“……”
A moment later, Jiwon carefully opened his eyes at the retreating presence, but unable to bear the intense gaze boring into him, he quietly averted his eyes and lowered them.
In his lowered gaze came Seo Gangwoo’s well-defined abs with beautifully sculpted muscles. Jiwon’s hands, which had been resting around his waist, fidgeted in embarrassment.
This time, Seo Gangwoo’s lips went even lower.
Jiwon’s eyes closed again.
Seo Gangwoo, who had been tugging and sucking on the reddened lips several times, couldn’t hold back and invaded roughly inside. He wanted to treat the small, delicate-looking Jiwon preciously and gently, but he couldn’t control these emotions he was feeling for the first time in his life.
Though he worried whether it might be burdensome, he couldn’t stop.
Fortunately, Seo Gangwoo’s chest tingled at Jiwon, who didn’t reject him. Strength entered the hand wrapped around his slender waist.
Jiwon struggled to keep up with the kiss that felt like it would devour him, but he didn’t push away. Rather, he wrapped his arms around Seo Gangwoo’s shoulders.
It was just a rough kiss, but…
Jiwon felt sad, somehow sensing Seo Gangwoo’s anxiety and desperation in the kiss. Receiving the desperate movements, Jiwon embraced the large body with all his might, hoping to ease even a little of Seo Gangwoo’s anxiety.
Heaving breaths passed between their parting lips.
Seo Gangwoo couldn’t bring himself to look at Jiwon’s face with emotions that wouldn’t settle, and hugged him tightly.
His disorganized mind was complicated. His heart still ached with pain.
“Mm…”
When his body tried to pull away, perhaps feeling stifled from being hugged too tightly, Seo Gangwoo cupped the small head and held it firmly. Then the slightly wriggling movements stopped, and arms came around to embrace his waist in return.
Seo Gangwoo bit down hard on his lower lip. Each of Jiwon’s small movements stabbed into his heart.
In the whirlwind of emotions, Seo Gangwoo shed a single tear.
Seo Gangwoo decided to just be grateful for this moment.
Though he couldn’t believe that someone who could be with him had appeared in his life, where being alone had been natural, he decided to willingly take the hand Jiwon had extended.
Finally, he too had a real guide.
* * *
Waking from sleep, Jiwon wondered about his immobile body and gently opened his eyes.
Right in front of him, he saw Seo Gangwoo’s bare chest. He remembered guiding for a long while and lying down on the bed, but couldn’t recall from when he’d been sleeping embraced while using Seo Gangwoo’s arm as a pillow.
When he raised his head, he saw Seo Gangwoo’s face still asleep. He’d heard he had insomnia, so seeing him asleep made him feel relieved.
“Wow…”
Though fully awake, Jiwon decided to postpone getting up a bit more and admired Seo Gangwoo’s face. The picture-perfect handsome face was fun just to look at.
The combination of perfectly symmetrical, boldly drawn eyebrows, deep-set eyes and a high nose bridge, and moderately full attractive lips looked so handsome it was beautiful.
Jiwon wanted to touch Seo Gangwoo’s nose bridge once, but he held back, worried he might wake him for no reason.
Looking at his comfortably closed eyes, Jiwon recalled Seo Gangwoo’s pitch-black eyes. They were eyes that, when met, made him unable to look away and keep staring without realizing it.
Jiwon kept finding himself examining those eyes where emotions leaked out ever so slightly from an expressionless face. He liked discovering Seo Gangwoo’s emotions one by one, following tiny clues like doing a hidden picture puzzle.
Perhaps sensing the gaze staring intently at him, movement appeared above Seo Gangwoo’s eyelids, and Jiwon quickly closed his eyes and held his breath.
When nothing else happened even after waiting, thinking he hadn’t woken up after all, Jiwon sneakily opened just his right eye and met the black eyes he’d just been recalling.
“Uh… you’re awake?”
Did I move too much? He doesn’t know I was staring from earlier, right? Feeling a bit embarrassed about admiring his face for so long, Jiwon spoke as if nothing was wrong.
Seo Gangwoo nodded his head slightly, but contrary to Jiwon’s hopes, he’d been awake since the moment Jiwon woke up.
Not knowing this fact, Jiwon let out an inward sigh of relief thinking Seo Gangwoo hadn’t noticed, and performed guiding. He didn’t even need to move since they were already embracing.
After experiencing the nighttime crisis, Jiwon decided to focus on guiding Seo Gangwoo except for the time it took his guiding energy to recover. In this bomb-like situation that could explode at any time, he had to restore Seo Gangwoo’s waves faster.
“But what about breakfast? I didn’t see anything to eat in the house…”
Of course, to do that, I need to fill my stomach first…!
“You can order it.”
“Delivery comes all the way here?”
Restaurants were usually concentrated in the city center, and they typically didn’t come if it was outside the delivery area, so it seemed difficult for them to come all the way here, which was even farther out from the outskirts.
“There’s a Time Link registered, so you can receive it there.”
“Oh!”
Color returned to Jiwon’s face.
Time Link was a delivery service operated by spatial-type Espers. If you registered a designated area, you could receive deliveries from connected stores and items, and if both parties were registered, regular delivery was also possible.
Of course, from the annual membership fee to the usage costs were expensive, but it was fast and the delivery safety was high.
Jiwon had actually wanted to try using Time Link. He’d been planning to apply for the service as soon as his salary came in and register Time Link at his family home too, but since it was already registered at Seo Gangwoo’s house, he was happy he could use it right away.
After finishing guiding moderately, Jiwon went into the bathroom outside the room to wash up and came out.
Entering the kitchen, he found a cup from the shelf, filled it with water from the purifier, and gulped it down. Setting down the water cup, wondering what was there, he opened the cupboards and storage spaces below and rummaged around.
Though he’d hoped against hope, they were empty. There wasn’t even a single plate, and cooking utensils were naturally nowhere to be seen.
At least there were a few cups on the shelf and utensils in the drawer that may or may not have been used.
As Jiwon examined every corner of the kitchen, Seo Gangwoo brought over a tablet.
“I order with that?”
“The location is set to the deck next to the front door, so when the arrival notification sounds, you can go get it. Select here, and for payment, there’s a registered card so you can just order as is. If you need anything else, order with this.”
Seo Gangwoo stood beside Jiwon and explained how to use it. The method wasn’t very difficult, so he could learn it quickly.
He had to use Seo Gangwoo’s card to purchase, but he decided to be indebted for the time being. Jiwon’s bank account balance, having not yet received his first paycheck, was meager.
There was nothing registered in favorites, so Jiwon, who had fallen into contemplation while searching, sparkled his eyes seeing there was a Center in the categories. When he clicked it, he could order cafeteria menu items from the jurisdiction center limited to ability users.
He wanted to look at other restaurants too, but since there was an easy choice right now, he entered Center 1, went through authentication, and entered the cafeteria menu.
“What will you eat?”
“I’m fine.”
“Why?”
“I don’t usually eat much.”
“I don’t want to eat alone though…”
Jiwon looked at Seo Gangwoo pitifully. With the height difference, Jiwon looking up with his head raised was as cute as Puss in Boots from cartoons.
Catching the slight hesitation in his seemingly indifferent expression, Jiwon took one step closer, saying, “Am I really eating alone?”
“…Understood.”
In the end, unable to refuse Jiwon’s gaze, Seo Gangwoo expressed his consent and ordered a sandwich, fruit salad, and even coffee according to Jiwon’s opinion as he excitedly chose the menu.
Having completed the order including Seo Gangwoo’s meal, Jiwon’s expression was bright.
Even when eating together in the dedicated room, Seo Gangwoo hadn’t eaten properly each time. At the time, he’d passed it off thinking maybe he had no appetite because his body wasn’t well, but seeing now, it seemed Seo Gangwoo had been living that way all along. The kitchen with no trace of use confirmed he didn’t eat well regularly.
Sure enough, at the answer that he didn’t usually eat much, Jiwon became curious about how exactly he maintained that physique.
* * *
Sunlight came through the living room window of a luxury villa famous for its good view.
The living room, where foreign luxury brand furniture and expensive artworks were positioned throughout, flaunted its splendor with European-style interior design.
Soon sounds of presence were heard, then the arch-shaped door decorated with gold fittings opened on both sides, and Choi Hyerin, having finished preparing to go out, came into the living room.
Before leaving the house, she turned her body this way and that in front of the entrance mirror, checking her outfit. Everything was from yesterday’s shopping.
Though she’d pretended to be fine going to gatherings and parties, the situation of waiting for Seo Gangwoo’s contact had bothered her the entire time.
Eventually, for a change of mood, she called out a few acquaintances who were like attendants, went around luxury brand stores, and only after splurging on whatever caught her eye did her mood improve.
She also put something in the hands of each of the companions who went with her, and had dinner at a fine restaurant. A place where reservations for the whole year were full so not just anyone could go, but making a big show of being someone who could always use it regardless of such things.
Truly consuming without restraint, she relieved the stress that had been building up.
That’s how it was, but…
“Ah, how annoying.”
Because of her father who called early in the morning and just told her to come to the main house then hung up abruptly, her condition dropped to the floor after waking up.
Her father, the Center 8 Director, rarely came to the main house in District 1. She didn’t know what business suddenly made him call and wake her up at the crack of dawn, but Choi Hyerin came out irritated.
