Chapter Text
“I am ready for a bath.”
Yoo Jonghyuk glanced at Kim Dokja. He remembered… the last time the group got a break Kim Dokja was….
Kim Dokja laughed at whatever expression he saw on Yoo Jonghyuk’s face. Disappointment?
“I don’t usually care for baths but… it has been a while. The things one forgets to miss are strange.”
The house they were put up in for the interim of this break from the scenarios was a large house. 3 master bedrooms with attached bathrooms. Kim Dokja made his way to the one bedroom the rest of the company had set aside and avoided. Yoo Jonghyuk could feel Jung Heewon’s touch in the way the group subtly made space for him as they settled on sleeping arrangements.
“Oh, this one seems unoccupied still?”
Yoo Jonghyuk trailed behind him as he stepped into the room. Kim Dokja was a stupid man. He turned to him to ask “Yoo Jonghyuk, you can use the bathroom first, if you like?”
The silence was longer than expected. Kim Dokja kept staring at him, as if expecting a response. As if the answer wasn’t visible on his face.
“No.” You go.
Did Kim Dokja hear that part in his no? If he told him to go first, if he said the words “You go.” out loud, what would Kim Dokja hear in that?
Kim Dokja was a stupid man. Yoo Jonghyuk knew better than to trust in that.
“Then I will take the bathroom first, and Yoo Jonghyuk will use it after me.” said Kim Dokja with a smile, stepping into the bathroom and closing the door behind him.
Yoo Jonghyuk looked around at the room. The two double beds, the unobtrusive decor, it was like a hotel room, with nothing to indicate there might actually be a person that lived here, made it a home, even before everything happened. Did Kim Dokja realize what he said?
He turned before even registering the creak of the door to see Han Sooyoung leaning in the doorway.
“You gonna stick to him?” A smirk tempted the corner of her mouth, but her eyes were hard as she looked at Yoo Jonghyuk.
Yoo Jonghyuk turned from her, faced the bathroom, “He asked me to stay.”
“Did he actually ask you or is that what you wanted to hear?”
Yoo Jonghyuk felt the strike of anger pass through him, the tension move across his body, and released it an instant later.
“Have I ever heard what I wanted to hear from Kim Dokja?”
That gets a laugh out of Han Sooyoung.
“Alright, enjoy your room.” she tosses out as she walks off further into the house.
Yoo Jonghyuk turns to see her leave, then moves to close the door. He stands for a bit, in front of the closed door. One door closed between him and everyone else, one door closed between him and Kim Dokja.
He finally moves to sit on the bed.
Before the start of this regression, before Kim Dokja, Yoo Jonghyuk… forgot about baths. He looked at his hands, his nail beds dry, his nails cracked. If he rubbed a finger over his ring nail, he could feel the grooves of scrapes. He could see the dirt between the creases of his knuckles.
In any other situation, he wouldn’t even have noticed. In the moments where he had a chance to notice, he might wash them.
It wasn’t even that long ago, was it? That first time in the subway, the first time in the first scenario, had it really been that long? Yoo Jonghyuk remembered sitting in that subway car, heading home. He’d been thinking… that he wanted a bath. He forgot about that.
Kim Dokja had remembered.