A Special Person

Doha, having finished his shower, let out a sharp breath.

The scene he had witnessed yesterday was unfolding before his eyes, reproduced exactly.

Sana was curled up asleep on the sofa, clad in what looked like a cumbersome hanbok. He genuinely admired his ability to fall asleep instantly just by laying his head down.

He let out a haa sound as he took a deep breath and exhaled.

With the wet towel from drying his hair draped around his neck, he approached the sofa. Instead of waking Sana, he put his arms behind his armpits and under his knees, lifting him up.

As he had thought before, he wondered how a guy could be so light. His height seemed to be under 170cm, and his build was not much different from a woman’s.

Perhaps it was because he had only seen large gangster types recently, but Sana looked especially small and delicate.

Such a guy had spent two full days scurrying around the club like a squirrel, carrying heavy liquor bottles. All for the sole reason of wanting to be by his side.

Tsk, he clucked his tongue, went into the room, and gently placed Sana on the bed.

Even for a double bed, it was narrow for two people given Doha’s size. Since he had put this guy on the bed, should he sleep on the living room sofa? He glanced at the living room, then sighed and shook his head.

The sofa in the small officetel living room was a small two-seater.

Sana could somehow fit his entire body if he curled up, but it was nowhere near enough for Doha. He even considered sleeping on the floor, but there was no extra mat to put down.

Ultimately, he pushed Sana against the wall and lay down beside him.

There was only one pillow, so after putting it under Sana’s head, Doha had nothing to rest his own on. He simply put his arm behind his head, propped it up, and lay looking at the ceiling.

He felt Sana stir beside him. He briefly turned his head to look, then let out a shallow sigh. Come to think of it, it had been a really long time. Someone sleeping beside him like this.

He had never really been in a deep relationship to begin with.

Sometimes he would go to places where like-minded people gathered and find a one-night stand, but he had never slept overnight with anyone. It was just to satisfy the desires of the moment.

It had been so long since he lived with someone in the same house that his memories were hazy. Perhaps that’s why Sana’s presence was even more unsettling.

What should he do about this guy?

‘I hate it. It doesn’t have nothing to do with me. So, don’t die!’

The face of Sana, clutching his clothes and clinging to him, came to mind.

“Funny guy.”

He still couldn’t understand Sana. He said it wasn’t irrelevant, but they were irrelevant to each other. Yet, he told him not to die. Amusingly, those words made the inside of his heart ache a little, just a little.

His body was tired, so even with a complicated mind, his eyelids grew heavy. ‘Let’s just sleep for now. Things will work out after I wake up.’

Everyone had their own circumstances. Sometimes, they wished others wouldn’t meddle in those parts. Therefore, Doha had no intention of digging into Sana’s situation. He wished Sana would do the same.

Whatever his dreams were, he didn’t want him to deeply enter his daily life.

Sunlight began to seep through the window.

For some, it was too early, but Sana, who regularly woke up at 6 AM, automatically opened his eyes brightly. He didn’t see a familiar ceiling.

His vision seemed obstructed by something, so he blinked a few more times before realizing he was being held tightly by someone.

“Eek…”

He almost screamed inadvertently, but seeing Doha’s face when he raised his head, he clamped his mouth shut.

Doha was asleep, using his arm as a pillow for Sana’s head.

How had this happened? His memory clearly cut off when he was sitting on the sofa, curled up and dozing.

He couldn’t be sure yet, as he had only rolled his eyes to check, but he was in Doha’s bedroom, on the bed. He even seemed to have slept in the same bed as Doha.

‘Did I somehow burrow into his bed in my sleep?’ He doubted himself, then shook his head vigorously. He didn’t have such a sleepwalking symptom.

Mooyoung often told Sana that once he fell asleep, he wouldn’t stir and slept quietly like a corpse, but he slept so deeply that he wouldn’t know if someone carried him away. So, he absolutely wouldn’t have walked in on his own two feet.

‘Then did Doha move me to the bed?’ He stared blankly at Doha’s sleeping face, just blinking.

Even though he pushed him away, telling him to get lost and that he wasn’t needed, he wasn’t a truly cold person. If he were truly heartless, he would have pretended not to see him huddled outside his door.

Despite being annoyed and bothered, he eventually extended a helping hand. It was the same in front of the club on the first day.

Indeed, he really didn’t want such a person to die like that. No, he didn’t want to experience the death of someone he knew again.

‘Mom, why do you keep dying in the car with Dad?’

As a child, when he didn’t know his dreams were future events, he saw his parents’ death.

‘Oh, dear. Why would Mom die? You must have had a scary dream. Don’t worry. That won’t happen.’

His mother held little Sana, smiling and comforting him. But eventually, a few days later, his parents died in an accident, exactly as he had seen in his dream.

Since then, his dreams were always terrible. There must be many types of prophetic dreams, but for some reason, Sana always dreamt of someone’s death.

Many of them were strangers. Even if it was the death of someone he didn’t know, witnessing the moment of death was never pleasant.

Sometimes he was hit by a car, his limbs twisted; sometimes he was crushed by a large pillar as a building collapsed, his bones pulverized; and sometimes he fell from a cliff, his head bursting.

His heart always lurched, thumping. Even if he screamed and reached out, there was nothing he could do.

‘Yeon… Yeon might die.’

He had witnessed the deaths of countless people, but when he saw the death of Yeon, with whom he had grown up since childhood, he was truly out of his mind.

The despair was incomparable to seeing a stranger’s death, and he felt as though the ground was crumbling beneath his feet. It reminded him of when his parents died, and his heart ached as if being torn apart.

‘Sana, you saved Yeon.’

Though he had saved him from the accident, Yeon couldn’t wake up for a while. Nevertheless, Mooyoung said that Yeon was saved thanks to Sana’s prophetic dream.

Watching Yeon lying beyond the glass of the intensive care unit, he cried his eyes out for the first time. It was then that he realized his dreams could be hope, not a curse.

But that was all. Even after that day, Sana had many dreams and witnessed the deaths of many people. Just as he was beginning to resign himself again, he met Doha in a dream.

At first, he considered this to be just another event that would pass him by. He was a complete stranger, and even the moment of death was full of incomprehensible elements.

Twice, three times, he appeared repeatedly in his dreams, and each time, the dream became more specific.

Now, Sana knew Doha so well that he knew he had a large wolf tattoo on his chest, and he was no longer a stranger to him.

Like Yeon’s, Doha’s dream was repeating. It was different from when he could only watch someone’s death from a distance, unable to do anything else.

‘A strong bond is something that cannot be severed by human power. Even I cannot control that pull.’

Yeon once said with a bitter smile, as if resenting the red thread tied to his finger that swayed.

He was a complete stranger, but Doha was the first person to appear repeatedly in his dreams so many times.

So, was it strange to think that he might be tied to this person by a special bond? If Yeon were here, he would have asked him to confirm it, but unfortunately, Sana was alone now. Neither Mooyoung nor Yeon were with Sana anymore.

Sana quietly gazed at Doha’s face. When he was awake, his eyes seemed a little sharp, but sleeping like this, he looked only gentle.

His gaze flowed from his straight forehead, past the bridge of his nose, to his tightly sealed lips. His eyes moved along the curve of his lips, and suddenly he remembered being kissed by him yesterday.

Hot air had rushed into his mouth, swirling chaotically. His mind instantly turned blank, unable to comprehend anything.

Yet, he didn’t dislike it. He had gripped his lapels so tightly without realizing it, and a chilling sensation ran down his spine from the heat he exuded.

‘There are people in the world whose romantic partners are men.’

It wasn’t that he didn’t know the meaning of ‘sexual object,’ but for Sana, it was too vague. This was because after his parents’ accident, he met Mooyoung, and from then until recently, Sana had grown up only within ‘Muryeong.’ He prophesied others’ deaths through dreams, but even that was irregular and uncertain, so unlike others, he never took requests and went outside.

‘If you don’t want anything worse to happen, go back right now.’

Doha’s words after the kiss came to mind.

“What’s worse?”

He murmured in a small voice. Doha was asleep anyway, so there was no way he would answer Sana’s question. It would have been good if Mooyoung or Yeon were here at a time like this… Unfortunately, there was no one around Sana he could ask such a thing.

‘You’re the one I worry about the most.’

Before they parted, Mooyoung had said, stroking Sana’s head. At the time, he didn’t know why he said that, but having lived alone for the past few months, he realized he lacked a lot of general common sense.

His gaze unconsciously drifted down to the clothes he was wearing. Doha had also been disgusted, saying they stood out too much. Although he had suddenly kicked him out, he had also given him clothes to change into.

‘Should I really change?’ ‘Then he won’t tell me to leave, will he?’

After much thought, he carefully got out of bed. He worried that Doha might wake up if he rustled, but fortunately, he didn’t stir.

Looking at the clock, it was now past 7 AM. He had seen him sleep until lunchtime yesterday, so he wouldn’t wake up anytime soon.

He tiptoed out to the living room, making no sound.

The clothes Doha had given him to change into yesterday were still lying on the sofa.

Sana looked back and forth between the clothes on the sofa and his own, then took a deep breath. He had worn these clothes for practically his entire life because they felt comfortable, but it seemed this too was ‘unconventional.’