“Kim Haewon-ssi!”
Even when I called out to him, Kim Haewon just stood there holding his tablet PC, checking something without a word. He wouldn’t even turn around? Was he crazy?
I swung my fist and smacked him on the back. Kim Haewon didn’t dodge the fist that struck his back—he just took it. Even though as an esper he surely must have sensed it coming, he just let me hit him. He slowly turned around.
“Why are you talking like that!”
“What did I say?”
“You said mean things. You’ve been cranky ever since you woke up, kissing me without permission, deciding my feelings on your own! Who said I hated the kiss?”
“……”
“Of course! I’m not saying I liked it either! Do you think it feels good to wake up suddenly and have your first kiss stolen? It doesn’t feel good at all! But still, I didn’t feel disgusted or like I wanted to beat you up!”
I poured out everything I wanted to say without giving Kim Haewon a chance to speak. In my frustration, I pounded my own chest as I spoke.
“I was hurt, that’s what I’m saying. It’s not like I did it on purpose, but the moment I woke up, Kim Haewon esper made this face, like he’d been in a bad mood all last night and was demanding I explain myself—I hated that!”
Once my thoughts were organized, the words flowed smoothly from my mouth. Kim Haewon just quietly listened to what I had to say without any change in expression.
“If you’d slept well and woken up, you could have let it go! If you were going to be like this today, you should have just thrown me on the floor last night! You could have easily picked me up like a paper doll and slammed me to the ground!”
I put my hands on my hips, rattled off my words, and turned around.
‘You think you’re the only one who can turn your back first? I can do it too.’
After pouring out everything I’d sorted out inside, I felt a bit relieved. Of course, with each step I took, I wondered if I’d been too harsh, but I ignored it. Just as I entered the bedroom and tried to organize the bedding, strong arms wrapped around my lower back from behind. Even without turning around, I could tell whose large embrace this was.
“Wh-what!”
“This is difficult. Everything.”
“What are you suddenly talking about?”
“I liked it. Sleeping tangled up with Park Garam-ssi.”
At those words, I closed my mouth. My face turned red in an instant. This person wasn’t shameless—how could he just blurt out such embarrassing words so easily?
“I wasn’t trying to interrogate Park Garam-ssi. I just didn’t want to call it a mistake.”
“……”
“Because mistakes are things you correct, prevent from happening again, and reflect on.”
I couldn’t find the words to continue, so I pulled his hands away. He obediently lowered the hands he’d wrapped around my waist. I looked at him and continued speaking.
“Th-then you should have said that from the beginning.”
“……”
“Ki-kissing me out of nowhere too. Huh? Even if we’re in that pair relationship, it has to be done with consent. Got it?”
“Got it.”
Kim Haewon answered obediently. He seemed sorry about kissing me. I grabbed the edge of his sleeve and continued.
“You said mistakes are things you correct and prevent from happening again, right? And reflect on.”
“Yes.”
“Then today’s ki-kiss wasn’t a mistake.”
“……”
“But still! You should reflect on pouncing on me without saying anything!”
I couldn’t bring myself to say that the kiss with him hadn’t felt bad, and that there were many things that were clumsy because it was my first time. It was a strange feeling—I didn’t know if it was good or not.
But like I’d gotten a brief taste of an unknown world, I did feel curious about wanting to try it once more. Would everyone move their tongue as gently as Kim Haewon did? Would they occupy my entire mouth, stirring it up and completely mesmerizing me? I couldn’t voice such thoughts out loud.
Kim Haewon took the hand that was gripping his sleeve and held my fingers.
“Can I take what you just said at face value?”
“Huh? Yes. Just take it at face value, I suppose……”
“Can I kiss you now?”
“What? Why is the conversation jumping there?”
“I reflected on pouncing without saying anything. So now I’m asking.”
“N-no way! Why would you ki-kiss me?”
“Because I want to.”
Kim Haewon’s too-honest answer made my ears turn so red I felt like they might burst. I pushed his hand away. But Kim Haewon interlaced our fingers and pulled me toward him.
“Don’t you want to?”
Kim Haewon asked directly, but I could only move my lips slightly. Honestly, I didn’t hate that he said he liked me. I was a bit afraid of him holding me and kissing me, but my resistance to such actions was gradually decreasing.
Along with the shock from that adult verification scene yesterday, the reason I kept checking his crotch was because of a certain trembling. Because I was reacting to each and every thing in my relationship with him. I lowered my gaze and asked in a very small voice.
“C-can you do it slowly?”
“Yes.”
“You have to let me breathe too.”
“Yes.”
“Sh-short.”
Kim Haewon didn’t answer anymore and gently held my chin, making me look at him. He briefly pressed his lips against mine and pulled away. Between parted lips, his tongue touched my teeth and withdrew. He pressed his lips against mine again. This time he took my lower lip and sucked it before releasing it, slipped slightly inside, and pulled away.
I followed his kisses and slowly raised my hands. I grabbed his arms. Kim Haewon placed my hands around his waist and cupped both my cheeks.
“Like this?”
When Kim Haewon suddenly switched to informal speech, I gulped. I wanted to yell at this young punk—how dare he make someone’s heart flutter like this so suddenly?
But instead, I did as Kim Haewon had done and took his lower lip before releasing it. As soon as our lips parted, Kim Haewon immediately followed me and mixed our tongues together. It was a kiss that was slightly slow, yet somewhat persistent.
I thought as I closed my eyes. Kissing seems to feel kind of good, and I might really have possessed a novel. There’s no avoiding it now—this is BL. This is real BL.
Everything was dark before my eyes, but I decided not to think too complicated thoughts. When I pulled Kim Haewon’s waist a bit closer, he carefully laid me down on the bed and continued kissing me.
* * *
{Oh my, must have been quite a passionate night?}
Emily giggled when she saw my lips. I bit and rolled my lips. As a result of sucking and biting with Kim Haewon since morning, my lips had become completely swollen. The absurd thing was that Kim Haewon was perfectly fine while only I was a mess.
“Do espers’ lips not swell? Why am I the only one like this?”
When I poked Kim Haewon’s waist while speaking, Kim Haewon smiled slightly and said,
“Does it sting?”
I nodded. Kim Haewon gently applied ointment to my lips.
“Do you want to wear a mask or something if it’s uncomfortable?”
I shook my head no. After causing a commotion in the morning, I decided to be a bit more honest with my feelings. I decided to face head-on the reason why Kim Haewon kept catching my eye, bothering me, and why my face turned red from skinship with him. When I grabbed Kim Haewon’s sleeve, he held my hand in return.
“From now on, you have to stay with me all the time.”
“Yes.”
After the long kiss ended, I told Kim Haewon about the story that appeared in the novel. As soon as he heard the news that VENT and the Alliance Leader might be targeting me, he frowned.
I said I could be wrong, but Kim Haewon said it was entirely possible. He said that touching his pair guide would be much easier and more profitable than touching him.
After hearing that story, Kim Haewon never let his guard down. Wherever we went, he tried to keep me by his side. I was even included in esper meetings that other guides didn’t attend. Of course, I ended up dozing off again during the boring proceedings.
“But did I really snore?”
After the meeting ended, Akutagawa Yu passed by whistling, saying my snoring had been melodious. Kim Haewon shook his head.
“You didn’t snore.”
“That bastard really rubs me the wrong way.”
“Don’t worry about him. He has a bad personality to begin with.”
“Right. I thought Kim Haewon esper had the worst personality among SS-rank espers, but I guess not.”
Kim Haewon chuckled at my words and started walking. We decided to pursue MK in San Francisco. Since Kim Haewon was also paying attention to Tilda Lu, the investigation route came easily.
The ones moving together were American esper Emily and Akutagawa. Emily Ruler would handle communication with the US federal government, and Akutagawa Yu would move with us. It was to keep Akutagawa right next to us and monitor him, and fortunately, the US government didn’t object strongly.
“For now, we’ll follow MK’s Tilda Lu’s movements, and the other two will discuss with the American Ability Users Association and come back with a detailed operation plan.”
Kim Haewon briefly summarized today’s meeting content. I nodded and continued speaking.
“Ah! We should have done guiding together this morning too. We couldn’t do it yesterday either because I fell asleep.”
“Should we do it before getting in the car?”
“My lips are all swollen though?”
When I stuck out my swollen lips, really hurting and unable to do more, Kim Haewon smiled and stroked my hair.
“There are many guiding methods besides kissing, aren’t there?”
“Ah, ah…… Right. Then we can do it in the car too. We can do two-handed guiding for the first time in a while.”
I scratched my cheek in embarrassment. Then Kim Haewon let out a deflated laugh. He firmly held my hand and walked toward the waiting car. As Kim Haewon opened the car door, he continued speaking.
“But.”
“What?”
“Was it really your first kiss?”
At the unexpected question, my eyes widened, and Kim Haewon looked at me seriously. Without answering, I hurriedly got into the car. Kim Haewon’s low laughter scattered through the car door.
