19 – Side Story 2. RENDEZVOUS

“Could the rumors of discord between you and Player Reyes over the past ten years actually have been a romance rather than actual discord?”

It was the first question he received from the reporters who had been camping out after the Big Ear award ceremony. Until that moment, Je-rim, who hadn’t realized that the scene of his kiss with Aaron had been broadcast live, suddenly remembered the forgotten fact thanks to the question, “What were you thinking when you kissed?”

Ah, fuck, they use drones these days too…

After a brief moment of resentment toward the advancement of science and technology, he quickly composed his expression. The moment he acted awkward, answered stiffly, or showed signs of panic, it would truly be irreversible. He considered blending in with his other teammates without answering, but those damn bastards had been rolling on the floor laughing since the first question was asked, so they were no help at all.

He figured it was just his imagination that they looked even more excited than when they held the Big Ear; trying to calm his boiling insides, Je-rim glanced to the side. As he shifted his gaze to Aaron, he saw that Aaron’s face was also beaming with joy.

Aaron had been in that state ever since they kissed while holding the Big Ear. Seeing him so excited and restless like a child was something Je-rim hadn’t seen since the day they first locked lips and decided to date, so it was almost worrying.

Regardless, that guy was useless as help. He had no choice but to navigate this on his own. Having decided so, Je-rim locked eyes with the reporter who had asked the first absurd question and grinned.

“I don’t know. I think rumors of discord and rumors of romance are both ‘hot’ in the same way. It’s hard to tell the difference.”

At that, the reporter, who had been smiling slyly, looked even more ecstatic, his cheeks flushing red. Not only the reporter who asked, but everyone else began pressing their camera shutters mechanically while making strange exclamations.

Amidst the explosive flashes, Edson, who was behind them, covered his face and slumped down. Or perhaps he slumped down because his stomach hurt from laughing so hard… Judging by the leaking sobs, it seemed to be the latter. Both the reporters and Edson were annoying, but since that was exactly the reaction Je-rim expected, he didn’t kick Edson, who was curled up like a ball.

Even under the barrage of flashes that almost brought tears to his eyes, Je-rim struggled to keep his eyes wide open and maintain a smirking face.

He had to make this a happening that could be laughed off no matter what.

That thought, dominating his mind, drew superhuman strength from Je-rim. Enough to make him manage his expression, something he usually lacked confidence in. If it’s this much, it’ll look like I just answered playfully with some nonsense as usual, please. Just then, Aaron, who had approached after giving Edson a sharp nudge with his toe, placed an arm around Je-rim’s shoulder and added,

“We were quite hot, weren’t we? You can look forward to seeing how much hotter we’ll be next season.”

Ending the interview with an answer that promised future progress like a professional athlete, Aaron dragged Je-rim away. Then, taking advantage of the moment when the teammates scattered to meet their families, lovers, and friends, he pushed Je-rim into a secluded massage room.

Je-rim, who had been dragged along haphazardly, looked around. In the narrow room, the only furniture consisted of two folding beds, a shelf, and simple shower facilities. It seemed he had instinctively chosen a room without CCTV again. At first, Je-rim thought he wanted to have a brief secret rendezvous like the other teammates and their lovers, but the moment the door locked, he gulped upon seeing Aaron’s expression.

Why is he sulking? Just a moment ago, he was acting like he could die happy right now. In a way, this was the first day they officially started dating again, and it was a historic day where he achieved the Treble along with his childhood dream, so he didn’t want to see that pouting face. He didn’t want to fight, either.

Before Aaron could throw a fit, Je-rim pushed him onto the bed and tapped his tense cheek with a finger, as if dissatisfied.

“Why the long face again? Why are you pretending to be cute again?”

At that, Aaron grabbed Je-rim’s wrist and rubbed his cheek against the thin skin of the inner wrist, grumbling.

“Do you really have to smile while making eye contact like that?”

“…Don’t tell me you’re jealous of that reporter? Seriously, of all things…”

“Didn’t you see that reporter’s face turn red?”

“Crazy, it’s because I intentionally gave a suggestive answer! That person was a man!”

Despite his resolve not to fight, his voice immediately rose. It was because his sense of absurdity had completely vanished. Should I have done the interview while angry like a lunatic instead of smiling? If he had approached the interview with such an attitude on such a happy day, articles claiming he had mental issues would have poured out immediately.

Furthermore, the reason the reporter’s cheeks flushed was clearly due to the excitement of hearing an answer that would make for great gossip. Not because he was excited that a man smiled at him. Since Aaron was someone who absolutely couldn’t be ignorant of that fact, yet was insisting on such nonsense, Je-rim couldn’t help but be baffled.

Je-rim jumped and pinched Aaron’s cheek. Even with his cheek stretched out, Aaron mumbled with slurred pronunciation. The sound was cute and funny, but the attitude of the man speaking was nothing less than serious.

“I’m a man too. Reman is a man too. You need to be more aware of the fact that men can like you too…”

“There you go again, talking nonsense.”

Finding it tedious to listen to further, Je-rim blocked Aaron’s mouth with his own. Leaning down, he gripped Aaron’s cheeks and pressed their lips together, and Aaron let out a single sigh. He seemed annoyed that he had been cut off mid-sentence. However, that dissatisfied air vanished instantly the moment Je-rim flicked his tongue out to lick the seam of Aaron’s lips.

As if he had been waiting for Je-rim to kiss him first, Aaron obediently opened his lips and pulled Je-rim’s waist to sit him on his lap. Je-rim, who ended up perched on Aaron’s thighs with his knees against the edge of the bed, grabbed the back of Aaron’s head to pull him closer and pressed their lips together without a gap.

Ever since the match ended… more accurately, from the moment Aaron shed tears, he had wanted to do this. He wanted to embrace Aaron and feel his body heat, run his fingers through his sweat-soaked dark brown hair, and entwine their bodies while sharing breaths that hadn’t yet settled from the euphoria.

The desire to entwine their bodies naturally included the impulse to have sex, but more than that, there was a greater longing to hold each other without a single inch of space and feel the heartbeat transmitted through bare skin. Just like last night, when he fell asleep buried in Aaron’s arms.

“Haa…”

Still, this is the limit for now… Since they had to return to the locker room within 15 minutes to shower, change, and leave. Even if there was no CCTV, he was reluctant to engage in skinship beyond kissing here.

Swallowing his regret, Je-rim also swallowed Aaron’s saliva that had pooled on the tip of his tongue. Not satisfied with that, he pulled Aaron’s tongue into his own mouth and licked and sucked it to his heart’s content.

Whenever their smooth tongues rubbed against each other, the knees touching the bed twitched. The same went for Aaron’s thighs pressed tightly beneath his legs. Every time that happened, the flimsy folding bed creaked, unable to withstand the weight of the two.

It was around the time an ominous crack echoed from the bed leg that Je-rim pulled his lips away. Slowly pulling his head back, he stroked Aaron’s nape to calm the excited man. The skin was hot enough to burn. A silver thread connected their wet, interlocking lips. Je-rim licked it away with his tongue and gently tickled Aaron’s bobbing Adam’s apple.

“You’re the only man I can do this with, for the rest of my life. Satisfied?”

Then and now, this was a fact akin to an immutable truth. If it weren’t for Aaron, Je-rim would never have dated a man, kissed a man, or had sex with a man. Let alone being impaled by a man’s cock.

He could do it, and wanted to do it, because it was Aaron. Even though it was a cliché romance, every day was fun, brilliant, and new; he had been anxious, fearing the end would come because he loved it so much, and the only one he decided to start over with despite that fear was Aaron. This applied solely to Aaron, regardless of gender.

As soon as Je-rim finished speaking, Aaron buried his face in Je-rim’s shoulder and let out a groan.

“…You don’t even let me be angry. Honestly, it’s annoying that you’re so good at kissing too…”

“Give me a break, it’s not like you and I’ve only kissed once or twice. The reason I became good at kissing is your fault, you know?”

“Still, it’s annoying that you’ve become even more skilled.”

“Oh, I see. My sin is great.”

Je-rim chuckled and gripped Aaron’s cheeks to make him look up. He intentionally applied pressure to the cheeks, making the well-shaped lips pout out like a beak. Since he had been licking and sucking them until just now, the entire lip area was glossy and wet. He pressed his lips down on that erotic and cute beak as if stamping it.

He was aware that it was truly nonsensical for this face and this build to look cute, lovely, and precious… but what could he do if he saw him that way then and now? Since it seemed Aaron always saw him as something like a rabbit as well, they were in the same boat. Since they started dating again, they might as well be the rabbit and the chick again.

Je-rim exhaled a heated breath, thinking of thoughts that others would stone him for if they heard. Even though the kisses continuing now were at the level of children’s play compared to before, his body naturally heated up as they kept their lips pressed together.

It felt as if an electric current was flowing near his lower abdomen. Every time their already wet lips lightly collided, the popping sounds acted as an auditory stimulus. Aaron seemed to be in a similar state, as his chest heaved more and more and his breathing grew rough.

It’ll be troublesome if we both get fully erect… Just as he harbored that anxiety, Aaron pulled away from Je-rim. Je-rim blinked in surprise that Aaron had pushed him away first, even though he himself thought any further would be problematic. Aaron softly kissed Je-rim’s eyelids while regulating his panting breath. Eventually, a strained voice flowed out.

“No, no more… I’m already in my uniform, so right now… I have to wash up too.”

“…I guess we can’t say we’ll return to the country separately?”

“Je-rim, you’re the captain. Well, if you want to fuel the romance rumors, I’m all for it.”

At that, Je-rim burst into a weak laugh. Immediately, a Treble celebration party was scheduled, and upon returning to Sefton, a street parade was planned. If the captain and the ace disappeared together right after kissing while holding the Big Ear at such events, media from all over the world would seriously report their romance.

Honestly, while kisses aren’t common, they happen occasionally, so everyone would probably laugh it off as a joke, but if they skipped official schedules and went underground together… yeah, it wouldn’t work. Even though suggesting they return separately was a joke, the problem was that after saying it, he actually wanted to.

Feeling that if he stayed attached to Aaron any longer, he might actually put that idea—which threw his responsibility as captain to the dogs—into practice, Je-rim stood up. However, making the distance they had created meaningless, Aaron sprang up from the bed and hugged Je-rim from behind, whispering. In a tone clearly intended to bewitch him, he even breathed languidly into his ear.

“Where are you spending your vacation? Korea?”

“No, I was planning to spend it with you. Were you planning to spend your vacation separately from me? Right after we started dating?”

“No way. I was planning to pout again if a different answer came out.”

Je-rim eventually couldn’t resist and turned back to stroke Aaron’s cheek.

“Ah, are you going to keep acting cute? Do you want to stay stuck in here?”

“If I could, that’s exactly how I feel.”

I wish it were just you and me left in the world, I miss you even if I don’t see you for an hour, how am I supposed to endure it, I don’t want to be apart… He uttered the same complaints he used to spout tirelessly during his teenage years, even now, over ten years later. The unchanging complaints of his lover were simply lovely, so it took a long time to indulge them.

As a result, after returning to the locker room late with a deliberate time gap, the two became targets of William’s suspicious gaze.

“You guys are suspicious…”

“…Of what…”

Je-rim avoided the gaze that was piercing his face like a spear and squeezed himself into the sofa. William had been scanning Je-rim and Aaron alternately with a sharp gaze rivaling Sherlock’s, and once the alcohol kicked in, he poured out his suspicions openly, as if he couldn’t hold it in any longer.

“Something, something is suspicious… Kissing while hiding behind the Big Ear… returning late as a pair, these two…”

Since when had he been so faithful to his role as vice-captain to act like this? This guy, who had gotten a card himself because he got the most excited while trying to stop the ones provoking the crowd.

To calm his burning insides, Je-rim looked around. Just then, a server was walking around with a tray full of champagne glasses, so he stopped them and took one. This was the perfect timing, as Aaron, who had been monitoring him with eyes like fire to prevent him from drinking, had left his side.

Aaron wouldn’t even let him taste the champagne that the teammates had popped together. He had begged that one glass would really be okay, and he had even tried getting angry, but it was useless. He had no proper response to the man who turned serious, asking if he wanted to wander the Italian night streets all night.

‘Still, fuck, you can’t even let me have one drink on a day like this.’

Of course, he was aware that his drinking habits were absurd. Not only did he walk until he collapsed from exhaustion, but he also completely forgot the promise he had first asked Aaron to make due to a blackout…

Because he had committed sins, he had followed obediently while Aaron was monitoring him, but not now that he had left to see his friends off. He even captured Je-hee, who had blended into Sefton’s party as a family member and was wandering around, and sent her away.

Seeing his younger sister, who had resisted with all her might when her older brother told her to go, but readily followed when Aaron offered to take her, Je-rim barely suppressed the urge to give her a powerful flick to the forehead. In any case, the hotel where Je-hee was staying was a bit of a distance from the hotel where the party was being held, so it would probably take some time for Aaron to return.

Therefore, the urgency to at least taste the champagne moved Je-rim. As he lifted the glass and quenched his throat with the alcohol in one go, the sweet fruity scent popped in his throat. In his heart, he wanted to down the glass and get a second one, but he held back.

‘Since they said the security here isn’t very good…’

As Aaron said, wandering the Italian night streets without any connections was dangerous. However, since one glass was truly fine, Je-rim continued to sip the glass. It was after his depleted stamina had recovered since he had eaten a full meal of delicious food for the first time in a while. It seemed the other teammates were the same; those who had been dying until they came out of the shower were now all full of energy.

The problem was that they were far too energetic. Perhaps it was the relief that everything was finally over, or perhaps it was because they were sharing their joy and catching up with visiting family and friends without restraint. Having devoured food like bandits, they were now preoccupied with enjoying the party, gulping down alcohol with the same intensity. Coach Verdi, who should have been stopping them, had long since passed out after drinking whiskey.

Slumped over the bar with a glass still held preciously in one hand, he looked exactly like a head of a household plagued by family troubles, but Je-rim didn’t wake him. In any case, Coach Verdi had gone through a grand legal battle and divorced several years ago, so the family troubles had already happened.

‘Well, it’s a happy day.’

Even if Marshall was draped over the railing like a freshly washed duvet, Liam was in the middle of a grand heave, and even the dignified Craig was having a sword fight with two forks. Edson was blowing a whistle, beep beep, while dancing some bizarre dance with his friends, and Jesus and Frederic were sobbing while hugging a single doll between them. For the record, that doll belonged to William’s daughter.

Robin was nowhere to be seen, having likely gone to put the children to bed long ago. Reman, who surprisingly hadn’t fled the party and had stayed put, was quietly hiccuping with a bright red face. If the guy with the highest alcohol tolerance in Sefton was that drunk, they must have drunk a considerable amount.

Suppressing a laugh at the sight of them all lacking any shred of dignity befitting members of a club that had achieved the Treble, Je-rim looked back at William. Perhaps because William had stayed glued to his wife while the other teammates lost their minds and dignity to alcohol, he was relatively sober.

“On such a joyful day, what’s the big deal about teammates rubbing lips a bit? Why don’t we give it a go too? As the captain and vice-captain.”

Looking around at the chaotic surroundings, nonsense started pouring out of him again. Compared to the others who were exhibiting all sorts of unsightly behavior, this was practically gentlemanly. It was a joke he could only make because he had absolutely no intention of actually rubbing lips with William. He had to act brazen for William’s suspicions to fade.

However, William seemed to take the joke seriously, shaking his head with a pale face.

“No way! If I kiss anyone else, Bella will kill me.”

“Why are you taking it so seriously? I can’t do it either, man.”

“Why not? You’re a guy with no partner.”

“…….”

Je-rim lowered his head, unable to tell him that he’d found one a few hours ago. Naturally, he also couldn’t tell him that if he kissed William, Aaron would kill him. William brought a V-sign to his eyes and continued in a solemn tone.

“Anyway, I’m keeping an eye on you and Aaron. You know that office romance is the shortest path to ruining teamwork, right? I’m sure you wouldn’t do something so irrational, but…”

“…Is it not a problem that it’s man-to-man?”

“What era are we living in that you’re worrying about that? Jerry, you need to fix that conservative mindset of yours.”

He’s conservative yet progressive. Je-rim let out a hollow laugh and took another sip of champagne. Suddenly, a hand reached out from behind and snatched the glass from Je-rim’s hand. Recognizing the person immediately by the tattoo on the forearm, Je-rim wiped away a cold sweat.

“You couldn’t even wait this long before drinking?”

Sure enough, the voice of the lover who was extremely worried about his drinking was already sharp. After giving Je-rim a light scolding, Aaron reprimanded the innocent William.

“Will, I told you to keep an eye on Je-rim so he wouldn’t drink.”

“Hey, it’s too much to not let him have a single glass on a day like today.”

Relying on the generous vice-captain’s stance, Je-rim also puffed out his chest confidently.

“I really just tasted it, really. Look, I’m sitting here quietly.”

Clicking his tongue openly, Aaron came and sat beside Je-rim. As Aaron naturally wrapped an arm around Je-rim’s shoulder and unhesitatingly drank from the snatched champagne glass, William’s eyes narrowed again. Crossing his arms as if measuring them, he suddenly asked an abrupt question.

“Aaron, can you kiss me?”

“What is this disgusting talk all of a sudden?”

“No, Jerry said what’s the big deal about teammates kissing. He even asked me to do it once…”

This clueless bearded bastard! Before Je-rim could snap at him for adding that unnecessary last part, William snorted with interest.

“Hmm, so you’d do it with Jerry but not with me? Man… that’s just too suspicious…”

Je-rim poked Aaron in the ribs, signaling him to do something. Aaron seemed angry at William’s nonsense as well, but getting rid of that beard was the priority.

Seeing Je-rim secretly stepping on his feet under the table in addition to the rib-poking, Aaron clicked his tongue softly. However, as if intending to play along, he glanced behind William and suddenly raised his voice. Loud enough not to be drowned out by the music. His characteristic obnoxious smile was a bonus.

“Will, are you upset that I can’t kiss you? Still, to demand it so boldly in front of your wife—how daring.”

“What… Gasp!”

The moment William’s wife, Bella, approached silently, William jumped as if he had been stung by a wasp.

“No, Bella! This isn’t what you think…! There’s no way I’d kiss someone else! I have you!”

Blegh. Je-rim and Aaron made gagging motions in perfect unison.

Je-rim felt that while he was bad, William was also quite an eyesore in this moment, leading to an unexpected moment of self-reflection. If he displayed affection so openly in front of others… it’s very annoying for the observer, so he should exercise restraint.

The man, known in Sefton as a devoted husband and a henpecked one, disappeared while sweating profusely, leading his wife away. Despite effectively chasing off the intruder, Aaron didn’t look particularly happy.

“…Maybe letting him grow the beard wasn’t very effective…”

As Aaron muttered to himself while tilting his champagne glass, Je-rim pressed a hand to his forehead. Now it was his turn to soothe this fierce lover.

“Hey, don’t think weird things. I just responded with nonsense because that bastard kept suspecting us.”

“There are always problems with your nonsense. It’s like you’re determined to drive me crazy…”

“Isn’t it just that you lose your mind with jealousy whenever I do anything? Where would that jealousy you had for the neighborhood stray dog go?”

Je-rim replied, half-amused and half-exasperated that Aaron got jealous over jokes that anyone would logically find nonsensical. Of course, he whispered it secretly into Aaron’s ear. Since everyone was talking like that because the music blasting from Edson’s large portable speaker was so loud, it didn’t look strange.

Then Aaron also leaned down, his lips almost touching Je-rim’s ear, and asked.

“Ha, then shall we switch positions? Would you feel good if I said I was going to kiss another teammate?”

At that question, Je-rim instinctively imagined Aaron kissing Edson, who was dancing over there, or Liam, who had passed out after heaving, under the pretext of strengthening the friendship between forwards. Since Reman, the other forward, had disappeared from sight, and imagining Aaron kissing the youngest—who had been through so much—felt pitiful and sorry, he intentionally excluded him.

Regardless, the moment he drew an unhealthy picture involving two innocent teammates, Je-rim’s expression soured.

It was disgusting, yes, but more than that…

“…Ugh, that’s fucking awful…. I might kill the bastard who kissed you.”

Just the imagination made him want to pummel Edson and Liam. As Je-rim muttered in a menacing tone and even clenched his fists, Aaron laughed lowly as if to say, ‘See?’

“Do you always have to act this childish before you realize it?”

“…Since I’m already acting childish, promise me one more thing. You can only kiss me for the rest of your life. I can tolerate a cheek, but the lips are absolutely off-limits.”

As for Aaron’s cheeks… Edson had practically sucked on them during the final, and since the cheeks are where everyone mindlessly pecks during ceremonies, it was impossible to care about every single instance.

But the lips were absolutely forbidden. Absolutely. Fuck, why should I share mine with some other bastard?

Through this empathy, Je-rim profoundly understood why William had jumped so much at Bella’s appearance and why Aaron had been giving him hints while acting pouted. He gave a stern warning. For some reason, he suddenly felt unpleasant and scrubbed Aaron’s cheek vigorously with a wet wipe. It was the spot where Edson had been kissing.

Aaron didn’t stop his beaming smile, finding it amusing how Je-rim had changed his attitude in just a few seconds. Je-rim could feel the protruding cheekbone beneath his palm.

“Why are you saying something so obvious as if you’re threatening me?”

Soon, the man who downed the remaining champagne in one go brought the empty glass to Je-rim’s furrowed brow and met his eyes. In the amber pupils, darkened by the dim lighting, laughter rippled. Yet, the words that followed were clearly sincere.

“Je-rim, if you’re going to ask for something, make it something difficult. So that I feel a sense of accomplishment in granting it.”

Indeed, this was a man who had eventually granted a request that was practically a tantrum—asking him to hold onto him at least once even after they broke up—so this would be easy. …He had said back then that such a request was too easy.

Setting aside the childish plea not to kiss others, the request for him to take the courage to mend a relationship that had already been broken could have sounded selfish to the listener, yet Aaron had said it was easy. Even after keeping the promise, he didn’t brag about it.

Because he was grateful for and loved that consistency, Je-rim suddenly felt a surge of greed to finish the affectionate act they hadn’t completed earlier. As Aaron might say, he wondered if he was being too lustful, but isn’t it inevitable to want to touch the body when you love someone?

He had lived thinking he was sexually modest, but Je-rim decided to admit now that it was a delusion. Because the thought he had most often whenever he had sex with Aaron since meeting him again was, ‘Fuck, I’ve become a pervert.’

Not just sex, but any skinship with Aaron was good no matter how much they did it. Pecks, kisses, hugs… He thought the kind of passion one might have in their youth had worn away long ago. It seemed it wasn’t just his imagination that he felt like he’d returned to being a boy of that age after reuniting with Aaron.

The period of abstinence to conserve energy for the final had been quite long, and earlier they had ended things unsatisfactorily just before both were fully erect, and after tomorrow, they had to return to their respective countries for A Matches and other commitments, meaning they would be apart for a while again. Although a sweet vacation of three weeks to a month awaited them after that.

Anyway, if not today, then for the time being…

“Aaron, shall we go out?”

Je-rim tapped the back of Aaron’s hand and, in his anxiety, corrected his words.

“No, let’s get out of here. Everyone’s out of their minds anyway, so they won’t even notice someone’s gone.”

“You… your stamina?”

“Whether I party all night or have sex with you, it’s all the same. Ah, but leave me enough energy for the parade tomorrow.”

Playing a match for over 130 minutes, partying all night, having sex with a lover, returning on a morning flight, doing a street parade in Sefton, and then immediately returning to Korea for an A Match. A schedule unimaginable for an ordinary person awaited him, but Je-rim was an active football player whose stamina didn’t lag behind most players. Aaron was entirely out of the question.

While feeling proud inside that he had eaten until his stomach was full, Aaron whispered in a low, husky voice.

“I’m not confident… but I’ll try my best.”

Seeing the lowered eyelashes tremble, Je-rim had an intuition. No matter how much he had tempted him first, if he took Aaron in this state, he would die. This guy had been abstinent for a long time, and the excitement from the final hadn’t faded yet… He could clearly see a future where he wouldn’t be able to get out of bed the next day.

Recalling the lies Aaron told most often—for example, ‘Just one more time, really the last one, Je-rim please…’—Je-rim put on a stern face.

“Take it easy today. We can do it as much as we want during the vacation, right?”

He added coaxing words—that he would spend the entire vacation with him, that he could leave as many marks on his body as he wanted, that they could just have sex all day, that he could demand anything he wanted and he would grant it all—along with a threat that he wouldn’t let it slide if Aaron made him miss the lunch parade.

Aaron hesitated for a moment before answering. He looked as if he were contemplating whether it was actually possible to ‘take it easy’ today. However, he eventually nodded obediently to the captain who effectively used both the carrot and the stick.

“…You promised.”

“Yeah, I’ll never forget a promise made to you now. Let’s go.”

After glancing around, the two stood up one by one and quickly exited the hall. Seeing that there was no one else in the hallway but themselves, the escape was a success. It wasn’t particularly something to laugh about, but strangely, he kept giggling. He felt as if he had completed a secret mission.

Aaron seemed to feel the same; narrowing his slender eyes, he pulled Je-rim close and whispered.

“This is surprisingly thrilling. I couldn’t do this a second time.”

“Is that something a guy who kissed openly at the award ceremony can say?”

“It wasn’t exactly ‘openly’… Well, everyone seemed to like it, so it’s fine.”

“They didn’t like it; they’re just dying to tease us. Once I go back to Korea, really… I’m already exhausted.”

The local reaction in England was already explosive. So how much more of a topic would it be in Korea… It was obvious he’d be teased more than when ‘Lucky-ik!’ happened, or when ‘The dignified appearance of Sefton’s captain’ was mentioned, or even right after the broadcast of ‘Living Alone’ where he appeared with Aaron. As Je-rim let out a deep sigh, Aaron immediately asked back.

“So, did you hate it?”

“…No.”

The kiss shared with Aaron at the first Treble achievement, at the award ceremony for the first Champions League winning team he’d stood upon—it would surely remain an unforgettable memory for a lifetime. Even if he miraculously achieved the Big Ear or the Treble a few more times, he wouldn’t be able to forget the thrill of that moment. First experiences are always intense, and he had caused a major accident by kissing there.

It was a bit annoying that everyone would obviously tease him, but he could endure that amount of annoyance. Above all, since Aaron liked it so much, why wouldn’t he endure anything?

At Je-rim’s honest answer, Aaron forgot he was whispering and laughed out loud. Je-rim chuckled along and took a step to hurry down to the room. Just as they turned the L-shaped corner of the hallway, they ran into Reman standing in front of the elevator.

“…….”

Even though the elevator doors were open, he was just standing there blankly without getting in; anyone could see he wasn’t in his right mind. He thought Reman had fled because he hated the party, but it seemed he had just wandered out while completely drunk.

“Should we take him?”

“Hmm….”

Even though they were in a hurry, they couldn’t leave the youngest like that. Until Aaron came to Sefton, it had always been Reman’s job to take the drunk captain back. To repay the favor, Je-rim quietly exchanged hand signals with Aaron and stood on either side of Reman. The plan was to grab one arm each so he couldn’t escape and toss him into his room.

However, just before Aaron could link arms, Reman suddenly twisted his body and fled. It was a surprising reaction speed for someone who had been staggering in a drunken stupor. Having escaped the encirclement, Reman suddenly blocked the elevator entrance and muttered in a slurred voice, similar to his eyes. Hiccups were mixed in between.

“You guys… stop it, hic, seriously… really, sob, it’s annoying…”

“…Sorry.”

There was nothing else to say. Less than 30 minutes after reflecting that he should refrain from displaying affection openly in front of others, and since the opponent happened to be Reman, guilt washed over him.

The kiss at the award ceremony, the two of them sticking together and being late to return, flirting at the party venue, and now running into him while trying to go to the room while radiating that they were desperate for each other. He didn’t know which of those Reman was referring to when he said ‘stop it,’ which made it even worse.

Leaving Je-rim, who bowed his head like a sinner, and Aaron, who was desperately holding back laughter, in the hallway, Reman took the elevator alone and ruthlessly closed the door. Worried that the drunkard might wander outside the hotel, Je-rim and Aaron waited until they confirmed the elevator Reman took stopped at the residential floor before taking the next elevator.

The next morning, the faces gathered in the dining hall, all looking disheveled, were a complete mess. A few of them were so severely hungover that they couldn’t even hold their cutlery properly and remained slumped over the table. Je-rim, who had limited himself to merely wetting his lips with alcohol due to Aaron’s surveillance, picked at his soup while squeezed between those sick-looking men. It was because his stomach felt bloated.

Since Aaron had kept his promise, and Je-rim had fallen asleep exhausted after hugging a steaming hot body, he had slept deeply and felt reasonably good. However, the inside of his stomach was a bit…

‘I should have told him not to come inside.’

It wasn’t the semen that was the problem, but something else. If it were just semen, he wouldn’t feel this bloated. In hindsight, rolling around in the bathroom to avoid messing up the hotel bedding was the root of all evil.

Of course, even if they had done it in the bathroom, it wouldn’t have happened if he hadn’t allowed such an act in the first place, but when Aaron asked if he could go inside with eyes that were half-gone… it was exciting and cute… and he had become quite accustomed to the stream of fluid that practically hammered the inside of his belly… Moreover, Aaron seemed far more excited than when he actually ejaculated, so there was a certain pleasure in seeing that flushed face.

Recalling the events of last night, his stomach felt hot again, so he gulped down some cold water and picked up his phone. Since the final match ended, contacts had been flooding in to the point where his phone was about to explode; he had posted a message celebrating the Treble on SNS, called his parents, and then kept it turned off. Part of it was because he could guess roughly what kind of messages would come from the other guys.

As soon as he turned the power on, unread messages poured in relentlessly. Je-rim checked the contact from Glenn first. He had seen the congratulatory feed Glenn posted on Insta yesterday and had left a reaction, but it seemed Glenn had sent a private message afterward.

Kissing the Big Ear is so romantic, Jerry~ Congrats!

Now stop worrying about whether to fight and try to win him back or not, and just live happily 😀

…Je-rim closed the messenger window, his lips trembling at the content that made it clear why it had been sent as a private message. He didn’t know how to reply. Putting off the reply to Glenn, he checked the messages from his acquaintances in Korea.

Sure enough, those were exactly as he had predicted, without a single inch of error.

Yeo-bin:

You crazy bastard, did you actually get married? Is the Big Ear the bouquet? lol

Hee-jun:

Hyung, you should at least introduce us to your sister-in-law before you meet up. I’m heartbroken ㅠㅠ

Chang-sik Hyung:

Are you two both insane?? You crazy bastards, no matter how happy you are, this is too much.

Han-seong:

Hyung, please, please bring Reyes to Korea. I’ll give you all the view count revenue, Hyung, please.

Younger Sibling 1:

Oppa, seriously, what is this? People keep asking me what’s between you and Reyes, I can’t even go outside.

Je-rim quietly turned off his phone again. Usually, he enjoyed returning to his home country, but this time, he desperately hoped the June A Matches would disappear.

But of course, such a dream-like event did not happen.

✲✲✲

Even during the street parade in Sefton, Je-rim suffered because of fans who had printed a massive photo of him and Aaron kissing and turned it into a banner. Seeing it in such a large photo made him realize anew that they had done something crazy, and he couldn’t lift his head.

On the outer electronic billboards of Sefton Stadium, the scoring scene from the final, the Big Ear award ceremony, and the scene of Je-rim and Aaron kissing were played in a loop. The citizens packing the area cheered louder when the kiss scene appeared than when the scoring scene did. Even the teammates who had been dying of hangovers quickly recovered thanks to their incredible stamina and giggled.

“Jerry, Aaron! It’s romantic even seeing it again.”

“How about recreating it here?”

“Shut up, you bastards…”

Je-rim eventually gave the teammates, including Aaron, a smack each before boarding the plane to Korea. However, the situation in Korea wasn’t much different. In fact, it was worse. To explain, as soon as he arrived at Incheon Airport, the first questions he received were about the Big Ear kiss rather than the Treble.

“There are many speculations about whether you kissed while hiding behind the trophy or not. I think the whole nation would be happy if the player could clarify it boldly this time.”

“Is that something the whole nation would be happy about…? Anyway… we didn’t do it while hiding. We were just friends getting excited and playing around, so what would there be to hide? Honestly, we were both drunk on joy and not in our right minds.”

“So you’re saying that while sharing the joy with player Reyes, you boldly and without hesitation shared your lips. Thank you for the candid answer.”

“Eh? Shared what?”

To handle the grueling schedule, he had spent the entire flight sleeping frantically. In an interview conducted while he was still half-asleep right after landing, clutching the eye mask and neck pillow Aaron had given him and scratching his messy hair, the answer he gave was immediately splashed across the headlines.

With a headline like that…

The national team teammates who saw the article all doubled over, clutching their stomachs. Rolling around on the locker room floor with their dirty, unwashed bodies, laughing until they gasped for air, they were no different from the teammates in Sefton. Je-rim’s colleagues possessed a power that transcended race and nationality—the power to make a person tremble with rage.

“Pwahaha! Wow, this reporter’s clickbait is insane!”

“Hyung, you should sue at this point! For defamation by stating the truth!”

“Why did they use this photo? He looks so ugly. He looks like a steamed bun that’s been in a convenience store steamer for three days.”

“You just kept eating the in-flight meals and sleeping, right? Looking at how swollen you are, it’s obvious.”

“Your sister-in-law shouldn’t see this photo… What if she loses feelings for you, Hyung? Our Je-rim Hyung is a man whose only assets are his face, wealth, and football skills…”

“Hey, honestly, that’s the same for the sister-in-law…”

“Ah, a legendary match made in heaven.”

It felt as if the entire nation, including his teammates, had conspired to tease Je-rim. Because of that, Je-rim gave his national team teammates a thorough smacking as well and fled Korea as soon as the last A Match ended. Even putting aside the kiss incident, the attention due to the Treble was too high for him to stay long.

For the record, he sent the photo that the Sunbae described as a three-day-old convenience store steamed bun to Aaron, but Aaron only responded that he was glad Je-rim seemed to have rested well on the plane. He said he was happy Je-rim used the mask he gave him instead of that frog-eyed one.

Also, that the swollen face looked like a plump rabbit and was cute…

To a guy like that—fuck, as if he knows anything without ever having talked to Aaron, talking about losing feelings or not. He gave the Hubae who said that a few more smacks for the crime of being insolent.

Having given each of his teammates a bump on the forehead, Je-rim booked a dawn flight and sneaked out to the airport like a fugitive to avoid the reporters. His only companions were his mother and Chang-sik. Before entering the departure hall, Je-rim hugged his mother while diligently glancing around.

He didn’t know when or where reporters would pop out and thrust cameras at him. Since some people who had already recognized him might post about it on the internet, he had to get inside the departure hall quickly. His voice, buried in urgency, was unusually small and trembling.

“Mother, don’t be sad that I’m leaving so soon…”

“It’s okay. Because of the reporters, Je-ah and I can’t go either. By the way, will you spend your vacation in Sefton?”

“No, I think I’ll probably go to Greece.”

“Greece? Oh my, with whom? Alone?”

“…Actually, there’s someone I’m seeing. Seriously. I’m going to spend the vacation with that person.”

Though it was a precarious situation, he had to give this much of a hint for the sake of the future. So that when the day comes that his mother finds out her eldest son’s lover is a man and a friend she’s known since childhood, Aaron, her weak heart would survive.

Still, she would probably accept this level of confession happily. She was someone who always nagged him to date and get married. Deciding that he would slowly lay the groundwork for the rest over time, Je-rim let go of his mother.

As expected, his mother’s face was flushed with excitement. Chang-sik, who was listening beside them, shouted with a look of excitement as if he were the one starting a relationship.

“You brat, since when!”

“Not long ago. No, we broke up and are meeting again, so if you count the time we’ve known each other, it’s been quite a while.”

“You’re meeting someone you broke up with again? Huh… just how amazing of a woman is she?”

Not a woman. Swallowing that answer, he gripped his mother’s hands tightly.

“Anyway, just so you know. I’ll bring them along next time I get a chance. …Don’t be surprised.”

“Oh, you. What would I be surprised about? My only wish is to see a grandchild soon.”

“……”

Since he had fulfilled his mother’s greatest wish of becoming a world-class football player, the thought momentarily crossed Je-rim’s mind that it would be okay if he couldn’t fulfill the wish of seeing a grandchild. It’s not like he’s her only child…

Well, wouldn’t it be a good thing for his mother to have a foreign youth as a daughter-in-law or son-in-law who, in her eyes, looks like the most pure, thoughtful, and kind person in the world? Aaron also seemed to quite like his mother and Je-hee. Honestly, Je-rim was very surprised that Aaron found that Ban Je-hee so cute.

Furthermore, he had already confirmed through the previous incident that even a guy who doesn’t know the first thing about Confucianism knows how to treat a partner’s mother with utmost care. In fact, he seemed to act more affectionately than Je-rim, her own son, so it was a good thing for his mother. Where often do you find a daughter-in-law or son-in-law who naturally calls the other party’s parents a “goddess of bright spring”? They seemed to get along perfectly.

Since Aaron isn’t the type to fall behind anywhere, the other family members would surely like…

‘…Wow, did I just unconsciously go as far as marriage with Aaron?’

While having unfilial thoughts toward his mother, he was simultaneously thinking about marriage with Aaron. While blaming himself for having become a complete lunatic, Je-rim kept glancing out the airplane window. It wasn’t as if the plane would fly faster, but he couldn’t help his impatience.

Upon arriving in London, Je-rim didn’t return to his own home and transferred immediately. The destination was a small town in Greece. He had already arranged to meet Aaron at the pier there. It was to spend the vacation on an island owned by Aaron in the Mediterranean.

From the moment he landed at the nearby airport and headed to the meeting place, his steps were light as if he were flying. There were no annoying reporters clinging to him, and the weather was fantastic. As soon as he arrived at Aaron’s private pier, feeling the pleasant sunlight, the man he had been dying to see leaped off a yacht to welcome him.

“Je-rim!”

A bright smile instantly spread across the face of the man who had been scanning the yacht expressionlessly. It was the same for Je-rim. It had only been two weeks, but he didn’t know why he was so glad to see him. Before Je-rim could set his bag on the ground and open his arms, Aaron rushed toward him with terrifying momentum and hugged him tightly. Je-rim’s body tilted precariously toward the sea.

Je-rim barely avoided falling into the ocean by putting strength into his legs. Then, he held Aaron, who was murmuring affectionately as if they hadn’t seen each other for two years instead of two weeks, and rubbed his back.

“I thought I was going crazy because I missed you so much…”

“Me too.”

Why on earth did the A Matches have to happen right after the day they started dating again? Thanks to that, the two, who had been forced into an unwanted separation, held each other for a long time. They only pulled apart after finally sharing a short kiss.

Je-rim picked up the bag he had thrown down and boarded Aaron’s yacht. The interior of the yacht was more luxurious than he had imagined. It was enough to be called a house floating on the sea. The deck was equipped with parasols, sunbeds, a small pool, and even a bar, making it enviable even compared to most hotels.

He had been to several ship parties and had boarded yachts owned by other teammates a few times, but Aaron’s yacht had the best facilities of all. While he was wandering around in a daze, admiring the large hull, the voyage was already heading toward the midpoint.

“Je-rim, if you’re done sightseeing, come here. I’d prefer it if you spent more interest in me than the yacht.”

Aaron appeared holding two cocktails and called Je-rim to the sunbed. The way he gently shook the vividly colored cocktails looked like a mouse trap with a cheese model trying to lure a mouse. Those are probably non-alcoholic in reality…

“Are you jealous of the yacht now? You’re really something, aren’t you?”

While throwing a playful reproach, Je-rim quickly approached Aaron. Whenever Aaron pouted and pestered him like that, Je-rim’s weakness was that he would grumble but eventually give in.

“We’re meeting after two weeks, but your attention is focused elsewhere… I barely survived during the A Matches by looking at the photos you sent.”

“The news photo where my face is all swollen? You looked at that?”

“What do you mean ‘that’? Then what does that make me, the one who masturbated while looking at it?”

“What does it make you? A pervert, obviously. Did you seriously… find that cute?”

“Yes.”

He’s completely insane. A reaction that he found it cute enough to jerk off to was obviously better than a reaction that he lost feelings… but Je-rim hadn’t expected that he would use it as material. He should have just done it together while looking at a decent face via video call. Leaving behind a slight sense of bewilderment and regret, Je-rim lay down side-by-side with Aaron on a two-person sunbed.

Thanks to the shade of the parasol, Aaron’s face was darker than usual. Shadows fell across his already distinct features, seeming to double the dangerous atmosphere. Although the only thing coming out of that dangerously handsome face was this kind of cute nonsense.

“Should I just retire from the national team and follow you to Korea every time there’s an A Match period?”

“You know you sometimes spout absolute nonsense, right?”

“I seriously considered it. It was too hard being apart…”

“Just endure it for a few more years. I don’t want to be stoned by the Spanish people.”

He was already a public enemy to the citizens of Tavarona, and the thought of turning the entire Spanish population into enemies was terrifying. If he announced right now that he was retiring from the national team because he didn’t want to be away from his lover, a petition for Ban Je-rim’s execution would probably be uploaded in Korea. Spain, a country crazy about football, would be the same or even worse, but definitely not less.

When Je-rim stopped him in a fed-up tone, Aaron responded with a voice mixed with laughter.

“I think the Korean people would like it. Looking at the DMs I get.”

“What… Ah, they’re telling you to naturalize?”

“Yeah. Since same-sex marriage is impossible in Korea, I can’t tell them that we’ll get married in Spain.”

The first part was nonsense, but the second part was sincere. Perhaps it was all this guy’s fault that Je-rim had unconsciously envisioned a future of marrying Aaron. Feeling suddenly embarrassed, Je-rim clicked his tongue, casting his gaze toward the horizon.

“…That marriage talk. Aren’t you tired of it since we were kids?”

“If I were tired of it, would I be doing this? I’ve achieved the dream of kissing you while holding the Big Ear, so now I just have one last thing to achieve. Marriage.”

Je-rim let out an unintentional hollow laugh, finding his lover’s tenacious personality—which knew no surrender—lovable. When they were young, he was a guy who pestered him, saying he wanted to get married as soon as he turned 18. …But since they broke up with only a few months left until Aaron’s 18th birthday, that dream had become impossible to achieve forever.

Anyway, they were meeting again. Even if it was a bit late, someday, well, they might get married, or they might not. He couldn’t guarantee things in the distant future, but the assumption that he would continue to be with Aaron remained unchanged regardless. Thinking that, Je-rim, feeling light and cheerful, turned his gaze from the horizon back to Aaron’s face.

As expected, no matter when he looks, that face is… He must look like this for it to be possible to completely flip a human who lived thinking he was heterosexual. Admiring Aaron’s face made his already cheerful mood double, so Je-rim threw a joke.

“Why not just say let’s have kids too.”

“I’ve never thought about that.”

“Really? That’s unexpected. You’ve never thought about it even before meeting me? Even vaguely…”

Aaron liked children. He was famous for being exceptionally good at fan service toward children, and even just seeing how he treated escort kids showed that he found them cute. Since he also had a rich imagination, Je-rim naturally thought he would have had various thoughts. Vague thoughts like how many children he’d want to have if they married later, or that he’d prefer a daughter.

Even if one didn’t have a rich imagination or like children, it’s common for people to imagine the family they’ll build once or twice around the time their head starts getting bigger. Thoughts like ‘I must never marry’ or ‘I must never have babies’ also fall into that category.

Aaron and Je-rim were each other’s first loves and first partners, but they had met at an age when puberty was already mostly over. Thus, it wasn’t strange that before meeting one another, they had naturally assumed they would form conventional families—marrying someone of the opposite sex and having children. For one, Je-rim had firmly believed his future would be exactly that until he met Aaron.

However, Aaron’s subsequent answer left Je-rim completely stunned.

“I never even considered the possibility of not doing it with you. Before I met you, I thought of nothing but soccer.”

“…….”

Wow…. He really didn’t know what to say…. Flushed red all the way to his earlobes at the unexpected answer, Je-rim let out a heavy sigh.

He had just casually confessed that he had been so obsessed with soccer before meeting him, and so obsessed with him after meeting him, that he hadn’t even harbored the basic human instinct to reproduce. He had brushed off the confession that he hadn’t dated anyone during their ten years apart just as easily.

Because Aaron always tossed out shocking bombshells as if they were nothing, Je-rim felt his insides burning with agitation. How on earth had this guy lived before they got back together? Even if he couldn’t get hard looking at other people, there must have been times when his sexual desire boiled over uncontrollably, or times when he felt lonely.

While he felt a renewed sense of worry, he was also bewildered, surprised, and happy. Aaron poured out an absolute and blind affection, as if Ban Je-rim were the very sky of his world. Then and now.

And he was just as severe with his jealousy. Consistently, in every matter.

“So, you’d better drop those plans for children. Did you say you wanted three? Wake up from that dream.”

“No, you actually remember that? I told you it was just a joke.”

Judging by the growling tone, it was obvious what he was imagining. Since Aaron wasn’t going to give birth, realizing that future was impossible anyway. Je-rim caressed the slight curve of Aaron’s eyes, brought his face so close that their lips were nearly touching, and whispered.

“And I dropped all of that a long time ago when I decided to get back with you. I rewrote my entire life plan because of you.”

At that, Aaron closed his eyes gently and beamed. It was a smile that looked incredibly pleased.

“…Truly, that is the best love confession you could give.”

“Then treat me well if you know.”

“Who do you think is giving the order? Of course I will.”

Seeing Aaron tapping his lips with his eyes closed, practically begging for a kiss, Je-rim didn’t stall any longer and climbed on top of him. The experience of kissing while listening to the sound of the motor engine cutting through the wind, the crashing waves, and the cries of seagulls was quite novel.

Since they were in the middle of the ocean and no one was watching, Je-rim kissed him frantically for a while before belatedly feeling a sense of incongruity and pulling his lips away. Still perched on Aaron’s stomach, he gestured toward the empty helm and asked.

“By the way, how is this thing being driven?”

“It’s in autopilot mode right now. Of course, I know how to do the docking and manual steering, so don’t worry.”

“You got a yacht license too?”

“Yeah, while I was learning sailing, I just did it as well.”

Je-rim’s eyes widened at the news that he had once enjoyed the leisure of sailing a yacht using sails rather than a motor. He felt that Aaron had learned truly every kind of thing, starting from cooking. Aaron pressed the back of Je-rim’s neck, making him collapse against his chest again, and began fiddling with his earlobe.

“If you’re interested, want me to teach you yacht sailing? There’s a small dinghy at the island villa. It’ll be fun. No motor noise, and it’s good exercise.”

“Sure, the vacation is long anyway…. Ah, teach me how to drive the motor yacht too. I’ve wanted to buy one for a while, so this is perfect.”

“Really? You should have told me sooner. I would have given you one as a birthday present.”

“Forget it. Whether it’s a yacht or a watch. I love the watch you gave me because it’s a limited edition. Anyway, what do you want for your birthday this time?”

“A marriage certificate.”

“Sigh….”

As they chatted softly, their secret rendezvous on the yacht gradually drew to a close. Upon arriving at the island, Aaron skillfully docked the yacht. The island was small, but just looking at the neatly maintained pier, one could tell how clean the villa would be. He had heard that a friend living on a nearby island acted as the villa’s caretaker, and it seemed that friend wasn’t the type to slack off just because they were friends.

The villa was a beautiful building constructed in the Mediterranean style. The two-story house was surrounded by footpaths and artificial turf, and the yard featured various leisure facilities, including a soccer goal. In particular, the swimming pool on the second-floor terrace, with a glass floor that allowed one to see everything below, was impressive.

Entering the villa, a spacious kitchen and living room were the first things to catch the eye. Beyond the arched passage behind the kitchen was a garden that connected to the sea. The interior was designed without a single careless detail or unclean corner. Je-rim let out an exclamation of admiration, fully understanding why Aaron had suggested spending the vacation on this island.

“Hey, this is amazing. How much did this cost?”

“A lot. Do you like it?”

“Yeah.”

“Then let’s just come here every time we have a vacation.”

“Sounds good.”

With Aaron clinging to him, wrapping his arms around his waist and rubbing his face against his neck, Je-rim toured all the rooms on the second floor. And as they entered the long-awaited bedroom, Aaron curved his eyes as if he had been waiting and led Je-rim to the bed.

“Boss, so when do you plan on keeping your promise?”

“Now.”

Seriously, this fox of a man. Je-rim pushed Aaron down onto the bed and immediately crossed his arms to throw off his top. He was a guy who knew better than anyone—and utilized it well—that Je-rim got excited whenever he acted obediently and flattered him by calling him ‘Boss’ or ‘Captain.’

Loosening his belt haphazardly, Je-rim climbed onto the bed, and Aaron without hesitation sank his teeth into the nape of Je-rim’s neck. After a sharp sting passed quickly, it was followed by the sensation of being softly licked and sucked. Je-rim pressed the back of Aaron’s head firmly against his neck while his other hand slowly crept inside Aaron’s shirt.

After feeling the hard abdominal muscles, he slowly slid his hand up and rested his palm on the thick ribcage. He could clearly feel the chest expanding and contracting as Aaron breathed. Feeling playful, Je-rim used his fingertips to tickle the concave gaps between the ribs, and Aaron responded by baring his teeth and nibbling on his skin.

“You said it was okay to leave marks, right? That you’d let me do whatever I wanted.”

“Yeah, ngh…!”

Je-rim’s shoulders flinched. Because Aaron was mumbling without lifting his mouth from his neck, the movement of the lips was so ticklish he couldn’t stand it. Moreover, Aaron’s bridge of the nose and hair kept pressing and brushing against his bare skin, adding to the ticklishness.

After biting and sucking all over Je-rim’s neck, collarbone, and shoulders like a beast marking its prey, Aaron finally pulled his lips away, leaving the white skin covered in mottled marks. Aaron scanned each one with satisfied eyes and snuggled deep into Je-rim’s embrace. In reality, it was more like Je-rim being embraced.

“Then show me some affection. Love me.”

Je-rim ruffled Aaron’s hair and pressed kisses wherever they landed on his forehead. This fox—knowing that Je-rim was crazy for the style where the forehead is exposed, he had come with his hair styled and swept back. Furthermore, the hair that had been tousled by the sea breeze looked natural and even erotic.

“You really have no shame. With this build and this face, you want to be ‘loved’?”

Despite acting like someone who was already dying from too much love, the words coming out of his mouth were teasing. But even this sounded as if honey were dripping from his voice. In response, Aaron acted spoiled, happiness dripping from his honey-colored eyes.

“Who was it that looked at this build and this face and called me cute and like a chick every day?”

“I told you several times I wasn’t in my right mind back then…. Stop chirping cutely and take your clothes off.”

The tattoos on the forearms tightening around him were like transparent stickers in Je-rim’s eyes. He hooked the fingers he had placed inside Aaron’s shirt and lifted the hem up to his chest. Then, Aaron laughed lowly and threw off his top.

As if possessed, Je-rim reached out and placed his palm flat on Aaron’s chest. You can’t make chest muscles like this no matter how hard you work out. Not too excessive, not too lean. It was a perfect shape and texture that could only be achieved when backed by naturally good form and placement. Honestly, since his own chest was on the flatter side, he found Aaron’s chest more enviable and appealing.

Of course, he intentionally managed his upper body so that too much muscle wouldn’t build up, but still. It was a kind of vicarious satisfaction. And what use was it if his own chest felt good? It was better if his lover’s chest felt good. Je-rim slowly moved his hand, savoring Aaron’s chest. While Aaron obediently offered his chest, he twitched an eyebrow as if he found it absurd.

“Is kneading chests your way of showing affection?”

“Yeah.”

“Ha… I wonder who the one with no shame really is.”

“If you have a complaint, you touch me too.”

“…I’ll touch somewhere else.”

The man who answered thus slid his hand inside Je-rim’s trousers. Since the belt and zipper had already been loosened, Aaron’s hand slid deep toward his buttocks without any effort.

Just as he was thinking that whether it was the chest or the buttocks, the lack of shame was the same—Aaron pulled down Je-rim’s trousers and underwear, lifted him up, and changed his orientation. Before Je-rim, who had been sat with his legs dangling outside the bed regardless of his will, could ask what he was doing, Aaron knelt on the floor and buried his head.

The place Aaron buried his head was between Je-rim’s legs. He first took the semi-erect cock into his mouth. As the hot mucous membrane wrapped around the skin and the wet tongue touched the glans, Je-rim’s member began to stand up in earnest.

“Kh…!”

Aaron diligently sucked and swallowed the thing that began to grow in size inside his mouth. Then, once the fully erect cock filled his mouth tightly, he spat it out, drenched in saliva. Holding the cock, which had become slippery and covered in saliva, in one hand, he gripped the jaw as if loosening the joint, shook it a couple of times, and bowed his head again.

“Your cock tastes great. It’s a bit of a struggle, though….”

“What kind of crazy talk is that again….”

“I’m saying I like it because it’s pretty.”

The action of spitting on the reddened glans while calling it ‘pretty’ was starkly contradictory. Transparent saliva dropped onto the twitching urethral opening, mixing with the cowper’s fluid that had been leaking out, and flowed down the shaft. Opening his hand wide, Aaron gripped the soaking wet cock and stroked it all the way to the root.

Every time Aaron’s hand moved up and down, a squelching sound echoed within his grip. By the time Je-rim’s cock, which was already glistening, was thoroughly soaked in saliva and cowper’s fluid and trembling, Aaron put the round glans back in his mouth and sucked it like a piece of candy.

“K-ugh, hng, ngh…!”

The insertion, which had started with only the glans halfway over Aaron’s lips, grew deeper. Je-rim gripped the back of Aaron’s head and panted, thrusting his hips shallowly. Aaron matched the rhythm, moving his head back and forth, sucking Je-rim’s cock deeply.

The hot interior of the mouth was so cozy, and since he was thrusting the most sensitive tip of the glans entirely into the throat, the stimulation beyond limits made his neck arch back. Veins were already bulging in his neck and temples. Even while he continued to thrust into Aaron’s mouth, lost in the instinct to fuck, he could feel his hole opening as if expecting something, even though it hadn’t been touched yet.

The more he felt it, the more firmly Je-rim gripped Aaron’s hair and looked down. It was to keep in his sight Aaron’s posture kneeling between his legs, the amber eyes looking up with a piercing gaze as if checking his reaction, the arms tightly gripping his waist, and the face that was the embodiment of his ideal type.

Before he knew it, Aaron was masturbating his own member as well. The muscles of the arm with the tattoos stood out prominently as he shook a cock of a monstrous shape, like that of a horse. Between his large palm, the dark red shaft, which couldn’t be fully gripped, writhed, and the mushroom-like head of the glans repeatedly appeared and disappeared. All these elements ignited a dizzying pleasure.

The sight of him being fully erect while sucking someone else’s cock, kneeling in a submissive posture and working his tongue without rest, made him look like someone who didn’t know what to do because the cock tasted so good. Even though there was no way it tasted good. Unable to overcome his curiosity, Je-rim pulled Aaron’s cheek back and asked.

“Aaron, does it taste good?”

“Yeah…. Je-rim, just cum in my mouth. It’s okay.”

The man, whose lips were drenched in saliva and reddened to the corners of his mouth, opened his mouth wide and pointed to his bright red tongue as if to emphasize his point, making Je-rim’s cock twitch violently again. However, unlike his body, which reacted as if it had heard the most welcome words, a refusal came from Je-rim’s mouth.

“That’s a bit….”

Knowing that semen would be truly tasteless, he didn’t want to ejaculate inside his lover’s mouth. Of course, he had cummed in Aaron’s mouth quite a few times before… but that was before they dated, and it wasn’t by choice. Most of those disasters happened because Aaron refused to let go of the cock until the end.

Worried that Aaron might forcibly suck and hold it until he ejaculated again, he was about to lift his body. He also felt that it was time to actually fuck. His insides were constantly ticklish and his hole was trembling so much that his hips were lifting; he had reached his limit.

But Aaron moved one step faster than Je-rim. Gripping Je-rim’s pelvis, he pulled his lower body close, pinning him in place, and quickly took the glans back into his mouth, chewing on it.

“I told you it tastes good.”

“Ah… ngh!”

If you’re going to talk, spit out the contents of your mouth first. While splitting the gap in the center of the glans with the tip of his tongue, he mumbled something in an unintelligible pronunciation because of the leakage, and his lips moved together, tickling the circumference of the cock again.

In the end, Je-rim had no choice but to ejaculate into Aaron’s mouth once more. He tried to pull his body away and tried to forcibly push Aaron’s head off, but it was all in vain. It was because this fox of a man, sensing that ejaculation was imminent, swallowed the cock up to his throat and made his Adam’s apple bob as if swallowing saliva. There was no way to resist the cock being squeezed tightly in the narrow opening.

Intoxicated by the afterglow of ejaculation, he closed his eyes to catch his breath and didn’t notice that Aaron had ejaculated as well. Only after his heavily heaving chest calmed down did Je-rim open his eyes, stroke Aaron’s cheek, and lean down.

“…Should I do it with my mouth too? You’ve… already cummed, though.”

Je-rim’s eyes narrowed as he saw white semen splattered here and there over the dark-skinned fingers and the back of the hand. It was natural to be excited from the perspective of being sucked, but from the perspective of the one sucking… was there really something to be this excited about?

Every time he gave a fellatio, Aaron seemed to be just as excited as he was, and as Je-rim asked out of curiosity, Aaron looked up with a surprised face.

“…What? You?”

“You don’t want to?”

“Of course it’s not that….”

“Yeah, it doesn’t look like that.”

Watching the member of the man who had just ejaculated stand straight up again, Je-rim clicked his tongue. He was certainly healthy. Moreover, why was the size so grotesquely large? If it were just a bit smaller, or at least similar in size to his own, it might have been bet—no, probably not.

Je-rim knew himself well; while he constantly complained that it was hideous or monstrous, he accepted and swallowed it just fine in the back. Having become so accustomed to being fucked, he would ejaculate even without separate stimulation to the front, and sometimes he liked it so much he’d discharge something other than semen. In fact, his honest feeling right now was that he’d rather have the cock put in the back than in his mouth.

Since Aaron seemed so expectant and he was curious, he would try it with his mouth first. But just how wide would he have to open his mouth to make it possible…? Would his jaw dislocate? What if he accidentally used his teeth and hurt Aaron? While all sorts of worries flashed through his mind, Aaron seemed to be thinking something similar, as he gave him a worried look.

“But I don’t know if it’ll fit in your mouth, and you’ve always… with fellatio….”

“I didn’t want to do it because I was afraid my lips would tear… but since you suck it so tastily, I’ve become curious.”

Well, let’s just try it for now. Having made up his mind, Je-rim tapped the bedsheet he was sitting on.

“Don’t worry, if it feels like it’s going to tear, I’ll spit it out, so come up here. You were acting like you’d pout if I didn’t do everything you wanted to do.”

And he placed his foot on the thigh of the kneeling Aaron. As he lightly extended his toes to tap the scrotum and the root of the cock, a moan escaped from between Aaron’s teeth. Taking the opportunity, he lifted his ankle—a part Aaron seemed to love second only to his smiling face—and rubbed it down the erect shaft.

“You said you wanted to be loved.”

“Whew, you really… I love how reckless you are.”

Exhaling deeply as if enduring a wave of pleasure, Aaron suddenly sat up, pulled Je-rim down to his feet, and perched himself on the edge of the bed. Je-rim swallowed hard as Aaron’s cock began bobbing right before his eyes.

Since he had already ejaculated once, whitish semen was smeared and clung to the dark red shaft. Fitting for the massive glans, the urethral opening—slightly larger than that of an average person—remained open, leaking fluid, while several veins and thick tendons protruded along the upward-curving shaft. The glans, a deeper red than the shaft, was swollen and glistening.

As if he had never hesitated, Aaron grabbed his cock and rubbed it shamelessly against Je-rim’s cheek, urging him on.

“Je-rim, hurry… You said you’d take care of me, right? Hmm?”

“…Hold on.”

As the pulsing energy and searing heat transferred through his cheek, Je-rim felt he needed more time to prepare himself. Moreover, seeing the semen splattered around the cock made him hesitate to lick it. After wavering for a moment, Je-rim first stuck out his tongue slightly and licked the scrotum.

It was a spot where no semen was smeared, and it was a size that could actually fit in his mouth. Lapping at it like a cat drinking water, he pursed his lips and took one side of the scrotum entirely into his mouth. Immediately, Aaron’s thighs jerked violently, and a raspy moan, sounding as if his throat were being torn, echoed from above. To a casual listener, he sounded like someone in pain.

However, knowing the reality was the exact opposite, Je-rim gathered more courage and deeply licked the thin skin where the scrotum met the shaft. With his right hand, he gripped the shaft of Aaron’s cock, stroking it with light pressure, while his left hand gently tickled the other side of the scrotum.

Careful not to let his teeth touch, he rolled the round, firm flesh inside his mouth. When he finally spat it out, breathless, the thin skin was so drenched in saliva that it clung to his lips. Only after he swept his tongue across his lips did the flesh of the scrotum snap back into place.

‘It’s not as bad as I thought.’

It wasn’t as repulsive as he had feared. Perhaps it was because the owner of the cock was Aaron… Above all, Je-rim loved Aaron’s growling moans. Wanting to hear more of those sounds, Je-rim pressed his lips against the shaft, where semen still lingered.

Naturally, a fishy taste crept across his tongue. But he endured it with a slight grimace, gripped the base of Aaron’s cock to tilt it upward, and licked long and slow up the underside of the shaft where the tendons bulged in a straight line.

“Hng, ngh…!”

The base in his hand trembled, and he could feel the throbbing pulse twitching through the sparsely entwined veins. Je-rim let out a silent scoff, wondering why Aaron had been so hesitant at first when he was going to enjoy it this much. He lazily swept his tongue all the way up to the glans. The smeared semen was quickly wiped away by Je-rim’s tongue. The taste of the pre-cum leaking from the urethral opening was similar to semen, yet distinctly different.

Recalling what Aaron had done for him, Je-rim stiffened his tongue and swept the center of the glans and the concave rim. At the same time, he gauged the circumference of the glans to determine how wide he needed to open his mouth.

‘I think I can manage if I just get that thick rim in.’ Having made his estimate, Je-rim opened his mouth wide and slowly swallowed the tip of the glans. As soon as it entered, the urethral opening pulsed, gushing out cowper’s fluid. Swallowing it along with his own saliva, Je-rim slowly lowered his head.

“Ugh…”

He hadn’t even fully taken in the glans, but a pained sound escaped him as his jaw, stretched to its limit, grew stiff. The corners of his mouth burned from the friction, and his tongue swirled uselessly inside his mouth, not knowing where to settle. Noticing Je-rim hesitating again, Aaron coaxed him even as he struggled to breathe.

“Don’t push yourself too hard…”

For some reason, those words triggered a competitive instinct. Je-rim shook his head and swallowed Aaron’s cock even deeper. As he pushed the rim of the glans past his lips, the corners of his mouth felt less than sore—they felt as if they were tearing, bringing tears to his eyes—but he endured. Just as he wondered if he had ever opened his mouth this wide in his life, he succeeded in taking the entire glans and began to pant through his obstructed airway.

The glans, filling his mouth, poked deep into the roof of his palate. He thought that once it passed his lips, the space would widen and the rest would be manageable, but that thought vanished shortly after. He had swallowed only a tiny bit more of the shaft when the cock began to poke his throat, triggering a surge of nausea.

‘How did Aaron swallow it further than this…?’ Realizing this was likely his limit, Je-rim looked up at Aaron with bloodshot eyes. Beads of sweat had formed on Aaron’s forehead. He was gripping the sheets tightly, clearly suppressing the urge to grab the back of Je-rim’s head and ram himself in. One look at the viciously protruding veins on the back of his hands and forearms was enough to tell how much he was enduring.

“Haa… Je-rim, just take it out… I can’t, ngh, I can’t stand it.”

As a man himself, Je-rim could vividly feel the agony Aaron was currently experiencing, but he didn’t stop. Instead, he gave a signal that it was okay to move slightly and began to move his head back and forth. Then, Aaron, whose fingers were twitching, let out a low curse and gripped Je-rim’s cheeks, shaking his hips.

“Gah…! Hng, huu…!”

Compared to the movements Aaron usually used when ramming into his back, this was like child’s play. However, with the thick shaft pressing down on his tongue and poking at the roof of his mouth and throat, even swallowing saliva became a struggle. The saliva that had pooled and drenched Aaron’s cock eventually leaked past his lips, wetting his chin. Tears flowed physiologically as his uvula was stimulated.

Watching this with glistening eyes, Aaron seemed to make a decision and pulled his cock out of Je-rim’s mouth. Judging that he couldn’t suck any more anyway, Je-rim didn’t stop him. The cock was so large and long that it took as long to come out as it had to be swallowed.

Finally, with a wet shluck sound, the glans was completely pulled from Je-rim’s mouth. Even then, the urethral opening continued to flare wildly, leaking cowper’s fluid and leaving a sticky string of slime attached to Je-rim’s lips as it detached.

“Cough! Hack, haah…”

Je-rim clutched his now-open airway and coughed frantically. The corners of his mouth stung and his jaw joint throbbed from being stretched wide, but he had no time to care. He was panting, desperate to catch the breath he had missed.

Leaning down, Aaron patted Je-rim’s back and wiped his messy chin and eyes before helping him up. Then, he threw him back onto the bed, spread his legs, and buried his face right between them. The difference this time was that his tongue touched the hole, not the cock.

“Hng, cough! Haah, ah…”

The hole, which had been twitching on its own since Aaron had been sucking his cock, welcomed the tongue gladly. The rim flared, urging him to put something inside quickly. As requested, Aaron stiffened his tongue and split the folds of the hole. The deep-diving tongue coated the shallow inner walls near the entrance with saliva, sucking the twitching hole greedily.

While doing so, he began to thrust one or two fingers into the hole, flicking his wrists upward. At the long-awaited stimulation, Je-rim’s waist trembled violently, and he pushed against the sheets with his toes. Lewd whimpers poured from his mouth. Eventually, Aaron’s patience ran out; ending the foreplay faster than usual, he smeared on more gel and shoved his cock straight into the hole.

“Fuck, if I take care of you twice, I’m going to kill someone.”

“Ugh, ah-eung! Ah, ah-h! Huuu, hng, eung…!”

Without warning, he inserted all the way to the root in one go and began to thrust rapidly. The prostate was crushed relentlessly, causing a bulge to rise above his navel. The inner walls, feeling the familiar thickness and length of the cock ramming in, melted quickly as if finally satisfied. As the relaxed muscles clung stickily to the entire shaft, Aaron let out a ragged breath and shook his hips like a stud.

“Were you twitching your hole while sucking my cock? I barely loosened you up, so why are you… ngh! squeezing so much…?”

“Haa, ngh, shut… h-aat!”

The upward-curving cock effectively poked as if scooping up the skin of his belly. The shape of the round glans blurred the lines of Je-rim’s abs, appearing sporadically around his navel. Then, the moment he was thrust diagonally into the left side, Je-rim wrapped his legs around Aaron’s waist and sobbed.

“Aaron, there… ah! It feels good, ha-eut, good… more…”

“Hu, where? Here?”

“Eung! Hng, aa, here… hik!”

Whether he was teasing him on purpose or simply couldn’t find the spot because he was thrusting so rapidly, Aaron’s cock kept missing. Letting out a frustrated moan and frowning, Je-rim fumbled to point to the spot on his left abdomen that had bulged out when Aaron rammed him. It was above the navel, shifted diagonally.

“Yeah…”

Only then did Aaron nod as if he had finally gotten the hang of it, moving Je-rim’s hand away from his stomach. He pulled his cock all the way out, then thrust his hips toward the area Je-rim had been pointing to. He rammed the glans into that exact spot with such force it felt as if he were trying to bore a hole through it. At the insertion that felt as if it were reaching his very lungs, Je-rim couldn’t even let out a proper moan and simply collapsed in pleasure.

“……!”

“This is it, right? Press down on it too; it feels better when you press…”

Aaron took Je-rim’s hand and placed it back on the area where the belly skin was rounded. Then, he applied pressure to Je-rim’s wrist, forcing him to press down, causing Je-rim to struggle, his limbs shaking violently. The sheets were pushed aside, leaving the bed a mess, and his convulsing feet kicked at Aaron’s waist.

The sound of the junction sticking and pulling apart mixed with the brutal sound of flesh slapping against flesh, but Aaron didn’t care, burying his nose in the crook of Je-rim’s neck. Inhaling Je-rim’s scent, he sucked on the area where he had left bite marks, leaving red bruises. With his other hand, he repeatedly pinched the erect, pale pink nub.

The thought that even a dog in heat wouldn’t be this slutty… was that too harsh for a lover he had just started dating again? With a mind hazy from fever, Je-rim gathered these complaints. Meanwhile, in his ear, broken Spanish phrases like so beautiful, so erotic, I love it, I love you, my heaven flowed in.

The voice was so low and erotic it made his peach fuzz stand on end, and those ticklish words clung to his eardrums. Then, at some point when he heard “I love it,” “I want to stay like this forever,” “I’m going crazy because I love it,” or “I love you,” Je-rim whispered “Me too” while kissing the corner of Aaron’s eye, and Aaron ejaculated, hugging Je-rim as if to crush him.

The feeling of warm, viscous fluid spreading inside his belly was always unpleasant yet satisfying. Feeling Aaron’s cock pulsing inside him, Je-rim also spurted his own seed. Since he had already come once in Aaron’s mouth, the consistency was thinner than the first time.

‘This should be the end now…’ Since they had both come twice, even if they did it again, it would be in a little while… He had just relaxed, making such a leisurely prediction.

“…Je-rim, you have to keep your promise.”

“What… ah-huk!”

Aaron, who had been hugging Je-rim as if crushing him while emptying the last drop of semen into his belly, suddenly sat up and pulled Je-rim up to sit on his lap. As the cock shoved from bottom to top into the inner walls, which were hypersensitive from the recent ejaculation, Je-rim’s own cock bobbed violently.

Aaron pushed Je-rim further, slowly resuming the thrusting into the internals that had become soft and full of semen.

“You said, ngh, we could do it all day…”

“Ah fuck, that was… h-eung, kut, aa…!”

“Even when you curse, hu, you’re lovely.”

“Crazy, ah-euuuugh!”

Regret surged over making such a pointless promise, but it was already too late to take it back or stop Aaron.

They had clearly arrived on the island in the late afternoon and started hooking up almost immediately, but when he came to his senses, it was midnight. Moreover, Aaron had forced him awake, claiming he needed to replenish his calories. Je-rim had tried not to eat, knowing Aaron would just feed him to restore his stamina and then ram him again, but the smell of the food was too delicious, and his self-control slipped.

And so, they did it again while eating and washing. He felt a sense of skepticism, wondering if he was any different from a beast in heat, but that only lasted a moment. Whenever he pressed his body against Aaron’s and the hot body heat spread through his entire frame, his reason vanished.

He woke up from a short nap at dawn to do it again, and he thought Aaron had burrowed into his arms in his sleep, though he wasn’t sure. Since they had done nothing but sex, it might have been a vivid dream. But when Je-rim woke up in the morning and checked his body, he realized instantly it wasn’t a dream.

That was because Aaron’s cock was still plugged into his back. His belly stung slightly, and the area around the hole and his inner thighs felt damp and sticky for some reason, suggesting the semen hadn’t been removed. He was keeping the promise to do it “all day” quite diligently.

Since he was the one who made the promise, he couldn’t get angry. He had enjoyed it too… Anyway, after doing it this much, Aaron would likely behave for a few days, so it was a case of giving up a little flesh to gain a bone.

The problem was that the “flesh” he gave up was too much, but well, he’d recover once he rested. Since this golden break—with no training or competitions—only came once a year, both Aaron and he prioritized enjoying themselves over body management.

However, right now, something else was more urgent than enjoyment. Even though the moisture in his body had been squeezed out from both ends, the urge to urinate upon waking in the morning remained unchanged. Without waking Aaron, Je-rim wiggled his hips to sneak away to the bathroom.

“Huu…”

‘He really buried it deep in a sleeping man’s ass.’ Cursing inwardly, he began to pull his body forward, and the stickily entwined inner flesh began to separate slowly. A series of strange sound effects—tsugeok, jjeop, tsueut—echoed, making his face flush. It felt as if he were masturbating by poking his own hole with a sleeping man’s cock…

Above all, it was embarrassing because his genitals had stood up again. It was unclear if it was a morning erection or if he had become erect from the pleasure of the inner walls being stimulated. Probably both. Since the erection would naturally subside once he urinated, he didn’t touch it.

Telling himself repeatedly that he was doing this solely to go to the bathroom, he had almost entirely pulled out Aaron’s cock. Perhaps because it was morning, Aaron’s cock was also hard inside his belly, and the inner walls twitched every time the shaft was spat out. Fearing that the stimulation might wake Aaron, he kept his belly relaxed and shifted his hips with extreme caution.

But the moment a voice thick with sleep sounded from behind him, Je-rim was so startled that he instinctively tightened his stomach muscles.

“…What are you doing? Masturbating? If you were, you should’ve woken me…”

The shaft he had struggled to pull out was rammed back in to the hilt with a single thrust of Aaron’s hips. Simultaneously, Je-rim’s left leg, which had been lying on its side, slid across the sheets.

“Wait, ah! The bathroom, I was going to the bathroom…!”

“Is it that urgent?”

“Eung… let go! Hng, I said let go!”

“I’ll take you.”

‘Take me where and do what?’ Before he could ask, Aaron pulled his cock out of Je-rim, turned him over, and lifted him up. Je-rim, who had been suddenly gouged up to the colon and then felt the shock of the hole being stretched wide as the cock quickly exited, leaned limply against Aaron.

Carrying Je-rim, Aaron strode toward the bathroom and stopped in front of the toilet. As soon as he set Je-rim down, he lazily shoved his cock back in from behind and gripped Je-rim’s cock, fixing it toward the toilet.

Realizing what Aaron wanted to do, Je-rim gripped the sink next to the toilet with trembling hands.

“Aaron, please… I can’t do it like this…”

“I don’t want to take it out… Pee, and then let’s wash together. Then I’ll make you breakfast.”

Breakfast made by Aaron. Normally, he would have been delighted and looked forward to the taste, but today was different. The reason he was terrified instead of welcoming was simple: he was afraid Aaron would tell him to eat breakfast while still taking his cock.

Since this was a man who wanted him to urinate while taking his cock, the possibility was entirely there. As Je-rim shouted a barrage of curses and shook his head, Aaron gently kissed the back of Je-rim’s head and whimpered weakly.

“I want to see you pee… You said you’d do everything I asked, Je-rim.”

That was true, but fuck, there’s a limit… Why on earth would someone want to watch another person pee? To make matters worse, he even offered to hold the cock for him, leaving Je-rim absolutely driven to distraction.

If it hadn’t been so urgent, he might have tried to hold it in somehow, but with his cock being hammered in and stimulating his bladder, holding it for long was impossible. Even if he hadn’t felt the urge, being poked so directly in the area where the bladder is located would have made him leak anyway.

Eventually, Je-rim’s cock, left entirely in Aaron’s hands, began to shoot out a powerful stream. The liquid, which differed in color from what he released while having sex with Aaron, knew no bounds once the dam broke. With his ears twitching slightly, flushed red from a rush of heat that made his eyes sting, Je-rim buried his face in his free hands.

“Hngh, you… hng, you son of a bitch…”

“Mm… Je-rim, you’re the sexiest when you curse, which makes you look even prettier.”

“You fucking pervert…”

“You’re cute when you’re shy, too. Haah… your insides are churning so much.”

Aaron continued his slow thrusts, burying his cock deep into Je-rim’s belly. With his right hand, he stroked Je-rim’s cock, and with his left, he massaged Je-rim’s abdomen, even pressing down firmly on his lower belly. His voice, sounding languid like a sated beast, was laced with unmistakable excitement and satisfaction.

Soon, the momentum of the stream coming from the tip of Je-rim’s cock gradually diminished and then stopped completely. Aaron flicked the shaft to shake off the last few drops, meticulously handled the cleanup, and then pushed Je-rim toward the shower booth.

At this point, Je-rim thought that instead of pleading or resisting, it might be more effective to whine and pretend to be in pain, so he looked back at Aaron and spoke haltingly.

“No, I… my stomach hurts, I can’t anymore, really…”

“I’ll get the semen out for you.”

“No, it’s not because of the semen, it’s my insides… because you kept pounding me so much… ah, ahh!”

Aaron’s cock stirred in a wide circle inside the semen-filled cavity before sliding straight out. Looking back, semen was tangled and smeared across the gap of the glans and along the shaft. It seemed the thick, bulging glans had acted as a scraper for the cum that had filled his belly.

Unable to bear looking at that grotesque sight any longer, he turned his head forward again. The problem was that the creamy white clumps, dragged out of the hole along with the cock, burst and splattered, dirtying the floor.

He had released so much throughout the night that cum dripped steadily from the hole, which had not yet closed. It was sticky, perhaps because the viscosity had increased as it clumped together inside his belly. The swollen, pulsing rim of the hole was smeared with slimy semen, slowly swallowing back the liquid it had just expelled. It was because the hole was twitching and tightening on its own now that Aaron’s cock had left.

As if he couldn’t wait a second longer, Aaron immediately aimed his reddened, hideous glans at the entrance of the hole and plunged deep inside.

Engraving a resolution deep in his heart that he would never again make promises without careful deliberation, Je-rim floundered amidst the rising steam and pleasure.

✲✲✲

If the second day on Aaron’s island had been a time of hedonism, from the next day onward, it was a time of relaxation.

Je-rim spent the whole day lying in bed, watching movies on his laptop, listening to music, or idling with his phone while lying on top of Aaron. Like a man who knew he had sinned, Aaron complied with whatever Je-rim wanted. If Je-rim told him to be a bed, he became a bed; if a body pillow, a pillow, or a blanket, he became that. Providing three meals a day and snacks was also entirely Aaron’s responsibility.

Having had sex to the point of exhaustion until the second day, Aaron seemed to stay quiet for a few days. Of course, this only applied to sex; whenever he was bored, he would leave marks by biting various parts of Je-rim’s body or suck on his nipples.

His pale pink nipples had become darker and plump from being sucked so much that they stood erect. They were so sore that even a slight touch from the blanket stung, to the point where he couldn’t wear a top. He usually went shirtless at home anyway, so it didn’t matter much. Besides, every time Aaron sucked his nipples, Je-rim kneaded Aaron’s chest to his heart’s content, so it was mutual.

Regardless, thanks to the gourmet meals that balanced nutrients and calories, and the extreme hospitality that allowed him to not take a single step outside the bed, his depleted stamina recovered quickly. His back, which had been so aching he couldn’t even stand straight, was perfectly healed in a day.

When he left the window by the bed open, a gentle breeze mixed with the scent of salt blew in, fluttering the curtains. Binging the movies he had put off until his vacation while feeling the breeze was the height of happiness. He also enjoyed having various conversations about the plots with Aaron, who sat by his side as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

“Wow, they’re being so frustrating. Why go there? Did they lose all their fear?”

“They said it was a place their dead husband really wanted to visit… it’s probably for the purpose of mourning.”

“Isn’t it enough to mourn by just setting up a memorial table at home?”

“A memorial table… like Japchae? You make Japchae for a dead person to eat?”

“Japchae, pancakes, fruit, seasoned vegetables, and various other things.”

“I really don’t understand that custom.”

“Not many Koreans understand it either.”

“But why set a table for the purpose of mourning? You just said that’s why.”

“I don’t know. Everyone just does it, so we do it.”

However, because their perspectives were so different, most of their conversations flowed in such strange directions. Still, it was fun. Sometimes, more so than watching the movies. Because their lips were both curved upward in smiles, they couldn’t laugh out loud, but they giggled as they talked.

Since he had time to kill, he also put on famous Korean drama series to give Aaron Korean lessons. Thanks to this, the world of a man who previously only knew curses like jiral, michinnom, gaesajik, ssibal, and saekki expanded significantly. It would probably be hard to find any Spaniard other than Aaron who knew the meaning of horosaekki or yuksiral-nom.

“Je-rim, don’t just teach me curses; tell me other words too. Would you like it if I suddenly started cursing when I meet reporters from your country?”

“Aren’t you pretty much doing that to your own country’s reporters already?”

“I don’t use blatant profanity. As long as they don’t ask questions that get under my skin, I answer reasonably.”

“I guess you and I have different definitions of ‘reasonably’.”

Coach Verdi had been grinding his teeth, saying he would definitely fix this guy’s shitty interviewing habits next Season. Since this was a secret shared only between the coach and the captain, Je-rim didn’t bring it up. Leaning his head on Aaron’s shoulder, Je-rim naturally changed the subject.

“And how often are you going to have interviews with a whole crowd of Korean reporters? At most, you’ll just get one or two questions about me after a match.”

“Wouldn’t there be things to do if I marry you? For example, announcing the marriage. Or I could live in Korea after I retire.”

“…Why are your plans so specific?”

The way he spoke suggested he had already imagined it a hundred times. Feeling suspicious, Je-rim asked back as if talking to himself, and Aaron showed a thoughtful expression while stroking Je-rim’s chin.

“Since what age… I’ve been thinking about it since I was roughly fifteen or sixteen, so of course it’s specific, isn’t it?”

“When you were fifteen, we weren’t even dating yet…”

“I fell for you the moment I first saw you in the summer when I was fifteen. I’ve been thinking about it ever since.”

“That you wanted to marry me?”

“Yes.”

The fact that he thought about marriage the moment he fell in love at such a young age was truly obsessive and crazy, so why were his cheekbones creeping up? Je-rim rubbed his aching cheekbones against Aaron’s shoulder to calm them down and replied in a flat voice.

“If that was the case, why didn’t you learn Korean in advance?”

“I tried studying. But trying to self-study was so hard that I couldn’t make heads or tails of it… and just as I was thinking about learning properly, we broke up.”

His raised cheekbones returned to their place in an instant. Regardless, they had met again and were now in a relationship promising a lifetime together, so there was no need to dwell on the past, yet his heart felt heavy whenever Aaron mentioned their breakup.

It was perhaps because he knew that a certain period in the past—when they fought and ended things without even knowing exactly when it happened—remained an indelible scar for both of them. He had buried that scar deep in his heart and had even tried meeting other people, but Aaron hadn’t been able to do that and had spent the whole time longing for the person he had lost. As if he had been tied to that beach in Tavarona…

He probably went there often, though not always, even after they broke up. To that beach, alone. It was a space filled with memories of just the two of them, and in a way, the place where they had faced each other for the last time as lovers, but for Aaron, it had also been a sanctuary he would flee to whenever things were hard since childhood.

What did he think about while sitting alone on the beach where he always came with his lover? What was he feeling when he tried to learn Korean and gave up? There were many things he was curious about, but he couldn’t ask. Instead, he hugged Aaron’s chest and whispered.

“…You should have told me before that you were studying Korean. I would have taught you.”

“I didn’t want to make you worry back then. You were busy.”

“Even if I was busy… if you had asked, I obviously would have made time.”

Would there be anyone who wouldn’t spare time for a commendable boyfriend who wanted to learn the language of his partner’s home country because he might live there in the distant future? Je-rim certainly would have made time, even if it meant cutting into his sleep.

“Well, I also wanted to surprise you by learning enough to hold a simple conversation. …There was something I wanted to say in Korean.”

“Something you wanted to say? What is it?”

“That’s a secret.”

Aaron lifted the chin of Je-rim, who had his face buried in Aaron’s chest, to meet his eyes. There was no wavering in Aaron’s calm eyes. So Je-rim gradually relaxed his distorted expression and returned to the cozy atmosphere to continue the conversation.

“Anyway, you teach me this time. I think I’ll understand better if I learn from you. Once I’ve learned a bit, I’ll tell you what I wanted to say.”

“Geez, this Season, I have to handle dating, soccer, being the captain, and now give Korean lessons to my lover? This is grueling.”

“I’m not as good as you, but my learning ability is decent. Besides, I’m helping you with soccer. And we’re dating together.”

“If it weren’t for that ‘I’m helping you’ part, I would have praised you for being so sweet, but what a shame.”

“I feel like I’m getting plenty of love already, so how are you going to love me more than this?”

“Something like this?”

After pushing Aaron toward the headboard and making him half-lie down, Je-rim pressed his lips to the face of the man whose eye level had lowered. Forehead, corners of the eyes, bridge of the nose, cheeks, lips, and down to the chin. As he kissed him as if he were dying of love, intentionally making embarrassing smacking sounds, Aaron even shamelessly demanded more, pointing to various spots on his face.

Then, Je-rim kissed the right corner of Aaron’s mouth, the last spot he pointed to, and wrapped his arms tightly around his neck. Stretching out his arms to gently cup Je-rim’s cheeks, Aaron looked up at him and asked.

“Jerim, mi cielo, mi alma, mi vida. How do you say this in Korean?”

If Aaron hadn’t been holding his face, Je-rim would have immediately buried his face in Aaron’s chest or shoulder to cool down. A series of words too ticklish to hear while sane followed. My heaven, my soul, my life…

They were all common pet names used for lovers, but if translated literally, each meaning was direct and heavy. Burying his burning cheeks in Aaron’s palms, Je-rim mumbled.

“Um… Darling? Honey? I don’t know, there isn’t a perfectly matching expression…”

Since Korean barely has such direct expressions of affection or a culture of pet names, it was difficult to explain. When he listed a few words that roughly matched the meaning, Aaron tilted his head and murmured in Korean.

[Darling?]

At that moment, Je-rim felt as if his heart had dropped. The slightly frowned expression as he tried to pronounce an unfamiliar language was pretty, the inaccurate pronunciation was cute, the tilted posture was lovely… he just loved it so much.

He felt he finally understood why Aaron had made him repeat various things when he was first learning Spanish. He had tried to mimic the pronunciation as accurately as possible, but Aaron’s lips would twitch as if he were holding back laughter every time, so Je-rim had hit him, thinking he was being mocked… it was because of this feeling.

However, separate from the good feeling, Je-rim, fearing he might make a mistake in front of others, quickly added.

“T-that’s good, but don’t call me that too often. If it becomes a habit and you call me that in front of reporters… it’ll be a disaster.”

“I won’t make a mistake like that. I’ve never called you ‘my heaven’ in a public setting so far. Even though it’s a pet name I’ve used incessantly since we were young.”

Wow, was he really determined to dry him out by raising his body temperature to the maximum? Did he want to make his hands and feet curl up and turn him into a shriveled corpse like a mummy? Je-rim pushed Aaron away, stood up abruptly, and looked out the window with an incredibly awkward attitude.

“…Hey, the weather is nice, let’s go swimming. I’m going crazy from the heat.”

“I’ve really called you that incessantly, so why are you still not immune to it?”

“Because Korean doesn’t have such cheesy expressions of affection!”

When Je-rim finally couldn’t take it and yelled, Aaron let out a small, coquettish laugh and carefully stroked the corner of Je-rim’s mouth.

“Alright, alright. Don’t be angry. You probably still can’t open your mouth wide.”

“That’s your fault too.”

“I clearly warned you that it wouldn’t fit in your mouth. The problem was that you started something without a plan again.”

“I’m sorry for starting something without a plan, alright. I’ll never suck you again.”

“…Now that’s a bit much.”

He’s the one who gives in first, yet he keeps picking fights. Having won the childish argument, Je-rim puffed out his chest triumphantly. The expression of anger born from embarrassment from moments ago had vanished without a trace. Aaron shook his head as if Je-rim were hopeless and got out of bed.

“If you’re going out, pack sunscreen and beach towels. I’ll go get the dinghy yacht. Your back is okay now, right?”

At the mention that he would teach him yacht sailing, which he hadn’t been able to learn for various reasons over the past few days, Je-rim’s eyes began to sparkle.

“Yeah. You’re teaching me today?”

“Yes, the wind and waves are good today. It takes some time to get it out, so let’s meet at the beach.”

Je-rim nodded excitedly and packed other supplies needed for water activities besides what Aaron mentioned. A snorkeling mask, fins, a long-sleeved rash guard, and a surfboard. Thinking beach volleyball would be fun, he also picked up a ball rolling around the yard.

After completing all preparations and arriving at the meeting spot, he found Aaron floating a yacht that looked like a kayak in the sea. The fluttering blue sail was impressive, but the size of the boat was incomparably smaller than the yacht Aaron had used to bring him to the island. It was barely large enough for three adult men.

That’s supposed to be a workout…? Where and how am I supposed to find the fun in this?

That doubt was resolved as he climbed onto the yacht and held on to a rope, lying in a posture where his back almost touched the sea. His stamina was drained, and the muscles throughout his body, including his arms, were pulled taut. It was a mistake to underestimate how fast this tiny boat could be. As he caught the wind just as Aaron had taught him, the sail dipped, and they began to move at a fairly fast speed.

Naturally, it couldn’t compare to the speed of a yacht with a motor engine. But as Aaron had guaranteed, it was nice and quiet without the engine noise. It was also thrilling and fun to constantly change posture and position, paying attention to the wind direction since he never knew when or in which direction the boat would tilt.

After learning sailing for over three hours, they anchored near the shore and went snorkeling. The emerald sea water was eerily clear, so he could see all the colorful tropical fish without even putting his face in the water, but since he had brought the mask, he played in the water.

When he got tired of looking at fish, he swam; when he wanted to dry off, he went to the beach to play beach volleyball and roll around on the white sand, chatting with Aaron. Then, when he felt grimy from the sand on his body, he would go back into the sea and get on the surfboard.

He had left the villa around 10 AM, but by the time he realized it, it was well past 4 PM. Hungry, he returned to the villa and fell fast asleep immediately after showering. After waking up from a long nap, Je-rim checked the empty spot beside him before even looking at the clock.

“…Aaron?”

Seeing that the sun hadn’t set yet, it seemed he had slept for about an hour. The man who had always been by his side as if it were the most natural thing since coming to this island was nowhere to be seen. Thinking that he might be preparing dinner, he tried to push himself up, and a pain as if the muscles in his entire body were tearing swept over him.

It was only natural, considering they had spent over six hours enjoying all sorts of water activities. It was also because yacht sailing—something he had never done in his life—had stimulated muscles he rarely used. As he was stretching his upper body to loosen up his particularly aching back and shoulders, the door swung open and the man he had been looking for the moment he woke up burst in.

“You’re awake already?”

Looking at the bags in Aaron’s hands, Je-rim quickly realized he hadn’t just come from the kitchen.

“Where did you go?”

“To the dock for a moment to pick up some groceries. I asked for a gaming console too, thinking you might get bored.”

“Ah… did that guy come and go? But why did you go all the way to the dock? You should have just told him to come here. We could have had dinner together.”

“I thought I might wake you up.”

At those trivial words, Je-rim felt his chest tingle and heat up again, causing him to let out a forced cough. Aaron continued with a smirk.

“And I thought if you woke up and dinner wasn’t ready, you’d get angry, so I hurried back alone. You must be starving since you fell asleep right after playing in the water.”

He had never been angry because dinner wasn’t ready… If there were actually pieces of trash in the world who got angry at their partners for such a reason, those bastards deserved to die.

Of course, he was aware that during the period when they were just sex partners before dating Aaron again, he had acted a bit like trash himself. But even then, he had never gotten angry or fought over such an absurd reason.

“Hey, what exactly do you take your partner for?”

“A bit violent and authoritarian, right? Prone to outbursts, too.”

“…….”

Since every single point was accurate, it was impossible to refute. He thought that chick of a man was completely blinded by love, but apparently not. Seeing how he pointed out his flaws with such an objective gaze…

As Je-rim remained silent, having nothing to say, Aaron’s cool-headed evaluation continued to fly in.

“But you’re clever and witty, and I love how you’re colder than anyone else when necessary. You’re responsible and pleasant. I like your judgment and sense, and the fact that you’re quick at self-objectification.”

Je-rim’s body temperature and heart rate, which had finally calmed down after the intense outdoor activities, began to run wild once again.

“Stop it….”

“Your Achilles tendon is very distinct, so your ankles are erotic, which I love. Objectively, you have a very handsome face, but it’s amazing how you just look pretty to me… When you smile, the sky….”

“Stop it, seriously. Unless you want to see your ‘sky’ face explode and die.”

“You have to get used to it, Je-rim. You’ll be hearing things like this for the rest of your life.”

That was true, but it was a problem that Aaron’s skill in spouting cringeworthy words had improved so much that he did it even more nonchalantly than when they were young.

Or was it? Did he talk like this back then too? Come to think of it, starting from the fact that they called each other ridiculous nicknames like Ari and Bunny… What on earth were they thinking back then… Maybe they were just overflowing with youthful audacity. Or maybe they were both just crazy because it was their first love and first relationship.

Je-rim exhaled a hot breath, forcibly pushing the emerging dark memories back into the depths of his mind.

“Haa…. But I really am hungry. How long will it take to set the table?”

“…Sometimes I feel like you only date me to make me cook for you.”

“…No way….”

He had thought Aaron was like a “hidden bride” who took care of everything, and it was true that he loved the food Aaron cooked, but he had never viewed Aaron as a tool for preparing meals. Never. Of course, it was great when he did. Though the most Je-rim ever helped with when Aaron cooked was setting the cutlery…

Aaron strode toward Je-rim, who was hesitating and avoiding eye contact, trapping his shameless partner in his arms and slowly lowering his gaze to meet Je-rim’s.

“Let’s eat dinner in the garden. The sunset is about to be fantastic.”

“Okay.”

Instead of arguing about whether they really needed to go through the trouble, Je-rim quietly agreed. Aaron’s romantic side was the complete opposite of his own—since he was often described as having a dried-up sensibility—which always made his heart feel a bit scratchy yet very pleased.

“I picked up some wine too, so let’s have a glass.”

“What’s gotten into you?”

“If you beg to go for a walk… I guess we can stroll together. You probably won’t be able to walk long anyway because of the muscle pain all over your body.”

“That’s true. What the hell is that sailing thing? It’s no joke.”

He wanted to wrap his arms around Aaron’s neck, but it was hard to even lift his arms above his shoulders. After trying to lift his trembling arms, he eventually compromised by hugging Aaron’s waist. Aaron nudged his chin while massaging Je-rim’s right shoulder.

“I told you, it’s a great workout. Plus, we swam in between, played beach volleyball, went snorkeling, and even surfed, so it’s natural…. Honestly, I thought you wouldn’t be able to get up today.”

“Hey, it was harder when you half-killed me with sex on the first and second days you came here than all of that combined.”

Right now, at least, he was standing on his own two feet, but back then, fuck, he really thought he had become paralyzed. It was harsh language to use with a partner, but Aaron responded without a hint of surprise or disappointment.

“You’re the one who promised, yet you’re acting like you did me a favor. But maybe I’ve become too used to this shameless side of yours? Even this is just cute now.”

“…….”

“I didn’t intend to, but I’m proud that I’ve found the most effective way to shut your mouth, Bunny.”

In the end, the two had a small spat before preparing dinner.

Because of that, by the time they set the table outside and started eating, the fantastic sunset Aaron had mentioned was already fading away. Still, just eating delicious food while looking at the open sea and the white sandy beach was enough. The colors of the fading sky were diverse, changing from moment to moment.

After finishing dinner, they walked barefoot across the sand, sharing sips from the remaining bottle of wine. This was possible because the beach was made of white sand where even the seashells had been finely crushed by the waves. The sun had already completely sunk below the horizon, and in its place, a pale moon floated over the sea.

Thanks to the bright moonlight and the lights from the villa, the beach wasn’t too dark and boasted a moderately atmospheric mood. Je-rim was naturally the indifferent type, with no sensibility to be found, but since he was human after all, his emotions stirred a bit when such an atmosphere was created.

The specificity of being at the seaside was especially strong. Many things had happened at the beach. Both good things and bad. Belatedly understanding the anecdote of Aaron falling into sentimentality while looking at the sea at the beach in Besina, Je-rim also stared blankly into the void where the sky and sea became indistinguishable.

“Je-rim, what’s wrong?”

When Je-rim stopped walking, Aaron stopped a step ahead of him. As if waiting for him to take another step so they could walk together again.

Je-rim spoke to Aaron, who stood casting a shadow over him. Words he had been curious about before but hadn’t dared to ask flowed out as if he were possessed. It seemed to be a side effect of his mind becoming hazy, intoxicated by the atmosphere. It was also because it had been a very long time since the two of them had walked along the night sea like this.

“Aaron, did you… go to the Tavarona beach often even after we broke up?”

What were you thinking about alone? In this desolate place, alone… In response, Aaron gestured toward somewhere beyond the horizon, just as Je-rim had.

“…It’s vague. I did go often for a while even after I lost contact with you. Then….”

After a brief pause, Aaron continued his answer slowly.

“While sitting alone on that beach, it suddenly hit me that I had broken up with you. After that, I didn’t go for a while….”

“…….”

“Then, if I started missing you, I’d impulsively go again, something like that. I didn’t go as often as when we were dating.”

It was an answer that didn’t deviate from expectations. Even if not often, occasionally, alone, he went to the beach they used to visit together… and missed him.

Ignoring the thumping of his heart, Je-rim took Aaron’s hand first. Since they were the only two people on this wide beach anyway, there was no need to worry about others’ gazes. He interlaced their fingers and squeezed tightly.

“Next time we go to Tavarona, let’s stop by there, together.”

“…Yeah, I’d love to.”

Aaron looked up, seemingly surprised for a moment by a suggestion that was somewhat too sentimental for Je-rim to make. But soon, his eyes curved playfully, and a youthful smile filled his face. Then and now, Je-rim loved those sparkling eyes and that playful, boyish smile uncontrollably.

After pulling Aaron closer by the hand, he kissed his lips. Aaron responded enthusiastically to the kiss, dropping the wine bottle he was holding in his other hand onto the sand. Red wine poured out through the narrow mouth of the bottle, soaking the white sand and their bare feet, but neither of them cared.

They didn’t even regret the spilled wine. After all, the scent of wine lingered in each other’s breath. The more their tongues entwined and they exchanged saliva, the more they felt dizzily drunk on the wine they hadn’t even finished.

Je-rim tasted Aaron’s breath until he grew short of breath, and only when he reached his limit did he pull back. But as soon as they separated, he wanted to lock lips again, so he lightly bit his own lower lip.

“Why is it that no matter how much we do this, it’s still so good?”

Whether it was kissing, sex, or hugging. Anything that allowed him to touch Aaron was good. He wanted to stay in contact as long as time allowed. He had never felt this abnormal desire with anyone other than Aaron, so honestly, it was almost bewildering.

When they were young, he didn’t question himself for feeling such desire. He thought everyone was like this when they liked someone. After breaking up with Aaron and some time passing, he thought it was just youthful passion. That it was special because it was his first love.

But now, having met again at an age where he could no longer be called young even as a joke, seeing that passion—which he thought had died out long ago—spring up again, it seemed that Aaron was simply special. Not because it was his first love, but simply because the person was Aaron.

Coincidentally, Aaron put exactly what Je-rim was guessing into words.

“I guess you love me that much.”

“Yeah, I guess so.”

Je-rim let out a short laugh and then shook his head. He barely managed to lift his aching arm to caress Aaron’s cheek. To appreciate the moment those amber eyes he loved so much would ripple, Je-rim looked straight into the eyes that often curved slyly like a fox.

And he spoke in a tone full of conviction.

“No, it’s definitely that. I love you.”

< Second Half.fin >