“Hyung, but the smell is a bit weaker here.”
“……”
“Not smell—fragrance. The fragrance is weaker, so can’t I smell it from higher up?”
“Not the neck.”
He could offer his hand anytime, and like earlier, he could allow the chest area briefly. It was possible because bare skin wasn’t touching.
……If weak breath touched the skin directly, he felt like he’d experience again that strange sensation of his body stiffening that had brushed past him a moment ago. Jiseo, slightly stiff, firmly stopped Yeongwon.
“Smell somewhere else.”
If he gave permission carelessly and their lips happened to touch, the atmosphere would flow in a direction that didn’t suit them.
It might be unnecessary worry, but Jiseo shook his head and smiled without Yeongwon knowing. It was because the image of him clumsily rushing forward was suddenly drawn before his eyes.
He didn’t know why this imagination he shouldn’t be having was drawn so naturally, but he quickly cleared his head clean.
“Then not the neck, but here. Where the arm folds when you roll up your sleeve.”
Even though he’d said no, Jiseo thought Yeongwon would ask to bury his nose in his neck, but unexpectedly, he seemed fixated on a different part. No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn’t understand why specifically the inner elbow, but he could offer this much.
“I’ll roll up my clothes.”
He tried to roll up the clothes that hung down to his wrist himself, but in a moment of oops, he was beaten to it.
Not only that. Even though it would be fine to just roughly push it up, the touch grasping his wrist was unusual.
Yeongwon spread all his fingers ostentatiously and slowly wrapped around Jiseo’s wrist. It was the moment when something’s wrong.
The way he deliberately stroked the skin with his thumb while rolling up the clothes in that state was clumsy yet blatant enough to make him burst out laughing.
Yeongwon was the only one who made him smile in many ways.
It seemed like he wanted to make him feel some kind of emotion but it wasn’t going as planned.
“The scent really is strong here.”
Having rubbed the skin as he pleased until just a moment ago, Yeongwon instantly changed his expression and smelled Jiseo’s pheromones with a fresh look.
Just looking at his face, he looked like he was smelling a puppy’s paw pads and finding it adorably irresistible. Although it pricked his conscience to associate a puppy with an arm where veins protruded prominently, what followed was even more absurd.
“When you smell babies’ scent, sometimes there’s a strong baby powder fragrance from the folded parts like this. It’s exactly like that.”
“What’s the same. As you said, there may be parts where body odor is strong, but pheromones can’t concentrate their power in just one place, can they?”
“Then is it not the pheromone smell? Did your body odor break through on top of that, hyung?”
“……”
“Should I smell it more deeply? Since it flows out, it covers over the original smell, right?”
Seeing that he wasn’t flustered even by the rebuttal, it seemed he’d already decided on his comeback line.
Maybe smelling pheromones was an excuse from the beginning.
Looking at how he was subtly raising the corners of his mouth thinking he wouldn’t see, it seemed like a fairly accurate deduction.
“Hyung, what body wash do you use?”
“You just showered not long ago, so it doesn’t smell much?”
“Ahh. You use one that smells like baby powder.”
“I use a woody scent.”
“Really? Mm, you smell like a baby, hyung. Really. If it’s not the body wash smell, then it must really be your body odor, hyung.”
In the end, it must have been a situation created because he wanted to say that. His brazen acting was very award-worthy.
Even if he slathered his whole body with muscle pain relief patches, Yeongwon would probably have acted unfazed. He would have turned the sharp smell from Jiseo’s body into a fragrant powder scent.
Since it wasn’t true, Jiseo was just curious about Yeongwon’s next action, unable to get the desired reaction.
“I thought about it for a moment, but I really don’t want to be called a thief, hyung.”
“But it’s okay for you to make hyung hear it? I asked the same thing. You keep pretending not to hear.”
“Let’s date first, then announce our marriage early next year and have the ceremony.”
“No. Dating or marriage, it starts when you’re thirty. It’s set.”
“Right. You’re thirty, hyung, so let’s start.”
“You. Not hyung, when our Yeongwon turns thirty.”
Yeongwon calmly tried again to achieve what he wanted, but Jiseo was still firm.
Since it wasn’t a problem that would easily give way, even though he discovered grumbling dissatisfaction rising on Yeongwon’s face, nothing changed.
“Whatever. We’re already married anyway. Whether we go through the procedures or not, the words ‘let’s get married when you’re grown’ became valid from when I was all grown up. It came true as soon as this year started, already.”
“……”
“This time I’ll give you time, hyung. Think about it again.”
“……”
“Where would you act like this before enjoying the honeymoon? It’s not even a love marriage.”
Listening only to Yeongwon’s talk made him feel like he was the one who didn’t care for him and was forcibly cutting off the relationship.
He himself had become a shameless person who got married on a whim, then immediately changed his mind and kicked Yeongwon aside.
He didn’t feel wronged. Jiseo was certain that later he would naturally feel grateful to him. After thinking that far, he truly felt the age gap that he shouldn’t touch Yeongwon.
“Go out and do everything you want and have fun. Your thoughts will change in just a little while.”
“I’m dying because you’re so pretty, hyung, where’s the time to waste, really?”
“……”
“Whatever! Think about it again!”
He tried to hold on again and have a calm conversation, but Yeongwon stomped the floor loudly and headed straight to the entrance. Then he closed the door and left without any lingering attachment.
Bang.
Letting the whole neighborhood know he was angry like a child.
***
Yeongwon Tell me if you need more time
Jiseo, who checked the message that arrived as soon as he opened his eyes in the morning, stroked his face and let out a sigh mixed with laughter.
They hadn’t fought and there wasn’t an ongoing conflict, but since the day Yeongwon came to see him, he kept reminding him through messages that he was in opposition to him.
He didn’t ask to reconcile or readjust, but continued to maintain the concept of a couple taking time apart.
But as the words suggested, they didn’t really turn their backs on each other or exchange angry reactions. Although they hadn’t run into each other due to schedule issues, they naturally exchanged other everyday talk through messages as usual.
Jiseo’s position still hadn’t changed from the day Yeongwon came. Just because a few days had passed didn’t mean it had a big impact on such an important decision.
If anything had changed slightly, it was the thought that if he wasn’t going to accept Yeongwon anyway, he might as well openly treat him like a child.
‘Is it because he’s young? He rushes in without looking ahead.’
Yeongwon also habitually used the expression that he was ridiculously young.
‘Should I just do that? But what if he really gets hurt if I do it properly?’
Since his actions were cute, he could fully treat him sincerely like a cute joke.
However, he was worried that Yeongwon, who seemed serious, might get hurt by him. Furthermore, considering that the most important cause of the current conflict between them was marriage.
So the thought that he shouldn’t take it too seriously kept holding Jiseo back. Probably worried that Yeongwon would get hurt. That must be why.
Moreover, no matter how much he thought about it, it didn’t feel real at all. That was also probably because Yeongwon was like freshly made soft tofu, impossible to compromise with. Like he would burst into tears if touched and collapsed.
Still, he had to cut off this unnecessary time. No matter how much time he gave or worried, nothing would change, so if this could also be expressed as an act of tormenting Yeongwon, then it could be.
Come to my place and let’s talk again
Yeongwon Done thinking about the baby? Okay. I’ll come right away.
At the quicker reply than expected, Jiseo made a bewildered expression and rubbed his earlobe. Since he couldn’t imagine what reaction he’d show after reading his message, he hadn’t even thought he’d come running as if he’d been waiting.
More than that, the way Yeongwon referred to himself had now settled in a strange direction. It was unfortunate that he seemed to want to look grown-up until the very end, but today too he was just cute. How could this settled impression change easily?
