By Zephyria The hallway connecting the bedroom and the living room was lined with the laundry room, pantry, and a guest bathroom. While maintaining an understated white tone, every space exuded a certain luxurious impression.
It felt like walking into a luxury department store with only a thousand-won bill in my pocket. In short, it felt like a place where I didn’t belong. What on earth was Yoon Joo-ho thinking?
I entered the bedroom, which was hidden away at the very end.
Even though it was a one-bedroom, the size was incredibly generous. There was enough space to comfortably place a king-size bed, a small sofa set, and a desk. Even the bathroom connected to the bedroom seemed larger than my rooftop room.
“……”
Yoon Joo-ho stood in front of the bathtub, facing the floor-to-ceiling window.
If I sign the contract for this place, does this man in the bathroom come with it? If that’s the case, I’d sell my soul to afford the rent.
On the wide ledge of the bathtub, his coffee cup and discarded padding were casually placed. Yoon Joo-ho, wearing only a t-shirt and with his hands in his pants pockets, gazed towards the southeast of Seoul, lost in thought.
“This place is nice. You just need to bring yourself. What do you think?”
As if sensing Song Hyun-soo’s presence, he spoke without turning around.
“What do I think? You know I can’t afford this kind of rent.”
“The company will cover it.”
“…What?”
Yoon Joo-ho turned towards me and sat down on the edge of the bathtub.
“Your CEO said he would pay for it.”
“Say something that makes sense. Who gives a new artist, about to officially debut, a place like this? Unless you’re his mistress.”
“It’s something like that. The CEO is single, so it’s not an affair, but…”
Yoon Joo-ho picked up his cup, put the straw in his mouth, and chewed on it, giving a sly smile.
Song Hyun-soo, glancing around the luxurious bathroom, replied as if it weren’t even worth taking seriously.
“Don’t say absurd things. I’m just here to look at houses because I happened to be in the area.”
“Didn’t you say you wanted to become a top star?”
“…I did.”
As he came out of the shower booth, which looked large enough for three or four people to shower at once, Song Hyun-soo nodded.
“That’s the kind of support I’m offering, matching your scale. I have no intention of developing you halfway. You’ll be taking various lessons, and you’ll need to visit salons for schedules. It’s more convenient for you, your manager, and the company if you live nearby.”
“With my budget, the best I can do in Gangnam is a goshiwon.”
As Song Hyun-soo passed by Yoon Joo-ho to walk towards the sink, Yoon Joo-ho grabbed his wrist.
“Your walk is still strange.”
“Just ignore it. It’s not like you’re giving me medicine after poisoning me.”
He tried to pull his wrist away, but Yoon Joo-ho’s grip, pulling him sideways, was stronger. The moment Song Hyun-soo’s buttocks hit the edge of the bathtub, Yoon Joo-ho stood up. He blocked Song Hyun-soo, bending over and placing his hands on either side of Song Hyun-soo’s body to prevent him from escaping. Yoon Joo-ho’s smirking face was right in front of him.
“What are you doing? You almost spilled my coffee.”
“The one who gives you medicine after poisoning you is better than the one who only poisons you.”
“I don’t want to be someone who doesn’t even poison me… Ah… Ugh, um.”
It was another kiss attack.
Yoon Joo-ho approached with just enough force to gently crush his lips, without using his tongue, alternately sucking lightly on Song Hyun-soo’s lower and upper lips. Song Hyun-soo unconsciously tightened his grip on the coffee cup, the ice clinking together.
Yoon Joo-ho’s lips moved to his cheek, jaw, and then his ear.
“Do you still feel like I’m inside you?”
“Stop… it.”
A large hand cupped Song Hyun-soo’s jaw broadly and looked down at him from close up.
“Your face says otherwise.”
“What do you expect me to do here?”
“Didn’t you see? There’s a bed too.”
Yoon Joo-ho grinned, gesturing with his chin towards the bedroom beyond the open door. Song Hyun-soo tried to push his shoulder.
“Don’t be stubborn, just…”
“If you sign the contract for this place, it’s fine. Then even if we use the bed, there’s no problem.”
“I don’t have the money for that… Um. Ugh.”
This time, a warm tongue pushed its way in. As he opened his mouth to engulf the slippery flesh, he thought of his penis. The sensation of it entering his body came back, and he couldn’t help himself.
The skillful movements, rubbing against his tongue, tracing the soft mucous membrane inside his cheek, and tickling the roof of his mouth just behind his teeth, quickly made his lower body feel heavy.
There was no way he could resist such a kiss from someone he liked. The best he could do was tense his lower abdomen to avoid letting out a pleasant moan.
When the tongue, which had swirled around his mouth, finally withdrew, Song Hyun-soo gasped for breath, his breathing irregular. His eyelids, waist, and knees felt weak. He wasn’t a teenager, yet at this age, a kiss could make his legs go weak.
“You’re gone.”
Yoon Joo-ho swept Song Hyun-soo’s hair back from his forehead. As always, his touch was rougher than delicate.
But he liked it.
It felt like he was trying to touch him, even though he wasn’t used to this kind of physical contact.
“It’s a reward for finding your watch. Isn’t that enough?”
“I did it from the heart, so please respond with your heart too, hyung. Isn’t that enough?”
He pressed Song Hyun-soo’s hair down against his forehead and peered intently at Song Hyun-soo’s face.
“Ha… What is this, really.”
“What is what again?”
He had said something similar while looking at me before. Around the time I started visiting Yoon Joo-ho’s place.
“Your mouth is rough, your body is stiff, and your eyes are pitch black. You have no sex appeal, you look like a high schooler obsessed with soccer.”
And who is it that’s obsessed with that high schooler-like guy and throwing themselves at him?
“It means you’re drawn to me, beyond mere taste.”
“Where does that confidence even come from?”
Yoon Joo-ho then grabbed Song Hyun-soo’s chin and turned it around, clicking his tongue.
“If I weren’t this brazen, I wouldn’t be able to last next to you, hyung.”
“You admit you’re brazen?”
“Someone like me is just right for you, hyung.”
Song Hyun-soo wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and glared at Yoon Joo-ho from the corner of his eye.
“Besides, who was the one following me around from morning until the bathroom, clinging to me?”
“Lust.”
Lust that could be satisfied anywhere else, but he insisted on coming to me to resolve it? That’s no longer just lust, Crown Prince.
As if to prove it was lust, or perhaps to demonstrate it was, Yoon Joo-ho bent down to kiss him again. Song Hyun-soo tried to avoid it, and this time, his hand aimed for his side.
He wanted to refuse him seriously, but he couldn’t help but laugh because of the ticklishness.
“Ah, really, stop it. You’ll spill the coffee.”
However, his giggling voice, laced with laughter, had no effect on Yoon Joo-ho. Yoon Joo-ho also chuckled and continued to touch Song Hyun-soo’s sides and shower his neck with kisses.
Knock, knock.
Only after hearing the knock did Yoon Joo-ho stop playing.
“What are you two doing? Should I leave?”
Seohae, leaning against the open bathroom door, smiled. Yoon Joo-ho, turning around, replied with a blank expression, his smile gone.
“I’d be grateful if you did.”
Unbelievably, he tried to kiss him again.
Song Hyun-soo pushed against his chest and wriggled out from between his arms. Yoon Joo-ho’s coffee, which had been resting on the edge of the bathtub, wobbled precariously, and coffee spilled over the back of his hand as he quickly snatched it. Fortunately, it was cold coffee.
Seohae put the phone he was holding into his coat pocket and asked Yoon Joo-ho.
“Aren’t you close with Nam Se-yeon?”
“I get along reasonably well with that hyung. Why?”
Yoon Joo-ho replied indifferently as he walked towards the sink to wash his hands.
“She’s getting a divorce. The news will be out soon.”
“What?!”
Unlike the surprised Song Hyun-soo, Yoon Joo-ho was unfazed.
“She seemed to be on good terms when I last saw her. What’s the reason?”
“They say it’s because of her husband’s past. I don’t know what the article will say, but…”
Washing his hands under the running water, Yoon Joo-ho snorted as if he understood.
“As expected, Nam hyung is ruthless. Her husband is six years younger than her, the same age as me. That made our titles awkward, and we were both really uncomfortable. What kind of wild past did he have to be kicked out by hyung?”
“He probably played around as much as you did.”
“……”
Yoon Joo-ho, dispensing liquid soap from the pump, looked at Seohae with a cold gaze in the mirror.
Song Hyun-soo, who had been listening silently, chimed in with a question.
“But they’re getting divorced for just that reason?”
“Does that not matter to you, Hyun-soo?”
“His past? It’s not the Joseon Dynasty, who cares about that?”
Yoon Joo-ho, lathering his hands, muttered cynically.
“I agree. It’s an outdated excuse.”
“As long as it’s not connected to someone I know.”
“……”
Splash. Yoon Joo-ho’s hands, washing off the foam under the running water, slowed.
Seohae glanced at Yoon Joo-ho through the mirror. Then, he awkwardly pulled the corners of his lips up towards Song Hyun-soo again.
“Then maybe Hyun-soo would understand.”
“What do you mean?”
“Do you know Jang Mi-young?”
“Yes. You two were debut-mates with Nam Se-yeon hyung and have been close ever since.”
They were famous celebrity best friends known to the entire nation.
“Her husband met Jang Mi-young before he met Nam Se-yeon. Intensely.”
“Ah… uh… then the story changes.”
My husband, whom I married, was actually intensely involved with my best friend in the past. — It certainly wouldn’t be easy to accept that as just any ordinary past.
“It’s going to be noisy for a while once the news breaks. Who knows what people will say…”
Insulting speculative comments would flood in, and sensational rumors would be manufactured everywhere. Song Hyun-soo sighed and shook his head.
Seohae straightened up from leaning against the door, looking alternately at Song Hyun-soo and Yoon Joo-ho. Then, in a dry voice, he said.
“Well, it has nothing to do with us.”
Song Hyun-soo, about to leave the bathroom following him, turned back. Yoon Joo-ho stood with both hands on the edge of the sink, not moving. Splash. His hands seemed to be done washing, but he hadn’t turned off the faucet.
“Hyung, why aren’t you coming out?”
In the mirror, Yoon Joo-ho slowly raised his eyes and met Song Hyun-soo’s gaze.
His face looked displeased.
“Aren’t you going to turn off the water?”
Is Nam Se-yeon hyung’s divorce that shocking? He didn’t seem bothered at first, but now…
Splash. The sound of running water was disorienting.
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