The image of him rolling his big eyes around while scared out of his wits was still vivid even now. This appearance was definitely better to look at, so Ganghyuk silently poured liquor into Ian’s glass. The trickling sound of soju was refreshing.
“Why did you only pour this much?”
Ian furrowed the inner ends of his eyebrows while looking at the glass that was only half full. However, instead of filling the rest of the glass, Ganghyuk put the liquor bottle down on the table.
“Kids don’t drink a lot.”
“…But I’m twenty.”
“Twenty is a kid, yeah.”
At the firm voice, Ian bit and rolled his lips. He forcibly suppressed the urge to ask why then did you grab and shake a kid’s cock.
Most of the memories from that day were blurry, but only the pleasure of having his genitals touched was vivid. Seeing the blue veins bulging over the back of Ganghyuk’s hand holding the soju glass, the memory from that time came back to life.
When he pressed his knees together under the table, a tingling sensation went through his lower abdomen. As he just held the glass in his hand without saying anything, Ganghyuk clinked glasses first.
That too made his heart feel fluttery, so he put the soju glass to his lips and tilted his head back. He deliberately didn’t turn his head to the side. This was because it bothered him that Ganghyuk was treating him like a child.
“Keu.”
When he let out an exclamation because the soju tasted sweeter than before, a look of disbelief came over. Ganghyuk emptied his glass one step later than Ian. The way he didn’t furrow his brow even once was as calm as if he was drinking water instead of alcohol.
“I finished it. Give me more.”
Ian pushed the now-empty glass forward. When Ganghyuk, who raised one eyebrow, poured only half again this time too, he drank it all right away.
“It’s not even reaching my liver.”
Actually his esophagus was burning hot, but he didn’t show it. At the glass held out in front just like before, Ganghyuk cracked a chuckle.
“That won’t do.”
This time, at the liquor overflowing to fill the glass, Ian smiled satisfyingly. His slightly reddened aegyo-sal puffed up plumply.
“I’ll pour for you too.”
After carefully setting the glass down on the table so the liquor wouldn’t spill, he grabbed the bottle. Ganghyuk’s glass was filled like the first time too. As they went back and forth like that, one bottle quickly showed its bottom.
“Why did it run out so fast? Executive Director, is the alcohol hitting you?”
Ian asked while shaking the empty bottle. When Ganghyuk shook his head, he quickly got up and took out two whole bottles of soju from the refrigerator at once.
“It’s good to drink it cold, but it’s annoying to go back and forth. You seem to drink well too, Executive Director, and I’ve never gotten drunk until now either.”
When Ganghyuk looked at him with a ‘look at this kid’ expression, Ian shrugged his shoulders. He had only drunk alcohol a countable number of times on one hand, but he hid that fact. Even if the count was low, he hadn’t gotten drunk in that time, so it wasn’t a lie either.
Even at the words mixed with a bit of provocation, Ganghyuk had no particular reaction. He just fixed his obvious gaze on Ian’s eyes and lifted and tilted only his soju glass.
Ian smiled brightly and poured soju gushing into the glass. At the cold sensation wetting his fingers, an expression of ‘you’re being ridiculous’ briefly passed over Ganghyuk’s face. He chuckled and emptied the soju glass in one go, then brought over a water glass instead.
From the perspective of someone who usually enjoyed drinking whiskey, soju felt bland like diluted water. Instead of the soju glass, he poured soju gushing into the water glass. Seeing that, Ian, seeming to want to copy him, slyly held out his water glass.
When Ganghyuk stared at him, Ian avoided it by rolling his eyes to the side, so he poured only half. But even that seemed too much for Ian.
A little later, both of Ian’s cheeks heated up like ripe apples. His eyes were half-glazed and the way he giggled looked clearly drunk.
“Stop drinking. Let’s go up now.”
After that, he took out and drank two more bottles of soju, so Ian had drunk almost a bottle and a half by himself. It couldn’t be said that his alcohol tolerance was strong, but still, he’d drunk quite a bit more than Ganghyuk had thought.
“I can drink more. I’m completely fine right now.”
He’d never seen a drunk person in his life honestly admit they were drunk. His pronunciation was all mushed together so it sounded like he was talking with candy in his mouth.
When it seemed like Ganghyuk didn’t believe him, Ian suddenly stood up from his seat to show that he was fine. But momentarily his vision spun, and he urgently pressed both hands on the table.
One bottle that had been standing on the table tipped over and made a loud noise. Since it was an empty bottle there was nothing to spill, but the earthenware pot was pushed all the way to the edge of the table.
Thinking he’d get hurt if left alone, Ganghyuk eventually got up from his seat. Then he wrapped one arm around Ian’s waist as his knees buckled and he swayed, pulling him in.
“Uh…”
Ian, dangling from Ganghyuk’s side, made a dazed sound. As if he wasn’t even heavy, Ganghyuk tucked Ian under one side and called Jaehyun.
“Come in and clean up.”
-Yes.
After cutting off the phone with a click and putting it in his pocket, he walked toward the door with Ian hanging like a wart. Ian, who had been grinning because he liked the feeling of his body bobbing up and down, blinked his eyes slowly.
“I have to… clean up…”
When he turned his head, the messy table and kitchen caught in his blurry vision. He needed to clean it up neatly to do business from tomorrow morning, but it was getting farther and farther away.
“I’ll take care of it, so little kid, go upstairs and sleep.”
“I’m not a little kid…”
He bristled at being called a little kid, but the end of his voice trailed endlessly. Jaehyun entered the restaurant with three large men, passing by Ganghyuk and Ian standing at the door.
Ganghyuk went up the stairs next to the restaurant. As his limp ankles kept bumping against the stairs, Ian made a groaning sound.
“It hurts…”
Ganghyuk, who stopped walking, lifted Ian’s body up. At the suddenly changed view, Ian blinked his eyes. Until just before he could see his own legs and the stairs, but now he could see Ganghyuk’s jawline.
The sharp and angular features caught in his half-glazed pupils. The body temperature touching the side of his face was hot. Even though he was wearing a shirt, he could feel how solid Ganghyuk’s body was.
As his body swayed in the comfortably held position, drowsiness poured over him. But he felt reluctant to fall asleep right away.
He wanted to feel the wind carrying the scent of flowers and the pale moonlight a little longer. Also the sun-like body temperature holding him.
Like a midsummer night’s dream, he felt like it would all disappear when he woke up, so he wanted to stay in the present for a long time. Strangely, it had felt good to sit face to face with Ganghyuk exchanging drinks.
This was because he’d never properly made friends his own age, so even though he’d turned twenty, he’d never drunk with friends. Ganghyuk wasn’t a friend, but the feeling was quite different from drinking with Grandfather, Okjeong, or Soyeon.
So Ian decided to honestly say what he was feeling right now. It was a drunk habit even Ian didn’t know about. Blurting out whatever came to mind without a filter past his lips.
“Executive Director, you know too…”
“Know what.”
It was a blunt voice, but just the fact that he answered made Ian feel good enough that the corners of his mouth twitched.
“That you’re handsome.”
At the out-of-the-blue comment, Ganghyuk lowered his gaze. Was complimenting someone’s appearance a drunk habit? If so, it was a truly useless and trivial habit.
“It’s true. In my whole life, I’ve never seen anyone as handsome as you, Executive Director…”
When Ganghyuk remained silent, Ian added more. The more closely he examined each facial feature, the more he thought he was really cool.
Unlike himself, whose skin was so pale it felt almost pallid, Ganghyuk’s moderately tanned skin was also splendid, and his especially thick eyebrows, his elegant nose bridge, even his eyes with their slight inner double eyelids all drew his gaze.
He was an incredible handsome man who would make anyone gasp when they saw him, only hidden by his uniquely intimidating atmosphere.
