Without him noticing when he’d approached, Baek Iseon, having abandoned both his ladder and basket, was calling him in a small voice.
“What?”
“Shh, come here for a second.”
“Huh?”
Baek Iseon lightly grabbed his wrist and started walking toward somewhere that wasn’t even his area. Without knowing why, Jang Juwon followed him, pushing through peach tree leaves as they walked. There were still tons of peaches to pick, but he didn’t care at all and just walked forward, deeper and deeper inside. At the steps that even felt somewhat urgent, Jang Juwon couldn’t even ask why and followed him through the trees, going further inside.
After walking quite a bit, greenish peaches that weren’t yet ripe appeared. This was probably not yet a harvesting area. Naturally, no other people could be seen at all. Only then did Baek Iseon stop walking and turn around.
“Yeah, this’ll do. I think this place will work.”
“…What?”
Baek Iseon stood still in place and looked down at Jang Juwon. Between bringing him all the way here and that incomprehensible gaze, when Jang Juwon tilted his head, Baek Iseon urged him as if frustrated.
“What are you doing?”
“What? What do you mean?”
“This is our chance. Hurry up before someone comes.”
He didn’t know what he was supposed to hurry up and do, but he looked quite urgent.
“So, what, what am I supposed to do?”
“What else. Kiss me.”
“What?”
“Hurry.”
“What, did you make a reservation?”
At the absurd answer, Jang Juwon looked up at him with dumbfounded eyes and raised his voice. Kiss me suddenly? Not even let’s kiss. But Baek Iseon didn’t back down and meticulously argued his rights.
“Yeah, I made a reservation. You said so yesterday, didn’t you? That you’d do what you couldn’t do earlier. But you still haven’t done it yet!”
Soon, the words he’d carelessly made up last night to get him to stop clinging came to mind.
‘Later… I’ll finish what I couldn’t do earlier.’
Good grief, he couldn’t believe it. He was bringing that up now in this way? Anyway, his memory was good for useless things.
“Are you crazy? You need to pick the time and place.”
“That’s why I picked them. I held back once yesterday evening because of a girl, and once at night because of a guy. And this morning…”
Baek Iseon trailed off. At the same time, both their faces turned red. What happened this morning came to mind. In that brief time when Choi Yeonho had gone into the bathroom to wash his face…
“Stop, stop! Why are you listing them out one by one? Is that something to brag about? A person should naturally hold back!”
Jang Juwon flailed his arms and shouted in embarrassment. But Baek Iseon seemed to have a lot to say too.
“When did you call me a son of a bitch?”
“I… did?”
“Yeah, the day you were sick. You said it. Son of a bitch.”
“…”
He did seem to have said something like that. Actually, he’d cursed at him in his head so many times that he couldn’t really tell whether he’d said it out loud or not. He probably had at least once.
“So, don’t I… deserve some praise?”
“Ha, you want praise that badly?”
“Yeah. So kiss me.”
Baek Iseon thrust his face forward. Jang Juwon hurriedly looked around in all directions and stepped back.
“W-wait. What if someone sees us?”
“I don’t care.”
“Well, I do care. Plus, I don’t want to get caught slacking off like this!”
It didn’t seem like anyone would come all the way here, but he remembered the empty basket he’d left on the ground earlier. He thought he should have at least put a few peaches in it before coming. If someone discovered the empty basket and abandoned ladder, it would be too embarrassing.
“So just hurry up and do it and then we can go. Why do you keep dragging out time, Jang Juwon? Don’t tell me you want to be alone with me longer? I get that feeling, but we don’t have time, so let’s keep it reasonable.”
“What…! Don’t be unreasonable.”
Baek Iseon grabbed Jang Juwon’s shoulders. It seemed like he intended not to let him escape this time. He took a step closer.
“Ah, stay back!”
The flustered Jang Juwon roughly pushed Baek Iseon’s chest. Baek Iseon staggered back with a shocked face, then plopped down crouching on the dirt ground as if his legs had given out. With hopeless eyes, he looked at the empty air and muttered.
“…Right, if you don’t want to, I can’t help it. If you hate kissing me that much, I can’t…”
“It’s not that I hate it… Don’t tell me you’re sulking?”
“Maybe I am.”
Baek Iseon turned his head sharply away, picked up a fallen branch, and started poking at the dirt ground. He was definitely sulking.
“Haah, I’ll give you praise.”
Jang Juwon took a step closer to him, opened his palm, and gently stroked his soft brown hair. Then Baek Iseon quickly lifted his head.
“You did well.”
Baek Iseon snatched Jang Juwon’s hand that had been stroking his head, brought it to his face, and started rubbing his cheek against it. As if that wasn’t enough, he took a deep breath, smelled it, and rubbed his lips against it.
“Huah…”
“Don’t do that, you’re really like a dog.”
“Can’t you let this much slide? I feel like I’m really going crazy from holding back. Do you know how I feel when I see your face all day and even sleep together but can’t do anything?”
Baek Iseon whipped his head up and glared at Jang Juwon with resentful eyes. Those eyes flashed sharply. Jang Juwon flinched without realizing it. The words about holding back seemed to be true. And there was no way Jang Juwon didn’t know his feelings.
“I know. I’m… the same way.”
“Huh?”
“I’m also holding back, so keep it reasonable. And stop doing things like this too!”
Jang Juwon roughly pulled his hand away. If anything, the one having a hard time holding back was him. Because he kept touching him, it was getting harder and harder to maintain self-control. That’s why this morning too, he’d almost lost control and done it. So Baek Iseon, who kept pestering him without knowing his feelings, was almost cruel.
“So sunbae, you too, keep it reasonable… Why, why are you like that?”
Suddenly Baek Iseon stood up abruptly from where he was. He started trudging toward him. There was no focus in his eyes. A chill ran down his spine. Jang Juwon intuitively sensed that things were going seriously wrong. He’d meant to soothe him, but it seemed he’d stimulated him instead.
Rustle, the sound of a branch being stepped on and breaking. Jang Juwon’s chest touched his chest with a thud. No. It was too close. At this rate, he’d have a hard time maintaining his reason any longer too. They wouldn’t be able to pick a single peach.
“D-don’t come closer. No, sit back down!”
Jang Juwon squeezed his eyes shut and shouted. Tap, the touching bodies separated again. When he carefully opened his eyes, he could see Baek Iseon crouching in that same spot from before. His gaze drooping to the ground looked quite pitiful, but it couldn’t be helped. Touching him was dangerous. Jang Juwon cleared his throat a few times in embarrassment and said what he should have said to him from the start.
“Ahem, anyway, no skinship beyond a certain level until we go back up to Seoul.”
At the sentence like a bolt from the blue, Baek Iseon lifted his head and looked at Jang Juwon. Those big eyes wavered as if he might cry at any moment. For a moment, he almost weakened, but Jang Juwon soon came to his senses again. Instead, he decided to offer him one necessary carrot.
“If you behave well, I’ll, I’ll give you a kiss then…”
“Okay!”
Hehe. He could hear Baek Iseon laughing senselessly. Jang Juwon frowned.
“I said it’s forbidden, so why are you laughing? You’re thinking strange things, aren’t you?”
“No, it’s just… I’m excited that you feel the same way. You know, when we go back to Seoul… Mmph!”
Jang Juwon blocked his babbling mouth with his palm. He didn’t want to hear what came next. Because he had a very good idea what words would come out.
“…You really are a son of a bitch.”
Smooch. Baek Iseon kissed Jang Juwon’s palm and grinned. Jang Juwon realized he’d made a mistake, but there was no taking back words already spoken.
* * *
On the morning of their departure, the peaches and corn gifted by the couple filled Baek Iseon’s car trunk.
“Jisu unnie, do you have to go? Hm? Just one more day!”
Yeonsu clung to Shin Jisu’s clothes with a tearful face.
“If I stay here one more day… unnie will die…”
Shin Jisu, with a deathly pale face, hugged and patted Yeonsu.
“Yeonsu will give you ho!”
“Yeonsu, unnie is going to receive ho now. Hehe…”
Shin Jisu’s laughing face looked somewhat sly. Yeonsu, who didn’t understand her words, tilted her head.
“Students, you worked so, so hard! Here, it’s not much, but it’s your wages.”
