RSL Ch 112

“Wow.”

Seo-jin’s first reaction after tasting the braised short ribs was admiration. Jae-yi also tasted a piece with a proud expression. It was a success. Perhaps because the meat was good, it seemed even better than last time. He felt a sense of pride watching Seo-jin enjoy his meal.

The day was almost over. It was already dark outside, and cars were starting to move around again. The world was slowly turning back to normal. He felt a bit regretful because he had enjoyed the time spent lounging at home with Seo-jin all day.

The movie they had put on was in the midst of a highlight filled with gunfights, but the two of them lay on the sofa, kissing for a long time. Jae-yi, who had Seo-jin’s legs resting on him, naturally pressed his lips against Seo-jin’s and reached for the remote to lower the volume. It was the moment when his prediction that they would end up kissing came true.

“The fever has gone down, but there might still be some virus left.”

“Then I should take a sick leave too, right? Will you cancel your flight and stay by my side?”

“Yeah.”

Seo-jin’s answer was so simple that Jae-yi felt suspicious, so he asked again.

“Are you serious? It can’t be that easy.”

“I can just say I have a stomachache and lie down.”

In an instant, he imagined Seo-jin lying on the airport floor, clutching his stomach. If someone else did that, it would look like a classic case of faking illness, but since it was him, it felt like an emergency.

“Sometimes, Seo-jin, when you seriously talk about something ridiculous, I get a bit confused. I can’t tell if you’re serious or not.”

“That was serious. You know I don’t joke around.”

“Yeah, maybe that’s why I’m happy.”

How could he not be moved when Seo-jin was willing to cancel a flight he loved so much just to stay by his side? Jae-yi had worried that things might cool down after marriage, but that was an unfounded fear. Seo-jin expressed his feelings more than before and cherished him with all his might.

“Sometimes, you know, you try to compete with the airplane for no reason.”

He looked at Seo-jin, wondering what he was trying to say.

“You don’t need to. You always win. Without a second thought, you are my top priority.”

Seo-jin looked a bit aggrieved as if to say, ‘Why don’t you know that?’ He also mentioned that flying had become so routine that a lot of the excitement had faded. He said it was the fate of those who made their passion their profession. He admitted that sometimes, he felt heavy-hearted about going to the airport.

With his heartfelt confession, Jae-yi smiled brightly.

“But if you put it that way, haven’t I also become a routine now? They say it gets even more so when you live together.”

“Yeah. I thought that would be the case too, but it doesn’t seem like it yet.”

Seo-jin continued to speak softly.

“You’ve been busy lately. I’ve been a bit free. Waiting alone at home, I can’t express how happy I am when you come. And no matter how tired you are, you never show it. You always have that smiling face. Yeah, this.”

He reached out and touched Jae-yi’s lips and cheeks, which were smiling. Jae-yi overlapped his hand over his and intertwined their fingers.

It felt good to know he was aware of that. No matter how much stress he faced outside, he didn’t want to bring it home. Thanks to that, he had become extremely sensitive at work, but Seo-jin forgot Jae-yi’s angry expression.

Their married life was now in its first year. The task for the newlywed couple was to ‘spend more time with each other.’ Due to Seo-jin’s job circumstances, they usually had to schedule anything a month in advance. Even though his flight times had decreased, he wasn’t a regular office worker, so attending weekend gatherings was difficult.

All events like gatherings with spouses, close friends’ birthday parties, weddings, and baby showers were crammed into the weekends. He knew well that the requests from friends to show off their partner were not just out of curiosity towards a gay couple, yet he had to decline every time.

“Oh, by the way, Alain is coming next Saturday.”

Jae-yi made a face as if he was hearing it for the first time.

“Really? I haven’t received any contact.”

“He tried calling you first, but you didn’t pick up.”

That seemed plausible. He might have been in a meeting or busy with something else. It was highly likely that upon seeing the name on his phone, he dismissed it as someone unimportant. To Jae-yi, Alain was that kind of person.

“It seems he has some filming near Zindeling. He suggested we all have dinner together after a long time.”

“Not drinking?”

“Anything.”

“What time? Are you okay with it?”

“Yeah. I don’t have a weekend flight for the first time in a while.”

“Alain is lucky.”

In fact, there was a wedding of a colleague on Saturday. He thought he could attend the after-party, so he planned to take Seo-jin with him, but that opportunity vanished again. He grumbled inwardly about how the French guy couldn’t set a date properly, but of course, he decided to meet him. Alain was that kind of person to Jae-yi.

“Is he coming to our place?”

“No, he said he doesn’t have a hobby of visiting newlyweds and asked us to come to a restaurant he knows.”

It was quite displeasing to hear about a restaurant from a local Munich resident, but since he was a friend who appreciated good taste, they decided to meet there.

As they chatted, the night grew quite late. The plot of the movie they intended to watch was half-forgotten, replaced by stories about friends, work superiors, and family.

As the time came when the sofa started to feel uncomfortable, they moved to the bedroom, and Jae-yi made a warm cup of tea for Seo-jin. After confirming that he was leaning against the headboard with a book, Jae-yi went to take a shower.

Perhaps because he had been cooking, there was a slight smell of soy sauce on his body. He looked in the mirror while taking off his clothes. A man in his early thirties was smiling back at him. The ease that came from a stable life had naturally created a smile on his face.

He was lucky.

It couldn’t be said that everything had perfectly fallen into place, but that was an area beyond human control, so he decided not to be greedy.

After all, he was living with him. The formality of marriage was just a secondary device; what mattered was that they were together now. He felt every day, every second, that both their hearts and bodies were entirely directed towards each other. Jae-yi was savoring the sweetest part of the many chapters of his long life.

The hot water from the shower flowed down Jae-yi’s head, back, and shoulders. As his muscles relaxed and fatigue melted away, warmth naturally rose in his lower body. Ignoring his erect cock, he applied shower gel and lathered up. Even though he hadn’t intended to, the slippery sensation instinctively aroused his desire. He hesitated for a moment.

Since he wouldn’t be able to do anything today, should he take care of it himself?

He always wanted sex, but he didn’t want to torment someone who had just barely recovered from being sick. Seo-jin had the next day off as well, so there would be plenty of opportunities, and he wanted to wait until Seo-jin was in better condition.

It might be because they were newlyweds, but aside from that, Jae-yi had a bit of a desire for intimacy. The more he had sex with Seo-jin, the thirstier he became. Jae-yi had few sexual taboos and wanted to try various things, but Seo-jin didn’t seem very curious about that side of things.

Seo-jin didn’t hold back. He was active and spoke exactly what he wanted. However, he always preferred the missionary position. He said he was perfectly satisfied and enjoyed just having ordinary sex comfortably on the bed. He didn’t want to try changing locations or using tools.

‘This is really the worst.’

The reason they had their first fight after getting married was also about sex. Rather than a fight, it was more that Seo-jin was unilaterally angry, but Jae-yi felt somewhat wronged, so he didn’t apologize right away.

On the day they stayed overnight at Seo-jin’s family home, in the very room where young Maximilian used to stay, Jae-yi requested penetrative sex. He wanted to. In that place where memories of their childhood were piled up, he wanted to embrace him openly.

He touched Seo-jin’s body, which kept refusing, and excited him. Males are weak to their instincts. He had given him several chances to say if he really didn’t want to, yet he accepted anyway. So they went all the way. That’s when he heard him say it was the worst.

‘Did you forget that I said I didn’t want to do it at my parents’ house?’

‘So why don’t you want to? Are you embarrassed?’

‘It’s just that it feels a bit wrong to do this in this room.’

It was truly a regrettable thing to say, but while saying that, he wanted to embrace the angry Seo-jin once more. Of course, he held back, thinking that he might hear about divorce if he did that, and tried to sleep. The bed in that room was really small. They couldn’t lie down together without overlapping their bodies.

It was strange. Was his memory wrong? He distinctly remembered that it hadn’t been like that 17 years ago. How did two grown boys sleep in that narrow space?

After school, he had spent countless nights in Seo-jin’s room, which he had visited out of habit. Like boys of that age typically did, they drank alcohol or smoked. They had locked the door and watched porn together, but in truth, Jae-yi had little interest in porn itself. He had just brought it to see Seo-jin’s reaction.

The result was a great success. The front of sixteen-year-old Woo Seo-jin’s pants bulged as he stared at the screen quite academically. But somehow, seeing that made him feel bad. He vividly remembered pulling his hand, suggesting they go downstairs to play video games instead.

Only after some time did he admit that all of that had stemmed from his sexual desire for him.

From their first kiss to their first sex, and then to their first penetration, they had followed the standard progression of a relationship. Only when it came to deciding positions did Jae-yi commit a foul. The plan to calmly talk and persuade him fell apart the moment he saw his insides.

He had pushed forward under the premise that Seo-jin could refuse if he wanted, but in reality, he didn’t even give him the luxury of refusing. As he inserted himself into him, which was already about to burst, he greedily asked if it hurt.

Finally, when he accepted his and they moved together, he felt this was real sex. All previous experiences were nothing. A thin shell that had still remained somewhere finally shattered completely at that moment.

Hot semen was washed away by the stream of water from the shower. It was just a brief recollection of the past, yet he quickly reached his climax. What an easy body. Jae-yi murmured to himself as he finished and stepped out.

When he opened the bedroom door, Seo-jin put down his book. He walked over to him and touched his forehead. Seo-jin looked up at him and reported on his condition first.

“I don’t have a fever. I think I’m really better now.”

“Thank goodness. Should I bring you more?”

Jae-yi looked down at the empty teacup.

“No, I’m feeling sleepy because of the tea.”

“It’s not the tea; it’s because of this.”

Jae-yi flicked the cover of the book Seo-jin was holding. Then, he took it without permission, collapsed onto the bed, and opened the first page. He read the first line aloud.

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. It was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.”

Hmm.

After closing the book on his chest, Jae-yi looked up at Seo-jin. Seo-jin smiled in disbelief and asked what was wrong.

“Why do you keep reading such classics over and over? I feel like you must have finished it at least ten years ago.”

He was curious why he was reading a novel by Charles Dickens, which was quite a classic, now. He only had memories of being forced to read it as an assignment back in high school.

“Just because. I read a French novel recently, and it was fun. I wanted to revisit related books.”

“What was it about?”

“Well, it was obviously a fiction about the French Revolution.”

“Why are you reading it in Korean then?”

“The original is at my parents’ house.”

“Got it.”

Having run out of things to say, he quietly looked up at him. After the interrogation ended, a brief silence passed as their gazes met. Jae-yi waited, wondering if he would give him a kiss, and sure enough, Seo-jin lowered his head and kissed him. His soft tongue brushed through his mouth.

“Do you dislike me reading books?”

Seo-jin whispered, their noses touching.

“Not at all. It’s so attractive that I wish you would hold back a bit.”

Jae-yi chuckled.

“But why are you being so petulant?”

“Anything that monopolizes Woo Seo-jin when I’m with you is a target for removal.”

“I was going to cover it up when you came in.”

“Yeah. I know.”

A few more gentle breaths passed between them. Jae-yi cupped Seo-jin’s face, which was trying to pull away slightly, and kissed him deeply. After sucking on his lips until they made a sound, he finally let him go. Then, he gently caressed Seo-jin’s cheek, which was looking down at him.

“Actually, I once had a conversation about classical literature with some people. Somehow, the topic drifted that way, and before I knew it, I was listing the works you like. I spoke passionately as if I had read them myself. It’s all thanks to how well I’ve absorbed what you usually say.”

“What works were they?”

“Faust, Macbeth. And what else? Dante’s Divine Comedy, maybe?”

A chuckle escaped from Seo-jin’s lips.

“Have you ever read even one of those completely?”

“Of course not. I haven’t finished a book since The Lord of the Rings.”

“Wow, you’re something else.”

Seo-jin was about to ask how he had passed the bar exam, but Jae-yi stopped him with a gesture. He wrapped his arms around Seo-jin’s neck and pulled him closer, suggesting they should just continue what they were doing instead of indulging in such pointless curiosity.