Chapter 120

"Haa... ah, y-yeah...!"

Even though the sounds had absolutely nothing to do with them, heat still seemed to climb up Gyeol’s back.

The corners of Yo Han’s eyes slowly tightened. Gyeol could see the muscles jumping in his jaw where he clenched his teeth hard.

Then Yo Han exhaled sharply and pulled him closer.

Gyeol fit entirely within Yo Han’s embrace.

It made Yo Han’s size feel startlingly real all over again. Gyeol wasn’t small by any means, but in Yo Han’s arms he was still close enough to fit against him in a single hold.

He couldn’t risk visibly trying to pull away, so instead Gyeol searched for the right moment to escape. Holding his breath, mind racing, he suddenly heard heavy thudding from the place their bodies touched.

A heartbeat.

At first he thought it was his own.

But it wasn’t.

There were two separate rhythms beating out of sync.

Yo Han’s heart was pounding just as violently.

Before Gyeol could even process that properly, Yo Han’s hand slid over the back of his head before settling at the nape of his neck.

“The cameras...”

Before he could finish saying they’re rolling, Yo Han cut him off.

“I know.”

His hand slipped beneath Gyeol’s collar.

Hot fingers rubbed against the soft skin at the back of his neck, making Gyeol flinch instinctively and curl inward. His breathing scattered.

“...Hng.”

The sound was tiny, barely loud enough for Yo Han to hear.

But it was enough.

As if trying to hold himself back somehow, Yo Han’s hand tightened hard around the back of Gyeol’s neck—

and then failed completely.

His touch turned rougher as his hand slid lower across Gyeol’s back beneath the blanket.

Tracing the shape of his shoulder blades.

Running down his spine one vertebra at a time.

Lower.

Lower still.

“......!”

Gyeol’s body jerked violently.

The more he reacted, the more impatient Yo Han’s touch became.

It was a slow, obsessive touch, as though he were memorizing every inch of Gyeol’s body through his hands.

“.......”

He couldn’t ask what Yo Han thought he was doing.

Couldn’t tell him to stop.

Gyeol kept swallowing back every breath threatening to escape while weakly pushing against Yo Han’s chest. But instead of pulling away, Yo Han only tightened his hold further.

Above his head, Yo Han’s breathing fell rough and uneven.

Heat spread rapidly through Gyeol’s body.

A shiver crawled upward from his toes while the insides of his thighs throbbed painfully.

Finally Yo Han’s hand reached the curve of his lower back.

Fingers slipped beneath the thin shirt and touched bare skin.

“Wait...”

“.......”

No matter how Gyeol struggled or called out to him, Yo Han refused to let him go.

Under the blanket, the heat felt damp and suffocating, like the inside of a beast’s mouth.

The wandering hand stimulated his body like a tongue.

When the hand beneath his shirt swept over his sweat-damp back and Yo Han’s thumb rubbed slowly across his ribs, Gyeol finally broke.

“Wait, Seong Yo Han—!”

Everything stopped instantly.

“Ah... yeah... feels good...”

“Are you really okay with this kind of relationship?”

“Ah— ngh...!”

“Can you really be satisfied like this?”

Only then did the background noise he had tuned out finally sharpen into focus.

Panting hard, breath caught high in his throat, Gyeol grabbed Yo Han’s wrist and dragged his hand back out from under his shirt.

His face and neck burned violently.

He had to move away.

He couldn’t let him notice.

Couldn’t let him realize how much heat had pooled low in his stomach.

Twisting his body to create distance, something unexpectedly hard brushed against his knee.

He didn’t need long to realize what it was.

“Even if I’m trash like this?”

“It’s okay... hng...”

“Even after everything I’ve done to you?”

“It’s okay, so just— ah! Ahh...!”

Even though he knew the scene on screen was fake.

Even though he wasn’t even looking at it.

The sounds alone were enough to affect his body.

“...Calm down.”

This was because of the situation.

“...Sorry.”

This was Seong Yo Han’s fault.

Blaming someone else for once—completely unlike himself—Gyeol finally managed to wrench Yo Han’s hand away.

Then, with tingling fingers, he clutched the blanket tightly.

The room was unbearably hot.

Even with the air conditioning running hard, the air still felt damp and feverish, sweat gathering constantly on his skin.

Still, he couldn’t throw off the blanket.

Neither of them were in any condition to be caught on camera right now.

Thankfully, after the leads’ dramatic climax, the movie finally moved into the next scene.

Only then did Gyeol belatedly begin worrying whether the blanket was thin enough for the shape underneath to show through.

Apparently Yo Han had the same thought.

He lifted one long leg over Gyeol’s thighs, tangling it behind his knees as though shielding him while pulling him closer.

“Just stay like this for a minute.”

“...Okay.”

With Yo Han’s large leg covering the top, more space opened underneath the blanket. Combined with the darkness of the room, it should keep the shape underneath from showing.

Understanding Yo Han’s intention, Gyeol silently curled inward and tried to steady his breathing.

Then he mentally sang the national anthem. Prayed to every god in existence. Eventually, he resorted to the one thing most effective in situations like this.

Thinking about Yuli.

What the hell is this? I’m going insane...

His head spun.

***

For the remaining hour, the two of them sat quietly watching the movie while eating cold hot dogs, sandwiches, and popcorn.

“.......”

“.......”

Of course, neither of them absorbed the movie properly.

The awkward atmosphere made sure of that.

Even Yo Han—who normally laughed easily and constantly teased him whenever there was an opening—was strangely quiet today, as though lost in thought himself.

Too much talking was a problem.

No talking was also a problem.

Couldn’t this man find some middle ground?

After finally surviving the mentally exhausting theater date, the two of them left the private room only after every audience member had cleared out of the theater.

The instant the door opened, cold air from the theater’s heavy air conditioning swept over them. Apparently the room they’d been trapped inside really had become unbearably overheated.

Following behind Yo Han, Gyeol watched the front glass seamlessly transform back into what looked like an ordinary wall.

Then his eyes landed on a notice posted near the edge of the glass.

The notice roughly explained the following:

This theater contained private rooms designed to provide premium service. The wall-like surface was actually specially coated glass that allowed visibility from inside while appearing opaque outside...

And if a button was pressed, people outside could also see inside.

Additionally, while the CCTV cameras were generally turned off during screenings, the theater checked them once every thirty minutes to prevent accidents, so excessive physical contact was prohibited.

At that point, chills crawled down Gyeol’s spine.

Of course.

There was no way the structure existed solely for people inside to secretly observe the outside world.

That crossed past “private” into something far too...

R-Connect-coded.

This is so R-Connect, he thought blankly, remembering the meme constantly floating around online.

Wait, and they don’t even explain any of this beforehand...?

Although honestly, it didn’t matter much. Cameras had been recording the two of them the entire time anyway.

Remembering what had happened earlier made part of his head go numb.

That was definitely going to air, wasn’t it?

Of course it was.

There was no way Producer Yoo would cut footage like that.

The only remaining problem was not knowing how it would be edited and presented. What was done was already done.

By the time they arrived at the next date location, Gyeol genuinely wanted to rip every strand of hair out of Seong Yo Han’s head.

Just as written on the back of the Golden Date Card, the card holder was allowed to choose the date locations personally.

The movie theater date had clearly carried strong product-placement energy, so Producer Yoo’s influence was probably involved there...

But on the broadcast, it would absolutely be framed as Seong Yo Han’s carefully selected private date spot.

Gyeol had assumed Yo Han picked the second location himself too, but he still never expected this.

The hotel lounge where Yo Han had brought Gyeol three years ago.

The exact same private VIP room where they had spent time alone together like they were on a date.

Crazy bastard.

Entering the room beside Yo Han’s gentle smiling face, Gyeol cursed him inwardly.

Did this man seriously bring him here?

After everything that had happened in this place?

Unless he’d developed amnesia, there was no way Yo Han had forgotten that night either.

You... seem like you like me, senior.

Sometimes places dragged old memories back against a person’s will.

The moment you stepped inside, the atmosphere, scent, temperature, gazes, and words you thought you’d forgotten returned vividly enough to throw you straight back into the past.

Gyeol was no different.

He had spent years deliberately avoiding those resurfacing memories whenever they appeared, but the instant he stepped into this room, every effort became meaningless.

The sweet atmosphere.

The smooth scent of the luxury hotel layered with the heavy fragrance of Alpha pheromones.

The warmth inside the room that had melted his body little by little because of the alcohol in his system.

Those vivid yet subtle eyes.

Those gentle words.

One by one, they returned.

Back then, Gyeol never heard the answer to his confession that it felt like Yo Han liked him.

Or maybe Yo Han had answered.

But at the very least, Gyeol couldn’t remember it.

At the time, he’d been far too drunk.

His memory was full of holes, chopped apart like torn strips of film.

The last thing he remembered was blurting the words out under the influence before blacking out completely.

The next morning, Gyeol woke groaning from a vicious hangover.

Someone was lying beside him.