TSG 110

The final stage of their day-long intimacy was the sweet whisper of love as they gazed into each other’s eyes.

“I don’t mind loving only you for a lifetime.”

“No, you can’t.”

“But I want to.”

“I’m telling you, it’s not allowed.”

“Se-hyun. You’re the only one for me. So let me do it.”

…Is this really sweet?

“I appreciate that you want to see only me for life, but to tattoo it on your body? I’m against that.”

Se-hyun shook his head when Shin Tae-oh suggested getting a permanent tattoo as a symbol of love.

“Not on my body, but on my face. Here.” Shin Tae-oh tapped his forehead.

“I’ll write ‘Ahn Se-hyun’ here.”

“No way!”

Se-hyun flatly refused, horrified by the absurd idea Shin Tae-oh suggested so casually.

He even dropped formalities.

“Why not?”

“Why not? Who tattoos someone else’s name on their face?”

“Then should I ask for your face to be drawn? I was thinking of getting that on my body.”

Se-hyun tried to pull away from Shin Tae-oh with a serious expression but froze when something inside him shifted, reminding him of the fact that it had barely been ten minutes since their heated session ended. Se-hyun silently counted in his head.

We had a good time, let’s not get excited.

“Please, calm down. Don’t even think about putting anything on that handsome face of yours.”

“If you don’t like that, can I wallpaper my house with your photos?”

“No.”

Se-hyun immediately shut him down, and he could see Tae-oh’s eyes spinning with new ideas. Instead of feeling curious, he was nervous about what would come next.

“It’s all no.”

Se-hyun said firmly, rejecting Shin Tae-oh’s thoughts before he could even voice them, leaving Shin Tae-oh looking a bit disappointed.

“Then we could just live together.”

This was how this ridiculous conversation had started in the first place.

Shin Tae-oh romantically suggested that he wanted to see Se-hyun every day and live together. Se-hyun rejected it without a second thought.

Since we were not going to break up, so why not? Shin Tae-oh then pivoted to wanting something more permanent, like a tattoo.

“Tae-oh-ya.”

Unable to bear it anymore, Se-hyun sat up, cradling his forehead and sighing.

Having a lover who loved him was nice, but it was giving him a headache that this lover was now throwing an unreasonable tantrum.

“I like you too, Tae-oh.”

Se-hyun massaged his temple, pressing hard against the veins now visible on his forehead, trying to calm himself down enough to reason with Shin Tae-oh.

“But why are you in such a rush? We’ve only been dating for a short time, and already you want to live together and get tattoos.”

As he spoke, an exasperated Se-hyun glared at Shin Tae-oh’s forehead. He wanted to hit that forehead just once.

“Next thing you know, you’ll be proposing marriage.”

At this analogy meant to show how fast things were moving, Shin Tae-oh’s face lit up.

No way.

“Then let’s get married.”

When Shin Tae-oh promptly proposed, Se-hyun smacked him on the forehead.

“Please calm down.”

“I am perfectly calm.”

“Not at all. In your head, you’ve already had two kids… No, forget it. Let’s stop there.”

Se-hyun changed his words, fearing that if he mentioned having two kids, Shin Tae-oh would immediately want to have them. He wasn’t sure if he was dealing with a lover or a child.

“Tae-oh-ya.”

“Yes, Se-hyun-ah.”

“Let’s take it slow.”

Se-hyun spoke first before Shin Tae-oh could open his mouth again.

“Let’s not rush. Right now, just being together is good and exciting, isn’t it? It’s not too late to decide after we get to know each other better.”

“By that logic, it’s not too soon for us to start living together now.”

“What do you mean…”

“Se-hyun. You know me best. Are you saying you don’t know me at all after being my secretary for three years? You’ve seen all of me now.”

Se-hyun barely resisted falling for Shin Tae-oh’s sweet smile as he caressed his cheek.

“Stop with the tricks.”

What does he mean by ‘all of me’? Strictly speaking, wasn’t it Se-hyun who had been fully exposed?

Se-hyun’s eyes hardened, showing he couldn’t accept any of Shin Tae-oh’s proposals.

“No means no.”

“If I had known this would happen, I should have gotten an answer when you were distracted during your heat.”

Shin Tae-oh, seemingly regretful that the heat cycle had already passed, subtly released his pheromones like a thread. He seemed to be trying to steal Se-hyun’s reason with pheromones, but it wouldn’t work.

“Do you want to get kicked out?”

At the threat, the pheromones dissipated as if nothing had happened. Se-hyun sighed and lay down, resting his head on Shin Tae-oh’s arm.

“Let’s sleep. We’ll continue this conversation after we wake up.”

Se-hyun, who had returned to his usual self, patted Shin Tae-oh’s arm.

Shin Tae-oh closed his eyes in agreement with Se-hyun’s peace treaty to postpone their argument for now.

Watching Shin Tae-oh quickly fall asleep, Se-hyun gently stroked his forehead.

“Let’s go slowly and for a long time.”

⍣⍣⍣

“It’s my fault for trusting Shin Tae-oh.”

Se-hyun gritted his teeth as if he had been tricked.

He thought Shin Tae-oh’s proposal to live together had been somewhat settled when they left the hotel. After parting ways with Shin Tae-oh and returning home, Se-hyun was greeted by a house in complete disarray—like Santa Claus had come and gone, except it wasn’t gifts but chaos.

It wasn’t a thief since none of Se-hyun’s belongings were missing. Instead, familiar items were placed here and there.

Not his belongings, but Shin Tae-oh’s.

Shin Tae-oh’s clothes, underwear, bags, shoes… He had even moved the photos of himself that he had kept in the safe.

Setting aside how he managed to move all this so quickly, Se-hyun vividly remembered Shin Tae-oh’s innocent expression as he waved goodbye before they parted.

Seeing Shin Tae-oh’s pillow on the bed, Se-hyun’s patience snapped, and he strode to the front door with rough steps.

“Hi.”

As if he knew Se-hyun would come out, Shin Tae-oh stood in front, waving his hand cheerfully.

“What is all this?”

“I brought my things instead since I shouldn’t touch your stuff without permission.”

“Why?”

“I’m yours, right? So everything of mine inside is yours…”

“Nonsense.”

“I want to be with you, but it feels like your underwear is about to burst.”

“You crazy bastard.”

“Look even now. I thought I’d die missing you after not seeing you for a bit.”

“Stop it before I crack your skull open to see what you’re thinking.”

As Se-hyun spoke while holding his forehead, Shin Tae-oh thought for a moment before blurting out:

“How did you bear not saying what you wanted to say all this time?”

How did he hold back? He answered silently—I didn’t. I said it all in my head.

“Can I sleep here just for one night?”

They had just spent three days together at the hotel, and yet Shin Tae-oh acted as if nothing had happened, asking so nonchalantly.

“No.”

“When are you going to buy me a meal for losing the bet?”

“We already had that with room service, didn’t we?”

“Did we?”

Shin Tae-oh’s rolling eyes showed no signs of backing down.

“If you’re just going to keep coming up with excuses to cling to me…”

“Just for today.”

Although Se-hyun had said he wouldn’t fall for any tricks, he couldn’t resist the sincere look in Shin Tae-oh’s eyes.

⍣⍣⍣

Since it had been a while since they’d been home, there wasn’t much in the refrigerator. In the end, they faced each other eating convenience store lunch boxes and ramen.

“Should we have eaten something better?”

As Shin Tae-oh looked over the lunch box regretfully, Se-hyun, who had just swallowed a sip of ramen broth, shook his head.

“You should have said that before we started eating.”

Were the two empty lunch boxes next to Shin Tae-oh just for decoration? And despite almost finishing the pork stir-fry in front of him, he still had more to say.

“I guess so.”

Shin Tae-oh followed Se-hyun and drank the ramen broth. Watching Shin Tae-oh eat well after having spent time together several times, Se-hyun couldn’t help but smile.

It was different from eating alone. Everything tasted delicious when he was with Shin Tae-oh. Everything felt so precious that even these moments were cherished.

He liked the scent of his own pheromones mixed with Shin Tae-oh’s, and he liked how Shin Tae-oh would sneakily steal rice from his lunch box but give him meat in return.

Maybe it was because they had been together at the hotel for so long. For the first time, Shin Tae-oh’s suggestion to live together strongly appealed to him.

“You feel it too, right?”

Shin Tae-oh’s sudden words caught Se-hyun off guard. He spoke as if he already knew what Se-hyun was thinking.

“It’s nice being together, isn’t it? I feel the same.”

Shin Tae-oh continued as he placed a glass of water in front of Se-hyun.

“I won’t force you now. Just let me stay over here once in a while. And if you feel like it later, let’s live together.”

At Shin Tae-oh’s compromising proposal, Se-hyun picked up the water glass with a contemplative expression. If it really was just staying over once in a while…

“You won’t come every day, right?”

“…”

Se-hyun, who had been tempted by the proposal, saw Shin Tae-oh avoid answering and made a face that said, ‘I knew it.’

“I love you.”

And Se-hyun snorted at Shin Tae-oh’s attempt to deflect with a love confession.

“I love you more.”

“…”

Seeing Shin Tae-oh freeze, Se-hyun continued.

“Shin Tae-oh, you’re the perfect Alpha for me.”

“…”

“That’s why I’m happy being with you and want to be with you.”

“Is that… a proposal?”

At Shin Tae-oh’s trembling voice, Se-hyun turned his head, pretending to drink water.

“I guess it’s something like that.”

Se-hyun couldn’t be as bold as Shin Tae-oh and meet his eyes when saying it.

Anyway, he had counterattacked Shin Tae-oh’s love confession, so this was his win.

“I’ll think about living together a bit more.”

That was his way of telling Shin Tae-oh to stop pushing the issue, and Shin Tae-oh’s face brightened.

“Ahn Se-hyun!”

Startled by the sudden shout, Se-hyun raised his voice equally.

“What! Shin Tae-oh.”

“I love you.”

“Stop it.”

“I love you, Se-hyun.”

“Stop it, Tae-oh.”

He couldn’t take the endless declarations of love any longer. As he tried to stop it, worried he might waver if it continued, he was already embraced by Shin Tae-oh who couldn’t hold back.

“I love you.”

Sighing in defeat as Shin Tae-oh continued whispering his love, Se-hyun gave in.

“Me too.”

 

The End.