#76
Bonoh felt like he couldn’t breathe, but he didn’t resist. With their hearts pressed together, everything blurred hazily in the haze of alcohol.
“…I knew it would be like this after all.”
Bonoh kept his eyes closed even after the kiss ended. Looking down at Bonoh’s face, Taeseong felt an unbearable tickling sensation around his heart. He wanted to stick his hand between his ribs and scratch at his heart roughly.
“I knew you would like me…”
You’re too good to just treat as a former roommate, aren’t you? A weak smile leaked from Taeseong’s lips. It was meant to say there was no way you could have been a good roommate, but Taeseong heard what he wanted to hear. Fuck, finally… I get to hear these words. Ah, I should have recorded it. Taeseong regretted it belatedly, but it was already too late.
Taeseong didn’t even think about pulling out his fully erect penis. When he was distracted by Bonoh, he had climaxed once more, making the inside of the inner walls even more slippery than before. However, no one was conscious of this fact.
“Kim Bonoh, you know you’ll be in big trouble if you pretend not to know tomorrow, right? Got it?”
Unable to contain his joy, he kissed Bonoh’s sleeping face here and there in small pecks. Bonoh’s eyes briefly furrowed as if annoyed, but soon became peaceful again. Joy and relief crossed Taeseong’s face.
“If you don’t answer, I’ll assume we’re dating for life, okay?”
“……”
Taeseong patiently waited for an answer from Bonoh, who was already asleep. But all he could hear was Bonoh’s breathing. The regular breathing sound of “shh-ak, shh-ak” filled the quiet hotel room. It was that breathing he heard every night in the dorm. Some nights it was annoying, and other nights just listening to it made his stomach strangely churn. Either way, it was certain that it had been tormenting Taeseong.
Taeseong slowly closed his eyes and listened to Bonoh’s breathing again. Strangely, this time he felt like he could fall asleep to even that shallow breathing.
***
A splitting headache hit him. Even before opening his eyes, Bonoh grabbed his head and groaned in pain. Wine was too much after all. He’d heard that whiskey doesn’t give much of a hangover, but drinking wine at the end seemed to have made a big difference. On top of that, drinking it hastily made it even more unbearable. His stomach was slightly queasy and his mouth was parched.
“Wa, water…”
It wasn’t really said to anyone, but rather words that came out from survival instinct. He should have gone to get water himself, but the process of opening his eyes and getting up was too difficult a task for Bonoh right now. His whole body felt like it weighed a thousand pounds.
Then someone helped him sit up. With all the strength drained from his body, Bonoh barely managed to sit up but still couldn’t get his bearings. Why am I so tired? How much did I drink yesterday? …But why did I drink yesterday?
Just as he was trying to recall what happened before falling asleep, something touched his lips. Bonoh wondered what it was and tried to turn his head away. But recognizing the plastic texture as a water bottle, he opened his mouth. When the lukewarm water moistened his lips and flowed down his throat, he felt a bit more alive.
When he thought he’d had enough, the water bottle was taken away. Thinking he could sleep a bit more, he lay back down. Sleep was the best medicine for hangovers. His eyes still weren’t properly open, so he felt like he could sleep soundly.
“Hah, thank you…”
Bonoh buried the back of his head in the pillow and mumbled. The pillow felt much higher and fluffier than usual, but he didn’t have time to find it strange.
“Don’t mention it. We’re dating.”
Huh? His heavy eyelids suddenly snapped open. What kind of relationship?
The first thing that entered Bonoh’s vision was Taeseong. His hair was slightly wet as if he’d just showered, and the bathrobe was nowhere to be seen – only his lower body was barely covered by a towel. Even though Taeseong noticed Bonoh’s gaze scanning him up and down, he showed no sign of embarrassment.
Bonoh looked down to check his own appearance. He was wearing a bathrobe, but the knot had come completely undone, probably from tossing and turning. Bonoh pulled the blanket bunched up at his feet to cover his body slightly.
“Ah, it’s okay to be a bit undressed, right? Since we’re dating.”
“Huh…?”
Did he mishear? No, he hadn’t. The phrase “since we’re dating” had come out of Taeseong’s mouth twice. Since there were only Taeseong and Bonoh himself in this room, if they were talking about a dating relationship, it could only be between Taeseong and himself. Me? I’m dating Joo Taeseong?
What exactly happened yesterday? The more he tried to remember, the more his head felt like it was splitting. It wasn’t his first hangover, but it was the first time his head hurt this much. Most importantly, he couldn’t properly remember what happened yesterday.
He remembered coming into the room with Joo Taeseong, kissing right away, and then Joo Taeseong going into the bathroom… He remembered drinking to ease his nerves. His heart was anxious but the alcohol didn’t seem to be taking effect, so he opened a wine bottle, but what happened after that? No matter how much he drank, he’d never had a blackout before. Wine was definitely too much.
“Don’t tell me… Kim Bonoh, you don’t remember, do you?”
Perhaps reading his confused expression, Taeseong asked. It wasn’t a question about whether he remembered. It was confirming, “Kim Bonoh, you’re not such trash that you’d forget yesterday’s events just because of alcohol, are you?” At the same time, reproach and disappointment were already readable in Taeseong’s eyes.
“No, no! Of course…”
Bonoh answered reflexively, unable to disappoint Taeseong. If he was caught not remembering, it would be a disaster. He could feel cold sweat forming.
“Really?”
Taeseong leaned against the wall and crossed his arms. His face looking down with his chin slightly raised was so handsome that Bonoh had a slightly dazed expression. The towel covering his lower body also fell to the floor, leaving Taeseong completely naked without a thread to cover him.
Bonoh’s gaze naturally went to Taeseong’s lower body. Even though it wasn’t fully erect and was hanging against his thigh, Taeseong’s penis had an incredible presence. Perhaps conscious of the gaze, his penis twitched slightly then touched his thigh again heavily. Bonoh unconsciously gasped.
“Yeah, yeah… that’s right…”
Bonoh answered as if entranced. Trying not to look at his penis, he raised his gaze only to see his chest. His chest was already large, but crossing his arms made his chest muscles look even more swollen. It was like layer upon layer of mountains.
Right, what big deal would it be if he couldn’t remember yesterday? The reason he drank yesterday was to ease his nerves before confessing. From the current atmosphere, it seemed he had confessed to Taeseong as planned and Taeseong had accepted. He didn’t know what exactly he said in his confession for Taeseong to accept, but anyway, thank goodness.
Either way, wasn’t it good that he was now dating someone he liked? It was very disappointing that he couldn’t recall the scene of Taeseong accepting his confession, but it couldn’t be helped. And he might remember later. He didn’t know much about blackouts, but he’d heard that lost memories sometimes come back with time.
“You remember confessing that you’d die without me? And calling me ‘honey’ while saying you’d only look at me for the rest of your life?”
What…? I said that…? Bonoh’s eyes shook violently. I said I’d die without Joo Taeseong? It wasn’t wrong, but it wasn’t appropriate as a confession. I really was pathetic… He pictured himself drunkenly clinging desperately to Joo Taeseong’s legs.
And “honey”… It was such an embarrassing term of endearment. He’d never used such a term before, so Bonoh had never even imagined it. Had his hidden true feelings come out when he was drunk? Did he actually want to call Taeseong “honey”?
As his answer was delayed, Taeseong’s expression grew increasingly menacing. Bonoh hurriedly opened his mouth.
“Ah, I remember! I just woke up and was out of it, but hearing it made me remember. Right! I said I’d die without you, Tae-, no, honey… haha.”
Bonoh answered incoherently. Taeseong’s menacing expression didn’t soften. Is this not right…? Bonoh bit his lower lip and watched Taeseong’s reaction.
“…I’m done washing, so you go wash up.”
Taeseong still spoke with a cold expression and turned his back to Bonoh. Bonoh let out a sigh of relief internally. He did get through the crisis, right…? As his tension eased, joy flooded in. I’m dating Joo Taeseong. He could hardly believe it.
He pulled the blanket over his head and kicked at it wildly with his feet. Ahhh, Kim Bonoh, you bastard. You confessed even while drunk. He couldn’t contain how proud he was of himself.
“Hurry up and wash, we need to go out.”
“Yes! Got it, honey!”
When Taeseong’s voice came from beyond the blanket, Bonoh bolted upright. He poked his head out from under the blanket. Getting up with a bright smile, Taeseong’s expression softened a little.
***
“Our first date after starting to date turned out to be eating soup rice.”
“……”
As Taeseong said, the two were sitting across from each other in a soup rice restaurant, waiting for their food. There was no soup rice restaurant near the hotel, so they had to walk quite a bit, but it was an unavoidable choice due to Bonoh’s hangover.
Bonoh glanced at Taeseong while drinking water. The cold water hitting his empty stomach made him feel queasy again. As soon as he put down his cup, Taeseong poured him more water.
Bonoh was troubled because he kept grinning uncontrollably. It was a soup rice restaurant, but it was their first date. Looking at Joo Taeseong’s face, even his stomach that had been churning from the hangover seemed to calm down. However, Taeseong didn’t seem to be in a good mood, so Bonoh covered his mouth with his cup, pretending to drink water.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
