IPSTDS Chapter 111

Chapter 111

“Hyung, why are you so stiff? Go change your clothes first. You can’t catch a cold.”

Kim Daon placed some dry clothes in Nahyuk’s hands. Nahyuk nodded without thinking.

“Y-yeah.”

When he came out of Daon’s room after changing, a delicious smell tickled his nose.

Kim Daon, wearing the apron Nahyuk had seen a few times the day before, was bustling back and forth in the kitchen. For someone tall and fairly broad, the way he cooked so carefully still looked cute no matter how many times Nahyuk saw it.

‘It’s not that I’m the cute one, you’re the one who’s cuter.’

Nahyuk sat at the table, watching him.

“Aren’t your brothers coming home?”

He wondered if Heechan and Garam were doing well. Nahyuk thought back to Daon’s younger brothers, who had always been so warm and affectionate.

“Who knows. They’ll come back when they feel like it. I think Garam said he had a company dinner.”

“Did they take umbrellas with them?”

“I don’t know. They’ll figure it out, right?”

“You’re funny. You were so worried when I got caught in a little rain, but whether your brothers took umbrellas doesn’t seem to matter to you at all.”

Daon suddenly turned his head. Tilting it slightly, he stared right at Nahyuk.

“How could I compare them to you, hyung?”

“Huh?”

“Of course, my brothers are really precious too, but they’re sturdy and healthy, so they’ll be fine. But you, hyung, you can’t afford to get sick.”

“They can’t get sick either.”

“Mm…”

Daon turned his head back again. While constantly working on something, he answered in a quiet voice.

“I feel bad for saying this about my brothers… but right now, I think you’re the most important to me.”

Nahyuk was about to ask why he treasured him so much. But before he could speak, Kim Daon cut him off.

“Hyung, do you want to try the food I just finished? I really worked hard on it.”

It didn’t even seem like Daon was expecting an answer.

* * *

The meal, as always, was excellent. It seemed that Daon’s cooking skills grew better with each passing day.

Should I say that anyone who lived with him would be truly happy?

At that moment, a memory briefly surfaced. Seo Dowoong, with his picky tastes, never enjoyed the food Kim Daon made.

Daon had felt a little regretful about that fact. Nahyuk, however, couldn’t understand how anyone wouldn’t like such delicious food.

Perhaps there were more incompatibilities between those two than expected.

“What are you thinking about?”

Bringing out warm tea as dessert, Kim Daon sat down beside Nahyuk. Nahyuk had been sitting on the living room sofa.

“I was just thinking that anyone who lives with you would be really happy.”

“And the reason?”

“Because you’re kind, handsome, gentle, good at cooking, and there’s nothing you can’t do… So what could possibly be lacking in you?”

“Hyung?”

“Yeah?”

Kim Daon tilted his head to the left. Almost instantly, his gaze locked with Nahyuk’s.

With a bright smile and a warm voice, Daon said,

“I think the one lacking something is you, hyung.”

“…….”

What… what is he planning to do later if he keeps saying things like this? If he keeps tossing around lines like that, wouldn’t anyone—young or old, man or woman—fall for him?

It was unfortunate for anyone who ended up surrendering to such innocent temptation.

“You’re overdoing the jokes. Anyone who hears you might think you like me.”

It was something Nahyuk said with the intention of laughing it off. But Kim Daon threw the words back at him.

“Why do you think that’s a joke?”

“…….”

“I thought I was expressing myself in my own way…”

Hearing that, Nahyuk recalled how Daon had been kissing him so often lately.

“Hyung, I don’t treat just anyone well. I only do it for someone I want to.”

“Daon-ah…”

“And I’m not as endlessly kind as you think.”

When Nahyuk blinked once, Daon’s hands were gripping his shoulders. When he blinked again, his body was pushed down.

The moment his back touched the sofa, Nahyuk dropped the teacup he had been holding.

The sound of the cup hitting the carpet rang out. Daon ignored it completely as he climbed over Nahyuk’s body.

Face-to-face at such close distance, Daon’s expression was far too sensual.

His eyes, filled with heat, were burning. He could no longer be dismissed as just a younger brother.

Nahyuk unknowingly crushed his dry lips together. The sound of rain and Daon’s faint breaths mingled in the air.

What are you thinking as you look at me like that?

Nahyuk’s mind recalled the question that had sometimes come to him, the possibility he had always denied.

Do you… like me instead of Seo Dowoong now?

Even in this situation, it was a conclusion hard to believe. He couldn’t quite figure out when or how Daon had begun to like him. Of course, before anything else, he needed to know Daon’s heart for certain…

“Daon-ah.”

Summoning courage, Nahyuk called to him. Daon’s lips pulled away.

“If I kiss you right now… will you still think I’m kind after that?”

As if he wasn’t expecting an answer, Daon’s gaze tilted. His beautiful eyes, always sparkling, drew suddenly close.

Before Nahyuk could react, their noses brushed. Before he could even think of pushing Daon away, their lips touched.

It was a soft kiss, one that brought no discomfort.

But Daon’s hands gripping Nahyuk’s shoulders were tense, tight enough to hurt.

It was like the clumsy kiss of people doing it for the first time. A simple kiss, with no tongues tangling.

Soon Daon’s lips parted from his. That firm face, which no longer looked like that of a younger brother, was flushed red.

But his eyes were more intense than before the kiss. Caught in that gaze, Nahyuk couldn’t look away.

Daon’s fingers gently brushed over Nahyuk’s lips, as if holding back from wanting more than just a kiss.

“You… why did you kiss me just now?”

Do you really like me?

Finally, Daon answered—the definite answer to the question that had been troubling Nahyuk all this time.

“I think I love you, hyung.”

It was a confession as simple as the kiss had been.

But his voice trembled slightly. The blush on his face grew even redder.

“Hyung… Let’s stop being fake lovers. Be with me for real.”

“…….”

Nahyuk was dumbfounded by the sudden confession.

Of course, it wasn’t as if his heart wasn’t shaken. He could feel that weak, dying heart of his beating faster.

Not because he loved Daon, nor because he liked him more than Lee Kangil.

It was because he had never received love before, and was unaccustomed to the love of another, that he trembled.

And besides, Daon was handsome. Who wouldn’t tremble at the confession of such an incredible man, one you couldn’t even meet in a dream?

Unless one’s heart was made of steel, it would be impossible.

“…You need time to think, right? I didn’t expect you to answer me right away.”

What could Nahyuk say that wouldn’t hurt Daon? He was at a loss.

Kim Daon was the man he had admired even before possessing Yoon Noah’s body. The man he loved most as a character.

Back when the real world despised him and pointed fingers at him, Kim Daon in Even in Ruins, Flowers Bloom had given him breath.

So Nahyuk always wished Daon happiness, even if they could never meet.

But by some fortune, as Yoon Noah, he had been able to meet Daon. Not only meet him, but become his friend, even get close.

But never had he once wished for Daon’s love.

Sometimes, Nahyuk’s heart had fluttered at Daon’s admirable qualities, and he had imagined what it would be like to be his lover—but that had only been fantasy.

Nahyuk had never given reality to those thoughts. More than that, he still barely understood what love even was.

“Wa-wait, Daon.”

“…….”

“When did you start loving me? Couldn’t it be a mistake—thinking that way just because I stayed by your side when you were having a hard time?”

“A mistake?”

Daon’s voice, always so gentle, sharpened. The rosy blush on his face began to fade.

Then he straightened his body, sat properly on the sofa, and sighed. Nahyuk, too, sat up from where he had been leaning.

“Right now, I want to strip you bare and push you until you beg me to stop. I want to make sure you never go back to Lee Kangil. But at the same time, because I know you’re weak to my vulnerable side, I also want to hold onto you by crying and begging. Whether by force or by pity, I just want to make you stay by my side.”

“…….”

“And you think that’s a mistake?”

Nahyuk couldn’t possibly call it that. Every word that Daon spoke was full of sincerity.

“I know my confession is sudden. But what can I do? The hyung who listens to me, the hyung who blushes at me, the hyung who eats my cooking so happily…”

As he said that, Daon’s eyes turned back to Nahyuk. His expression looked as though he might cry, nothing like the sharpness from a moment ago.

“The hyung who feels like he’d always be on my side… I like that hyung.”

“…….”

“I know how shocking it must be, since until recently I had that kind of relationship with Seo Dowoong, but now I’m suddenly confessing to you.”

“…….”

“But I couldn’t help it. I’ve come to like you too much to keep ignoring my feelings.”