“An app?”
Not understanding what he was talking about, Han-gyeom naturally had no choice but to tilt his head.
“……Never mind. Forget what I just said.”
Won-hyeok waved his hand, as if he thought he’d asked something pointless.
“Anyway, Han-gyeom’s hyung, huh. I’d like to meet him sometime.”
The relief that Han-gyeom hadn’t met a one-night stand that day was brief, and then Won-hyeok found himself thinking of Han-gyeom’s hyung. It had been dark that night, and he hadn’t been able to see his face properly, so naturally he became curious about what this so-called hyung looked like.
Would he be cute like Kang Han-gyeom? Would his skin be just as translucent? But somehow he had a feeling—no, a certainty—that he absolutely wouldn’t be as much as Kang Han-gyeom was.
“Th-there’s no need for that.”
While Won-hyeok was imagining Han-gyeom’s hyung, whose face he barely even knew, Han-gyeom said that while shaking his head hard.
“Why?”
“Ah…… actually, I’m not that close with my hyung.”
“Really?”
The fact that he wasn’t close with his hyung wasn’t especially surprising. Just because siblings were born of the same blood didn’t mean they were all close. Won-hyeok didn’t have any siblings himself, so he couldn’t completely relate to sibling relationships, but when he thought of Do In-seok, it wasn’t impossible to understand.
“Ah, right!”
At that moment, Han-gyeom clapped his hands and tried to get out of bed again.
“Why? Where are you going?”
“Ah, my part-time job. I totally forgot, but I think I need to hurry and get ready to go.”
Because his mind had been elsewhere, he’d even forgotten that he had to go to work soon. Han-gyeom, dragging his aching body, hurriedly tried to climb down from the bed, but Won-hyeok’s hand stopped him at once.
“You don’t have to go.”
“Huh?”
“With that body, where do you think you’re going? Aren’t your muscles sore as hell?”
Han-gyeom shut his mouth without saying anything. To be honest, his body really did hurt a lot. Enough that he was worried how he was supposed to work in this condition.
“I contacted Do In…… In-seok. Told him you’re in too much pain to come in today.”
“You did, sunbae?”
“Yeah. And the owner said not to worry about anything and just get plenty of rest. There, no problem now, right?”
Led by Won-hyeok’s hand, Han-gyeom found himself lying back down on the bed before he knew it. It was a relief that they’d been contacted in advance, but even so, a part-time job was still a job, and his first thought was whether it was really okay to suddenly miss work over something like this.
“Even if you say you’ll go, I’m not letting you. I’d be too worried—how could I possibly send you off like this?”
As if he’d read the worried expression blooming all over Han-gyeom’s face, Won-hyeok tapped his right cheek lightly with a finger.
“There’s nothing for sunbae to worry about though…….”
“What do you mean, nothing? When you get right down to it, the reason you’re laid out like this is my fault.”
Won-hyeok was already regretting it enough as it was. He had definitely fucked him without thinking, front or back, during his first rut. That was what an alpha’s heat was like. So at the very least, yesterday, while he’d been in his right mind, he had intended not to rush and to take him slowly. But in the end, he’d still shoved it all the way in to the root on the first insertion and fucked him, making that earlier resolve feel completely meaningless.
Not only that, yesterday Won-hyeok had been too out of his mind with excitement and had bitten, sucked, and chewed all over Han-gyeom’s body. Right now it wasn’t visible because he was wearing a T-shirt, but when Won-hyeok had cleaned him up yesterday and seen the red marks stamped all over Han-gyeom’s skin, he’d had no choice but to reproach himself.
Even though he’d thought he didn’t want to scare him, in the end he’d gone blind with desire and had practically licked and sucked all over him as if advertising that Han-gyeom was his. Honestly, he thought he’d have no choice but to accept it even if Han-gyeom said he hated it.
“But I liked it.”
“…….”
Won-hyeok’s head turned with a stiff jerk. Han-gyeom was staring right through him, his face half-hidden behind the blanket.
“I like that it feels like…… we got closer.”
Han-gyeom’s face was red too as he said it. Even though he was embarrassed, the voice that insisted on telling him anyway wasn’t carrying a lie forced out just to reassure him—it was full of affection.
“……You don’t hate me?”
Won-hyeok asked in an unusually small voice.
“Huh? Wh-what are you saying? Why would I hate you, sunbae?!”
Han-gyeom kicked off the blanket again and pushed himself upright. He had so much force behind it that even Won-hyeok, the one who had asked the question, was taken aback.
“That’ll never happen. It never will.”
At those words, it felt like every worry and regret he’d had since last night until this morning, before Han-gyeom woke up, vanished all at once.
“Um, sunbae?”
“Hm?”
Won-hyeok was swallowing down his relief without realizing it when Han-gyeom reached out his hand. Today too, those pale, pretty fingers fumbled their way over and caught Won-hyeok’s pinky.
“Did you…… not hate it?”
His eyes were full of nervous caution. Tension could be felt in the hand holding his finger. Won-hyeok lowered his gaze slightly. Because of the oversized T-shirt, the marks on the skin trailing down from Han-gyeom’s neck were visible, and they were provocative.
Did Kang Han-gyeom, asking if he hadn’t hated it, know what Won-hyeok was thinking even now? That he wanted to push that body over again, spread his legs, drive himself inside what was his, fuck him until he came, and cover him in semen all over again.
Letting out a short sigh, Won-hyeok pressed a light kiss to Han-gyeom’s cheek. At that, Han-gyeom let out a startled little sound and touched the cheek his lips had brushed with his hand. Seeing that, a faint sense of regret washed over Won-hyeok that yesterday he shouldn’t have only devoured his body—he should’ve tasted that cheek too.
“As if I could.”
At that one sentence, Han-gyeom’s face brightened instantly. The smile that settled over a face freed from worry was almost painfully lovely to look at.
“Aren’t you hungry?”
“Ah, now that I think about it, I guess I am a little.”
It was already nearing lunchtime, and Han-gyeom had done nothing but sleep the whole time, so it wouldn’t have been strange for him to be getting hungry by now. The childlike way he rubbed his stomach with his hand made the corners of Won-hyeok’s mouth soften.
“Then do you want to wash up slowly and come out? Let’s have lunch together.”
“Yes!”
Han-gyeom answered energetically and climbed down from the bed with vigor, but the moment he took a step, he crumpled straight down onto the floor.
“Uh…….”
His legs wouldn’t listen to him. He’d thought the muscle soreness in his body had gotten a little better while he was talking with Won-hyeok, but apparently not. Han-gyeom tried to put strength into his legs and stand again, when a hand suddenly reached in from behind.
“S-sunbae.”
Won-hyeok picked Han-gyeom up just like that. In a posture just like a prince carrying a princess in a fairy tale, Han-gyeom struggled instinctively.
“Stay still. You’ll fall.”
“I can walk on my own though…….”
“I just watched you fall.”
Han-gyeom stole glances at Won-hyeok’s face, now so close, and for no reason tightened his grip on his collar. It was embarrassing, but maybe because Won-hyeok’s arms were warm, he even found himself wanting to stay like this.
No matter what, it seemed like today—not any other day—would have to become his second birthday. Spending the night with Won-hyeok, waking up leisurely, and being carried in his arms all the way to the bathroom. Han-gyeom wanted to hurry and open his calendar so he could write all of this down.
“Can you wash up by yourself?”
After setting Han-gyeom down in the bathroom, Won-hyeok asked with a worried expression.
“Yes, of course. I can wash up on my own.”
A moment ago, it really had only been that his legs had given out; it wasn’t like he was completely unable to move his body. Even at Han-gyeom’s confident answer, Won-hyeok couldn’t leave easily, but in the end he told him to call if he needed anything and stepped out of the bathroom.
Not long after he closed the door, the sound of water falling came from inside. Won-hyeok stayed there for a little while longer, and only after deciding Han-gyeom seemed to be washing up just fine did he head into the kitchen.
A semi-transparent plastic bag was sitting on the table. It was the lunch Won-hyeok had gone out to buy first thing after waking up. When he unpacked it and opened the lid, a delicious-looking samgyetang came into view. He’d wondered what would be good to buy, but in the end he’d thought something hearty and restorative that would fill him up would be best.
So he had deliberately gone all the way to a place rumored to be good and to use only high-quality ingredients. Thinking only of one thing: what would be going into Han-gyeom’s mouth.
“The bowls…….”
Needing dishes to divide the food into, Won-hyeok rummaged through the cabinets here and there. He’d never had much interest in cooking, and during the semester he mostly stayed out, while during breaks he was often at his family home, so he hardly ever even looked at anything related to cooking.
After searching, he found a few suitable bowls in an upper drawer and rinsed them clean with water. He set out tableware for two on the table and even took out juice for Han-gyeom. It was the first time. The first time he had prepared something like this for someone other than himself.
Strangely, rather than thinking it was bothersome, he actually enjoyed it. When he imagined how much Han-gyeom would like that samgyetang, how deliciously he’d eat it, there wasn’t a single reason for it to feel like a chore.
Once he’d roughly finished preparing everything, he waited for Han-gyeom to come out. In the meantime, he went into the bedroom and straightened the rumpled bedding.
“It’s Han-gyeom’s phone.”
While tidying up, he found Han-gyeom’s phone precariously wedged in the gap by the bed. He picked it up, intending to bring it to him, and right then a long vibration buzzed from the phone.
<Hanseo hyung>
Won-hyeok, who had read the name without thinking, stopped short.
“Hyung?”
Frowning, he then recalled what Han-gyeom had said earlier about his biological older brother and nodded to himself.
“So his real brother’s name is Han-seo.”
As Won-hyeok muttered that, the call ended, and immediately a text message popped up on the lock screen. About three messages had come in, but because the phone was locked, he couldn’t see the contents. Won-hyeok stood there staring fixedly at Han-gyeom’s phone.
