Chapter 145

Dry lips met wet ones. The vivid sensation pressed together with perfect firmness parted with a small smacking sound.

“......”

His heels touched the floor as his body settled back down. Gyeol lowered his chin and gazed up at the man before him.

Yo Han stood completely still, eyes wide.

“I granted your wish.”

***

A high ringing sounded somewhere.

It was the sound of all the blood in Yo Han’s body surging at once.

Then, with a snap, the thread of his restraint finally broke. Yo Han cupped Gyeol’s face with impatient hands and bent down. He wanted to seize those lips and devour them immediately.

But with only the slightest space left between their mouths, he barely managed to stop.

His breathing came rough and uneven.

“If you do this, I won’t be able to hold back.”

He was giving Gyeol one final chance.

It was also the last fragment of reason he had left.

Because of everything he had done, he no longer wanted to act however he pleased. Every time he faced Gyeol, he suppressed every sudden urge to touch him, hold him, and feel him against his body. Even on the few occasions when impulse drove him across the line, he had been repeating inwardly that he had to stop.

Again and again.

So many times.

But the situation changed completely when Gyeol kissed him first.

Then it became unbearably difficult for Yo Han to restrain himself.

“Okay.”

After that brief answer, Gyeol kissed him again.

The naked sound of their lips parting could not have been more explicit. The lingering sensation on Yo Han’s mouth felt unreal.

“......”

“Aren’t you going to do it?”

“Gyeol.”

He tried one final time to hold on to reason and make certain.

“Kiss me.”

But the moment Gyeol spoke the subject of the question aloud, Yo Han became incapable of holding back any longer.

Yo Han pulled the waterproof microphones from both their necks one after the other, threw them into the water, and swallowed Gyeol’s lips as though consuming him.

Smack, smack.

Soft flesh was crushed again and again.

Gyeol flinched and squeezed his eyes shut. It felt as though fire had been set along his back. Yo Han did not even close his eyes as he licked and sucked Gyeol’s lower lip.

“Ah...”

Gyeol parted his lips with a faint moan and clasped his aimless hands together in front of his chest. Seeing this, Yo Han kept their mouths joined as he pulled Gyeol’s wrists up and placed his arms over his own shoulders.

Their jaws shifted past each other at an angle.

A wet tongue pushed between Gyeol’s parted lips and invaded his mouth. When it rubbed against the delicate lining inside, Gyeol’s entire body jerked. His hands tightened hard around Yo Han’s shoulders.

“Mm...”

When Gyeol faltered and drew his chin back as though overwhelmed, Yo Han pursued him relentlessly. Each time their lips separated for an instant, a slick, wet tongue showed between them. Every movement was urgent and hot. The moment their mouths met again, Yo Han traced the line of his teeth and rubbed the tender roof of his mouth with the tip of his tongue.

One hand pulled the back of Gyeol’s head closer so he could not escape, while the other caressed the nape of his neck. The touch against his bare skin was as persistent as the saliva-slick tongue thoroughly exploring his mouth, leaving wet trails behind.

“Ahh, mm...”

Gyeol was compliant. Even the last trace of resistance gradually faded as Yo Han licked through his mouth. Slowly, richly, he was melting.

Despite boldly bewitching Yo Han first, Gyeol’s tongue seemed so tense that it avoided his twice. Yo Han’s hand slid up the back of Gyeol’s neck and gently stroked his throat. Then his other hand closed beneath Gyeol’s chin and pressed lightly.

Gyeol obediently opened his jaw.

His lips parted wider.

Tilting his head, Yo Han pushed deeper.

At last, the tips of their tongues met. Gyeol’s chin drew sharply back at the delicate stimulation, but he did not close his mouth. Instead, as though deciding to accept all the heat touching him, he panted and began moving his tongue in clumsy little motions.

Their tongues rubbed together and tangled deeply.

A slick, obscene sound of wet friction fell heavily between them. As they began twisting together so completely that the insides of Gyeol’s cheeks repeatedly swelled and hollowed, Gyeol lost all composure and clawed at Yo Han’s shoulders.

“Ahh, mm... ngh...”

Even then, Yo Han had not closed his eyes.

Although the heat narrowed his gaze, he stubbornly watched every detail of Gyeol—the trembling of his closed eyelids, the quivering lashes, even the deep red warmth spreading around his eyes.

A day from the past overlapped the present in broken fragments. 𝘧𝓇ℯℴ𝓂

The first time they had kissed in the private VIP room.

After that day, Yo Han had never even dared hope that he might share another moment like this with Gyeol.

But to confess the truth, there had been a day when exhaustion had killed his reason and he could no longer control his desire. His mind had dragged up the Gyeol from that day on its own.

Blood had gathered below his stomach and refused to subside.

Seized by an incomprehensible impulse, Yo Han had eventually masturbated in the shower. The Omega pheromones from that day, the heat of Gyeol’s mouth, the way his body had clung to him—all of it returned so vividly that it drove him to climax.

No matter how hard he tried to stop it, the image filling his mind from beginning to end had ultimately been Gyeol’s face.

Disgust with himself had followed.

So how could Yo Han ever have imagined that he would be allowed to take Gyeol again?

“Mmph, ah...”

Whenever Gyeol kissed someone, he let out tiny moans.

He had done so last time too.

Yo Han had thought it might have been a reaction caused by alcohol, but now it seemed to be a habit unique to him.

The sounds reaching his ears were driving him insane. Blood rushed to the crown of his head before plunging violently downward. Cursing inwardly at the arousal burning through his mind, Yo Han twisted his jaw.

Who would have guessed that Gyeol, with the most composed face in the world, would make the most provocative sounds?

Grateful that he had remembered this and removed the microphones first, Yo Han changed the angle.

Their lips grew slick with saliva until it finally spilled down Gyeol’s chin.

Driven backward by the force of the kiss, Gyeol gradually ended up hanging from Yo Han with his head tilted back. When Yo Han felt his body sway as strength left his legs, he pulled his lips away for a moment. A strand of saliva stretched between their mouths before snapping.

“Ha... ha...”

Gyeol panted and looked up at Yo Han with reddened eyes, as though he could not understand what was happening.

His flushed tongue was visible inside his parted lips.

Yo Han could hardly believe that only moments ago he had been biting and sucking it.

Then—

“Waaah!”

“Careful, giant potato!”

Excited voices rang out from the direction of the annex pool.

A loud splash followed, as though someone had jumped into the water.

Tommy and Hee Jun Kang had come out to swim.

Startled, Gyeol snapped his mouth shut and released the arms he had wrapped around Yo Han’s neck.

“Come this way.”

Yo Han slid his hands beneath Gyeol’s thighs and lifted him in the water. Gyeol seemed somewhat startled, but his legs had apparently lost their strength, because he remained quietly in Yo Han’s arms.

“Where are we going...?”

Gyeol asked softly. His voice still carried the breathlessness he had failed to conceal.

“Inside.”

Yo Han carried him toward the opposite side of the infinity pool, near the pool entrance.

Thick branches cast shadows over that area, leaving it so dark that even the lights barely reached it. Because it was a blind spot, none of the surrounding cameras were visible either.

Still submerged, Yo Han sat on the steps. The water rippled at the line of his chest.

Then he seated Gyeol on his lap.

Settling unexpectedly on Yo Han’s thighs, Gyeol tried to loosen his arms from around Yo Han’s neck, lost his balance, and swayed sharply.

Yo Han wrapping an arm firmly around his waist and Gyeol urgently gripping Yo Han’s shoulders happened almost simultaneously.

Because of their position, Gyeol’s eyes were now above Yo Han’s. Looking down at him from close range, he cautiously spoke.

“...Are we going to kiss more?”

“If you say you want to.”

It was deliberate.

Yo Han had seated Gyeol above him because he wanted to place all control entirely in Gyeol’s hands.

“......”

Gyeol hesitated and bit his lip. His cheeks, lit by the wavering glow beneath the water, were flushed bright red. Finding him helplessly beautiful, Yo Han gently stroked his cheek.

“Do you want more?”

“......”

Gyeol lowered his eyes at the question, then looked at Yo Han again.

“...Yes.”

The moment the quiet answer fell, Yo Han lifted his chin and kissed him. After one soft sound, he pressed against Gyeol’s lips again and again.

“...It tickles.”

Gyeol murmured.

“Does it only tickle?”

“......”

Tommy and Hee Jun’s excited voices echoed faintly in the distance.

Gyeol shook his head, then licked across Yo Han’s lips and whispered,

“...It’s hot.”

Yo Han pulled Gyeol’s ankles slightly deeper beneath the water and cupped the back of his head. Neither could say who opened their lips first.

Their tongues met and began tangling together.

***

When Yo Han said Gyeol’s body had grown cold, they decided to move to the hot tub.

With the wet towel draped over him, Gyeol creaked his way into the hot tub. He had not noticed the cold while remaining in the pool because heat had continued coursing through his body. But when the hot water touched his chilled skin, warmth spread all at once, and his entire body seemed to loosen languidly.

Gyeol awkwardly clutched the front of the towel closed.

He had not intended to come in looking like this.

It was the result of Yo Han urgently stopping him when he tried to leave the pool.

“Wait.”

“......?”

Yo Han had pushed through the water to the entrance on the opposite side, then returned holding the towel that had already become completely soaked. He draped it over Gyeol’s body.

“...Is there really any point now?”

“You’re cold.”

“It’s already soaked. I think this will make me colder.”

There was no way Gyeol could have known that Yo Han could not bear the thought of anyone seeing the flushed marks scattered over his pale body.

“Then wait here. I’ll go inside and get a clean towel—”

“No. This one is fine.”

That conversation had taken place only a few minutes ago, when Gyeol stopped Yo Han from turning away without hesitation.

Because of his stubbornness, Gyeol had somehow ended up entering the hot tub still wrapped in the wet towel.

Sitting there beneath it made him feel like dumpling filling trapped inside a thin wrapper.

Does this even mean anything? Isn’t R-Connect basically a show about people taking their clothes off? Besides, he already saw everything while we were swimming together.

As Gyeol sat curled in the hot water, lost in one thought after another, he remembered the microphones Yo Han had thrown into the pool earlier.

Unfortunately, the pair was probably still lying at the bottom.

Producer Yoo isn’t going to say something about that later, is she?

While he was entertaining the pointless thought, the door creaked open and Yo Han appeared.