“You turn someone’s body into a rag and you’re laughing? …Wait, what time is it now? I have to go to work today!”
Kang Siwon, who’d snapped to his senses, searched the bed for his phone. As if he’d prepared it in advance, Ray Jun held out the phone and said.
“What rag? I haven’t done that much yet. Don’t worry.”
“Are you crazy, it’s past 1 o’clock! I have to be at work by 3!”
“Do you really have to go to work in that state? Your voice is all hoarse too.”
Ray Jun naturally wrapped his arm around Kang Siwon’s waist and pulled him close. The body that had just gotten up collapsed right back into Ray Jun’s arms. Kang Siwon pushed him away while grumbling.
“Of course I have to go to work. I have evening shift today!”
“Call in sick.”
“If I call in sick 2 hours before work, who’s going to cover for me?”
“Sick leave is supposed to be sudden. Who plans to be sick?”
He had a talent for saying the right thing annoyingly. Even though objectively Kang Siwon knew Ray Jun’s argument was correct, it was difficult to easily decide since it didn’t suit his personality to make such requests to superiors.
Moreover, beyond simply working as cage staff, he absolutely had to go to work to complete the mission the Baeksa Faction had given him. It was already a precarious situation, worrying about getting caught for staying out overnight without reporting to Ju Xiang.
“Move. I have to go.”
He shook off Ray Jun’s arms, which were hugging him like a pillow. However, Ray Jun, while pretending to back away, clung on persistently.
“Rest before you go. If you take a taxi, it won’t even take 20 minutes from here to Sovereign.”
“If I stop by the dorm, time will be tight!”
“Why are you going to the dorm?”
“To change underwear and do something about my appearance… I don’t know, anyway how can I go to work looking like this?”
“You can ask the concierge to bring underwear. As for clothes… they’re a bit wrinkled but so what. You’ll have a uniform in your cabinet anyway.”
“…”
“I think calling in sick is better, but if you insist on going to work, I won’t stop you. Still, just rest a little before you go. If you rush around like that, you’ll get more tired.”
Kang Siwon, who had been struggling to escape Ray Jun’s embrace until then, finally gave up exhausted and let his limbs go limp. Everything was tiring. He thought he might rest for just a bit, as he said. Of course, it wasn’t that he wouldn’t go to work at all, just really briefly.
“…I’m getting up and washing in 30 minutes.”
“Okay, okay.”
Ray Jun answered while pulling him even closer. Then he actually buried his face in his head and breathed in his scent. He wondered what he was doing, but felt a strange sensation.
‘Xie Wei, I like you.’
His insides stirred at the memory that suddenly surfaced. Seeing how he was holding him so tightly like this, did Ray Jun really like him? Well, there was no reason for him to lie about such a thing. Yet he couldn’t readily believe it.
Why on earth would he like someone like him? Kang Siwon couldn’t understand it at all, but when it came to asking the person himself, his mouth wouldn’t open for fear it would turn into exchanging embarrassing confessions. And separate from the fact that Ray Jun liked him, he was at a loss for how to sort out this relationship.
“…Hah.”
In the end, Kang Siwon let out a long, deep sigh.
* * *
Even while showering, the worry didn’t leave his mind. What on earth should he do about Ray Jun?
Accepting his confession was out of the question. Even setting aside that both Ray Jun and himself were men, Kang Siwon wasn’t in an honorable position to begin with. The deeper a relationship became with someone, the greater the risk of secrets being discovered. Even if he was lucky enough not to have his identity exposed, he’d have to leave this place in two and a half years. How would he explain that then?
“…This isn’t it.”
Kang Siwon muttered while bumping his forehead against the bathroom wall.
Why was he thinking on the premise of accepting the confession? Even if they’d met normally in Korea, he wouldn’t have thought about dating Ray Jun.
In the end, the conclusion was that going forward, he’d have to live awkwardly with his roommate in an ambiguous relationship. The dorm had been the only space where he could breathe, but now even that had become uncomfortable.
Moreover, he felt sorry for hurting a good person like Ray Jun, even if unintentionally. …Though thinking about how he’d firmly fixed his pelvis in place and thrust his hips up as he pleased yesterday, he had doubts about the very premise that Ray Jun was a good person.
Kang Siwon was endlessly troubled under the falling water, then thinking this wasn’t the time, finished washing his hair. And to handle the task he’d been putting off, he put his hand on his buttocks.
“Ugh…”
Semen slid down his thighs. He couldn’t describe how startled he’d been when it started flowing out the moment he’d set foot outside the bed. On top of that, he’d been filled up so much that it didn’t seem like it would all come out just by spreading like this. It seemed he’d have to stick his finger inside the hole to scrape it out, which he really didn’t want to do.
Knock knock.
At the sudden knocking sound, Kang Siwon flinched like someone caught doing something wrong. Soon a nonchalant voice came from outside the door.
“Xie Wei, should I help?”
“…”
“With the cleanup. Since it’s your first time, it seems like it’ll be hard to do alone.”
He couldn’t deny that for just a moment, he’d been a tiny bit tempted. However, he couldn’t show Ray Jun his literal private parts. Kang Siwon spat out curtly.
“It’s fine.”
“Tell me anytime if you need help. I ordered room service, so hurry up and wash and come out.”
Ray Jun didn’t press further and withdrew cleanly. Seeing how he’d even ordered room service at the right time, he was clearly sensible and a decent guy, so why had he made such a mistake? Kang Siwon thought gloomily while pushing his finger into the hole.
“Ugh…”
Perhaps because the hole was swollen, a stinging pain rushed in from the moment his finger touched it. How on earth had Ray Jun managed to shove his dick into this place where even one index finger was hard to push in—it was nothing short of the mystery of the human body. Kang Siwon endured the burning pain and scraped out the semen.
After somehow finishing up, Kang Siwon moved slowly. His legs were already trembling, and with moisture on the floor too, he was careful not to slip.
“Done washing?”
As soon as he opened the bathroom door and came out, Ray Jun, who’d been sitting in a chair, jumped up and approached. He naturally supported Kang Siwon and sat him in the chair, then brought a towel from somewhere and started drying his hair.
“Don’t touch me.”
“Just bear with it a little. I’ll dry it quickly.”
“I said stop being annoying.”
He spat out bluntly, lacking even the energy to push him away. Just then, the doorbell rang from the entrance.
Ray Jun, who walked to the entrance, opened the door. In the meantime, Kang Siwon covered his face by putting the towel on like a hat. He was burning up inside, worried about what on earth the employee would think of him and Ray Jun.
The dull sound of the tray’s wheels rolling over the carpet could be heard. The clattering that followed was probably the sound of setting up the room service.
“Enjoy your meal.”
With a kind greeting, the employee’s presence leaving the room could be felt. Only after the entrance door closed completely with a click did Kang Siwon lower the towel.
“Why were you doing that?”
“…”
“Trying to hide your face?”
“Why ask when you know?”
“It’s fine though, why are you like that? Worried about the swelling? You’re naturally slender so it doesn’t even show.”
Ray Jun seemed to not only not know but couldn’t even guess why he’d hidden his face. Kang Siwon let out a light sigh and pulled the chair slightly toward the table to sit.
On the table, cream soup, bread, and avocado chicken salad were laid out. A basic but delicious combination. Kang Siwon picked up a spoon and ate the cream soup first.
It was a bit rich for hangover food, but as the hot soup went down his esophagus, his insides seemed to gradually warm up. Kang Siwon ate a few more spoonfuls.
“…”
Suddenly feeling a gaze, he raised his head. Then his eyes met Ray Jun’s, who was perched on the edge of the bed.
Because of the gaze looking at him contentedly, Kang Siwon felt a strange sensation. Except for Uncle Gyucheol, had anyone ever taken care of him so attentively? Though of course, it was like giving the disease and then the cure.
And a beat late, he realized something even stranger. Ray Jun’s eyes were hazelnut-colored, unlike usual. Like when he’d seen them in Hong Kong.
“Why are you wearing color contacts from the morning?”
Those eyes sparkled like jewels, to the point he wondered why he’d only noticed now. Probably because they suited Ray Jun so well that he didn’t feel any sense of discord.
“This? They’re not color contacts. What I’ve been wearing until now were color contacts.”
“What are you talking about?”
“My original eye color is like this. I’ve been wearing black lenses until now.”
“…Why?”
It wasn’t a difficult story, yet he couldn’t readily understand.
If what Ray Jun said was true, it meant he’d been wearing color contacts all the time except when sleeping. If even he, who shared the same room, only noticed now, it meant he’d hidden it quite carefully.
Color contacts weren’t good for eye health, nor were they comfortable to wear. Yet he wondered what the reason was for going through life wearing color contacts anyway.
“Because they stand out too much. I didn’t like gossip going around because of this. But now we’re not in a relationship where I need to hide things like this, so I’m going to take them off when I’m with you.”
