He should be the one scolding him for why he dangerously entered the dungeon alone. He should also ask what he thought was in there to enter the water so fearlessly, and he needed to give him a definite warning about falling asleep so defensively and hear him say he wouldn’t do it again…
No matter how much he had fed him porridge and given him medicine, Jaehwi, who couldn’t leave a sick person alone, got into bed and held Raon in his arms. How can I scold him when he’s this sick? And he was sick partly because of him… It would have been fine if he had just blown away all the moisture the moment he pulled him out of the water.
When he held him tightly, he, who had been curled up, relaxed his body and pressed his heat-filled body against him. He put his hand inside his T-shirt that Raon, who was embraced almost halfway on top of his body, was wearing and slowly stroked his warm back.
The groaning sounds decreased, and as the fever reducer slowly permeated his body, the heat disappeared, and holding Raon who was sleeping while gently sweating, Jaehwi captured that moment in his heart as it was.
Because the moment he opened his eyes, a storm-like war of nerves would unfold. He could lose everything to Raon, but he had to be certain about that one thing.
A certain distance was absolutely necessary between Raon and himself.
* * *
Sleeping while holding Raon in his arms didn’t make sense. Even in the darkness, Jaehwi looked at Raon’s face without difficulty. Looking at each part, and also looking at the whole. Touching his hair, lightly stroking his cheek. Being careful not to wake the sleeping person, he didn’t waste the moment that would be the last.
But that peace didn’t last very long. Can’t he sleep soundly for about a day? As the sun rose dimly and time passed, Raon’s breathing changed. As his movements also increased, Jaehwi slowly closed his eyes, putting his regret behind him.
Making a small sound and stretching, entangling his body even more with him, it didn’t seem like he was fully awake yet. Then at Raon’s action of suddenly freezing stiff, Jaehwi had to bite his molars hard to hold back laughter.
The bedroom with blackout curtains drawn wasn’t very bright even if the sun had risen. Following the sound of drawing in breath as if startled, the action of waving hands in front of his eyes to check if he was deeply asleep continued.
And for Jaehwi, it was the start of a time like sweet torture.
His assumption that he would be startled like a rabbit, flustered, escape from his embrace and leave the room was completely shattered. Raon didn’t untangle his body that was entwined with him. Rather, he pillowed his shoulder and tilted his head back to look at his face.
Cold fingertips landed on his face. Fingertips that were very careful not to wake him, ticklish, stroked his eyebrows. They moved along the bridge of his nose and touched his closed eyes’ eyelashes.
Raon was returning to him exactly what he had done all night to the sleeping him. What’s so nerve-wracking about this that he even swallowed his saliva quietly… And the last action he did was tracing his lips with his fingertips.
He couldn’t quite decide how far he should endure, when he should pretend to wake up. He seemed younger than him but in the end, was it inevitable that he was actually older? Or was his imagination extremely wicked?
Worrying that he would be caught by him because of his naturally quickening heartbeat was only for a moment, then Raon pulled away the entangled body and got up. And after completely separating from him, Jaehwi had to focus on controlling his senses that were naturally awakening.
“Hello.”
His chest ached at Raon’s small whisper as he sat up only his upper body. But he was still a sleeping person. Even while feeling the rustling sound of the blanket and the bed shaking a bit, Jaehwi couldn’t move a single fingertip.
Raon, who had completely gotten off the bed, hesitated, then something moist, soft, and squishy covered Jaehwi’s lips. And then the intense movement that seemed like a rushing sound could be heard, followed by the sound of the door opening carelessly and slamming shut.
Since the door was completely closed, Jaehwi let out the laughter he’d been holding back softly.
After all that hesitation and contemplation, it wasn’t even a kiss but just a peck? And after doing that, you make such a loud noise to wake a person up and run away? Kang Raon. Really… He was a person he couldn’t hate from the beginning, but now he was making it so he could only love him.
He wanted to pretend not to know anything and get messily entangled with him again.
He wanted to hold him in his arms to his heart’s content and let his hands wander all over his body.
It started with laughter, but as the laughter gradually subsided, Jaehwi raised his hand and covered his eyes.
What does this regression want from him? Whether it’s telling him to keep him by his side again. Or to stay away, he couldn’t tell. After showing only a terrible ending, if you’re sent to the past, it was natural for people to live the opposite way.
For him who had lived in a place no different from hell, the problem was clearly the couple of months when he had glimpsed heaven. So it must mean to keep living in hell. When you don’t know heaven, you don’t know how hard hell is. But for him who had learned the taste of heaven, hell was…
Even lying down, no solution came up, and feeling that Raon, who had left as if running away, couldn’t do this or that and was wavering, Jaehwi kicked off his spot and got up.
Since his clothes sent for laundry hadn’t arrived yet, he would have to give him his outdoor clothes. And he had to tell him about finding him in the dungeon last night, and a warning not to go around dungeons alone since they were dangerous would be appropriate.
Because he couldn’t eat breakfast together via room service as he selfishly wanted and check how his health was.
Looking around a place that was clearly not his own hotel room but the hotel room where Jaehwi was staying, Raon kept glancing at the main bedroom door that remained closed.
The long sleeves that completely covered his hands, the waistband that slipped down whenever he walked even when he pulled it up, the hem that dragged, and the clothes soaked with a familiar scent—there was no need to guess whose they were. He had been leisurely enjoying a hot spring bath in the pond inside the dungeon, and when he opened his eyes, he was sharing a bed with Jaehwi.
No matter how much he tried to remember the many processes omitted in between, not a single thing came to mind. Calling Jay and leaving like this was awkward, but he also couldn’t go back into the bedroom and wake Jaehwi. Raon, who had at least found his bag placed on the sofa, hurriedly checked that bag first.
Finding his cell phone with the power off along with the things he had brought, he sighed first. Perhaps thanks to consistently commuting for several years, his body remembered the wake-up time, and if he prepared quickly even now and left, he could avoid being late.
Should he call Jay to this place? What kind of looks would he get then? But more than anything, since his clothes weren’t here, the most ideal thing would be to have Jay bring clothes and come here.
After taking a deep breath, Raon, who had pressed the cell phone power button, quickly turned around at the sound of the door opening.
“…We have things to talk about, right?”
Raon, who had been looking at Jaehwi coming out while casually sweeping his hair back with one hand, lowered his head and looked down at his body. Identical indoor clothes of the same style and color entered his view. Clothes that fit someone nicely looked on someone else… Though it definitely looked like he was borrowing someone else’s clothes.
“I don’t remember anything, so I think I need to hear an explanation of the situation from Esper Min.”
Since Jaehwi’s tone was businesslike, Raon answered while firmly pressing down embarrassment and shame.
“I discovered the dungeon by chance, and entered lightly as a warm-up, and Team Leader Kang was there.”
As he spoke, Jaehwi opened the bar and held up a water bottle, so Raon nodded slightly.
“…How is your body?”
He seemed to be asking if he wanted to drink water, so he gestured that he would. But then, as if to show off, he coolly drank water in front of him, and at Jaehwi’s words after taking it out, Raon tilted his head slightly to the side.
Why my body? There was nowhere particularly uncomfortable, nowhere that hurt. Raon, who was about to say he was fine, opened his eyes wide at the fact that the terrible muscle pain had completely disappeared. It wasn’t pain that would completely heal with one very common muscle pain reliever pill that Hyukjin gave him yesterday.
It was muscle pain that he should have suffered for several days and nights, and the pain that he had to endure by adding exercise every day had completely disappeared as if it had never been there. Was that hot spring bath good for pain relief?
“I’m fine.”
“You had quite a high fever yesterday.”
“Ah… I caused trouble for Esper Min. It would have been good if you had called Jay.”
“I don’t know that person’s contact information.”
Instead of the water bottle in the refrigerator, he personally opened and handed over a room temperature water bottle, so Raon had to receive it with an awkward expression.
“You went through trouble because of me. But…”
It was good that he brought him out of the dungeon, and he could understand that he had no choice but to bring him here since he didn’t know Jay’s contact information or where he lived. But how could he explain that he was sleeping while holding him in his arms? Raon couldn’t bring that up with his own mouth and glanced at the main bedroom with the corner of his eye.
“Don’t you remember?”
“Pardon?”
“What happened last night.”
Watching in real-time as Jaehwi’s handsome corner of his mouth rose crookedly, Raon rolled his lower lip inward and bit it.
