Just for Today

“What kind of nonsense is this bastard spouting…”

It wasn’t Doha who answered, but Lee Jungwook. He chastised Sana, asking what kind of outrageous request she was making of his brother.

Sana knew it would be sudden and absurd. But couldn’t it work somehow? She stubbornly gazed at Doha, pleading with her eyes, and he, looking troubled, covered his face with one hand and turned away.

“What’s the reason?”

“Brother! Why do you need a reason? Just ignore her!”

Lee Jungwook warned Sana not to cause trouble for Doha.

“Are you perhaps homeless?”

Doha, holding out a hand to stop Lee Jungwook, asked Sana.

“…I want to be by your side.”

It wasn’t that she had nowhere to go. She just didn’t want to be separated from Doha, whom she had painstakingly found.

She couldn’t know when or what might happen, so she wanted to be by his side, within sight, as much as possible.

“Do you even know what you’re saying?”

Doha asked again. Beside him, Lee Jungwook turned away, thumping his chest with his fist, saying he had no idea.

“I clearly warned you earlier.”

At the word ‘warned,’ Sana blinked her large eyes. As she pondered what warning he was referring to, she heard the sound of multiple footsteps. Whistle.

 A whistle sounded, and she turned her head to see the slit-eyed man from the club entrance standing on the stairs, hands in his pants pockets, watching.

“What is that bastard? Is that the same one from earlier? You decided to give him a job here? Is he really your lover?”

This was Kim Sinhak, the right-hand man of the Gangnam Alliance boss who operated this club. Others called him Brother Viper. It was a nickname given due to his sharp eyes and fierce demeanor.

“That’s not it.”

“It’s not, my ass. Try lying after looking at her expression.”

Kim Sinhak gestured at Sana with his chin. To anyone, she looked like she was blindly clinging to Doha.

“I hear she asked you to let her stay the night, didn’t she?”

Kim Sinhak asked with a sly smile, having apparently overheard. He smirked and approached Sana.

“Should I let you stay the night?”

At the unexpected offer, Sana couldn’t even blink, meeting his gaze.

He was different from Doha, and also from Lee Jungwook, who often stuck around nagging. He was smiling, but the corners of his eyes weren’t crinkled at all. A chill ran down her spine at his gaze, which felt full of hidden intentions.

“Unlike that bastard, I have no interest in men, but well, you might be decent enough to kill some time.”

His gaze swept from Sana’s face down to her chest.

“No need.”

Doha stepped between them, cutting off his gaze.

“Didn’t you say he wasn’t yours? Whatever he does is none of your business, bastard.”

At Kim Sinhak’s remark, Doha quietly took a deep breath, then grabbed Sana’s wrist, who was standing behind him.

“I’m about to make him mine now.”

“Make him what?”

“My lover, I mean.”

Doha answered calmly and pulled Sana’s hand, which he was holding.

“Let’s go.”

Her body leaned forward, and Sana looked up at him with wide eyes.

“Just follow quietly.”

He said in a voice just loud enough for Sana to hear, then took big strides first. Due to their height difference, Sana had to walk quickly with small steps to keep up with him.

Outside, Doha said nothing until the club was far behind them. Sana was bewildered, not knowing what was happening, but she also quietly followed where he led.

“Where’s your home?”

After walking more than a block, Doha finally asked.

“Home…”

‘Is he still trying to send me back somehow?’ She could meet him again if she came to the club tomorrow. But she didn’t want to go back like this… What if that ‘thing’ happened tonight?

Her mind was complicated with various thoughts, so she didn’t answer, just kept her mouth shut and lowered her head.

“There must be some place you used to live, right?”

“…”

It was obvious he would try to send her away if she said yes. So, she stubbornly refused to answer, and Doha let out a deep sigh.

“This is driving me crazy, really.”

He mumbled to himself, then raised a hand to run through his hair.

Even though he was annoyed, he couldn’t bring himself to ruthlessly cut her off. He really didn’t seem like a bad person.

“Follow me.”

He uttered a single word and turned his body. Sana just stared blankly for four or five steps.

“What are you doing? Not coming? Are you going to sleep on the street?”

At his question, asked after he turned back, a bright smile finally spread across Sana’s face.

Fine lines appeared on Doha’s forehead at her smile, but he didn’t add any more harsh words.

“Just for tonight.”

She giggled even at his definitive statement. He wasn’t a bad person. On the contrary, he was a kind person who, despite her recklessness, ended up accepting her. That made her want to protect him even more, absolutely.

Haa. Doha, having finished showering, sighed as he saw Sana curled up and asleep on the two-seater sofa.

She had no sense of caution, or rather, too little. She seemed to not doubt for a moment that he would do anything to her.

She must be tired. He understood that. It was natural, considering she had been doing serving work for several hours, which she clearly wasn’t used to. Even so, it hadn’t even been twenty minutes since they got home…

‘Take off your shoes and just sit anywhere.’

After opening the front door and gesturing for her to go inside, Sana stood in the entryway with curious eyes, looking around the house.

‘Excuse me.’

She took off her shoes and stepped inside, greeting him politely.

For someone who made all sorts of absurd requests, she looked incredibly proper at times like this.

So proper, in fact, that he wondered if she had received excellent etiquette training. Come to think of it, she always looked Doha directly in the eye when talking.

‘Wait a minute. I’m going to wash up.’

He wanted to quickly wash up, having been saturated with the heat, alcohol, and cigarette smells of many people in the club. He intended to get her something to eat or a place to sleep after showering.

But when he came out of the shower, Sana was already curled up on the sofa, fast asleep.

“This guy’s really something else.”

He mumbled to himself with a sigh, then went into the bedroom, brought out a thin blanket, and covered her with it.

Since his house never had guests, he didn’t even have a spare blanket, so if he gave this to Sana, Doha would have nothing to cover himself with. Still, it seemed too harsh not to give a blanket to someone sleeping on the sofa. He’d rather sleep without a blanket himself.

As he covered her with the blanket and placed a cushion behind her neck, watching Sana sleep soundly, he let out a self-deprecating laugh. How could anyone grow up to be so utterly carefree?

Looking closely, the hanbok she was wearing was quite luxurious.

When he first saw it, he thought it was a sobok because it was pure white, but up close, the parts that came down over her shoulders and the waistband were embroidered with sparkling silver thread. Even to Doha, who wasn’t knowledgeable about such things, it looked expensive.

‘Is it normal for someone who claims to be an orphan to wear clothes like this?’ There were many strange things about her in various ways.

Frowning, he looked down at Sana, then swallowed a sigh and returned to the bedroom. He found a cigarette in the pocket of his discarded jacket, went out to the veranda, and lit it. Taking a deep drag, he picked up his phone with one hand and dialed an eleven-digit number.

The call rang for a long time, but he waited patiently. Eventually, the call didn’t connect and went to a voicemail message, instructing him to leave a message as the person was unavailable.

He pressed the hang-up button, then pressed the call button again. It connected to the same number, and this time, after a short while, he heard a muffled voice say, ‘Hello?’

“Look something up for me.”

He omitted greetings and jumped straight to the point, and a long silence followed. After a while, he heard the other person sigh, haaa.

[Do you even know what time it is?]

At the other person’s question, Doha turned his head to check the wall clock. It was now past 5:40 AM.

[This bastard, you’re really going to give me high blood pressure… Ugh. What’s the point?]

He could almost see the other person grinding their teeth. It was certainly an early hour to wake someone.

But after this, Doha had to sleep. Recently, he had been repeating a routine of working all night, coming home around this time, sleeping a bit, and waking up around lunchtime. So, he had to make the call now if he wanted to check it when he woke up.

“Look up someone named Sana.”

[…]

Instead of an answer, silence fell again. Thinking he might not be fully awake yet, Doha also waited quietly.

[This bastard really thinks I’m some kind of all-purpose robot.]

The muttering voice was filled with annoyance.

[If you just throw out a name, how am I supposed to know who it is and how to look them up!]

The other person’s voice was gradually getting louder. Doha smirked, took a cigarette in his mouth, and exhaled a long stream of smoke.

“Twenty years old, handsome features, long hair. Even braided, it goes down below his chest. He says he’s twenty, but just in case, look for younger too.”

[This bastard, really!]

Doha didn’t fail to realize how vague his words sounded.

“Unfortunately, there’s no more information than that. That’s all I know. Sana, twenty. Oh, gender is male.”

[Hmph… Never mind. What can I even say to you? But who is it? Don’t tell me you…]

“I don’t know what you’re imagining, but no.”

[How do you know what I’m imagining?]

“Whatever you’re imagining.”

As their back-and-forth conversation became like wordplay, the other person clucked their tongue. At the comment that he was a pro at inconveniencing people, Doha just chuckled.

“Find everything you can. I’ll check around 2 PM.”

[Always doing things your way, aren’t you?]

“Hanging up.”

He ended the call quickly before the other person’s grumbling could get any longer. The image of the other person swearing fiercely after the call made his lips curl into a smile.

Despite all the complaints, he would probably find it. He was one of the few people Choi Doha trusted.

After finishing his cigarette, he came into the bedroom and his gaze naturally drifted towards the living room.

Could he sleep with someone else in the living room? He frowned, thinking he wouldn’t easily fall asleep due to caution, but soon shook his head. He remembered Sana’s face looking up at him with clear eyes.

‘He looked like he couldn’t even hurt a fly.’ What was the point of being cautious with such a guy? At most, he might worry about theft while he slept, but even then, there was nothing to steal in this house.

He lay sprawled on the bed, his wet hair not fully dry.

His body felt heavy, sinking deep into the mattress, more easily than expected. Blink, blink. His eyelids slowly rose and fell a few times, then gently closed.