# Chapter 71
Despite Domin’s warning, Jeongyun kept his lips tightly sealed. Domin lightly licked his own lips and smirked at those stubbornly closed lips.
Well, he had expected this.
“If you don’t want to kiss, we can just move on to the next step.”
“…What?”
Domin lifted Jeongyun up and headed straight for the portable bed.
Jeongyun struggled when he realized the destination, but his body froze when Domin patted his bottom as if telling him to stay still.
“W-wait a moment!”
Domin stopped at Jeongyun’s urgent cry.
Instead of putting Jeongyun down on the bed, Domin adjusted his hold so they were facing each other and tilted his head. Jeongyun, who was rolling his eyes anxiously, asked in a small voice:
“Could you put me down first?”
“Where? On the bed?”
“No, on the floor… ugh.”
A hand slipped under Jeongyun’s clothes and traced down his spine.
After calming his trembling body, Jeongyun narrowed his eyes sharply. Domin pushed his lips out shamelessly and said with a smile:
“You kiss me first, Mr. Yeo Jeongyun.”
“I clearly told you I don’t want to do Guiding—”
“If you don’t want to, we can continue where we left off.”
The hand that had paused began to move again.
Just before the hand tracing down his spine could slip into his pants, Jeongyun managed to grab it. His face was flushed red.
“N-not a kiss, just lips—”
“Well, do it however you want.”
Finally, Jeongyun closed his eyes tightly and kissed Domin first. It was just a light peck that touched and pulled away quickly, but even that much was enough to ease his tingling fingertips.
No, it was satisfying enough to create that illusion. In reality, no effective Guiding had happened at all. It was obvious that the Guiding efficiency would be terrible in this state.
“Is that enough? Now put me down.”
Though it was disappointing, continuing Guiding in this state was impossible.
Domin reluctantly put Jeongyun down gently. As soon as his feet touched the floor, Jeongyun created distance between himself and Domin as if escaping.
Watching him look like a small, wary hamster made Domin laugh. He covered his upturned mouth with his hand and cleared his throat with a fake cough.
“If you haven’t had lunch yet, let’s go out to eat.”
It was almost time for the restaurant he had reserved. If they ate at a nice place and talked, all this talk about terminating the Dedicated contract would be forgotten.
Domin, who had arrogantly assumed that Jeongyun would like him, was puzzled when the answer was delayed. It was an opportunity to have a meal alone with him, whom Jeongyun supposedly liked so much, so Domin couldn’t understand why he had such a dark expression.
“Mr. Yeo Jeongyun?”
Unable to wait any longer, Domin called out to Jeongyun.
Instead of answering, Jeongyun walked past Domin who had approached him and headed for the bed. He picked up the bouquet placed there and handed it back to Domin, saying:
“Take this and go now.”
Caught off guard with the bouquet in his hands, Domin’s eyes widened. He couldn’t understand the situation. Not only was his offer to go to the restaurant rejected, but the bouquet was being returned as well.
Domin was very confused by this unexpected response. Jeongyun looked straight into Domin’s wavering eyes and drew an even colder line:
“If you won’t terminate the Dedicated contract, please don’t come looking for me anymore.”
Domin’s face hardened. His good mood plummeted to the ground in an instant. He couldn’t see what else he was supposed to do.
“Aren’t you tired of this conversation?”
Even saying that he wouldn’t terminate the Dedicated contract had become tiresome now. Domin sighed deeply and tried to pass the bouquet back to Jeongyun, but it fell to the floor when Jeongyun refused to take it.
With a crunch, the bouquet rolled on the floor. Bright red petals scattered across the Guiding room floor. Domin, who had lowered his gaze following the bouquet, laughed out loud as if in disbelief.
“You really know how to make a fool out of someone.”
Domin thought Jeongyun might give in since he himself had already backed down so much, but Jeongyun didn’t seem to have any intention of doing so. Domin annoyedly brushed back his disheveled hair and kicked the bouquet with his toe.
Dismissing the now-ruined bouquet from his mind, Domin closed the distance with Jeongyun. Looking straight at Jeongyun, who unusually didn’t avoid his eyes, Domin said:
“I’ll come again tomorrow. And the day after that, and the day after that too. I’ll keep coming until your mind changes, continuously.”
In response to Domin’s warning that he would keep coming relentlessly, Jeongyun didn’t hold back his displeasure. Seeing his distorted face, Domin smiled, raising the corner of his mouth. Seeing such dislike made him even more stubborn.
“If you don’t like that, then you change your mind, Mr. Yeo Jeongyun. I clearly said I won’t terminate the Dedicated contract. So, you have to adjust to me.”
“…You’re so selfish.”
Judging by his expression, he could have said much worse curses, but was that the worst he could come up with after careful consideration? Barely swallowing a laugh that almost burst out, Domin said in a smiling voice:
“You’re only realizing that now?”
Domin lightly kissed Jeongyun’s forehead and moved away. To keep coming here tomorrow, the day after, and the day after that as he had promised Jeongyun, rearranging his schedule was the priority.
This was actually good timing. He’d been fed up with the continuous schedules that seemed excessive lately. He was thinking of taking all the vacation time he hadn’t been able to take until now.
“Then I’ll see you tomorrow, Guide Yeo Jeongyun.”
With that final greeting, Domin left the Guiding room, leaving Jeongyun behind. Left alone, Jeongyun remained standing in the same spot for a while even after Domin had left.
After a long time, Jeongyun sat in a chair and sighed deeply. It was just a brief touch of skin and a momentary brush of lips, but even that seemed to have put a strain on his body.
‘I can’t keep going like this.’
He needed to push Domin away more firmly, but that was difficult. It was partly due to Domin’s personality, ignoring everything Jeongyun said, but mostly because of his own heart that still couldn’t let go of his lingering feelings and kept wavering.
‘This is hard.’
The floor of the Guiding room was stained red with flower petals that had fallen from the bouquet. He had almost finished cleaning before Domin came, but now he had to start over from the beginning.
Standing up from the chair, Jeongyun picked up the crushed bouquet. If Domin had given him the bouquet a little earlier, would something have been different?
Folding away this meaningless assumption, Jeongyun put the bouquet Domin had brought into the trash can. Or at least, he tried to.
Though the petals had fallen off and the shape was crushed, he couldn’t firmly throw it in the trash. After some thought, Jeongyun took out a few relatively intact flowers and arranged them neatly in an empty bottle.
‘…Is this also attachment?’
Jeongyun filled the bottle with water from the water purifier. As time passed, the flowers soaking up the water seemed to come alive little by little.
After roughly cleaning the floor, Jeongyun sat in the chair and quietly looked at the flowers he had placed in the bottle.
“Beautiful.”
No matter how many times he thought about it, the flowers were innocent.
* * *
As the busy days passed, moving had taken a back seat. Well, he hadn’t spotted any suspicious people since then, and since nothing had happened, it made sense that his vigilance had relaxed.
Also, since government-affiliated Espers were patrolling the area regularly after that incident, this place was the safest for now. Above all, preparing to move was also a hassle.
‘Maybe I can just keep living here.’
Just as his opinion was increasingly leaning toward staying, Jeongyun entered the alley and discovered a moving truck blocking the front of the villa.
Looking at the floor where furniture was being carried with even a ladder truck, it was exactly the apartment next to his. Since he’d rarely seen his neighbors’ faces despite living there for a long time, he hadn’t even known the place next door was vacant.
‘Who’s moving in?’
Out of curiosity, Jeongyun looked around and spotted someone who was presumably the new resident. However, the back view of the person talking to the movers seemed strangely familiar.
‘That can’t be.’
Unable to contain his suspicion, Jeongyun approached firmly, and the other person turned around when he sensed someone coming.
Jeongyun couldn’t help but be surprised. He first stammered out the other person’s name:
“Hwayeon, is… that you?”
Wearing a black hoodie and jeans instead of the white uniform provided by the Center, Hwayeon looked quite unfamiliar. Of course, it suited him very well, but Hwayeon outside the Center was unfamiliar. But no matter how many times he looked, it was definitely Hwayeon.
“Jeongyun hyung!”
With arms wide open, Hwayeon ran and hugged Jeongyun tightly.
Caught off guard in Hwayeon’s embrace, Jeongyun was still dazed. Hwayeon, making eye contact with Jeongyun whose face was full of question marks, said:
“I moved in next door to you, hyung.”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
