“I guess Kang Hyun-woong’s chest and Jae-min’s hands have good compatibility.”
Cheol-hui’s indifferent words echoed in his head. That his hands and Hyun-woong’s chest have good compatibility. He naturally imagined Jae-min’s long, white hands sticking thickly on Hyun-woong’s large, dark chest.
“Isn’t that way too lewd to say?”
Running down the stairs, Jae-min muttered through clenched teeth.
‘What does it even mean that hands and chest have good compatibility?’
But stranger than that weird statement was himself getting excited. It was Hyun-woong whom he hated so much, so he should feel unpleasant hearing they had good compatibility, that seemed normal.
Plus, a perfect satisfaction score. That Hyun-woong thinks satisfactorily of the masseuse’s hands touching his chest. Why did this feel gratifying? His pride was somehow hurt. It’s not like gold dust comes off the chest, and massaging well doesn’t help with getting a job.
‘Honestly, that bastard’s chest isn’t anything special…’
Jae-min stopped short while trying to evaluate Hyun-woong’s chest negatively for pride recovery.
“No, it is fucking amazing though…”
He’d felt it today too. A chest like Hyun-woong’s would be hard to find anywhere. Voluptuous enough to fill his hands completely, yet also firm from being trained through exercise, with nicely tanned skin and lewd milk that keeps flowing out no matter how much you squeeze. Being able to touch such an amazing chest is a tremendous opportunity, so it would be right to feel proud of being praised for kneading well.
Having come all the way down the stairs and arrived on the building’s first floor, Jae-min covered his face with both hands. A deep, hot sigh flowed out between his lips.
“The fact that I’m rationalizing this hard is already strange…”
The moment reason returned, a hollow laugh escaped. That something was seriously wrong—he could definitely feel it now.
⁕⁕⁕
“Lim Jae-min.”
The next day, Jae-min headed to the band practice room for the first time in a while. It wasn’t a formal practice session, but among the Fake Lightning members, those who had time decided to match their playing together for the first time in a while.
Jae-min, who had been sitting in the corner of the practice room blankly fiddling with guitar strings, raised his head sharply at his name dropping from above.
Chi-won was looking down at Jae-min with a crooked posture, hands on his hips.
“Hm? Why’d you call me?”
“You’re especially out of it today. Is it because it’s been a while since you played guitar so it doesn’t feel right in your hands? Or are you tired?”
“Ah, yeah. I’m a bit tired.”
“Shouldn’t you cut back on your part-time job?”
“If you count the hours, I don’t work that much.”
“Really? Just looking at your haggard face, you look like someone who works all night.”
Jae-min raised his hand and felt his cheek. Chi-won clicked his tongue and scanned Jae-min’s face.
“Your dark circles have come down to your chin.”
“Ah, don’t exaggerate.”
“I’m not exaggerating. Look in a mirror. You’re the ugliest Lim Jae-min I’ve ever seen.”
It was a calm tone, but the content was nothing short of a knife. Jae-min, as if deeply stabbed by Chi-won’s words, flinched and set down the guitar, approaching the mirror. His under-eyes were really dark and his skin was rough. It was obvious he hadn’t slept properly at night.
“I really am ugly.”
Muttering while glaring at the mirror, Jae-min raised both hands and covered his face. Then he rubbed vigorously, giving himself a dry wash.
Last night, his body was tired but sleep wouldn’t come. He thought all sorts of things. Lying in bed with his eyes closed, Jae-min deeply analyzed the memories of the day he got aroused while tormenting Hyun-woong.
First, if he wasn’t crazy about men’s bodies, and if it wasn’t just about liking large chests unconditionally, he wondered if he had sadistic tendencies that gained pleasure from abusing someone.
But if that were the case, Jae-min had never shown such tendencies in his past relationships, and though he lay down and searched on his phone for various information about sadism and masochism, nothing particularly appealed to him.
Unable to reach a conclusion, Jae-min faced dawn without sleeping properly amid spinning questions. Recalling the pain of being unable to sleep made his head ache again.
Turning his eyes from the mirror, Jae-min let out a deep sigh. He approached Chi-won and tapped his shoulder.
“Hey, I’m going to get some air.”
“You’re not ditching practice, are you?”
“I’ll be back in a bit.”
Jae-min, who retied his sneaker laces, opened the practice room door. Chi-won waved his hand at the back of Jae-min’s head.
Leaving the underground practice room and coming outside, Jae-min walked without setting a destination. He thought that walking around the neighborhood would clear his haziness a bit.
After walking for about 10 minutes, he reached an intersection. Glancing up at the shopping center connected to the subway station, Jae-min entered without much thought. He intended to at least browse some clothes.
After roughly scanning various brands and riding the escalator up, a bookstore appeared. Since he had no particular interest in books, Jae-min, who was naturally about to go up one more floor, paused.
A familiar woman was lingering in front of the space where bestseller books were organized. Though he only saw her back, Jae-min could recognize her at once.
It was Yun-ji.
‘Did she like books?’
Jae-min narrowed his eyes and stared at Yun-ji. Since they’d run into each other after a long time, he thought maybe he’d say hello and took a step when a silhouette approaching Yun-ji’s side entered Jae-min’s view.
“Huk!”
Jae-min, startled, quickly stepped aside and hid his body between the bookshelves. Then, holding his breath, he looked again at where Yun-ji was.
The man with a huge build who approached and stopped next to Yun-ji was Hyun-woong.
Since they were dating, it was natural for the two to be together, but to Jae-min’s eyes, this scene right now looked awkward, even like a photoshopped image. Especially because of the space being a bookstore, it felt even more so.
‘On a date? Why are they both on a bookstore date when it doesn’t suit them?’
If he’d run into them at a gym instead, he might have thought ‘of course.’ Because Yun-ji also enjoyed exercising.
‘Come to think of it, it’s strange they didn’t come to the gym together.’
Jae-min bit his thumbnail and glanced at the two. Yun-ji pulled out a book from the bestseller corner and was saying something to Hyun-woong. Hyun-woong just nodded. There was about two steps of distance between them.
From the gap in the bookshelf, Jae-min observed the two with a displeased gaze.
‘Does that bastard wear those clothes even on dates?’
Their outfits weren’t much different from when they were with him. That’s why it was strange. Yun-ji had dressed up fully like when she dated Jae-min, but Hyun-woong was in pitch-black workout clothes.
It was far, too far from fashionable attire. Even people who aren’t interested in fashion wear different clothes for working out versus dating.
Yun-ji and Hyun-woong, who had been quietly conversing, suddenly left. Jae-min kept an eye on the direction they were going, and when the two disappeared from view, he moved his steps. He moved thoroughly to keep some distance so he wouldn’t run into them, but not lose track of where they were going.
Somehow, he ended up tailing them. If he got caught doing this, he’d die of embarrassment, but for now his curiosity won. Jae-min didn’t think about what lay ahead and just followed diligently.
The place the Hyun-woong and Yun-ji couple headed to was a café on B1 of the shopping center. Since it was in a shopping center, all sides were open without being closed off, and right next to it was a fashion store. Jae-min put on his hood and entered the adjacent store, pretending to browse clothes.
Then, with his head slightly turned so his face wouldn’t be visible, he glanced at the two from the corner of his eye.
Yun-ji and Hyun-woong sat facing each other, but neither was looking at each other’s faces—they were both just looking at their phones. It was close enough to hear conversation, but neither of their voices could be heard. Jae-min scanned the two with suspicious eyes as they kept their mouths tightly shut and just did their own thing.
‘Did they fight or something?’
Then the vibrating pager on the table rang. Hyun-woong stood up abruptly and headed to the pickup counter. Jae-min quickly lowered his head and hid his face. Then, a beat late, he raised his eyes again.
When Hyun-woong brought coffee and dessert to the table, Yun-ji smiled brightly and said thank you. Hyun-woong shrugged and sat down. It looked like an ordinary date scene. They even ordered just one cake to share between them.
“…Or not?”
No, looking closely, only Yun-ji ate. There were clearly two forks, but Hyun-woong didn’t touch it and just quietly drank his coffee.
That said, there wasn’t anything to criticize about their relationship being bad, but somehow the atmosphere was odd. With a puzzled heart, he didn’t take his eyes off them for a moment, but just because he watched carefully didn’t mean he got answers.
Jae-min, watching the two with a furrowed brow, clicked his tongue inwardly. Suddenly hit with reality about why he was doing this, his strength drained. What was there to be puzzled about just because the atmosphere wasn’t lovey-dovey? If they’d been all over each other, it might have been more unpleasant.
