SMW 56

“Why? Planning to run away?”

The low-dropping voice sounded predatory. I could feel the arms that had been hugging me tenderly beginning to tighten. When I shifted my wandering gaze back to Choi Seol’s face, our eyes met without fail. A chill suddenly ran down the back of my neck.

“Choi Seol?”

“Tell me. Exactly when did you meet that you’re calling it a ‘reunion’?”

Ah, so that was it.

When we were eating, Choi Seol had truly only been a little jealous. This was how scary he became when he actually started being jealous. Even though he wasn’t doing anything in particular, the air became so murderous just from his gaze and voice that I felt my breath hitch.

“Han Yeo-reum.”

“It… it was when I was twenty, that’s right. But the place where we first met was a bit… awkward.”

Choi Seol narrowed his eyes. Urged by that look again, I had no choice but to open my mouth.

“To celebrate turning twenty, I went to a club with Gyeong-ho.”

Since I didn’t particularly like noisy places, the club wasn’t that fun. Only Gyeong-ho was excited. Eventually, I got separated from the crowd and ended up alone, which is when I met the senior. For a club novice like me, a situation where another man—not a woman—approached me was enough to make me wary. I wondered if it was a scam, but sure enough, he came out first, asking if I was ‘one of those.’ At the time, I jumped back, claiming he had the wrong person, and ran away.

“We met briefly then and parted ways, but not long after, we happened to reunite at the convenience store where I was working part-time. He said he attended a university nearby and seemed glad to see me. After that, we briefly da….”

“Da…?”

“I—I asked him for some advice. I was a repeat student back then, you know. I was in the middle of worrying about my career path. Then I got into the same university, and a year later, the senior went to study abroad, and that was the end. This was the first time I’ve seen him since then.”

Listing it out like this, it really was nothing. Of course, it was something at the time, but looking back, it was a connection that amounted to nothing. It was like a line drawn by connecting dots one by one, only to be severed the moment a period was placed.

In that sense, Choi Seol was just a single dot. I thought it would end like that, but unexpectedly, our current meeting was connecting the line again. Though this, too, would one day be a line severed by a period.

“By any chance, did you enter the same school on purpose because of that person?”

“No, I was working part-time nearby and the school looked damn good, so I went.”

Only after I asked if that was enough did Choi Seol’s expression finally soften slightly.

He really was jealous. If I had to deal with this twice more, I might actually suffocate to death.

“Are we done now? I’m sleepy, so let go of this.”

I gestured with my eyes toward Choi Seol’s arms, which were still tightly wrapped around my back and waist. However, nothing changed. This was a pattern I’d seen somewhere before.

“Are you perhaps into obsession, confinement, or that kind of thing?”

“Who knows. I haven’t had the chance to experience it until now, but seeing this, it might actually be my taste.”

“You can’t do that. It’s a bad thing to keep restricting someone with force whenever you feel like it.”

“So you hate it?”

Of course, there were exceptions. The obsession and confinement of a man who was heavenly handsome, intelligent, and wealthy would be somewhat fluttering. But such humans were almost as rare as national treasures in this world.

So I should have said I hated it, but the problem was that the first love in front of me was at a heavenly level. The time for being blinded by love had passed ten years ago, so the current me could make an extremely rational judgment. Therefore, wanting to see that man’s obsession and confinement was also an extremely rational judgment…

…No, it wasn’t. Absolutely not. I had to snap out of it here.

“Don’t ask me.”

In the end, I brushed off the answer as if escaping and pushed Choi Seol’s chest. He seemed to understand, as he let go of me easily this time. However, the moment I tried to pull my hand away, I paused again at the faint strength pulling my sleeve. Choi Seol’s fingers were hooked onto the fabric.

“If you hate it, I won’t [visit our site]be jealous in that way. Read on Read BL NovelsBut it means it’s possible if visit our siteI get your permission, right?”

“…If I permit it, then I don’t mind.”

With such large hands, seeing just two fingers clinging to the fabric like a pair of tweezers felt somehow cute. This was a bit unfair.

“Let’s sleep together tonight.”

“Sure. Sleep… together?”

“Yes.”

Oh my god, what did I just hear? No matter if I said it was possible with permission, isn’t he raising the stakes too high?

“Why, why?”

As I barely managed to ask with a racing heart, Choi Seol answered after a pause.

“Hmm… because I’m scared?”

“What?”

“The wind is blowing so scarily that I can’t sleep alone.”

For someone who was scared, his voice was remarkably dry. How on earth was I supposed to take this?

“So, because the wind is blowing so scarily, you want me to sleep with you?”

“Yeah. Since I was little, I’ve been scared of thunder, lightning, typhoons, and things like that.”

That could happen. When I was young, I was scared of those things too and would run to the master bedroom crying. Even now, when I sleep alone in the large old house, there are times when the sound of the wind is scary.

The problem was that the one saying this wasn’t me, but Choi Seol.

“You were fine in the kitchen earlier, and while eating too. The wind was blowing a lot then, as well.”

“I endured it. There was a guest, and I didn’t want to make you worry.”

The reason was so admirable that I almost fell for it.

No, honestly, this could also be a prejudice. Just because a person is perfect in head, shoulders, knees, and toes, does that mean they have no weaknesses? It was perfectly possible to have at least one. Just because someone is scared doesn’t mean they have to tremble; reactions can differ from person to person.

“Then, let’s spread out separate blankets and just leave the sliding door open while we sleep. That’s also sleeping together.”

“That’s how we usually slept.”

“Ah, right.”

Due to the nature of a hanok, if you open the sliding doors between rooms, the two spaces merge; conversely, if you close one door, you can quickly divide one space into two. Our rooms were the same. Since I originally used two rooms combined, there was a sliding door in the middle, but because Choi Seol had never once closed that door, we had been living as if it were one room. It wasn’t that anyone suggested it. It just happened naturally from the start, so I don’t think I even realized it.

“I don’t want to sleep with the door open today. Just having another person in the same space is quite uncomfortable.”

“Then what about me? I’m another person too.”

I asked without thinking, only to be hit by Choi Seol’s blatant gaze.

“You’re not asking because you really don’t know, are you?”

“Sorry. I spoke out of turn for a moment.”

I apologized first. Otherwise, I could too easily predict what kind of embarrassing words would come out of that mouth.

“Can’t we just sleep together for today?”

Having changed his tactic, Choi Seol spoke in a languid tone, slightly drooping the corners of his eyes. No, it would be strange not to be swayed by that face.

This brat, did he figure out that I’m weak to this?

If so, he had succeeded. I couldn’t bring myself to say the opposite of the answer Choi Seol was expecting.

This is driving me crazy. I felt I needed to make this clear first.

“Let me ask one thing. So, by ‘sleep together,’ you mean just holding hands and sleeping, right? Not, like… a more profound meaning, or anything like that?”

At my question, Choi Seol’s gentle gaze suddenly changed subtly. That alone made my insides flush. I didn’t want to ask this either. But what could I do? In the brain of twenty-seven-year-old Han Yeo-reum, the meanings of the word ‘sleep’ are listed from A to Z.

“What if it’s a more profound meaning?”

My heart thudded at Choi Seol’s murmur that came after a long silence.

“Would you permit it?”

“No! Absolutely not!”

I jumped up and crossed my arms in a large X over my chest.

“This—this brat, there’s nothing he won’t say. Hyung didn’t raise you to be like this.”

“Stop that ridiculous roleplay.”

“Sorry.”

At the chilling voice, I apologized immediately again. Choi Seol let out a deep sigh.

“I won’t do anything without your permission. I like you; I don’t want to become a criminal.”

I know too. I know Choi Seol isn’t that kind of bastard. This was just me feeling guilty. I felt sorry for overreacting and making him say something like that.

“Sorry. I overdid it a bit.”

“It’s okay. It’s something you could ask. Actually, it’s a relief.”

What was a relief now? When I stared at him with a questioning look, a meaningful smile played on Choi Seol’s lips.

“Because if you’re this firm with me, I figured you wouldn’t easily fall for some other guy.”

He’s subtly putting me down while praising himself, isn’t he? Look at this arrogant jerk. I let out a hollow laugh in disbelief.

“Hey, I’m not an easy guy. And what do you mean ‘this firm with you’? No matter how universe-level super-super-super handsome and sexy of a heavenly human someone is, if they aren’t to my liking, that’s the end. Who do you think I am, some lookist?”

“Weren’t you?”

“What wasn’t I!”

“Because sometimes, the face Han Yeo-reum makes when looking at me looks very pleased.”

Twitch. I was caught completely off guard for a moment.

“T-that’s not it. I was pleased, but that was just pure pride that a former classmate grew up well, like, uh! Like! My heart just swelled, so, like!”

As I stammered like a fool, Choi Seol’s smile deepened. Then, he leaned down. Since the distance wasn’t far, our faces soon met.

“You can touch me. I’ll give you permission.”

In an instant, my words, my breath, and my heartbeat all stopped.