A small light bulb turned on in Dawoon’s head.
With me… he wants to. Sex.
Dawoon’s pupils, mentally connecting the words Yeoul had omitted, wavered minutely. A large question mark of ‘Why?’ floated up in his trembling pupils.
“Why else?”
Yeoul, reading his expression, added calmly as if it were the most natural thing.
“Because I like hyung, I want to sleep with you.”
Dawoon froze without even a breath like someone who had fainted while standing. Hearing such a sudden confession, both his head and body stopped abruptly.
“Why are you surprised? You knew.”
“I, I did?”
“I showed it like breathing, how could you not know?”
He didn’t know. He swore to heaven.
He just thought he was a kid severely lacking affection, so he clung a lot and hugged him often. He also interpreted the excessive attempts at eye contact as just a pitiful younger sibling’s obsession.
“…Hyung, you have shitty awareness.”
Yeoul, muttering as if it was a newly discovered fact, scratched the back of his head.
He slightly regretted blurting out the confession thinking he naturally knew. Then he should have done it properly while he was at it.
An awkward silence flowed for a moment.
Dawoon was still frozen, and Yeoul only scratched his head. The cat caught between them only roughly shook its tail while resting one cheek on Dawoon’s arm.
“Hyung, I really li—”
Meow.
Just as Yeoul was about to bring out a proper confession, the cat interrupted with an indifferent face.
Yeoul, who glared at it, opened his mouth again.
“Actually, from before, I’ve li—”
Meow.
“Really liked hy—”
Meow.
“Hyung, throw that thing away.”
What little patience he had reached its limit. Just as he was about to grab the cat without warning, Dawoon, who stopped him, hugged the chatty cat and stepped back.
“For now… let’s talk again next time.”
The throbbing headache worsened, empowered by the shock. Dawoon barely readjusted the cat in his arms and asked Yeoul.
“I’m sorry, but just go today. I want to be alone for a bit.”
Perhaps realizing Dawoon’s condition wasn’t good, Yeoul didn’t hold him back. Just looking at his pale complexion, Dawoon seemed like he would collapse right away.
“Hyung… eat and then go in. You’re hungry.”
Dawoon, heading toward the stairs, shook his head. He climbed the stairs carrying only the cat instead of food.
Perhaps due to the successive shocks, his appetite completely dropped. If he ate food now, he felt like he’d vomit it right back up. It was better to just fall asleep quickly.
Meow!
“Ah….”
Dawoon, climbing the stairs one at a time, momentarily missed his step.
Just before his swaying body plummeted down, a large hand wet with moisture supported his shoulder.
“I’ll take you to your room.”
Dawoon, frowning from dizziness, couldn’t refuse Yeoul’s support. If he rolled down the stairs, even the cat could get hurt. In the end, he had no choice but to lean his body on Yeoul.
“…Then just to the door, please.”
“I’ll lay you on the bed and leave right away.”
The voice asking to let him do at least that was firm. Being in a position of receiving help, Dawoon silently just readjusted the cat.
…….
The cat held in Dawoon’s arms only quietly blinked its round eyes. Its white eyes staring intently at Dawoon were quite persistent.
Yeoul glanced disapprovingly at the cat’s unusual eye color and laid Dawoon on the bed.
“Want to drink water?”
“I’ll do it myself. Go now.”
Dawoon looked down for a moment at the cat stuck to his body and not coming off, then shifted his gaze to Yeoul walking slowly toward the door as if time meant nothing.
Yeoul, who had been walking backward, stopped abruptly when his eyes met Dawoon’s.
“Why? Need something?”
Dawoon shook his head with a face deeply absorbed in thought. Even his lips moving hesitantly were pale without any color.
“You… really like me?”
Me, not Ryu Jin?
He waited for the answer of Yeoul standing blankly, swallowing the words he couldn’t add.
He, who had been confessing calmly and well, rather bit his lips when Dawoon asked.
Soon Yeoul silently nodded, nodding with small head movements as his answer. Like an adolescent boy embarrassed now, he even avoided eye contact.
That appearance rather felt like sincerity, blocking Dawoon’s words.
“…It’s not something I’m saying because I want to sleep with hyung.”
Yeoul, breaking the silence, spoke while rubbing the back of his neck.
“I want to sleep with you because I really like you.”
Yeoul, continuing his confession with his gaze stuck to the floor, looked even younger than his actual age.
Sex, sex, when was it about sex? After the confession of liking came out, the word sex was tucked away.
“Hyung’s body isn’t good, what if you eat suppressants and get even sicker? When you go into heat, I’ll… help you.”
Each word felt sincere to the point of being bewildering. Dawoon realized that Yeoul’s words weren’t just something he impulsively blurted out.
“You’re not going to do it with the leader anymore, right?”
That’s true. Dawoon had no mind to sleep with Ryu Taeha even if it meant pouring suppressants down his throat.
But he had no intention of making another partner either….
“Don’t masturbate alone like that day, call me.”
“Hey bastard, when did I do it alo—!”
Dawoon, who snapped, bit his lip as an embarrassing memory suddenly came to mind.
He’d been caught touching himself below by Yeoul, who had entered his room without knocking. It seemed he misunderstood seeing that as masturbating. It seemed he wouldn’t believe it even if he denied it now, so he only sighed.
“You don’t have to answer right away today.”
Yeoul, hearing Dawoon’s sigh, moved away on his own. His low voice dragged along the floor as he stepped back until the door touched his back.
“But think about it. I’ll wait.”
Dawoon slowly nodded toward him slowly turning the doorknob.
“Hyung.”
Yeoul, who seemed to be obediently leaving the room, asked as if confirming one last time.
“We’re going to the park together, right?”
At his anxious-looking face, Dawoon this time opened his mouth to answer.
“Yeah, we’ll go.”
Only then did Yeoul’s hardened expression relax. He closed the door with the last words to rest well. And from beyond the door, he conveyed his resolve.
“I won’t make hyung sad.”
“……”
“I’m different from the leader. I absolutely won’t do things hyung dislikes.”
Dawoon, lying on the bed, momentarily pricked up his ears. At the same time, his eyes that had been blinking weakly turned toward the closed door.
…Won’t do things I dislike?
While listening to the slowly retreating footsteps, he ruminated on his words.
Not doing actions he dislikes—does that mean if he tells him not to do something from now on, he won’t cause a riot either?
Dawoon, whose thoughts leaped that far, pursed his bloodless lips. If he’d had just a little more energy, he would have called Yeoul and interrogated whether he could swear to what he just said.
If he just keeps his promise… honestly, there’s no reason not to.
He could resolve the painful heat cycle and prevent the devastating ending too.
Tap.
At that moment, Dawoon, who had been staring at the door, was suddenly hit on the cheek.
Tap, tap.
The cat, which had tapped Dawoon’s cheek with its tail, climbed onto his shoulder and curled up.
“Why are you hitting me, bastard? I even gave you food.”
Dawoon looked down at the cat lying against his shoulder while showing him its white back. This one must be sulking because he gave it less food, not even showing its face.
“Are you angry?”
He faintly heard a rough nose breath quietly. It really must be sulking.
“Sorry for giving you food late.”
He apologized with his lips against the seemingly sulky fluffy back. When he turned to face the cat that must have waited for him all day, the cat that glanced up readjusted its position.
Plop, the cat lying facing Dawoon leaned its body against the pillow together.
The tired Dawoon’s face was fully captured in the clear eyes exuding a mysterious aura. Dawoon also captured the cat in his eyes from every corner and carefully wrapped the small body that fit in one hand.
“I’ll give you a snack after sleeping a bit.”
Rest was needed for now. Dawoon, who had used a lot of energy, was completely drained from the long examination. Already in a state of exhaustion, receiving Yeoul’s confession on top of that made his hot head feel like it would burst.
However, he glimpsed a small hope.
Things might work out more easily than worries. Dawoon gained both bewilderment and faint relief simultaneously from Yeoul’s unexpected confession.
If Go Yeoul, who would become the villain in the novel, just stays quiet, there’s nothing more to worry about. He just needed to moderately guard against Baek Suho and Ryu Taeha who would appear someday.
Baek Suho… when will that guy appear?
Just as thoughts habitually deepening one after another, a snow-white paw pad tapped Dawoon’s eyelid.
Dawoon chuckled at the cat’s action of touching his eyelid as if directly closing his eyes for him and closed both eyes.
“Yeah, let’s sleep.”
The cat did very gentle kneading with both feet on Dawoon’s eyelids. The touch of the soft paw pads was quite nice.
Dawoon gradually fell asleep while enjoying the cat’s warmth that was no less than a heating eye mask.
The deep fatigue gathered sleep as if it had been waiting, and Dawoon quickly fell into deep slumber.
He, who had been breathing with difficulty and even snoring, briefly opened his eyes in the deep dawn.
“Haah….”
An unknown sensation disturbed his sleep. His stomach pooled with heat was ticklish. Dawoon, frowning, was in such a half-asleep state that he couldn’t distinguish whether he was in a dream or outside.
“Ungh…!”
Dawoon’s chin reflexively lifted as he gripped the crumpled bed sheet.
Between his two legs, a hot and tight sensation began to rise. It was too vivid to be a dream.
When he opened his eyes at the unfamiliar foreign sensation he couldn’t identify, an unfamiliar naked body was captured in his blurry vision.
A man with a much larger build than Ryu Taeha and broader shoulders than even Yeoul was filling Dawoon’s body.
Dawoon’s consciousness became even more blurred upon seeing him.
Ah… I must be having some strange dog dream.
Along with the hazy thought, a sticky moan flowed from Dawoon’s wet lips.
