Chapter 143

“...And whose fault is that?”

“I like hearing that.”

His mouth felt dry, and Gyeol wanted to wet his lips with his tongue. But even that tiny movement seemed likely to provoke Yo Han, so he held back.

“You’re too close. Can’t you let go and talk?”

“No.”

What was the point of averting his eyes? Yo Han relentlessly followed his gaze.

At this rate, I’m going to twist my neck.

It was embarrassing enough that this position left the line of his neck completely exposed.

Gyeol let out a small sigh and scolded him.

“Are you a child?”

At that, Yo Han’s arms wrapped gently around Gyeol’s back and pulled him into an embrace.

“I don’t mind if you treat me like one.”

Gyeol no longer knew what to do. He relaxed and let Yo Han hold him without resistance. Rather than twisting his neck and waist into some strange position for the cameras, simply hugging seemed more stable. It also gave him an excuse to hide his face against Yo Han’s chest.

Their bodies pressed together, hot. Strangely, perhaps because of that, his tension seemed to ease.

With his face buried against Yo Han, Gyeol slowly breathed in and out. Every time that natural body scent filled his lungs, his heart loosened a little more.

Feeling a warm flush spread through his body, Gyeol gently closed his eyes and thought,

Is it really all right for me to act this comfortable with him?

The corners of his eyes tightened. When he squeezed them shut, pressure weighed against his eyelids.

The fact that I want to hug this man back right now...

Is that normal?

“Why did you suddenly get so quiet and obedient? What are you thinking about?”

A large hand tenderly stroked the back of Gyeol’s head. Sometimes kindness tormented a person more cruelly than torture. Gyeol was seized by the feeling that he might spill every truth at any moment.

Afraid his sincerity would escape, he bit down on his curled lower lip and shook his head.

“...Is your mind a mess?”

Yo Han tilted his head and asked quietly beside Gyeol’s ear.

Gyeol gave no response. In effect, it was close to agreement.

Holding Gyeol as though cradling something precious, Yo Han slowly stroked his hair and whispered,

“Don’t think about it too much.”

His breathy voice was so quiet that even Gyeol would have struggled to understand him without concentrating.

“Why do you think I brought up the business gay performance?”

“......”

“Think about everything I’ve done to you. I know something like this could never earn your forgiveness, but... I’m ready to give you everything now.”

Gyeol lowered his head a little farther and pressed his forehead firmly against Yo Han’s chest.

Yo Han’s hand completely covered the back of his small head.

“Use me.”

A fine shiver rose along Gyeol’s spine.

His words sounded like an invitation to swallow a poisoned apple. Gyeol remembered the fairy tale he must have read to Yuli hundreds of times. A girl swallowed poison, fell into a sleep from which she could not wake, and was awakened by a prince’s kiss before reaching a happy ending.

He did not expect a happy ending. Nor did he hope for some unrealistic story in which the witch who offered the apple turned out to be the prince all along.

He was simply afraid that once he swallowed the poison, there would be no turning back.

It was not the story or its ending, not the witch or the prince, that frightened him.

It was the change that might take root inside his own heart.

***

Gyeol crossed the living room in his swimsuit with a large bath towel draped over his head.

Yo Han had opened the terrace doors wide and was sitting in the doorway, gazing out at the distant sea. Sensing Gyeol’s presence, he looked back.

He gave a quiet laugh, rose, and came to meet him.

“You and that towel aren’t permanently attached, are you?”

“...Stop making fun of me.”

Sunlight streamed from behind Yo Han, emphasizing the contours of his exposed, solid upper body and the thick muscles of his legs that even the swimsuit covering half his thighs could not conceal.

They might both be men, but Gyeol still could not get used to the body of a dominant Alpha. Yo Han’s was even harder to adjust to than most.

I have nowhere to look.

Gyeol placed his hand in the one Yo Han held out while turning his gaze diagonally away.

“Not that hand.”

“What?”

“The other one.”

Gyeol had thought Yo Han meant to help him down the high terrace step, but the hand he wanted was the injured one.

When Gyeol obediently switched hands, Yo Han laughed under his breath.

“You’re like a puppy.”

“I am not.”

Suppressing another laugh, Yo Han carefully examined Gyeol’s hand.

There was hardly anything worth seeing, yet his persistent gaze traveled over every corner of Gyeol’s fingers. It was nothing serious, but the scrutiny still made Gyeol feel awkward.

He’s far too protective. I only nicked my hand with a knife. Anyone watching would think I’d been badly injured.

“The medical team put on a waterproof bandage earlier, so you don’t need to worry. It’s already much better too.”

Gyeol added the explanation to tell him, in effect, to stop fussing, but Yo Han did not easily release his hand.

His brow even furrowed, as though something displeased him.

Yo Han finally let go and told Gyeol to wait a moment before disappearing back into the room.

What was that?

Abruptly left alone on the terrace, Gyeol stood there blankly and waited.

Before long, Yo Han emerged from the bedroom carrying an opaque plastic bag. It was badly crumpled, as though clothes or something similar had been stuffed inside it.

Gyeol doubted his own eyes for a moment.

It felt like watching a Greek statue walk toward him while casually waving a wrinkled plastic bag in one hand.

Wow. That absolutely ruins the image.

This was Yo Han Sung, the man who repeatedly topped rankings like “Alpha Most People Want to Kiss,” “Sexiest Alpha,” and “Alpha Most People Want to Have an Affair With.” Seeing him like this was absurd.

He looks like the kind of obsessive psycho lover who should open a refrigerator and drink Evian. Why is he standing there half naked carrying that?

“Give me your hand.”

Yo Han returned to Gyeol and held out his own.

“You’re not planning to wrap my hand in that bag, are you?”

“I am.”

Gyeol frowned and hid his hand behind his back.

“No. You don’t have to go that far. I told you they treated it properly and safely.”

Yo Han sighed. With a languid expression, he swept back his hair and shook the bag. The wind caught it, making it rustle with a graceless, flapping noise.

“Are you going to fight me over this?”

“Stop waving your hand. You do realize what you’re holding, don’t you?”

“......?”

Yo Han narrowed his eyes.

“A plastic bag.”

He reacted like a foreigner taking part in a Korean vocabulary quiz.

Judging by the way he looked down at Gyeol as though asking what the problem was, he had absolutely no awareness of how he looked holding it.

Gyeol finally burst out laughing and held out his hand.

“Why are you laughing?”

“Because it’s funny......”

Yo Han slipped the bag over Gyeol’s hand, brought his large hands together, and tried to tie it in place. He bent at the waist, lowered his head, and concentrated with his brow furrowed. Gyeol could not stop laughing.

“What’s so funny?”

He still did not miss a single word Gyeol said.

“You are.”

“......?”

After finally managing to tie the crumpled knot, Yo Han looked up at Gyeol as though no one had ever said such a thing to him before.

Gyeol lifted the hand wrapped in the plastic bag. It looked like he was wearing a mitten that rustled every time he moved.

“Aren’t you getting too far ahead of yourself? I might not even get in the water.”

“Maybe.”

Yo Han straightened and looked down at Gyeol at an angle. It was less the gaze of someone with something to say than someone studying him thoroughly.

“I like seeing you laugh so much.”

After offering that satisfied assessment, he held out his hand. When Gyeol placed his plastic-wrapped hand on it, the corner of Yo Han’s mouth rose.

“Not that one this time.”

“Oh.”

Gyeol held out his other hand, and Yo Han lightly curled his fingers around Gyeol’s fingertips.

Still holding him, Yo Han slowly began walking. Gyeol followed in silence.

The sun had already sunk low. Gentle, soft shafts of light spread across the surface of the swimming pool.

The stone beneath Gyeol’s bare feet was pleasantly warm.

Like the loose hold joining their hands.

Yo Han stopped in front of the steps leading into the pool.

Without hesitation, he stepped into the water. As he descended the shallow steps, rippling water climbed from his calves to his waist, then up to his chest.

Gyeol stopped at the edge. Because Yo Han still held his hand, his arm stretched farther and farther as Yo Han moved deeper into the pool.

He thought he might have hesitated over whether to remove the towel or simply follow.

But the moment Yo Han floated his body in the water and looked directly into his eyes, every stray thought filling Gyeol’s mind evaporated at once.

That intense, vivid gaze captured him completely. As though entranced, Gyeol slowly stepped into the water.

The pleasant temperature rose around his ankles. When Yo Han drifted backward into deeper water, Gyeol followed as though pulled by a magnet. There was not the slightest gap between their locked gazes.

For a moment, even the existence of the cameras faded.

At last, the water reached Gyeol’s waist, and the hem of the towel floated on the surface. Yo Han pushed off beneath the water and glided toward him as though weightless.

He came close in an instant and rose before Gyeol, holding his gaze. As Gyeol’s eyes were drawn diagonally upward, he realized a beat too late that Yo Han had caught the edge of the towel covering his body and pulled it away.

Yo Han’s wet body filled his vision. After placing the towel outside the pool, he raised a damp hand and brushed Gyeol’s hair back.

Then he kissed Gyeol’s exposed forehead.

“You came in after all.”

His low voice slipped deep into Gyeol’s ear.