A regular beeping noise woke him up instantly. The first thing Jiheon did was to reach for his phone and turn off the alarm. He could hear sounds from the living room through the bedroom door, which was partly open.
Oh no. Jiheon ran his hand down his face with a sigh. He wondered what to do for a moment, then got off the bed. Just as he expected, traces of last night were plainly visible. The blankets were clean, as were the T-shirt and shorts he usually wore to bed. He laughed at the thought that he had somehow gotten changed before falling asleep.
Jiheon pulled back the bedspread. He tidied his messy hair somewhat with his hand as he walked to the living room. A man who had been sitting on the sofa, watching TV, turned his head.
“Oh. You’re awake.”
“Yeah. I should be,” Jiheon said casually, moving to the kitchen.
“Impressive, after all that drinking last night. Korean office workers are on another level.”
The man laughed, and Jiheon could tell that whoever he was, this guy definitely wasn’t an ordinary office worker. It explained everything. No wonder he was sitting around on a Monday morning, watching TV. What did he say he did for a living again? A writer? Definitely not a student.
Jiheon filled a cup with cold water from the dispenser and glanced sideways at the man in the living room. He had a small, slim face. Even though he had a slight build, his arms were surprisingly tough, and his calves and thighs were very muscular. With a balanced body and upright posture on the sofa, he looked like someone who’d had training—or just years of habit. A celebrity, maybe. Or a dancer...
Then it clicked—he was Kijoo’s friend, the one who did contemporary dance.
They’d been introduced by a mutual friend who worked at a bar. Since they were both there that night, the friend had nudged them to chat, and they ended up drinking together. They started talking and ended up going home well past midnight. The guy had said he lived too far away, so Jiheon had offered to let him stay the night and head out in the morning. Then they got into a taxi.
I remember nothing after that. Who had started the kissing? Had he taken off his own clothes, or had this dancer done it for him? Had they used a condom—and who had used it? He didn’t know any of it.
“Doesn’t your head hurt? Or your stomach?” the man asked when Jiheon moved to the sofa. He scooted aside for Jiheon.
“Oh, I’m fine. I’m almost never hung over,” Jiheon said.
“You told me that last night,” the man laughed, amused.
“Did I?”
“Yes, you were drinking so much. I asked you if you were sure that was a good idea, since Monday was coming up, but you said you seldom got hangovers.”
“You must’ve thought I was bluffing,” Jiheon said. The man laughed again. Judging by his laugh, he really had.
Jiheon chuckled softly and took a sip from his glass. His head began to clear. He looked at the man beside him. He was already up and had even taken a shower. He was probably the diligent sort. Either that, or he just wanted me to see him looking neat and clean.
“You look just as handsome fresh out of bed,” the man muttered, running his hand through Jiheon’s messy hair.
“Hey, flattering me isn’t going to do you any good,” Jiheon said, smiling as he put down the glass. He’d meant to ask who’d been on top the night before, but what he saw made the question feel unnecessary.
“I’m sorry, but did I use a condom last night?” Jiheon asked.
“Yes, all three times.”
Jiheon nodded, picking up the pack of cigarettes on the table. That was a satisfactory answer, in more ways than one.
“Smoking first thing in the morning?”
“I need a smoke to wake up.”
“But you already woke up earlier,” the man shot back coyly.
Jiheon lit the cigarette and took a long drag. He let out the smoke slowly.
“Still feel a little dazed.”
“Isn’t that a hangover?”
“No, but I had a strange dream.”
“What kind of dream?” the man asked.
Jiheon moved his cigarette to his lips again.
“About the days when I used to swim.”
“Oh, right. You used to swim.”
It had been no less than ten years ago. He hadn’t even been near a pool since then, but he still sometimes had those dreams, usually after he drank a little too much. If he’d had sex on top of that, he was guaranteed to dream about being underwater. He theorized—with no scientific basis, of course—that it was probably because sleep felt like fainting at those times, like sinking into bed, which triggered the dreams.
Yesterday’s dream had been somewhat odd. It was set at a pool, as usual, but he hadn’t gone into the water. In fact, he hadn’t even dipped a toe in. Instead, he’d stood at the edge, watching someone else swim. It had felt more like a memory than a dream.
Why did I suddenly dream about that? He hadn’t thought about that memory in ten years.
Why now? Am I lonely?
Jiheon wondered, stupefied. Then he chuckled, exhaling smoke. He’d had some wild sex last night. Feeling lonely was ridiculous.
“What is it?” the dancer asked.
“It’s nothing,” Jiheon replied vaguely.
It wasn’t something to talk about with a man he’d been in bed with a few hours ago, even if it was a one-time thing. Thankfully, the man asked no more questions. Just then, the morning news aired something that caught the man’s attention.
“Next, some entertainment news—which also involves the world of sports. We’ve all heard of Gwon Jaekyung—the most popular star athlete in Korea at the moment. He is no longer simply the best in South Korea or Asia—he’s proven himself on the world stage. The same athlete is now gearing up for the final championship ahead, which will allow him to win the fourth major event this year, and the rumor mill has brought us the possibility that he is now in yet another relationship. The other person of interest is the incredibly popular actor, Cha Sunghyun. The two were the subject of scandalous rumors last year as well, in fact...”
“So it finally made the news,” the man said, looking intrigued. The rumor hadn’t just caught the man’s interest. Jiheon immediately realized why he’d had that weird dream last night.
It wasn’t that he was lonely. It was that he’d been exposed to Jaekyung’s name for the first time in a long time. He’d even seen a bunch of photos. The internet had gone wild over him since last evening. Photos of Jaekyung spending time with a male celebrity had spread across social media, topping search engine rankings immediately and resulting in a flood of articles.
The photos themselves were no problem. They simply portrayed the two of them eating together at a table, facing each other. They were dressed casually, and Jaekyung was even wearing a hat, which made his face hard to see. If not for his broad shoulders and frankly unrealistic build, no one would have believed it was Jaekyung. That was probably why whoever had taken the photos had been careful to include the upper body in the shot.
The ruckus had arisen from the fact that the two of them had been embroiled in romantic rumors in the past. Cha Sunghyun had been a longtime model and had only recently begun acting in dramas and movies. He was extremely handsome and one of the most popular young actors in the country, regardless of his actual acting ability.