Yeo Dowoon moved his tongue to longingly lick at his lips. Even tapping as if asking him to hurry and open up the space. A voice darkened like the outer wall of a cave flowed out.
“…Hurry.”
“……”
“Hurry, open your mouth so I can kiss you.”
Turbid eyes followed Cha Haseong. Violently, as if he would devour him.
When Cha Haseong seemed to hesitate for some reason, Yeo Dowoon gripped his chin hard enough to hurt and spoke.
“You said you’re my guide.”
“……”
“You said so with your own mouth, Guide-nim.”
In an instant, he felt déjà vu. Cha Haseong’s gaze wavered with nowhere to go.
Yeo Dowoon’s grip was strong. He pulled Cha Haseong toward him as if he would shatter his jawbone. The lips that had been demanding a kiss loosened and parted.
“…Are you scared?”
The voice that fell in fragments was steeped in sorrow to a degree that Cha Haseong couldn’t fathom its meaning.
So Cha Haseong couldn’t move a single step further from his position with his arms wrapped around Yeo Dowoon’s waist.
It was strange. Cha Haseong felt a peculiar pulsing seeping into him. It was neither excitement nor trembling.
“A little.”
Even as he answered honestly, his mind was complicated.
“I think so, a little.”
Then Yeo Dowoon suddenly embraced the back of his head and buried it into his chest.
Cha Haseong tasted a person’s heartbeat there. Even though it wasn’t a sensation he was feeling for the first time, his hands and feet tingled unfamiliarly.
“We’re both human, so what’s there to be scared of?”
Yeo Dowoon murmured calmly. He put more strength into preventing Cha Haseong from seeing his face. It seemed he had lost his senses for a while from the pleasant guiding.
Rather, as if comforting Cha Haseong, he slowly patted his back.
“You were startled.”
The ecstasy that had filled his entire body cooled rapidly. The elevator also began to move with a hum. Cha Haseong gripped Yeo Dowoon’s waist with hands that had lost their direction.
“I’m sorry, haa… I’m sorry.”
Yeo Dowoon apologized again like it was a habit. Like a reflex, he asked for forgiveness and admitted his fault.
“I’m sorry for startling you.”
“……”
“I’m sorry for… scaring you.”
For some reason, Cha Haseong felt heat rising. It would be more accurate to say his emotions surged.
He thought someone was playing tricks on him. Otherwise, he wouldn’t feel pity looking at this arrogant esper.
Damn it. Mixed feelings crossed through him.
…Yes, it’s your fault.
Even though he wanted to embrace him to the point where he didn’t want to admit it.
…What are you so sorry about?
Because he also wanted to drive him away so he could never come near again.
Yeo Dowoon, you.
“Let’s go eat breakfast.”
Having easily lifted the sturdy man who was well over 180cm and sat him on the handrail, Cha Haseong whispered as he lifted him back down.
He was simply trying to run away since he didn’t think he could make a decision.
Yeo Dowoon’s body temperature pressing against his skin felt new. He was afraid that he might start seeing him differently.
“Dowoon-ssi must be hungry.”
But where this feeling of rejection came from, where this desire to push him away and flee originated from…
Cha Haseong didn’t know what to do, as if the ground he had been standing on was crumbling.
It seemed too excessive to simply be avoiding espers because he was tired of a life of being courted by them.
It was when the capricious thought that he didn’t need to be this heartless was running rampant.
“…Are you very angry?”
Yeo Dowoon, who was still held in Cha Haseong’s arms, asked in a gloomy tone. If he was going to nervously watch his reactions like this, why did he beg for a kiss and press his lips forward?
Cha Haseong asked back as if dumbfounded.
“Is that all you’re curious about with me, Dowoon-ssi?”
“Because you don’t show it.”
Yeo Dowoon answered like someone who didn’t know how to beat around the bush.
“When you’re happy, you smile, and when you’re upset, you look hurt.”
Like undulating waves, affection surging up to his chin tightened Cha Haseong’s breath.
“When you’re tired, you sleep like you’re dead, but…”
*Ding*, the elevator finally arrived at the first floor. Yeo Dowoon’s voice spread out, mixing with the announcement sound.
“When you’re angry, you try to suppress it.”
Wrong. He had never held back, never restrained himself. It was all Yeo Dowoon’s misunderstanding.
He was clearly observing him through a biased filter. He must be trying to see and judge things only the way he wanted.
But Cha Haseong ended up embracing him with all his might without caring that the elevator was opening.
He didn’t care that people who suddenly had to witness this embarrassing skinship began to murmur. As if peeling back the cross-section he had hidden beneath his outer skin, he expressed impulsively.
“Do it in moderation…”
Please.
“Do it in moderation.”
***
What do I do about this atmosphere? I want to faint.
Yeo Dowoon extended his arm, troubled by the stinging gazes pouring down on him.
*’Close, close.’*
As soon as the close button was firmly pressed, the elevator shut its mouth tight and urgently backed away as if it wouldn’t miss this opportunity. It stealthily rose to find an upper floor.
“…I guess it’s my turn to apologize.”
Cha Haseong, with reddened eyes, slowly released his arms and patted down Yeo Dowoon’s clothes. It was a touch that was neither rough nor gentle.
It was admirable that there was no sign of embarrassment even after mobilizing that many spectators.
“I’m sorry for hugging you in front of people, Dowoon-ssi.”
“…It’s fine.”
“I’m also sorry for cutting off the kiss midway.”
Once the futile apologies ended, the inside of the elevator became solemn as if under a silence spell. It was a destructive atmosphere that no witty comedian could revive even if they visited.
*-Ding dong.*
*-9th floor.*
*-The doors are closing.*
Only after the familiar-toned announcement was heard did two or three people get on, and a semblance of human vitality circulated. He was relieved that this time he could really stand there as an ordinary sight without any excess.
He could imagine without even seeing what kind of false rumors would attach to Cha Haseong if they had shown another sight that went against public morals like just now.
*’I can’t let that happen to you.’*
Yeo Dowoon, who had arrived at the first floor again while tense, was considerably surprised to see that the lobby was cleanly empty. He had expected some people to be waiting for photos or autographs, but it was a huge miscalculation.
Come to think of it, he had completely forgotten that this place wasn’t a regular hospital but a special hospital exclusively for espers.
Having reconsidered the new information, Yeo Dowoon threw out a clumsy and bland question to change the mood.
“About those yellow emoticons. What did you mean by them?”
“……”
However, because Cha Haseong took silence as his answer, the awkwardness only deepened. Perhaps because his profile was expressionless without even a smile, anxiety sprouted repeatedly.
Cha Haseong answered coolly only after what felt not like several minutes but several decades.
“I don’t remember exactly.”
“Ah, then it’s fine.”
“Will you explain it to me, Dowoon-ssi? What emoticons I sent?”
Even though it was an unremarkable question, Yeo Dowoon felt an intangible sensation as if someone was thickly brushing up his skin. *Ahem*, he cleared his throat and described the emoticons as he remembered them.
“Its tongue looked exactly like a banknote, and its eyes were obscene money signs too.”
Other emoticons existed as well, but this one made him feel the most ominous.
He didn’t understand why it was spitting out money, and he couldn’t fathom who would find those crappy-looking eyes appealing.
Cha Haseong opened his lips that had been pressed in a straight line and answered.
“If it’s that one… I think I sent it when I was getting tired of Dowoon-ssi’s money-bragging.”
It was harsh criticism without any embellishment.
“It’s not like you think I’m some beggar.”
“I know you make good money too, Guide-nim. I just did it because I make more.”
As expected, Yeo Dowoon was arrogant. It popped out weakly whenever it seemed like it would be forgotten, so it was impossible not to know. But Cha Haseong responded blandly as if relieved rather than disgusted.
“Right. Must be nice to be capable, Dowoon-ssi.”
Then he immediately interrogated.
“If I had waited at the hotel, would you have come?”
Since that was quite a difficult question to answer, Yeo Dowoon tried to brush off the conversation with a “Hahaha” laugh. Then Cha Haseong told him to do as he pleased and continued walking. Yeo Dowoon asked hastily.
“If I had said I’d come…! Would you have gone?”
Cha Haseong walked steadily into the revolving door at the end of the first floor lobby. Yeo Dowoon also stood in the narrow space and looked at Cha Haseong’s back.
Long and solidly spread straight shoulders. His back was very broad and sturdy for an ordinary person.
No, at this level, it could be said that he had a physique as sleek and well-proportioned as physical-type espers.
“…Yeah.”
Cha Haseong’s answer was tied up carefully. He seemed to hesitate a bit.
“I would have gone.”
Yeo Dowoon gazed clearly at his long, shadowed silhouette.
In the deep dawn. He felt he could vaguely understand why Kwon Jeonghoo had been staring so intently at his shadow. Doesn’t it seem like you could find an answer if you stayed like this?
It was when he was giving his gaze endlessly.
“I’m your exclusive guide right now, Dowoon-ssi.”
Cha Haseong added in a playful voice.
“If I’m the subordinate, I should act like one.”
