“Eat, sleep, diligently go to school, get a job……”
“That’s not what I’m asking.”
“What about you then?”
When you don’t know the intent of a question, honestly asking is the most ideal answer.
“I was curious, I missed you, I thought about you.”
When a riddle-like answer came back, Hyedam put all the churros he was holding into his mouth and chewed slowly. After wetting his mouth with the refreshing lemonade, he slowly opened his mouth.
“Leo Lewis.”
Leo’s one eyebrow shot up as he drank the lemonade Hyedam had just drunk, patiently waiting for his words.
“Make a promise with me.”
Since he nodded while drinking his beverage, Hyedam continued speaking.
“While we’re visiting Jeju Island together, riddle-like questions like just now are banned, and answers that can’t be immediately understood are also banned. From now on, I’m going to treat you not as the boss I serve, but just as Leo that I know. So you do the same.”
“You’re pretty.”
After laughter seeped into Leo’s eyes and the corners of his mouth softly rose, at those words, the faint smile that had been on Hyedam’s face completely disappeared. I just said it, and you’re immediately being a riddle again?
“That kind of talk is banned too.”
“Ah, why!”
“You kept saying I was ugly, and now suddenly you’re saying weird things. Just keep saying I’m ugly. That’s better.”
“I don’t want to? You’re pretty though?”
At his absurdly insistent tone, the corners of Hyedam’s eyes rose upward.
“I honestly said something just as it is that can be immediately understood. So why are you saying no again?”
“Where’s the truth in that? And there was no accurate object or subject. How would I know what you’re looking at when you say it?”
“Ah! So that’s why you’re angry. Our ugly one is pretty.”
At the words brazenly drawled out while propping his chin and staring at his face, a hollow laugh flowed from Hyedam’s mouth. Why can’t we have a normal conversation excluding work talk for more than 3 minutes?
“As soon as we get back, I’ll make an appointment for a comprehensive checkup. You’ve deviated a lot from the normal range, so you need accurate medical treatment from a doctor.”
“I’m more problem-free and healthy than ever.”
“I don’t know about other things, but there’s a big problem with your visual aspect.”
“What’s the problem? I say something pretty is pretty when I see it, and say something ugly is ugly when I see it!”
“That’s the problem. How can something ugly and something pretty coexist?”
“It exists. Right in front of me. Then, shall we do the comprehensive checkup together?”
“You do it. I’m extremely normal.”
It’s not even a random word festival, what kind of conversation is this, but both of their mouths had smiles hanging on them as they had this conversation with no substance.
* * *
“Hey!”
It doesn’t match. It doesn’t match. Even if it doesn’t match, how can it not match this much?
Hyedam yelled loudly with his hands on his waist. If it was going to be like this, we wouldn’t have come to Jeju Island together. I would have just gone to my house. It was you who overturned my schedule of eating chimaek tonight while watching the countdown and going to sleep!
“Why?”
“Why are you coming here?”
“I need to wash up.”
Can’t you give me even 1 second of time alone? I have the right to be alone quietly.
I don’t know by what standard the small villa in Jeju Island that Leo mentioned is small, but anyway, it was certain that there were five bathrooms. There were seven rooms, and there were several places that could be called the main living room. Seeing that there was even a greenhouse and a stable, it was only 3 minutes ago that Hyedam, who had been shocked, decided to redefine the concept of ‘small’ that he speaks of going forward.
After being guided to a room on the second floor, he wanted to rest for a moment while washing up, but Leo had already taken off the hoodie he was wearing at some point when he’d followed him in.
“Hey! Why are you taking off……”
Ah, there was a t-shirt inside…… That’s not it.
“Don’t take it off?”
“Yeah. Don’t take it off and just leave. There are five bathrooms. Why wash here? And you said this is the room I’m using……”
“The room못난이 uses is my room, and what does having five bathrooms have to do with not being able to wash here?”
No. He’s clearly speaking formally, but why does it keep sounding informal, and why is my room your room…… Anyway, Hyedam, who was thinking about which one to refute first, raised his right hand.
Fine. You use this room. I’ll use another room. It’s not like there’s only one room here with a bathroom attached. Rather than getting tired from bickering, Hyedam, who chose to avoid instead and was about to leave the bathroom, was blocked from even leaving by the arm wrapping around his waist.
“I’m not a Confucian scholar.”
The atmosphere that had been bickering and joking around with raised voices just moments ago changed instantly with Leo’s words. Was Leo’s body temperature, hugging him tightly from behind, this high? Plus, this voice. At Leo’s breath scattering below his ear, Hyedam grabbed his arm.
“I never asked you to be a Confucian scholar.”
Hyedam swallowed the saliva pooled in his mouth lest his trembling voice be discovered, and muttered softly.
“That’s welcome news to hear.”
He could fully feel Leo laughing at his nape, and could feel many things from their touching bodies. If you expressed one person’s emotions, state, mood, etc. in language, how many could you think of? He fully accepted what was hidden in conversations made up of small gestures, breaths, and gazes, and tapped his arm with his fingertips.
“But I didn’t say right now.”
Hyedam didn’t stop Leo’s touch unbuttoning his shirt with one hand and tilted his head back, leaning his head on his shoulder.
“If not now, when?”
At Leo’s answer, Hyedam laughed softly. All the shirt buttons were undone, and with a rustling sound, the shirt moved away from his body.
“Later……”
Hyedam, wearing only a white t-shirt with his slacks, raised his hand and touched Leo’s head, still buried in his nape. He liked the tension that this precariousness gave, where the moment either one of them touched the line between them, it would break. Unlike when he denied it and kept thinking it wasn’t so, now that he acknowledged it and began to accept it as his body and heart led him, everything looked different.
The ‘I don’t want to’ he spat out wasn’t literally ‘I don’t want to,’ and grumbling wasn’t grumbling. Until now, he’d never whined to anyone. He’d never insisted on something nonsensical. But now he was doing that to Leo.
As soon as Leo’s hand entered under his t-shirt and touched his warm abdomen, a low, long sigh flowed from Hyedam’s mouth. While his hand slowly stroked his abdomen and touched his waist, his lips played with Hyedam’s earlobe.
“Inconsistency between words and actions.”
At his voice tickling his ear, Hyedam laughed and relaxed his body. He enjoyed Leo’s abundant and soft hair flowing down between his fingers and the heat transmitted from his firm chest touching his back.
“No. I’ll fulfill it soon.”
“Try your best.”
Ugh.
At Leo’s action of baring his teeth and biting his nape as if displeased with his words, Hyedam let out a suppressed moan and shrank his shoulders.
“I’m doing it.”
Muttering, Hyedam placed his hand on top of Leo’s hand heading slightly downward. He didn’t know since when, but he seemed to be getting increasingly intoxicated by the coffee scent surrounding him. It seemed like now even a bread scent was coming along with it.
The buckle was undone, the zipper went down, and at the cold temperature felt on his exposed legs, Hyedam slowly turned his body within his arms. He brought his nose tip to Leo’s high nose right in front of him.
“Is there a disadvantage for inconsistency between words and actions?”
“Probably.”
Hyedam, who had stiffened slightly at Leo’s touch grasping his buttocks along with his answer, lifted his toes slightly and briefly kissed Leo’s lips.
“Even with this?”
“Want to make a deal? Then, this isn’t enough.”
At Leo’s answer as he slightly pulled his face back, Hyedam brought his hand to Leo’s waist and put his hand inside his t-shirt. Only touching his back with his fingertips, he gradually moved his hand upward from his waist.
“What about this?”
“……No.”
At Leo’s firm answer, Hyedam grabbed the end of his t-shirt and pulled it off. Then he ostentatiously took off his own t-shirt, and soon their bare chests touched.
“This wavered a bit.”
Whether it was the thick coffee scent filling the bathroom, the fast-beating heart, the slightly raised corners of his mouth, or even his eyes that had turned dark green. His words and body language were saying opposite things.
“Liar. This time you’re the one with inconsistency between words and actions.”
“I’m caught? Then, what disadvantage do I get?”
At Leo’s words, Hyedam stuck out the tip of his tongue and wet his lips. Since Leo entered the bathroom, he created a sentence neither of them had brought up.
“Let’s wash together. But, we can’t do it.”
“……That’s a bit too much?”
“Then leave. I told you to leave the bathroom a little while ago too, didn’t I?”
Hyedam moved his hand that had been playfully groping his back and placed it on Leo’s pants buckle.
“Choose. Will you leave? Or……”
With a click sound, the buckle was undone, and as he moved his hand a little more, the ziiip sound of the zipper going down filled the bathroom.
“I’ll wash.”
