Gentle Giant Chapter 52
Thanks to Juho, who was in a good mood and ordered four main dishes, Dain held his full stomach and gave an awkward smile.
“Whew, Juho. We really ate a lot. Right? I’m so full that even breathing seems difficult.”
“What?! Hyung, you can’t breathe? Are you okay? Do you have indigestion?”
“Uh, no. It’s…… not something to worry about that much.”
Dain felt embarrassed because Juho was so surprised by his words. It was just complaining about being full……
Dain, whose stomach was perfectly fine despite Juho’s embarrassing level of worry, got up from his seat thinking he’d go wash his hands.
“No, you said you can’t breathe……? Doesn’t your stomach feel really bad? Can you go to the bathroom alone? Should I go with you? Will you be okay?”
“Huh? No no, I’m just going to wash my hands and come back. And the bathroom is right there. It’s fine. When I said I can’t breathe…… th-that was just how full I am.”
Juho, who believed that Dain was going to the bathroom because his stomach felt bad, moved as if to support him. After saying no several times, Dain finally got Juho to sit back down.
Even while obediently sitting down at Dain’s touch, Juho still had an expression like he was dying of worry for Dain.
In the end, Dain turned around and coaxed and cajoled Juho before barely managing to enter the bathroom alone.
Hmm, I shouldn’t have said I was so full I couldn’t breathe.
Maybe because Juho lived in America, he sometimes took Dain’s words literally. Normally, Dain would have laughed at Juho’s cute reactions in such situations, but today he felt a bit sorry for Juho, who must have been genuinely surprised thinking it was real.
Dain resolved to be more careful with every word he said to Juho from now on.
Dain washed his hands with the cool water pouring down vigorously. His heated stomach from eating heartily because it was too precious to leave seemed to settle down somewhat.
If he didn’t go back quickly, Juho sitting alone would probably worry seriously again, so Dain hurriedly dried the water with a hand towel.
“Seriously, what an exaggeration.”
That’s when it happened. A man walked in behind Dain, talking on the phone. When Dain moved aside to make way and looked through the mirror, it was the man who had been sitting with Kim Sujeong.
Dain’s eyes widened slightly upon recognizing the man, but since it wasn’t a situation where he needed to listen to the phone call, he turned around to leave.
That was before vulgar words that would make anyone frown came out of the man’s mouth.
“Fuck, I came to meet him because they said he was a young kid who just entered heat. But he’s a big black bastard who’s 10cm taller than me. What? Of course I knew he was a man! But the problem is he’s taller than me, bigger than me, and has no gentle charm!”
The man was talking quietly since they were in the bathroom, but because it was a narrow space where voices echoed, Dain could hear every bit of his complaint-filled conversation.
“They said his family background is decent and his academic background is pretty good, plus since he’s a college student he’s young so being a man should be fine, so I came out. What can I do when they keep telling me to go out from home! Fuck, they said we’d meet at a nice place today so I drove 30 minutes from Seoul to bring him here……”
Dain could guess who the young guy the man was talking about was.
The longer the man’s phone call went on, giggling about something so funny, the more Dain’s face unknowingly hardened. Even though they weren’t close, since it was someone he knew being talked about so badly, his mood naturally began to sink.
The man, unaware that Dain still hadn’t left, quickly vented his remaining complaints to the other party to finish the call.
“To be honest, I completely lost any desire to do anything. When we meet outside, I’m scared we might make eye contact with that scary build. Haa…… anyway, I need to wrap this up quickly and go home to drink soju. This one failed too! Damn!”
Having said all his complaints, the man who finished the call turned around. Since he came out with the excuse of going to the bathroom, he thought he might as well wash his hands. Then he was startled to see that Dain, whom he had glimpsed when entering earlier, was still standing in front of the sink.
Dain thought this wasn’t a conversation for him to butt into, but he also didn’t want to just let it slide nicely.
Still, hadn’t he recently fought and won(?) against a bad guy from the same department? He had built up some guts now.
After making eye contact with the man, Dain pretended to step aside from the sink, then pressed down hard on the man’s foot.
“Ah!”
The man let out a short scream. Then he glared at Dain. Dain gripped his trembling hands tightly and said.
“Oh, I’m sorry. You should have been watching more carefully……”
The latter part was said in a whisper-like quiet voice, but it was close enough for the man to hear clearly.
Being annoyed that his new shoes were stepped on, and what? The man raised his voice sharply.
“What?!”
“Yes……?”
Dain looked at the man with an expression like he knew nothing. The man was momentarily intimidated by Dain’s fiercer-than-expected face, but having shouted boldly, he tried to add another word.
“Hyung. You really do seem sick somewhere…… What’s this?”
A man with such a large height and build that just standing there could block the bathroom entrance suddenly interjected.
His nearly blonde brown hair and brilliantly shining features, especially his golden pupils, announced that the one blocking the doorway was a top-tier beast-man.
The man, who was an ordinary canine beast-man, felt his shoulders involuntarily shrink, overwhelmed by the top-tier beast-man’s aura.
“Ah, Juho.”
Dain awkwardly raised his hand. Juho had just rushed to the bathroom looking for Dain, unable to bear being separated for even that short moment.
After giving the man confronting Dain a murderous glare, Juho approached Dain.
“What’s going on? And what’s with that person?”
“Um…… I accidentally stepped on that man’s foot……”
“You stepped on it?”
Dain, who had stepped on the foot on purpose rather than by accident, felt his conscience prick, but told Juho a slight lie.
“I apologized but he seems angry.”
“Ha……”
Sparks flew from Juho’s eyes. However, Juho first lifted Dain with the most gentle face in the world and moved him behind him.
“Hyung. Stay here, hyung. I’ll talk to him again.”
“Uh uh, no. Juho! If I apologize again……!”
“No. You said you already apologized. I’ll just talk to him briefly and come back.”
Leaving behind Dain’s worried face, Juho approached the man.
As soon as he turned his back to Dain, Juho’s expression completely hardened, and the closer he got, the more the man broke out in cold sweat with a face full of tension.
Juho rolled his eyes to look the man up and down. The stronger the male scent wafting from the man, the more Juho’s face crumpled.
Whatever species he was, this male beast-man got angry at Dain even after receiving an apology……?
Unable to speak harshly with Dain nearby, Juho gripped the man’s shoulder firmly with one hand. Since Juho put quite a bit of strength into it from his perspective, the man enduring that grip strength could only open his mouth without even being able to scream.
“Hmm, accidents can happen. You must have received an apology…… I’d be grateful if you could resolve this nicely.”
“Keu……”
“Yes?”
The shoulder caught in Juho’s hand was losing sensation. He only thought his arm might fall off. The man instinctively nodded. When Juho asked “Yes?” he had no choice but to answer that he understood.
Juho squeezed the man’s shoulder hard once more, then stepped back with a bright face and turned around. There wasn’t even a trace of the murderous expression on Juho’s face as he returned to Dain.
“Hyung, did you see? He said he accepts hyung’s apology well.”
“Yeah. I saw! I’m sorry once again! Juho, come here quickly. Let’s go!”
“Yes.”
Juho, who answered gently to Dain’s words, stood beside Dain.
Worried that the man might try to harm Juho again, Dain quickly grabbed Juho’s wrist and left the bathroom.
Hidden behind Juho’s broad back, Dain couldn’t see well what happened between the two men. But he didn’t know what that bad-natured and nasty man might do to Juho who had his back turned. He had disliked the man from the moment he heard him cursing about another person on the phone call.
Dain was about to pout his lips again and return to the table, but Juho naturally led Dain toward the door.
“Hyung, I paid the bill while waiting. Let’s go out now, let’s eat something sweet and cheer up.”
“Yeah. Really? Let’s do that.”
Dain nodded and followed Juho out of the store. Then, glancing back at the store, he saw Kim Sujeong sitting alone at a table waiting for his companion.
Dain’s heart grew heavy. He knew that Sujeong wasn’t such a lousy person that he deserved to hear such words from someone he was meeting for the first time today.
Just at school, he was both the top student and class president, and Dain had heard he was quite popular with not only sophomore students but students from other years too.
If the reason he was hearing such things was simply because he was a male beast-man in heat who was big and tall, it was too unfair.
Dain found himself looking back at the store once more.
He regretted not at least acknowledging him earlier. If he had, the man might not have made such a phone call after seeing his face in the bathroom, knowing he was acquainted with Sujeong.
Feeling like he had done something wrong for no reason, a long sigh flowed from Dain’s mouth.
It was natural for Juho, who had been watching this from the side without missing anything, to worry about Dain.
Even while riding in the car heading home, Dain’s uncomfortable feelings showed no signs of lifting. Juho, who had been concerned about Dain’s hardened expression since earlier, asked carefully.
“Hyung. Are you still upset about what happened in the bathroom?”
“Huh? No, that’s not it.”
“Mm……? That’s not it? Then is it something else?”
“Yeah.”
“What is it?”
Juho’s head tilted to the side. Just then, stopped at a red light, Juho took Dain’s hand and shook it gently. It was a signal to hurry up and tell him.
Dain moved his lips several times before carefully bringing up the topic.
“Juho.”
“Yes?”
“If I were also a male in heat…… would you lose any desire to do anything……?”
At the unexpected bombshell statement that came from Dain’s mouth, Juho’s mouth fell wide open.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
