Different Dreams in the Same Bed (4)
He was reacting too. Flustered, Jeongbae clamped his mouth shut and resisted by pushing Jaehyuk away with both arms, but it was useless. A thumb pried between his lips and pushed in forcefully, and through that gap their tongues entwined.
“Mm… mmm.”
A voice swallowed between his teeth. A tongue stickily licking the roof of his mouth. His legs felt like they’d give out. With the feeling that he needed to end this quickly, Jeongbae wrapped his arms around Jaehyuk’s neck. When he slowly stuck out his tongue, it was sucked with audible sounds. Just as their lips seemed to part slightly, this time the angle changed and they locked even deeper.
‘Ah, what if someone sees? How embarrassing.’
Jeongbae looked tearful. Even after all that, Jaehyuk kept biting and sucking for a long while, and only barely let Jeongbae go when his lips were swollen enough to puff up. At the end, he even stuck out his tongue and licked the entirety of his lips lengthwise.
‘Ugh… disgusting.’
Jeongbae wiped his lips with his sleeve and flinched. Jaehyuk was looking down at him with a terrifying expression. Shadows fell across his handsome face, and it looked like fire would shoot from his eyes.
“Kang Jeongbae.”
A low, deep voice. Even though Jeongbae hadn’t done anything wrong, he hunched his body. His wrist was gripped tightly again. He tried twisting his arm this way and that, but it didn’t budge.
“L… let go of this first…”
“Now you’re even hitting it off with an omega? With Kang Isol of all people?”
“No! That was Isol doing that on his own!”
“Isol?”
His eyes narrowed.
“You two even exchanged names.”
“Y… you just told me his name now. I didn’t even know his name.”
It was a lie, but Jeongbae desperately made excuses. Jaehyuk’s expression was ominous.
“What’s with these clothes? Who dressed you up like this?”
“Clothes?”
Is it weird after all?
The white tee and sky-blue shirt Dogyeom had picked out. Jeongbae dejectedly hung his head and looked over his own clothes.
“Who did you dress up for? Why don’t you just take it all off? Look here. Your skin is all showing…”
Jaehyuk pointed at Jeongbae’s neck and wrists.
“……”
It was absurd. No skin was showing and the fit was loose.
“Who unbuttoned all these? It’s provocative!”
He’d just layered a buttoned shirt over a white tee. He’d followed Dogyeom’s advice that this was how to wear it. Jaehyuk seemed like he’d gone beyond being a Joseon dynasty scholar to someone who’d carry a sword in one hand and the Quran in the other.
“Calm down. He just said he’d take me to you, so I came along. I… didn’t know he’d do something like that either.”
“Ha, didn’t you learn in elementary school not to just follow anyone around?”
“……”
“You went to a crappy elementary school, didn’t you?”
His face was incredibly handsome, but the things he said were exactly like a fourth grader. Jeongbae, who’d ended up facing off against a 190cm tall elementary schooler at maximum combat readiness, decided to change tactics.
Like a squirrel hiding acorns, he looked around left and right, then wrapped both arms around the tall Jaehyuk’s waist. Carefully, but tightly.
“…I went to Hanyeong Elementary School. Forgive me just this once.”
“……”
“Your school is better than my school. So…”
Jaehyuk’s expression froze for a moment. His pupils were wavering dangerously between ‘this is driving me crazy’ and ‘that’s cute.’ Jeongbae wasn’t one to miss that opening. He tightened his arms a bit more in the embrace and delivered the final blow.
“…I wanted to see you today, so I came to surprise you.”
“……”
The large frame shook subtly. Jeongbae deliberately pretended not to notice Jaehyuk’s reaction and continued very naturally.
“I’m hungry. Let’s eat lunch together.”
Jaehyuk’s patience button barely clicked on.
“What do you want to eat?”
At the voice that came out like a sigh, Kang Jeongbae finally felt relieved. Jaehyuk moved first. His momentum had softened, but his steps were still charged with excitement. Jeongbae, who followed belatedly, carefully matched his pace.
The walking path was wonderfully well-maintained. Large sequoia trees lined both sides of the path, creating shade that seemed to touch. The refreshing scent of trees, the tranquil atmosphere.
And there,
A handsome man holding his hand tightly as if it would break.
‘University is such a huge and wonderful place.’
For Jeongbae, who was entering the inside of a school for the first time, everything was a whole new world.
“What do you want to eat?”
Jaehyuk asked sullenly, showing he was upset. Jeongbae inwardly thought it was cute but was careful not to show it. He’d barely appeased him, so he couldn’t scratch his temper again.
“Let’s eat what you want to eat.”
At those words, Jaehyuk stopped short. When Jeongbae looked up in surprise, that handsome expressionless face said without even smiling,
“I want you.”
“Huh?”
“I said I want to eat you.”
“……”
He felt like even his toes would curl at the cheesy line. But when Jeongbae discovered the bulge in Jaehyuk’s front, he quietly swallowed his words. It wasn’t a joke. If he said even one wrong word, it felt like he’d be dragged somewhere and really get eaten.
“Th… want to go to the student cafeteria? I want to see it.”
“Tch, no fun.”
He said that, but Jaehyuk slowly led Jeongbae’s hand. His heart pounded at the fresh air of the walking path.
When they arrived at the cafeteria, there were more people than expected and Jeongbae felt intimidated. It was bustling with everyone from students to faculty gathered there.
“Do you want kimchi stew or pork cutlet?”
“Um, I’ll have pork cutlet.”
“You don’t need to be so nervous. Lots of people who aren’t students at our school eat here too.”
At the seemingly indifferent but considerate words, Jeongbae smiled and straightened his shoulders. Jaehyuk was basically cynical and blunt. But his heart seemed to melt at the sweet words only said to him.
The food came out right away. Just sitting across from each other made him feel good. It was when he was sitting alone for a moment because Jaehyuk had gone to get water.
“What the hell? Why is Yoon Jaehyuk being so desperate?”
“He’s more ordinary than I thought…”
“Hey, did he get some dirt on him or something?”
“Does he have money? Is he a young master from a chaebol family?”
“Look at how he looks. He doesn’t give off that vibe though…”
At the talk about himself that was too blatantly audible, Jeongbae hunched his shoulders.
‘Jaehyuk really is a celebrity at school too.’
“Here, drink.”
“Thanks.”
The water in the cup was lukewarm. Jeongbae’s heart warmed at the thoughtful consideration of mixing cold and warm water.
‘What’s the point of listening to other people talk? As long as the two of us are happy.’
He was smiling with a proud heart when suddenly Jaehyuk took Jeongbae’s entire tray.
“Huh? You want to eat some pork cutlet too? You can take a lot.”
At Jeongbae’s words, Jaehyuk didn’t even answer and began to prettily cut the pork cutlet with neat knife work. Jeongbae was watching without much thought, but as soon as Jaehyuk finished cutting the pork cutlet, he placed it right in front of Jeongbae.
“Here, eat.”
“……”
Jeongbae turned red all the way to his ears. He wasn’t even a kid, he was twenty-eight…
‘A younger boyfriend cutting my pork cutlet… Isn’t this too much…’
The man and woman at the next table who’d been whispering earlier were looking this way with their mouths hanging open. Anyone who knew Jaehyuk’s attitude would react that way.
“You don’t have to cut it next time.”
“Okay.”
With those final words, they ate quietly. Crispy and delicious pork cutlet. Of all the pork cutlets in Kang Jeongbae’s life, it was the most embarrassing, warm, and happy-tasting one.
***
“From now on, contact me before you come. If you wander around alone, flies will swarm for no reason.”
At the words “from now on,” Jeongbae flinched but held back his words. Somehow one side of his heart tickled. It seemed unlikely he’d come again for a while, but…
“I have an important class today that I can’t skip. Want to audit it together?”
“Audit?”
Jaehyuk slowly nodded.
His gaze was no different from saying he didn’t want to be apart from him. Jeongbae took in a breath for a moment because that gaze was too sweet.
When they entered the lecture hall, Isol was there too. He acted as if nothing had happened, and when he saw Jeongbae, he gave a slight wink before turning his head again.
Jaehyuk did glare sharply at Isol as if lasers would shoot from his eyes, but he didn’t say anything more.
Rather, he subtly wrapped around Jeongbae’s wrist and guided him to a seat.
“Yoon Jaehyuk.”
“Yes.”
“The student next to you is one I haven’t seen before…”
“He’s an auditing student.”
When attendance was called, everyone’s eyes briefly focused on them, but fortunately the class ended without much trouble. It was a class related to criminal law, and Jeongbae also listened with great interest. Enough to nod his head naturally at the professor’s explanation of legal precedents.
“How was it?”
“Yeah. It was more fun than I thought.”
“See? Law school suits you better than medical school.”
“……”
Jeongbae smiled without answering.
“Lastly, I’ll show you around the library.”
The library was a peaceful and warm space full of the gentle smell of books and quiet breathing. Jeongbae looked around carefully as if stroking the shelves, then pulled out any book.
It wasn’t a thick reference book or workbook.
Just… a book.
When he turned the pages, black letters soaked into his eyes. How long had it been? For quite a long time, he’d had no leisure to read books.
‘It’s been a while. Something like this.’
Jeongbae unconsciously sat in a chair and turned the pages. A strange but warm feeling spread from inside his chest. It was good. Much more than he thought.
“Do you like it?”
Instead of answering, Jeongbae opened the book once more to show him.
There was no need to say anything. This moment right now was explaining everything.
For the first time in a while, he read a book that wasn’t a reference book. It was an essay written by a fisherman with plain sentences that resonated. His face heated up because Jaehyuk kept reaching for his hand under the desk from the seat next to him, but… he couldn’t shake it off.
When he gripped that hand tightly, he heard Jaehyuk’s stifled laughter.
“I had so much fun today.”
“Same here. Come often. I feel so good when I’m with you.”
In front of the school’s main gate.
The evening sunset light stretched their two shadows long. Jeongbae stood for a moment, then noticed that Jaehyuk kept looking at him and slightly bowed his head.
Then, leaving Jaehyuk’s send-off behind, he turned his body and started running. Warm lingering feelings rose up to his heels, but now it was time to return to reality.
Carrying rice soup,
Doing driver service,
Staying up all night studying…
Into that difficult, yet inescapable daily life of his.
