Unlike his delicate-looking features, Yoon Minoh’s entire body was incredibly sturdy and solid. No matter how much he twisted and squeezed those pecs, they seemed like they would bounce right back into place.
Yeo Dowoon unconsciously licked his lips. His vocal cords stung. Yoon Minoh gently pressed him.
“We’re both guys. What’s wrong with touching my chest a bit? It’s not like it’ll wear down from kneading it.”
“…It’s excessively large for a man, I’m telling you.”
The width and thickness were also considerable, so if he buried his face between them, it seemed he could fall into a deep sleep right away.
Yeo Dowoon could deeply sympathize with why Yoon Minoh’s pectoral muscles looked like they were about to burst through his training uniform every time he wore it. Yoon Minoh provoked him relentlessly.
“I know you want to touch them. It’s written all over your face, so how could I not know?”
A sensual shadow engulfed Yeo Dowoon.
Yoon Minoh was like a jungle forest full of tree trunks. Once he firmly bound your limbs, he would absolutely not let go. Swoosh, his pale bleached hair touched Yeo Dowoon’s forehead.
“Our pairing compatibility is really good too.”
It was a cheerful tone. His cat-like upturned eyes curved into a crescent moon shape.
“Don’t you think our other compatibility would be good too?”
As damp breath slid down the bridge of his nose, Yeo Dowoon let out an empty laugh and thunk, headbutted him. At a distance so close their eyelashes might touch, he said in a deflated voice.
“If I fall for a kid seven years younger seducing me with his chest, I’d be human trash, not an adult, wouldn’t I?”
Even though Yoon Minoh himself didn’t actually perceive Yeo Dowoon as an adult, he looked extremely resolute, as if he had no intention of changing his decision.
I’m the older one, so I’ll fulfill my duties as the elder. That unwavering gaze seemed to shout exactly that. Yoon Minoh countered with a genial eye-smile.
“Adult…”
The flirtation became more direct after that quiet murmur to himself.
“I want to have my first experience with an adult like hyung.”
“Don’t talk nonsense.”
“To use a metaphor, I’m a pure white canvas, and hyung is a recognized artist. I want hyung to fill me in, stitch by stitch.”
“Did you come from 1988 or something? You sound dated.”
When Yeo Dowoon criticized him with a groan, Yoon Minoh said with a silly grin pulling at the corners of his lips.
“I learned it from my dad.”
“…How retro and nice.”
“Well, it doesn’t matter.”
The smile didn’t leave his face.
“It seems to have gotten through just fine.”
Yoon Minoh could guarantee it.
“I’ll start with hyung and end with hyung.”
Yeo Dowoon will come over.
“If you’ve done coloring practice on someone’s back, you should’ve been prepared to splatter paint on other places too.”
Without fail.
“Let’s get stained together.”
***
Yoon Minoh, who he thought would cling even closer, unexpectedly let Yeo Dowoon go quite cleanly.
Lamenting that the refrigerator only had an impressive frame while its contents were utterly lacking, he took out his phone saying he should order delivery food.
“Chicken is boring…, hmm. Pig’s feet?”
While he was contemplating the menu, Yeo Dowoon escaped by walking backwards. Though Yoon Minoh didn’t seem to have any intention of catching him anyway, he was a crazy bastard who could change his mind anytime, anywhere, so he always had to be on guard.
Bang, Yeo Dowoon returned to his room and took a deep breath.
“Haah…”
Kids these days seemed to be fast indeed. Yoon Minoh’s annoying sidelong glance as he talked about first experiences kept replaying in his head. He was greatly worried he might even show up with a condom and push forward.
However, to be frank, what worried him most was his own flimsy self-control.
A strong premonition spread through him that someday he would lose his mind over those elastic pecs and rationalize it to himself by bringing up all sorts of trivial excuses.
“No way. I can’t.”
Right. I can’t. Yeo Dowoon, who had been mercilessly slapping his own cheeks trying to act mature, became frightened at his phone vibrating with a buzz. Like the saying goes about a thief’s feet getting numb, that was exactly his state.
The sender was none other than Cha Haseong, the very person who had made Yeo Dowoon maintain his chastity through years of celibacy.
-Are you in your room?
Cha Haseong tended to prefer text messages over instant messengers. Looking at it, he seemed to like analog sensibilities. The books he read also gave off a somehow classical impression.
-Yes. I’m in my room.
Yeo Dowoon typed his reply, meticulously including even the period.
On days when replies took longer, he even used a grammar checker—it was ridiculous and laughable even to himself how much he wanted to look good that he couldn’t even send a single text comfortably.
-It’s time for dinner, aren’t you hungry?
But he didn’t feel pathetic or ashamed at all. He might face criticism asking if he wasn’t embarrassed after making all that fuss about trying to give up his one-sided love, but he alone was confident.
What could he do when it wasn’t working out?
That’s why he said he’d retire, but wasn’t that not even approved?
If there existed anyone on this planet who could sort out their feelings while timely exchanging words and tongues with their unrequited love, Yeo Dowoon was willing to give them sincere applause.
It seemed he himself was probably hopeless.
-Are you hungry?
It was a bland online conversation, but Yeo Dowoon chose his words more thoroughly than ever. Because if he answered that he was hungry, he planned to suggest they go grocery shopping together.
-Come out to the mart right now
-I’ll wait in the parking lot
But Cha Haseong stole his turn. It was a pleasant robbery. Finally, at the last text message that arrived, Yeo Dowoon couldn’t hold back and burst into an excited laugh.
-Is there anything you want to eat?
Cha Haseong was consistently warm. While never responding to his yearning for him, that kind habit of making people hope and wish remained unwavering as always.
So at some point, Yeo Dowoon had given up on inferring his psychology. No matter how much his ignorant self wracked his brain, it didn’t seem like he could fathom Cha Haseong’s intentions.
-I’ll come right away.
If you don’t know, you just have to give up and lie down, what else can you do?
If being born stupid was a crime, he would silently accept it. Yeo Dowoon was clumsy and awkward at all kinds of human relationships. Perhaps because of that, he was also upright and unadorned.
Combined with being a blockhead who rarely even got hurt, this couldn’t be more perfect.
Therefore, needless to say, he was the perfect match for dealing with Cha Haseong’s complicated human relationships. At least he was for chasing and capturing fleeing prey.
***
Once upon a time, Yeo Dowoon had coveted a camper van.
It was because he had the romantic wish of traveling with Cha Haseong to a rural area with clear skies and counting the constellations in the night sky.
As evidence, in the parking lot sat one camper van untouched by anyone’s hands, positioned among the foreign cars famous for their outrageous maintenance costs.
“Is this also your car, Dowoon-ssi?”
“Ah…, yes.”
Cha Haseong also seemed curious and asked. Yeo Dowoon mumbled his answer. He wasn’t tactless enough to confess that he bought it because he wanted to travel with him.
“…I’m curious if there’s only a bed in there too.”
At that moment, Cha Haseong threw out a suspicious sentence that shocked Yeo Dowoon. Understanding the meaning exactly, Yeo Dowoon seriously felt concerned about whether he was being viewed as a sexual deviant.
“I wonder if there are mirrors too.”
Yeo Dowoon replied with disbelief.
“I’m actually quite romantic, Guide-nim.”
No matter how much unseemly behavior he’d shown, being suspected of having modified the camper van for such purposes brought a wave of depression.
“My head is absolutely not filled with only those kinds of thoughts.”
Moreover, he was someone who had purchased the camper van with very wholesome and pure intentions. As Yeo Dowoon’s complexion grew gloomy even in broad daylight, Cha Haseong said with a full smile.
“Well, that’s something only you yourself know, Dowoon-ssi.”
If he wanted to pick a fight, he wished he’d please change the subject. There was no moment more melancholic for Yeo Dowoon than when he argued with him while focusing on his sexual values.
“If we’re late, the mart will close, so please get in.”
Therefore, he showed the uncharacteristic behavior of avoiding the conversation itself.
No matter how variously he tried to explain, it didn’t work, so now he didn’t even want to use the straightforward approach. Cha Haseong seemed to have just concluded that he was a lewd sexual deviant.
Tap, when Yeo Dowoon habitually opened the car door for him, he sent a subtly cold gaze.
“Thanks.”
Even after boarding with his thanks, there was somehow no change. This was why Yeo Dowoon kept getting his hopes up. Because it seemed exactly like Cha Haseong was jealous of his past romantic history.
Then suddenly, he even came to have this question.
‘…Could he possibly be saving himself for marriage?’
So a plausible hypothesis was formed that he was nitpicking at his ‘presumably promiscuous’ sex life. This one hypothesis could explain all of Cha Haseong’s actions thus far.
