Yeohwi was struggling so hard he didn’t even notice someone had entered.
Dowon stood at the powder room doorway with his brow furrowed. He had already changed into a black silk robe in his room. It seemed he had come to check what the problem was since Yeohwi wasn’t coming out of the bathroom.
Dowon watched with calm eyes as Yeohwi struggled, unable to unfasten a single small piece of metal, then muttered as if he couldn’t bear to watch anymore.
“You can’t even undo that one thing.”
Dowon strode inside. Yeohwi was startled and tried to hide his hands behind his back, but before he could, Dowon caught his wet wrist.
“……!”
“Stay still.”
Dowon’s cold, long fingers pushed aside Yeohwi’s wandering hand and covered the cufflinks.
Yeohwi quickly held his breath.
Dowon’s hand, the cool body temperature transmitted from that hand, seemed to spread throughout his entire body through the pulse in his wrist.
Dowon unfastened the cufflinks skillfully and quickly like an expert untying a complicated knot. After unfastening the opposite sleeve as well, this time he looked at Yeohwi’s wet shirt.
“Take off the rest.”
“Uh… Yes.”
Yeohwi unconsciously swallowed a short breath.
Everywhere his cool fingers brushed against bare skin became hot as if burned. No, cold as if burned by ice. Either way, only the sensations in those parts seemed to come alive sensitively.
Yeohwi quickly buried his face toward the floor to hide his reddening face and began to unfasten the rest of his shirt buttons. From the neck down. First, second, third… Finally the last button came undone and the wet shirt opened wide.
Indeed, it was worth putting effort into exercise for today—his firm bare chest was quite solid. His flushed white skin gleamed under the lights as it was revealed.
At that moment.
Dowon’s gaze stopped very briefly.
His eyes lingered momentarily on the exposed bare skin. He could see Yeohwi’s chest rising and falling steeply with tension.
But that was all. Without saying anything particular, Dowon grabbed both sides of the wet shirt like peeling onion skin, stripped it off, and threw it on the floor.
Then he turned around, grabbed the largest towel from the shelf, and tossed it onto Yeohwi’s head.
“Don’t freeze. Wash up.”
Leaving those last words, Dowon was about to leave the powder room without hesitation. It was when he took one step.
“Um…”
A hesitant voice caught his back.
“Aren’t you going to sleep together tonight…? The bed is big.”
Here we go again.
What a tiresome repertoire. Dowon didn’t turn around. Just as he was about to ignore it as if it wasn’t worth it and throw open the door, Yeohwi’s voice continued urgently.
“No! That’s not what I meant…!”
Dowon turned his head irritably.
“You clearly said it with your own mouth. Just this once.”
“Dowon-ssi, but.”
“You said you wouldn’t be bothersome anymore if I took you to the party. The game is over now, Seong Yeohwi.”
It was when he was shooting back coldly like that.
Dowon’s gaze stopped.
Under the brightly lit ceiling lights, he could see Yeohwi’s face with wet hair stuck to it.
And… a vivid red line drawn across that cheek.
It was a wound caused by being hit by a shard that flew when the champagne glass broke at the party venue.
Dowon’s brow crumpled viciously. Seeing that expression, Yeohwi dropped his shoulders as if all hope was broken.
‘That’s right… I did say that. Clinging to him saying just this once, just one time…’
“…I understand. I’ll wash up… and sleep alone.”
Yeohwi lowered his head glumly. Waiting for Dowon to leave. But Dowon didn’t leave.
He pushed the door he was about to exit back closed and walked past Yeohwi with slow steps.
“…?”
Surprised, Yeohwi raised his head. He could see Dowon opening the cabinet behind the mirror and taking out a spotless first aid kit.
His face was still cold. The very picture of displeasure, as if everything was bothersome and unnecessary. But he turned around holding tweezers, antiseptic cotton, and a small ointment from the box.
“Come here.”
Yeohwi stared at him blankly.
His eyes wavered.
“…Yes.”
Yeohwi timidly approached him quietly. Dowon pointed downward with his chin.
“Sit.”
At those words, Yeohwi quietly crouched down on the floor like a puppy obeying its owner. A water droplet rolled off his wet hair.
The clear face looking up at him. What’s more, his upper body was bare. Dowon’s brow crumpled again.
“Not there. Sit over there.”
As if absurd, he tapped the wide marble counter next to the bathroom sink with his finger.
“Ah, yes!”
Yeohwi quickly got up and sat with his bottom against the black marble. Once his posture was stable, Dowon took a step closer. He held antiseptic cotton with tweezers and began wiping away the bloodstains on Yeohwi’s cheek.
The strong smell of alcohol and the rich smoky cedarwood scent of Dowon, now closer, mixed together.
Yeohwi held his breath. In case his heated breath might reach him. He also rolled his shoulders as wide as the Pacific Ocean into a crumple. In case his loud heartbeat might be heard.
Dowon’s touch was precise and emotionless, just like when he unfastened the cufflinks. As if repairing an expensive item.
After finishing the necessary treatment, Dowon took out a small bandage and carefully applied it over the wound. When his fingers brushed against his face, Yeohwi felt like the skin in that area was burning up now.
“Um, Dowon-ssi…”
Yeohwi called to him thinking this would really be the last time.
“You said the game is over, so why are you treating me…?”
“……”
“You hate me clinging to you. But why are you being nice to me? Like you really care about me…”
Dowon turned his gaze away as he organized the medical supplies. Between his furrowed eyes, a deep groove was carved in his brow.
“Dowon-ssi, I’m confused.”
Dowon answered him briefly.
“What you did today was dangerous.”
It was still a voice tinged with irritation.
“You might think you acted cleverly, but today you made a definite enemy. And a strong opponent that someone like you could never possibly handle.”
Yeohwi protested in that low voice.
“…Still, we won.”
Dowon’s pitch-black eyes stared at Yeohwi intently.
“The result wasn’t bad.”
How could this be. He acknowledged it. Yeohwi’s heart pounded fiercely. But.
“Don’t be optimistic that things will work out like today from now on.”
“……”
“If you keep clinging to my side, you’ll only become a target.”
Yeohwi’s eyes opened wide. Dowon’s cold face was reflected in his dilated pupils.
Without realizing it, Yeohwi’s hand rose smoothly.
And he grabbed the collar of Dowon’s black silk robe.
“Was that why?”
Yeohwi gripped it tightly as it was and pulled it toward himself. Dowon’s upper body was pulled close to his face.
“Is that why you kept pushing me away, distancing yourself, ignoring me, doing all that?”
Dowon’s lightless eyes approached right before his nose. His gaze was intimidating as if asking what he thought he was doing, but Yeohwi didn’t avoid that gaze. Rather, he mustered courage to confront it and growled.
“Because I might be in danger. Because something might go wrong?”
Dowon looked down at him with dark eyes. Making the 12-year age difference meaningless, the distance between their faces right now was dangerously close.
“I merely eliminated an unnecessary variable in advance.”
“No. That’s not it. You were worried about me!”
“You’re being excessively delusional.”
“Don’t lie. I won’t be fooled anymore.”
Yeohwi’s hand gripped Dowon’s robe collar even tighter and pulled. The gaze that had been blazing in confrontation slowly descended to Dowon’s lips.
“That’s right… It’s because I’m a child, isn’t it? In your eyes, I’m a clueless brat who needs to be protected and looked after.”
“……”
“I can understand. Compared to you, it’s true that I was born much younger.”
Yeohwi exhaled hot breath. And with a trembling voice, he declared to him.
“Then fine. Dowon-ssi, don’t touch the child.”
“……”
“I’ll touch the adult.”
Yeohwi lunged at Dowon just like that and grabbed his collar before Dowon had a chance to avoid it, pulling him in.
And as if staking his promising future on it, he roughly and desperately covered his stiff lips. It was a kiss mixed with intensity and desperation incomparable to their first night that had been full of only hesitation.
