# Chapter 24
Contrary to their assumptions, Geonwoo was now sensitively reacting to even the smallest changes in Jaehee’s expressions and gestures.
He couldn’t help it. Because the Jaehee who had sweetly called “Geonwoo-ya” while nestled in his arms all night had disappeared.
Yesterday, perhaps due to tension, he had fallen asleep without realizing it, and when Jaehee woke up, he looked surprised to find he had fallen asleep.
And after that, it was like now. Cold. Drawing a clear line, Jaehee maintained that icy expression.
So Geonwoo was making an effort. Half wanting to look good to Jaehee, half wanting to bring back his sweetness.
‘Should I smile like this?’
Seeing Jaehee’s cold expression, Geonwoo tried a different smile than before.
‘Is this prettier? Or like this?’
Usually, when he smiled like this, people would all melt softly, but not Jaehee. Jaehee was truly a difficult person.
Geonwoo became discouraged when his ultimate weapon didn’t work. The ends of his eyebrows kept trying to droop weakly.
“Esper Choi Geonwoo.”
Just then, Jaehee suddenly called Geonwoo.
When his name was called, Geonwoo brightened again as if he had never been discouraged.
But hearing Jaehee’s next words, Geonwoo’s smile faltered. His face instantly turned red.
“If you stay that far away, the guiding energy won’t transfer. I said I wouldn’t erase the bond, didn’t I? So why do you keep maintaining distance?”
For the stability of his wavelength, Geonwoo needed Jaehee’s guiding. But right now, as Jaehee said, Geonwoo wasn’t pressing his body against Jaehee’s. To others, it might have looked like they were close together, but the reality under the blanket was completely different. He was maintaining a slight distance. Like he had engaged “manner hands mode” for his entire body.
When Jaehee tried to move closer, Geonwoo would startle and retreat slightly to maintain a subtle distance. The same was true for his arms wrapped around Jaehee. Unable to touch Jaehee’s body, Geonwoo’s arms trembled slightly as they hovered in the air.
But for Geonwoo, this was the best choice.
Geonwoo’s pupils shook violently.
‘All night… we were so close together… Again…, again you want to do that? That’s too… dan…gerous…’
Recalling the previous night, heat immediately rose in his body.
‘That was extremely! Ex…tremely difficult… Guide-nim…’
Geonwoo had spent the whole night going back and forth between heaven and hell. The snow-white skin, the soft flesh… even the warm touch that lightly brushed against him whenever Jaehee moved was an incredibly intense stimulation.
Geonwoo was overwhelmed by it. Just 20 years old. Having never wanted someone so desperately before, never held anyone in his heart before. For Geonwoo, the current situation, his own body… felt truly difficult.
So Geonwoo hesitated, unable to do one thing or another.
But suddenly Jaehee turned his head. Seeing something, he even tried to rise. Surprised, Geonwoo hurriedly called out to Jaehee.
“…Uh…”
But due to the pain that felt like his throat was being scratched, proper sound wouldn’t come out. Geonwoo suppressed his voice as much as possible, barely managing to produce a small sound like a breath.
“…G-Guide-nim. Why are you get…ting up?”
Even that seemed to strain his throat, as Geonwoo asked with his brow slightly furrowed. With his arm, he blocked Jaehee from leaving his embrace.
“Where are you going?”
Geonwoo asked in a highly tense voice, glancing in the direction Jaehee had been looking. There stood an examiner holding something.
“I need to check something. So remove your arm, Esper Choi Geonwoo.”
It was a resolute answer. Geonwoo hesitated for a while before opening his mouth.
“Are you going… outside this room…?”
The question was filled with anxiety. Though it was phrased as a question, it was practically one with a predetermined answer. If Jaehee said he was leaving, Geonwoo had no intention of letting him go.
“No, I’m not going out. And how many times do I have to ask you to release your arm?”
As Geonwoo continued to keep his arm in place, Jaehee finally said with his brow deeply furrowed.
At those words dripping with coldness, Geonwoo became discouraged. But he showed relief at the statement that Jaehee wasn’t leaving. Geonwoo slowly released his arm that had been confining Jaehee.
“Ah! Um, Guide-nim!”
Then suddenly, as if something had occurred to him, Geonwoo called out to Jaehee. His hand grabbing Jaehee, who was trying to get up, was urgent. With the pulling force, Jaehee’s body returned to Geonwoo’s embrace.
It wasn’t an action done with any thought behind it. It was just done with the idea that he needed to grab Jaehee quickly. But because of that, their bodies, which had been maintaining a subtle distance, touched, and the soft skin that he had been so desperately avoiding came into contact with Geonwoo’s body.
Geonwoo was greatly surprised and immediately separated his body from Jaehee.
With the tips of his ears turning red, Geonwoo said:
“You’re not… wearing clothes. Can’t you… get up after putting clothes on?”
Geonwoo sent a desperate look asking for this while simultaneously wrapping his arms firmly around Jaehee again. Even when Jaehee tried to push his arms away and stand up, Geonwoo wouldn’t remove them until the end. He absolutely couldn’t back down.
Eventually, Jaehee received his shirt and put it on. But even that wasn’t enough for Geonwoo, who stared intently at Jaehee’s buttons.
Hurry and button it up too.
Only after Jaehee had buttoned his shirt all the way up to his neck was he allowed to get off the bed.
But Geonwoo couldn’t stop his gaze from following Jaehee. His eyes, which didn’t blink even once, remained fixed on Jaehee’s back with an almost obsessive intensity.
Leaving such a Geonwoo behind, Jaehee approached the examiner. He scanned the various types of medicine the examiner had brought with his eyes.
“I thought you might need these… uh, um… Is there any problem?”
The examiner asked with an awkward smile. It was because of Jaehee’s expression. He was slightly frowning, looking at the medicines with eyes that seemed somewhat displeased, or perhaps fearful.
So the examiner also looked down at what he was holding in his hands. Most were commonly used medicines, so there shouldn’t be any particular problem.
But Jaehee went as far as to ask detailed questions about medications he normally wouldn’t inquire about. Examining each one carefully was the baseline. Holding one of them up with deeply furrowed brows:
“This one, we don’t need.”
He said this.
At this unexpected statement, the examiner checked which medicine Jaehee was holding.
That one must be…
“That’s a sedative. I thought it might be necessary in case of an emergency.”
It was somewhat puzzling that Jaehee knew about a drug that ordinary people wouldn’t recognize because it’s rarely used, but the examiner soon added an explanation in a tone suggesting it was fine.
“It’s effective for psychological stability, and it’s not particularly dangerous either.”
But at those words, Jaehee’s expression darkened instead.
“…Psychological stability.”
Jaehee said quietly, almost like a whisper to himself, then:
“It could also have the opposite effect.”
He said with a subtle tone. He followed with a barely audible comment that sounded like, ‘It might cause terrible hallucinations,’ and asked the examiner to remove it. The hesitating examiner had no choice but to put the drug away due to Jaehee’s firm attitude.
Even after finishing all his checks, Jaehee couldn’t readily turn around. It was because there were too many types of drugs he didn’t know. That unease kept holding Jaehee back.
Just then, someone tugged slightly at Jaehee’s clothes from behind. Jaehee turned around accordingly. The one holding his clothes was Geonwoo. As if asking why Jaehee wasn’t coming back when the conversation seemed over. Telling him to come back quickly, not to go elsewhere. Geonwoo was holding onto Jaehee’s clothes firmly, with his inner feelings completely exposed.
As Jaehee approached the bed as intended, Geonwoo moved his body slightly to the side. Then, as if suggesting that Jaehee should lie on the inside of the bed, he tapped the inside of the bed lightly with his hand:
“G-Guide-nim. This spot is more… com, fortable!”
He said with a face that looked like it might explode from redness, smiling brightly while awkwardly telling a lie.
But was it because it was too clumsy? Or was it showing an intention not to accept such behavior? Jaehee remained cold. He was merely taking off his shirt to provide guiding, as if he was only going to do his job. At that, Geonwoo became dejected.
The examiner approached such a Geonwoo. He replaced Geonwoo’s IV with a different one. He also replaced the needle inserted in Geonwoo’s arm with a new one.
During this time, Geonwoo showed no change in expression, like someone without pain sensation.
No, rather, the corners of his mouth were gradually rising. As if he had never been discouraged, Geonwoo’s mood quickly improved. Jaehee had appeared only cold, but that wasn’t entirely true. Beneath that cold gaze, he was harboring concern.
Just like now.
There was a subtle change in Jaehee’s eyes fixed on Geonwoo’s arm. As if anxious about something, fear flashed across his face. He kept glancing at Geonwoo’s arm with the needle inserted and at the IV. All while pretending not to check on Geonwoo.
Such emotions of Jaehee’s were difficult to notice because they passed by in such a brief moment, but to Geonwoo, who was completely focused on Jaehee, everything was visible. This was an aspect he hadn’t been able to see properly yesterday due to the severe pain from the surging wavelength.
He had worried that the sweet Jaehee from last night had disappeared, but that wasn’t the case. Jaehee was right here in front of him, just trying hard to hide it. It’s all visible. Geonwoo’s heart softened again. Happiness blossomed.
After warmly looking at Jaehee, who seemed to be worried about him, Geonwoo opened his mouth.
“Guide-nim… I’m in pain. I need guiding.”
As he said this, Geonwoo embraced Jaehee. Telling him not to look if it was so frightening and anxiety-inducing. Saying that he wasn’t in pain. Asking why Jaehee looked at him with an even more pained expression when this level of pain was nothing to him. Geonwoo hid Jaehee’s face in his embrace, preventing him from seeing.
That’s not to say they were completely pressed together. Only the arm pulling Jaehee was touching Jaehee’s body, while the rest of his body maintained a subtle distance like before.
But soon, Geonwoo had to hold his breath. And he had a strange thought.
That he wished the injection needle had been inserted a bit more painfully.
So he could come to his senses.
The reason Geonwoo had such a thought was because of Jaehee. Jaehee, nestled in his embrace, at Geonwoo’s words that he was in pain, burrowed into his embrace and hugged him tightly.
To maximize the contact area as much as possible.
