I was turning my body to get out when I heard the sound of Cha Jeonghan unfastening his seatbelt as if he’d forgotten. I quickly grabbed Cha Jeonghan’s arm as he was about to get out.
“Jeonghan-ah.”
“Yeah?”
“…It’s snowing, why would you get out. Just go. I’ll see you tonight.”
I looked at Cha Jeonghan who was watching me with regretful eyes, then got out of the car alone. After taking out the bag of books from the back seat and closing the door, Cha Jeonghan opened the window. I bent down slightly and waved once at Cha Jeonghan inside.
“Go.”
“You go in first. I’ll watch you go in.”
“…Okay.”
I went into the cafe first and greeted Hyeonwoo, then looked outside to finally see the car pulling out of the parking lot. I couldn’t take my eyes off it until the car completely disappeared into the snow.
Perhaps because it was snowing so much, there were slightly fewer customers than on clear days. There were still many people at lunch time, but it wasn’t enough to make me lose my mind like usual. It seemed many people weren’t coming out because of the bad weather.
A heavy snow warning message came, and when I checked the weather forecast it said it would snow until dawn. Hyeonwoo, who had gone outside the cafe to sweep the snow and come back in hunched over, carefully dried his wet hair with a towel.
“Wow, I thought it wasn’t snowing much this winter, but it’s all coming at once.”
“I know. It’s really snowing a lot.”
“On days like this there are hardly any customers. At the cafe where I used to work part-time, customers would be cut in half on rainy or snowy days.”
“Can’t be helped. I don’t want to go outside either when the weather’s bad. I’ll go out and sweep again if it piles up later.”
“No. I should do it. Hyung, you’re here in place of the boss.”
“That’s exactly why I should do better. You already did it earlier. You must be cold. Should I make you something warm?”
“Yes! Um, hot chocolate for me.”
“Got it.”
As I steamed the milk, I looked outside where the snow was swirling so much you couldn’t see ahead. By night the accumulated snow would freeze and make driving difficult, so when he contacted me later saying he was done, I thought it would be better to tell him to just go home and rest. Of course, I had no confidence he would listen.
I gave Hyeonwoo the hot chocolate and wiped the water on the floor near the door with a dry cloth. Water dripped from umbrellas and shoes, so even when just one or two people came in, the floor quickly became wet and dirty.
Once every hour I went outside to sweep the snow piled in front of the cafe, sweeping and sweeping to clear a path. Even after Hyeonwoo left work and I was alone, I kept clearing snow and wiping the floor until time ran out. There were few customers so it was relatively leisurely, but perhaps because I’d used my body a lot yesterday, various parts of my body hurt a little whenever I moved.
“Ah….”
It didn’t feel like I was catching a cold, but my body was just a bit tired. It ached all over dully, and my waist where I’d confirmed I had bruises on both sides hurt whenever I moved, so I had to be careful when sitting down and standing up. Of course, between my legs still throbbed faintly too.
My body kept drooping so I rested my forehead on the long bar next to the counter and lay down for a moment. When I closed my eyes, the bruised waist I’d seen with my own eyes this morning came to mind. How strong would someone’s grip have to be to bruise a waist like that. I’d see it again when I showered later, but honestly I was scared to look. Thinking about how the color would be deeper than this morning, it seemed better not to look.
When my thoughts reached that point, I felt a vibration against my forehead. I lifted my head and picked up my phone I’d left to one side and quickly answered the call.
“Yeah, Jeonghan-ah. Are you done?”
– Yeah, I just finished and came out but wow…. What is all this while I was trapped working. The staff did say the snow was no joke… It really is no joke.
“It’s been falling since morning. I saw in the news to be careful of icy roads. The temperature dropped so pipes are bursting everywhere. On top of that it’s snowing so the roads are slippery too. So don’t come today, and when Dongyun hyung drops you off, just go in and rest.”
– You want me to stay home alone without seeing you? No way.
“You can see me tomorrow. Why would you drive in these dangerous conditions to come.”
– Then I’ll ask hyung to drop me off at the cafe. That works, right?
“How are you going to get back….”
– I can take a taxi… or something….
Cha Jeonghan suddenly lowered his voice and murmured as if whispering. Wondering why he suddenly made his voice small, I listened more carefully.
– I could sleep over with you and go.
At the feeling as if Cha Jeonghan was putting his lips to my ear and whispering, my ears burned. When I couldn’t say anything, Cha Jeonghan laughed softly then told Dongyun hyung to drop him off at the cafe.
– I’ll arrive right at closing time. I thought we were just filming promotional videos today, but there was a lot of stuff to do. I didn’t know we’d finish this late.
“You must be tired.”
– That’s why I’m going to see you. I’ll be there soon.
“Okay. Come carefully.”
I hung up and started preparing to close. Since there hadn’t been a single customer since 8:30, it seemed I could just close as is today.
I cleaned the whole hall first, then cleaned the kitchen thoroughly, and just as I finished I saw the van pulling in. I went outside holding a paper cup of tea that had cooled to just the right drinking temperature.
“Why’d you come out in the cold? Dressed so lightly.”
“Ah, I wanted to give this to hyung. Just a moment.”
I held out the warm tea to Dongyun hyung who was greeting me from inside the car. I exchanged light greetings with hyung who thanked me, while Cha Jeonghan beside me kept tugging lightly at my apron.
“Drive safely, hyung.”
I greeted him firmly, watched the van leave, and only then went inside the cafe. Following me in, Cha Jeonghan locked the door and pulled down the blind covering the door all the way. I went around to the side and lowered the blinds one by one.
Cha Jeonghan followed behind me as I lowered the blinds. And when I lowered the last blind, he hugged me from behind. Like he’d done at the entrance this morning, he wrapped around me as if binding my body tightly, and my body stiffened again at his two arms overlapping on my stomach.
“You should look at me first, not hyung. Why do you only look at hyung.”
“…Hyung came all the way here, I can’t not greet him.”
“I know, I know all that, but still I wish I was your number one.”
“……”
“I wanted to see you so much all day….”
Like lovers… It felt like that. The two arms embracing me were more natural than this morning. Was it because of yesterday’s sex? Even before sex, Cha Jeonghan was affectionate, but it was a bit different from now. Now it felt like without me knowing, we had taken on the name of lovers.
“Yuhyeon-ah, didn’t you miss me?”
His voice spread to my nape. Cha Jeonghan, who had lowered his head while embracing me, lightly kissed my nape, ear, and cheek.
“……”
Cha Jeonghan, who had lingered a bit longer by my ear, lifted one hand from my stomach and turned my chin toward my shoulder. It was such a natural, matter-of-course kiss. Since Cha Jeonghan came to find me at the cafe, we kissed every time we met. There wasn’t a moment we didn’t touch, and it was always hot.
Cha Jeonghan gently bit my lips then released them playfully. He grinned with his lips still touching, then finally pushed in a bit urgently and entangled our tongues.
While embracing me from behind, Cha Jeonghan grabbed my hand that was awkwardly still and began touching my fingers exactly like his tongue was moving. The sensation of his tongue moving inside my mouth and the sensation of Cha Jeonghan’s fingers intertwining between my fingers mixed together and my breath heated up.
“Haah….”
The deeply entangled tongues loosened, and our lips gently interlocked a few more times before separating. Cha Jeonghan released his arms and turned me around.
“Should I make you something warm?”
“Even now I’m overflowing with warmth just being with you.”
Cha Jeonghan, who naturally pushed his fingers between mine and gripped tightly, pulled out a chair and sat me down first, then sat next to me. These days Yuhyeon and Cha Jeonghan were exactly the same every day.
Even when talking, Cha Jeonghan didn’t let go of my hand. He held my hand trapped in his large hand and with his other hand repeatedly touched my fingers playfully one by one or intertwined and gripped our fingers together. Every time his hand rubbed between my fingers and intertwined, my words broke off once. Even though this situation was strange and embarrassing, I couldn’t help but be aroused by his touch. Cha Jeonghan looked at my face like that and either grinned or looked at me with a face completely devoid of playfulness. After that, his face inevitably drew close.
“Should I sleep over?”
These days most of what Cha Jeonghan said to me was about touching and facing each other. Every time I heard him say he felt good touching me, warm touching me, and like he could live from touching me, my emotions slowly sank.
Cha Jeonghan seemed to think that feeling of wanting to touch me was love. Of course it’s right that when you love someone you want physical contact, but even when we were friends, Cha Jeonghan liked touching me. Wrapped up in the warmth touching his hands, he was overlooking the most important thing. The fact that his touching didn’t begin because of love.
“…Do you want to sleep with me?”
“Yeah.”
The words couldn’t continue long. Whether Cha Jeonghan felt I was thinking the same thing, he approached again and took my lips. These days Cha Jeonghan prioritized action over words, and our conversations decreased while only our physical contact increased.
Clearly something was going wrong.
“…Wait.”
