Ganghyuk asked while stroking Ian’s cheek. Ian sniffled and shook his head.
“I’m okay. Just my head is a little fuzzy.”
His legs also throbbed a bit, but not enough to worry about much. Ganghyuk wiped away the tears pooled in Ian’s eyes.
“Tell me whenever you miss your grandfather. I’ll come with you.”
Emotions were like flowing water—if they just stagnated, they were bound to rot. Ganghyuk couldn’t deal with his emotions about his parents, so he stood by and watched them die.
He could have saved them. But even if they lived, knowing they would fall into the swamp of gambling again, he didn’t rescue them.
If he had confided his emotions about his parents to someone, the situation might have been different. Now, with no one to resent, it remained faded and pooled in a corner of his heart.
What blood relations meant. Having never received something like love his whole life, even now when Ganghyuk thought of his parents, he felt a stifled emotion.
That’s why he didn’t make graves either. He instructed Jaehyun to handle the urns as he saw fit. He had never asked about it since.
Sometimes when his parents’ death anniversaries approached, Jaehyun would make an expression like he wanted to say something, but he ignored it.
In the world, there were relationships that became more unhappy when they met as parent and child. Some parents had no right to have children but brought life into the world too easily. Just like Ganghyuk’s parents.
However, the relationship between Ian and Cheolho was something unfamiliar yet something he wanted to protect. It could be vicarious satisfaction, or it could be wanting to repay the favor to the two.
Whatever it was, Ganghyuk hoped Ian could someday talk about Cheolho and smile brightly.
Even he, who hadn’t shed a single tear when his parents died, felt his eyes burning today.
“And when you want to cry, don’t be alone. Only cry in my arms.”
Ganghyuk affectionately stroked Ian’s head. It was okay for Ian to cry. As he had told Ian, emotions that couldn’t be vomited out were bound to cause problems someday.
However, he wanted to be by his side when Ian was sad. He didn’t want Ian to cry miserably alone, nor did he want someone to comfort Ian immersed in sadness by his side.
Like now, no—he wanted Ian to rely on him even more than now. He had no intention of confining Ian in a cage. He planned to let him experience many things befitting his age, make new friends, and do everything he wanted to do.
As long as Ian continued to love him the most, he just needed to suppress the impulses that occasionally surged up.
“Thank you, hyung.”
The voice whispering while rubbing his face against his chest was sweet. The warm scent of flesh, the gradually deepening plum blossom scent—everything made Ganghyuk’s heart burn hot.
ლ
“Seeing how he didn’t show up until the last day, I guess it’s true he ran away after hurting you. You said he didn’t contact you separately either, right? Really annoying until the end. If he had any conscience, shouldn’t he at least give you treatment money?”
It was the last day of the academy, long if you considered it long, short if you considered it short. After taking the final mock exam and watching the instructor’s demonstration one last time, all classes ended.
Ian and Yujin stepped outside the academy, each holding their certificates of completion. Ian just smiled silently at Yujin’s complaints.
After the day of the accident, Honggi’s whereabouts became unclear. Not only did he not show up at the academy even once, but there was no response to contacts from the academy or texts sent by students who had exchanged numbers with him.
All the students, including Yujin, cursed Honggi. This was because even now, faint red scars remained on Ian’s leg.
Though it was a wound that would disappear if just a little more time passed, the classmates who had watched the entire healing process of the wound sided with Ian and criticized Honggi.
Among them, the most heated was definitely Yujin. Yujin had been mentioning Honggi all day today fuming, but as the time to part with Ian approached, she made a regretful face.
“It’ll be hard to see your face from now on.”
“I’m not busy. We can just meet when our schedules align.”
“Really? You’ll meet me if I contact you?”
“Of course.”
Yujin was precious to Ian. She was a friend his age that he’d made after a very long time. Moreover, with her bright, honest personality and kind heart, she had helped Ian quickly adapt to academy life.
Without Yujin, Ian might have regretted throughout his academy days that he should have listened to Ganghyuk and gotten tutoring instead.
“That’s a promise. Hurry and go, he’s already here to pick you up.”
Yujin, who had extended her pinky finger to make a promise with Ian, grinned mischievously and gestured with her eyes over Ian’s shoulder. When Ian turned his head, he saw a familiar sedan.
Soon Ganghyuk got out of the driver’s seat. Though he was wearing a jet-black suit in midsummer, only around him seemed to linger cool air.
His cold impression melted away the moment his eyes met Ian’s. Watching the eyes fold roundly, Yujin sighed.
She had a feeling that because of Ganghyuk, her future love life would become arduous. After seeing his unrealistic appearance several times, her standards for handsome people had become too high.
“I’ll contact you later.”
“Yeah. Take care.”
Ian waved at Yujin and then ran to where Ganghyuk was. One eyebrow of Ganghyuk, who had been standing with one hand in his pocket, twisted.
He took his hand out of his pocket and spread both arms. Ian jumped into Ganghyuk’s arms.
Ganghyuk, who had lightly lifted Ian’s waist with one arm, lightly kissed Ian’s cheek and put him down on the ground.
“You’re particularly proactive today. Making my heart flutter.”
“It’s because hyung is so handsome.”
Under the bright sunlight, his blushing cheeks rose plumply. Since visiting grandfather’s grave together, both Ian and Ganghyuk had been busy.
Ian to successfully complete the academy course, Ganghyuk to finish provincial apartment construction—it was tight even to make time to eat together.
Since there were times when Ganghyuk went on business trips for days, Ian had only been waiting for today. On the day of receiving the certificate of completion, Ganghyuk said he would buy Ian something delicious.
He said he’d pick him up as soon as it ended, so it was essentially a date request. Ian smoothly presented the certificate of completion he had been holding carefully so it wouldn’t wrinkle even while hugging.
“They said I’m an excellent student. Among the students, there are only three excellent students including me.”
It was a small thing to boast about, but he was still proud. Since he wanted to do things properly if he was going to do them anyway, Ian’s hands now had knife-cut scars here and there unlike before.
“Good job.”
Ganghyuk complimented while stroking Ian’s head. At the action that reminded him of his grandfather, Ian crinkled his nose bridge and smiled.
Black eyes gently traced over the brightly smiling face. Ian first intertwined fingers with Ganghyuk’s hand. He knew they had to get in the car soon, but he just wanted to touch him a little faster.
As if in return, Ganghyuk put strength in their intertwined hands. Between their overlapped palms flowed a heart hotter than the blazing sun.
“Jaehyun made a date course, but I just want to go straight to the hotel.”
When he lowered his head and whispered in Ian’s ear, Ian covered his face with his palm and laughed. His giggling shoulders trembled finely.
Being excited, happy, and having their hearts fill up over such trivial things like this was only when they were together.
“Hmm, I’ll have to think about it. After eating something delicious, I might be full and want to go straight to the hotel too.”
At Ian’s words with a sly eye-smile, Ganghyuk chuckled.
“Okay, let’s hurry.”
Ganghyuk opened the passenger door and let Ian in first. As they fastened the seatbelt, their gazes collided and sparks flew. Their lips naturally touched as if brushing, and tongues mixed.
Only after kissing for quite a while did Ganghyuk lift his head. Unable to control his boiling emotions, he sucked on the lips, and now they were swollen red.
When he lowered his gaze slightly, the front of his pants was the same. Ian bit his lip and covered between his legs with both hands.
“……I’ll order delicious food with room service.”
He thought he could endure, but it was a mistake. Come to think of it, for three days he hadn’t even done petting, let alone sex. Since light kisses were all they’d done, it was natural for both their bodies to heat up quickly.
