HWAMB — Chapter 46

I narrowed my eyes and pressed him. Overwhelmed, Hyun-woo hesitated before finally whispering, so quietly only I could hear in the two-person hospital room,

“…The kiss.”

“K-kiss…?”

“…Was it really that bad?”

“Out of nowhere?”

“…You said I was terrible at it.”

I stared at Hyun-woo, wide-eyed and dumbfounded.

He looked embarrassed, but also a little wounded in his pride.

Kiss?

Which kiss was he even talking about?

‘Wait… did I ever say something like that?’

I racked my brain, desperately searching my memory, but nothing came up.

“…I said that?”

“Yeah.”

“…Seriously…?”

“…”

From the unfocused look in Hyun-woo’s eyes, it didn’t seem like a lie.

I quickly shut my eyes to avoid his gaze.

“…Sorry, but… I don’t remember. When did I say that?”

“That day, when I was taking you out of the storage room.”

“Oh.”

I lowered my head completely to block his gaze.

Now that he said it, maybe I did, maybe I didn’t… But since Hyun-woo was saying it so firmly, I probably did.

The top of my head prickled under his stare.

…Even if I did, did I really say it out loud?

Reading my expression, Hyun-woo smirked crookedly.

“Oh, so you must be pretty experienced, huh?”

“N-no, that’s not—”

Hearing him emphasize the word “kiss,” I hurried to defend myself.

“Th-that time I wasn’t in my right mind! I was feverish, I must’ve been talking nonsense.”

“…What if it was your true feelings coming out unconsciously?”

“No way!”

Shaking like a guilty thief, I denied it. Hyun-woo chuckled.

It was unfair.

I wasn’t in my right mind then!

I don’t even remember saying that, or even how you kissed me!

It’s unfair! Completely unfair!

“Then why don’t we check again while you’re in your right mind? Let’s do it right now.”

“…Do what?”

“A kiss.”

“….”

“What? You scared?”

Before I could react, Hyun-woo pressed his lips against mine.

A hot, suffocating weight pressed down on my lips.

That was when the hazy memory from before started bubbling up.

Between our overlapping lips, faint breaths passed.

Heat spread across my face, making it burn.

Our tongues brushed, then one pulled the other in deeper.

Thick, slippery saliva filled the spaces between us.

But the fantasy shattered quickly.

The raw, indecent sound in my ears was embarrassingly loud.

I tapped Hyun-woo’s shoulder several times.

He either ignored me or was too absorbed to notice.

As he kept clinging, I hesitated, but feeling like I might suffocate, I shoved his shoulders hard.

Exhaling a ragged breath, sweat beaded down my chin and dripped onto the blanket.

Hyun-woo looked at me hungrily, reluctant to stop. I grabbed his flushed face, stammering,

“B-breath!”

“Breath?”

“I can’t breathe!”

Even at my urgent words, Hyun-woo only blinked, not reacting much.

The reaction came belatedly.

So this is why I’d said he was bad at it back then!

As if to confirm something from my reaction, Hyun-woo asked,

“Was it bad?”

“N-no, not bad… I just couldn’t breathe…”

But… weirdly, it felt good too…

Hmm… Maybe it’s just because it’s you…

Muttering under my breath, I saw Hyun-woo’s eyes widen.

“…That’s it?”

“What do you mean, that’s it?”

“You stopped because you couldn’t breathe?”

“…? Yeah…?”

The moment I finished speaking, Hyun-woo suddenly ducked his head.

Flustered, I tried to reassure him.

“So what if you’re not good at it? Not everyone’s a great kisser—”

But before I could finish, Hyun-woo burst out laughing.

Was he laughing to cover up his embarrassment?

Watching me scramble to make excuses, Hyun-woo grinned slyly.

“Hey, Kang Eun-jae. That was your first deep kiss, wasn’t it?”

D-deep kiss?

At those words, my whole body stiffened.

Avoiding his intense stare, I gritted my teeth and stubbornly insisted,

“N-no. I’ve done it before.”

“Oh yeah?”

Well, I wasn’t lying—after all, we kissed on the Ferris wheel before.

Though, if you could call it a kiss… it was more like our lips bumping together clumsily.

Hyun-woo’s grin widened, his lips twitching with laughter he couldn’t hide.

If there were a mouse hole nearby, I’d have gladly crawled into it.

From what I’d heard online and from friends, no one ever said kissing felt suffocating.

I’d gotten confessions, I’d dated before, so I’d naturally assumed Hyun-woo had way more experience than me.

That’s why I thought, compared to that, he was clumsy at kissing. But now it turned out I was his first.

While I was panicking, Hyun-woo looked at me with sheer amusement.

“Why’d you lie about being good at it? Cute.”

Cute? He’d been glaring at me like he’d devour me just minutes ago, saying I must be “pretty experienced”…

“You must’ve done it a lot… If I said I hadn’t… I thought you’d make fun of me…”

“No. It’s fucking hot.”

He smiled, pleased, and planted light pecks on my lips.

Still sulky, I stayed quiet until Hyun-woo chuckled and added,

“You think I’ve done this a lot?”

“…I don’t know. I’m not answering.”

“You’re the first one I’ve kissed too.”

“…What?”

Before I could even process, Hyun-woo sealed my lips again.

Once more, it was deep and consuming, nowhere near ending anytime soon.

Smack, slurp.

Each wet sound tickled my ears, lightning flashing in my head.

I let out faint moans, my shoulders trembling, while Hyun-woo gently slid his tongue deeper to soothe me.

He guided me patiently.

Even as he kissed me, he teased between breaths, whispering, “How is it? Hm? Still think I’m bad? Tell me, Eun-jae. That way I can get better.”

But my mind was already swept up in shock and heat.

Hyun-woo’s first…

Countless questions whirled in my head like hooks dangling in the air.

* * *

Finding it hard to believe, I asked Hyun-woo if it was really his first time, and he said it truly was.

I doubted him a few times, but he didn’t look like he was lying.

When I asked how he could be so good at it then, Hyun-woo answered without even batting an eye.

He said he had practiced a lot on his own.

Even though it was an embarrassingly cheesy thing to say, Hyun-woo said it proudly.

What the hell, why’d you selfishly practice all by yourself?

I went further and asked what his secret practice method was, but he refused to tell me, saying it was a secret.

That day passed like that, and the next day Sang-su and Young-ho came to visit me at the hospital.

They brought a basket of fruit, vanilla ice cream, and even a bouquet of flowers they had hurriedly picked up.

Since I had been craving vanilla ice cream, I couldn’t help but look touched, and Sang-su said,

“Really unlucky to be stuck here in the middle of summer vacation. Get well soon.”

“You’re even in a cast. Is it bad?”

At Young-ho’s question, I shook my head.

I didn’t want to worry my friends unnecessarily, so I told them it was just fixed in place to stop it from getting worse, and that it wasn’t actually that bad.

Looking at the bruises left by the cable ties, Sang-su clicked his tongue.

“By the way, where’s Shim Hyun-woo? Isn’t he supposed to be stuck to you like a leech every day?”

“Right?”

“What the hell, calling someone a leech.”

I had sent Hyun-woo home. He had insisted on staying, but I coaxed him until he finally left.

I felt bad that he had been sleeping crumpled up on the hospital cot every night, and he hadn’t been getting proper sleep while taking care of me.

Besides, my brother came every evening to stay overnight, then went home briefly before heading to work, so I was safe anyway.

Not to mention, this was a VIP single room.

Security was extremely strict. Hyun-woo was just overly worried.

As I ate the vanilla ice cream with a plastic spoon, I said,

“Still, I’m touched. How did you even know I like this? I’ve been craving it for days, but up until yesterday I wasn’t allowed cold food.”

“Is it good?”

“Yeah, of course—”

“That was from Do Jin-gyeong.”

The spoonful of ice cream I was about to eat fell back into the cup with a plop.

I wasn’t ready to deal with the shock, but Sang-su kept talking anyway.

“Oh right, I forgot to say—he couldn’t come up with us because he had to take a call. He should be up soon.”

“Jin—wait, hold on. Do Jin-gyeong?”

I almost called him “Jin-gyeong” out of habit, but then remembered the scene Hyun-woo had made during lunch.

Correcting myself, I said his full name. Young-ho shrugged and said,

“Yeah. He actually contacted us first. Asked if he could come visit with us. Since he helped out that time too, we figured no reason to say no, so we brought him along.”

“R-right, I see.”

I nodded and finished my ice cream.

When I had sent him a thank-you text, we had only exchanged formal words, and he never said anything about coming, so I was a little surprised, but it was fine.

‘Besides, there were things I needed to talk about anyway.’

I’d felt that just saying thanks by text wasn’t enough, so I had already decided to thank him properly in person once I was discharged.

Knock knock, someone entered the room.

It was Do Jin-gyeong. Dressed casually, he looked different from when I had last seen him at the collaboration café.

He hesitated and gave me a greeting with his eyes, and I returned it.

The atmosphere instantly turned awkward, as if cold water had been poured over us.

Sensing it, Sang-su glanced between us and said,

“Hey, Kang Eun-jae. We’re heading down to the café downstairs—want anything?”

Catching his intent immediately, I quickly answered,

“Oh, I’ll take a banana smoothie.”

“What about you, Do Jin-gyeong?”

“Ah… I’m fine—”

“Come on. You already paid for all of Eun-jae’s gifts earlier.”

Pressured by the firm tone, Jin-gyeong nervously answered, “…Then a latte…”

It almost looked like a big gentle dog being scolded by its owner.

“Oh! Then I’ll get a latte too—oof!”

“What latte, you’re coming with me.”

“Ugh, such a pain… Fine, just slow down!”

Before Young-ho could even complain further, Sang-su dragged him out. Jin-gyeong let out a small sigh of amazement watching them.

As soon as the door closed, the room grew silent, like a storm had just passed.

After a pause, Jin-gyeong quietly asked me,

“…How’s your body?”

“Yeah. I’m feeling a lot better.”

“…That’s a relief.”

His expression had been grim when he first saw my leg, but after hearing my answer, a faint smile appeared on his face.

Then, slowly and cautiously, he continued,

“Sang-su stepped out on purpose, didn’t he?”

“Probably. He’s pretty quick to catch on.”

“…I feel kind of bad now.”

“Actually, I had something to say to you too.”

At that, Jin-gyeong tensed slightly.