By Zephyria 
“……”
Yoon Joo-ho remained motionless for a while, the watch resting in his palm. He seemed lost in thought, not moving at all. Even his blinks were slower than usual. When he was quiet like this, he really looked like an angel.
Yoon Joo-ho’s face, his straight, long eyebrows slightly furrowed, suddenly turned towards Song Hyun-soo.
“Did you buy this?”
“What kind of joke is that?”
“……”
“Where would I get that kind of money? It’s yours, senior. I got it back from Cha Gyu-min.”
“How?”
“Well, you know, it wasn’t that difficult. A friend… Ji… in…”
I have a friend named Tae-yoon, who’s an older brother of Ji-in… Song Hyun-soo, who had been about to excitedly launch into his story, trailed off. Since Jung Ji-in’s name had never led to a good atmosphere, it was probably best to omit that part.
“I have a friend who knows a lot of people. Someone who really has a grip on the Gangnam scene.”
Find the guy who sold or consigned this watch. After inquiring throughout the used luxury goods industry in Gangnam, they unexpectedly tracked down Cha Gyu-min at a shop in Gwanak-gu. Song Hyun-soo, excited, recounted the situation with reenactments.
“It was right then! Director Bang and I showed up. At first, he tried to deny it, but he immediately fell to his knees and begged?”
“……”
“Wow, I’d never seen Director Bang so angry before. He looked like a different person. I thought he couldn’t even curse.”
While he was boasting about his exploits, Yoon Joo-ho’s eyes never left Song Hyun-soo. He didn’t smile, nor did he ask any questions. He didn’t seem to be listening to the story properly either. He just stared intently at Song Hyun-soo. With a frightening expression, as if he were angry. Or, with an expression as if he were about to cry.
Realizing that gaze belatedly, Song Hyun-soo, feeling awkward, sniffled and quietly closed his mouth.
“Anyway, it’s yours, senior.”
Yoon Joo-ho extended the watch towards Song Hyun-soo.
“Put it on me.”
“Me?”
This time, Yoon Joo-ho wordlessly extended his left wrist.
He slipped the watch onto his wrist, where blue veins rose from the back of his hand. It was a beautiful hand. A hand that looked like it had never even applied bubble wrap to a window, or cut kimchi on a cutting board. A hand that only knew how to flip through scripts and spray perfume. But I want you to stay like that forever. Because you are my star.
“From now on, when something like this happens, don’t pretend to be okay.”
“……”
“If someone takes your things, chase after them to the end and get them back.”
He felt Yoon Joo-ho’s gaze but pretended not to notice, fastening the buckle on the inside of his wrist. Click.
“If it’s precious, say it’s precious. If you’re upset, say you’re upset. If you don’t want to lose it, say you don’t want to lose it. Live your life by saying these things.”
“Should I not let them take it? Chase after them to the end?”
Releasing the wrist he had been fiddling with, Song Hyun-soo nodded resolutely.
“Why let someone take what’s yours? That’s disrespectful to yourself.”
Yoon Joo-ho chuckled briefly as he let go of the wrist he had put the watch on, turning it around.
“You say plausible things.”
“It’s not good to suppress your emotions and lie to yourself. Life is short. I realized that only after Hong-seo passed away…”
Yoon Joo-ho gazed down at his left hand wearing the watch.
His face looked moved. No, rather than simply moved, it was a face where many emotions were chaotically intertwined. Perhaps because he had lived as an actor, there were moments when he revealed complex emotions very delicately through his expression. Just like now.
He was somehow different from usual.
It started with him suddenly coming all the way here, to a place he had never visited before.
“Senior.”
Yoon Joo-ho turned his head, his eyes meeting Song Hyun-soo’s.
The eyes of the actor Yoon Joo-ho, whom he had admired since childhood and tried to imitate countless times in front of the mirror. The eyes of an arrogant star who had everything, yet contained the hesitation of a boy afraid of getting hurt.
Looking deeply into those eyes up close, Song Hyun-soo naturally realized.
No matter what happens from now on, I will never be able to hate this man.
“Did something really happen?”
He cupped his cheek with his palm. He did it without thinking. His eyes looked tired, and his cheeks were too gaunt.
Yoon Joo-ho’s hand slowly overlapped Song Hyun-soo’s.
Contrary to expectations that he would pull it away, he covered Song Hyun-soo’s hand broadly and held on tightly, as if clinging.
Something… did happen.
“What is it? Was it something very bad?”
As he looked into Song Hyun-soo’s worried eyes, Yoon Joo-ho’s gaze wavered greatly. Instead of answering, he pulled Song Hyun-soo’s hand. As his center of gravity shifted forward, he leaned towards him. At the same time, his other hand reached out and cupped the back of Song Hyun-soo’s neck. Before he could even register what was happening, their lips were already pressed together.
The force with which he pulled Song Hyun-soo’s neck and ground their lips together was intense.
“Mmm… Mmm.”
He created an opening by pressing down on Song Hyun-soo’s lips, then pushed his tongue in. As always, it was unrestrained. His tongue, filling Song Hyun-soo’s entire mouth in an instant, seemed to swell within him.
“Hng, hck. Hht.”
As his tongue brushed lightly against the roof of his mouth, moving back and forth, a tingling sensation shot down his neck. His toes tensed, and his lower body began to melt.
“Mph.”
Yoon Joo-ho’s arm wrapped around his waist and pulled him close. Taking that as a signal, Song Hyun-soo threw all other thoughts away and clung to his lips and tongue.
Tongues and tongues rubbed against wet flesh, wrestling and tangling back and forth.
“Mmm, hck!”
Then, at one point, Song Hyun-soo, losing the struggle, was pulled into Yoon Joo-ho’s mouth. He sucked fiercely, as if to draw out all the red pigment. The force was such that his entire tongue throbbed and its root felt numb. When he looked for Yoon Joo-ho with eyes watering, he saw him looking down with bloodshot eyes, as if to burn him. A shiver ran through his entire body.
“Eee, ng. Ee…”
When the tingling pain spread through his entire tongue, he released it and then tormented Song Hyun-soo’s lips. He scraped them, gnawed them, set his teeth and bit, sucked them in and pressed hard.
“Ah… Ah. Hck!”
His lips already felt raw. But the pain was accompanied by a greater pleasure. He could feel Yoon Joo-ho’s passion for him.
Pulling his waist, he thrust his body forward, almost climbing onto Song Hyun-soo. Unable to resist the force of his pushing body, Song Hyun-soo’s upper body tilted backward.
“Mmm. Ee. Ee, ng!”
With his lips being bitten, he finally tumbled backward.
“Haa, ha… Hng.”
Lying on the mattress, he gasped for breath. Yoon Joo-ho, pressing down on Song Hyun-soo’s upper arms, looked down, his broad shoulders heaving. His contorted eyes were filled with lust. Yet, he didn’t pounce immediately.
“Are you going to do it?”
“…Thinking about it.”
He had an erection that was visible even through his training pants, yet he was thinking.
His dilemma was obvious. He had rejected the confession, and then gotten angry when Yoon Joo-ho tried to touch him. But it didn’t matter anymore. He felt like he understood Yoon Joo-ho a little better. The way he spoke, and even the things he didn’t say.
From now on, I’ve decided to believe the heart you show with your eyes, hands, and actions more than the words you speak.
As he stroked the arm pressing down on his upper body and met his gaze, he reached out towards the cheek in front of him.
“It’s okay.”
“……”
“Just come.”
His upper body leaned in, as if to completely cover Song Hyun-soo. He wrapped his arms around Yoon Joo-ho’s neck, which had been cupping his cheek. But as the fluorescent light entered his vision beyond his broad shoulders, he winced. Song Hyun-soo pushed his shoulder, trying to sit up.
“Wait, just a moment.”
“Why again? You said to come.”
He snapped irritably, like a child whose cake was snatched away just as he was about to eat it. His voice was hoarse. How much he must have wanted it.
The thought made his lower body tingle, but there was something he had to take care of first.
“Turn off the light, and come.”
Hoo.
He sighed, biting his lip. His forehead and brow were deeply furrowed. Yet, he reluctantly got up and walked towards the door.
With the sound of the switch being flipped to the opposite side, darkness descended.
The night light, seeping through the window covered in air cap, quietly pooled in the room. Yoon Joo-ho’s silhouette walked towards him, pulling off his short-sleeved shirt over his head.