* * *

Jaeyoon wasn’t much of a drinker.

Because of that, he hadn’t been able to consume much alcohol.

Rather than blacking out, he mostly fell asleep, leaving him with fragmented memories of the night.

Occasionally, he would wake up to Hyun or Yeonseok offering him more drinks, only to pass out again after a few sips.

He repeated the cycle of waking, drinking, and sleeping, but he remembered most of what happened when he was awake.

The problem was that his recollections, blurry and half-dreamlike, made it hard to distinguish reality from a dream.

“When I came to my senses, I was in the penthouse. It was around midnight, I think. Hyun was sitting there, and Yeonseok was passed out but woke up briefly. We talked a bit before I dozed off again. When I woke up the next time, Hyun had also nodded off, and it was just the two of us in the living room.”

“You two talked?”

“Damn it, I told you, I don’t remember anything. I recall having a couple of drinks after getting to the penthouse, but after that, it’s a blank.”

Yeonseok ruffled his hair in frustration.

“I shouldn’t have gone overboard,” he muttered.

“I shouldn’t have gone through bottles of liquor like that.”

“And you? Don’t you remember anything?”

“I remember taking a nap here and there, but I didn’t check the time.”

“Wait, no. Just tell me this—when did the kiss with Siyoung happen?”

“The kiss…”

Hyun’s expression darkened as he grimaced.

Could you even call that a kiss?

It was nothing sweet or thrilling; just a fleeting, emotionless touch.

“Explaining it feels ridiculous,” he thought.

But detailing everything felt equally absurd.

So, Hyun decided to focus on piecing the timeline together instead.

“I don’t know how long I slept, but it was after I woke up.”

“And then?”

“…God, it wasn’t anything special. Siyoung was drunk too. It’s better to pretend neither of us remembers. It happened because we were arguing, anyway.”

Still, Hyun couldn’t escape the piercing looks he was receiving without giving some sort of explanation.

Begrudgingly, he gave a rough account.

“After that, we argued. Nothing we said made sense, so I grabbed a random bottle from the living room and went to an empty room to sleep it off. When I woke up, it was noon.”

“Then… so it could’ve been anyone but me?”

“How can you be so sure, when you had moments where you blacked out too?”

“That’s…”

Jaeyoon faltered, unable to respond.

He wasn’t entirely sure whether the gaps in his memory were from sleep or from blacking out.

But he was strangely certain.

“If something like that happened with Siyoung, there’s no way I wouldn’t remember. Not something like that…”

No matter how drunk or half-asleep he was, if it involved Siyoung, he would’ve remembered. He couldn’t forget, even if he wanted to.

“…Honestly, I wish it had been me. That I was the father, that it was me that night…”

“How can you be so sure?”

“Huh?”

Jaeyoon was jolted back to reality by Yeonseok’s pressing question.

Now wasn’t the time to get lost in his wishful thinking.

“Even though I slept here and there, I never blacked out for long. That’s how I usually am. And if something like that happened, I’d definitely remember.”

“How can you be so sure? Any of us could’ve done something like that, and it’s the kind of thing no one would forget. But none of us remember, do we?”

“Well… yeah, but…”

“And Siyoung clearly doesn’t plan to come clean. Hell, he wasn’t even going to tell us he was pregnant. He was just going to cut ties, using his job transfer as an excuse.”

Yeonseok sank into thought. It reminded him of something similar that had happened back in college.

“I didn’t care back then, so why does it bother me now…”

“…Once Siyoung decides something’s over, he doesn’t hesitate to walk away. If it weren’t for his sibling, he wouldn’t have met up with us again.”

Yeonseok frowned as though he was on the verge of recalling something, but the pieces wouldn’t come together.

“So for now, we need to focus on keeping him around. Anyone know what his sibling is up to these days?”

“Last I heard, they landed a job before graduating.”

“…Wasn’t it S University? I’ll look into it.”

“How?”

“A few professors contacted me recently. One of them also teaches there. This field is small—finding out won’t take long.”

Hyun began scrolling through his phone.

Ever since he gained fame and started appearing on TV, he’d been receiving calls from people he would’ve otherwise ignored.

It was ironic that those unsolicited messages were proving useful now.

“I almost ignored them but replied out of courtesy… who knew it’d come in handy like this.”

He had given up on painting.

He no longer had the passion or any lingering regrets.

Still, he’d responded to those messages while ignoring others.

Had he subconsciously anticipated a situation like this?

“…If it’s about Siyoung’s sibling, it doesn’t matter why. As long as it keeps him here.”

Siyoung had no reason to stay, but Hyun wanted to give him one, no matter how flimsy.

The three of them stayed up late, strategizing with grim expressions.

“How are you feeling?”

The next day, Jaeyoon visited Siyoung’s hospital room alone.

He figured that the other two might lose their temper and add to the stress.

“…I’m fine. The hospital said I just need rest and don’t even need to stay here. I’ll probably leave tomorrow.”

“Why? It’d be easier to stay here and rest. I’ve already asked them to move you to a private room. Money isn’t…”

“No. Even if it’s not my money, I don’t want to. I feel more comfortable at home than in a hospital.”

Siyoung shook his head firmly.

After sending the three of them away, he’d spent a long time thinking about what to do next.

Not only had his pregnancy been exposed, but the fact that one of them could be the father had also come to light.

Even if he denied it, he wouldn’t have believed himself either.

“But I can’t rely on Jooyoung. I can’t keep hiding it forever. I’ll have to tell them before I leave the country. If I want to leave with peace of mind, I need to act like everything is fine.”

“We talked a lot yesterday,” Jaeyoon began hesitantly, his hands fidgeting nervously.

“We know… you don’t feel entirely comfortable around us. I don’t know everything that happened that night, but I know you can’t feel at ease. But still, at least…”

Jaeyoon’s voice trailed off, his head hung low as if weighed down by guilt.

Among the three, he was probably the closest to being a friend, which made it all the more pitiful.

Siyoung sighed softly and reached out to calm him.

“Let it go. I’m pretending that night never happened. If it really bothered me, I would’ve left right away.”

If circumstances had allowed, he really would’ve left that very night.

But he masked his feelings and tried to reassure Jaeyoon.

Before Jaeyoon could say more, Siyoung spoke up.

“…I’ll raise the child. So, I’ll work. I’m not running away. I was planning to stay anyway… and besides, I have nowhere else to go.”

‘I heard that he’ll be working in a French atelier for a year with his professor starting next year. He won’t be in Korea. On the flip side… if he wants to go, he’ll have to take care of himself first, so Lee Siyoung won’t have a way out either.’

Jaeyoon recalled what Hyun had told him earlier, before he arrived.

Since Siyoung’s younger brother would be abroad for a year, following his professor, he wouldn’t be able to rely on his brother for help.

Not that Siyoung would ever ask for his brother’s help—he hated it more than death.

Besides, aside from the three of them and his brother, Siyoung had no one else to contact.

Hyun had said that for money’s sake, Siyoung would have no choice but to work.

‘Right on the mark.’

“So… I’m just going to focus on work.”

“…Do you have to? If you just tell us who the father is… He can take responsibility. Or even if it’s not him, we—”

“I don’t want that. Like I said before, I don’t want to rely on you anymore. If I do, we’ll just end up tangled up again, won’t we?”

Siyoung shook his head.

Even if the truth were discovered someday, he wasn’t married, nor did he plan to marry, so what did it matter?

“This kid is just mine. That will never change. There’s no father.”

“…Can’t you at least tell me?”

“Is there even room for secrets between the three of you?”

“Still. If it’s my child, at least—”

Jaeyoon trailed off, gauging Siyoung’s reaction.

Their eyes met, and in that moment, Jaeyoon seemed to find his answer.

Lowering his head, he muttered,

“…Never mind. If you won’t tell me, I won’t ask anymore.”

If only, just maybe, it were his child.

Jaeyoon couldn’t help but think that as their conversation continued.

* * *