9.
Choi Taeri also stopped talking and watched Juha and Eunwon. The corners of his mouth went up slightly, but he didn’t look particularly pleased.
Regardless.
Juha turned his back completely on Taeri and looked at Eunwon.
“Hyung, did your shoot go well?”
“I just shot it so-so. How about you?”
“Mine had a good atmosphere. Everyone praised me saying I did well, and that my style was good.”
“That’s a relief.”
“It’s because hyung helped me. Hehe…”
Seeing the young one beaming made Juha feel proud. Soon Yeom Sangyeop appeared too, and Juha was able to distance himself from Choi Taeri.
* * *
The time they returned to the dormitory was late at night. Having stayed only four days, the dormitory felt like home. Returning to his room, his mind felt at ease and fatigue finally poured out.
Though they’d distributed lunch boxes in between, everyone was at such a vigorous age that they quickly got hungry again.
After washing up, the hunger he’d forgotten came rushing back. Juha took out an energy bar he’d brought from his bag. He had a constitution that didn’t gain weight easily, and since he wasn’t really interested in food, he’d brought it purely for stamina replenishment.
After peeling the wrapper, just as Juha was about to take a bite alone, he made eye contact with Choi Taeri beside him. He couldn’t just ignore him.
“Want some?”
“Oh, I was hungry too!”
Juha rummaged in his bag and took out an energy bar to hand over.
“It doesn’t taste that good. I’m just eating it in case my stamina drops.”
“Since it’s yours, it’ll probably taste good.”
Taeri grabbed the energy bar Juha offered. At the brief touch of hands, Juha flinched noticeably.
“Since it’s yours, it’ll probably taste good.”
For a moment, the imagination from the shoot he’d forgotten flashed through Juha’s mind.
“Why are you startled?”
Taeri looked at him blankly and asked.
“St-static electricity built up.”
Juha hastily made up any excuse.
“But it felt moist…”
“I always get a lot of static electricity.”
Juha hurriedly turned around. Since he’d just showered, naturally his hands couldn’t be dry.
He needed to maintain as much physical distance from Taeri as possible.
Before falling into improper thoughts.
“I’m lying down first. You turn off the lights.”
Juha lay down at the edge of the bed as if escaping.
“Got it. Sleep well.”
That gentle tone, so opposite from the first day.
As he recalled how Taeri had deliberately taken care of him by telling him to sit next to him in the waiting room, Juha found himself expecting something from Taeri.
‘It’s just a business relationship.’
Juha covered himself with the blanket up to the top of his head.
Taeri, who had been eating his energy bar while enjoying the night view, brushed his teeth and turned off the lights.
Though only the lighting dimmed, everything around felt quiet.
Today’s shoot had been too exhausting.
Juha fell asleep forgetting his tension.
* * *
“Mmm…”
The time Juha woke from a deep sleep was in the dark of night. The surroundings were bleak. Regardless of shooting or anything else, night was impartial.
Choi Taeri was visible before Juha’s eyes.
‘When did we get this close?’
He’d thought they always slept with their backs turned at opposite edges of the bed, but when Juha woke up, he and Taeri were lying facing each other in the middle of the bed.
His sleeping habits weren’t particularly bad, so it was strange to Juha that he’d rolled this far.
Juha blinked and watched Taeri sleeping. During the day he’d acted so inscrutably, but at night he was quite well-behaved.
Though he didn’t want to admit it, he was really handsome. Come to think of it, he felt lucky to see Choi Taeri sleeping this close up.
The feeling of learning a small secret about a celebrity.
On the 4th day of being roommates and getting to know him, if asked whether he knew more about him than others, that wasn’t the case either.
As a result of watching for 4 days, Choi Taeri’s position outside was solid.
He was someone who would become an idol among idols.
Though he didn’t know which was his real personality, his first impression was cold but he overflowed with passion regarding work, and normally he was playful and liked being mischievous. Not to mention his appearance, he already had good skills but gave his all, so he possessed all the qualities of an idol without exception.
Though Choi Taeri was said to have a fanbase, strictly speaking, his recognition among the general public was weak.
Though it hadn’t aired yet, Juha was already afraid of how this idol landscape would shake the moment Choi Taeri appeared on TV.
Probably even existing idols would be jealous and afraid of Choi Taeri.
Choi Taeri’s duality – that is, boyish beauty and mature beauty, coldness and passion, prudence and lightness – was a character he’d never seen before.
That was probably the reason.
Why Juha’s heart kept moving in strange directions.
“Choi Taeri…”
Juha unconsciously called his name.
Then suddenly Taeri, who had been sleeping soundly in the darkness, opened his eyes wide. Juha froze in place as if he’d seen a ghost.
“Why?”
Taeri smiled and asked Juha. His sleepy voice rang low in his ear. The room with the lights off felt unreal.
Alone with only Choi Taeri in the pitch-black darkness.
Saliva kept gathering in his mouth.
In the lifeless darkness, Taeri’s pupils sparkled like black marbles. Those eyes that seemed like they’d shine if polished squeakily looked at Juha without wavering.
There was no need to calm his heart. He was already excited.
Taeri’s sharply raised nose bridge was like a central axis that balanced his face perfectly. When his lips moved slowly below his straight philtrum, his jaw muscles moved along his masculine jawline.
“I asked why you called me.”
Each syllable he uttered, the red tongue inside his mouth carefully revealed itself and disappeared repeatedly.
Usually his voice was deep like richly brewed premium coffee, but his voice heard from bed after waking up was like a sweet donut dusted with sugar powder falling like white snow.
At his voice vibrating close to his ear, Juha got goosebumps.
“Ah, um…”
Thump.
If Choi Taeri’s eyes or lips touched even slightly, Juha felt like he’d melt away like cotton candy fallen in water.
Juha hurriedly buried his head deep under the blanket. He felt like everything would be discovered if they kept looking at each other.
“Why are you hiding after calling someone?”
Taeri spoke as if it was ridiculous.
“No, it’s not that. I was just amazed you were sleeping right in front of me.”
When he mumbled from under the blanket, his voice got buried. Then Taeri slipped under the blanket following Juha.
With this vast penthouse available, the two covered themselves with one blanket like children trying to hide from ghosts.
Their breaths mixed in the small cave made by the blanket. With the two of them in such a closed space, they seemed short of air and out of breath. Though their skin hadn’t even touched, Juha’s heart beat as if he’d sprinted at full speed.
Juha unconsciously squeezed his eyes shut. He couldn’t handle Taeri in front of him anymore. At this rate, something would happen.
“Let’s sleep, let’s sleep. Let’s just sleep. I was just joking.”
Juha shouted into the air with his eyes closed. He didn’t have confidence to meet Taeri’s eyes right now.
“Why sleep already?”
“Good night!”
Juha cut off Taeri’s words and hurriedly turned around, wriggling toward the corner of the bed like escaping. As if ignoring that clumsy escape, Taeri stretched out his long arm and pulled Juha’s waist toward him.
“What, what are you doing…”
“Shh. If your movements are big, the camera will catch it.”
At Taeri’s words, Juha, who had been trying to escape from his embrace, stopped abruptly.
In this place without privacy, cameras were precariously installed even in the bathroom excluding the shower booth. Moreover, when movement was detected, the cameras moved accordingly, which was quite uncomfortable.
“Mmm, should we sleep like this today?”
Taeri’s Adam’s apple vibrated and a moan-like breath burst out. Juha naturally shrank his body. To him, Taeri’s actions felt like seduction disguised as sleepy whining.
Taeri’s entire body touched Juha’s back. Taeri’s regular heartbeat spread through his entire tightly embracing body.
It was starting again.
This inscrutable prank.
Juha swayed uncontrollably at the small stone Taeri had thrown. His eyes trembled anxiously and he became uneasy.
‘This is dangerous.’
“No.”
Juha answered Taeri’s question of “should we sleep like this.” It was an answer with a time delay, so anyone could see it was a clumsy, hesitant response.
‘This can’t happen…’
When Juha wriggled trying to escape from his embrace, strength entered Taeri’s hand wrapped around his waist. The feeling of his waist being squeezed seemed to choke his breath.
“How surprising. I guess you never fooled around during dorm life.”
Taeri’s tone was mixed with laughter as if Juha’s reaction was amusing. After that, Taeri’s hand released too easily.
As if it was no big deal, Taeri returned to his original position at the right end of the bed. It was something that had passed in such a short time that seconds couldn’t be counted.
“Whew…”
Juha let out a sigh of relief as if he’d died and come back to life.
During his trainee days living in dorms, Juha had naturally engaged in a lot of physical pranks too. Mischievous hyungs would hug Juha and play with him like a stuffed doll, claiming to teach him wrestling. Everyone was in their mid-to-late teens when they had excess energy.
Sometimes they’d get minor injuries from playing too roughly. Sometimes it was unpleasant, sometimes it just passed as play.
No more. Any further would be dangerous. Juha resolved and opened his mouth.
“Don’t play pranks like this.”
Though he spoke with force, Juha’s body trembled finely.
“Well. Next time it might not be a prank.”
As if completely ignoring his concerns, Taeri’s answer was light.
“…”
He wanted to shoot back something, but no words came to mind. The content that shook people within that “it’s no big deal” tone kept confusing Juha.
“What do you mean by what you just said?”
Juha asked while curled up at the edge of the bed.
“Exactly what I said. If you want to think of it as a prank, go ahead. Sleep well.”
Having only finished what he wanted to say, Taeri cut off the conversation.
“…”
Juha’s heart pounded violently.
He wanted to ask ‘Why are you saying things like that?’
Juha wasn’t the type to hold back what he wanted to say just because he wasn’t good with words. So normally he would have jumped up right there regardless of whether Taeri was sleeping or not, woken him up and asked.
However, he couldn’t do that now.
He was scared because he didn’t know what answer he wanted from Choi Taeri. Or he was afraid of being disappointed by the answer that would come from his mouth.
‘It’s not like I’m in love.’
Juha steadied himself again and again.
He was attracted to the topicality and outstanding talent of the human called Choi Taeri.
There was no other meaning. There shouldn’t be anything more.
It was just an accidental emotion, close to an accident, that occurred from confirming the genius of one good-looking man before his eyes every day.
Juha tried his best to deny himself.
However, the occasional duplicitous attitude Choi Taeri showed kept bothering him.
Twice he’d hugged him playfully in bed, and even during work hours, while pretending not to be interested, he occasionally took care of Juha.
‘Can you say that’s no big deal?’
No.
Juha was obsessed with Choi Taeri’s actions to the point of being ashamed of himself for constantly trying to give meaning to them.
Choi Taeri was just showing favor to one person who caught his eye at the first audition. There was no way Taeri would show erotic feelings toward a man.
All the attitudes he’d shown so far were his own misunderstandings.
Juha tried to make assumptions focusing on the worst-case scenarios. However, seeing himself repeatedly getting excited then disappointed while absorbed in all kinds of thoughts, Juha realized.
I’m sick.
Lovesickness at that. Without that, there was no way to explain the speed of his madly beating heart.
At first he followed Taeri’s whereabouts with his gaze, and when he saw him talking with other people, he strangely felt bad. Then after dreaming about Taeri and having strange imaginations, now he got excited at every word, and his body reflexively flinched at just a brush of hands.
Juha felt like he might get motion sick from the speed of emotions he was feeling for the first time in his life.
‘Why the hell is this bastard doing this to me…’
Curses welled up.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
