Chapter 2: Stuck

The stairs creaked. Then they groaned. Then somewhere below us there was this loud, ugly CRACK — and the whole staircase shook.

Dead stop.

The porter had tried to swing that giant iron chest around the bend, and now it was wedged sideways between the wall and the railing. Solid. Nobody going down. Nobody going up.

The jolt threw Yeon-hee back into me — hard. Her mat and balm jar went bouncing down the steps.

Then somebody’s elbow hit the wall lantern.

Darkness. Total. The back stairs don’t have a single window.

It was like God heard my prayers.

Down below, the merchant was yelling at the porter, the porter was yelling back, and the laundry ladies were yelling at both of them. Somebody started banging on the chest with a shoe, like that was gonna help.

"Everybody calm down," I said. "They’ll get it loose."

I did not want them to get it loose.

But Yeon-hee had gone stiff against me. Not the fun kind. Her breathing was quick and shallow, and her fingers were digging into my forearm like claws.

"Hey," I whispered. "You okay?"

"I don’t—" She swallowed. "I don’t like the dark. Since I was little."

The woman who handles coughing plagues and resident fist-fights. Scared of the dark.

Kind of cute, honestly.

"Then don’t look at it," I said, and slid both arms around her waist. "Just feel me. I’m right here."

She laughed. Shaky. "That’s a terrible line."

"Is it working?"

A pause. Her breathing slowed down, little by little. Her hand on my arm stopped digging... and started holding.

"...A little."

[Desire +10.]

I kept my hands on her waist. That bathing wrap was so thin I could feel how warm she was right through it. My thumbs started moving on their own. Small circles, right over her hips.

She didn’t stop me.

Instead, she took my right hand and moved it. Up. To the side of her neck, right under her jaw. Two of my fingers pressed on her pulse.

"Feel that?" she whispered.

Her heart was going like a war drum.

"That’s not the dark anymore," she said.

Fuck.

I’d been hard since the first landing. Now it actually hurt. Pressed right into her ass, nowhere to hide it — and she knew. She’d known the whole time.

She rolled her hips back. Once. Slow.

I bit my lip so hard I almost tasted blood.

Above us, one of the laundry ladies said, "Ugh. Who’s breathing so heavy?"

"The merchant," I said instantly. "He’s fat. Stairs."

"I HEARD THAT," the merchant yelled from below.

Yeon-hee started shaking against me — laughing silently into her own hand.

Then the porter called up, "Inn guards are coming! They’ll have to cut the railing!"

The laundry ladies groaned, plopped their basket down, and settled in. Nowhere to go. Nothing to do. So naturally, they started gossiping.

I slid my hand from Yeon-hee’s neck up to her lips. Two fingers, just resting there.

"Shh," I breathed in her ear. "No laughing. No anything."

She looked back at me in the dark. I could barely see her eyes.

Then she parted her lips and took my fingers into her mouth.

Slow.

God.

That’s the thing about the system. Somewhere around a high number, they just... stop caring who’s two steps away. I knew that. I watched it happen with Madam Seol. I should’ve been careful.

I was not careful.

[Desire +15.]

My other hand slid up from her waist and wrapped around her chest, squeezing through that flimsy wrap. She made a sound around my fingers. Muffled. Hot breath all over my hand.

Tae-man, you beautiful noodle-eating bastard. I’m buying your lunch for the rest of my life.

Then a deep, gruff voice came up from the bottom of the stairs. "Who the hell jammed this? That’s iron! We need a saw from the smithy. An hour. Maybe more."

My happiness shot through the roof.

Yeon-hee bit down on my fingers. Gently. Like she was thanking the guard.

I pulled them out, turned her chin with one knuckle, and kissed her.

Not soft. I’d been dying to do that since she grabbed my wrist outside my door.

She kissed back like she’d been holding her breath for years.

Above us, the gossip had found a topic.

"Did you hear about the Baek Clan’s third son?"

"The one with Elder Gu’s wife?"

"Ran over the wall naked, they say."

"With his — you know — flapping."

"I heard he’s huge."

"I heard he cried."

I did NOT cry.

Yeon-hee broke the kiss. Her mouth found my ear.

"Baek," she whispered. "Third son."

"...Yeah."

"You ran over a wall naked."

"Half naked. I had one shoe."

She shook with silent laughter again. Then she stopped laughing. And pressed back into me. Harder.

"Is it true?" she breathed. "The other part?"

I didn’t answer. I just took her hand and let her find out for herself.

She held it there for a second. Very still. Like she was examining a patient. Taking measurements.

"Oh," she said, very small. "Oh. That’s — gods."

[Desire +20.]

That was it for her. Whatever was holding her back, the system had burned straight through it.

The wrap slipped off one shoulder. Then the other. She didn’t fix it. I didn’t either.

I kissed my way up the side of her neck. Bit her shoulder — gently, then not gently. She shoved her own wrist against her mouth to keep quiet, and the laundry ladies kept on gossiping two steps away, and I swear that made it ten times hotter.

Then she turned around in my arms.

Chest to chest. Her bare skin on mine, her wrap hanging useless around her waist.

I was taller, so she had to look up. In the dark I could just barely make out her eyes.

Then she looked down. Shy. Like the bold physician from ten minutes ago had gone somewhere else.

I lifted her chin. Her lips parted. But instead of kissing me, she hid her face in my chest and pressed her whole body into me.

That one move almost killed me.

I kissed the top of her head. Her forehead. Her mouth, harder this time. She wrapped both arms around my neck and dug her nails into my back.

[Desire +25.]

She was shaking now. Breathing fast. Then she pulled my head down and put her lips right against my ear.

"Don’t tease me anymore," she whispered.

And somewhere below us, the guards finally started sawing.