Touched by Fingertips (8)
After finishing dinner, I went to the bathroom to brush my teeth and discovered a shocking sight. The area around my lips was completely stained purple. I hadn’t eaten grapes, hadn’t drunk grape juice or wine, so why was the area around my lips…
I tried wiping it with water, even lathered soap to clean it, but the purple stain around my mouth remained. As I touched the area with my finger, I remembered Sa Hae-geon munching on my lips. He had nibbled persistently as if my lips were jelly, and now he had caused this disaster.
When I went to the living room and stood in front of Sa Hae-geon sitting on the sofa, he immediately wrapped his arms around my waist as if he’d been waiting. I pushed away his brazen hands and pointed to my mouth area.
“Can you see this?”
“See what?”
“Look at this. What are you going to do about it?”
Sa Hae-geon examined the area I was pointing to, then shrugged his shoulders and pretended not to know.
“I don’t know anything about that. Is it a bruise?”
“You don’t know?”
Despite my serious question, Sa Hae-geon just gave a slight smile. Did he think this was some kind of joke? This was a major issue.
“This isn’t a time to smile. How am I supposed to face our team members tomorrow with this face…”
Hearing my lament, Sa Hae-geon tilted his head and dismissed it as nothing.
“I think it’s just cute.”
“…Cute? Maybe only in your eyes.”
I responded with a voice mixed with sighs to Sa Hae-geon’s unfunny remark, then began searching around the living room. I was looking for any ointment that might be used for bruises. An ointment made from dungeon by-products would be even better. Ointments containing dungeon by-products could make even severe bruises disappear completely within two hours of application. Because of their effectiveness, most households kept at least one.
I would have brought it immediately if I had such ointment at my place, but unfortunately, I hadn’t stocked anything like that, so I was only searching through Sa Hae-geon’s home. Sa Hae-geon watched me carefully as I rummaged through drawers in the living room and kitchen, then asked:
“What are you looking for?”
“Checking if there’s any ointment.”
“Ointment?”
“Yes. Bruise-removing ointment.”
But as I answered Sa Hae-geon’s question, it occurred to me that there wouldn’t be such a thing in this house. Sa Hae-geon was an S-rank Esper. S-rank Espers rarely get injured, and even if they do, they recover with monstrous healing abilities, never bruising.
And Sa Hae-geon was someone who had trained alone until coming to the central center. He wouldn’t have had occasions to use his body recklessly enough to get bruises or injuries. So he probably wouldn’t keep ointments at home.
“Never mind. There’s no reason you would have needed such things here.”
I muttered with a sigh while checking the clock. The numbers 9:59 caught my eye. Most pharmacies would be closed by now, so it was awkward to go out to buy some. Still, should I search for a pharmacy that might still be open, or should I try rolling an egg on it?
I was heading to the kitchen to try the egg as a temporary measure when suddenly Sa Hae-geon jumped up and went to his room. He returned holding something in his hand.
“What’s that?”
“The ointment you’re looking for.”
“You had… ointment?”
As I asked with wide eyes, Sa Hae-geon nodded.
“Yes. Just in case.”
A sigh of relief escaped me. It seemed I was occasionally benefiting from Sa Hae-geon’s thoroughness. Sa Hae-geon stared at me as I extended my hand to receive the ointment, then spoke.
“I want to do it.”
“What?”
“I want to apply it for you.”
At his strangely pleading voice, I could only nod. It would be better to receive Sa Hae-geon’s help than to apply it myself while looking in the mirror. He even diligently brought cotton swabs and sat me down on the sofa.
Then he began to carefully spread the ointment around my mouth. As I received Sa Hae-geon’s ministrations, I thought that this was truly a case of causing the problem and then providing the solution. The problem was, I didn’t mind it.
And suddenly, I felt strange realizing that Sa Hae-geon and I had finally developed into a relationship that could be clearly labeled. My face also seemed to get a little hot from Sa Hae-geon’s ticklish touch as he applied the ointment.
“All done.”
“Ah… okay. Thanks. I should… go brush my teeth now.”
After he finished applying the ointment, I lowered my head as if hiding my seemingly reddened face and stood up, using teeth brushing as an excuse. Sa Hae-geon embraced me from behind and pressed his lips against my left shoulder, which was exposed by my pulled shirt.
The feeling of his soft yet hot lips on my shoulder was very embarrassing and ticklish. It felt like only the shoulder where his lips touched was heating up.
Somehow the atmosphere was becoming strange too.
“W-what are you doing? It’s time to sleep, Hae-geon. We should wash up and go to bed.”
Sa Hae-geon pretended not to hear me. Instead, as if teasing me, he began to kiss my shoulder repeatedly. The stimulating and explicit sounds that tickled my ears were embarrassingly audible. He even raised his teeth and gently nibbled.
Did he think he was a teething puppy? I pushed his forehead with my palm as he bit and sucked, seemingly determined to leave his mark on my shoulder too, but he didn’t budge. It was beyond my strength to remove Sa Hae-geon.
I had no choice but to try to walk with Sa Hae-geon attached to me, but he neither followed along nor allowed me to move.
“W-what are you doing? What’s wrong? We have to get up early tomorrow morning. Are you going to keep doing this?”
“Let’s sleep together.”
“W-what?”
“Let’s sleep together in one bed.”
“No, Hae-geon…”
What was he saying now? This was too sudden a development. Of course, I understood his desire to sleep together. He wanted to stay in contact. I felt similarly.
But sleeping together in one bed was a different story. It was clear that even if we lay down together, we wouldn’t easily fall asleep.
That judgment came from the instinctive fear that Sa Hae-geon might not let me sleep, and likewise, I might not let him sleep either.
So sleeping separately would be the most rational and right choice… But when I saw Sa Hae-geon looking at me with pitiful and desperate eyes like a rain-soaked puppy, my heart softened. I wanted to reject him and escape to my room, but my body wouldn’t obey my command.
Finally, I sighed and spoke.
“For now… let’s think about it while we brush our teeth together.”
Sa Hae-geon, nodding in satisfaction, followed me with quick steps.
After brushing our teeth in the bathroom attached to my room, we sat on the bed together. Sa Hae-geon laid out his reasons one by one for persuasion.
“It’s the first day we’ve started dating. I think we should sleep together to commemorate that.”
“Hmm…”
“And it’s still very cold. You’re the type who feels cold easily. But I don’t feel the cold, and now I can control my body temperature well. I can warm you up more healthily and safely than an electric blanket.”
“…Aha.”
“Above all, since you sleep so deeply that you wouldn’t notice even if someone carried you away, I need to protect you from being kidnapped.”
Increasingly absurd statements poured out. It was incredible that he could shamelessly say such things with his own mouth. On the other hand, it was… a little cute too. I quietly listened to Sa Hae-geon’s words, curious to see how far he would go.
Sa Hae-geon presented various other creative reasons.
“Cream likes sleeping with me.”
“…”
“Also, your bed is so wide that we have to sleep together.”
“…Is that so.”
“I’ve always liked the view outside from your room. But lately, I haven’t had the chance to see it.”
I couldn’t even laugh at these unexpected, ridiculous reasons. Seeing no change in my expression, Sa Hae-geon fidgeted with his fingers, perhaps realizing his arguments weren’t very convincing, and finally revealed his true feelings.
“Actually…”
“Yes?”
“I just wanted to sleep in your arms. Isn’t that enough? I absolutely won’t do anything else, so just hold me.”
His voice conveyed desperation and anxiety. Sa Hae-geon looked at me with uneasy eyes, then hugged me tightly and pleaded.
“Let’s sleep together, hyung.”
“…Okay. Let’s do that. Let’s sleep together, Hae-geon.”
I had no choice but to nod at his words. Strangely, I couldn’t firmly refuse Sa Hae-geon’s childish whims.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
