Strategic Mating Partner Chapter 80

Taehyun desperately shook his head, trying to shake Sejin off. However, a large, firm hand grabbed Taehyun’s wrist and would not let go.

“Ha, jeez, you scared me. Where did you suddenly pop out from? I was just tired for a moment, so I was leaning against the wall. It’s nothing, so don’t worry about it.”

Taehyun tried his best to hide his tired face and avoid his gaze, but Sejin still held on, not loosening the grip in his hand. He had just finished the afternoon training and was on his way to dinner a little earlier than planned when, by chance, he saw a somehow familiar back of a head and came over, just in case. It seemed his animalistic intuition had been used in the right place at the right time for once.

The moment he saw Taehyun, an invisible tail he didn’t know he had stood up straight, like a puppy meeting its guardian outside the house. But that was fleeting. As soon as he confirmed that Taehyun was not in good condition, his face turned pale white. It did not matter whether his companions were surprised by Sejin’s sudden desertion or not. Sejin shook off his companions, saying he would eat separately on his own, and ran to Taehyun.

He did not know what had happened, but Taehyun, who looked pale, was leaning against the wall with a frown. The Taehyun that Sejin knew was someone who truly did not show that he was having a hard time unless it was absolutely unavoidable. His personality was one that would stubbornly avoid revealing his true feelings, either enduring it alone or pretending to whine playfully, as if it were a joke.

For such a person to be unable to hide his exhaustion in a hallway where anyone could pass by, no matter how empty it was at the moment, surely meant that something had happened. When Sejin, even more frightened than him, asked, Taehyun made excuses as if it were nothing, just as he had expected, but he could not hide the expression on his face.

The reddened rims of his eyes and his deathly pale lips clearly revealed that something had happened that was difficult for even a person as strong as Taehyun to bear. Sejin asked again, as if to say, ‘don’t lie.’

“If you’re tired, hyung, doesn’t that mean you’re overworking yourself? What kind of crazy coach schedules the national team’s training to be so strenuous at this time of year?”

When Sejin just went ahead and blamed the coach, Taehyun let out a hollow laugh, perhaps because he found it absurd. Who do you think is the main culprit who completely wrecked my condition right now? Taehyun recalled how he hadn’t suffered any lasting aftereffects, but for about two days, he hadn’t been able to perform at his usual physical level, causing those around him to worry. The corners of his lips trembled.

“There’s nothing wrong with our coach. This is because of you, you.”

Even as he said it himself, Taehyun found it so ridiculous that another empty laugh escaped him. He had hoped not to run into him, even by chance. He had expected to be so annoyed that he would want to punch him in the face if they met again, but contrary to that, the fact that Sejin had appeared right before his eyes in this chaotic situation was so preposterous, and he was also unknowingly happy to see him, so he just kept letting out hollow laughs.

“Ha…”

I must be really crazy. As Taehyun sighed again and shook his head from side to side, Sejin asked with a face that said he did not understand.

“What, what is it? Did I do something wrong again?”

‘Again’? So he knows he did something wrong. Taehyun thought that although he had been the one to provide the cause, it was Sejin who had tormented him so persistently, and a wry laugh escaped him again with a sense of helpless exhaustion.

“I don’t know. I was about to go crazy because I got on the wrong side of some complete psycho. So childish, I wonder where he spent all his years.”

When Taehyun carelessly spat out the sentence he should have kept hidden inside and gave a bitter smile, Sejin flinched again in surprise, his shoulders twitching as he spoke.

“What is it? Did something really happen!?”

It was strange, watching that face that, without knowing the reason, immediately sympathized with his whining and became even angrier than he was, not knowing what to do. The fact that this blunt and aloof guy was making such an unfitting face, and that the reason was entirely because of him. All of it was ticklish, as if some part of his heart was being tickled, but he could not understand why he felt a sense of relief. Taking the opportunity of not understanding his own feelings, Taehyun acted impulsively one more time.

“Can I borrow your shoulder for a bit?”

At Taehyun’s sudden request, Sejin, far from refusing, nodded his head while fumbling around. His seemingly tense expression was suddenly cute. Thud. As soon as Taehyun’s forehead touched his shoulder, the back of his neck that turned bright red, the way he suddenly became quiet, all of it was so lovely that it made him think, what on earth is with this guy? Even the very faint scent of grass was nice. And in the midst of it all, thump-thump-thump, the sound of a furiously beating heart was loud enough to pound in Taehyun’s ears. In the end, Taehyun’s shoulders trembled as he burst out laughing.

“Your heartbeat is so loud it’s distracting.”

At the sight of Taehyun visibly staggering, Sejin was flustered again, but after realizing it was because he was holding back his laughter, he rebuked him, his face now flushed with a blush as well.

“Well, I can’t help it. Have you already forgotten that I confessed to you, hyung?”

No. As if he could forget that. With his face still full of laughter, Taehyun washed his dry face with his hands and gave a nonsensical reply.

“I don’t know. I’m good now, so I’m leaving. Bye.”

And then, whoosh, he walked away with wide strides as if his business was all done. Sejin, who had been so surprised by Taehyun’s sudden request that he had let go of the hand he was holding, could only stare blankly at the spot where Taehyun had disappeared, like a dog that had been chasing a chicken. What was that? What in the world was that, really? It wasn’t pushing him away, but it wasn’t fully accepting him either. At this incomprehensible attitude, Sejin had to stand there blankly for a long while, his heart just continuing to pound. If he hadn’t, he would have had to go down to the cafeteria with his face and the back of his neck all splotchy and red.

When he went down to the cafeteria later, he was so preoccupied with thoughts of Taehyun the whole time he was mumbling and chewing on whatever side dishes he had picked from the buffet-style dinner that he had no room to think about anything else. On the outside, he maintained his characteristic expressionless face, which was not much different from looking at a mannequin, so he did not look any different from usual. However, as he kept trying to bring his fingers to his nose instead of his mouth, Seoyoung, who had finished her meal first and was passing by, added a contemptuous remark.

“What are you doing? Even a three-year-old would be more focused than you when eating.”

Regardless, Sejin did not even notice Seoyoung passing by. Why did he suddenly ask to borrow my shoulder earlier? All his attention was focused solely on that.

Meanwhile, Taehyun was also preoccupied with thoughts about the other person. Taehyun, who returned to the training room in a slightly dazed state, also could not logically understand why he had done that. He wasn’t giving him tons of room to make a move, and he had no intention of accepting him, so why did he do such a thing there? It could only be interpreted as an intention to play with Sejin.

However, at that moment, Taehyun had no particular grand intention; he just wanted to do it. It was just that, all of a sudden, he found Sejin, who had made him so distraught while he himself had gotten over his rut cleanly and felt refreshed, to be detestable, so he wanted to shake him up wildly. His consciousness did not even reach the thought that it was immature and irrational; it just felt like he had to do it.

‘Get a grip, Sung Taehyun…….’

Taehyun, still half dazed, finished his training and ruffled his hair with a sigh. Earlier, he had acted on impulse without realizing it, but he knew all too well that he could not continue to play with someone’s heart like that in the future. On the other hand, accepting Sejin in his situation was also not an option, so Taehyun worked his body to exhaustion due to his complicated feelings before returning to the dormitory building.

His body ached here and there from overexerting himself more than usual. He had paid attention to releasing the tension with stretching earlier, but it seemed it was not enough. In the end, Taehyun rummaged around and laid a mat in the empty space next to his bed, then pressed on the knotted areas of his muscles with a portable, textured foam roller he had brought.

“Ugh!”

Along with a sharp pain, a refreshing ache spread as the soft flesh and hard muscles were mashed together. Taehyun spread his legs in a peculiar position to also release the tension in the rarely used muscles of his inner thighs and lay flat on his stomach. Then, he recalled the time his legs had been spread even wider than this as his center was pierced, and he shot up in surprise without realizing it.

“Ah, come on!”

Suddenly feeling like such an idiot, he threw himself back onto the bed, and his thoughts became even more tangled. Let’s just sleep. I need to fall asleep quickly and not give myself time to think strange things. He forced himself to rub the remaining sore areas with his hands and pulled the blanket up over him, and soon his eyelids grew heavy and closed.

What room number was Sejin assigned to in this large dormitory building? The moment this sudden curiosity reared its head, Taehyun wanted to just bury his face in a bowl of water and die. I’m not a three-year-old kid. The situation of not being able to control his own psychology and actions was so unfamiliar. It felt like he had caught some kind of disease. It was the most unsettling temptation in Sung Taehyun’s twenty-eight years of life.