DHG Ch 28

Apparently, an identical key ring dangled from the backpack placed on top of the stack of workbooks. Jang Seungyung looked back and forth between the mechanical pencil and the puppy key ring.

Does he like that?

Noticing Jang Seungyung’s lingering gaze on the key ring, Heewoo subtly shifted his position, blocking the man’s view with his body.

“…….”

The yellow puppy was a character he had grown fond of because it was on the first clothes his grandmother had ever given him. The mechanical pencil and key ring were things he had bought with his allowance money from his grandmother, saved up when he was very young, in elementary school.

He had let quite a few people into his room, but he had never cared about the puppy merchandise before. Yet, at this moment, he did care. He didn’t want to appear childish to this man.

Meanwhile, Jang Seungyung’s gaze wandered freely like water. His eyes, which had been scanning the room, stopped at the non-woven fabric wardrobe with the broken zipper.

“I wondered why you still dressed like a stray puppy.”

The man spoke. Heewoo thought of the clothes he had recently given away to the Sunsoo’s.

Actually, whenever he thought of those clothes, his heart ached, even though it had been his choice.

The moment he let Jang Seungyung into his room, he suddenly felt he had no right to complain about anything. He bowed his head involuntarily, feeling anxious like a puppy gauging its owner’s mood.

“You got rid of everything? Didn’t you like the clothes?”

A surprisingly generous voice reached his ears.

Heewoo raised his head, which he had been uneasily lowering. Like a sapling, weary from a long storm, straightening its stem as the clouds parted and sunlight streamed through, he gradually lifted his gaze.

“You should have told me. If you didn’t like them.”

A voice that sounded completely indifferent about the fact that not a single piece of clothing remained.

He saw a gently smiling face, as generous as the tone of his voice. Jang Seungyung approached, the corners of his long eyes crinkling. As if captivated, Heewoo couldn’t avoid the outstretched hand.

“Why are you like this?”

Clicking his tongue, the man slipped his long, firm fingers through Heewoo’s hair, now damp with a cold sweat. His thick thumb gently rubbed the faint wisps of hair on his forehead.

“You threw the drunk homeless guy onto the bed earlier, and now you’re getting all hot and bothered.”

“…….”

“Are you sick again?”

His eyes, devoid of any coldness, lowered to meet Heewoo’s at the same level, radiating warmth.

Should we go to the hospital? A kind question followed, locking eyes with him. Even though the light wasn’t on, Heewoo blinked, his eyes dazzled. “No,” he managed to reply, and at that moment, he recalled a memory he had forgotten.

The day he went to the emergency room.

That day, too, the man had stroked his hair like this. This man had held him close when he collapsed and, just like now, had repeatedly checked on him, caressing his cheek with his large hand.

Heewoo’s chest stirred and trembled as if he had unearthed a precious, forgotten treasure.

Jang Seungyung, whose gaze was locked onto Heewoo’s slightly wavering eyes, spoke.

“You’re making eye contact now.”

A moment later, Jang Seungyung clicked his tongue inwardly. As soon as he spoke, Kwon Heewoo’s gaze dropped to the floor.

Still, unlike before, when he would lower his head so much that it made Jang Seungyung worry about his neck, now he merely lowered his eyes.

Jang Seungyung chuckled softly. He gently stroked the small head he was holding and the downy hair around Heewoo’s ear with his fingers, and Kwon Heewoo looked up again. His unconscious reaction to his touch, lifting his head like a flower towards the light, was beautiful. A smile tugged at the corners of his lips.

“About the energy juice…”

Despite the abrupt change of topic, Kwon Heewoo listened quietly. Like a plant passively receiving sunlight and water. Like when he wholly accepted the pheromones Jang Seungyung emitted from time to time.

Savoring an inexplicable satisfaction, Jang Seungyung resumed the conversation he had been unable to finish in the kitchen because of the interruption by one of the Sunsoo’s.

“Do you know that the one you give me is especially dark?”

“…….”

“It’s much tastier than the ones you give the others… and warmer.”

And a larger serving, too. Right? Jang Seungyung couldn’t hide his smile as he teased the now speechless Kwon Heewoo. Playfully revealing that he knew Heewoo was giving him special treatment.

In the silence, illuminated only by the neon signs outside the window, Heewoo barely managed to exhale. The man who kept giving him good things, making his life bearable, and who had helped him carry Daol today, was pointing out the special juice recipe.

It was simply because the man enjoyed juice with lots of nuts, because he was sensitive to the cold, and because Heewoo was merely trying to please him, his creditor and CEO.

Besides, why was he speaking as if it were some kind of suggestive innuendo?

He was confused.

The man who had seemed as warm and unreproachful as sunlight suddenly turned into a vulgar scoundrel. Heewoo didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

Suddenly, he realized Daol’s faint, labored breathing was fading into the background. His awareness of the prison-like confines of the room also completely disappeared.

He felt as if he had stepped into the entrance of a lush forest. He was alone with the man, in a space magically transformed by his gaze and his pheromones…

Perhaps that was why.

“Ah…”

He didn’t avoid the lips that touched his.

Heewoo accepted the kiss from the man, the only presence in his awareness. Dazedly swallowing a small sound.

The temperature of their first kiss was just right.

Just like the juice he made.

But as their breaths mingled, and their soft, sensitive skin intimately intertwined, the heat between them escalated uncontrollably.

Heewoo gasped, stifling his panting breath. Wet sounds escaped as their tongues and lips met. He swallowed, his throat making a noise like when drinking.

“Ha…”

Jang Seungyung, savoring the trembling inside the small mouth, groaned low in his throat.

He relentlessly licked, rubbed, and parted Heewoo’s lips, delving deeper into the small space. His senses of smell and taste rejoiced. It was a scent and taste he wanted to devour greedily, to savor with a maddening hunger.

He lost himself in the soft flesh, the warm breath. His brow furrowed in concentration.

Just as he reached out and pulled Heewoo closer, his arms wrapping tightly around his slender waist—

Heewoo, tilting his head back as he yielded to the man, slowly raised his hands. He gently pushed away the large body that was completely enveloping and pressing down on him.

“…….”

He also gently pulled down the hands that kept trying to slip under his clothes. Avoiding him as subtly as possible, he slipped out of the hot, large embrace.

Stepping back, Heewoo lowered his gaze.

His mouth, his stomach, still tingled. The pheromones that had enveloped him like a verdant thicket dissipated like an illusion. The touch that had caressed his body, the hot breath he wanted to keep swallowing, also receded.

He became aware of the dampness between his legs, a response to the man’s pheromones. A fleeting feeling of melancholy washed over him, but he only swallowed, his throat dry.

He could feel the man’s gaze, sharp as a blade, on him, even though he was avoiding it. Feeling like he was crossing a cliff, holding onto a single precarious thread, Heewoo spoke.

“…Thank you for today.”

Jang Seungyung stared at Kwon Heewoo, who spoke in a slightly husky voice, with a look that was half predatory, half bewildered. Even though he must have felt the gaze, Heewoo only moved his swollen, reddened lips, pretending not to notice.

“Be careful on your way out.”

It was a calm dismissal. Kwon Heewoo’s heels retreated another step towards the snow-dusted window.

A quiet order to leave.

Jang Seungyung twisted his lips. He forced a smile and watched Kwon Heewoo carefully with a sideways glance.

He wanted to pull that indifferent face into his arms without a word, to rip and tear those shabby clothes to shreds.

He wanted to savor those soft lips hotly once more, while also choking that slender neck and watching his face contort.

Conflicting impulses clashed within him like a whirlwind, making him unsure of what he wanted. Amidst the conflicting thoughts, his strong, taut jaw muscles seemed to harden menacingly.

But the turmoil in his eyes was fleeting.

He withdrew his persistent gaze from Kwon Heewoo. He straightened his clothes and left without hesitation.

Click.

Heewoo didn’t raise his head until the front door closed and the automatic lock clicked. He just endured, clenching his teeth where the man’s tongue had intruded.

Only after the heartless sound of footsteps completely faded away did the tightly wound tension in his body ease. His body swayed, belatedly releasing the tension.

“…….”

The cold air settled on his shoulders, as if to mock the heat of moments before.

The man who had kissed him so passionately, as if to melt him entirely, was gone. In the silence, with only the sleeping Daol beside him, Heewoo clenched his trembling hands, remnants of the lingering thrill.

It was just a kiss.

It was nothing. Like so many things before, he could just forget it ever happened.

He hurriedly hid the puppy mechanical pencil and key ring in the wardrobe. Even though the man probably wouldn’t come to his room again, and even though it didn’t matter if the man saw him as childish, he still wanted to hide them.

He quickly wiped Daol’s hands and feet with a wet towel and turned up the heat. He had to get back to the kitchen. He probably needed to go to work early tomorrow and get things done. As he hurried towards the door—

Heewoo noticed something square lying conspicuously on top of his worn sneakers.

An expensive wallet. He opened it with a sense of foreboding. Inside, it was filled with cards, checks, 50,000 won bills. And an ID card.

He couldn’t take his eyes off the photo behind the plastic film. The man he didn’t want to appear childish to was there.

Jang Seungyung had dropped his wallet.

Heewoo would bet his entire 190 million won debt that it was deliberate. It was a decision made by the man who had kissed him passionately and then left without hesitation. His heart pounded painfully as if he had picked up a landmine, not a wallet.