By Zephyria 
The midsummer heat had finally subsided, and the sky was gradually staining a deep purple. Following the familiar sound of a sedan entering the garage, a man stepped into the front yard. The figure, who had approached without a sound, paused for a moment upon seeing a single pair of shoes neatly placed on the stepping stone; then, taking a deep breath, he made his footsteps distinct.
After clearing his throat a few times with a dry cough, Yoo Jiha parted his lips just as the sliding door opened quietly.
“Ahjussi, how was work today?”
He couldn’t hide the slight tremor in his voice, but this was good enough. He managed a smile that didn’t look forced and looked Jeil Heon straight in the face. Jeil Heon also wore a faint smile on his lips.
“I thought you would have left already.”
“And what were you planning to do if I wasn’t here?”
“I was going to go all the way to your family home in Suwon and get on my knees, begging you to please come back.”
What kind of joke does he tell with such a serious face? Especially after he’d thrown him away. As his thoughts kept drifting toward the feeling of heartbreak, Jiha pulled himself together.
“You’d be bored all alone in this big house without me, Ahjussi.”
Being heartbroken was upsetting, he wanted to cry—and he actually had cried—and his heart was still fluttering painfully, but all this turmoil was lighter than the thought of him becoming a monster.
The man, who had been looking down in silence, narrowed his sharp eyes with effort. He made a request that sounded like the desperation of someone frantically wandering through a darkness where not a single inch ahead was visible.
“Can I hold you just once?”
Striving not to look at Ji-hwan, who always clung heavily around the man’s neck, Jiha wrapped his arms tightly around his waist. The man’s hesitating hands never quite managed to wrap around Jiha’s back, but his intermittent, ragged breaths fell upon the slowly cooling Ji-hwan.
They couldn’t perfectly return to the scenery of the past. Even while conversing as if everything were normal, Jiha could feel a faint, flickering heat within himself. Still, Jiha tried. He tried so he could joke and laugh with Jeil Heon just like before. Since the quick-witted Song Hilda hadn’t asked if something had happened, it seemed he had succeeded reasonably well.
Fortunately, a long summer vacation of over two weeks began shortly after. Since victims of Aberrant Realms did not care for time or place, the vacation schedule was decided by the team leaders to ensure there were no gaps. This meant the entire team’s vacation was identical, so it wasn’t strange at all for Jiha to return to his family home in Suwon. If they stayed apart throughout the vacation, the heat that occasionally surged beside him would subside.
However, he soon realized it had been a miscalculation. He couldn’t escape the man’s presence even at home.
Having met Jeil Heon in person and come to trust him, Jiha’s mother readily gave her permission for him to board at Jeil Heon’s house even during the semester.
“It’s a bit funny that I’m the one giving permission when he’s letting you stay for free. Even my friends were saying…”
His mother spent a long time talking about Jeil Heon, mentioning how her friends were surprised, asking where on earth one finds a boss like that—as if it were some drama. His father, who had just returned from work, joined the conversation, and Jiha eventually had to retreat to his room, mumbling that he was tired.
Click.
“…….”
After closing the door, he stood blankly for a while in the room where the summer heat had pooled. Then, he crawled clumsily into the plush bed.
Pressing his ear to the pillow, he could clearly hear the thumping of his heart. No matter how far he distanced himself, no matter how hard he tried not to think of him, a single word about Jeil Heon from someone else’s mouth made his heart flutter like this again.
He pulled the covers over his head and tried to force himself to sleep, but his dreams were restless. In his feverish mind, images of Jeil Heon blurred and coalesced even in sleep; sometimes it was the sensation of the firm chest he felt when held, and other times, it was the intense heat he had tasted just once.
It’s because of the heat. Because of the tropical nights that wouldn’t fade even late at night. Beneath the covers, his breathing grew shallow, and cold sweat trickled down his temples. In a half-asleep state, Jiha let out short breaths, his fingers twitching. He realized once again that it had been a reckless and stupid thing to kiss him out of sheer stubbornness. Even after being rejected, the sensation etched into his body could not be carved out.
His finger slid slowly into his slightly parted mouth. His fingertips twitched, following the memory of the man’s tongue ravaging his mouth. His clumsy hand followed the rough movements that had scraped his tongue, tickled the roof of his mouth, and stimulated the tender flesh deep inside.
“Haa… ugh…”
His hazy consciousness didn’t even know if it was a finger or a tongue moving inside his mouth as he clumsily sucked on it. Jiha. The man’s whisper softly licked his earlobe. The breathing that made the covers heave grew rougher, and a damp heat enveloped his curled-up body. His waist twisted, and his legs writhed. His sweat-soaked underwear felt uncomfortable.
A hand smeared with damp saliva slid inside his underwear. His engorged member was bulging. The heat burning in his gut surely wasn’t just because of the clumsy stimulation. It was that memory clearly remaining in his peripheral nerves, the rough hand that had gripped his cheeks almost painfully, the pleasure that had rushed in without giving him a moment to breathe.
Jiha.
“Ahjussi…”
Jiha moved his hand, sobbing out a call that sounded like a moan. He gripped the shaft with wet fingers, moving as urgently as his shallow breaths. His lower half became erect at a speed incomparable to when he masturbated alone. Even though all that remained was a memory from a while ago.
He shouldn’t be like this toward Jeil Heon. It wasn’t polite to him. The faint plea of reason was swept away without a trace by the immoral pleasure. I’ll forget, I’ll really forget, just this once.
The glans twitched, and pre-cum beaded up. Under the illusion that the man’s low, gentle call was covering his hand and touching him below, Jiha gasped for air. Knowing that such a thing would never happen, he had no choice but to cling to the foolish pleasure before him.
“…Haa-ah!”
The member, enveloped by the imagined large hand of the man, rushed toward the peak of pleasure. Jiha let out a sharp moan at the sensation of the red shaft being rubbed hard and the glans being rotated in a palm. White liquid leaked through his fingers and splattered onto the sheets.
It was an intense and sorrowful pleasure.
The start of the semester was toward the end of the vacation. Jiha racked his brain to create a timetable that crammed his classes into three days. While struggling with the schedule, his phone suddenly rang. He almost ignored it because it was an unfamiliar number, but upon answering, he was horrified by the introduction from the other end.
“Di-Director?! Is it really the Director? This isn’t voice phishing, right? I don’t have any money in my account!”
Though random words flew out in surprise, Kang Suk-young did not mock the young new employee and confirmed her identity again. Only after Jiha finally grasped the reality did she get to the point.
Team 7 is on summer vacation, right? How are you spending your break? Traveling?
“Ah, no. I don’t really like traveling, so I’m just staying home.”
At your family home in Suwon?
“Yes.”
He wondered when she had managed to figure out the family home of a mere new employee despite her busy schedule. It was unbelievable that not just anyone, but the highest-ranking person in the Management Bureau, had contacted him directly and even knew his personal details. A suspicion began to creep in that this wasn’t voice phishing, but perhaps an anomaly. Since Kang Suk-young remained silent for a moment, the suspicion grew.
Just as he was thinking about hanging up before he got contaminated…
Ahem, your Sunbae seems to be in Seoul; have you not contacted him separately?
“We exchange texts. Ah, no, we do exchange them.”
Give him a call when you have time. He’s someone more accustomed to phone calls than texts.
Kang Suk-young spoke a few more words in an uncharacteristically vague tone and then hung up. Jiha tilted his head. The highest person in the company contacted a mere employee during his vacation, and the only point of the call was ‘Call your team leader.’ Did something happen to Ahjussi?
He didn’t understand the reason, but he looked for Jeil Heon in his contacts first. Since talking face-to-face had been fine, a phone call should be okay. Probably.
Ring… ring… The flat dial tone continued for a long time. Usually, if it was Jiha calling, he would answer before the third ring, but today he was strangely late. The call disconnected twice. Just as Jiha was about to hang up, thinking he was busy, the call connected.
“Ahjussi. Did I call while you were busy? Should I call back later?”
…Jiha?
Hearing his voice for the first time in a few days, it was slower than usual and rough, as if he were swallowing ragged breaths.