Dowon pushed in as if he would devour and swallow Yeohwi’s lips whole. His rough tongue mercilessly ravaged the inside of his mouth, giving him no chance to breathe as he relentlessly pressed forward. The smoky scent mixed with Dowon’s fishy saliva, numbing the tip of his tongue.
“Mmph…!”
Yeohwi’s eyes widened. Then they slowly closed.
It hurt. His lips felt like they would split and his jaw ached. But even that pain spread throughout his entire body like sweet poison. It was the reward he had longed for so desperately. Yeohwi willingly chose to run and leap toward Dowon, who gave him that dizzying thrill like standing at the edge of a cliff.
Each time Dowon’s tongue thrust deep inside, a tingling sensation shot up Yeohwi’s spine.
Yeohwi didn’t yield, entwining his tongue and accepting Dowon. He had no intention of being taken passively.
With surprising skill, Yeohwi’s hot tongue burrowed into Dowon’s mouth, exploring him. It was such a sensual and bold response that it was hard to believe this was the same clumsy boy from their first night.
Yeohwi wrapped his arms around Dowon’s neck. He clutched the open shirt collar, trying not to be pushed away and not to let this moment slip away. As force entered his grip, the finest quality shirt fabric crumpled miserably in Yeohwi’s hands. The back of his hand pressed down on Dowon’s prominently exposed collarbone.
“Mmm, hah.”
Their saliva mixed wetly, and rough breathing pierced through the music. It was like a passionate fight between two beasts trying to devour each other.
Yeohwi’s hand clutching the collar tore at the buttons and ripped open his shirt. The texture of firm muscles touched his palm.
More, deeper.
He wanted to reach close to his heart.
And he wished this moment would last forever.
He wanted Dowon to swallow him whole and crush him to the bone. Conversely, he felt the ambivalent desire to swallow Dowon like that himself.
Just as Yeohwi, having completely lost his reason, was about to grab Dowon’s solid chest—he felt a great impact on his face. Dowon, who had uppercut Yeohwi’s jaw with his fist, grabbed his shoulder and roughly shoved him away.
Their overlapping lips separated, and wet saliva stretched stickily like threads.
“Haa, haa… Dowon-ssi…”
Yeohwi, having lost his center, staggered.
His swollen red lips and blazing, burning eyes.
His face no longer resembled that of a fresh young man. The greed of one who had tasted the forbidden. The precariousness of one who had lost a place to return. And the tenacious instinct of a beast cub that would chase its prey to the end and make it his own—all shone brightly in his wet gaze.
It wasn’t the freshness of youth, but a dangerous desire that would burn until he became a corpse, rotting and decaying.
“Dowon-ssi, please.”
Dowon threw another punch at Yeohwi’s face as he tried to pounce again. This time it wasn’t a glancing blow like before but landed squarely.
“Ugh!”
Yeohwi, clutching his nose, bent at the waist. Fresh blood dripped steadily between his fingers.
“Stop it.”
Dowon steadied his disheveled breathing and wiped his wet lips with the back of his hand. Roughly, several times, as if wiping away filthy refuse. However, his eyes drawing a cold line were deeply sunken, unlike his usual dry and withered state.
“I feel like shit.”
Dowon turned around without lingering attachment. The door that looked like a giant gold-framed mirror rotated along with the mini mirror, and the wall panel turned to reveal a narrow, dark passage gaping open. It was an emergency escape route for VIPs and a back door for secret meetings.
“No time. Hurry.”
Dowon led the way.
Yeohwi stood dazed, dripping with nosebleed, then pulled out a handkerchief and clutched his burning hot lower face. His nose and lips were completely throbbing and tasted of blood.
This bitter one-sided love had now crossed a river of no return. Yeohwi put strength into his trembling legs and plunged into the darkness following Dowon. It was the beginning of a pursuit—one where merely stepping on his shadow would no longer satisfy him.
***
His memory of what happened at the bank was hazy. It was because his entire mind was consumed by the passionate kiss he had shared with Dowon.
Yeohwi went through several stages of complex authentication procedures including iris recognition, passwords, and physical keys to open his grandfather’s personal secret vault, and secured the enormous bearer bonds and physical stock certificates that had been sleeping inside. Then he immediately signed a loan agreement to liquidize the cash by using those assets as collateral.
Before the ink had even dried, they hurriedly left the vault and ran through the darkness again. Just before the second act of the opera began, the two barely made it back to the box seats. As soon as they sat down and drew back the curtain, the stage lights came on and the grand overture rang out.
It was a perfect alibi.
After that, their fabricated disguise didn’t crumble even during the moment they boarded the limousine back to the hotel and crossed the lobby. And for good reason.
Dowon had two or three shirt buttons torn off, leaving his collarbone and chest completely exposed, and his bowtie was nowhere to be seen. Yeohwi’s appearance was even worse. Red bloodstains had clearly spread on his white shirt collar, and his hair was stuck to his forehead, soaked with cold sweat.
To anyone looking, they appeared to be newlyweds out of their minds who had just engaged in passionate and sadistic lovemaking behind the curtain of a box seat. The gazes of passersby wouldn’t leave the two. Even the hotel lobby staff whispered with flushed faces, but Dowon didn’t care and confidently got on the elevator with his arm wrapped around Yeohwi’s waist.
Now, rather, that misunderstanding was serving as a solid shield.
“Haah…”
Finally arriving at the hotel’s top floor, the door lock released with a sound and the suite room door opened.
As soon as they entered, the heavy tension released and the silence filling the room engulfed the two. The downtown area spread beyond the window glowed blue under the moonlight, and only the breathing of the two men filled the spacious living room.
Yeohwi sank powerlessly onto the sofa. His legs were trembling.
Dowon took off his jacket and threw it over the back of a chair. His untied necktie, his shirt, and the way he exhaled rough breaths were far from his usual cold composure. An atmosphere naturally formed as if revealing some rough, wild nature.
“……”
“……”
The ensuing silence was long.
Dowon turned his head to look at Yeohwi. His gaze lingered on the red bloodstains on the white shirt collar. Dowon silently stared intently at that vivid blood color. His lifeless black pupils slowly expanded and then contracted.
Though he had hurriedly wiped it away, traces of blood remained on Yeohwi’s face as well. It was a smeared mess from roughly wiping from below the nose to the lips.
“You look like a mess.”
Dowon gestured toward the bathroom with his chin. His jaw muscles hardened stiffly, revealing the outline of his protruding masseter muscle.
“Go wash up. You’re filthy.”
“…Ah, yes.”
Yeohwi answered dazedly and stood up from his seat.
But his feet wouldn’t move easily. His gaze also couldn’t tear away, as if caught by Dowon.
The solid pectoral muscles glimpsed between the shirt he had torn off with his own hands. The jet-black hair stuck to his forehead with sweat. And the lower lip that had roughly interlocked and whose heat had not yet cooled…
The afterimage of the violent and hot kiss they had just shared in the darkness of the opera house overlapped with Dowon’s disheveled appearance.
Yeohwi unconsciously swallowed his dry saliva. His Adam’s apple bobbed heavily.
When he realized that his gaze was persistently boring into Dowon’s lips, a chilling thrill ran down his spine. His beaten nose seemed to burn hot again.
“I-I’ll be back.”
Yeohwi, clearly unable to escape from the lingering afterglow of the passion that had passed, fled into the bathroom.
He had to lock himself in the bathroom for a full two hours, barely managing to soothe and calm himself down.
When Yeohwi finally came out after washing up, the living room scene had changed.
The stand lamp softly illuminated the room, and he saw a crystal bucket full of strong whiskey and ice ordered through room service. The thick briefcase brought from the bank was wide open on the massive table, and even the documents that had been inside were spread all around.
Dowon was still in his torn-shirt tuxedo, deeply buried in the sofa, tilting a whiskey glass. It seemed he had been reviewing the documents the entire time Yeohwi was washing up.
From his posture sitting with his legs crossed, one could feel the leisure of a languid predator. Even the way he casually swept back his hair was breathtakingly sexy.
Yeohwi approached hesitantly. His wet bare feet silently stepped on the carpet.
