Iseo decided that if he were to draw today as a painting, he would use ultramarine. A cool blue like scraping out an eyeball. That color would stand out wherever it was. Harmonious yet unharmonious. Like his day today.
“It was more of a jungle than I thought. They say fine arts is done by the most impure people.”
“That really doesn’t suit you, hyung.”
“What doesn’t?”
Iseo’s head tilted up toward Taeju. His face contorted because the sun was bright.
“The jungle and the most impure people.”
Iseo wanted to object. He’d thrown away the school he’d attended for only a few weeks because he hated that. But to Taeju, he wanted to insist it wasn’t true.
That he wasn’t pure and could survive in the jungle. He didn’t want to look weak to him. He never wanted to become someone unnecessary to him.
“Hyung suits here well. It’s serene and beautiful.”
Iseo unconsciously pulled the hand clasped with Taeju’s. To pull his hand away. It seemed like he was distinguishing himself from him by defining his territory as this place. That distinction and boundary were chilling like a sudden cold.
“That’s not true.”
“Hm?”
“I said no. Who would suit a place like this?”
Taeju’s face became subtle. He didn’t know. It just seemed like it was Yeon Taeju’s original face.
“That’s true too. Everything here is stopped. It’s no different from living underground alone, even though the surroundings are this beautiful.”
He’d never thought of it that way. He’d just objected to Taeju’s words. But Taeju thought of this place that way.
Iseo lowered his gaze to his chest. Fortunately, no fresh blood was flowing. For a moment, he’d thought his words had cut open his chest and wounded him.
He inhaled and exhaled lightly and quickly. Somehow his throat was blocked. This place wasn’t underground and it wasn’t stopped by going back in time.
“Should we go back in?”
It’s the same. This place is just particularly beautiful and sparsely populated. Until he’d just said that, it had been his perfect castle.
“Hyung.”
Iseo looked at Taeju resentfully. Yeon Seongju had said the same thing. That he was just wasting time here. He even acknowledged it to some extent himself. But hearing it pointed out precisely by Yeon Taeju was different. The size of the wound he inflicted was distinctly different from what anyone else could inflict.
“Did you think that? About here?”
“Hm?”
“Here, the villa. Did you think it was a meaningless, completely stopped place like a tomb?”
“Did I say it was like a tomb?”
“That’s how it sounded.”
Taeju lightly swept back his own hair. Following the path traced by his dripping wet hand, his hair split into several strands. In an instant, his straight forehead was revealed. Beads of sweat were forming on his forehead.
“That’s strange. I don’t think I said it like that.”
“Did you want to run away? As soon as you got the money. Did you want to escape quickly from this tomb-like place?”
Taeju let out a slight sigh. Iseo’s eyes shook greatly at the shoulders that dropped lightly. Yeon Taeju had sighed while looking at him. As if there was no answer. Iseo batted away Taeju’s hand. The ultramarine sea was vast and he felt like he’d completely lost his way in it.
“I said it thoughtlessly because you made it sound like you hated it here, hyung.”
Don’t lie. He wanted to say that.
“I’ve never wanted to leave here.”
Taeju pushed his sunglasses back up over his hair from where they’d been covering his eyes. Iseo looked down without watching him do it. Then he looked at his eyes again. If he couldn’t even meet his gaze properly, he might think it was just whining.
The heavily furrowed brow and narrowed space between his eyebrows, scrunched up from the glare, caught his eye first. Then he held his breath once at the unwavering gaze falling toward him. His face without a trace of laughter was serious. As if he’d precisely discerned his intentions and feelings.
“Not even once. Do I look like someone who’d stay somewhere I hate against my will?”
Taeju’s large hand came up over his forehead, creating shade like a visor. As shadow fell around his eyes, his face that had been contorted from the sunlight finally relaxed.
“If you saw me that way, you really don’t know me at all.”
“You don’t seem like that.”
“Right. I’m not like that. I’m here because I want to be. Because you’re here, hyung.”
Iseo’s pupils wavered briefly. Beads of sweat rolled down along his spine. In the blazing midsummer sun, with the sea below them, Iseo quarreled with Taeju. Somehow it felt unreal. It really felt like a lovers’ quarrel. Regardless of how much his words hurt.
“Stop being angry now. Relax your face too.”
“I’m not angry.”
“Then kiss me.”
Lowering the hand that had been on his forehead, Taeju gently closed his eyes. Just then, a bead of sweat flowed along his temple down to his jaw. Iseo saw it.
Outside was hot. The breaking sea was cool and the wind was muggy. He touched Taeju’s shoulder. When he stood on tiptoe in the water, the sand at the bottom hollowed out and his legs wobbled. Iseo pressed Taeju’s shoulder more firmly.
“Hurry up.”
He whispered with his eyes closed and only his lips open. It was right in front of his nose. Iseo stared intently at those lips and delayed kissing. He looked quietly at the slightly raised corners of his mouth and pale pink lips, the white teeth that showed whenever he spoke.
“Is it because your anger hasn’t subsided?”
He tilted his head slightly. His eyelids were still gently lowered.
“No.”
“Then?”
“I’m looking at your face.”
Taeju’s black pupils were revealed and the corners of his eyes curved. His pale face smiled innocently. Fine wrinkles formed on the bridge of his nose and one eye narrowed more.
It was simply a smile. Just the organic movement of facial muscles. Yet somehow, the moment he smiled like this, it was dazzling and his chest grew hot—he couldn’t understand it. Iseo even felt like arguing with his rapidly beating heart.
“You calmed down from looking at my face.”
No one but Yeon Taeju could say something like that. No one else would be capable of it either. It was absurd, yet there was no room for rebuttal.
“I look better with my eyes open though.”
“You look best with your eyes closed and your mouth shut.”
“Kuhahaha!”
Taeju laughed loudly. He laughed so hard he nearly bent backward, and Iseo’s body was pulled along with him. Taeju wrapped his arm around and caught his swaying body.
“Wow, that hurts?”
Still unable to contain his laughter, Taeju pretended to be hurt. It was annoying how he spoke when he wasn’t affected at all. Iseo lightly pushed his shoulder where sticky sweat was forming.
“Everything I say is funny to you.”
“No, it’s cute.”
Taeju’s arms wrapped around his waist like vines. Iseo inhaled and made his stomach hollow. Their touching chests were bare skin. Their legs were also crossed and tangled. The rubbing lower bodies felt strange. Both the tight swimsuit and the hot body temperature.
“That’s enough.”
“Kiss me.”
“I said I’m not angry.”
“Exactly.”
“I don’t want to. And let go. If someone sees…”
“It would be better to do it before I do.”
He pushed his handsome face forward as he spoke. He lowered his voice as if telling a secret. What he said was similar to a threat. And such threats couldn’t help but work well. Judging from his track record, you could immediately predict what would happen next.
Iseo glanced slightly toward the sandy beach. There were no people around, as if they were completely isolated on a deserted island.
“Close your eyes.”
Taeju closed his eyes again. Iseo stared intently at his face and tilted his face diagonally. He kept his eyes open until just before their lips touched, until Taeju’s face was completely pushed out of his field of vision.
When the hot, slippery lips rubbed together, Iseo closed his eyes. He rubbed their lips and stuck out his tongue to taste lightly. The moment he felt the salty taste and sweet flesh scent simultaneously, the arm around his waist suddenly tightened.
“Wah!”
Iseo’s body was lifted in a flash. Even though he must have been heavy because of the water, Taeju showed no sign of difficulty as he supported Iseo’s buttocks and lifted him up.
“Why are you teasing me so much over a kiss?”
Iseo’s legs wrapped around Taeju’s waist. In an instant, his eye level rose and Taeju’s face was positioned below. Iseo hurriedly embraced Taeju’s nape tightly.
“Ah! You scared me!”
Iseo urgently raised his voice and wrapped his hands that had been gripping his shoulders around his nape.
