“Cheonghyeon-ah! Yeonha says he wants to meet you for a moment. He said if you have time right now, he’d like to meet briefly. Would that be okay? I told him that the advertisement offer that came to you was handed over because you personally met with the chairman and passed it along. Well, it’s the truth, so I didn’t bother hiding it and told him everything. Isn’t social life originally about making sure that what the left hand did gets applauded so the right hand finds out too?”
Because it had not been an act done purely out of goodwill for the person named Kang Yeonha, Cheonghyeon hesitated for a moment. He wondered whether he should be receiving that gratitude.
Before he could even say that it was fine and he would stay at the dorm, a sound like a bolt from the blue came.
“Come to think of it, weren’t you close with Yeonha when you were a trainee, Cheonghyeon? Even though you lost your memories, seeing how you recognized Gideon and thought of Yeonha, I guess the body remembers things. Right?”
At Changsik’s words, Cheonghyeon felt his body freeze solid like ice. Then he let out a deep sigh and looked at Changsik.
“Wasn’t I supposed to not have any friends I kept in separate contact with? What if I meet him and he notices that I lost my memories?”
Perhaps Changsik had not thought that far, because when he opened his eyes wide and broke out in a cold sweat, Cheonghyeon pressed a hand to his forehead as if his head hurt.
They said he had been close with him, but there was clearly no Yeonha’s name in Cheonghyeon’s diary or phone contacts.
Once he dealt with one thing, another thing he had to solve came crawling up, and this damned celebrity life did not have a single smooth day. For now, Cheonghyeon told Changsik that today would be difficult and that he should set the date for tomorrow, then went into his room.
If he was going to properly look up and study Yeonha before meeting him, time was tight.
“Yeonha… Kang Yeonha.”
There was a limit to the information he could find on the internet. On top of that, if he wanted to make sure Yeonha did not feel a sense of incongruity when they met, then instead of listing his impressions of the works Yeonha had appeared in, it would be right to talk about memories the two of them shared.
In Cheonghyeon’s diary, which he had already read dozens of times, there was not a single line about Yeonha.
‘Were we really close?’
If they had briefly been close during their trainee days… how close was that?
Seoan and he had become close after only one day of properly talking, and with Yeonhee too, he had become fairly close after just one shoot.
But the reality was that when it came to the members, whom he lived in the same house with and had even filmed the reality show with, a faint awkwardness still lingered.
It was frustrating because he could not guess from Changsik’s words alone how long they had maintained their connection, or how close they were to each other.
‘What should I do? Should I just say I lost my memories this time too?’
But he still did not know what kind of person Kang Yeonha was, so he could not carelessly confess that he had lost his memories.
It was different from Seoan’s case. Seoan had already watched over him for six years, and on top of that, he had sensed something strange and even attended the signing event himself.
But if he had nothing to say to these old connections whom he suddenly had to meet, and would keep meeting from now on, and revealed to all of them that he had amnesia, then it was obvious that the story would eventually leak from somewhere.
If that happened, all his efforts to pretend he was fine until now after his soul had changed would come to nothing.
With a frustrated heart, Cheonghyeon jumped onto the bed and closed his eyes. That Isaac guy had lived just fine while merely pretending to have lost his memories…
Perhaps he should have acted without thinking too deeply about what came after too.
But that thought only lasted for a moment. Cheonghyeon changed his mind again.
This place was not the imperial palace. It was safe to say that there were almost no people who would take advantage of Isaac or toy with him just because he had lost his memories.
Even setting aside his status as a prince, his maternal grandfather was the captain of the royal guard, and his mother was a member of the Inspection Department as well as a concubine of the previous emperor.
But this place was different.
It was fortunate that Changsik, Hyeongwang, and the members were good people. If they had not been, they would have used his confused situation dozens of times over.
‘I hope this works out somehow this time too.’
Holding that small wish, Cheonghyeon closed his eyes as he was.
“Manager-nim, would it be all right if I talked with Cheonghyeon alone for a moment?”
“Huh? Oh… Sure. You two talk things through, and I’ll just….”
Before he knew it, Cheonghyeon was gripping the hem of Changsik’s clothes as he tried to get up. Then, watching Yeonha’s reaction, he slowly relaxed the strength in his hand.
To the manager, who tilted his head, Cheonghyeon gave an awkward smile and waved his hand, telling him to hurry and go.
Was this what people meant by a trendy handsome man? At Yeonha’s appearance, which, even if looked at favorably, was like that of a handsome delinquent, Cheonghyeon sighed.
In truth, the moment he stepped into the private room at the café, Cheonghyeon had wanted to leave. It was because Yeonha’s looks were too different from what he had looked up.
‘He didn’t feel like this when I saw him on screen…!’
He had watched a few clips from the drama where Yeonha appeared as the sub male lead, but he had only gotten the impression that he was slightly sharp.
He had not felt this fierce.
But seeing him in person, he was quite large in build, and even though he was sitting down, his tall height was clearly felt.
And somehow, the atmosphere he gave off did not look like someone who was grateful that the advertisement had been handed over to him, but like someone who had something to demand from him, so Cheonghyeon became a little frightened.
‘That guy just has a slightly scary face…. His nature is probably kind…. He’s someone who came all the way here to thank me….’
But as soon as Changsik left, Yeonha crumpled his expression hard and spoke sharply.
“Why me, of all people? Don’t think I’ll be grateful to you just because you suddenly do something like this after seven years.”
‘Ha. Were we on bad terms?’
Gi Cheonghyeon, no, this Isaac bastard, had not even had any presence, so how had he managed to so thoroughly make enemies too?
His insides grew noisy at the way Isaac had left behind only a few home masters and fans to take his photos, while creating such a variety of antis and enemies in the industry.
“I don’t have any intentions. So I hope you’ll just accept this advertisement. It came to me, but I gave it to you because it suits you much better than it suits me.”
At Cheonghyeon’s firm words, Yeonha stared blankly for a moment, then crumpled his expression again.
“If that’s the case, then fine. I came because I thought you might use this as an excuse to cling to me again.”
Cling to him? Had Cheonghyeon been in a relationship where he had unilaterally clung to him because he wanted to be close?
In the private room where an awkward atmosphere lingered, Cheonghyeon was wondering when he should get up, when Yeonha suddenly opened his mouth.
“You… you… Is your body all right now?”
At the completely out-of-nowhere check-in, Cheonghyeon lifted his head and stared at him blankly. Yeonha shouted like a bolt of lightning.
“No, you were sick at the beginning of this year. Was that malingering?”
Was it really true that these two were on bad terms?
While Cheonghyeon was wondering what he should answer, Yeonha seemed unwilling to wait even through that silence and sprang to his feet.
“S-Since you seem okay, I’m leaving.”
Even when he had been sitting, his build had looked large, but once he stood up completely, it was clear that he was extremely tall.
Yeonha stood up and strode straight out, slamming the door shut behind him.
Feeling as though a storm had swept through, Cheonghyeon sat there blankly, stunned.
Click.
Soon after, Changsik came in. During that time, the ice had melted, so the drinks had separated into layers, and water droplets were soaking the outside of the cups. Neither of them had taken even a sip of their drinks.
“Cheonghyeon-ah, what happened? It sounded like there was a bit of shouting.”
“It was nothing. Ah, please take me here instead of the dorm.”
There had been some loud noise, and Cheonghyeon was not telling him anything, but it did not exactly feel like they had had a huge fight either. So Changsik tilted his head while still driving the car.
The place they arrived at like that was Seoan’s house.
“Here again? You said a friend of yours lives here, Cheonghyeon?”
“Ah, yes.”
“You’re not dating, are you? Hyung is sending you in because I trust you. If this were Yeonhee’s house or something…. Ugh. I don’t even want to think about it.”
“What are you talking about? Stop saying nonsense and let me off here.”
Perhaps because he had come and gone several times already, the security guard opened the door immediately after seeing Cheonghyeon’s face.
At that sight, Changsik narrowed his eyes and looked at Cheonghyeon’s back. There were more than one or two suspicious points.
“What happened? You told me to stay home because you had something to say, so I was so curious I couldn’t focus on anything.”
As if that were really true, Seoan was sitting on the sofa holding a few books, as though he had stopped in the middle of cleaning the study.
As if he had a lot to say, Cheonghyeon went straight to the bathroom the moment he came in, quickly washed his hands, then came out to the living room and sat down beside Seoan.
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