“You can’t do this to me. Not you. Please.”

“Babe, calm down. I’m not saying we need to break up. I’m just saying we need some space. You’re too dependent on me—it’s not healthy.”

“Is it so wrong that I want to see you all the time? Want to hear your voice every minute? Want to touch you every second? Why can’t you understand? It just shows how much I love you!”

“This isn’t right. We can’t be together twenty-four hours a day. Your love is bordering on obsession. I can’t even leave for a minute without you thinking I’m cheating on you.”

“Please… Please don’t do this to me.”

Knock knock.

A soft knock on the table brought Jaein back to reality.

“Sorry, did I startle you?”

“Oh, you’re here.”

Jaein exited the video app and pulled out his earbuds. Across from him, Han Sung-yoon sat down with a caramel latte in hand. He took a sip, then set the cup carefully on the table.

Without a word, Han Sung-yoon pulled out his laptop and several neatly bound stacks of printed reports, arranging them in precise rows in front of him.

“Wow, you want to go straight to business, huh?”

Jaein actually appreciated how straightforward he was. He wanted to get back to his drama as soon as possible anyway.

Sung-yoon simply nodded and began opening several files on his laptop. He still had on the same cap from that morning, with a hoodie pulled over it. Jaein thought the guy must be self-conscious about his appearance. He kept his head lowered and frequently adjusted his cap to cover part of his face, with the hoodie draping around it like a shield.

Han Sung-yoon started explaining several case examples he had researched in advance. However, his presentation kept getting interrupted by a constant buzzing from his phone, which lit up repeatedly with messages and a call.

It became so distracting that Jaein couldn’t take it anymore.

“Can you just turn your phone off?”

Han Sung-yoon stared at the screen but didn’t respond. Instead, he continued his explanation without acknowledging the interruption.

Thud.

A loud thud came from the window beside them. It startled Jaein so much that he nearly fell off his chair.

“What the f—”

A guy was staring in through the glass. He looked to be in his early twenties, with full, rounded cheeks and soft, light brown wavy hair that almost reached his shoulders. His appearance gave off the impression of someone who had never struggled a day in his life. He wore branded clothing from head to toe and had a complexion as fair as a beauty influencer. Despite his gentle features, he was currently pouting hard and trying his best to look angry. At most, he resembled a sulking puppy.

“What is this crazy bastard doing?”

Jaein couldn’t help but voice his irritation toward the stranger pounding on the window, until he heard a quiet sigh from across the table.

“Sorry. That’s my roommate. I’ll step outside for a bit.”

Without waiting for Jaein’s reply, Han Sung-yoon was already heading out the café door. He grabbed the hand of the guy who was still glaring at Jaein through the glass. The stranger tried to plant his feet and refuse to move, but Han Sung-yoon managed to drag him along anyway. The scene looked like an unwilling dog being pulled by its owner during a walk.

Soon after, the bell above the café door rang. Han Sung-yoon returned, someone trailing reluctantly behind him.

"Uh..."

Sung-yoon stood beside the table, fidgeting with his sleeves.

"Just sit and continue. I don't have much time."

Jaein sipped his third iced coffee of the day, his expression indifferent.

They both sat down. Even without looking directly, Jaein could feel the stranger glaring at him from across the table.

"Sorry about this. I’ll continue."

Sung-yoon began explaining the case study examples again. Maybe he didn’t feel the need to explain. Maybe he couldn’t.

However, the stranger continued to stare daggers at Jaein. Feeling oddly childish, Jaein locked eyes with him and stared back. The stranger flinched and quickly looked away.

"If you're not happy to be here, you're free to leave."

That startled both the stranger and Sung-yoon.

Sung-yoon immediately turned to his roommate and tried to calm him down, asking him to ignore the comment. But the stranger began pouting again, his expression more like a sulky puppy than someone actually angry.

"See, I told you he did this on purpose. He wanted to meet you alone. That’s why he suggested only the two of you meet here."

"Don’t say that. I told you I was the one who asked to meet."

"So you’re admitting that you wanted to meet him alone? You said it was a six-person group. Where are the others? Why is it just the two of you? I don’t like this."

"Kaiel, please. I beg you. Stop overthinking."

Kaiel.

The name struck Jaein with the same strange déjà vu he’d felt the first time he heard the name Han Sung-yoon.

"You’re the one who makes me overthink. You leave me alone so much, I don’t even know what to do with myself anymore."

“And what’s with the cap and hoodie? Why dress like you’re trying to avoid being recognized? Do you think I wouldn’t notice it’s you just because you covered your face?”

Kaiel reached out and yanked down Sung-yoon’s hoodie, then pulled off his cap.

"I left because I have classes and two part-time jobs. I can’t be with you twenty-four hours a day. I need to make money."

"We don’t need that much money. You don’t have to work that hard, do you?"

"I have to. If I want you to live like you used to when you were with him."

Jaein blinked. He was beginning to regret letting the stranger sit at their table. But more than that, he was stunned by the revelation, staring at Sung-yoon’s now fully revealed face.

To call him handsome would be an understatement. His features looked like they had been drawn by an illustrator of a romantic manhwa. A sharp jawline, high nose bridge, and clear brown eyes framed by messy yet soft dark brown hair. He did look a bit tired, like someone who hadn’t slept well, but that only added to the charm.

This guy... was exactly Jaein’s type.

"You think I live with you because I want to be treated the same way he treated me? I don’t need any of that. I just want to be with you."

"Then why have you never worn the clothes I bought for you? Ever since we moved in together, you’ve only worn the ones he gave you. All those branded clothes I can’t afford even with both of my part-time jobs. How do you think that makes me feel?"

Kaiel’s voice was shaking. His eyes were rimmed red, his shoulders trembling as he tried to hold back tears.

"I told you I didn’t need any new clothes. These are still in good condition. Why would I stop wearing them when they’re perfectly fine?"

Jaein continued sipping his iced americano. When the cup emptied, the loud slurp of air through melting ice echoed through the tense silence.

Looking up, he saw both Han Sung-yoon and the stranger staring at him. Han Sung-yoon had one hand on Kaiel’s wrist, not harshly, but firmly, keeping him from doing something rash.

"Uh..."

Jaein glanced between them. Suddenly, memories he thought long gone came rushing back into his mind.

Han Sung-yoon. Yoon. Yoon-ie.

No way.

"No way… My Yoon-ie?"

Jaein sat there, stunned.

"My Yoon-ie?"

Kaiel repeated it.

Splash

“You bitch! How dare you call him honey in front of me, his girlfriend!”

“You’re the soon-to-be ex-girlfriend. Why would I be afraid of you?”

“Arghhh… I’ll kill you!!!”

Those were the kind of dramatic lines that popped into Jaein’s head the moment the words My Yoon-ie left his mouth. But contrary to his imagination, what actually happened was calm, almost boring.

The supposed roommate had already walked out the door, with Han Sung-yoon right behind him.

Resting his chin on his hand at the table, Jaein stared out the nearby window with a bored expression.

Wow... this isn’t fun.

He had thought he’d simply been reborn into a world similar to his own, but it turned out he had transmigrated into the very novel he was reading before he died. How cliché.

Not to mention, it was one of those stories packed with melodrama at every turn.

Well, at least I’m rich here.

Outside the window, Kaiel and Han Sung-yoon were arguing. Kaiel tried to pull his arm away, but Sung-yoon only drew him closer into a tight embrace. Eventually, Kaiel gave in and buried himself in Han Sung-yoon’s coat, clinging to him with trembling shoulders. Sung-yoon held him even tighter, gently rocking him in place, trying to calm him.

Viewed from afar, they looked like any other couple sharing a private moment in the middle of the street. That is, if you ignored the tears.

After a while, Sung-yoon gently pushed Kaiel back just a little and lovingly patted his head. His eyes were full of tenderness and quiet despair. Jaein looked away.

It was too romantic, too intimate, for someone like him who had only watched strange romantic comedies full of cringe and exaggerated sweetness.

The bell above the café door rang again. A moment later, the man he had complicated feelings for returned to the table. This time, he was alone.

“I’m sorry. I think I need to head home now, and...”

“It’s fine. Just send me the rest of the data. We don’t need to meet in person for this.”

“Sorry. I was the one who asked to meet, and yet...”

“No, never mind. I’m the one who should apologize. I said something strange earlier. Your name reminded me of a character from a novel I once read. I was a little absent-minded.”

“Ah... that. It’s fine. Um... then please excuse me. Have a good night.”

Han Sung Yoon quickly gathered his things and rushed out of the café.

Jaein wasn’t sure if he wanted to look again. In the end, he turned his head toward the window. Across the street, Kaiel was waiting.

He couldn’t make out Kaiel’s expression from that distance, but he could almost imagine what was going through Han Sung-yoon’s mind as he crossed the road toward his lover.

Ah, Kaiel is so adorable. I hate making him cry, but his crying face is too cute. That pouty mouth, those red eyes against his pale skin, he’s just too damn adorable. I want to hug him tight and never let go.

That was probably what Sung-yoon was thinking.

Because that was exactly how the novel described it every time he looked at a jealous Kaiel.

This... is annoying.

Jaein couldn’t help but watch them until they disappeared from view. He turned toward the seat where the couple had been sitting just moments ago. His expression turned cold as he reached for the caramel latte Sung-yoon had left behind and brought it to his lips. It was his fourth cup of coffee.

Too sweet. Sickeningly so.

He had always hated sweet things. They reminded him too much of his past life, when he could only afford a drink like this once a month, only if there was money left over.

Now, in this new life where everything he wanted could be his with a mere gesture, he had decided he didn’t want any of it. He didn’t need it.

But now that it was right in front of him, how could he pretend to do nothing?