"Yunyu, this is the young man that will play as Kim Tae-Oh."
Bai Yunyu’s eyes darted at the young man standing in front of Long Shen, and his jaw dropped instantly. The man looked really cold and unapproachable, but there was no trace of hostility in him.
When their eyes met, there was a long silence between them, followed by a realization, at least that was what Yunyu felt.
But the young man was standing still expressionlessly. He bowed his head politely and said, "My name is Lee Kibum. A pleasure to meet you, Mr. Bai Yunyu. Mr. Long Zhen told me about you and how talented you are."
"A-Ah, nice to meet you, and I’ll be in your care for now," Yunyu replied. He glanced at Long Zhen as he needed context here. Because what he saw in front of him was Kim Kibum from the 6th world, but there was no sign of Kim Taewoo anywhere.
’How could Kibum be here, but not Taewoo?’ Yunyu thought.
"Yunyu, this man, Lee Kibum, is a real-life version of Kim Tae-Oh. He said that his parents are divorced, and he is moving with his Mom back to China. He is in a gap year for now," Long Shen explained.
"A-Ah, I see...." Yunyu nodded, but he had one question in his head.
[Why is Kibum not reacting the same in front of me? Did he not remember what happened?]
But he couldn’t confront Kibum about it, so he just acted all-natural until Long Shen said, "I will leave you two here since you will work together in this web series. It would be best if you got to know each other first. I’ll be talking to the investors in the next room."
"Yes, Mr. Long Zhen," Lee Kibum said as he bowed his head politely.
Long Shen walked towards Yunyu and leaned in to whisper, ’My darling, I can see that you recognize him like the way you recognize me in this world.’
’I know there is something that you can’t tell me. And I don’t want to be ignorant and arrogant like what I used to in that world. So I will give you time with this guy.’
’My darling, since I can’t have you in this world, then I will help you to find your happiness. Because your smile is everything I can ask for,’ Long Shen said as he kissed Yunyu’s cheek lightly before leaving the room.
Now there was only him and Lee Kibum in this room.
Yunyu felt awkward, but Lee Kibum was so calm, he just stared at Yunyu coldly, "Mr. Bai Yunyu, should we start reading the script? We need to build chemistry for the role after all."
"W—Well, I don’t mind, but...." Bai Yunyu walked towards Lee Kibum until they were only one foot away. "Do you... not remember anything about me?"
Lee Kibum started frowning, "Pardon me, but this is the first time we met, right? I don’t know anything about you prior to this first meeting."
"Ah, never mind then," Yunyu smiled thin.
He was a bit disheartened because Kibum didn’t remember him, especially since Kibum and Taewoo were his first reason to break through the regular cycle of transmigration and jump to an unknown world called the original backup world.
They were good twins who were treated horribly by their parents, and even after that, they still refused to hurt anyone.
"Mr. Bai, let’s sit on the sofa and start reciting our conversation," Lee Kibum said.
"Okay, but you shouldn’t call me Mr. Bai. Just call me Yunyu, okay?"
"Yunyu..." Lee Kibum felt slightly different when addressing this person as Yunyu instead of Mr. Bai Yunyu.
It felt a bit personal and got him quite embarrassed.
"Yeah, may I call you Kibum from now on?"
"M—Mr. Bai—I mean, Yunyu, don’t you think it’s a bit too fast for us to call each other’s small names?" Lee Kibum asked as he was flustered by Yunyu’s advance.
Bai Yunyu giggled as he realized that Kibum was still the same person even without memory. He looked cold and somewhat unapproachable but was actually very shy and withdrawn from society. It complemented Taewoo’s outspoken and bold behaviour.
"Don’t worry about it. I’m pretty comfortable around you," Yunyu said. [Because we have a history together, with your twin brother too.]
"I—If you say so..." Kibum lowered his gaze. He strangely felt shy in front of Yunyu, although he was usually dismissive and nonchalant towards other people.
Yunyu giggled when he saw Kibum’s reaction. He wouldn’t lie that he liked Kibum’s shyness as well.
He had been surrounded by so many aggressive men who wanted to covet him, sometimes in a terrible way. But Kim Kibum from 6th world never hurt him. Even in the end, Kibum refused to hurt Yunyu after knowing that Yunyu had cheated on him.
Thus, when they sat on the sofa, Yunyu intentionally took the first approach and sat right beside Kibum, even though the sofa was long enough for them to sit far from each other.
Lee Kibum got embarrassed, especially when their knees started rubbing on each other.
Of course, just by his look alone, Kibum had many admirers who tried to approach him, which he refused immediately. He was never interested in anyone and would never take any romantic approach.
Yet, when Bai Yunyu suddenly became so aggressive towards him, Kibum had no grievance in his heart.
In fact, he liked it.
"Um... Yunyu, the sofa is long enough for us...." Kibum said, implying that Yunyu should have some distance from him.
But Yunyu was even more interested in how Kibum reacted. So he leaned in and whispered on Kibum’s ear instead, ’I mean, you can just push me if you don’t want me, right?’
Lee Kibum shivered all over. He should’ve pushed Bai Yunyu, especially with his strength.
But the moment his hand touched Yunyu’s chest, his instinct told him to hug Yunyu instead.
His instinct told him to feel Yunyu once more because he was the person that would fill this void in their hearts; Kibum’s heart and Taewoo’s.