PSY CH 85
by Lulu“Bae Jooyoung…!”
Dohyun hurried after him, but Jooyoung didn’t seem to even hear him calling. His face had gone rigid, like wax, and Dohyun couldn’t bring himself to stop him carelessly. He couldn’t even guess who that man was to make Jooyoung act like this.
Just a few steps away from reaching the man, Jooyoung suddenly stopped walking.
“You’re here?”
The man, who had been checking his watch, turned his head to the right and greeted someone warmly. A woman approached, and he took her hand without hesitation.
“You didn’t wait long, did you?”
“No, not at all.”
The face that had been turned away came into full view at last. The two of them walked off toward the lounge, still holding hands.
“…Bae Jooyoung.”
Dohyun cautiously called out to him.
“Bae Jooyoung.”
Jooyoung, who had been standing there blankly, blinked as if snapping out of a daze at the repeated call. He looked completely bewildered, like someone who had just woken from a dream.
“…Ah.”
By the time he slowly looked up at Dohyun, it was the Jooyoung he recognized again.
“Is he someone you know?”
Jooyoung looked back toward where the man had disappeared. Still staring in that direction, he tilted his head back and forth a few times. But this was the only answer he gave.
“No.”
“…”
“Let’s go.”
He turned without hesitation, but his face was still clouded with a mess of emotions. A swirl of something—uncertainty, maybe anger—lingered beneath the surface.
Even after they got in the car, Jooyoung stayed silent. Leaning his cheek on the back of his hand, he stared blankly at the unremarkable parking lot.
“…”
Watching him like that, Dohyun’s thoughts started to spiral.
If he didn’t even know that person, why did he rush after him? Could it have been a case of mistaken identity? And if so, who had he mistaken him for? Maybe someone from his past.
Jooyoung hadn’t told him the real reason for coming to Seoul, and despite dragging Dohyun around with him, he still felt emotionally distant. Even after hearing Jooyoung call it a date, Dohyun couldn’t feel at ease. If anything, he kept wondering if Jooyoung had meant it at all.
“…”
He gripped the steering wheel tightly. As his gaze slowly lowered, Jooyoung’s left hand resting on his thigh filled his view, along with the image of him just moments ago, approaching that man with a desperate expression.
In the end, Dohyun couldn’t hold back and asked.
“Who was that back there?”
Jooyoung glanced at him, then replied in an indifferent tone.
“Someone I don’t know. I got it wrong.”
“You really mistook him for someone?”
Jooyoung furrowed his brow deeply, looking like he didn’t understand why Dohyun was pushing this so hard.
“Yeah. I thought I knew him, but I didn’t. Satisfied?”
“Who did you mistake him for?”
“…”
“Who the hell did you think it was that you didn’t even hear me calling you—”
Dohyun cut himself off, swallowing his breath. He hadn’t meant to raise his voice, but it came out before he could stop it. His chest rose and fell heavily. He pressed a clenched fist to his forehead and cursed under his breath.
“Shit.”
“What’s with you all of a sudden?”
Jooyoung snapped sharply.
“…”
Dohyun’s jaw tensed. He leaned back against the seat and shook out his tingling hand in frustration.
“Mind telling me why you really asked me to come to Seoul?”
His gaze, fixed on the road ahead, was calm but razor-sharp. The kind that would cut right through any vague excuse.
Jooyoung chose silence. He turned his head sharply and clamped his mouth shut. Dohyun let out a breathless laugh, then suddenly grabbed Jooyoung’s left hand.
“Ah…!”
The faint ring mark disappeared into Dohyun’s grip. And yet, the gesture brought no relief at all.
“What was the point of coming to Seoul?”
They could’ve bought clothes easily enough in nearby Busan. Dohyun’s lips twisted bitterly.
“You can’t even go home anyway.”
The derisive comment slipped right into Jooyoung’s weak spot.
The address in the GPS was a building in Maeyang, with an adult arcade and a pawn shop. Even after coming all the way to Seoul, Jooyoung hadn’t once suggested dropping by home. Dohyun had figured that out without much effort.
“…”
Jooyoung’s eyes went wide, then crumpled all at once.
“Why can’t I go home?”
“…”
“I just, just…!”
Even without the rest of the sentence, the trembling in his eyes gave everything away. Jooyoung couldn’t bring himself to say anything in the end, his lips opening silently.
After a while, his eyes began to flush red. Only then did Dohyun realize—damn it—but he had knowingly pressed the issue himself.
“Ha, fuck…”
Frustrated, he ran his hands roughly through his hair.
“Bae Jooyoung. I just…”
He wanted to say that he was scared Jooyoung had come to Seoul because he missed someone, and that the thought made him anxious. That he was hurt by how distant Jooyoung had seemed the whole time.
But all of it stayed unspoken, buried deep inside, as he chewed over the words he couldn’t say. Then, a pale hand suddenly reached out. Jooyoung canceled the route already entered into the navigation and started typing a new address.
[Bangbaechun-ro, Seocho-gu, Seoul…]
The completed address was one Dohyun immediately recognized.
It was Jooyoung’s family home.
“Drive.”
“Bae Jooyoung.”
“I said drive!”
“…”
“If you don’t, if you don’t…”
Jooyoung trailed off and turned his head away.
The car, which had sat idling for a long time, finally roared softly to life.
***
When the guard told them unregistered vehicles couldn’t enter, Dohyun tried once more to talk Jooyoung out of it. But Jooyoung simply told the guard he’d be right back, and the barrier lifted. After parking, Dohyun stopped Jooyoung just as he was undoing his seatbelt.
“Bae Jooyoung.”
“I’ll register the vehicle once I get inside.”
“That’s not what I meant, ha…”
“I can go home.”
“…”
“I said I can go.”
Without waiting for a reply, Jooyoung got out of the car. The door slammed shut, and silence fell like a heavy blanket. Dohyun couldn’t let him go alone like this, so he quickly followed.
Even in the elevator, the silence between them remained thick and heavy. Dohyun anxiously glanced back and forth between Jooyoung and the floor numbers ticking upward on the screen. The fact that he was heading to someone else’s home without being invited, and that he was empty-handed, only hit him now, but it was far too late.
Ding—
The elevator finally arrived at the 10th floor. As the doors slid open, old memories slowly began to resurface. The cool air in the corridor, the massive door that remained tightly shut—it all gave Dohyun the strange sense of being a child again.
Jooyoung entered the passcode with practiced ease. Clack. The door opened, and unlike the hallway, the inside of the home was filled with warm air. Standing in the hallway, looking startled, was Jooyoung’s mother, Miyoung.
“Jooyoung?”
Her face wasn’t just surprised at her son showing up unannounced—it looked as if she had seen a ghost. She even placed a hand on her chest and sucked in a breath. When she noticed Dohyun behind Jooyoung, the confusion in her gaze deepened.
“Jooyoung-ah. Why didn’t you tell me you were coming…?”
Jooyoung paused, but the moment he saw the wheelchair set off to the side in the hallway, he let out a quiet, bitter laugh, as if it explained everything. There was only one reason Miyoung would be home on a weekday morning.
“…”
Jooyoung bit the inside of his cheek hard.
“I’m going to stay the night with Dohyun.”
“What?”
Dohyun quickly bowed to Miyoung.
“Hello.”
“Oh, right. Dohyun-ah, it’s been so long. But what’s going on…? Why are you suddenly here with Jooyoung…”
Jooyoung didn’t respond and walked past her. His room wasn’t far—it was right across from the front door. Miyeong quickly followed and grabbed his arm.
“Jooyoung-ah, Jooyoung—”
She barely managed to stop him before he entered the room, her voice desperate.
“Did something happen? Is that why you came? If it is, you should tell me—”
“Nothing happened.”
“Then…”
Jooyoung’s eyes suddenly sharpened.
“Am I not allowed to come home?”
The person who reacted wasn’t Miyoung, it was Dohyun.
“Why does everyone act like I can’t—!”
Just as the situation was about to explode, Dohyun quickly pulled Jooyoung to his side and spoke on his behalf to Miyoung.
“We came up to Seoul for some errands, and we were just going to head right back—but then hyung suddenly feels sick, so we stopped by. I’m sorry.”
“Ah…”
Miyeong, who hadn’t believed Jooyoung’s claim that nothing had happened, visibly relaxed at Dohyun’s explanation and even gave a faint smile. Her shift in attitude was so stark that even Dohyun, who’d been worried his clumsy lie wouldn’t work, was a bit stunned.
“I see. So, you don’t need to go to the hospital?”
“No, we already went. Hyung said he just wanted to rest…”
Miyoung looked at Jooyoung with a gaze full of concern. The way her hand gently brushed down his arm was just as tender.
“I thought… Since something happened with Joomin and all, I told him it was okay not to come, that it’d just be a hassle. But when he showed up, I thought something must’ve happened.”
“…”
“Go on in and get some rest.”
Dohyun bowed politely to Miyoung in place of Jooyoung and carefully closed the door.
Jooyoung, who had entered the room first, stood there silently, his face unreadable. As if sensing someone approaching, he slowly lifted his head and looked at Dohyun. In that moment, his bright yellow eyes wavered like ripples on water. He bit his lower lip so hard that his white teeth dug in.
“Ha…”
Dohyun’s face twisted as he walked over to Jooyoung. He expected to be pushed away, but instead, Jooyoung quietly leaned into his arms. Even as he stood there blankly staring into space, his tears looked like they could fall at any second, trembling at the edges.
It felt like he had backed Jooyoung into a corner by saying too much. Like all of this was entirely his fault, and the realization made his insides ache.
“I’m sorry.”
“…”
“Haengnim-ah, please…”
Wrapping a hand around the back of Jooyoung’s warm, flushed neck, Dohyun was at a complete loss.