Chapter 119
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We naturally entered the shower booth together for a morning shower, and of course, we pushed showering to the back burner and played around for a long time, exchanging caresses under the rain shower’s stream.
Only after he personally rubbed foam all over my body and washed it off could I come out of the booth first. If we hadn’t had any schedule afterward, the shower probably would have lasted longer, but today we had various plans waiting for us.
After brewing two cups of coffee with the capsule machine provided at the living room mini bar, I grabbed my phone that had been charging overnight and moved to the window.
What expression would Fabino-ssi, the manager of ‘Mio Palazzo’, make if he saw me drinking espresso from the capsule machine in an unwarmed cup? Such imaginings always made me laugh.
He thought I would surely live an elegant life when I went to Korea to become an actor, but I’ve completely deteriorated. He should make me return to Paeli quickly. He might seriously nag mother about it. He might be shocked if he saw the accommodation I’m currently living in.
It wasn’t difficult to imagine mother’s reaction to that either.
Fabino worries too much. The kids are all grown up now, so they have the right to choose and experience even failures and trials. She would try to smooth over the situation by refilling Fabino-ssi’s wine glass.
With such thoughts, I smiled foolishly to myself while looking out the window amid the coffee aroma.
The late morning sea visible through the bedroom’s floor-to-ceiling window was peaceful. I heard that due to the geographical characteristics of this place with many islands, the waves are irregular and quite rough, but the water surface was gently breaking up the late summer sunlight with quiet movements.
It had been a long time since I’d seen the ocean. Since coming to Korea, I hadn’t made special time to visit the sea except when there was filming. I had tried to stay away from things that reminded me of Paeli, whether consciously or unconsciously.
But after reuniting with him, the number of times I thought about Paeli increased significantly.
After the incident in New York, I had focused only on somehow burying that problem and not being affected by it. My heart, which had been scraped away to become more numb and dull, began to take on various forms little by little after reuniting with him.
Sometimes shrinking, sometimes expanding. Repeating contraction and relaxation, sometimes bouncing up, and sometimes spreading out with comfortable light. Lee Han, because of him.
Even though I had left my family and hometown because it was painful to harbor secrets, I couldn’t give up being by his side. It was a change I couldn’t have imagined just a few months ago.
With a faint smile, I emptied about half of my espresso, set down the cup, and turned on my phone.
Fortunately, there was no contact from Yoon Juho. Instead, several messages from Jaewoo had arrived. They were content expressing concern about whether I had spent the previous night well with Knox Hotel’s PR team leader without any trouble. Thinking I had been out of contact too long, I hurriedly called.
As soon as the call connected, the guy poured out nagging about me having my phone turned off.
[What could possibly happen? The roads weren’t congested so we arrived earlier than expected. I guess I was tired because I fell asleep without even washing as soon as we arrived… Sorry, sorry.]
[Well… as long as you slept well. I contacted you last night too, but there was no reply and your phone was off… I was a bit worried.]
Jaewoo suddenly lowered his voice as if he was about to say something troublesome for others to hear.
[Hyung, that person isn’t just a team leader but a son of Hanseo Group, right? I heard from Manager-nim. Manager-nim was excited saying he really likes you. Wasn’t it uncomfortable?]
At the sound of footsteps, I turned around to see him walking out of the bathroom after finishing his shower. His half-naked body with a towel around his waist and using another towel to shake water from his hair subtly aroused me. Even though we had already exchanged deep caresses and kisses in the shower booth, I couldn’t believe my sexual desire that still felt insufficient toward him.
[Uh… well, so-so. I just slept as soon as I arrived, so there wasn’t time to feel uncomfortable or anything.]
Moving away from the window toward the table, I pointed to the coffee I had prepared for him in advance. “Thank you,” he greeted me with just lip movements.
[But why would someone like that offer to personally coach your golf posture? Is he some third-generation chaebol playboy who just passes business cards around and lives like a dilettante?]
[No, I don’t think that’s it. He said he was in the US for a while and only recently returned to Korea. He suggested we exercise together sometimes and be friends…]
Realizing who I was talking to, he pulled down the towel that had been covering his head and grinned. Then he immediately came up behind me, placed his hand on my side, and lightly kissed my nape.
“I wasn’t suggesting we be friends.”
He whispered in a small voice in my ear that wasn’t holding the phone.
I pushed him away while hurriedly covering the bottom part of the phone where the transmitter was with my hand. Pretending not to know and shrugging his shoulders, he fled to the window with his coffee cup.
[Oh, right, hyung. That’s not what’s important. A magazine contacted us this morning saying they want to proceed with a photo shoot. Manager-nim said you already knew about it and accepted right away?]
[Uh… right. I heard about it from the editor at that ‘Creep’ event.]
[Since it’s going in the October issue, it’ll help with drama promotion too. No, wait, the magazine will benefit thanks to our drama.]
Silently laughing at Jaewoo’s voice that was already putting on airs as if the drama was already a huge hit, I brought the coffee cup, still half full, to my lips.
[With Yoon Juho… no, shooting with Juho hyung, the sales numbers will be no joke.]
[……]
The coffee cup returned to its place without reaching my lips.
Without realizing it, I first looked at him standing by the window. With his back turned to me, he was looking at the sea outside the window, holding the espresso cup that looked even smaller because of his physique.
I had to struggle to calm my heart that was beating strongly again even though I’d done nothing wrong.
[Uh… really? So that’s how it’s being arranged.]
I wanted to ask in detail what had happened, but now wasn’t the right time.
[It looks like it’ll be an overseas shoot, so take me along this time too, hyung. Got it?]
[Yeah, we’ll talk about the details later… let’s finish this advertisement shoot first.]
[You know the company dinner is at 7, right? Today is ‘Layered’s recording day, so I’ll probably arrive around that time too. See you later.]
Noticing the signs that I was wrapping up the call, he slowly turned this way. Dark shadows fell on his solid body in the backlight. Setting down his empty espresso cup on the saucer, he approached.
“Your manager?”
“Yeah.”
“We need to move quickly now to finish all our schedule before the dinner. I told them to leave clothes in the living room. I’ll go get them right away.”
“Hey…”
He raised his eyebrows and stopped, having been about to move.
I was scheduled to do a photo shoot, and it seemed like I’d be doing it with Yoon Juho. — It wasn’t a big deal. It wasn’t a big matter, but if I hid it for no reason, it could become something significant precisely because I hid it.
“What is it? Were you not satisfied enough in the bathroom earlier?”
His face full of smiles, he came close and wrapped his arms around my waist. Pressing our lower bodies tightly together and resting his forehead against mine, his face looked so happy.
I chuckled and placed my palm on his chest with a light tap. Stroking over his skin that still had cool moisture, I traveled up his shoulder and neck to cup his cheek.
“About golf… even if I’m a bit bad at it, don’t get irritated, okay?”
I changed direction to different words than what I was going to say.
“You know how many couples fight when one teaches the other to drive.”
He shook his head with an expression that said that was ridiculous.
“Try hitting me once while swinging a driver, pretending it’s a mistake. See if I get irritated with hyung.”
It was a confident reaction. Embarrassed by such direct expression of affection heard from so close, I just laughed.
After this time today passes and after finishing filming, it wouldn’t be a big problem to talk about it then. I was confident he wasn’t the type to make a big deal out of something like that, and I wanted to enjoy this current peace a bit longer.
As he said, golf wear for two people was prepared in the living room. The outfits were not too formal but didn’t violate field etiquette.
After changing clothes, we moved downstairs. A buggy loaded with his clubs that had been sent from Seoul to the resort in advance was waiting. Without any accompaniment, just the two of us moved to hole 6 of the beach course.
“The golf course in Hongcheon was impressive too, but this place has a different feel from Hongcheon.”
“Well, Hongcheon is mountainous terrain, while this place takes advantage of ocean characteristics. It’s the only course in Korea that’s right next to the sea. Father liked this place too, so he played rounds almost exclusively here. Though he couldn’t come very often.”
“Have you been playing golf long?”
He slightly frowned and shook his head.
“It wasn’t really a sport I liked. I was forced to learn because father wanted to teach me directly. I prefer more passionate sports. So in college I played the sports I liked to my heart’s content.”
“Ah… with those friends who gave you the nickname ‘Third Leg’?”
“……”
His face turning to look at me by twisting his upper body was rarely very flustered. The steering wheel turned enough that the buggy slightly veered off the cart road.
“That bastard Yujun really said all kinds of nonsense.”
Muttering like that to himself while rubbing his jaw widely, he then conversely laughed emptily and kept chuckling repeatedly.
“Why?”
Even to my question, he just shook his head no. Yet he still couldn’t stop laughing.
“Really, why are you acting like that?”
Until we passed hole 6 of the first course where pine forests and lakes harmonized, he didn’t tell me the reason for his laughter. Only after approaching hole 7 did he clear his throat and compose his voice.
“Since we met again, this is the third time we’ve slept together and greeted the morning.”
“……”
“It’s just that today feels somehow more special.”
The first time was the day I visited after ‘Layered’s housewarming, then the day he took delivery of his car. Both times we didn’t have the leisure to leisurely enjoy the morning we greeted together.
“Quickly…”
“Hm?”
“As much as I want hyung, I hope hyung will quickly… want me that much too.”
Beyond the neatly maintained green, the ocean scenery gradually revealed itself more widely. Though I couldn’t see his exact eyes because of his sunglasses, the gentle smile that lingered at the corners of his mouth carried some wistfulness.
He glanced at me briefly and added:
“I won’t say anything until then.”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
