Gentle Giant 23

Gentle Giant Chapter 23

Meanwhile, Dain, who had sent Juho to the bathroom, finished washing dishes and was exchanging messages with his noona. A bomb-like amount of messages poured in response to the photo Dain had sent.

[Noona: Jung Dain?!!! Did you get a friend????│8:44 AM]

[Noona: What what, don’t tell me it’s a girlfriend??? ㅠㅠㅠㅠ The hands are white????│8:44 AM]

[Noona: No, looking again, those are male hands??│8:45 AM]

[Noona: What what, who is it???? Hey??? What????│8:46 AM]

[Noona: Why aren’t you answering after reading! Tell me quickly!! ㅠㅠ│8:51 AM]

At his noona’s message full of question marks, Dain let out a small “pfft” laugh and quickly typed a reply.

[8:53 AM│He’s a younger brother I got to know recently, and he’s incredibly cool ㅠㅠ!! Due to circumstances, he’s staying at our house for a bit, and he’s really kind ^ㅡ^]

[Noona: What??? How did you meet him to bring him home?? Is he trustworthy?? You didn’t just let anyone into the house, right???!!│8:53 AM]

[8:54 AM│Of course! ㅋㅋㅋㅋ I’m telling you he’s really kind ㅋㅋ When the semester starts, he’ll be attending our school. Don’t worry~]

[Noona: Really? Okay. Noona came to a meeting for ad shooting. I’ll call you later. You just came back from your part-time job, right? You must be tired ㅜㅜ Go sleep for now ㅠㅠㅠㅠ│8:56 AM]

[8:57 AM│Yes yes! Noona fighting today too *^0^*]

While giggling as he exchanged messages with his noona, Dain’s head turned toward the bathroom when he caught the lavender scent flowing through the air.

Fortunately, unlike yesterday, Juho was coming out of the bathroom properly dressed in both top and bottom.

“Hyung, I’m done washing up. You should wash up too.”

“Yeah, I’ll wash up quickly and come out. Go ahead and sleep first.”

“Okay.”

Dain quickly connected his phone to the charger, got underwear and clothes from the closet, and headed to the bathroom. As soon as Dain entered the bathroom, Juho, who had been staring intently at the phone connected to the charger, twisted his lips.

Just now. Right after coming out of the bathroom, Juho felt upset seeing Dain looking at his phone and laughing.

He didn’t seem particularly close to other people, so it was probably family, but even though it was just messages, seeing him laugh while talking to someone other than himself made his insides twist.

“Hmm.”

He probably couldn’t let him sleep quietly. Juho shook his hair with a towel while waiting for Dain to come out.

Soon after, seeing Dain come out of the bathroom with white steam, Juho smiled with his eyes crinkled to the fullest. This was something he could do because he had experienced yesterday and today how Dain would look at him with dazed eyes when he saw this smile. Something he would never show in front of anyone else…

And that prediction hit exactly right—Dain approached Juho with his ears slightly reddened.

“Ju, Juho. You’re still not sleeping? You should rest so you won’t be tired when we go out later.”

“Hyuung.”

“Huh? Juho, why??”

As soon as Dain approached, Juho grabbed his waist and embraced him. Caught by surprise with Juho’s face suddenly pressed against his stomach, Dain froze in that position. The bridge of Juho’s nose rubbed against his stomach, and warm breath penetrated through the thin shirt to touch his bare skin. Dain couldn’t breathe or speak, only his fingertips trembled slightly.

“Hyuung, I can’t sleep. I didn’t think I would be, but I guess it’s because it’s a bit unfamiliar. Trying to sleep alone just gives me a headache… What should I do?”

Juho said while rubbing his head against Dain’s stomach again. At that ticklish feeling, Dain got goosebumps on his back. Juho was saying something, but it wasn’t properly registering in his head, so he only made clueless sounds like “Huh? Huh?”

“…Won’t you?”

“Huh?”

“Wow, thank you hyung. As expected, hyung is the best. I really made the right choice trusting hyung and coming here.”

“Wh-what…”

Dain looked down at Juho, who still hadn’t lifted his face from his stomach, and asked back.

He was sure he had put a question mark after “Huh,” but judging from Juho’s reaction, he seemed to have already promised to do something. Juho had said that this level of skinship was fine since they were close friends, but he didn’t seem to develop immunity to such intimate actions.

Juho, who thoroughly enjoyed Dain’s flustered state, slowly lifted his face from Dain’s stomach and raised his head.

Eyes sparkling as much as possible, a small, pitiful smile at the corners of his mouth, and eyebrows drooped down. The output of Juho, who had programmed the expression he should make in his head, was perfect. It was an expression as if he had found a ray of light in a difficult situation that anyone could see.

“Hyung said you’d let me use your arm as a pillow.”

“…??”

“When I said I couldn’t sleep well and asked if you could let me use your arm as a pillow, hyung said you would.”

“I, I did?”

“Yes. Thank you, hyung.”

Juho smiled brightly and hugged Dain’s waist tightly once more. Like a child who had received an unexpected gift.

“Uh, oh… Then, shall we sleep first…?”

“Yes. Hyung, quickly dry your hair and come. I’ll lie down and wait.”

“Mmm…”

Dain was at a loss because he was more concerned about the bed behind him than the noisy whirring sound of the hair dryer.

An arm pillow. Such an incredibly embarrassing thing! Why hadn’t he concentrated when someone was talking to him… It was useless to regret it now, and he couldn’t take back the arm pillow he had promised to give.

The fortunate thing was that compared to his large build, Juho’s head was small, so his arm probably wouldn’t hurt too much.

“Hyung, did you finish drying your hair?”

“Mmm. Are you still not sleepy, Juho?”

“No. I think I completely failed at adjusting to the time difference. What should I do…”

“Ah, no. It’s only been two days, right? And since it’s morning now, you might not be sleepy because of that. Once you get sleepy, you’ll be able to sleep well!”

“Do you think so…?”

“Of course!”

“Then quickly come and let me use your arm as a pillow. I think I’ll be able to sleep well if hyung pats me from beside me.”

Juho pressed his body against the wall and tapped the empty space next to him.

Looking at the empty space on that tiny bed, Dain couldn’t hide his pitiful feelings. How tired and unfamiliar must Juho have felt to want to sleep clinging even to a scary-looking hyung like him?

As the earlier embarrassing and flustering emotions were sorted out, this time he was filled with sympathy for Juho.

Dain quickly climbed onto the bed and stretched out his arm. With the resolve that ‘Even if his arm got cramps, if Juho could sleep well! He could endure it until Juho fell into deep sleep!’

However, making Dain’s resolve meaningless, the problem appeared elsewhere.

“Hyung. When I’m lying like this, my feet stick out of the bed.”

“Huh??”

It was fine up to lying down using Dain’s arm as a pillow. However, to maintain that position, Dain’s bed was too short for Juho.

When he lowered his head to Dain’s shoulder, his feet naturally moved down that much, causing them to stick out of the bed. The bed was also too narrow for him to bend his knees to avoid having his feet stick out.

“Hmm. It can’t be helped. Hyung, I’ll let you use my arm as a pillow instead.”

“Uh, no. I’m fine without an arm pillow…?”

“Why?”

“Huh? Because. I, I get sleepy easily without an arm pillow…?”

At Dain’s response, Juho puffed out his cheeks. It meant he didn’t like something. Dain, who could now somewhat read Juho’s expressions, hastily added:

“I was worried about making you uncomfortable too when you’re already having trouble sleeping. It’s hard to sleep comfortably when giving an arm pillow. That’s why, Juho.”

“I’m fine. Hyung, I think it would feel like a body pillow if I let you use my arm as a pillow. How about it? Then I think I could sleep even better.”

“Bo-body pillow…?”

“Yes yes. When I was in America, I always slept hugging something. Come to think of it, since I can’t do that here, it must have been harder to fall asleep.”

“Really? Then let’s try it first… Um, if your arm hurts or you’re uncomfortable, tell me right away, okay?”

“I understand! As expected, hyung is the best.”

Juho grinned and easily moved Dain’s body onto his arm.

Dain, who was lightly lifted and settled on Juho’s arm, worried that Juho’s arm might hurt and tensed up his head with all his might. Of course, Juho caught this fact in less than 30 seconds.

“Pfft, hyung. You don’t need to tense up like that—your head isn’t heavy. You can relax.”

“Oh oh, no. My head is big…”

“Hyung’s head isn’t big. Relax quickly. Your face is getting red from tensing up.”

“N-no it’s not…”

There was no point in being stubborn here—he’d just show Juho more unseemly behavior. Feeling blood rushing to his face more and more as Juho said, Dain very slightly and carefully placed his head on Juho’s arm. At that ticklish movement, a satisfied smile finally appeared on Juho’s lips.

“Hyung, like this I really think I’ll fall asleep.”

“That’s a relief. Yeah, let’s sleep quickly. Ah, did you set an alarm?”

“Yes. I’m thinking of sleeping for just three hours and getting up to match the start of afternoon work.”

“Mm. Yeah, that sounds good. Sleep well, Juho.”

“Yes, hyung sleep well too.”

With those words, Dain closed his eyes and tried to sleep. He thought he wouldn’t be able to sleep at all because the arm pillow, which he was doing for the first time in his life, was awkward, but contrary to his expectations, as if someone had sprinkled sleeping powder on the bed, he fell into unconsciousness as soon as he closed his eyes.

Watching Dain fall asleep with cute breathing sounds, Juho gently stroked around Dain’s eyes.

Juho wasn’t usually someone who slept much, and once he concentrated on something, staying up for several nights was nothing.

He had been a bit spiteful because he didn’t like seeing him happily exchange messages with someone else, but as expected, Jung Dain accepted even such an unreasonable request.

This is why I keep climbing up endlessly. Pushover Jung Dain.

Juho felt ticklish even inside at Dain’s breath touching his chest.