He Said I’m His Lover

“Why are you here?”

The moment he heard Seo Haeyoon’s voice, Seonwoo instinctively felt something was wrong.

Seonwoo had been confident that his visit would at least ruin Seo Haeyoon’s mood. He wouldn’t have expected him to come all the way to the studio, so he’d be thrown into chaos. Seonwoo had planned to lash out at Haeyoon’s shocked, flustered face, saying that seeing him at the wedding had been even more f*cking infuriating.

“Don’t we still have unfinished business between us?”

But the Haeyoon standing before him now was far too composed. That couldn’t be right. There was no way the wounds he’d inflicted had already healed. Yet Haeyoon looked as if he’d already forgotten everything. No, he even seemed somewhat weary. His eyes held a look as if watching a drawn-out drama that had missed its cue to end, and Seonwoo’s mind went blank, his words failing him.

“Yo-you…”

As he stammered foolishly, Seonwoo took in Haeyoon’s appearance more clearly. Honestly, he looked quite a mess. Following his usual habit while working, his bangs were roughly pinned back out of the way, and he wore a paint-stained, tattered apron.

That made it all the stranger. That Ahn Seonwoo himself felt shabby in front of this disheveled-looking Seo Haeyoon. Haeyoon’s pale, sharp face shone even more beautifully amidst the art supplies surrounding him, as if he himself were a work of art.

The paintings carelessly stacked against one wall were the very reason Seo Haeyoon was hailed as a young artist of this era. To Seonwoo’s eyes, they were all just unremarkable trash, nothing but a few brushstrokes. That was it.

Yes. Seonwoo had always hated Seo Haeyoon for that arrogant ‘art’ of his. He found pathetic the people who looked at those indefinable smears and called them genius. He also hated that Seo Haeyoon, not even a fine arts major, was called an artist.

Likewise, though Jaeyeol hadn’t pursued that path, he was also quite knowledgeable about music, so the two of them would often talk about music and painting as if they were some great artist couple. Seonwoo always thought they looked ridiculous. Seo Haeyoon’s artistic talent was a domain Ahn Seonwoo could never, in any way, encroach upon, and he had always hated that. Even now, after stealing Oh Jaeyeol from Haeyoon.

“Did we have unfinished business?”

A flame ignited in his momentarily hollow heart. Was it by playing the refined artist like this that he had seduced Baek Jeongha? Was that how he had brought him along to ruin the one wedding of his life?

Seonwoo shoved the easel standing nearby. It toppled over, hitting the table, sending paints and containers crashing down with a loud clatter.

“Is that what you have to say to me right now? To me?”

Seonwoo stepped carelessly over the mess on the floor, approaching Haeyoon threateningly. Haeyoon didn’t back down, standing his ground. Drawing close, Seonwoo continued in a furious voice.

“Why weren’t you answering my calls? You… you and I have things to talk about, don’t we?”

“We’re already finished. What is there to talk about?”

Unlike Seonwoo, who was seething with anger, Haeyoon’s voice was utterly calm. As if he truly had nothing left to say or feel for Seonwoo.

In that moment, Seonwoo felt a strange sense of unease. When he’d seen Haeyoon wounded, he had felt a sense of superiority, as if he were the most influential person in Haeyoon’s life. Now, it was the opposite. The feeling of being a nobody—no longer Haeyoon’s dearest friend, nothing at all, someone without meaning—was more unpleasant and irritating than he’d expected.

Not wanting to admit he felt that way, Seonwoo flared up even more, roughly shoving Haeyoon’s shoulder.

“How dare you bring Baek Jeongha to my wedding and then claim you have nothing to say to me?!”

“Ah…”
“Huh? You’re a real piece of work. Tell me honestly. What did you do to Baek Jeongha? There’s no way our Jeongha would actually date you. What did you pull, huh?”

At Seonwoo’s tirade, Haeyoon bit his lip. He almost burst out laughing. Everything Seonwoo was saying was genuinely amusing to him.

Ahn Seonwoo had witnessed Haeyoon and Jaeyeol’s relationship from the sidelines, yet had still slept with him. And yet, here he was, running over like this just because he’d heard Haeyoon was dating Baek Jeongha, whom he’d never even been with. Jeongha was right. It seemed Ahn Seonwoo had absolutely no intention of letting this end here. Feeling a deep sense of self-derision at how far things had come, Haeyoon spoke in his characteristic calm tone.

“What does Baek Jeongha have to do with you?”

Seonwoo’s eyes shook violently.

“…What?”

“Did you date Baek Jeongha without me knowing? Or… were you engaged to him, like I was to Oh Jaeyeol?”

Haeyoon’s voice was so composed it felt chilling. Haeyoon had never spoken to Seonwoo like this before, no matter what baseless claims he made. At his calm words, Seonwoo’s face flushed red. Confusion, humiliation, and an unfamiliar sense of dissonance tangled together, making Seonwoo uneasy. Haeyoon didn’t stop.

“Since that’s not the case…”

‘You were together that long and still couldn’t keep his heart.’

At that moment, the words he had once spat to insult Seo Haeyoon rang in Seonwoo’s ears like tinnitus.

“Why are you angry, Seonwoo?”

‘Why are you blaming me?’

Seonwoo felt a strange sensation—the world around him went quiet in an instant. It was as if he alone had entered a vacuum. A chill ran through him, and he couldn’t breathe, like he had been dropped alone into an unfamiliar world. It was unmistakable fear. Seonwoo was terrified by the side of Haeyoon he was seeing for the first time.

“You… Seo Haeyoon, you…!”

The moment he realized that, Seonwoo’s pride shattered. He couldn’t believe this situation—that someone like Seo Haeyoon was daring to tell him he had never been anything to Baek Jeongha. What was even more pathetic was that Ahn Seonwoo had no way to refute that statement. Ahn Seonwoo, who had unilaterally clung to Baek Jeongha. Their relationship was exactly that. And even when Seonwoo had desperately begged for just a meaningless one-night stand, Jeongha had never looked his way. Seo Haeyoon had been the closest witness to Seonwoo’s plight, and that fact made Seonwoo’s misery even deeper.

“What do you think you are, you f*ck…!”

Unable to contain his fury, Seonwoo grabbed Haeyoon by the collar and raised his other hand as if to throw a punch.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

But Seonwoo’s hand couldn’t reach Haeyoon. A large hand had grabbed his wrist roughly.

“Baek, Baek Jeongha…?”

Seonwoo’s eyes trembled violently as he turned. The man gripping his wrist, glaring at him as if he would kill him, was none other than the Baek Jeongha he had longed for so desperately.

“Ah…!”

As a startled Seonwoo blinked, Jeongha violently shoved him away from Haeyoon and stepped in front of him. Now Seonwoo couldn’t see Haeyoon at all.

“What are you… what are you doing here?”

Ahn Seonwoo asked, still unable to grasp the situation even after it had come to this. Or rather, it might be more accurate to say he was willfully ignoring it. He absolutely could not accept that Baek Jeongha and Seo Haeyoon were genuinely dating.

But contrary to Seonwoo’s wishes, Jeongha answered with a mocking laugh.

“Is it strange for me to come to my boyfriend’s studio?”
“Th-that’s….”
“You’re the one who barged into someone else’s studio uninvited. What is this, gangster behavior, Seonwoo?”

Seonwoo.
Hearing that, Seonwoo nearly collapsed on the spot. It was the first time. The first time Baek Jeongha had called his name so familiarly, without even using a title.

Seonwoo’s instinct to deny reality began to warp Baek Jeongha’s attitude to suit his own desires. Whether he was aware of Seonwoo’s state or not, Jeongha grabbed him by the shoulder and pushed him toward the door, continuing.

“I’ll let it slide this once, considering the past. But if you lay a hand on Haeyoon again, I won’t let it go.”
“Jeon, Jeongha….”
“You’re on your honeymoon with Oh Jaeyeol right now, aren’t you? Then go and enjoy your happy married life. Don’t come around stirring up trouble like this.”

The pushing hand was harsh, but strangely, Seonwoo felt a certain ambiguity in Jeongha’s words. To him, it sounded like a reprimand directed at someone who had left him. As if he was jealous of Seonwoo’s honeymoon with Oh Jaeyeol. At least, that’s how it sounded to Ahn Seonwoo.

“Ow, that hurts, Jeongha.”

So, at Jeongha’s rough hands pulling and pushing him, Seonwoo pretended to be weak. He wanted Jeongha to pity him. If there were truly lingering feelings, if he regretted losing Ahn Seonwoo for even a moment, he wanted him to remember and dwell on that feeling.

Had it worked? The moment Seonwoo said he was hurt, he felt Jeongha’s grip loosen slightly. Though a sense of bitterness arose at Baek Jeongha treating him coldly in front of Seo Haeyoon, at the same time, his attitude—showing a crack, a possible opening—made his heart flutter.

Meanwhile, Baek Jeongha spoke to Seonwoo, who had been completely pushed outside.

“You chose Oh Jaeyeol over me. So go on, try to live well with him.”

After saying that, Jeongha flashed his handsome face with a playful smile and slammed the door shut with a bang.

His final words sounded like he was saying he’d take Seonwoo back even now. Seonwoo couldn’t leave that spot for a long time.