CI 2.10

“Um…I’m done showering.”

“Hmm, hmm. Good. Here, have this hot drink. You’ll feel better after drinking it, since it’s cold right now.”

As Son Yeo-il hesitantly stepped out of the bathroom, Won Hee-yeon, who had been pacing in front of it, quickly handed him a teacup filled with citron tea. By the time he held the cup in his hands, Won Hee-yeon had already gone in to shower.

So Hee-yeon decided to shower too. No, of course, he got rained on, so it’s not strange…But…

Once his imagination started flowing in that direction, it expanded endlessly. He became so distracted that he couldn’t even tell if the citron tea was sweet or bitter.

He thought he should sit somewhere to calm his heart, but looking inside the room, there was only an absurdly large bed lying in the middle. It was the item that three strong men had struggled to bring in on the day Won Hee-yeon had moved in.

The room was so packed with the bed that there was nowhere else to sit, but he didn’t dare sit on Won Hee-yeon’s bed. In the end, Son Yeo-il remained standing where he had received the teacup, taking sips from his citron tea every now and then.

The sound of water from the bathroom heightened the tension even more. In fact, Won Hee-yeon was trying his hardest to finish showering as quickly as possible, but to Son Yeo-il standing outside, that time felt incredibly long. His heart was beating so fiercely in his chest that he thought he might faint in the next moment.

Ah. The water sound…stopped.

When the bathroom door opened and Won Hee-yeon appeared, Son Yeo-il unconsciously gasped. He hadn’t noticed earlier because he had just passed by, but Won Hee-yeon fresh from the shower looked different from usual. He looked younger, perhaps? Or more moist?

His hair, which he usually styled sleekly with pomade, now fell naturally, half-covering his forehead. There had been only one time before when Won Hee-yeon had such a hairstyle. The night when Son Yeo-il first met him.

Given the current situation, his half-blurred memories of being drunk began to resurface. Since they were too stimulating to recall right now, a flush began to rise on Son Yeo-il’s cheeks.

“What are you looking at? My face will wear out.”

Only upon hearing Won Hee-yeon’s voice filled with laughter did Son Yeo-il realize he had been staring at him too openly. Before he could avert his gaze, Won Hee-yeon’s hand touched him. The fingers that had brushed back his tousled hair slid down and fidgeted with Son Yeo-il’s ear. Physical contact seemed to have become distinctly more natural and uninhibited. With even his ear tips turning red, Son Yeo-il set the teacup down on the sink.

“The tea was good.”

“Have you been standing here the whole time? Sit down somewhere.”

“Um, there’s nowhere to…”

He was about to say “There’s only the bed,” but Son Yeo-il hesitated, too embarrassed to utter the word “bed” itself. Won Hee-yeon smoothly reached down again and pulled at Son Yeo-il’s wrist.

“What do you mean there’s nowhere to sit?”

Striding into the room, Won Hee-yeon plopped down on the edge of the bed and patted his thick thigh with his palm.

“You want me to sit there?”

“Why not?”

“What are you planning to do?”

“What do you think I’m planning?”

Won Hee-yeon asked languidly while very lightly tugging at Son Yeo-il’s wrist. Though he pulled, it was such a gentle gesture that it couldn’t have broken even a single flower. Yet Son Yeo-il allowed himself to be drawn and sat down on the other man’s lap.

Pretending to give in while actually being able to resist was something he did with a kind of resolve. He thought that whatever followed, he could just surrender himself to the flow of the moment.

But once he actually settled into Won Hee-yeon’s embrace, the tension that had momentarily subsided rose again. They weren’t sitting face-to-face with legs apart—he was just perched on his body with his legs neatly together, leaning the side of his shoulder against him, but even just that made his heart flutter.

This is driving me crazy. Can he hear my heartbeat?

The more conscious he became of it, the more the tension grew, and Son Yeo-il’s body became increasingly stiff. Perhaps sensing his shoulders tensing, Won Hee-yeon gently patted Son Yeo-il’s back. Despite the warm comfort, Son Yeo-il remained as rigid as a pole.

After patting him like that for a while, Won Hee-yeon finally burst into laughter. Son Yeo-il, who already thought he looked ridiculous, asked in a flustered manner, “Why are you laughing?”

“When I was little…”

Talking about his childhood at this time? Son Yeo-il was puzzled, but since Won Hee-yeon’s voice was particularly low and moist, he decided to listen silently for now.

“When I was about twenty-something, I worked in Seoul. There was a cat in the neighborhood where I lived. Its fur was yellow like straw catching the sunlight, but it was quite skittish. I fed it a few times, afraid it might starve to death, so it started recognizing me.”

“…”

“One time, I was smoking next to it while it was eating, and this cat kept glancing at me. It was dying of curiosity, I guess. So after I finished my cigarette, I thought I’d try to pet it and placed my hand right on its back. But this thing that had been looking at me moments before, suddenly froze! Just like a statue.”

“…You’re not suggesting I’m like that cat, are you?”

Even as Son Yeo-il asked with evident disgust in his voice, Won Hee-yeon continued chuckling.

“Later we became closer, but I got bitten a lot by that thing. Those cats, you know. They’ll purr and enjoy being petted, then suddenly bite your hand sharply. I think when they feel too good, they suddenly get scared that I might do something to them at that moment.”

“…”

“They’re smart creatures, right? Sure, that’s the right approach. How harsh is this world? It’s so admirable and cute how they stay vigilant to protect themselves.”

It was unmistakable. This was a story about a cat and simultaneously a story about Son Yeo-il. Even if his face was somewhat handsome, comparing an adult man to a cat was embarrassing.

Son Yeo-il was about to rebuke him for saying strange things but stopped and suddenly clamped his mouth shut. Won Hee-yeon’s eyes were filled with warm and tender energy as he looked at him. Not just saying it, but truly like someone who found Son Yeo-il so cute and admirable that he didn’t know what to do.

How can he be like this? After I treated him so badly.

Honestly, he had behaved terribly in front of him many times. He would act amicably and then suddenly turn cold and snippy, get angry and chase him away, then cling to him, while crying. He couldn’t fully understand why he was being so fickle, but it seemed Won Hee-yeon understood the depths of his heart well.

Everything he said was right. Son Yeo-il enjoyed getting closer to him but was afraid, and so he acted more petulantly. It was a petulance he wouldn’t have needed if he were a strong and solid person.

He had wondered how the other man could tolerate the weakest and shabbiest parts of himself that even he couldn’t like. Now he realized that Won Hee-yeon wasn’t just tolerating Son Yeo-il’s rough edges, but that he actually found them endearing.

How did he end up meeting someone like this? Something welled up inside him, and Son Yeo-il couldn’t say anything. Won Hee-yeon tapped the tip of his nose. The upper part of his palate seemed to tingle, and he felt his nose turning red.

“Why are you about to cry again?”

“I’m not crying.”

“Heh. Now you’re good at pretending too.”

As if checking whether he was crying or not, Won Hee-yeon slowly touched Son Yeo-il’s eyes and cheeks. A subtle warmth spread wherever his hand touched.

Son Yeo-il gazed into Won Hee-yeon’s eyes. He could no longer run away from that gaze. He didn’t want to run away anymore. The moment he gently closed his eyes, without anyone taking the lead, their lips moved toward each other.

The feeling of touching and separating like a bird rubbing its beak against something was meltingly soft. Before he could get used to the sensation of lightly interlocking as if tapping, Won Hee-yeon naturally entered between Son Yeo-il’s parted lips.

Ah, what do I do now?

The moment Won Hee-yeon’s hot tongue began to touch him, Son Yeo-il could no longer think of anything. Won Hee-yeon moved with gentle persistence, bleaching Son Yeo-il’s mind white.

He tickled the sensitive spot on the roof of the other man’s mouth, came in deeply to rub against his tongue, and sometimes wrapped around his tongue to pull it toward him.

While his head was already going blank just from the kiss, Won Hee-yeon also subtly caressed Son Yeo-il with both hands. The hand that had been on his cheek naturally flowed to the side, playing with his earlobe before burrowing into his hair, while the other hand wandered over the small of his back.

Though he didn’t want to act like an amateur, Son Yeo-il was just barely keeping up with Won Hee-yeon’s lead. With the strange sensations blooming all over his body, he kept forgetting to breathe.

“Mmph, hnngg…!”

In the brief moment when their deeply interlocking lips parted, a breathless exclamation burst from Son Yeo-il’s lips. The room, which had only been filled with the sound of mucous membranes touching and separating, only had sounds that seemed sweet and sticky even to Son Yeo-il’s ears. Embarrassed by this, his body trembled from head to toe.

Won Hee-yeon seemed to immediately notice Son Yeo-il’s agitation. The movement licking inside his mouth slowed a bit, and he thought the other man might be trying to match his pace, but he abruptly removed his lips from his.

Though panting, Son Yeo-il quickly opened his eyes out of regret. Won Hee-yeon was staring at him with a somewhat mischievous expression from a distance close enough for their breaths to mingle.

The moment their eyes met directly, Won Hee-yeon extended his tongue and licked Son Yeo-il’s lower lip. Surprised by the action, Son Yeo-il tried to pull his head back, but Won Hee-yeon’s hand was lightly gripping the back of his head.

Trapped without being able to move, Son Yeo-il could only watch as the man tormented his lips. After rubbing with his tongue, lightly biting, and then kissing again repeatedly, he tugged at Son Yeo-il’s lip and held it between his own lips.

“Mm, nngh.”

A stifled sound flowed through his parted lips. Embarrassed yet feeling his body slowly heat up, Son Yeo-il tightly gripped the chest part of Won Hee-yeon’s T-shirt.

As if this were some tremendous stimulus, Won Hee-yeon’s hand firmly gripped the nape of Son Yeo-il’s neck. His other hand pulled his waist closer to him. Son Yeo-il, being drawn to him in his languid state, suddenly started at a sense of incongruity that arose.

Wait. This thing that’s under my thigh right now…

He hadn’t noticed because he was so focused on the kiss, but at some point, Son Yeo-il was sitting on something hard and thick like a wine bottle.

This is…that, right?

He had felt it when he was caught after staggering at the valley, but Won Hee-yeon’s manhood was emitting an unbelievable presence. Upon realizing this, all of Son Yeo-il’s nerves were drawn to his own lower body.

Son Yeo-il felt various emotions. A sense of crisis that this was no time to be losing himself in just a kiss, a feeling of helplessness about what to do, and at the same time, shamefully, anticipation. Despite never having properly done anything while sober, his eagerness made him increasingly curious about what would come next.

“Oh my, this guy’s a bit impatient, isn’t he? Sometimes he starts the engine even before receiving the start signal.”

When Son Yeo-il showed awareness of that area by fidgeting his buttocks, Won Hee-yeon joked. The calculating man was pretending to be embarrassed while mumbling, but his eyes were examining Son Yeo-il’s expression the entire time.

Son Yeo-il tried to hide his feelings somehow, but in front of Won Hee-yeon, he was like a mouse in the palm of the other man’s hand. Realizing that Son Yeo-il’s mood was stirring, he grinned with a confident smile.

“But you know, he’s not a bad guy.”

The hand on Son Yeo-il’s waist moved down and directly grasped his buttocks. Before Son Yeo-il could be surprised, Won Hee-yeon pulled more, pressing their already close lower bodies even closer together.

“How about greeting each other? Shouldn’t you two become closer on this occasion?”

“W-What greeting…”

“This guy is now yours, husband, so you’ll come to find him pretty if you keep looking. If you look closely, he has cute aspects too.”

Whenever Won Hee-yeon wiggled his waist, the hard pillar of flesh beneath Son Yeo-il’s buttocks rubbed against him. Through the thin pajamas, its silhouette and volume were felt entirely. Contrary to Won Hee-yeon’s description of it being “cute,” it seemed only menacing.

But for some reason, even while making a disgusted expression, Son Yeo-il felt blood rushing to his lower body. Just as he was becoming confused by his own excitement at such nonsense, Won Hee-yeon tilted his head to one side slightly and covered his lips with his again.

“Mmph, mph…!”

When Won Hee-yeon’s finger pressed firmly on his lower jaw, Son Yeo-il’s lips opened much wider than before. As if all the kisses until now were merely a refreshing introduction, Won Hee-yeon moved in a sticky and persistent manner.

He would strongly suck in Son Yeo-il’s tongue until its root ached, then push in as if wrapping around it to lick deep inside his mouth. Even when Son Yeo-il tried to escape because he couldn’t breathe, he persistently followed and thoroughly stirred everything inside.

The hot fingers that had been feeling over the T-shirt soon burrowed inside. They caressed his lower back, sides, the protruding bones of his ribs, and then his flat chest. His already insufficient breath became completely ragged.

“Hnn, ngh.”

Even though no one had touched them, his nipples stood erect on their own. His nerves focused on an area he had never considered sensitive or pleasurable before. After gently caressing that spot as if coaxing it, Won Hee-yeon lightly pinched and twisted it between two fingers as if conducting an experiment.

“Hnng!”

A thrilling stimulation surged as if it had been waiting for this all along. It was fascinating how the pleasure was as distinct as the tingling pain. Satisfied with his response, Won Hee-yeon licked Son Yeo-il’s lips with a drawn smile.

“Husband. How shall I please you?”

That “husband” phrase should have completely killed the mood, but Son Yeo-il only blinked his hazy eyes without making any response. Won Hee-yeon placed Son Yeo-il, who was in his arms, down on the bed with a motion as natural as flowing water.

The sheets that enveloped him were cool, and Won Hee-yeon’s hands, which had been very hot until just now, felt lukewarm. It was because Son Yeo-il’s body had also heated up in the meantime. When Won Hee-yeon climbed on top of Son Yeo-il, he even felt a pleasant weight.

“Hmm? Where does it feel good for you?”

Son Yeo-il was already in a daze, so what more pleasure did he intend to give? If he wanted to please him, he should keep touching him like before, so why did he stop and just stare at him so intensely? With a feeling of disappointment and irritation, Son Yeo-il shook his head.

“I-I don’t know.”

“What don’t you know?”

“I don’t know. Hnn, since I don’t know, Hee-yeon should…”

When Son Yeo-il said “Hee-yeon,” his manhood that was touching his flesh twitched greatly. A fierce spark seemed to light up in his eyes as well.

The moment he felt an instinctive fear, Won Hee-yeon removed Son Yeo-il’s pajama top with his large, thick hand. To be precise, he grabbed the front with one hand and tore it at once. Buttons fell off with a clatter and bounced in all directions.