By Zephyria 
‘Why did I do that….’
He hadn’t intended to pretend to be asleep, but his body had reacted on its own.
“…….”
For a moment, Kwon Mi-eon said nothing. Mo Yeon-hu wondered if he had left, but it didn’t seem like it.
‘When on earth is he leaving?’
Even with his eyes closed, he could feel Kwon Mi-eon’s gaze falling on his face. Just as Mo Yeon-hu’s desperate wish seemed to be answered, he sensed a movement.
‘Is he finally going?’
Thump. However, the left side of the mattress sank heavily. Mo Yeon-hu flinched and froze instantly.
Kwon Mi-eon had lightly placed a hand on his hair.
‘……What is he doing?’
As if that weren’t enough, when fingers carefully brushed his bangs aside, Mo Yeon-hu almost opened his eyes reflexively but barely managed to resist. But the other man didn’t stop there.
The hand that had been touching his hair slowly moved down, tracing the bone of his brow, skimming the bridge of his nose, and then touching his cheek.
‘Why is he fiddling with me like this?’
He lightly stroked his cheek, and then—he even pinched his cheek flesh with his fingers! The sensation of his skin being slightly stretched was utterly absurd.
While Mo Yeon-hu was dazed, he felt Kwon Mi-eon’s hand leave his cheek and move toward his lips. Just as the fingertips traced the line of his lips and pressed firmly against his soft lower lip, Mo Yeon-hu inhaled sharply.
“Hyung.”
Kwon Mi-eon’s low voice pierced through his ear.
“Breathe.”
At those words, Mo Yeon-hu realized he had been holding his breath this whole time.
“…Hah.”
Exhaling reflexively, he snapped his eyes open and nearly had a heart attack. Kwon Mi-eon’s face was right in front of him.
“Ah, uh, well…….”
“Did you sleep well?”
Startled by the distance, which was even closer than expected, Mo Yeon-hu’s gaze wandered aimlessly.
“Uh….”
He could have said anything, but strangely, he was tongue-tied, so he simply nodded at Kwon Mi-eon’s gentle voice.
‘Why does my voice sound like this?’
Of course, once he spoke, he felt embarrassed again. Perhaps because he had been tired, his voice was quite husky.
“You fell asleep right in your chair while doing a quest earlier, so I brought you here and laid you down. You were sleeping so soundly that I couldn’t wake you up.”
Seeing that Mo Yeon-hu looked visibly bewildered, Kwon Mi-eon explained. It seemed he had fallen asleep while doing repetitive work.
‘Then I guess this is Kwon Mi-eon’s bedroom.’
Feeling embarrassed that he had slept in a place he hadn’t even thought of stepping into since the first time he toured the house, Mo Yeon-hu said apologetically, “You should have just woken me up… it must have been hard.” Kwon Mi-eon replied nonchalantly.
“It wasn’t that hard.”
“Still.”
“Or do you want me to show you?”
Show him what?
As Mo Yeon-hu looked at him in confusion, Kwon Mi-eon leaned his upper body down.
The problem was that the only thing covering his body, fresh from the shower, was a single towel precariously hanging around his waist.
“……!”
The moment Kwon Mi-eon leaned in, the towel, unable to withstand gravity, began to slide down!
‘Could that be……?’
At the edge of Mo Yeon-hu’s vision, he saw something peeking out from beside the sliding towel. Naturally, it made no sense for that to be in that position, so it was likely something else.
‘How did he know? That I put it over there…….’
But thinking back to where he had touched him earlier, it seemed to fit……!
“Hyung, why did you turn red?”
As if he didn’t know what Mo Yeon-hu was thinking, Kwon Mi-eon looked down at him with a bewildered expression.
“I told you I’d show you if you’re curious.”
Just as Mo Yeon-hu froze at the strangely suggestive remark, his body suddenly floated into the air.
“Hey, you… what are you doing?!”
Kwon Mi-eon had lifted him up, blanket and all, like a baby in a swaddle! Then, he smiled brightly at the bright-red Mo Yeon-hu and spoke.
“This is how I carried you.”
Mo Yeon-hu couldn’t respond to the gaze that seemed to ask if he hadn’t done a good job.
‘Crazy bastard… it’s touching!!’
The blanket was less wrapped around his back. In that state, since Kwon Mi-eon had lifted him while resting one knee slightly on the bed, Mo Yeon-hu’s buttocks, tucked into his arms, ended up touching that thing he had seen earlier.
“Pu-put me down. Put me down right now!”
As the bright-red Mo Yeon-hu struggled, Kwon Mi-eon tilted his head. Even so, he held him tightly, fearing Mo Yeon-hu might slip and get hurt.
“Why are you looking at me like I’m a pervert, Hyung?”
His voice was innocent. Mo Yeon-hu stopped moving for a moment at that pure face, but soon his expression distorted in frustration.
“That’s, obviously.”
“Obviously?”
“Obviously……!”
Your thing is touching my butt right now. And not just touching, it’s touching the hell out of it! He wanted to pour out those criticisms in a rapid-fire stream, but he couldn’t.
Mo Yeon-hu, with a face swollen from sleep and flushed deep red, could only quiver his lips. Watching that face, which looked like a boiled dumpling, Kwon Mi-eon tilted his head slightly and let out a short laugh.
“That’s strange. I haven’t even done anything perverted yet.”
His eyes curved long, and his voice was playful.
“I wanted to, but I held back. I did well, right?”
Mo Yeon-hu stared at him blankly. He had no choice.
‘How is this a joke?’
Because, contrary to his tone, Kwon Mi-eon’s eyes looked completely sincere.
Because of that, Mo Yeon-hu, who had been fighting back, went quiet. Not only did his face turn as red as it could possibly get, but even the crown of his head turned bright red, causing Kwon Mi-eon to glance away.
“This won’t do.”
Thump, thud.
In an instant, he hopped up onto the bed and pushed Mo Yeon-hu down.
“Hyung, you need to go back to sleep.”
Then, while hugging Mo Yeon-hu, he began to pat him as if telling him to actually sleep. Mo Yeon-hu, buried in the bed again, looked dazed for a moment before trying to bolt upright.
“I’m going home. Move!”
But what use was that?
“Hey, I said move?!”
No matter how much he struggled, he couldn’t even pull out a single arm because of the blanket Kwon Mi-eon had tightly wrapped around him.
“I told you to sleep, Hyung. You have to sleep.”
“Sleep my ass! I told you I’m going home.”
“Lullaby, lullaby.”
“Agh!! Hey, Kwon Mi-eon!”
He couldn’t sleep here like this. Even though he had just been asleep, he felt like sleep was no longer coming for other reasons, so Mo Yeon-hu struggled as hard as he could to escape and whipped his body around.
“……!”
He felt like his breath stopped.
Had he ever been this close to Kwon Mi-eon?
“What is it? Did you want to fall asleep while looking at my face?”
It was a distance so intimate that he could see every single eyelash and the grain of the other’s eyebrows…….
Mo Yeon-hu’s pupils shook violently as he gazed at Kwon Mi-eon’s face. Seeing the tightly closed lips as if nervous and the somehow moist eyes, Kwon Mi-eon, who had been wearing a playful expression, also stiffened slightly.
However, despite the noticeable change in his expression, Mo Yeon-hu, who was closer than anyone, couldn’t notice it.
‘What is this, why is my… heart beating like this?’
It was because he was completely preoccupied with his own strange state.
Just realizing he was this close to Kwon Mi-eon made his heart throb. Was that all? He even felt an itchy sensation, as if an allergy had broken out across his entire body.
‘Why am I acting like this?’
As Mo Yeon-hu, not knowing what to do, tried to pull his body back, Kwon Mi-eon blocked him, watching him as if observing his face closely. He tightened his grip on the hand placed on Mo Yeon-hu’s waist.
“Hyung.”
He closed the gap even further than the distance Mo Yeon-hu had tried to retreat.
Hearing the low voice calling him, the sound of his heart grew louder. Thump, thump, thump. Now it felt like the sound of his heart was echoing in his ears.
The hand gripping his waist and the chest pressed tightly against him were so vivid. The moment every part of him touching Kwon Mi-eon felt hot.
“Why did you pretend to be asleep earlier?”
Kwon Mi-eon leaned in. He approached slowly, as if to erase the small remaining distance, and Mo Yeon-hu, frozen stiff, couldn’t resist. To be precise, the strength drained from his entire body to the point where he couldn’t do anything.
‘What is this.’
Eventually, unable to even look at Kwon Mi-eon, Mo Yeon-hu instinctively squeezed his eyes shut.
‘It feels like he’s about to kiss me……!’
Tap.