I had an uneasy feeling like I was constantly being manipulated, but having committed sins, I had no right to refuse.
I hesitantly extended my arm and he burrowed into my embrace, resting his head on it. He rubbed his cheek and even placed his leg on top of me. Won Dogyeong lifted his head sharply and asked.
“How is it, are you turned on?”
“Be quiet, seriously.”
Far from being turned on, I was drained and getting sleepy.
Won Dogyeong, who seemed to find something so amusing he kept grinning the whole time, stuck close and sniffed here and there, smelling me.
“You smell like my shampoo.”
“I used yours….”
“How about me?”
He stuck his head right in front of my nose. My eyes were blurring closed, so I sniffed half-heartedly.
“Yeah yeah, you smell like my shampoo.”
“I used the body wash too.”
This time it was his arm.
“Yeah yeah, mine.”
“This smells good. I might buy this next time too.”
“Mm-hmm.”
“But why do you have two toothbrushes in the bathroom?”
“That’s from before… when I went to Park Hyeonho’s place….”
“You brought it? I threw mine away.”
“It’s a waste….”
I was dying of sleepiness now, but Won Dogyeong was chattering away excitedly like a colt.
“Can I put mine next to it?”
“Yeah yeah, do whatever you want.”
“Do you want to leave a toothbrush in my bathroom too?”
“I will…..”
Should I turn off the light so this guy will try to sleep? I struggled to sit up and turned off the lamp on the nightstand. When I flopped back down, he personally spread out my arm and laid on it.
Honestly, I was so sleepy now that I couldn’t even remember being embarrassed. My body felt heavy, like I was sinking down through the bed.
“What do you want to eat for breakfast tomorrow?”
“Breakfast…? I don’t know, rice…?”
“I bought olive ciabatta, should I make you a sandwich?”
“That sounds good too….”
“If you don’t want ciabatta, I have regular bread too.”
“No, I like ciabatta….”
“If you don’t want regular bread either, mmph.”
I listened and listened until I raised my hand and blocked his mouth.
“You said to wash up and sleep quickly…. Let’s sleep, Dogyeong…. It’s nighttime.”
And I’m sleepy because I haven’t been sleeping properly.
When I released his mouth, Won Dogyeong tried to say something again, so I pulled his face close and kissed him with a smack to stop him.
“You can leave your toothbrush, and ciabatta is good for tomorrow.”
Every time he tried to open his mouth, I kissed him with smacking sounds to stop him. It was dark so I couldn’t see his expression well, but he seemed to have quieted down a bit, so I hugged his head and patted his back.
“Everything you make is delicious… when have I ever not eaten it?”
My consciousness gradually sank.
Then the thin strand of consciousness that remained detected movement wriggling in my arms. He stuck out his face with a slight pout and whispered in a resentful voice.
“Hey…… I’m hard…..”
Now that he mentioned it, I felt something touching my thigh.
Nope, no. There’s no such thing.
I desperately ignored it. If I got up now, tomorrow would be sleep-deprived too. I need to sleep. Right now sleep desire came before sexual desire.
“Yeo Jeongwon, you’re mean… so mean. Am I the only one helping you…?”
What are you talking about, you definitely got off once too.
Won Dogyeong just whined in a whisper, perhaps unable to wake me when I seemed to be asleep. I pretended not to know and surrendered myself to the sleep demon. My consciousness sank in an instant.
Sorry, do it again tomorrow or something….
***
The next morning, when I opened my eyes, Won Dogyeong was watching me with his lips pouting out in dissatisfaction. I blinked and looked at him, then asked nonchalantly.
“Didn’t you sleep well?”
This is revenge, you bastard.
He glared with an uncertain expression, then tilted his head and sat up. A tingling, numb sensation came to my arm that had been pressed on all night. It wasn’t a pleasant sensation, so I wrinkled my nose and kneaded my arm.
“Your head is really heavy, the blood circulation in my arm was cut off….”
At my carelessly blurted remark, Won Dogyeong crossed his arms and snorted. His expression was like, let’s see just how far you’ll go.
I suddenly realized I’d said the wrong thing, so I grabbed his t-shirt, shook it, and apologized.
“But I like it…. Should we sleep like this every day?”
“No?”
Won Dogyeong shook off my hand and disappeared into the kitchen with a thoroughly sulky air.
I followed along and apologized several times, but he kept going on and on while cooking, saying that with Yeo Jeongwon’s nagging, he’d have to go on a head diet, so I finally couldn’t stand it and smacked him on the back once.
A busy week passed and Saturday morning arrived. We woke up leisurely and set the table in the living room. It was brunch, closer to lunch.
I found the drama Won Dogyeong had been watching lately on OTT and started it while picking up my spoon. Since I’d only watched it sporadically, whenever a part I didn’t understand came up, I’d ask in between and he’d chatter away explaining from beside me.
“So this person likes that person.”
“No, no. This person likes that secretary who appeared earlier, but is pretending to like that person.”
“Why?”
“Jealousy strategy?”
“Hmm, did you write the script?”
The unnecessarily strategic approach reminds me of a certain Mr. Won who unknowingly pulled various tricks.
When I teasingly scolded him, he twitched his spoon and shook his head seriously.
“If I’d written it, I wouldn’t have written something so obvious. There’s so much more to do besides that.”
“What, pretending you’re too drunk to walk?”
When I asked with a giggle, Won Dogyeong muttered with a shameless face.
“I’m in big trouble since all my trade secrets got exposed.”
He was crunching on seaweed and staring at my face, then slyly averted his gaze and stuck out his lips.
“…Actually, I tried the jealousy strategy but it didn’t work well….”
“When?”
When I asked with wide eyes, he clicked his tongue.
“See, you don’t even remember. That writer definitely never had a one-sided crush.”
“So when was it?”
“Ah, never mind. Want more rice?”
Seeing my rice bowl showing the bottom, he asked as if he’d get up from his seat right away. I said it was fine and went to get it myself. The first serving wasn’t that small either, but starting from the donuts, my appetite had properly opened up, so no matter how much I ate, I was hungry.
If eating like this means Yongyong is growing well, that would be fortunate.
While I was at it, I also brought a bag of snacks from the pantry. I’ll eat it after the meal.
I sat back down and scooped up some soybean paste stew and slurped it. Delicious. Anyway, he cooks too well.
“Should we open a restaurant next to the circus?”
“So I’d be doing both the circus and the restaurant.”
Won Dogyeong looked back at me with a raised eyebrow as if dumbfounded.
“If you’re going to do the restaurant too, Yongyong should do the circus. Dad will have a hard time.”
When I spoke while holding back laughter and pretending to be calm, Won Dogyeong stopped eating and lowered his head to complain toward my belly.
“Yongyong, be prepared when you come out, your dad is a scary person….”
“I’ll do the MC work, calculations, and serving. I’ll be the busiest.”
I have to throw snacks to Yongyong at the circus, and go to the restaurant to wipe tables too. Busy, so busy.
“What’s the profit ratio?”
“60-40.”
“Who gets 60?”
“Me. I’m the only one doing both sides.”
“You want me and Yongyong to split the 40?”
“That’s how you have to see it.”
“What a con artist.”
He sighed and pressed down hard on my head. I laughed, making a deflating sound.
After finishing the meal, we cleared the table and sat side by side on the sofa. I took out the bag of snacks I’d brought earlier and turned it around, examining it. It was my first time seeing it, but Won Dogyeong said it was delicious, so I bought it out of curiosity.
Potato chips covered in chocolate… is this really good? It seems weird.
Even after opening the bag, he watched me sniffing for a long time, then perhaps frustrated, picked one up and brought it to my mouth.
“Here, say ah.”
I opened my mouth reluctantly and ate it. I chewed awkwardly, but it tasted better than I thought, so my furrowed brow smoothly relaxed from the tension.
“It’s good.”
It was a taste that conveyed the ambition to solve sweet and salty with a single potato chip. I decided to give it a pass necklace for its excellent performance befitting its intention.
Won Dogyeong lifted his chin with a triumphant face as if to say, see?
Yeah, you’re great.
I threw a potato chip into my mouth and continued watching the drama, when a scene came on where the protagonist with a one-sided crush noticed the other person had someone else and went home dejectedly. Along with sad BGM, I sniffled and ate my nose, and finally couldn’t hold back the tears that bubbled up.
Here we go again. Won’t someone develop a tear duct locking device for pregnant people?
I pulled on the sleeve part of Won Dogyeong’s t-shirt sitting next to me and dabbed my tears.
Won Dogyeong, who was flustered and didn’t know what to do at first, now casually handed me tissues since this happened occasionally. However, today he looked a bit dissatisfied.
“This is really funny, if you feel sorry for that person, you should have cried a hundred times looking at me.”
I flinched at his grumbling words but pretended not to know and sniffled, swallowing my nose.
A tear drop fell plop onto the snack bag. I swear I wiped it with a tissue before it touched the snacks, but Won Dogyeong patted my shoulder and sneered.
“Are you seasoning it?”
“Pfft….”
Laughter reflexively burst out. If you laugh while crying, you’ll grow hair on your butt.
Recently he’d been relatively gentle, so I’d forgotten. This is what he was like. Annoyed that I’d laughed without realizing it, I grabbed his clothes and said threateningly.
“I’m going to blow my nose.”
“Tissues would be more comfortable, right?”
Then he crumpled up a tissue and held it to my nose, so I snatched it and blew with a hmph.
I’m letting you off easy.
