Gentle Giant 49

Gentle Giant Chapter 49

After Juho had tormented his lips for quite a while and showed somewhat calmed movements, Dain carefully separated his face.

Having been attached for who knows how long, Juho’s lips had turned even redder in that brief time. His own lips were probably similar.

Dain, whose earlobes had turned red at his own thoughts, lightly tapped Juho’s hand without hurting him.

“Ah, no. Juho. You suddenly said to get off…”

“It’s because of hyung.”

“Huh? Because of me…?”

Dain pointed to himself with his finger in surprise. Juho nodded without hesitation and spoke while puffing out his lips that had become even more plump and tempting than usual.

“Hyung provoked me with your finger.”

“Me?”

“Of course. When hyung was stroking like that, how could I stay still? Hyung, you did it on purpose.”

“What?! No?”

“What do you mean no.”

Dain felt wronged. He had just responded with “me too” when Juho said he liked him and wanted to kiss him.

And even that was after waiting for quite a while for the person next to him to get off before barely writing one word… He got excited after hearing that? Enough to bump lips outside even though it was night…?

Juho, who had interpreted it however he pleased, was both ridiculous and equally cute.

In the end, Dain let out a deflated laugh and hugged Juho tightly. Juho’s broad back, which was difficult to wrap around even with his arms, felt especially nice.

Juho also hugged Dain tightly and deeply inhaled Dain’s scent. Today too, the cozy fragrance tickled Juho’s nose following the wind.

“Hyung, don’t abandon me.”

“Huh?”

“Even when hyung becomes a civil servant and earns a lot of money, don’t abandon me. Okay?”

“Why would I abandon you when I become a civil servant?”

“Since hyung decided to take responsibility for me, you’ll definitely take responsibility until the end, right?”

“Of, of course…!”

Juho felt Dain’s head moving up and down against his chest. Juho bit his lips tightly once more, thinking of the scene where Dahee had mocked him. I won’t be abandoned. Absolutely not.

* * *

Buzz buzz.

“Mm…?”

Dain drew question marks in his head as he looked at his phone vibrating several times in succession.

Since he usually didn’t contact anyone except family or Juho, seeing his phone ringing busily naturally made him wonder.

His family members tended to only say what they needed to say whether by phone or message, and if it were Juho, he was quietly reading a book beside him.

What could it be? Dain put down the book he was reading and unlocked his phone.

When he checked, he had been invited to a group chat without knowing it, and messages from other people were appearing as notifications.

[Kim Sujeong invited Jung Dain.]

[Kim Sujeong: Hello, I’m contacting you about the group assignment. Today the professor sent an email to the group leaders about the topic and presentation format. Afternoon│2:34]

[Kim Sujeong: Looking at it, our group is right after the midterm period. So I thought it might be better to finish the group assignment early and sent this message.│Afternoon 2:35]

“Ah!”

Dain made a short sound as if understanding after seeing the message. Juho, who reacted to that sound, came close to Dain’s side.

As if displeased that Dain was distracted by his phone, Juho pouted and lightly rested his chin on Dain’s shoulder. Juho, who boldly peeked at the phone screen without even asking permission, asked Dain.

“Hyung, you have group assignments too?”

“Mmhm. There’s a group assignment in Friday morning lecture. This must be about that.”

Dain briefly answered Juho’s question and continued reading the rest of the messages.

[Lee Minjun: I agree~ It’ll be convenient to finish it in advance ㅋㅋㅋㅋ│Afternoon 2:39]

[Han Jiyoon: Ah! Me too!! I have a lot of assignments this time so I hoped they wouldn’t overlap ㅠㅠㅠ What a relief!│Afternoon 2:43]

[Lee Minjun: ㅋㅋㅋ In freshman year there are many group assignments because of general education courses, right? ㅋㅋ│Afternoon 2:44]

[Han Jiyoon: Yes yes, I’m dying… ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ│Afternoon 2:45]

[Han Jiyoon: (emoticon)│Afternoon 2:45]

[Kim Sujeong: Then shall we meet next week right away to decide parts?│Afternoon 2:49]

[Lee Minjun: Okayyyy!!│Afternoon 2:53]

[Han Jiyoon: Yesss!!!│Afternoon 2:54]

[Kim Sujeong: How about it, Jung Dain sunbae?│Afternoon 2:58]

This was the conversation that had taken place in the chat room without Dain.

The other people were actively participating in the assignment discussion, and thinking that he alone hadn’t even checked made him feel very sorry. Though he hadn’t deliberately not read it, he was worried they might misunderstand that he didn’t want to do the assignment, so Dain quickly wrote a reply.

[Afternoon 3:03│I’m fine with it too! It’s good to finish early! Is it hard having many group assignments? Meeting next week is fine too!]

It became a strange message trying to respond to all the content that had happened at once, but he was satisfied with showing that he wasn’t ignoring them.

Beside him, Juho was jealously fiddling with Dain’s hair as Dain concentrated only on his phone.

The already fluffy hair gradually puffed up as Juho twisted, touched, and messed it up with his hands.

Juho, who was watching that cute change with amusement from above Dain’s shoulder, moved his fingers from the hair and began intertwining Dain’s fingers.

“Ju, Juho! Let go of my hand. I’m doing group assignment work right now.”

“Strictly speaking, exchanging messages isn’t doing group assignment work. And why do the people in hyung’s group talk so much?”

“Talk so much! We’re just making plans…”

Compared to other group chats where hundreds of messages would pile up if you checked even a little late, this group chat Dain was in was really only having efficient discussions.

When to meet, the professor already decided the topic, everyone think about which part you want to do and come. He thought this level of opinion exchange was perfectly reasonable.

However, Juho didn’t seem to agree with Dain’s words and continued playing with Dain’s fingers.

Dain found Juho both cute and ridiculous. Despite being a tiger beast-man, what he was doing felt exactly like watching his youngest brother in elementary school. Elementary school cat.

[Afternoon 3:17│ㅅㅂㅜㅇㅇ 고ㅐㄴ챃ㅎㅎㅎㅎㅎ용ㅇㅇ]

While the two were bickering and fidgeting with fingers, he ended up sending a message with terrible typos.

Dain gasped. Silence immediately fell over the group chat. The typos were so bad that anyone would think he had sent the message while drunk.

“Juho…”

Dain’s voice sank. Juho also hadn’t intended to interfere this much, so he sneakily watched Dain’s mood and lifted his face from his shoulder. But he still didn’t let go of the fingers he was holding.

[Han Jiyoon: ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Dain sunbae must be eating something ㅋㅋㅋ When I send messages while eating ice cream, I always make typos like that ㅋㅋㅋㅋ│Afternoon 3:19]

[Han Jiyoon: (emoticon)│Afternoon 3:19]

[Lee Minjun: ㅋㅋㅋ Take your time eating, sunbae ㅋㅋㅋ│Afternoon 3:20]

The people in the same group were very kind. They stepped forward to make excuses for him in case Dain felt embarrassed. Dain was touched by Jiyoon’s thoughtful reaction. The junior named Minjun was also good-naturedly picking up on Jiyoon’s message.

Dain quickly sent an apologetic message.

[Afternoon 3:22│Sorry! A cat that came to visit at home was being mischievous ㅠㅠ]

“Cat…?”

Juho’s eyebrows rose upon seeing Dain’s message. Dain quickly hid his phone from Juho’s sight, but he had already been caught after sending the message.

At Juho’s expression that seemed to demand an explanation, Dain slightly avoided his eyes and mumbled excuses.

“Ah, no. If I said I sent this while playing around with my boy, boyfriend, it would look a bit delinquent…? So, so I unconsciously said cat…”

‘Sorry…’ The last three letters came out very small and were buried in his breath.

Dain regretted his fingers, but it was already spilled water. Even so, wasn’t lying to other people about a tiger beast-man being a cat a bit too much…? Would he be very angry…?

Dain looked at Juho with eyes full of apology.

Juho let out a chuckle thinking about his situation of suddenly becoming a cat.

Whether knowing the atmosphere of Dain’s studio apartment or not, the group chat became harmonious again with cat talk.

[Han Jiyoon: Oh my! Since Dain sunbae is a cat beast-man, does a cat come to visit? A cat came to visit a cat! ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ│Afternoon 3:23]

[Han Jiyoon: Must be cute ㅋㅋㅋ The cat must be jealous!! It probably got annoyed because you were playing with it and then paid attention elsewhere ㅋㅋ│Afternoon 3:23]

[Lee Minjun: ㅋㅋㅋㅋ That’s right ㅋㅋㅋㅋ My friend’s cat is totally jealous too ㅋㅋ│Afternoon 3:24]

[Lee Minjun: (photo)│Afternoon 3:24]

[Lee Minjun: Cute right ㅋㅋㅋ It was a stray cat but my friend got chosen ㅋㅋㅋ ㅜㅠㅠ Jealous…│Afternoon 3:25]

[Han Jiyoon: Huk!!!!!!!!! So cute!! ㅠㅠㅠㅜㅠㅠ│Afternoon 3:25]

Messages from the group members were coming up non-stop, but Dain couldn’t join in because he was watching Juho’s mood.

Juho looked over the group members’ lively messages and then took the phone from Dain’s hands. Then, taking advantage of Dain being unable to say anything, he boldly wrote down what he wanted to say.

[Afternoon 3:31│That’s right, the cat that came to visit today is quite jealous. ㅠㅠ If I don’t pay attention even a little, it gets angry. So please understand even if I don’t say much. Ah, the cat is getting angry right now too. I should play with it, so see you next week.*^.^*]

Without even thinking of looking at other people’s responses, Juho locked the phone screen and threw it onto the bed, then slowly approached Dain, leaned his head on his shoulder, and said.

“Meow.”