Gentle Giant 41

Gentle Giant Chapter 41

“Hyung. Did you drink alcohol?”

Juho said while looking at the empty beer glass on the table. At that comment, Dain looked at the beer glass once and grinned bashfully.

“Mmhm. I had exactly one glass! They say beer goes well with chicken. Do you want to drink too, Juho?”

“No. I don’t drink alcohol…”

“Really? You don’t drink even one glass? You seemed like you’d drink well.”

Dain looked at Juho with round eyes. Juho nodded briefly, smiling at that cute appearance.

Even when he was in America, he didn’t go out of his way to drink alcohol. He was reluctant to socialize with people and didn’t like being unable to control himself after drinking. The people around him, especially his hyungs, couldn’t understand him, but Juho was completely uninterested.

“Is that so? It’s not that I can’t drink… Hyung, do you perhaps like people who drink well?”

“Huh? No, it doesn’t matter…?”

He was going to drink if he said people who drink well were his ideal type, but since Dain said it didn’t matter, Juho leaned back comfortably in his chair.

It was quite interesting to watch Dain with his expression languidly relaxed from one glass of beer. It was a bit annoying that he wasn’t the only one seeing this though.

Right now Dain was continuing conversation with the people sitting at the same table, including Dohyeon. The table that had briefly fallen silent after Juho arrived became boisterous again as if nothing had happened.

As expected from his first impression of being talkative, Dohyeon led the conversation, while the other two people chimed in and embellished it further. Dain barely kept up while clapping along. Seeing that sight, dissatisfied words were about to burst from his throat.

Since Dain was next to him, they asked him various things in a friendly manner too, and while he was forcing himself to give kind answers, he wondered how long he had to keep doing this. It felt like a chat meeting disguised as a party.

It was when he was answering occasional questions directed at him. Dain looked at his phone on the table and got up from his seat.

“Hyung? Where are you going?”

“Mmhm. Noona called me. I’ll just go out for a moment and come back, have fun with the kids!”

“Should I come with you?”

“No. I’ll be right in front of the door here.”

Dain disappeared outside with his phone. Though it was just one glass of beer, seeing him with his guard down made Juho worry for no reason. Juho’s eyes continued to follow Dain’s retreating figure.

“Wow, lasers are going to shoot out of Juho’s eyes watching Dain!”

At the sound coming from beside him, Juho’s head turned. The three people at the same table were watching Juho with bright eyes. At that triplet-like appearance, Juho’s eyebrows crumpled with a scrunch.

At the menacing change, the three people flinched momentarily, but remembering Juho who had kindly answered their questions just before, they giggled and laughed it off.

“Do you like Dain that much?”

“Honey is literally coming out of your eyes! Honey and lasers coming out together!”

Juho looked pathetically at the three people who were laughing among themselves, asking and answering their own questions, and let out a short sigh. Then he tapped the table with his long fingers and growled.

“Do I look funny because I answer with a smile? Whether honey or lasers come out of my eyes, what does that have to do with you, hm? And I’d appreciate it if all three of you would stop making it so obvious that you can’t read the atmosphere.”

At Juho’s sharp reaction, the three people’s mouths shut tight. It felt like the alcohol buzz that had been gradually rising suddenly disappeared in an instant. The kind Lee Juho who had answered them nicely, if not warmly, had gone somewhere, and only a displeased top-tier beast-man sat in front of them.

The three people lowered their heads and began tearing at the chicken before Juho could say anything more.

At that quick change of stance, Juho finally relaxed his furrowed brows and began watching Dain’s figure outside the store again.

Meanwhile, a pleased expression appeared on Dain’s face as he escaped the noisy store. It had been a few days since he last sent a greeting message, so he hadn’t expected noona to call first.

“Noona!”

-Oh, Dain. Are you home?

“No, I came to an opening party right now! It’s a chicken place in front of school!”

-Opening party? Oh my, you went to an opening party by yourself?

At noona’s reaction, naturally thinking he would have gone alone, Dain smiled awkwardly. While thinking it was a natural reaction since noona properly knew his usual tendencies, Dain quickly denied it.

“No, no! The younger guy I told you about before is with me, and there are other friends too.”

-Ooh, Jung Dain!! What’s gotten into you! Noona is really touched right now! What should I do! Oh, if I were next to you I would have patted your butt!!

At noona’s boisterous reaction, Dain laughed “haha” while stealthily covering his butt. If it were noona, she would definitely pat his butt hard enough to make a “clap clap” sound.

“Oh, but noona, is something up? Calling at this time. Isn’t this when you’re busy working?”

-Mmhm, you remember that advertisement I was going to shoot that I mentioned before?

“Yeah, you mean the Scarlett advertisement?”

-Yeah! That’s it! Dain, can you come visit noona’s advertisement shoot?”

“To noona’s advertisement shoot? Me? Why…?”

At noona’s proposal, who had never invited him to her workplace before, Dain tilted his head.

At Dain’s question, the voice on the other end of the phone got louder.

-No, this advertisement shoot is at an aquarium. You like aquariums, Dain! We’re borrowing it after closing for the shoot so there won’t be other people, and I thought it would be nice if you could look around slowly while I’m shooting. Noona asked the shooting staff and they said it’s fine as long as you don’t cause trouble!

“Huk… Aquarium?!”

Dain’s mouth fell wide open. An aquarium! And he could go after closing! Jackpot!

Dain’s face turned red with excitement. He was so excited that his feet started stomping.

As if she could tell everything just from his voice, Dahee continued with a small laugh.

-Mmhm. Nice, right? If it’s boring to come alone, you can come with that close friend you mentioned. About two people won’t even be noticeable.

“Really?! Mmhm! Noona, I can really go? Aquarium!!”

-Of course! Noona will send you the details by message. I’ll assume you’re coming for now, so contact me again, okay?

“Mmhm! Thank you!! Thank you noona!!”

-Yeah yeah, hurry and go back in. You said you were having an opening party.

“Okay, noona, I’ll contact you again!”

Dain answered loudly and ended the phone call. Just thinking about the aquarium made his heart pound already. Our noona is really the best!

Dain, who sent 100 thumbs up to noona in his heart, opened the door of the chicken place and went inside. Seeing Juho’s face that shone exceptionally even inside the store made his already good mood even better.

Juho, who had been watching Dain return with a grinning face as if the phone call had been fun, gave an eye smile when he made eye contact with Dain. Seeing that eye smile, Dain, whose facial muscles had almost completely relaxed, scurried over and sat next to Juho.

“Hyung, did the call with noona go well?”

“Mmhm. Noona asked me to come visit her advertisement shoot. I’ll tell you the details when we get home later.”

“Advertisement shoot? Mm, okay.”

“Yeah, what about you, Juho? Did you talk a lot with the kids?”

“Me?”

At Dain’s question, Juho’s gaze reached the three people who were desperately eating chicken. At that cool look, the three people’s shoulders jumped slightly. Seeing that reaction, Juho smiled with his eyes folded again.

“Of course. All three of them treated me kindly so we were having a fun conversation.”

Juho answered while sweeping Dain’s bangs to the side. At that answer, the three people had the same thought inside.

‘It’s not a tiger but a fox… a nine-tailed fox…’

However, the three people who had seen Juho’s menacing glare nodded awkwardly while smiling. Even if Juho’s words weren’t right, they had to unconditionally agree they were right.

* * *

“It was so fun! Right??”

“That’s right. But hyung, are you really okay not going to the second round?”

“It’s okay! This is enough for me right now!”

Dain said while opening the front door.

When the other students moved to a second location, the two of them returned home. Even Dohyeon, who was closest to him, had to go home because of the baby, and Dain wasn’t really the type to enjoy drinking, so he didn’t want a second round that was just about drinking to death.

“Hyung, wash up first. You must be hot from the alcohol.”

“Ah, okay! Rest up!”

Dain quickly answered and went into the bathroom. As Juho said, his whole face was heating up from just one glass of beer. Normally he would tell Juho to wash up first, but today he wanted to cool his face with cold water. Dain quickly and thoroughly washed his body so Juho wouldn’t wait long, then came out of the bathroom.

“Juho, you can wash up now… huh?”

Dain, who had been talking while roughly drying his hair with a towel, stopped speaking and looked around at the bed. Juho’s eyes were peacefully closed as he leaned against the headboard, apparently having fallen asleep while waiting for him to wash up.

Dain unconsciously approached Juho’s side with an enchanted face.

Even in the faint streetlight coming through the window, his handsomeness was clearly visible. His peacefully closed eyes with long extended eyelashes and high nose bridge – though there was little light, his white skin sparkled.

Such a handsome person is my boyfriend! Dain’s mood floated up to the sky.

“Hehe…”

Dain’s face gradually got closer to Juho’s. Dain didn’t stop rambling appreciatively about Juho’s face in his mind.

Wow, why are his lips so red? Just like cherries! Oh, so this is what people mean by cherry-like lips…! Dain nodded quickly. The red, luscious lips looked so delicious. He swallowed his saliva.

Without realizing it, he stuck his head out and pressed his lips to Juho’s lips.

It was purely an impulsive action, but in his head he was endlessly rationalizing that it was okay since he was Juho’s boyfriend.

Smooch.

‘Wh, when you really kiss it actually makes a smooch sound…!!!’

Dain was amazed at the sound made when Juho’s lips and his own lips collided. The sound he’d seen in novels was ringing directly in his ears. He had kissed those red, plump lips…!

His heart, which had been languid from alcohol, started pounding.

Dain touched his own lips once. His lips were also beating rapidly as if they had a heart too.

The fact that his lips had touched those pretty lips was thrilling. Dain took a big breath. J, just one more time…!

With his eyes closed, Dain lowered his head deeply, and his lips touched Juho’s peacefully closed lips again with another “smooch” sound before separating.

Dain slightly raised his head and clenched his fists tightly. His toes curled inward too as heat rose throughout his body.

“Hehe…”

Dain, who had been watching Juho while unconsciously fidgeting with his fingers, smiled slyly.

Juho doesn’t know, right…? Geez, I didn’t know but I guess I like naughty things!

Just as Dain was dreaming of the perfect crime and trying to stealthily move away from Juho’s side.

“Hyung.”

Juho, who had grabbed Dain’s hand holding the towel, opened his eyes with a flash. As if he had never been sleeping, both eyes were glowing yellow.

At that moment, Dain, too shocked, let out a short scream and plopped down on the bed.

“Uh, uh…! Juho… Juho…?”

“Hyung, what did you just do?”

“Huk!”

Juho asked in a low voice. Since Dain hadn’t thought that Juho might be awake, he couldn’t answer properly and just stammered.

“Hyung, what just touched my lips was your lips, right…?”

“Ju, Juho… I’m sorry! I, I thought you were sleeping…! Without even asking, I ki… kissed you… such shameless… S, sorry!!”

Dain quickly asked for forgiveness at Juho’s question. To have such intimate physical contact without even asking for consent…! He wouldn’t have anything to say even if he got slapped right now. The alcohol buzz that had given him infinite courage earlier had long since flown away.

Juho’s head tilted to the side as he watched the trembling Dain.

“What did you do?”

“Ki… ki, kiss…”

Dain’s head hung down deeply with no intention of coming back up. He looked like he had become a great criminal.

Juho secretly let out a laugh at that dejected appearance and continued speaking.

“Hyung, that wasn’t a kiss.”

“Huh…?”

“Hyung, do you want to kiss me?”

At Juho’s gentle question, Dain slightly nodded his head. Honestly, if it was like what he did earlier, he wanted to do it a hundred more times.

Juho, who had been watching Dain’s ears that looked ready to burst, moved the arm holding Dain’s wrist to wrap around his shoulder.

“Then shall we have a real kiss now?”