By Zephyria 
On the way back after finishing a friend-like conversation with Kim Ju-won, Ki Jae-eon looked strangely refreshed.
‘He really felt like a friend……’
He kept letting out silly chuckles.
Of course, he was a little disappointed by the comment about not being good at counseling, but he couldn’t deny it since it wasn’t exactly wrong.
‘Give the taffy to the taffy maker, the rice cake to the rice cake maker.’
There is an expert for every job. Exorcism, maybe, but love counseling, he’s not reliable at all.
‘Still, I’m glad he told me.’
What better way to prove a close relationship than sharing personal matters?
‘I should try too.’
Now that Kim Ju-won has found love, he plans to refer to romance-related books to help him as a friend.
Especially since he’s not very good with words, it would be even better practice.
For example, how to embrace someone’s feelings, how to speak without hurting them.
Furthermore, he might be able to broaden his knowledge of love……
‘Would it be better to ask Eun-ha or Ji-soo? I think they had a few romance novels.’
As he walked along, pressing his hot cheeks with the back of his hand while thinking to himself, he noticed that the detached building’s window was brightly lit.
‘That’s……’
His feet moved towards it on their own, following his consciousness.
Come to think of it, he remembered Ahn Seo-myeong, who had silently eaten his meal and disappeared without a word of small talk throughout dinner.
That kid who he couldn’t catch because he was caught up in the children’s cheers and greetings.
Ki Jae-eon hesitated for a moment, then slowly grabbed the doorknob of the detached building and turned it. Creak. The sound of the latch turning was particularly loud.
“……”
As he stepped inside, a stuffy air, warmer than outside, rushed in.
And the swaying scent unique to fabric softener and Ahn Seo-myeong’s unique body odor mingled appropriately, tickling the tip of his nose. That was a smell that proved he was working hard.
As expected, Ahn Seo-myeong was seen wrestling with the Cursed Womb Cave in the center of the indoor gymnasium. He was struggling to tame the Cursed Womb Cave, which was still thrashing around, refusing to serve him as its master. Beneath his wet bangs, a never-ending fighting spirit could be seen in his dark eyes.
“Hoo……”
Ki Jae-eon leaned against the door and quietly watched him.
Seeing him struggling, his heart pounded with a mix of worry that he had burdened him with too heavy a load, and pride in the child who was growing inch by inch despite it all.
‘That’s right, Seo-myeong never gave up.’
Even before-.
He was reminiscing about various memories on his own.
‘Your speed…… is too fast.’
A memory he didn’t intend to bring up peeked out.
‘I’ll go.’
The conversation they had in bed, the fidgeting toes.
The hand that moved first, the line that was broken.
Even the breaths that eventually overlapped.
……Everything he had to forget came to mind.
Ki Jae-eon gasped and covered his mouth with his hand.
Thump, thump, thump.
Someone was beating a drum next to his ear.
No, no, no.
‘It’s, it’s my heartbeat.’
Ki Jae-eon hurriedly moved away from the door.
He had a feeling that he shouldn’t stay here, as the sensation of the alcohol reaching its peak was vivid.
He moved his lips, his face burning as if he had been burned.
‘I, I should go back. I shouldn’t disturb a kid who’s working hard.’
Just as he was about to turn around, muttering to himself, a playful voice slid behind him.
“Are you drawing a line?”
Surprised, he turned around to see Ahn Seo-myeong approaching, wiping his forehead with a towel. His movements seemed to be in slow motion.
Sweat dripped from the tip of his chin, and the veins on the back of his hand holding the towel stood out, asserting their presence.
Ki Jae-eon’s tongue twisted for a moment at the sight of him having matured so much.
“Ah, uh……”
“Did you come to see me?”
“The, the light was on.”
Ahn Seo-myeong tilted his head slightly at the flustered answer. A well-fed cat who has found a mouse. In other words…… an expression just before pulling out a prank?
Ahn Seo-myeong lightly raised the corners of his eyes and folded them into crescents.
“Say you came to see me.”
Ki Jae-eon’s eyes widened at the sight of him speaking as if he were deliberately acting cute, with the strength removed from the tip of his tongue.
“……!”
“Then I’d be so energized.”
Ki Jae-eon stared blankly at that smile for a moment.
What is he?
Even as he was thinking that, a tingling sweetness spread across the tip of his tongue. As if he had a large jawbreaker in his cheek, the extreme sweetness stung the inside of his mouth.
“Hyung?”
“Ah, uh……”
Ki Jae-eon fiddled with the tip of his finger for no reason. He stopped picking at the hangnail behind his dangling fingernail and hurriedly changed the subject.
“Is it, is it going well?”
“Which one?”
But the other person didn’t seem willing to let him go easily. The voice asking back was soft, but it accurately blocked Ki Jae-eon’s escape route. A kind yet mischievous attitude, typical of Ahn Seo-myeong.
Ahn Seo-myeong, who had been watching the troubled Ki Jae-eon, shrugged his shoulders and loosened the corners of his lips.
“Well. One is so-so, and the other-.”
Hmm- he deliberately drew out the sound, then stared intently at Ki Jae-eon. His eyes, which were darker than others, even created a strange tension.
“Is making me anxious.”
He wanted to ask exactly what he meant by making him anxious, but he was afraid to ask, so Ki Jae-eon avoided his gaze as if he hadn’t heard.
“……”
“But there’s no way to…… Ah?”
Ahn Seo-myeong, who had been deliberately teasing him, suddenly closed his mouth. His pupils seemed to widen for a moment, then narrowed and focused. A tenacious gaze that accurately captured small movements that a human would miss, like an animal. His head tilted slightly, and he inhaled sharply. Why, why is he doing that? Ki Jae-eon hesitated, unsure of the reason, and called out to him.
“Seo-myeong?”
There was no answer.
“……”
“Ahn Seo-myeong?”
Instead of words, his footsteps answered.
One step, then another.
He felt like the muscles in his body were spasming every time he approached. Ki Jae-eon instinctively retreated, but soon bumped into a corner. The moment he realized there was no more room to escape, Ahn Seo-myeong thrust his face between Ki Jae-eon’s shoulder and cheek without hesitation.
Warm breath brushed against his skin. At that strange tickle, Ki Jae-eon reflexively cringed. The lingering scent of shampoo that could only be smelled up close, the lukewarm smell of sweat, the faint sound of breathing…… the existence of ‘Ahn Seo-myeong’ was imprinted all at once.
“Seo, Seo-myeong-.”
“Smells like alcohol.”
A single word cut off his call.
He pulled his face away and raised the corners of his lips. An expression that was strangely mixed with playfulness and resentment.
“Did you drink?”
Ki Jae-eon frantically waved both hands.
“Huh? Ah, no. With Ju-won Hyung…… as a con, congratulatory drink.”
“With Kim Ju-won Hyung?”
Until then, Ahn Seo-myeong’s expression, which had remained in a soft playfulness, began to subtly cool from his eyes. His nicely shaped eyebrows arched sharply.
“Just the two of you?”
When he nodded hesitantly, a long silence flowed. Not because he had lost his words…… but because he was deliberately dragging out the time.
Eventually, when Ki Jae-eon, unable to bear it, called out to him once more.
Ahn Seo-myeong turned his head to the side in a sulky manner, then spoke in a nonchalant but clear tone.
“Hooligan.”
“……?!”
“Thug.”
“……!!”
As the short, sharp criticisms flew in succession, Ki Jae-eon’s complexion turned pale.
Of course.
For him, who had lived his whole life as a model student, this was the first time he had been criticized in this way!
“Seo, Seo-myeong……”
“Drinking is forbidden…… If you’re going to drink, drink with me. I can drink too.”
Ahn Seo-myeong pouted.
His plump lips twitched with dissatisfaction.
No matter how you looked at it, he was sulking.
“Drinking with other men……”
Ahn Seo-myeong generally only says things that are true. But today, everything was wrong.
First of all, Ki Jae-eon is neither a hooligan nor a thug, and above all, the words ‘other men’ are…….
Ki Jae-eon was about to argue, but he chose to appease him instead.
“It’s not like that. More than that, drinking with you is-.”
“Why? Why is it okay with Kim Ju-won Hyung but not with me? Is it because I’m young? Hyung, I’m an adult now.”
The tone was smooth, but the inside was filled with crumpled resentment.
No, that’s, with you……. Ki Jae-eon couldn’t utter any of the words in his mouth.
Because you’re young? No.
That’s not the reason.
With you, that is…… with you!
‘I feel like I’ll cause an accident if I drink with you.’
Yes, the kiss from that day came to mind once again.
A moment of boundary where heat and breath were intertwined.
His face flushed hot in an instant.
‘No more.’
It was the moment Ki Jae-eon inhaled.
“Even though we’ve done more than that.”
At the last grumble, Ki Jae-eon’s pupils became as small as beans.