M 185

At the crisp and clean apology, Sehwa’s ragged breathing, which had been heaving as if he were about to roll up his sleeves and attack him, calmed down a little, very slightly.

“You know, my recovery is excessively good.”

Unlike Sehwa, Ki Tae-jeong’s constitution wasn’t clearly defined, and no one bothered to analyze it. It was said that there were occasionally such people among foreign soldiers or mercenaries, so everyone just assumed he was a tough guy born with an inhuman recovery ability.

“I was so afraid that the medicine wouldn’t work and I might make a mistake, or that I might put another burden on your body… that’s why I took more medicine than ordinary people.”

“I,” Ki Tae-jeong said, gently stroking Sehwa’s wet cheek.

“I really hate it when you’re sick. No, I’m scared. Just imagining it for a moment makes it hard for me to breathe.”

“……”

“But even in the midst of all that, you said you wanted to create a family with me again, so I was a little happy and excited.”

“……”

“My heart was all over the place, and I didn’t know what to do. That’s why I tried not to sleep with you recently.”

Ki Tae-jeong ran his thumb over Sehwa’s lips, removing a tiny piece of apple peel that he hadn’t even known was there. Then, he stuck out his tongue and licked his finger, nonchalantly erasing his partner’s sloppy trace. It wasn’t an act meant for show. Sehwa teared up again at his casual care, ingrained in his daily life.

“Why are you crying again, hm?”

Ki Tae-jeong, who was desperately trying to prevent him from experiencing the same thing again, always moved Sehwa. Yet, he was upset every time he saw him neglecting his own body as if it were nothing. It’s okay because his recovery is excessively good. How could he just take medicine recklessly for such a flimsy reason…

Sehwa, who was swallowing tears of frustration, felt like he could understand Ki Tae-jeong’s feelings a little when he had begged him to have a second child. Happy but scared. Happy but also upset. Worried and resentful about why he doesn’t cherish himself like that.

Anyway, unbearable because he loves him….

He couldn’t help but still feel resentful, but it was like ice that had already melted. It was so unfair. When that gruff and authoritarian man revealed his inner thoughts this much, he would helplessly collapse. He would forget all the hurt he had felt and want to understand all of his feelings.

“Then, then… Lieutenant General.”

“Hold on. Sniffle for me”

Sehwa sniffed and wiped his snot on Ki Tae-jeong’s sleeve, then carefully brought up the topic he was most curious about.

“A long time ago.”

“Yeah.”

“Did you sleep with… Second Lieutenant Kwon?”

“…Huh?”

“Second Lieutenant Kwon. You’ve slept with that person, haven’t you?”

“Who did I do what with?”

His voice faltered slightly, more surprised than when he had talked about the vasectomy earlier.

“Did you… do it with other people too… like… three of you, many of you? Using all sorts of things, like that….”

“…What nonsense are you talking about?”

Ki Tae-jeong stared blankly at somewhere on the sheet for a moment. He seemed to be wondering who this ‘Second Lieutenant Kwon’ he had slept with was.

“Are you by any chance talking about Second Lieutenant Kwon Jin-young? So you’re saying I had sex with that bastard?”

“…Is it true? Did you really sleep with him?”

“No, why are you suddenly saying that? Why would I sleep with him?”

“Because you’ve slept with him… even though I only said Second Lieutenant Kwon, you knew right away… how many Kwons are there in the world….”

“There’s only that bastard among the Second Lieutenant with the last name Kwon in the first place… no, that’s not the point, honey.”

“You don’t even want to have sex with me anymore…! Why am I your honey!”

Looking dumbfounded, Ki Tae-jeong stared blankly at Sehwa, then took a long, deep breath. He covered his mouth and turned his head, so Sehwa couldn’t see what kind of expression he was making, which was frustrating. He seemed to be smiling, or maybe a little angry….

“Why! What!”

But really, so what? What did he care if that man was smiling or angry? Sehwa rubbed his face harshly with his sleeve to control the tears that were welling up again. Now everything was upsetting. He hated the mature Ki Tae-jeong, who made him a truly childish and petty person, as if mocking him for harboring such petty and sullen feelings all along.

“Sehwa.”

A solid arm, as if filled with stones, wrapped around Sehwa’s waist. Sehwa, who was about to lean his cheek against his broad chest as a habit, belatedly widened his eyes and tried to distance himself from Ki Tae-jeong. Sehwa knew he must look incredibly ugly, with his eyes strained from trying not to cry and his chin probably wrinkled like a walnut, but he didn’t want to let this be glossed over so easily.

“I get that you’re upset because you heard some bullshit from that bastard Second Lieutenant Kwon. I get it, so just listen to your husband for a minute. Okay?”

“…I don’t want to.”

“You don’t want to?”

“…Yeah. I don’t want to.”

“Oh my. Looks like you’re not my honey, but a baby? Even Hae-rim doesn’t act like this these days.”

“Don’t call me a baby!”

“Okay, okay. You’re not a baby. You’re definitely not. How could I have sex with a baby, right?”

Ki Tae-jeong’s face was full of smiles. He looked so genuinely happy he didn’t know what to do with himself. Sehwa hated it when he sighed because of him, but this was, in its own way, just as annoying.

“…You don’t even do it with me anymore….”

“Ah, I’m telling you, I wasn’t trying not to do it on purpose?”

Ki Tae-jeong’s voice, which had been trying to soothe Sehwa while hiding his bewilderment, was tinged with laughter. Sehwa knew that too, so he glared even more sharply. But his eyes were pink, his nose was pink, and the tips of his tightly clenched hands were also pink, so Sehwa wasn’t threatening at all. Ki Tae-jeong actually wanted to bite him. Like wanting to be hit by a young, immature beast swinging its front paws, just to feel the sensation.

“I don’t know where to start explaining… okay. First of all, I’ve never slept with that bastard, Second Lieutenant Kwon.”

“…Liar….”

“Honey. I’m really sorry that I’m over thirty and I still only know how to use such cheap expressions, but I really care about looks.”

Ki Tae-jeong whispered with a smooth face. He was acting so slick that Sehwa shot him a glare, only for him to now give a light wink.

“So I didn’t like anyone until I met you. Didn’t you know that you’re my first love?”

Ki Tae-jeong raised one eyebrow as if to say that he was also embarrassed and wronged because he was suddenly being compared to such a random bastard.

“But did that bastard really say that? That he used to sleep with me?”

Ki Tae-jeong seemed upset just imagining it, and muttered darkly, “Is that crazy bastard selling the name of an officer and lying? Even to the officer’s spouse?”

“Well, that’s….”

Sehwa mumbled and trailed off. That Second Lieutenant Kwon had said he was wondering if Sehwa would try it with three people, and he had pretended to know Ki Tae-jeong’s tastes very well, but… he hadn’t clearly defined what kind of relationship he had with Ki Tae-jeong.

“You didn’t even know who that bastard was. But you believed everything that a guy you didn’t even know said?”

As Ki Tae-jeong coaxed him with a soft voice, Sehwa’s large, tearful eyes shook violently. Maybe it was because he was naturally gentle, or maybe his drunken tantrum was already over.

Ki Tae-jeong could roughly guess what Second Lieutenant Kwon had said to upset Lee Sehwa. That bastard was famous for being a useless troublemaker who had been disowned by his family. The only thing he was better than Kim Seok-cheol at was that he didn’t do drugs.

He had given instructions to Warrant Officer Choi, so he would hear the detailed situation report tomorrow. He had no intention of letting a bastard who was messing with someone else’s spouse get away with it. Anyway, that was for later, and right now it was time to focus on Lee Sehwa.

“I’m the one who wants to cry, honey. Suddenly being suspected of sleeping with an ugly bastard….”

Anyway, with a face like this, and this hopelessly naive, how could he keep letting him go out? He should have kept him locked up in the house long ago, making him look at only him. He wanted to lock him up inside the house, no, in the bedroom, and not let him take a single step….