Its been a bit since I read the novel but basically, dohyun has known wooyeons mother since he was a child as dohyun & his sister were orphans who got sponsored by wooyeons mother and then adopted thanks to her (not BY her of course but through her means they found a family). Because of that, Dohyun felt like he owed her & she used that to eventually get him to tutor wooyeon. It wasnt really just to tutor him but more so to keep an eye on him and report back to his mother about how hes doing. Dohyun did genuinely care for wooyeon at the time, he knew wooyeon had a crush on him & tutored him anyway because of the deal with his mother. When wooyeon confessed to him he felt like he couldnt continue this so the deal was off.
When they first met again in college dohyun immediately recognized wooyeon & wanted to apologize and explain everything because he'd felt guilty about what happened ever since but wooyeon ran away at their first meeting so he couldnt find him. Ever since hes been wanting to confess but couldnt find it in him and as they grew closer he kept telling himself 'i'll confess someday' and that day kept getting postponed because he was scared wooyeon would hate him. (Not sure if I remember this correctly, so take this with a grain of salt but I think wooyeons mother contacted dohyun again in college to ask him to report back to her about how hes doing again but he firmly declined this time) Wooyeon eventually found out because his mother had taken notice of their relationship and wanted dohyun out of the picture. She led wooyeon to believe that dohyun STILL reports to her about everything regarding wooyeon and it made wooyeon think their entire relationship was nothing but a way for dohyun to get close to him in order to report back to his mother. The thing is, she also did this with Danny (wooyeons friend in america) which wooyeon had found out about a year ago or so, so wooyeon felt like no matter who he gets close to, his mother was always behind it, making up friendships that were never genuine just so she could keep an eye on him. Wooyeon then confronted dohyun who obviously couldnt deny it, but he tried to explain that their relationship was genuine. Wooyeon didn't want to hear it so their broke up & their relationship slowly improves over (iirc) a year, until wooyeon says hes still in love with dohyun (because dohyun had been trying to get him back since the day they broke up he becomes a very clingy, doting & slightly obsessive lover lol) and they get back together. Side stories follow :)
Its been a bit since I read the novel but basically, dohyun has known wooyeons mother since he was a child as dohyun & his sister were orphans who got sponsored by wooyeons mother and then adopted thanks to her (not BY her of course but through her means they found a family). Because of that, Dohyun felt like he owed her & she used that to eventually get him to tutor wooyeon. It wasnt really just to tutor him but more so to keep an eye on him and report back to his mother about how hes doing. Dohyun did genuinely care for wooyeon at the time, he knew wooyeon had a crush on him & tutored him anyway because of the deal with his mother. When wooyeon confessed to him he felt like he couldnt continue this so the deal was off.
When they first met again in college dohyun immediately recognized wooyeon & wanted to apologize and explain everything because he'd felt guilty about what happened ever since but wooyeon ran away at their first meeting so he couldnt find him. Ever since hes been wanting to confess but couldnt find it in him and as they grew closer he kept telling himself 'i'll confess someday' and that day kept getting postponed because he was scared wooyeon would hate him.
(Not sure if I remember this correctly, so take this with a grain of salt but I think wooyeons mother contacted dohyun again in college to ask him to report back to her about how hes doing again but he firmly declined this time)
Wooyeon eventually found out because his mother had taken notice of their relationship and wanted dohyun out of the picture. She led wooyeon to believe that dohyun STILL reports to her about everything regarding wooyeon and it made wooyeon think their entire relationship was nothing but a way for dohyun to get close to him in order to report back to his mother.
The thing is, she also did this with Danny (wooyeons friend in america) which wooyeon had found out about a year ago or so, so wooyeon felt like no matter who he gets close to, his mother was always behind it, making up friendships that were never genuine just so she could keep an eye on him.
Wooyeon then confronted dohyun who obviously couldnt deny it, but he tried to explain that their relationship was genuine. Wooyeon didn't want to hear it so their broke up & their relationship slowly improves over (iirc) a year, until wooyeon says hes still in love with dohyun (because dohyun had been trying to get him back since the day they broke up he becomes a very clingy, doting & slightly obsessive lover lol) and they get back together. Side stories follow :)