<Chapter 91>
#10. The Beginning of Change (3)
Calix froze at Melty’s kiss. This wasn’t their first kiss, but the situation was different from before. Melty pressed his lips deeply against Calix’s, who had stiffened like a statue, then slowly pulled away.
Looking at Calix’s face, which was soaked with emotion from the successful kiss, Melty smiled triumphantly, pleased with the results of his practice. Calix, who had been staring at his smile as if enchanted, spoke.
“Did you… just say you like me?”
Calix’s eyes wavered with longing and expectation as he looked at Melty. His question carried weight, in contrast to how he had been frozen moments ago as if he’d heard something unbelievable. Melty smiled as he met Calix’s eyes, which were yearning for an answer.
“Yes. So I’ll remove the word ‘temporary’ now.”
“Ha…”
Exhaling deeply, Calix buried his face in Melty’s nape. Confused by Calix’s sudden action, Melty tilted his head to the side with a puzzled expression.
“What’s wrong? Don’t you like it?”
“How could I not?”
A groaning sound naturally escaped from deep within Calix’s throat. How could he not like it when the person he cared for shared the same feelings? The only thing that slightly bothered him was that he had won Melty’s heart when his own body was in poor condition. Calix slowly rubbed his lips against Melty’s nape.
“Why do you suddenly like me? You’ve been acting like you never would.”
“I never acted like I wouldn’t like you!”
“…You’re not saying you like me because you feel sorry, are you?”
At his suspicious gaze, Melty pushed his lips out plumply and said:
“I understand why you’d be suspicious since I brought this up in this situation, but I’m not someone who can’t distinguish between emotions.”
Melty ended Calix’s suspicion with a firm statement. He couldn’t tell himself exactly when he had started to like Calix. It had been disconcerting during tea time with Amelia when so many good points about him had come to mind, and he had blushed many times when Calix would suddenly appear in his thoughts as if he were living in his head.
The idea that he had simply been influenced by Calix’s assertive actions was overturned only today. He had relied on Calix’s gentle voice whispering to him in a dangerous situation, and when he realized Calix was injured, his heart had dropped. Calix’s nonchalant behavior was upsetting, and the fact that he was hurt because of Melty was heartbreaking.
‘You should have just left someone like me behind. Then you wouldn’t have been injured like this…’
And in that moment, Melty realized he felt the same way as Calix, who had thrown himself without hesitation to protect Melty. He sincerely wished for the other’s safety more than his own. Because…
‘Because I like him and love him…’
He could immediately recognize that this emotion was ‘love.’ His whole body tingled as if electrocuted, and his heart pounded roughly. It was Calix’s warm eyes directed at him that had organized the complex, rampaging emotions all at once. He wanted to convey that he felt the same way to those eyes that were expressing affection with their entire being.
“I’m really upset that you’re hurt right now, Calix-ssi.”
“…It seems that way.”
Calix, who had been staring at Melty’s face as he bit his lips firmly, slowly moved his hand. Melty’s brown eyes wavered as if he might burst into tears again at any moment. Calix successfully rescued Melty’s lower lip with his thumb, then raised his head with a small smile, letting out a snicker.
“…Give me.”
“Pardon?”
“Since I didn’t get to properly enjoy it earlier, I want you to kiss me again.”
Calix whispered in a voice that had dropped considerably, perhaps due to the heat rising from his wound. Entranced by his husky voice and golden eyes that curved gently, Melty’s head moved on its own.
Unlike earlier, after briefly stealing a kiss from Calix’s lips, Melty couldn’t pull away. Calix’s hand had already firmly cupped the back of Melty’s head. And as if unwilling to miss this moment of yearning, he delved deeper into Melty. As the two’s heat intertwined, a deep and intense kiss continued.
“Haah…”
Hot breath escaped as soon as their lips parted slightly for air. Looking at Melty’s brown eyes, beautifully glistening with moisture, Calix lifted the corners of his mouth.
“Ah, really…”
The phrase ‘I want to eat you up’ formed spontaneously in his mind. Cutting off the words he almost blurted out, Calix made a groaning sound deep in his throat. This was the moment all his efforts to seduce Melty were finally bearing fruit, but unfortunately, it happened after they were stranded, so he couldn’t fully rejoice.
To compensate for his regret, he buried his face in Melty’s nape and inhaled his scent deeply. Although he should have been dirty from being covered in rainwater and soil, Melty smelled like rice stalks well-dried in the sun.
“What comes after ‘really’?”
Along with the question full of curiosity, Melty’s ears twitched and moved. Finding those small, twitching movements adorable, Calix laughed and spoke in a languid voice.
“Say it again. Who does what to whom?”
“…Why are you asking something you already know?”
“I don’t know. I don’t know, so tell me.”
At Calix’s urging, Melty shyly fiddled with his hair and turned his gaze away. Calix playfully bit Melty’s cheeks, which looked redder, perhaps because of the soft firelight, then released them before urging him once more.
“You’ve never properly, officially told me. And I’ve been saying it so earnestly. How heartless of you.”
“Ah, okay. I get it…”
Melty, who had hurriedly responded to Calix’s grumbling, glanced at him and let out a large fake cough. After clearing his throat several times with “ahem!” as if about to make a solemn pledge, Melty rolled his eyes around and opened his mouth.
“So, I… somehow ended up liking you, Calix-ssi.”
“Hmm.”
‘Why did you add ‘somehow ended up’?’
Calix narrowed his eyes at his slightly unsatisfactory confession. Melty, who had his head bowed deeply and was fidgeting with their interlocked fingers, added very softly:
“…Very much so…”
A smile spread across Calix’s lips at the whispered small voice. Completely forgetting how he had looked at Melty with half-closed eyes just moments ago, a thoroughly satisfied Calix approached him, cradling the back of his head with his uninjured hand.
“Pass. You did very well.”
And he continued the kiss that had ended inadequately earlier.
***
With a crackling sound, small sparks flew. Melty, who had been nestled obediently in Calix’s arms, discreetly moved his eyes to check his complexion. Although Calix had positioned himself to lie on the side that wasn’t injured, the warm heat from his injury was transmitted through their touching skin.
Long eyelashes and eyebrows that drew soft curves—hidden now, but inside these eyelids were lovely and warm golden eyes. As Melty scrutinized his face, he newly recognized just how handsome Calix was.
“Mmm…”
Though Melty hadn’t reached out to touch him, Calix frowned and pulled him even closer into his embrace. Startled by his small movement, Melty covered his mouth with both hands to hide his breathing.
As he let out a sigh of relief at Calix’s quieted state, Melty felt his body temperature grow warmer against his skin and his expression hardened. Raising his hand to feel Calix’s forehead, Melty carefully slipped out so as not to wake him. Without hiding his worried feelings, Melty examined his face from various angles and then properly covered him with the one blanket they had.
“You already have a slight fever. This is serious…”
Tears welled up again in Melty’s eyes as he stared at Calix’s face, which was beaded with sweat. Melty wiped his eyes with his hands and stood up. He calmly recalled what he had overheard from his family about emergency first aid procedures.
“Water… I need to find clean water and medicine, and then…”
Due to the downpour and the dirt avalanche, both Calix and Melty had been soaked with mud and water. While water would naturally disappear as it dried, the dirt that didn’t vanish remained on their skin.
Melty gently moved and first headed toward the tightly closed door. Since beyond the door would be full of soil, it couldn’t be used as an exit. Instead of pushing the door, Melty pressed his ear closely to it.
“Has the rain… stopped?”
If it was still raining, he should be able to hear the sound of rain, but no matter how much he strained his ears, he couldn’t hear anything. Wrinkling his nose, Melty scanned the interior. He needed something to burn to keep the dwindling embers alive. And he also needed to find clean water to wash the dirt from Calix’s wounds.
‘It would be good if I could gather some medicinal herbs.’
Unfortunately, Melty didn’t have the skill to find medicine to help Calix. Although he had studied, there were so many similar types of herbs that he wasn’t confident in distinguishing them perfectly, not to mention it would be unreasonable to roam the mountains alone.
After checking his clothes that he had hung up roughly, Melty put on the damp garments. They were still not completely dry, but they were wearable enough. When Melty turned his head, he noticed Calix’s clothes discarded on the floor. These were the clothes he hadn’t paid attention to because he was in a hurry to check on Calix’s condition.
As Melty trotted over to check the state of the clothes, his eyes grew hot again. Among the carelessly removed clothes was the medicinal herb Melty had been looking for. Seeing the flower there, completely soaked and with its roots exposed, made him upset again.
“Sniff.”
Even in this situation, he set aside what Calix had brought for him and wrung out Calix’s clothes. He shook them vigorously and hung them up in the same way he had dried his own clothes.
“They’ll need to find traces of us soon.”
Since there had been quite a large landslide, he believed that the Padrian mansion would quickly assess the situation and come to rescue them. But until then, the condition of the patient, Calix, was the problem. Although Calix had confidently said he would be fine thanks to his blessing of ‘immunity,’ Melty couldn’t help feeling anxious. It was just as he was hesitating and moving toward the opposite direction to find an exit that Calix hadn’t yet shown him.
Knock, knock. Thud.
Melty’s body froze in place at the unfamiliar sound. With anxiously trembling eyes, he turned his head back to look at Calix, who was lying without even the slightest movement. Then slowly, he turned his head forward again.
Knock. Knock, knock, knock.
The sound rang out again, similar to when ripe acorns fall on a roof. He couldn’t ask for help from Calix, who was still in poor condition. Melty silently clenched his fists. In this place without even anything to use as a weapon, all he had was his body.
Melty slowly traced the source of the sound. At the bottom of the wall, in a place that was hard to see because it was dark, there was a crude wooden box. And Melty could feel cold air coming into this place from nearby.
“Who’s there…?”
Though asking like this wouldn’t get an answer from the other party, his voice flowed out habitually. As expected, there was no response from the other side. If, as Calix had said, someone had deliberately caused this, there was a possibility that person had found this place.
Melty swallowed dryly. With a heavy tension, as he arrived closer, what appeared to be an emergency exit began to move.
