F5

Yeonho returned to Room 315 and began straightening the covers on the messy bed. As he did, the hazy remnants of last night’s sleep came to mind. A familiar scent brushed past his nose, and he buried his face into the blanket he was holding.

The same fragrance that Siwoo used had clearly seeped into the sheets. There were too many suspicious details for it all to be dismissed as just his imagination.

But no matter how he tried to make sense of it, the idea that a complete stranger had embraced him, gently helped him fall asleep, and kissed him with tenderness didn’t seem plausible. It defied all logic. If that really happened, was it actually a failed attempt at sexual assault while he was semi-conscious from the medication?

It was certainly possible that the man was pretending not to remember what happened to avoid being accused of trying something. Yeonho didn’t believe his looks were appealing enough to attract someone like Siwoo, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t be targeted.

The problem was, Yeonho hadn’t sensed any criminal intent from the man’s actions. The man who had lain beside him last night hadn’t shown any sexual desire. And that didn’t just mean he refrained from kissing, touching, or sex. Every physical contact had been purely to help him rest and feel safe.

Yeonho had felt it clearly in his body, the way the man held him tightly, as if trying to rescue him from his own fear and grief. When he had hugged him so firmly it almost hurt, it had felt like love. If he had actually tried to undress him and initiate something, Yeonho thought he probably would have accepted it willingly.

“But why would someone like that do something like that for me?”

He couldn’t bring himself to ask Siwoo. It would only make him seem unstable, and he didn’t want to fuel the stigma surrounding someone taking psychiatric medication and experiencing side effects from sleeping pills. He didn’t want to be seen as delusional or unhinged. So it was easier to pretend even this scent was just another hallucination.

Everything that happened in this bed last night was a dream. He had seen Siwoo’s photo on his phone with his own two eyes, but it had vanished. Just like the night itself. It was as if none of it ever really happened.

After taking a shower, he rummaged through his still-unpacked suitcase and picked out his favorite white shirt. He spritzed on cologne he only used on special occasions and fixed his hair. It had been a long time since he’d felt this restless while waiting for someone.

Just when the wait was becoming unbearable, the doorbell rang. It was Siwoo.

As expected, Siwoo not only knew Yeonho was on the third floor, but also knew the exact room number. Yeonho had no intention of questioning him about it, but before he could say anything, Siwoo spoke up to explain.

“I came down to the third floor yesterday and saw this room with the lights on and the door wide open. I figured it had to be yours.”

“Ah, I see. I was wondering how you knew.”

So it had been a needless suspicion after all. Yeonho smiled wryly, inwardly thankful he hadn’t asked if they had spent the night together. He praised himself for keeping his mouth shut.

Siwoo brushed his hair back with a straight hand and stared at Yeonho, who was smiling faintly, as if he were briefly enchanted. As Yeonho turned and stepped inside, Siwoo naturally followed and set Yeonho’s car key on the console. The loose white shirt Yeonho wore revealed the lines of his body. Siwoo’s gaze stayed fixed on his back.

Siwoo pulled a chair in front of the bed where Yeonho was sitting and applied ointment to the scratch on Yeonho’s chin, then covered it with a small round bandage. Yeonho didn’t refuse when Siwoo offered to do it himself, quietly tilting his chin up, all the while praying he hadn’t just made a mistake with a cousin of his stepbrother.

Once he was done tending the wound, Siwoo handed him a business card.

Kim Siwoo, HSE Team, Namyeon Construction. Namyeon Construction was the company that had built the Platte Resort.

“I’m here from the head office to conduct a safety inspection before construction resumes on Building C at the end of the month. When I said my family built this place, it wasn’t literal. I’m a new employee at my father’s company.”

“I was worried you might be some relative I didn’t know about.”

Only then did Yeonho understand what Siwoo had meant earlier by “a resort built by my family, but the meaning is a different.” It seemed his father worked at Namyeon Construction. And if Siwoo was a staff member there, it wasn’t so strange for him to have a key. Most importantly, Yeonho felt a quiet relief knowing they weren’t related.

Still, he wondered, did people in the HSE team normally handle things like this? He wasn’t too familiar with construction roles.

He toyed with the business card for a while, then suddenly thought,

This feels like a lie.

But of course, it was just a baseless hunch. He had no real evidence, and he wasn’t someone with good instincts or intuition. Everything he thought was right had been proven wrong again and again. He had long stopped trusting himself, worn down by the constant accumulation of doubts and missteps.

“I’m still a student, so I don’t have a business card. But if you’d like, I can show you my student ID. My parents own this resort, and my brother was hired as the room manager. I can call him if you need confirmation.”

“No, that’s alright. Let’s leave it there. I’m not the police, there’s no need to go that far.”

“How long are you staying?”

“What about you?”

The misunderstanding had cleared and the mood between them had softened. Still fiddling with the business card nervously, Yeonho got up to look for his wallet. Siwoo stood as well. Yeonho tucked the card into his wallet and turned to face Siwoo.

Siwoo looked down at him with a serious face, hands in his pockets, and asked,

“Have we met before?”

Yeonho brightened and started trying to force a sense of recognition.

“Ah, maybe. I think so.”

“You remember me?”

“Kim Siwoo from Seongam Elementary, 3rd grade? We went to the same cram school. No wait, that was Kang Siwoo. Then maybe you were in the band club at Ilsong Middle?”

He squeezed his memory like a sponge, trying to recall every Siwoo who’d appeared in his life. But the light in Siwoo’s eyes dimmed completely.

“I changed my name. This wasn’t it a few years ago.”

“I’m sorry. I don’t remember much about kids I barely knew back then. Everyone changes so much over time. And my memory’s been really bad lately…”

“Why apologize? I don’t remember either. I just thought you looked familiar. Must’ve been my mistake.”

Siwoo gave a small, bitter smile, his eyes distant, and said in a much colder tone,

“I’ll be going now. Rest well.”

Yeonho suddenly wondered if Siwoo had appeared during that one-year gap in his memory. But if Siwoo didn’t remember him either, then they probably hadn’t been close. Explaining his memory loss to someone he barely knew felt pathetic, so he stayed quiet.

He didn’t want things to be awkward the next time they met, so he followed Siwoo into the hallway and tried to lighten the mood with a silly joke.

“When I heard noise upstairs yesterday, I had all sorts of thoughts. I even wondered if you were a stalker who followed me here.”

“…”

It was a joke. Instead of easing the tension, the air only grew more chilling. But it was still a joke. He hadn’t seriously thought Siwoo was stalking him. But the look in Siwoo’s eyes just then was unsettling, so Yeonho tried again, even more playfully.

“Or I thought maybe I’d get murdered. Like in a thriller movie, you know, a killer hiding in a remote lodge, waiting for prey to show up…”

“…”

The cheerful atmosphere he’d hoped to restore was now completely destroyed. Siwoo looked like he might actually strangle him.

He just stared at Yeonho with a cold, sharp gaze. Unable to bear the silence, Yeonho pushed himself to be as polite and civil as possible.

“Have you ever murdered anyone? Or something close?”

“I didn’t come here to kill you, if that’s what you’re worried about. So don’t be scared.”

Yeonho stopped smiling at Siwoo’s serious answer. Siwoo, seeing his expression, spoke in a gentle tone to reassure him.

“I’ll make sure you get home safe.”

“Thank you. That’s kind of you to say.”

“Ha, I’m joking. Why do you look so scared?”

Finally, Siwoo’s stiff face relaxed, his eyes softening as he broke into a wide smile.