80.
After that day, Jisu continued to visit Haseo occasionally. However, after meeting Choi Mujin, he didn’t have the courage to come to the house, so he always hid in the bushes near the vegetable garden. But when Haseo came out to the garden, he would suddenly jump out and start chatting.
“Is there something fun here that makes you come? Don’t you live far away?”
“It’s not that far.”
“Still. It’s dangerous.”
“I’ve lived here for so long. I’ll be fine.”
Seeing the tiny kid puffing out his chest claiming he’d lived there a long time, Haseo burst out laughing.
“And why wouldn’t there be fun things here? There’s you!”
Haseo wasn’t sure what he’d done to earn such devotion. He stroked Jisu’s head as the boy crouched beside him. When Jisu half-closed his eyes in pleasure, he looked like a puppy.
“Don’t you have anyone at home who could drive you here?”
Concerned, Haseo asked, and Jisu’s shoulders twitched.
“Actually, I came once before…”
“You did? Did you come while I was sleeping?”
“You sleep during the day too?”
“My health isn’t very good.”
At that, Jisu lectured him about how health was truly important, before returning to the original topic.
“Actually, I begged my mom and dad to bring me, but they said not to. They said the other man living here doesn’t like visitors either.”
“The man? You mean my brother?”
“Brother? No way. You don’t look alike!”
“No, he’s not my biological brother.”
“Then why do you live together?”
“Well, there are… circumstances. Adult circumstances.”
“I see.”
In truth, Haseo couldn’t clearly remember why he had come to live with Choi Mujin. After trying to recall and failing completely, he finally asked Mujin one day.
Why do you live with me? How did we end up living together? In response, Mujin told him about their meeting. He said they hadn’t met under pleasant circumstances at first.
‘Oh, don’t tell me I tried to con—’
Haseo rolled his eyes as he said this far. His memories after meeting Mujin were unclear, but he remembered some things from before. And in the past, he had done some unsavory things to make money.
‘Yes, you tried to swindle me.’
As he said this, Mujin seemed somewhat amused.
‘…And you just let it go?’
‘You were too cute to do anything about it.’
Haseo’s expression subtly distorted. Mujin occasionally made affectionate comments so casually. Yet he never said “I like you” or “I love you.” But even someone as inexperienced as Haseo could tell.
‘This person has feelings for me.’
But he didn’t have the courage to ask if they were lovers. Whenever he tried to speak, he felt strangely anxious. So Haseo had maintained this ambiguous relationship with Mujin until now.
As he was thinking this, Jisu suddenly jumped up and ran hurriedly into the bushes. Surprised by the unexpected behavior, Haseo looked up and heard a familiar voice.
“Haseo.”
“Brother.”
So he ran away after seeing Mujin. He wasn’t the type to harm children. It seemed the pressure emanating from his appearance was what Jisu disliked. Which was strange considering how handsome Mujin was if you looked closely.
“Don’t children usually like pretty or handsome people?”
“What?”
“I mean you, brother. You’re handsome.”
Haseo made this somewhat bold statement. Since it was something he often said when trying to con people, he didn’t feel particularly embarrassed.
“I’m handsome?”
“Yes, you must know that, right?”
Haseo dusted off his bottom, stood up, and faced Mujin. Mujin looked down at him and smiled, his eyes curving into crescents. How could even his eye-smile be so bewitching? Haseo felt it was time for the action he had been hesitating to take all this time. That is, a kiss. He thought if he did it and saw the reaction, he could clarify his relationship with Mujin.
So he slightly raised himself and gave Mujin a gentle peck on the lips. Surprised by the sudden kiss, Mujin blinked slowly. It looked as if he was savoring the kiss Haseo had given him.
“Haseo.”
“Yes?”
Hiding his nervousness, Haseo smiled brightly, and Mujin met his eyes.
“Our Haseo. What am I going to do with you being so fearless?”
“Me?”
He had mustered all the courage he had to kiss him, and Mujin called him fearless.
“I’m actually quite timid.”
“That’s a lie.”
After saying this, Mujin suddenly lifted Haseo into his arms.
“Waaaaah!”
When Haseo struggled in surprise, Mujin smacked his bottom with his palm.
“Stay still or you’ll fall and get hurt.”
“Then carry me properly!”
He didn’t like being carried like a sack of fertilizer.
“Ah, I see?”
Mujin nodded as if he understood and skillfully turned Haseo around to carry him differently. This time it was in the form of what’s known as a princess carry.
“Ahhh!”
He regretted asking to be carried differently. Though he screamed out of embarrassment, Mujin didn’t budge. He carried him straight into the house through the open door and set him down on the living room sofa.
“Why, why?”
After closing the door, Mujin strode toward Haseo. Then he grabbed the backrest of the sofa with both arms, trapping Haseo between them.
“It’s your fault.”
“What?”
Before Haseo could protest, Mujin pounced on him. There was no time to enjoy the sensation of the softly pressed lips before a tongue licked his lips. Surprised, Haseo parted his lips, and Mujin’s tongue entered. Although it wasn’t his first kiss, he wasn’t skilled at it.
Most people who fell for Haseo preferred his awkwardness. So sometimes he pretended not to know what to do. But now he didn’t want to do that. Haseo placed his hands on Mujin’s neck and tried to match him. As their tongues intertwined, the sound of saliva became wet and slippery.
It was just a kiss, but strangely, his body heated up. Haseo’s body knew more intense acts than this. As fragments of forgotten memories surfaced, Haseo unconsciously bit Mujin’s tongue.
“Ah.”
He bit quite hard, but Mujin only let out a low moan.
“No, I mean, I’m sorry!”
He had made a mistake because of the sudden surge of disorderly and lewd memories filled with flesh-colored images.
“Are you okay? Let me see.”
When Haseo asked anxiously, Mujin stuck out his tongue to show him. The slightly reddened tongue with blood looked painful, but it also gave a different feeling.
‘Why in this situation!’
Did he find Mujin sexy? Haseo’s gaze moved down from Mujin’s tongue. And then there was something he realized belatedly.
“Ah, why is your lower part like that?”
The front of Mujin’s pants was visibly bulging, even to the casual observer. At Haseo’s question, Mujin tilted his head and asked back:
“I wonder why?”
You know why. That’s what his tone suggested, and Haseo covered his face with both hands. His hands felt warm because of his flushed, heated face.
“Haseo?”
“No, I know. I know, but.”
He wasn’t mentally prepared yet. And there were things to do first. Haseo finally spoke the words he had been hesitating to say.
“We’re lovers, right?”
At Haseo’s question, Mujin paused for a moment, then gently rubbed Haseo’s hands that were covering his face.
“Yes, we’re lovers.”
Curious about what expression Mujin was making as he spoke, Haseo removed his hands. The living room, with its drawn curtains and no lights on, wasn’t very bright. So he couldn’t read the subtle emotions on Mujin’s face.
“Haseo. I love you.”
Nevertheless, Mujin’s words didn’t seem like a lie. Who else would take such meticulous care of someone who had tried to swindle them? When Haseo was sick and suffering, it was always Mujin who was by his side.
“I, I too.”
“You too?”
“I think so.”
“You think so, not you know?”
Mujin gave a mischievous look at Haseo’s words. Only then did Haseo quickly correct himself. Seeing Haseo flustered, Mujin laughed out loud. Watching him, Haseo somehow felt happy.
That day, Mujin and Haseo shared the same bed. Nothing flesh-colored as in the memory he glimpsed happened, but just being together made him feel at ease. That’s probably how it was.
The next day, Haseo moved more energetically than usual.
“Hey!”
Jisu was the same.
“Jisu? Don’t you go to school?”
Even if it was the school anniversary last time, he came too often.
“Well, there’s nothing to do after school.”
Jisu said this and handed him a bag he was holding. Inside the black plastic bag were two boiled corn cobs.
“Why corn?”
“When I was coming, the grandmother next door gave them to me. She said she had boiled a lot. She told me to give one to you too.”
“To me?”
Hastily accepting the corn, Haseo began nibbling it next to Jisu. He didn’t know how it had been boiled, but even though it was half-cooled, it was delicious.
“Gangwon-do corn is the best.”
Jisu chatted away while eating the remaining corn.
“And grandmother boils corn really well!”
“Yes, it’s really delicious.”
“Right? And last time, grandmother gave me potatoes…”
Jisu went on about his grandmother. Even though it was a disorganized, ordinary story, listening to it somehow made Haseo’s stomach churn.
‘Grandmother.’
Haseo’s pace of eating the corn slowed down.
‘Grandmother.’
Come to think of it, he had family too.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
