Chapter 37
At Taeri’s words that he was still outside, Juha leisurely prepared to go out.
After eating a few pieces of the braised short ribs his mother had made in abundance, washing dishes and showering, it was evening time. His mother still hadn’t come home from Aunt Miyoung’s place today, and Yunha was also yet to return from academy.
Coming outside, a pleasant breeze greeted Juha. The taxi he immediately caught had the air conditioning running weakly. It was comfortable being able to go without sweating right after a shower.
Since it felt wrong to go empty-handed again, Juha stopped by the basement mart of Taeri’s apartment building as soon as he got out of the taxi. Perhaps because it was late, closing sales were in full swing.
Since Taeri had injured his ankle, he wanted to bring something nutritious. Among the numerous foods, what Juha chose was just sushi. To buy chicken for protein supplementation would be fried chicken, and all the meat products needed cooking, so that was the only thing he could eat conveniently. He couldn’t very well bring spicy and salty snack foods either.
To cleanse the palate after eating sushi, Juha also picked a small slice of cake with fresh strawberries on top of pure white cream. Wanting to buy something more, he wandered around the mart for a while longer, but suddenly thinking that Taeri would be waiting, he hurriedly headed to the checkout counter.
He had thought the path of liking someone was truly rough, but having someone like him that much in return felt like living in a completely different world. While they were together, Taeri and Juha seemed to compete in showing each other their hearts to see who liked the other more. That competition alone was endlessly enjoyable.
After being dropped from the debut group, Taeri had given Juha—who had been like a dead tree with its roots cut and branches all broken—a new life, a better life. He didn’t need anything else; just thinking of the three syllables “Choi Taeri” made Juha feel good.
Thinking of Taeri anxiously pacing by the door like a dog waiting for its owner, he couldn’t delay any longer.
Juha quickly finished paying and headed to the building entrance.
Holding a sushi box and cake box in each hand, he somehow passed the security guard interview and got on the elevator. As the floor numbers went up, Juha’s heart rate increased. Taking advantage of the brief moment, Juha looked in the mirror.
‘Is this okay?’
The front mirror showed his face, while the back mirror reflected Juha’s back view. His hair, which nicely covered his forehead, was neat, and the white t-shirt he wore was also well-ironed and straight after washing. The fabric softener scent that his sensitive mother had carefully selected also spread subtly around Juha’s body.
Right now, Juha was just going to see Taeri. Thinking that he hadn’t paid this much attention to his appearance even during filming made him feel unnecessarily embarrassed. With things in both hands, he couldn’t even fix his disheveled hair.
As he looked away from the mirror, the elevator announced its cheerful arrival with a ding.
Juha took a short deep breath and walked toward Taeri’s house. Just as he was about to press the bell with his elbow, the door opened.
“Uh… well… I’m here.”
Just as he was about to lower his gaze from embarrassment, Taeri wrapped both arms around Juha’s waist and pulled him into the house. There was no chance to avoid it.
With a bang the door closed, and simultaneously Taeri’s lips collided with Juha’s lips. Juha had a box in each hand equally, so he couldn’t resist as a tongue pushed into his mouth.
It was bewildering but honestly good. Just as Juha had wanted to run over as soon as he heard “I miss you,” it seemed like Taeri had been waiting for him just as much, which made him feel proud.
“Mmph, w-wait.”
“Just a moment for me too.”
Saying words without any sense of incongruity, Taeri kissed him again. Even trying to calm him down was useless. Juha gripped the box handles tightly in both hands and received the lips attacking him. His mouth filled completely without even room to breathe.
Throughout Juha taking off his shoes and entering the living room, a storm-like kiss raged. Since he couldn’t move as if his hands were bound, a subtle excitement rushed over him.
“Ha… stop, stop. We need to eat.”
Juha spoke to Taeri soothingly.
“I don’t want to.”
Taeri cut him off decisively like a disobedient child.
“Tonight will be long.”
When Juha smiled mischievously, Taeri gave him one last series of kisses with reluctance before the kissing ended. Well-behaved Choi Taeri and excited Choi Taeri—he couldn’t gauge which was prettier. Just looking at him made a smile come naturally.
“What were you doing?”
Juha asked while putting down the sushi box and cake box on the table.
“I washed up and was watching the rerun.”
Taeri limped with his half-casted leg and leaned against the living room sofa to sit.
Come to think of it, episode 2 of ‘My Job is Idol’ was playing on the living room TV. Due to its popularity and buzz, it seemed to air two or three times a day whenever Gnet was on.
“Reruns air often.”
Juha opened the box and split the wooden chopsticks. With a ‘snap’ sound, the chopsticks divided evenly.
“I endured watching you on TV until you came. Oh, that scene—I love that scene the most!”
Taeri pointed at the TV with sparkling eyes.
On screen, photographer Kim Dongmin was photographing Juha wearing a dragon robe.
‘Good! You’re doing well!’
Following his words, Juha’s face moved. It was fascinating how his facial lines changed with the subtly shifting angles—Juha wondered if that really was his face.
“That face is really sexy, I tell you.”
Taeri alternately looked at Juha on screen and Juha sitting next to him.
“Th-that just came out somehow.”
Juha stirred the sushi box in embarrassment.
He still couldn’t say what thoughts he’d had during that shoot. It was such shamefully lewd imagination even to himself.
“What a shame.”
Taeri clicked his tongue and muttered.
“What is?”
“I was hoping you’d make that expression while thinking of me.”
“…I did. Think of you.”
After a moment’s hesitation, Juha spoke honestly.
“What did you think about?”
As the conversation lengthened, Taeri’s face slowly came closer. His eyes showed he was expecting something interesting.
“‘I want to do it with you,’ those words.”
Looking down at Taeri’s lips that had come close, Juha whispered quietly. The sound of lip membranes sticking and separating spread lewdly.
To Taeri, those words sounded like he wanted to do it right now. As soon as Juha finished speaking, Taeri pressed their lips together.
Sitting on the sofa, the two kissed for quite a while again. Every time their tongues intertwined, Taeri’s long half-casted leg occasionally twitched. Only their lips were touching, but it sent tingles to his peripheral nerves.
“I brought sushi, so let’s eat first.”
During a brief moment when their lips separated, Juha spoke.
“I want to eat something else first…”
To Taeri, who was swaying his tail flirtatiously again, Juha picked up salmon sushi and put it in his mouth.
“I think Taeri who eats well when I feed him is the prettiest.”
“I think Juha who feeds me well is the most… hot, why are you hitting me?”
“You’re all excited because there’s no camera, aren’t you? There’s nothing you won’t say.”
Juha lightly tapped Taeri’s lips with the wooden chopsticks he was holding. Choi Taeri, who had the special talent of saying normal things lewdly, was embarrassingly explicit when he spoke so blatantly.
His red, plump lips were pretty, so he couldn’t hit them hard either.
“I was saying Juha who feeds me well is the best. What were you thinking? But aren’t you eating?”
Taeri spoke while chewing the salmon sushi thoroughly.
“I ate not long ago. Today I’ll just watch you eat.”
Juha removed a grain of rice stuck to the side of Taeri’s lips with his hand and wiped his lips with his thumb. Unable to resist that moment, Taeri sucked on Juha’s finger. Seeing Taeri, who couldn’t hide his emotions and smiled brightly whenever he looked at him, made Juha want to keep touching and stroking him.
“Do you like me that much?”
“Yeah.”
To Juha’s question, Taeri answered without a moment’s hesitation. Juha just smiled contentedly and put shrimp sushi in Taeri’s mouth.
Before long, episode 2 ended on screen and the preview for episode 3 came on.
“Oh? The preview is already out?”
Both stopped what they were doing and looked at the TV. It had only been two days since filming ended, and forty teams had participated, yet the preview was already out.
[Death Match: Someone Must Die]
On screen, with provocative text, the matched teams appeared rapidly like stamps being pressed. They were mainly one scene from each stage’s highlight.
And last.
Juha in pomade hair wearing a neat suit, looking at a pocket watch with white-gloved hands, and Taeri taking off his suit jacket and throwing it on the floor appeared. The preview ended emphasizing the scene with cold silence without sound.
“It came out… well.”
Juha spoke hesitantly. The time other teams spent in the preview was only about 0.5 to 1 second. But Juha and Taeri, placed at the very end, took up nearly 5 seconds of screen time.
“Seems like it came out really well?”
“Right.”
Juha muttered and put another sushi in Taeri’s mouth.
He received the food so well, so Juha fed Taeri with one hand while checking the preview reactions on his phone with the other.
[Title: Fuck is neat Juha’s beauty real?]
‘What the hell did he do for that shot to come out?’
â””Crazy, this is the first time I got a heart attack just from seeing preview clips
â””Why has Lee Juha been saving that handsome forehead until now?
â””The stage looks so good. What the hell is this…
â””Whoever said Lee Juha’s face was average, get your head examined
â””Can’t resist neat Juha. Definitely watching the live broadcast.
Below continued praise for neat Juha. Constantly saying neat Juha, neat Juha made him feel like peeled garlic and strange.
Pushing aside other trainee posts and scrolling down, he saw a post about Taeri.
[Title: Shirtless Taeri is coming out?]
‘We teased him about being a bull, is he really going to do that?’
â””Testosterone flows like a river.
â””This is truly river-like peace for me
â””Domestic original testosterone shower
â””He hasn’t stripped yet. Just threw the jacket, his outfit is a Confucian boy with buttons tightly done up.
â””But he looks so strong. Angry Taeri.
â””He’ll strip… he has to strip… he’ll strip once… not stripping with that body would be a waste of talent
Right. He’ll strip.
Juha unconsciously agreed with the comment. Taeri’s body was always anticipated. He already had many fans, so he was almost scared to think what the reaction would be when they saw Taeri ripping open his shirt buttons in the latter half of the stage.
“What are you doing?”
While Juha was distracted by his phone, Taeri’s hands slyly embraced his waist.
“Huh? Oh, nothing.”
“I finished all the sushi.”
Taeri deliberately opened his mouth with an “ah” to show his mouth was empty. While feeding him distractedly, the sushi box had somehow become completely empty.
“Then let’s have dessert.”
Juha put down his phone and opened the other box. The strawberry cream cake sat in the box without any disturbance. Juha scooped some cake with a fork and put it in Taeri’s mouth. Taeri quickly ate the cake and smiled happily.
“It’s delicious. Give me more.”
“But isn’t it a bit strange?”
Juha scooped cake straightforwardly to feed Taeri while tilting his head.
“Why?”
“It’s not like you hurt your hands, you hurt your ankle, so why am I feeding you?”
Though he didn’t exactly feel like he was being taken advantage of, if he could just watch Taeri eat deliciously like a baby pig, he felt like he could feed him all day.
“That’s what makes it good? I’ll eat everything, so feed me everything.”
“You eat well.”
“Anything.”
“……”
Before another lewd comment could come out, Juha picked up a bright red strawberry and put it in his mouth. The strawberry wrapped roundly by red lips and sucked into his mouth with a pop—why did that look so lewd too?
“I finished all the cake now too.”
Juha scraped even the crumbs stuck to the bottom and put them in Taeri’s mouth.
“Now there’s one thing left?”
“Hm? What?”
Juha asked back while looking at him.
At the same time, Taeri approached Juha with a sinister smile.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
