The face-washing that he wished could continue for a lifetime ended, and Dowon patted dry Yeohwi’s wet face with a fluffy dry towel. Yeohwi’s bare face, revealed clearly as it absorbed the moisture, was plump and soft.
“Done. Now go out and change your clothes.”
Just then, Yeohwi grabbed Dowon.
“Wait a moment.”
“Why.”
“Just a little more…… I mean, well. Uh…… Brushing teeth too.”
“What……?”
“Well, I think I’m full now. I want to stop eating. So brushing my teeth……”
Yeohwi waved his two bandaged hands.
“My hands are like this. Brush my teeth for me, Dowon-ssi.”
Yeohwi looked at Dowon with his mouth open wide in an “ah.” The tip of his pink tongue was slightly visible. Dowon was so dumbfounded that an empty laugh came out on its own.
“Are you crazy?”
“What if I get cavities? No, before that, if I have bad breath, wouldn’t it be more painful for Dowon-ssi who has to smell it? Just do it for me now.”
Yeohwi nodded his head pretending to be logical and thrust his face forward. In truth, he could sufficiently brush his teeth alone by fixing the toothbrush between his thumb and index finger.
“Honey, please do it for me. Hm? Honey. Do it for me.”
“Just when did you become so shamelessly brazen?”
Dowon shook his head and squeezed toothpaste onto the toothbrush.
He had now reached a state of giving up. To handle this guy, he would first have to cultivate his own patience.
“Open your mouth.”
“Ah.”
Dowon lightly gripped Yeohwi’s chin with one hand to fix it in place and pushed the toothbrush into his mouth. Brush, brush. The fine bristles swept across the tooth surfaces. The scratching vibration transmitted through his jawbone.
Dowon’s hand movements were delicate and meticulous. Each time the toothbrush entered deep inside the molars and came out, the transparent toothpaste quickly turned into white foam and filled Yeohwi’s mouth.
A refreshing mint scent wafted as the foam pooling on his tongue dripped down to the corners of his mouth.
“Ugh, mmph……”
When Yeohwi tried to swallow what had pooled in his mouth for fear of spilling it, Dowon applied strength to the hand gripping his chin and made him lower his head toward the sink.
“Don’t swallow. Spit.”
“Bwueh.”
The richly swollen white foam squeezed through the gap in Yeohwi’s red lips and flowed down in a stream. Dowon’s thumb wiped away the foam remaining at the corners of Yeohwi’s mouth. The slippery texture of the foam and the sensation of firm fingertips were felt simultaneously.
To have a long rod put in his mouth and swished around to spit out white foam.
And to have that foam smeared around his mouth while his chin was held and his mouth was open defenseless.
He had asked for teeth brushing as an excuse to hold on because he liked having his face washed, but when he actually did it, this was no joke. This was incredible. Yeohwi’s nape grew hot. His eyes also changed strangely.
Dowon seemed to concentrate solely on brushing teeth, frowning around his eyes and thoroughly adjusting only the angle of the toothbrush to brush each tooth one by one. The fact that those concentrated eyes, those cool black irises, were directed only at the inside of his mouth made his heart race again.
“Spit.”
After a while, Dowon, who had removed the toothbrush, handed him the rinsing cup.
Yeohwi obediently held water in his mouth and spat it out to rinse his mouth. Meanwhile, Dowon washed the toothbrush and his hands at the sink. Just as he turned off the water and was about to wipe with a towel.
“Dowon-ssi.”
Yeohwi called him and pressed close. Then he lowered his head toward Dowon’s lips.
Yeohwi’s lips pressed against his cheek and the edge of his lips, around that area. Dowon’s movements stopped abruptly. Yeohwi lowered his face a bit more, this time placing it precisely on Dowon’s mouth and licked his lower lip.
Dowon’s hand gripping the towel froze in midair. He turned his eyes very slowly to look at Yeohwi. A refreshing mint scent wafted from Yeohwi’s tongue.
“Thank you, honey.”
“……You.”
The moment Dowon was about to say something, Yeohwi pulled Dowon’s neck with his bandaged arm. And with his freshly cleaned lips, he devoured Dowon. A soft, pliant, moist texture penetrated through the opened gap. Yeohwi skillfully pushed his tongue in and pulled on his neck to continue the kiss.
Dowon tried to step back but there was nowhere to go. It was because Yeohwi was pressing Dowon with all his body weight. Dowon’s waist bumped against the edge of the marble sink. Yeohwi tenaciously burrowed into him with his retreat blocked.
Breath mixed with mint scent rushed into his mouth. His tongue traced his teeth and invaded deep inside without hesitation. There was no roughness in the movements that scraped the roof of his mouth and coiled around his tongue.
“Mmph……”
Dowon’s hand tightly gripped the edge of the sink. Blue veins bulged on the back of his hand. Yeohwi crushed him even more fiercely. It was a kiss that pressed on relentlessly without even giving him room to breathe, as if to completely swallow him.
When their lips finally separated, both of them were breathing roughly.
Dowon, catching his ragged breath, wiped his own lips with the back of his hand.
Yeohwi gazed at Dowon ardently with his appearance still glistening from saliva. Madness rose in his eyes that were clear enough to see through transparently.
“Dowon-ssi.”
Yeohwi called Dowon again. Dowon didn’t respond.
“Dowon-ssi.”
Still, Yeohwi continued to call Dowon.
“Dowon-ssi. Dowon-ssi. Dowon-ssi, Dowon-ssi……”
More strength entered Dowon’s fist at Yeohwi’s voice endlessly tickling his ear. Cold sweat mixed with a slight fever seeped into his tightly clenched palm. A persistent calling that seemed to want to ensnare rather than seek a response. The creepily, endlessly tender resonance was violently pounding somewhere.
***
Time flowed like running water. Before long, the season was entering the heart of midwinter. Outside the window, large snowflakes poured silently, blooming white snow flowers on the bare tree branches in the garden. The snowflakes clinging to the glass window melted in the indoor warmth and flowed down to become long icicles.
An entirely cold and quiet white world. Just as winter deepened like that, the relationship between the two also ripened.
Change came without warning. For some reason unknown, Dowon began to come and go from the master bedroom. There was no clear justification. There was no declaration that he would do so. He simply, occasionally, about once every two or three days, went to the bedroom where Yeohwi was waiting and sought sleep.
When work was busy, he used the bedroom attached to the study as before, but still, sometimes he crossed the threshold of the room where Yeohwi was. Considering the relationship between the two until now, it was remarkable progress.
Of course, that didn’t mean it had any great significance. Even when sharing one bed, Dowon acted extremely dryly. He just pulled back the blanket and lay down.
He didn’t even give Yeohwi a “good night” greeting, nor did he move unnecessarily. He just lay down and fell asleep, that was all.
Yeohwi still always waited for Dowon. With the blanket pulled up to his chin in the pitch-black darkness, he pictured only the sound of Dowon’s approaching footsteps. When Dowon entered the bedroom and lay on the bed, turning his back and beginning to breathe regularly, only then would Yeohwi stealthily crawl toward the inside of the bed.
Because the king-size bed was so wide, if they slept at opposite ends, even their collars wouldn’t brush. He would quietly and secretly burrow in, press his body against Dowon’s back, then wrap his arms firmly around his waist. And seek sleep in that state.
This was the newly formed tacit rule between the two. Far too lacking to be called a married couple, and falling slightly short even to be considered playing house. A somehow bleak and natural something.
That night was such a night too.
Dowon had fallen into a light doze. Seong Yeohwi’s arm was resting on his waist, and a familiar body temperature was felt at the nape of his neck.
But suddenly, rustle. A faint presence touched his senses.
Dowon woke his consciousness instantly like a well-trained soldier. But he didn’t open his eyes or move his body. He focused on his five senses and keenly observed the presence in the darkness. What sound could be heard. What movement could be felt. He maintained steady breathing all the while.
