SS 8(2) Part 6

“Huu, ugh...”

Even with the Esper holding him tightly, Bomin twisted his body violently as if he didn’t care if his arms broke.

“Hyung…!”

Finally, Song Jaeho, who had been passively submitting to being tied up, snapped. He tried to run towards Bomin, dodging the men’s grasp.

“Kuh…”

But the back of his neck was caught in a hand as large as a wok lid, and his face was slammed into the ground. He could endure the filth on the alley floor being smeared on his face.

“Aaaack…!”

But seeing Bomin struggling in pain in the hands of the men made his vision turn red. Even though he screamed until the veins in his neck bulged, the suffocating breath in his chest wouldn’t explode.

Bomin had already been through a near-death experience because of these people.

Had something happened to his injured head? Bomin’s face was drenched in cold sweat, and his eyelashes drooped.

At that moment, something snapped in Song Jaeho’s mind.

“Kuhuk…”

The Esper holding Bomin looked down at his chest in disbelief. Although hidden beneath his clothes, an invisible force had just crushed his internal organs.

“No… way…”

The Esper’s bloodshot eyes stared at Song Jaeho, who was glaring back as if he would kill him.

“W-What is this?”

“Help me…!”

The bodies of the men threatening Song Jaeho and Bomin floated into the air. They panicked and flailed their limbs, but their bodies only rose higher.

“Hyung, come on, wake up…”

Song Jaeho, staggering towards Bomin, picked him up in his arms. He hurriedly untied Bomin’s wrists and stroked his face, but his closed eyes showed no sign of opening.

Song Jaeho quietly listened to Bomin’s breathing. His faint breaths, as if they would cease at any moment, tickled his ears.

“Uwaaaak…!“

“Uuu…”

Like insects caught in a spiderweb, the bodies of the men suspended in the air began to contort one by one.

A thin stream of blood trickled from Song Jaeho’s nose.

The men were out of their minds with terror. The Esper they had brought was C-rank. Much stronger than ordinary people, but not overwhelmingly so, like the power Song Jaeho was currently displaying.

The blood splattered in the air, staining the dark alley floor a gruesome red. Even with the stench of blood filling the air, Song Jaeho’s eyes remained fixed on Bomin’s face.

“Cough…”

Bomin coughed roughly and regained consciousness. The men’s bodies, which had been twisting in grotesque directions, also stopped.

Even with the screams echoing around him, all of Song Jaeho’s senses were focused on Bomin. When his trembling eyelashes finally lifted, revealing his clear eyes, Song Jaeho let out a long, deep breath.

“Hyung… Are you feeling better now…?”

Song Jaeho’s hand caressed Bomin’s pale cheek as if touching the most precious thing in the world. The warmth in his hand finally made his heart feel like it was beating properly.

“I…”

Bomin realized that their separation was near.

It was as if the world had discovered Bomin, who existed in this world like a foreign substance. He felt it instinctively. That his body was about to disappear.

Bomin placed his hand on top of Song Jaeho’s, which was cupping his cheek. Song Jaeho’s eyes also began to waver uncontrollably.

Because he saw Bomin’s body disappearing from his fingertips.

“No…”

He couldn’t lose Bomin like this. He had miraculously gained the power to protect Bomin. He also had the heart to give Bomin everything he would gain without reservation.

He could make Bomin smile by his side for the rest of his life without lifting a finger.

There were dozens of things he hadn’t done with Bomin yet that were coming to mind right now. But why… now of all times…

“Don’t remember me… You’ll be able to endure well on your own…”

For the first time, he felt resentment towards Bomin. He wanted to yell at Bomin for uttering such cruel words with his pretty lips.

But their unprepared separation drew closer. Bomin’s form had already faded up to his arms. The warmth in his hand was still vivid. This couldn’t be happening.

“If you endure… we’ll definitely meet again…”

Bomin’s eyes curved into gentle crescents. Whether this was Song Jaeho’s past or a dream, Bomin would spend the rest of his life with him.

He didn’t know how much his heart ached while watching Song Jaeho in a coma. He learned that you only realize something’s precious after you lose it.

He missed the face that would smile playfully whenever their eyes met. It was unbearable.

Every time he saw Song Jaeho growing thinner by the day with his eyes closed, he felt suffocated. He repeatedly asked Song Jaeho, who couldn’t answer, what kind of dream he was having that he could sleep so soundly.

Were you living in this kind of dream? Then it’s time to wake up. Both you and I.

“I love you, Song Jaeho.”

Bomin lifted his head and gently pressed his lips against Song Jaeho’s, trying to feel his warmth. For a moment, something that might have been someone’s tears flowed down, moistening the space between their lips.

* * *

“Ah...”

Bomin slowly blinked his eyes. A scene quite different from where he had just been filled his vision.

“You’re awake?”

“You…”

Song Jaeho was right in front of him. No, he had been there before he regained consciousness, but his appearance now was both similar and different.

The baby fat on his cheeks had completely disappeared, and his features were more defined. Moreover, Bomin’s lips pouted at the playfulness and affection filling his eyes.

“Oh my.”

Song Jaeho’s eyes shook violently at the tears that fell. He carefully reached out and wiped Bomin’s tears.

As his thumb caressed the flushed skin around Bomin’s eyes, Bomin clung to Song Jaeho and hugged him.

“Sob, why did you wake up so late…?”

Song Jaeho hugged Bomin back, feeling the hot tears wetting his neck. He had been resting Bomin’s head on his arm, gazing endlessly at his sleeping face until he woke up.

“I was playing with hyung in my dream.”

“What…?”

Bomin, inhaling Song Jaeho’s scent deeply, spoke in a trembling voice. He slowly raised his head and met Song Jaeho’s gaze.

Bomin and Song Jaeho were the same age. The term “hyung” (older brother) was what Song Jaeho had called him in the dream he had just been wandering in…

“Did we have the same dream?”

Bomin’s eyes widened. Since entering this place, things that couldn’t be logically explained had been happening constantly, but he hadn’t expected to have the same dream.

“Actually, it’s not so much a dream… but a memory I had forgotten.”

He was amazed that he had forgotten it.

Song Jaeho caressed Bomin’s face, then lowered his head and stole a kiss from his parted lips. Even in the past, Song Jaeho had wanted to taste those lips every time he saw them.

Back then, he was too young and lacked the power to protect Bomin, so he hid his desire and didn’t properly express his feelings.

“Is that… true?”

Bomin raised his hand and rubbed the area that still throbbed as if in pain. Song Jaeho’s eyes hardened coldly.

“Those bastards… I shouldn’t have let them live.”

With an expression of greater anguish than his own, Song Jaeho carefully caressed the place where Bomin’s injury had been.

“It’s really amazing.”

Bomin’s hand had moved unconsciously; he held no ill feelings towards them. He knew that given Song Jaeho’s personality, they would have been crippled, and more importantly, he was now looking into the eyes of the awakened Song Jaeho.

“I missed you so much.”

With tears still welling up in his eyes, Bomin looked at Song Jaeho and smiled brightly. Bomin climbed on top of Song Jaeho.

The thick outline of his body was clearly felt beneath the thin hospital gown. It was the longed-for, familiar touch.

“…Me too. I guess I’ve been missing you all along.”

Song Jaeho, after awakening that day, immediately joined the association and lived there. He always felt like he had lost something, but he didn’t know what it was, so he lived with a constant emptiness in his heart.

He couldn’t truly connect with anyone he met. The emptiness he felt every time he had s*x drove him to meet more people casually.

“Thank you so much for coming to me.”

If he hadn’t met Bomin in his youth, Song Jaeho might have died somewhere in a cold back alley before even awakening.

The pain of almost losing Bomin had awakened his abilities.

Song Jaeho lifted his hand, slipped it inside Bomin’s clothes, and kissed him tenderly. Bomin didn’t back away, and the tip of his tongue, which immediately met Song Jaeho’s, was so sweet that it made his mouth water.

“Let’s never be apart again.”

“Of course.”

Bomin felt the same way; he wanted to be with Song Jaeho forever. He hoped that this would be the last time Song Jaeho would be seriously injured.

If he went through something like this again, his heart wouldn’t be able to take it.

“Can we do it now?”

“Yes.”

He was worried that Bomin might strain himself since he had just woken up from a long coma, but Song Jaeho was even more urgent.

Hugging Song Jaeho’s back tightly as he lunged at him like a beast in heat, Bomin whispered in Song Jaeho’s ear, “I love you, Song Jaeho.”

“Me too. I love you, too.”

Voices with different timbres but identical feelings for each other echoed in the spacious hospital room.