If I become your lover, can you stay by my side?

“That’s enough, just get up.”

He held out his hand for her to get up, and Sana, blinking her large eyes, a beat later took Doha’s hand and stood up, smiling so sweetly that the corners of her eyes curved.

It was too bright a smile to see right after waking up. Bright enough to be unnecessarily dazzling.

“Doesn’t that outfit make you uncomfortable?”

He felt like he would be mesmerized by her smile if he kept looking. So, he cleared his throat and unnecessarily picked a fight with her clothes.

“It’s what I always wear, so it’s fine…”

He couldn’t tell if she was sincere or just living in her own fantasy. He couldn’t fathom who, in this day and age, would always wear such clothes.

Yesterday, when he first saw her like that, he even suspected she was mentally ill. After talking to her, she seemed perfectly normal, which only made him wonder even more what kind of person she was.

“You’re like someone who came from a place far removed from worldly affairs.”

His inner thoughts tumbled out. He himself thought it was an absurd thing to say, but a strange smile played on Sana’s face as she looked at Doha. ‘Is he really someone who lives in a temple or something?’

“I don’t know how it was where you came from, but walking around dressed like that is a problem. You stand out too much, so it’s better to change into normal clothes. Even more so if you’re going to keep coming to work at the club.”

It was sincere advice. The long hair was something he could overlook as a personal eccentricity to some extent, but that outfit was too conspicuous. If only her clothes were normal, she would be much less noticeable.

“I don’t have any.”

“Huh?”

At the truncated answer, he asked back, wondering what she didn’t have.

“Clothes. I don’t really know what ‘normal’ means, but if you’re talking about something like what Brother Doha is wearing now, I don’t have any.”

She only says things he can’t understand. This hanbok Sana was wearing was far from ordinary.

He waved his hand, dismissing it, thinking that talking any longer would only make his head noisy.

Feeling a bit hungry, he thought about making something to eat and was about to leave the bedroom when his phone rang.

Doha checked the caller ID, went out to the veranda, and pressed the call button.

“Yeah.”

At his short answer, devoid of any greeting, the other person first sighed.

[Hey, who the hell is that Sana you mentioned in the morning? Is he your potential lover? I can’t find anything no matter how much I search. You don’t have any other information besides 20 years old, male, Sana? How am I supposed to find someone with just that anyway?]

A torrent of complaints poured out. He scratched his forehead, realizing he had made a somewhat unreasonable demand, and leaned against the veranda railing.

Sana, who had come out of the bedroom, looked around, then seemed relieved to spot Doha and smiled sweetly.

‘He’s utterly inscrutable, you know.’ No matter how much he thought about why she was following him around like a chick following its mother, a person she had just met, he couldn’t pinpoint anything.

“Do you know anyone who wears a white hanbok, no, that’s closer to ritual attire? Or perhaps from some mental hospital.”

[Is this bastard not fully awake? What mental hospital dresses patients in ritual attire? Maybe a straitjacket, but that’s different. At best, it’d be a modified hanbok-like patient gown. But I’ve never heard of such a thing.]

His words were true. Sana’s attire didn’t look like something worn in a mental hospital by any stretch.

He had indeed suspected she might have escaped from a mental hospital because of her odd behavior, but based on her clothes alone, it was an unconvincing hypothesis.

“No missing person reports either?”

[None with the conditions you mentioned. For starters, is the name even correct? Just in case, I tried searching with only ’20-year-old male’ without the name, and there’s still nothing.]

Hmm. Doha let out a long hum, then said okay and ended the call.

He deleted the call records from his phone—both the one from earlier this morning and the current one—then watched Sana, who had come out into the living room.

No missing person reports, not an escapee from a mental hospital, yet she wears those clothes of her own free will…

He had intended to quickly kick her out, thinking she would be annoying and troublesome, but he was becoming increasingly intrigued by Sana’s presence.

Kicking her out could be done anytime, so should he observe a bit longer to understand why she was so fixated on him? Before that, he needed to do something about those clothes.

“Change into these.”

Doha rummaged through his closet and found a relatively small T-shirt and pants among his clothes, handing them to Sana. Sana looked alternately at the clothes thrust in front of her face and at Doha’s face.

“Don’t walk around dressed like that, just change. Just looking at it is distracting me.”

“Ah…”

When she worked at the club, she changed without complaint because it was a uniform, but now she hesitated, wondering if she wasn’t allowed to wear her own clothes normally.

“Change, unless you’re going to leave my house right now.”

Doha added another word, and she reluctantly nodded, agreeing.

She put the clothes to change into aside and first untied the belt around her waist.

She also set down the sash draped over her shoulders and was untying the knot of her jeogori when she heard a hmph and a fake cough from beside her. Wondering what the problem was, she turned to Doha, who frowned.

“I warned you it would be good to be a bit cautious.”

‘Cautious about what?’ It was he who told her to change clothes.

“I showed you firsthand that I could pounce on you, so how am I supposed to understand you so casually stripping in front of me like this?”

Doha asked with a sigh. Sana silently met his gaze, then smiled faintly.

“Saying such things means you won’t do anything, right? And you backed off first just now.”

As if hit by the truth, Doha opened his mouth as if to say something, then closed it again.

Watching him turn his eyes away from her, Sana smiled quietly.

If Choi Doha had truly intended to do something bad, he would have pounced on her, either when he brought her home in the early morning or when she had just woken up.

“Still, be careful.”

“Of Brother Doha?”

She asked back, taking off her jeogori. Doha had warned her not to strip so casually in front of him, but she still didn’t feel the need to be cautious.

Even the cautiousness she felt at the point he deliberately warned her verbally had all vanished.

Ha, Doha let out a big breath and took a swift step forward.

He stopped just one step away, but Sana didn’t step back. She simply followed his face with her eyes, looking up.

“I…”

Doha took another step closer. When he tilted his head, the distance between them was less than a handspan. At that distance, if he came any closer, their lips would meet.

“I told you I was gay, didn’t I? Someone whose romantic partner is a man.”

Doha’s voice echoed softly in the quiet room, where only the two of them were present.

‘A man as a romantic partner…’

Sana looked up at him with clear eyes.

“Does that mean I could be Brother Doha’s romantic partner?”

“What…?”

He seemed flustered, as if it wasn’t the reaction he had expected.

“If I’m your lover, can I stay by your side?”

At her calm question, Doha’s eyes widened. A moment of silence passed. During that time, complex emotions seemed to float across his pupils.

“No, you can’t.”

He answered firmly and grabbed Sana’s arm. Then, he pulled her with strength. Her body was drawn helplessly by his powerful pull.

“Oh? Wait…!”

He didn’t look back at the flustered Sana and dragged her all the way to the front door.

“I thought wrong for a moment. Get out.”

At the cold dismissal, Sana looked up at him with a bewildered expression. ‘What? Why is he suddenly doing this?’ She didn’t understand Doha’s actions.

“Get out.”

“But…”

“But what? Just get out.”

He grabbed Sana’s arm again and pushed her out the front door.

Before she could even properly put on her shoes, the front door slammed shut with a bang while she was fumbling, bewildered. Sana stared dumbfounded at the coldly shut door.

“Brother Doha! Open the door!”

Bang, bang, she pounded hard on the door with her fist. It was too sudden and confusing. She couldn’t understand what mistake she had made.

“Be quiet! I told you to get lost!”

A furious shout came from inside, startling her. She was only confused, not knowing why Doha was angry.

“My clothes are in there too.”

She wanted to ask to be let back in, but couldn’t think of a plausible excuse.

She didn’t understand Doha’s actions, but on second thought, her own actions from yesterday to today must have been just as out of the blue for Doha.

The excuse she finally managed to come up with was so pathetic that her voice trailed off. She probably couldn’t even be heard from inside.

However, a moment later, the door opened with a rattle. Sana, who had been leaning against the door, almost collided with it.

“Here.”

He shoved the clothes Sana had left behind into her hands, then the door slammed shut again with a bang. She had tried to say something before the door closed, but he seemed to have no intention of listening.

“Just tell me why you’re doing this.”

Sana rested her forehead against the door and mumbled.

Had she been too complacent, thinking he would grant even the most absurd requests? No matter how much she thought about it, she couldn’t figure out what she had done wrong, and felt a suffocating frustration.

Doha, who had closed the front door and turned around, raised a hand to cover his face. A long sigh escaped him.

To have considered keeping her by his side even for a moment, he must have been out of his mind. Sana’s large, clear eyes looking up at him had almost made him soften.

‘This is the right thing to do.’ He didn’t know what kind of person she was, but getting entangled with him wouldn’t lead to anything good. Letting her work at the club for a day was just because he felt sorry, as she said she needed money right away and had nowhere to go.

Even to himself, he wondered what he was doing. For a brief moment, he had been swayed by this guy. It would have been better if she had run away when he kissed her.

“Brother Doha…”

Sana kept calling him from outside, but he ignored her. If he just left her, she would eventually give up and go back.

Whether she had a place to go or not, she said she wasn’t a minor, so she would figure it out herself. He had provided a place to sleep for one night, so he had fulfilled his human duty.

There was no need to care further.

Even though he convinced himself with various reasons, it felt rough and uncomfortable, like a stone stuck in his throat.