“…Huh? What do you mean?”
Yi-hyeon tilted his head in confusion.
“Isn’t your bed a single?”
“It is.”
“Then isn’t Jun-young a high schooler? If you sleep together on a bed that cramped, you’re bound to be pressed right up against each other…… how is that not overdoing it?”
“So what? We’re brothers. And he’s not a high schooler. He’s just big for his age—he’s only a first-year middle schooler.”
“At this rate, are you going to let him sleep wedged between you even when you’re having a steamy night with your future girlfriend?”
“What kind of ridiculous—”
“So hugging a fully grown guy while sleeping on a tiny bed makes sense?”
“Who said anything about hugging? We just slept facing the walls.”
“If you’re facing the walls, that means you were lying in the same direction…… You look so innocent, but you’re surprisingly twisted, huh?”
“No, I was facing the left wall. He was facing the right.”
“Enough with the wall nonsense—draw a line. Unless you plan on keeping a grown guy tucked under your arm.”
Grumbling with a displeased expression about how even siblings needed clear boundaries, Han Jun climbed into bed first and lay down.
When it came time to join him, Yi-hyeon hesitated for reasons he couldn’t quite pin down—maybe he was annoyed, maybe just tense. He stood awkwardly in the middle of the room for a long while, unable to move. Then Han Jun lifted his upper body slightly, turned toward Yi-hyeon, and pat pat! slapped the empty space beside him.
“You coming or not?”
“Huh? Uh—yeah, I am. Just—hang on, I need to send a quick message to the Director.”
If simply lying down next to the person he liked was this hard to emotionally manage, how much more complicated would the days ahead with Han Jun become?
Yi-hyeon let out a silent sigh, his shoulders trembling faintly. Then, for no real reason, he pulled out his phone and spent several minutes typing a message that should’ve taken only seconds.
He’d been hoping the reply would come late so he could use that as an excuse to loiter around the room a bit longer—but the Director, who had a favorable impression of Han Jun, replied immediately with a simple Okay.
“The Director? What’d she say?”
“She told me to go to bed early. Said to message her if anything comes up.”
“Come here.”
Han Jun pointed with his chin at the empty space beside him again.
With no other choice, Yi-hyeon set his phone down on the table and cautiously climbed onto the bed. He curled up at the very edge.
Watching him out of the corner of his eye, Han Jun let out a hollow laugh.
“Hey, I don’t have some contagious disease. Why are you lying so far away?”
“I know, I know.”
Yi-hyeon nodded perfunctorily at the jab.
“If you know, then scoot over here.”
Saying he’d fall off, Han Jun grabbed Yi-hyeon’s arm and dragged him toward the center of the bed by force. He flipped up the edge of the blanket he’d been using and draped it over Yi-hyeon. In the process, their bare arms brushed lightly against each other.
Yi-hyeon flinched and quickly pulled his arm away.
“Okay, let’s really sleep now. Can you press the off button on the table over there?”
As soon as Yi-hyeon pressed it, the room plunged into darkness.
“Night.”
“Yeah. You too.”
Han Jun immediately turned his back and fully faced away from him. Thanks to the garden lights outside, the room wasn’t pitch-black—which only made Han Jun’s broad, solid back, turned indifferently away, stand out more. Despite saying he’d fall off, Han Jun lay pressed close to the floor-to-ceiling window, and before long, he was breathing evenly in sleep.
You really do only see me as a friend. That’s why you can fall asleep right away. Meanwhile, I’m so fluttered I don’t think I’ll sleep at all.
When he first thought about sharing a bed, it had felt overwhelming and unpleasant—but now that Han Jun had turned away and put distance between them, Yi-hyeon couldn’t help feeling disappointed. It felt like a signal telling him not to nurture any romantic feelings.
Is it not even okay to hold these feelings by myself?
Blinking his large eyes, Yi-hyeon stared at Han Jun’s back—when suddenly, Han Jun shifted, rolling over so his face turned toward Yi-hyeon. Startled, Yi-hyeon quickly turned his own head to face the ceiling. He pretended to be asleep. And then a warm minty scent brushed against his ear.
It was the scent of Han Jun’s toothpaste. Because Han Jun had curled inward, the distance between them had shrunk enough that Yi-hyeon could feel his breath. Goosebumps rippled over his skin, and tension instinctively gathered in his thighs.
Shit. I knew this would happen.
Just the brush of his breath was enough to stir his emotions and make his body react. As if trying to escape his own guilt, Yi-hyeon turned his back to Han Jun. Then this time, breath touched the back of his neck.
Without realizing it, the eyes he’d squeezed shut in feigned sleep snapped open.
He rubbed the spot on his neck where Han Jun’s breath had grazed.
Even after the warmth faded, the ticklish sensation lingered.
Ah, please…
Yi-hyeon tugged the soft blanket up and wedged it firmly between his legs, pressing hard.
With his heart pounding so loudly it felt deafening, Yi-hyeon knew he wouldn’t be falling asleep easily tonight.
***
After tossing and turning until dawn, Yi-hyeon finally passed out from sheer exhaustion.
He woke to the sound of lively conversation. The voices—talking about yesterday’s drama characters and exchanging the day’s schedule—were familiar. The staff who managed Chairman Joo’s house had clearly arrived for work.
I was planning to leave before the staff came in…
Since Han Jun still hadn’t been formally acknowledged as family by Chairman Joo, Yi-hyeon worried Han Jun might feel self-conscious if the staff saw that he’d brought a friend over.
He’d planned to leave before 7 a.m., before the employees arrived.
But having failed to sleep until dawn, Yi-hyeon didn’t wake up until the clock on the wall pointed to ten. Feeling pathetic, he tried to sit up in a panic—only to let out a startled yelp and collapse back down under a heavy pressure.
S-so heavy…
Thick, solid arms and legs were wrapped tightly around his body. Turning his head to the side, Yi-hyeon saw Han Jun, who was pinning him down, sleeping like the dead with his face buried in Yi-hyeon’s neck.
This is insane!
Only then did Yi-hyeon fully grasp the situation, his heart plummeting straight through the bed. There wasn’t even time to enjoy the flutter of being held by the person he liked—what if someone opened the door and misunderstood everything? With a face full of regret, he gently tried to push Han Jun away.
Unaware of Yi-hyeon’s turmoil, Han Jun furrowed his brows and burrowed in deeper. In the process, his plush upper lip brushed lightly against the thin skin of Yi-hyeon’s neck.
Yi-hyeon froze completely.
“Mmm……”
Han Jun stirred, whining softly in his sleep. Afraid things would get awkward if Han Jun woke up, Yi-hyeon squeezed his eyes shut and played dead. After what felt like about three minutes, there was no reaction. Maybe he hadn’t woken up?
Yi-hyeon cracked his eyes open slightly and cautiously turned his head.
At that moment, he had to stop himself from breathing.
Han Jun’s face was so close he could practically count his eyelashes. At this distance, his already sharp features looked even more defined.
Clutching his chest as his heart threatened to burst, Yi-hyeon tried to gather his scattered thoughts when the sound of footsteps on the metal stairs made him panic. Wanting to at least move the arm trapping him, Yi-hyeon gently grasped Han Jun’s wrist.
“……Why are you awake already?”
“AAH!”
At the calm, drowsy voice that sounded right next to his head, Yi-hyeon screamed.
“Ah, what the hell. If you yell like that right next to me, are you trying to rupture my eardrums?”
“I—I didn’t do anything, okay?! You were the one pinning me with your arms and legs—so I was just trying to move your arm!”
“Who said you did anything?”
“Han Jun, what’s going on? I heard you scream.”
Startled by the knock, Yi-hyeon sprang out of bed—only for his foot to catch in the blanket, sending him crashing straight down. Still half-asleep, Han Jun’s eyes flew open as he reached out instinctively—but Yi-hyeon had already slammed into the floor.
1) The feeling are 100% mutual between the two, and 2) pffffft.