F68

Siwoo laid the sleeping Yeonho down on the bed, then walked slowly into the living room and took in his surroundings. In the sink, he found a large frying pan, a single plate, two pairs of chopsticks, two cups, and several cooking utensils.

He could easily imagine Yeonho cooking for someone, a familiar image in his mind. But this wasn’t enough to shake his trust. Siblings spending time together like this wasn’t inherently a problem.

Yeonho still acted like he was Siwoo’s lover. He had already told Siwoo, days in advance, everything he planned to do today.

“Friday night, I’m going to watch soccer with Junyoung at my place. I promised him I’d make seafood pancakes, but don’t be upset. I’ll make something even better for you over the weekend. I’m really good at cooking now. So… stay with me all weekend, okay…?”

His voice and expression had been shy, like he was afraid Siwoo might turn him down cold.

What bothered Siwoo now wasn’t the situation itself, but Seong Junyoung’s attitude. Even with everything going on, he was acting bold, even smug. He accepted Siwoo’s suggestion without hesitation and didn’t try to avoid the confrontation. Sitting across the table from Siwoo, he treated him like a second-tier lover, making crude, idiotic remarks.

“Hey. Where did you get your nose done? Since we’re sharing Joo Yeonho now, we might as well share the same clinic.”

The childish, vulgar question made Siwoo curl up one corner of his mouth in a smile.

“I’ll tell you once we’re done talking, hyung-nim.”

Junyoung scoffed loudly.

“I never imagined I’d end up sharing the same man with the guy who killed my older brother.”

Siwoo tried to figure out what Junyoung’s real intentions were. Why was he pretending to be Yeonho’s lover so confidently?

Even before Yeonho woke up, he could sense something strange. His last memory before falling asleep was this:

He had been watching soccer with Junyoung. As usual, Junyoung had handed him sleeping pills. But Yeonho had recently stopped taking them entirely, so he refused and just drank the water Junyoung gave him. Then he had gotten up, brushed his teeth, and headed to the kitchen to do the dishes.

His memory ended there.

Judging by the way his body felt now, he must have been drugged. He should not have been at home at this hour. There could be only one explanation. Just like last time, Junyoung had slipped him the pills without his consent.

Because of that bastard, he had broken another promise to Siwoo. He remembered Siwoo’s warning: if you’re late even once, I won’t put you to sleep anymore. Rage welled up inside him.

Yeonho sighed and opened his eyes. After checking the time on his phone, he stormed out of the room and shouted.

“Do you have a death wish or something? I told you to stop managing my sleep like I’m a kid!”

It was directed at Junyoung. Clenching his fist, Yeonho marched out, ready to punch him in the gut, but froze in his tracks at the sight before him.

Siwoo and Junyoung were sitting across from each other, waiting for him. His eyes widened in shock.

“…Hyung!”

The person he was calling hyung now was Siwoo. Seeing the man who had killed Seong Junhee sitting with Junhee’s own younger brother made Yeonho dizzy.

“Sit down, Yeonho,” Siwoo said gently.

Holding his aching head, Yeonho sat down beside him, overwhelmed. How was he supposed to fix this? It looked like Junyoung had discovered that he’d been secretly seeing the man who killed their older brother.

How could he possibly explain this? Should he say, We were in love even before Junhee died? But what kind of excuse was that? It would sound like Siwoo had loved him so much he sent Junhee to the afterlife out of jealousy.

Siwoo watched Yeonho’s conflicted expression, gently stroked the back of his hand, and calmly said,

“Yeonho. Try not to be too shocked, and listen.”

“…I’m scared to death. What are the two of you going to tell me?”

Yeonho closed his eyes and prepared himself to face the situation with humility. He believed that if he told the truth, Junyoung would understand. But the words that came out of Siwoo’s mouth were completely unexpected.

“When I came to your place, you were kissing Seong Junyoung.”

“…What?”

For a moment, Yeonho’s mind went completely blank. What was he saying?

“I kissed him?”

He pointed at Junyoung in disbelief. Siwoo nodded. Kissing Junyoung? Just imagining it made Yeonho feel like everything he’d eaten was about to come back up. He clutched his mouth and gagged, struggling not to vomit. Siwoo gently patted his back, helping him hold it in.

Yeonho finally turned his head and stared at Junyoung, who looked back at him with misty eyes and said softly,

“You’re the one who asked me to.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

The harsh words slipped from Yeonho’s lips, even though he usually never swore. Siwoo remained calm and pulled out his phone, then showed him a video he had recorded while browsing Junyoung’s SNS account.

“These videos were uploaded to Seong Junyoung’s SNS. What happens in them, and the fact that they’re posted, did you agree to all of it?”

“What is this?”

Caught off guard by the fact that Siwoo had even hacked into his private SNS account, Seong Junyoung wore a stunned expression. Yeonho, having just seen himself kissing Junyoung, telling him he loved him, and leaning into his arms, was hit with overwhelming shock. He turned on Junyoung with a fierce glare.

“You drugged me and did all this? You? How could you do this to me? Weren’t we family?”

But Junyoung shook his head and replied shamelessly.

“You’re the one who asked for the pills. You kissed me first. You also said it was fine to upload the video.”

“No! I never said that!”

“I figured you’d deny it, so I recorded everything.”

Junyoung tossed his phone onto Yeonho’s thigh. Siwoo picked it up and played the videos Junyoung had saved.

“Yeonho, can I post this on my account so my friends can see it?”

“Mm-hm.”

“We’re in love, right?”

“Yeah.”

Watching himself on the screen, hearing his own voice, Yeonho felt horror and nausea he couldn’t even describe. Siwoo went through the other short videos Junyoung had recorded, and Yeonho covered his mouth as he watched.

The videos were far too explicit to be shared online. And in them, Yeonho appeared to be willingly engaging in physical intimacy. It looked, even to himself, like he had wanted all of it. The idea that these things had happened during moments he had no memory of was unbearable.

Junyoung sniffled, pretending to be pitiful.

“You’ve always done this to me. You come at me first, saying you love me, and then suddenly act like you don’t remember anything and throw me away. You toy with me like that and then sneak around with some other guy. Don’t you feel even a little sorry for me? Are you really not remembering, or are you just pretending because you want to keep seeing other guys while erasing what we had?”

“You fucking piece of shit.”

Yeonho couldn’t hold back anymore. He jumped to his feet and grabbed Junyoung by the collar. Then he slapped his cheek with his open hand as he spoke.

“You kept drugging me!”

“You’re the one who asked for it. Ninety-eight times out of a hundred, you were the one who wanted it. I only gave it to you twice without asking.”

“You knew the side effects. Impaired judgment. Impulsive behavior. You knew all of that, and you kept increasing the dose. Even if I seemed fine and held normal conversations, you knew I’d start doing and saying irrational things!”

“So what, that’s my fault? Is it my fault I believed you when you said you loved me?”

“You manipulated me into saying and doing those things. And you edited everything down to clips.”

“You got proof I manipulated you?”

His tone and expression were enough to make anyone want to kill him. Yeonho had never imagined he could feel such hatred for someone he had once trusted as family. Junyoung kept talking.

“I have proof you seduced me. What do you have?”

Yeonho was speechless. His expression collapsed as if the whole world had come crashing down. Seeing that, Junyoung looked triumphant.

“Yeonho, when people see the videos I recorded, whose version do you think they’ll believe?”

Staggering, Yeonho collapsed back onto the sofa. Junyoung turned his gaze to Siwoo and said smugly,

“Kim Siwoo. You saw us kissing last time too. You know what kind of relationship we had, so why are you still getting involved with Yeonho? I don’t know how innocent he’s been pretending to be this time, but you need to back off. If you keep seeing someone who lies and cheats like this, you’re only going to get hurt. I love him, so I’ve been putting up with all of this.”

Yeonho’s eyes widened. He turned to Siwoo.

But Siwoo didn’t even flinch. He had the look of someone who had already seen it all, already accepted it.

Had Siwoo witnessed the kiss back then too? Had he thought Yeonho and Junyoung were lovers all along? Was that why he had said all those cold things to him?

Only now did Yeonho begin to understand some of the words and actions Siwoo had directed at him since they reunited. Siwoo had known all along. Known that Yeonho had been doing these things with his stepbrother.

“No, hyung. It’s not like that. None of that was real. The one I love is you!”

Yeonho grabbed Siwoo’s hand and shouted through his tears. The misunderstanding that had been weighing on Siwoo ever since their reunion was too enormous. It felt like being dragged into a bottomless pit.

Siwoo must have thought Yeonho had been in love with Junyoung, that he’d been sleeping with him while pretending to love Siwoo too. That he was some shameless liar faking affection with every breath.

It no longer mattered what anyone else thought. There was only one person Yeonho needed to reach. He had to clear the deep misunderstanding Siwoo held about him.