By Zephyria 
Beneath the blanket, their bodies tangled.
It was hard to believe they were doing this in a house full of family members, in their right minds. Just touching felt good.
Haon’s fingertips swept down Cha Jeong-won’s body and paused at his side. There was a spot where the tightly woven texture of his muscles seemed to break off abruptly.
It wasn’t smooth, but slightly uneven. Like a sewn-up scar.
It was the unique texture of skin that had been stitched together and healed, hardened. It rose very subtly, and here and there, tightly bunched areas were perceptible to his sensitive fingertips.
Haon instinctively tried to pull his hand back but stopped.
The darkness allowed him to be more honest. He couldn’t see with his eyes, but his fingertips could find the answer precisely.
He swept over it again, carefully. It was a long, linear scar. From his side downward, it twitched ever so slightly with each breath Cha Jeong-won took.
Cha Jeong-won said nothing. Instead, his breathing grew very shallow. Haon’s touch also became cautious.
“Sunbae.”
Haon whispered.
“What.”
Even just answering, Cha Jeong-won’s voice sounded like thunder right next to his ear. Haon felt his throat go dry for some reason.
“Here…”
Why hadn’t he noticed before?
When Haon couldn’t continue, Cha Jeong-won exhaled very slowly. He took Haon’s hand and pressed it against his own side.
As if saying it was okay, so don’t run away.
“It’s a scar.”
“The car accident… that one?”
Haon only remembered one thing. The rumor that Cha Jeong-won had been seriously injured right before taking a leave of absence.
He hadn’t returned to school for three years, but he’d heard not all that time was spent on treatment. Some said he studied abroad, others said it was family issues.
But what use was all that time?
For a surgical scar this significant to remain, it must have been a very serious matter for Cha Jeong-won.
Instead of answering, Cha Jeong-won gave a slight nod.
“Did it hurt a lot?”
Even knowing the question was too late, Haon couldn’t stop. If he didn’t ask now, he felt he might never ask again.
Then Cha Jeong-won’s hand slowly swept through Haon’s hair. It was a soothing touch.
“It doesn’t hurt now.”
“What about back then?”
Cha Jeong-won fell silent for a moment. Haon knew that silence was the answer.
This time, he swept over the thigh area. Surgical traces remained here too.
Cha Jeong-won’s hand stopped, then very slowly pulled Haon closer. Beneath the blanket, their bodies pressed closer together.
The closer they got, the more Cha Jeong-won’s breathing changed.
It grew lower, then hotter; just moments ago it had been quiet and calm, but now it became noisy, as if heat was boiling over.
“Curious?”
Cha Jeong-won whispered. It didn’t feel particularly intimidating, but that made it sound even more dangerous to Haon.
Behind the tone that seemed to say ‘stop asking’ was an intention to do something else.
“Sorry. It’s just…”
Before Haon could finish his excuse, Cha Jeong-won grabbed Haon’s wrist and brought it back to his lips. This time, he pressed his lips softly not to the back of his hand, but to his knuckles.
When Haon carefully swept over the scar with his other hand, Cha Jeong-won’s body trembled very subtly. It didn’t seem to be from pain.
Haon, startled, tried to stop his hand, but Cha Jeong-won pulled him into a strong embrace.
Beneath the blanket, it suddenly felt stifling.
“Sunbae. You’re okay now, right?”
“I’m okay, so…”
Cha Jeong-won didn’t finish his sentence and buried his lips against the nape of Haon’s neck. Then he exhaled a hot breath.
Haon’s body was also becoming damp in response.
“This won’t do.”
Cha Jeong-won suddenly sat up. As he lifted the blanket, cold air rushed over their bodies.
Haon flinched and tried to pull the blanket back. But the blanket didn’t budge from Cha Jeong-won’s grip.
“Let’s go out.”
“Go out? Where to?”
Haon asked, flustered, but Cha Jeong-won didn’t answer. Instead, he took Haon’s hand and pulled him up.
Haon looked at his captured hand. Still, Cha Jeong-won didn’t let go.
“Let’s do it somewhere else.”
At those words, it felt like a spark ignited in Haon’s mind.
Motel. Hotel. Words like that seemed to flash before his eyes. Simultaneously, Haon realized the reality.
This was his hometown, where he’d lived since childhood. He never knew when or where he might run into someone he knew.
Perhaps sensing Haon’s hesitation, Cha Jeong-won lifted Haon’s face to make him look at him.
His eyes had adjusted to the dark, so he could even see the expression on Cha Jeong-won’s face.
“Don’t worry.”
“I want to, but I can’t help worrying.”
When Haon muttered as if wronged, Cha Jeong-won let out a short laugh. Even in the dark, that laughter felt close.
“Then I’ll take you somewhere definite.”
Before he could ask where that ‘definite’ place was, Cha Jeong-won handed Haon his outerwear. The moment he confirmed Haon was dressed, he grabbed his wrist and led him out of the room.
Even though their pace wasn’t fast, his breath felt strangely short. It felt like the heat trapped under the blanket just moments ago was following him out.
As they headed toward the entrance, Haon kept his ears perked.
What if the door creaks? What if the floor groans?
But Cha Jeong-won moved with strangely smooth precision. There was no hesitation in his hand turning the doorknob or gathering his shoes.
Once outside, the cold air felt like it slapped his face. But why was his heated body still burning?
Taking a breath cleared his head a little, and at the same time, the fact that Cha Jeong-won was beside him became even clearer.
“Come here.”
Cha Jeong-won opened the car door for him. As soon as Haon got in, Cha Jeong-won got in on the other side and started the engine.
Even after the car started moving, neither of them spoke.
For people who had just been breathing against each other, it was far too quiet.
‘Maybe I’m really crazy.’
Far from wanting to refuse Cha Jeong-won, he only found himself anticipating.
This shouldn’t be happening, but the thought that it shouldn’t kept surfacing and then fading.
Haon sighed, resting his forehead against the window. His breath fogged the glass faintly. He idly started doodling with his finger, then wiped it off with his sleeve, thinking he shouldn’t leave marks on someone else’s car.
Belatedly, he could see outside.
At first, it was a familiar road. But after a few turns, the scenery subtly grew unfamiliar.
It was clearly a known road, yet it looked somehow unknown, as if scraping the very last remnants of his fading memory.
Cha Jeong-won glanced at Haon tilting his head.
“Curious where we’re going?”
“If I’m curious, will you tell me?”
“Yeah.”
“Where are we going?”
Cha Jeong-won hesitated briefly before answering.
“The villa.”
At that answer, Haon felt a strangely ticklish sensation.
What is it? Feels like I’ve heard of it somewhere.
Not from a drama or something. Definitely somewhere…
“Ah!”
He remembered.
He recalled a rumor Kim Hyun-gyu, who’d been a social butterfly since middle school, had mentioned in passing.
That high-end mansion over there is a villa, and the caretaker uncle is supposedly the elementary school classmate of the father of a friend of his deskmate? It was something he’d said while passing by and glimpsing the house.
As the car climbed the hill, trees grew denser, and a long wall appeared. And just as the view opened up, the house came into sight.
It looked more like a mansion than a house. A modern building with a full-length window on the second floor.
“This isn’t… your house, is it?”
Instead of answering, Cha Jeong-won stopped the car and unfastened his seatbelt. Then he reached toward Haon. It was a gesture to take his hand.
“Let’s go.”
Haon couldn’t immediately take his hand.
If he went inside there, how far would he go? It felt like stepping into a world of Cha Jeong-won he hadn’t yet uncovered.
He knew from the moment he touched the scar that there was no turning back, but standing before the threshold, he felt afraid.
Cha Jeong-won didn’t rush him. Instead, he waited quietly, hand outstretched. In the darkness, Haon hesitated.
‘Is it okay if it’s not me?’
He wanted to ask.
‘What if I hold onto you, Sunbae? Then you won’t be able to go anywhere else.’
He also wanted to be greedy.
Then he would be the one completely deviating from the original story.
More than worrying that Cha Jeong-won might go wrong, he felt he would just grow jealous and interfere when that person met their true love.
It wasn’t Cha Jeong-won’s path he worried about, but his own.
“Sunbae, you know we broke up, right?”
“That’s why I’m asking you. I want to start over with you.”
“You mean you want to date longer than a week?”
Haon asked, hiding his own sincerity, as if he was the one clinging to Cha Jeong-won.
It was cowardly, but this was the last arrangement he had set for himself.
“Are you sure you won’t regret it later?”
At Haon’s question, Cha Jeong-won smiled faintly. His lips were still flushed red, and his gaze continued to burn.
The heat he had seen at Haon’s house hadn’t dissipated; it was pooled within him.
Haon looked at Cha Jeong-won’s hand, then slowly placed his own on top.
Cha Jeong-won’s hand enveloped Haon’s. It was warm. So he couldn’t run away even more.
As they got out of the car, the winter air grew sharper. Even though wind blew over the wall, Cha Jeong-won didn’t lead Haon ahead but kept him by his side. They were practically touching.
When they stood before the entrance, Cha Jeong-won spoke again in a low voice.
“Worry about yourself, not me. Are you really sure you won’t run away?”
For some reason, those words didn’t sound like a threat to Haon. They sounded like a promise. Haon cleared his throat and replied in a very small voice.
“If I run away, you’ll catch me, Sunbae.”
Cha Jeong-won opened the door.
90 – NOT 90