him step by step.

As the distance narrowed, the smile on his face grew wider. He held the strap of his bag and placed himself obediently in front of his chest. Choi Hong-seo’s two feet, wearing sneakers, stopped between Lee Hae-seong’s neat loafers. Because it was Sunday, his overall attire was casual.

Hmm. With a sound of strength, Hae-sung hugged his lover tightly. As if he had missed her for several days.

“Get in the car and do it.”

As I whispered with my lips buried in his shoulder, he responded, “That’s just too vulgar.” Hae-seong Lee, who let go of his lover, opened the passenger door with a regretful expression.

The sedan quickly left the front of Park Dong-ha’s officetel and entered Yeongdong-daero.

“You didn’t go to the after-party?”

“Ah… I get bored when there’s no one around. You know I can’t stand boredom.”

“I’m waiting at home, why.”

“I happened to stop by that officetel on my way home. And sometimes, Hongseo’s security team will like it if you let them leave work early.”

Lee Hae-seong did not give a proper answer and just playfully replied. However, Choi Hong-seo guessed the reason.

Suddenly, he was afraid that he would collapse again in a cold sweat, that the number of spots would increase, that something terrible would happen, such as Choi Hong-seo’s soul leaving Yoon Hye-an’s body. Even though he had bodyguards with him, Lee Hae-seong was afraid that something like that would happen in a place where he was not present.

And one more thing. Just in case Choi Hong-seo goes to see a shaman while you’re away.

Lee Hae-seong was becoming increasingly dissatisfied with just having bodyguards. Even in the same house, he could not endure being in different spaces for long. Even though Choi Hong-seo was right in front of him and they were together, he did not feel completely at ease.

It was different from distrust. It was not distrust, it was anxiety. He was being consumed by pathological extreme anxiety. He tried to hide it in front of Choi Hong-seo with a playful conversation and smile that he had tried hard to make up.

“Are you mad because I kept you waiting?”

Hae-seong, who had stopped his car at a traffic light, noticed the gazes staring at him and looked this way. Then, he grabbed Choi Hong-seo’s hood and teased him. Choi Hong-seo shook his head.

“I waited for you, so why are you upset?”

The hand that had been pulling the hood widened and this time, it was Choi Hong-seo’s cheek. His large hand always left his cheek and touched his ear. As he gently rubbed his earlobe and earflap as if he was creating a new ear, the stuffy feeling inside him seemed to loosen up a little. As he rubbed his face against the inside of his wrist, which gave off a pleasant scent, he heard a pleasant low laugh.

“You were blushing like a startled rabbit earlier. Do you like it now?”

“Sir, you did it on purpose earlier…!”

Before the script study, I remembered the time I touched Park Dong-ha’s earlobe in the hallway in plain sight. Choi Hong-seo, who was about to get angry and ask Lee Hae-seong about it, stopped talking and grabbed his arm with both hands.

His large hands were proportionate to his height and were also quite thick. When he was completely relaxed, they were so heavy that he had to hold them with both hands. Nevertheless, because of his long, straight fingers and his overall sleek and sculptural beauty, he didn’t look crude at all. His well-shaped and large nails had neatly trimmed tips. Every strand of Hae-seong’s hair, the harmony of his suit, shirt, and tie, and even his nails were meticulously managed to reflect the image of the ARA group. Any hangnails or even the slightest growth at the tip were unacceptable. After all, he was a walking billboard for the ARA group.

Choi Hong-seo, who had been admiring his hands here and there, forgetting his original purpose, soon came to his senses and lowered his head.

Sniff sniff. Sniff sniff. He put his nose to his fingertips and sniffed several times. Hae-seong was very happy, his shoulders shaking.

“What are you doing? So cute. Are you imitating Tiffany? Should I stroke Hongseo’s chin too?”

“Sir, do you smoke?”

“ah…”

The smile on his once joyful face disappeared for a moment. Ah… He rolled his eyes and avoided eye contact, then started the car at the changed signal.

“It was 30 minutes ago. I washed my hands and gargled. Does it smell bad?”

He lifted his hand from the steering wheel and sniffed his fingertips, and for a moment, he seemed like an ordinary man. An ordinary man’s ordinary love life, embarrassed when his lover, who he thought had quit smoking, caught him smoking. Putting aside the car he was driving or his appearance.

“No, that’s not what I said…”

“Once you touch it again, it’s not easy to turn back. I’ll hang up. Okay?”

“Rather than being too stressed, it’s better to smoke when you want to smoke and then gradually reduce it.”

“I know. Did you quit smoking Hongseo too?”

Choi Hong-seo shook his head.

“I didn’t really have much curiosity about that kind of thing to begin with. I think that’s what happens when I see people around me trying to quit.”

“Hongseo’s personality must have been even more distant from me since I started preparing for my debut.”

“I didn’t mean to nag you. I just wish you wouldn’t smoke for your health. It’s not like I particularly dislike smoking.”

Lee Hae-seong smiled at me from time to time while driving. It was a smile to express gratitude for my understanding.

“And you already caught me smoking again.”

“Hmm? When? Ah… back then.”

Lee Hae-seong nodded and smiled a little bitterly and darkly. At the time, he was still not sure that ‘Yoon Hye-an’ was Choi Hong-seo. After receiving ‘counseling’ at his suggestion, Lee Hae-seong smoked a cigarette in the car that took him home from the hotel. It was heartbreaking to see him smoking again, even though he had said he had quit with difficulty. He knew why he had to pick up a cigarette again, because Choi Hong-seo in the form of ‘Yoon Hye-an’ knew.

“It was real.”

“What is it?”

“I think Yoon Hye-an knows why I started smoking again. I did it.”

“……”

“I see you all figured it out.”

Choi Hong-seo did not take his eyes off his side profile. He took in all the emotions that covered his solid-looking face without missing a beat. It was a new realization that their ‘ordinary love life’ together was neither ordinary nor routine. He wanted to see him as much as possible.

“I know why you started smoking again… That’s why I brought up the topic of cigarettes.”

Hae-seong, who had stopped at the traffic light once again, muttered blankly as if talking to himself. His face, which slowly turned to Choi Hong-seo, was suffering from intense emotions. The difficult and unbelievable process of recognizing the lover in front of him was reviving inside him.

“So from now on, don’t smoke in secret. Instead, smoke in front of me.”

In order to save him even a little from the emotional turmoil, Choi Hong-seo smiled.

“Still… I think it would be good if we could break up, even if it’s slow.”

Hae-seong Lee’s hand, which had been hanging limply on his thigh, came over and covered the back of Hong-seo Choi’s hand. It seemed like he was just going to grab his hand, but he hooked his little finger instead.

“If you tell me to hang up, I should hang up. Who said that?”

Choi Hong-seo also laughed at his joke. The link that was connected only with his little finger seemed too weak, so he held onto his hand tightly with his fingers interlocked. The signal changed, but Lee Hae-seong left his right hand, which was held by Choi Hong-seo, and started the car.

“It was when you told me to smoke in front of you. I was so excited. My baby had all that kind of energy.”

“The only people who see me as a child are old men.”

“Hongseo looks like a kid twelve years younger than me.”

Listening to him, it seemed like that might be the case.

“The twelve-year age gap was a concern. Now that we’re one year apart, he’s become an even worse thief.”

Lee Hae-seong clicked his tongue and shook his head. It was as he said. If Choi Hong-seo were alive, he would have been twenty-eight, but Yoon Hye-an was twenty-seven now. There was a thirteen-year age difference between him and him, who was forty.

“I’m not a thief. Then and now, you never stole anything from me.”

If I had to be specific, I would say I am a thief. I was about to add that, but then I closed my mouth. I thought it would only upset him.

“I appreciate you looking at me like that, but… can I steal some of Hongseo’s time?”

“Isn’t it a little late to go on a date? Tomorrow is Monday.”

“It’s a date, but it’s a long date. I’m not going to work for a while.”

“Aren’t you going to work?”

“Thanks to Seo Jun-young, the crank-in was postponed, and I took a vacation because I wanted to travel with Hong Seo.”

“Is that okay?”

“That’s okay. Well, I guess I’ll have to take care of some work while I’m traveling.”

“Speaking of senior Seo Jun-young…”

“I made an appointment for a Hongseo screening at a clinic in Minnesota, USA.”

As if he didn’t want to waste time and emotions on things like Seo Jun-young, or as if there were more important issues, Lee Hae-seong interrupted Hong-seo. His voice was stiff, so Choi Hong-seo didn’t have the courage to bring up the topic of Seo Jun-young again.

“It’s a hospital that is considered first-class, both in the United States and around the world. We’ll do every test that can be done there.”

It seemed like he knew what the purpose of the trip was. Choi Hong-seo unconsciously held onto Lee Hae-seong’s hand tighter.

“You promised me you would find a way.”

Understanding also gave strength to the face.

“They’ll definitely figure something out. They’ll do something about that stain. I’m not trying to disrespect the level of Korean medicine, but we’ve done everything we can here.”

Choi Hong-seo thought of the business card of the shaman Lee Jong-ik still in his cardigan pocket. He knew Lee Hae-seong’s heart that wanted to solve things with the power of proven systems and principles, such as medicine or science, but… the fact that another person’s soul woke up in the body of someone who was just breathing unconsciously was a kind of error that could not be explained by systems or principles. Could an error that occurred outside of principles be corrected with principles?

“mister.”

“It’ll take a long time because it’s a checkup that examines every little detail, but it’s just a checkup. Don’t worry. I’ll be with you the whole time. Okay?”

Choi Hong-seo was about to ask, “Can I visit that shaman one more time?” but then changed his mind. Then he looked at him with a brave face and nodded.

“But when are we leaving?”

“I’m leaving the country in a week.”

“Well, before I go to America, I have one favor to ask.”

As promised, I will introduce Lee Hae-seong to Park Dong-ha. However, I cannot let it be the ‘introduction’ that Park Dong-ha wanted. I had no intention of sending Lee Hae-seong to such a place, and I had no intention of deceiving Park Dong-ha by sending Lee Hae-seong, who had no intention of doing so.

Lee Hae-seong glanced at the passenger seat, wondering what his lover, who rarely acted like a spoiled brat, would ask for. Late on a Sunday night. The urban expressway leading to Bundang was wide open. They would arrive at their destination in 20 minutes, but that was plenty of time.

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