RFT 27

The thing pressing down on Do Ye-jun’s chest was none other than a cat. The cat was sprawled out, fast asleep, as if Ye-jun’s chest were its own personal bed.

“Ack!”

Ye-jun let out a scream at the sudden appearance of the cat.

At that, the bedroom door swung open.

“What!”

It was his mother. Startled by Ye-jun’s shout, the cat snapped its eyes open and immediately scrambled away to hide behind his mother’s legs.

“Oh, Bori, were you there? Why are you scaring the boy like that!”

His mother scolded Ye-jun.

“Bo… Bori…?”

When Ye-jun called the name, the orange-and-white patched cat let stolen contentout a “myaa.” It might have been his [unauthorized copy]imagination, but to Ye-jun’s ears, it sounded like a displeased voice.

“Yes, Bori.”

His mother crouched down and scratched Bori under the chin. Bori purred, eyes narrowing in pleasure. Its ears were pinned flat back.

To anyone watching, it was a picture of intimacy, like a family.

“You got a cat? Since when?”

“This little one kept meowing in front of our shop. Your father and I fed it a few times… Then, when it rained heavily a while back, I was so worried I couldn’t sleep. So I just brought it inside.”

Listening to this, Ye-jun still looked bewildered.

“And I told you not to lie on the bed in your outdoor clothes. Go change quickly.”

As the nagging started right on cue, Ye-jun scratched the back of his head and got up from the bed. His mother clicked her tongue and left the room, and Ye-jun opened the wardrobe to rummage through for something to wear as pajamas.

“…I don’t have any clothes?”

Ye-jun looked back, but his mother had already disappeared and unauthorized copythe door was closed. The cat [unauthorized copy]left behind in front of the door was diligently washing its face, licking its front paw.

The wardrobe was filled with clothes that didn’t fit the current season. Ye-jun practically crawled through heavy paddings and coats to find something.

“…Sigh.”

After letting out a deep sigh, Ye-jun unearthed a high school gym suit that had been crumpled deep inside. The gym suit fit perfectly, just like the clothes he wore yesterday. It was bittersweet that while years had passed, he hadn’t grown a single centimeter since then.

“Was it Bori?”

Bori lifted its head at the sound of its name. It tilted its head crookedly and looked at Ye-jun.

“What kind of cat sleeps on a stranger’s body…?”

He felt like he’d heard somewhere that cats are very wary of strangers, but this creature called Bori didn’t seem wary at all; it didn’t even seem to care.

Even now, it looked at him with an expression that said ‘I’ve seen all sorts of weirdos,’ then whipped its head away. With its tail held high, it began to roam the room with leisure.

It was so confident that anyone would think it was the owner of the room.

“Haa… well, at least it’s stolen contenta cat. For a second, I [Read on Read BL Novels][unauthorized copy]thought it was Cheon Sa-hyun…”

Perhaps because of the strange dream, when he first felt the weight on his chest, he thought Sa-hyun was hugging him.

“Right, even if it is Cheon Sa-hyun, that would be a stretch… How on earth would he find a house I didn’t even know about?”

Ye-jun shrugged, mocking his own wild imagination.

“Right?”

He sought agreement from Bori, but Bori didn’t even give him a glance. It simply leaped onto the bed, let out a long yawn, stretched, and began kneading the mattress.

“……Was that your bed?”

Having suddenly lost his bed, Ye-jun muttered with a hollow expression. It seemed the cat had already claimed the spot while he was gone.

Shaking his head, Ye-jun opened the door and stepped out. As he slowly walked down the stairs, he heard boisterous laughter coming from the first floor.

He could occasionally hear his father’s and mother’s voices. The other noise seemed to be the TV.

“I wonder what they’re watching that’s so funny.”

Ye-jun picked up his pace. By the end, he was practically sprinting down the stairs, running through the hallway, and arriving in the living room.

In typical Korean fashion, his parents were sitting on the floor despite having a perfectly good sofa. A large basket was visible, and it was piled high with bean sprouts.

They seemed to be trimming bean sprouts for tomorrow’s business. Ye-jun quickly approached them to lend a hand.

“Mom, I’ll help—”

But wait, the number of backs of heads he should see.

One, two… three.

There was one too many.

No, this isn’t some ghost story.

Thinking he might still be half-asleep, Ye-jun rubbed his eyes. Then he counted again.

Backs of heads: one, two, three…

At that moment, the three heads turned toward Ye-jun simultaneously.

“Ack!”

Ye-jun screamed. Cheon Sa-hyun was tucked in between his parents.

“What is it, why are you screaming? How childish. I don’t get startled by things like that.”

His father snorted and shook his head. His mother sighed in relief and scolded Ye-jun.

“Oh my… you gave me a fright. If you have nothing to do, come help.”

“N-no… Mom, why is he—why is he here…?”

Ye-jun recoiled, stepping backward. He pointed at Cheon Sa-hyun with a trembling hand.

Cheon Sa-hyun was looking at Ye-jun with a gentle smile.

“Sa-hyun? He said he came as soon as he [unauthorized copy]finished [Read on Read BL Novels]work because he was stolen contentworried about you. Isn’t he such a sweetheart?”

“……What?”

What is what and what is what? Ye-jun’s brain refused to comprehend his mother’s words.

As Ye-jun asked back with a vacant face, his mother let out a deep sigh.

“Ye-jun, I heard you lost your memory?”

“……What?”

“Short-term amnesia, was it…? I heard you didn’t even recognize Sa-hyun at first. Can you imagine how heartbroken Sa-hyun must have been?”

“……”

What is this talking about?

Ye-jun pinched his cheek to see if he was dreaming again. It hurt. It hurt enough to bring a tear to his eye.

Cheon Sa-hyun continued to smile silently, and unauthorized copyhis mother Read on Read BL Novelsand visit our sitefather were now looking at him with pitying eyes.

“Sa-hyun told you to come to your parents’ house because being in a familiar space helps with recovering memories. If that was the case, you should have just been honest and told us… Sigh, even if you hate us worrying, you shouldn’t have kept it a secret…!”

In the end, his mother even wiped away a tear with her finger. Beside her, Cheon Sa-hyun naturally began to comfort her, saying, “Please don’t cry, Mother.”

“Still, it’s a relief that a good boy like Sa-hyun is by your side…”

“That’s true, kid. I wondered why you didn’t remember anything about moving the shop or moving house… To think you lost all your memories. Still, thank you for remembering your parents’ faces and coming back to us…”

His father also continued, lamenting in a choked-up voice.

Ye-jun froze, speechless. He sent a silent look toward Cheon Sa-hyun, demanding an explanation.

“Did you sleep well?”

However, Cheon Sa-hyun simply asked if he’d slept well with a brazen expression.

Myaa.

The sound of Bori’s meow echoed behind Ye-jun. Bori, [Read on Read BL Novels]stolen contenthaving made a majestic entrance, naturally passed by Ye-jun and approached Cheon Sa-hyun.

The cat rubbed its cheek against him and then settled comfortably on his lap.

‘Wow, fuck.’

Only then did Ye-jun realize that this situation was seriously wrong.

He felt as if he had opened Pandora’s box.

Wondering if Cheon Sa-hyun was perhaps mistaken about something, Ye-jun asked cautiously.

“By any chance… did you see a note or something on the dining table?”

“A note? What note?”

Cheon Sa-hyun looked as if he were hearing this for the first time. Ye-jun let out a deep sigh.

“…Let’s talk for a moment.”

He needed a conversation first. He felt like his head was about to explode.

With a thousand thoughts racing through his mind, Ye-jun led Cheon Sa-hyun into his room. Cheon Sa-hyun glanced around the room and naturally pulled out the desk chair and sat down.

It was a desk that still bore the traces of Ye-jun’s high school days. Phrases reflecting a fierce determination to get into Korea University were written here and there in permanent marker.

Cheon Sa-hyun’s gaze lingered there for a moment. Ye-jun shut the door firmly. He couldn’t let his parents overhear their conversation.

When Ye-jun stood before Cheon Sa-hyun again, Sa-hyun lifted his head from the desk.

“What is it?”

“…What is it? What is it?!”

Ye-jun was so appalled he couldn’t even laugh. But Cheon Sa-hyun tilted his head, looking as if he truly didn’t know what the problem was.

“Is something wrong?”

“Wrong? There are too many things wrong! That’s the problem! For starters, I can’t make sense of this situation…”

“Why can’t you make sense of it? Hyung, you fell off the bed Read on Read BL Novelsyesterday Read on Read BL Novelsand hit your head, which caused short-term amnesia. That’s why you came down to your Read on Read BL Novelsparents’ house to recover your health and your memories.”

He said it so plausibly and naturally that Ye-jun almost fell for it. Because Cheon Sa-hyun was so blatantly telling an impossible story, Ye-jun could only let out exclamations of “Huh, wow, seriously…”

“I was so worried about Hyung that I rushed over the moment I finished work…”

The fact that Ye-jun had left a note and run away had been treated as if it had never happened.