The House of Three Chapter 10.2

It was the same today. As soon as Gyojin, who had come home from work, stepped into the house, he carelessly took off his suit jacket and tossed it aside. He also unfastened the gold bracelet he always wore with his watch, threw it roughly onto the sofa, and then quickly washed his hands and entered the dining room.

The three of them sat at the dining table where dinner was set. Unlike before, there was no one watching over them. The kitchen was empty and desolate without anyone standing in it, and because of that, it was comfortable.

Perhaps because the watchful eyes were gone, Heeyoung no longer had to eat while being conscious of others. Occasionally, the thought ‘Is it okay for me to be here like this?’ would cross his mind, but once the surroundings became noisy, even that thought would completely disappear.

“Lee Heeyoung, stop picking at the greens and eat the meat. Are you a picky eater?”

It was truly strange. Even though the number of people gathered in the dining room had decreased, the dining table was boisterous.

Heeyoung glanced at Gyojin, the main cause of it. Sitting right next to him, Gyojin was placing grilled ribs on top of his rice bowl, which was already piled high with side dishes.

“Picky eater, you say. You keep giving me only meat, so I’m picking at the seasoned vegetables……”

“Then be a little picky. Focused on meat, huh?”

“Pardon?”

“How can you be slower at putting on weight than a child? Whenever I look, you’re nothing but bones.”

So the reason he had been piling on only meat all this time was because he thought he looked like nothing but bones. He was on the thinner side, but it was definitely not to the point of being unsightly. Was he implying that he himself had a good build and muscles?

Whenever Gyojin spouted this kind of nagging, his pride was subtly hurt. Although he was a recessive omega, he was still a man, so he felt unnecessarily intimidated.

“D-did you see, Boss? I’m not just bones, you know.”

“Well, shit, you don’t show me, so how would I know.”

“W-what, what, what are you saying right now……! Just eat your meal.”

He had several talents for making a person flustered. Heeyoung, who had nearly choked, hurriedly drank some water. He couldn’t just make a rule to be absolutely quiet during meals. It was perplexing.

As it was, just one Gyojin was enough to make him feel flustered, but on days when Cheonghyun also chimed in, it felt like his soul was escaping his body.

“Hyung, feed me. I can’t seem to pick this up.”

The child, who was trying to pick up a bean with his chopsticks, quickly started whining and looking for Heeyoung. It seemed things were not going as he wished, even after several attempts. Heeyoung was about to readily help him, finding it both admirable and pitiful.

“How old is our little son?”

“Ah, whyyy.”

“If you can’t use chopsticks, use your head, your head. You have a spoon right there. Is it okay to bother Hyung and whine for him to feed you, or not.”

Gyojin, who had blocked Heeyoung’s action, scolded his son. While tapping the bowl with his chopsticks, no less. He had definitely asked him several times not to do that one thing, tapping his bowl with chopsticks.

Aigoo. As he let out a small sigh, the father and son bickered tirelessly.

“When did I whine!”

“That’s what whining is.”

“You kept giving Hyung side dishes even though he said he didn’t like it.”

“Eeh? Look at this one. Making things up now.”

Sometimes, Gyojin could be more childish than a child. He would genuinely confront him over something that could have been handled with gentle persuasion. Listening to their conversation, it was so absurd that he couldn’t help but laugh.

Heeyoung, who had quietly put down his spoon, now intervened between the two as if he were used to it.

“Boss. I’ve told you since last time not to hit your bowl with your chopsticks. And Cheonghyun, you too. If using chopsticks is too hard, shall we try eating just these beans with a spoon?”

Taking the child’s spoon, Heeyoung scooped a small amount of simmered beans and placed the handle back into Cheonghyun’s hand as he coaxed him.

“And it’s good to talk during meals, but you should speak quietly. Got it?”

As he pretended to talk to Cheonghyun while subtly shooting a glare to his side, Gyojin acted dazed. Holding his chopsticks blankly, he let out a word of admiration with his mouth agape. Wow… me…….

“So fucking cultured.”

He whispered so only his ears could hear while grinning, but when Heeyoung openly glared at him, he resumed his meal as if nothing had happened.

Dinnertime passed like that. Gyojin personally gathered the used dishes and put them in the dishwasher, and he also wiped the table. His movements were so fast that he easily outpaced Heeyoung, who was fairly skilled at chores. He didn’t even give him a chance to grab the dishcloth.

Thanks to that, Heeyoung became a free man after dinner. Gyojin bathed the child, and he returned to his room and showered leisurely.

His daily routine would conclude after changing into comfortable clothes and coming out to check on Cheonghyun’s sleep one last time.

“Is Cheonghyun done washing up?”

Roughly drying his wet hair with a towel and stepping outside, he was able to spot the two of them just as they were coming out of the powder room.

The child, shivering in just his underwear, quickly ran off to get dressed. Shouting ‘Pajamas! Pajamas!’ he went into his room and seemed to be rummaging through his closet. The sound of him grunting and rustling around with something could be heard all the way out in the hallway.

He was thinking, what if he catches a cold like that, and was about to follow the child inside to find his pajamas for him.

“Uh uh, stop.”

Gyojin, who was patting skin toner onto his face with slapping sounds, grabbed Heeyoung’s arm. Pulled by the sudden force, Heeyoung had to step backward automatically.

As the distance between them closed in an instant, a cool scent of skin toner pierced his nose. To put it nicely, it had a mature feel; to put it badly, it was a strong scent, a little like an old man’s……. That’s how it felt to Heeyoung, who always used unscented lotion.

“What is it?”

Heeyoung, who had asked while slightly turning his head, quickly averted his gaze. It was because Gyojin, clad only in gray sweatpants, had his upper body completely exposed.

Well-toned muscles were packed tightly under his handsomely tanned skin. The fiercely broad chest and shoulders were particularly noticeable, looking so firm that one might get a bruise from accidentally bumping into him.

Usually, people with bodies like that tend to look bulky, but Gyojin’s body had muscles that seemed excessive without being over the top. It was a physique that was fascinating no matter how many times he looked at it. The line falling from the nape of his neck to his shoulders was a perfect right angle, and the fact that his waist wasn’t slender but thick, yet gave off a nimble feeling.

As he kept sneaking glances while pretending not to see, he began to feel a bit shabby himself, so Heeyoung dropped his gaze completely to the floor.

“Are you trying to ask a question, or are you trying to look at my body.”

“A-a question. Why did you grab me……?”

“To dry your hair properly.”

Fortunately, Gyojin chose to dry his hair for him instead of teasing him further. He roughly ruffled Heeyoung’s wet hair with the towel that had been draped around his neck.

Tal-tal-tal-tal. Each time the towel moved wildly, his vision was obscured, making his body stagger. Heeyoung struggled to maintain his balance somehow. When he tensed his thighs and held firm, the hand rubbing his head became even stronger. It felt as if he was trying to shake not just his hair, but his brain as well.

“Ah……!”

Finally losing his balance, Heeyoung hastily grabbed onto Gyojin’s pants pocket. He didn’t have the courage to place his hand on bare skin, so he very timidly clung to the edge of the pocket.

Only then did the force tousling his hair weaken. Gyojin withdrew his hand as if to say that was enough, and looked down intently at Heeyoung. Perhaps because he had just washed up, Heeyoung’s already fair skin was glowing. A faint red flush graced his cheekbones under his eyes, and his downy cheeks looked soft just by looking at them.

He did not hesitate and bent his upper body. Firmly holding Heeyoung’s utterly dazed head, he planted a smooch on the cheek he had been eyeing, making a sound. It was a fresh touch of affection, like the seal of his lips he had planted before leaving for work.

And this kind of surprise affection always startled the prim and proper Heeyoung.

What a surprise……! That thing that just touched and left my cheek, it was his lips, right?

Blinking blankly, Heeyoung spun around in a hurry.

“D-don’t do that.”

It was like warning someone ‘be careful not to spill the water’ after the water had already been spilled. Since he reacted so softly every time, was there any reason for Gyojin to stop?

He knew he should be more firm and cut him off if he really disliked it, but Heeyoung didn’t bother to frown. On the contrary, he had to quickly manage his expression as it felt like the corners of his mouth were about to lift.

“Don’t do it? No, I think you enjoy locking lips with me.”

“When did I ever do that.”

“A while ago, when you told me not to tap my chopsticks, you glared at me like you were going to fucking pierce me. But your eyes right now, they have zero charisma. You’re on the verge of dying from happiness. Should I show you a mirror?”

“……I’m going to go find Cheonghyun’s pajamas.”

He could have just pretended not to notice at times like this. Gyojin leaned his face in as if to say, ‘I’ve got you now.’ Heeyoung made an excuse and slipped into Cheonghyun’s room as Gyojin tried to force eye contact. Though he said, ‘Don’t do that,’ he disappeared without ever wiping his cheek.

As he was finding the pajamas in the child’s dressing room and briefly tidying the bedding, he saw Gyojin casually following him in.

He scrunched his body up and lay down on his son’s bed. The bed was spacious enough even for Heeyoung to lie on, but with Gyojin, who looked to be over 190cm tall, lying on it, it felt extremely cramped. However, he seemed intent on sleeping with Cheonghyun, even if it meant enduring the discomfort.

“Are you going to sleep here?”

When Heeyoung, unable to watch any longer, asked, Gyojin, whose playful mood had returned, grinned and replied.

“Why, should I go down to my room to sleep? Just you and me, the two of us?”

There he goes again. He nonchalantly spews embarrassing jokes when the child might be listening.

Heeyoung, pretending not to have heard anything, naturally ignored his words and laid Cheonghyun down on the bed. And then he covered both of them with the blanket and said his good nights.

“Sleep well. Have sweet dreams, Cheonghyun-ah.”

“Ueung. Hyung, you sleep well too…….”

The child’s eyelids, heavy with sleepiness after his bath, drooped down. It seemed he was already getting sleepy. Heeyoung patted his stomach a couple of times and was about to just leave when he noticed the piercing gaze that had been on him since a while ago and turned his eyes.

Still, he had to say good night. He gave Gyojin a soft, smiling crinkle of his eyes as well.

“You too, Boss, sleep well.”

He had greeted him just as he wanted, without discrimination, the same way he had greeted Cheonghyun, but Gyojin only gave a slight nod. Then, he subtly pulled the blanket to completely cover his lower body, which had not been fully covered.

He was a person who had a side more childish than a child. Heeyoung didn’t say anything more and left the room.

Returning to his own room and lying down on the bed, a soft, silly laugh escaped him, heut.

Had the day been this short? It felt like he would have a good dream today as well.

When he pulled the blanket up to his neck, a comforting warmth enveloped his body. It was so comfortable and warm that he felt he could fall asleep right away without any worries if he closed his eyes. Just as Heeyoung, a smile on his lips, was gently closing his eyelids.

Vvvoong. Vvvoong.

The cell phone he had placed beside his pillow vibrated loudly. It rang with a force that seemed determined to drive away his sleepiness, so Heeyoung hurriedly checked the screen.

[Eldest Uncle]

He was about to press the reject button right away, thinking it must be a spam call at best. However, the incoming call was neither spam nor from an unknown number.

Heeyoung threw off the blanket and sat up. Eldest Uncle. The four characters displayed on the screen felt unfamiliar. He wondered why his eldest uncle, the only one who had come to see him at his father’s and brother’s funeral, would call at this late hour.

I mean…… his eldest uncle’s business with him should have ended with that funeral.

First, he answered the call before it disconnected.

“Hello?”

Did he perhaps call by mistake? If not, was he perhaps drunk? He carefully voiced his words, which were laden with many questions. Then, the clear voice of a middle-aged man, with no slurring of the tongue, flowed through the phone.

—Oh, Heeyoung-ah. It’s your eldest uncle. Are you doing well? Did I call too late?

At the affectionate tone, Heeyoung denied it with a somewhat dazed expression.

“Ah, no. I was still awake. I’m doing well. Is everything alright with you, eldest uncle?”

While doing so, he did not forget to ask the formal pleasantries out of courtesy. His eldest uncle, who cleared his throat, keum, keum, on the other end of the line, also gave a stereotypical reply.

—Me, well, I’m doing fine. Anyway, it’s a relief that your voice sounds good. You must have been in great shock after what happened to your father. It seems you’ve overcome it well.

“Yes. I somehow managed to get by. I got over it quickly. But, I was wondering why you called……. Is something wrong?”

When he cautiously asked about the reason for the call, a brief, awkward silence followed. For some reason, Heeyoung felt anxious during that silence. In case, just in case, there was any debt or problem of his father’s that he didn’t know about.

Of course, he roughly knew that his father had not borrowed money even from relatives. But you never know how things might unfold in life. His heart pounded with fear.

“Hello? Eldest uncle……?”

As he pressed for an answer, his eldest uncle cut through the long silence and laughed awkwardly.

—I was lost in thought for a moment. I’m sorry. I just suddenly thought of you, Heeyoung, and called out of worry. To ask how you were doing. But it’s a relief to hear that you’re doing well.

Fortunately, the words did not start with ‘Your father.’ Since he was an eldest uncle with deep family love and affection, enough to come to the funeral alone and take care of everything, he thought it was possible for him to make a phone call just to check in. Heeyoung was relieved.

“Ahh, yes. Thank you so much for your concern. At the funeral too, I would have been very lonely if you weren’t there, eldest uncle. You even arranged for my dad and brother’s graves……. I don’t think I was able to thank you properly then because I was so distraught. Really, thank you so much.”

—What is there to thank me for. Hey, Heeyoung-ah, that…… no, it’s nothing. Anyway, it’s a relief that you’re doing well. Let’s see each other when we get the chance.

His eldest uncle, speaking in a hurried tone, ended the call before Heeyoung could even reply. He was a grateful person, but since they weren’t in a particularly close relationship, Heeyoung didn’t have much more to say and just said, yes.

But then, it didn’t seem like he had any particular business. Why did he suddenly call? Was he really just curious about how I was doing…….

After hanging up, his heart felt strangely unsettled. Was it because the conversation with his eldest uncle had suddenly reminded him of his family, whom he had been forgetting? His once heavy eyelids had become light.

In the end, he gave up on falling asleep right away and turned on the lamp beside his bed. As the orange light brightly illuminated the surroundings, his mind also seemed to clear.

Heeyoung, who was sitting blankly and catching his breath, picked up the desk calendar placed on the bedside table. And as if possessed, he flipped a page. As soon as he turned to the next month, a date circled in red caught his eye. Below it, there were also letters written in tiny script.

Heemin’s birthday.

The moment he faced those five words, his body tingled and his eyes grew sore, as if something heavy had been dropped on his head.

Thud.

His weakened hand went limp. The calendar he was holding fell onto the blanket. Heeyoung’s gaze was still fixed on the date circled in red.

Ah, as he kept looking at it, the precious memories with his younger brother that he had buried deep in his heart came to mind one after another.

My Heemin. I was going to celebrate his next birthday with a big cake, and take him out to eat lots of delicious food. I even pinky-promised that I would do that for him.

Now, he could no longer celebrate Heemin’s birthday.

He couldn’t congratulate him, couldn’t see him, couldn’t touch him. The only thing Heeyoung could do was to miss his departed younger brother. That bitter reality felt like it was scratching and tearing at his heart.

Then, as if by a lie, his heart, which had been floating, sank heavily. It was a moment where he came to resent his own day, which had been nothing but happy and carefree.

The night deepened, but sleep would not come.

🌿

It was dark all around. It was a bizarre space with no end in sight, no matter how much he walked.

Where am I?

His body had grown cold from wandering for so long. Heeyoung rubbed his arms and walked and walked. As he did so, he saw an orange light flickering in the distance.

Ah, that must be the way out.

Thinking he had finally found an exit, he pushed off the ground with all his might. And when he finally escaped the dark space, a road of some sort appeared.

The light he had been chasing must have been a traffic light. Where he looked, the orange light of a traffic signal was blinking, blinking, precariously turning off and on.

Standing beside the road, Heeyoung slowly looked around. Perhaps because it was dawn before the sun had risen, there wasn’t a single car on the road. The road was empty, and the intersection was frighteningly silent.

Somehow, the scenery was not unfamiliar. The street lined with old shops, the shabby buildings on the verge of demolition mixed in here and there, the familiar crosswalk, the garbage strewn all over the ground, befitting its title as an abandoned neighborhood.

It was when Heeyoung, belatedly realizing where this place was, took in a frightened breath.

A passenger car, which had been speeding along a winding curve from behind, fiercely brushed past Heeyoung.

As he watched the tail of that car, an anxiety that felt like it was crushing his body washed over him. No way. It can’t be. Muttering so, Heeyoung instinctively stretched out his hand. At the same time, realizing that such an action alone could not stop the car, he shouted with desperation.

No!

However, the passenger car, which continued to race without reducing its speed, soon passed through the intersection and a moment later, collided with a dump truck that had suddenly appeared.

Kwa-gwang! With a deafening roar, the passenger car was crushed.

Heeyoung, as if he had predicted this would happen, rushed into the accident scene in a hurry. His face was already a mess, smeared with tears. He didn’t even know what words were coming out of his mouth.

Heemin-ah, no, no.

A horribly hoarse voice leaked out endlessly.

He tried pulling on Heemin’s hand, which was sticking out of the car door, but no matter how hard he pulled, the child wouldn’t come out. Heeyoung clenched his teeth and held on. He pushed against the crushed car frame with his legs and pulled on the arm he was holding. He put in so much force that his arm and wrist trembled, and eventually, even the veins on the back of his hand burst.

It was painful, but he couldn’t stop. Heemin was still trapped inside.

To make matters worse, sparks even began to fly from the crumpled hood, so Heeyoung squeezed out every last bit of his strength. This is the last chance, he thought. With the determination to save Heemin no matter what.

But in that moment.

Kwaang!

With a tremendous explosion, the entire car was engulfed in flames. Dad, Heemin, and the mangled chunks of metal were devoured by the crimson fire in just a few seconds, burning away without a trace of their forms.

Haa, haa, haa.

He couldn’t breathe. He had to call 119 quickly. But his airways were completely blocked, and he couldn’t take any action.

Around that time, a brain-piercing siren sound blared. Heeyoung felt like he would faint or vomit at any moment. No, his vision was actually turning black. As the siren sound got closer, his center of balance wavered. Thinking that he couldn’t collapse like this, he was forcing his closing eyelids open.

The fiercely burning flames began to swell in size, and soon.

Kwaaaang!

Another terrible roar struck his eardrums.

“Heok……!”

Waking up with a start, Heeyoung first covered his ears. A high-pitched ringing tormented the inside of his ears, making it unbearable. Heok, heok, breathing raggedly, he squinted his eyes open, and the sight of the dark room entered his vision.

It was all a dream.

Perhaps because he had fallen asleep thinking of Heemin. To think that the events of that day would appear in his dream.

Heeyoung, who had regained his sense of reality, wiped the cold sweat from his forehead with the sleeve of his pajamas. He had no intention of lying down again. He was certain that the same nightmare would repeat itself if he closed his eyes.

Since he was past the point of falling asleep, he threw off the blanket and stood up. He intended to down a glass of cold water and completely chase away his sleepiness.

Coming down to the kitchen, Heeyoung drank a full cup of water without leaving a drop. After that, the floor-to-ceiling window in the living room caught his eye. It was wiped so clean without a speck of dust that the garden scenery was clearly visible even at night.

Heeyoung went straight out to the terrace outside the living room. On the terrace, which had a wooden floor, there was a bench large enough for three people to sit on. When he sat his bottom there, the wide-open lawn came into view at a glance.

Every time the wind blew, the short blades of grass swayed here and there. Perhaps because it was just the beginning of spring, the night breeze was quite chilly. The thought that it was cold suddenly occurred to him, but Heeyoung did not return to his room. Rather, to feel the sensation of his mind becoming sharp, he foolishly just sat there, taking in the cold wind.

Haaa, letting out a meaningless sigh, he rolled his eyes. He looked once at the soccer ball rolling around on the lawn, and then his gaze shifted to the bottle of bubble solution lying in the corner. It seemed to have been tossed there carelessly after Cheonghyun played with it, and seeing it made him think of Heemin again, so he bit his lip hard.

It was when he couldn’t bear it anymore and was staring blankly up at the sky.

“Why, can’t you sleep?”

A familiar voice came from somewhere. Startled, he turned his head and saw Gyojin just coming out onto the terrace. Was it because he came out after waking up from sleep? Or was it just because it was night? His voice was lower and heavier than usual.

Gyojin, who tucked something into his pants pocket, soon sat down in the spot next to Heeyoung. Judging by the square outline visible on his thigh, it seemed he had come out to smoke a cigarette.

Heeyoung, who was blinking his eyes blankly, only offered a reply after a long silence had passed.

“Just because.”

As he replied with a nonchalant shrug of his shoulders, Gyojin’s persistent gaze fell on him. Heeyoung fumbled with his own face as if to ask if there was some kind of problem. He acted composed, unaware that he had broken out in a cold sweat from the nightmare and that signs of fatigue were etched all over his face from lack of sleep.

Gyojin, pretending to sling his arm over the back of the bench, subtly wrapped it around Heeyoung’s shoulder and asked again.

“Did you have a scary dream or something?”

It was a tone like one would use to soothe a child. Although he knew that Gyojin, being a father, often used this tone, Heeyoung could never get used to it no matter how many times he heard it. It was somewhat embarrassing and awkward…… so in the end, he shook his head and evaded the question.

“No, I just couldn’t sleep.”

Then, as if to prevent his lie from being discovered, he quickly tilted his head back and looked up at the sky. Heeyoung remained silent, as if telling him not to ask any more, and deliberately thought about something else.

Fortunately, there were a few stars in the sky. It was to the extent that he could know the number if he focused and counted, so he had to count the stars again and again. One to five. Then again, one to five.

While Heeyoung was assigning numbers to the stars, Gyojin meticulously examined Heeyoung’s face.

Just couldn’t sleep, my ass. Heeyoung’s face, which had been full of life until they said their good nights in Cheonghyun’s room, had turned pale in just a few hours. Anyone could see it was the complexion of someone who had slept poorly, yet what, just because? As he mulled over the indifferent voice that had replied, his brows furrowed. Gyojin snorted without Heeyoung noticing.

Just because, he says, just because. Bullshit. Shit, this is suffocating.

In any case, Lee Heeyoung had a uselessly mature and dense side to him. If he had a nightmare, huh? He could just fling himself into my arms saying, Boss-niiim, I had a scary dream. Then I would have soothed him so well.

While saying ‘Oh, were you scared?’, I would have patted his back, and tapped his butt a few times to tell him that nightmares are no big deal, and if he was really scared, I would have said I’d sleep with him and stubbornly squeezed this big body of mine into Lee Heeyoung’s bed. I would have even given him my arm as a pillow, while I was at it.

If he just opened his cute little mouth once, I could have taken care of everything, but Lee Heeyoung himself kept those adorably shaped lips sealed shut and sat there counting stars. What the fuck could those goddamn stars do for him. The smart kid became a dimwit only at times like these.

Come to think of it, Heeyoung was someone who would die before spilling his guts. It wasn’t particularly because he didn’t trust me. Rather, it seemed that being reserved with his words had become a long-standing habit.

Gyojin still held out hope, though. Whether it was a trivial matter or a big one, he hoped the day would come when Heeyoung would tell him everything. He hoped Heeyoung would feel safe enough to lean on him. He wanted to be greedy, even though he knew he was getting ahead of himself.

But for now, he would not rush. There is a right timing for everything, even for pushing things.

Having made up his mind, Gyojin forcefully pulled Heeyoung’s head and rested it on his own shoulder. Why did his head and his hands always act separately?

Startled by the sudden skinship, Heeyoung’s body stiffened. He awkwardly fidgeted with the fingers resting on his lap, and then carefully lifted his head, which had been pressed firmly against Gyojin’s shoulder.

He tried to create distance as naturally as possible, but the head that had barely pulled away was once again buried deep in the broad shoulder.

“Normally, at times like this, you’re supposed to just lean on me quietly. Be comfortable.”

“No, I…….”

“Why. Is it uncomfortable? I don’t think so. There’s plenty of room here. Just lean on me, fully. My shoulders are on a different level from those anchovy fuckers roaming around out there.”

Gyojin, who was deliberately boasting, seized the opportunity to put his arm around Heeyoung’s shoulder and cross his legs. Thanks to that, Heeyoung had to sit in a position where he was half-embraced by Gyojin.

The sight of him, unable to lean properly and awkwardly held, was quite cute. Gyojin tapped his slipper-clad foot and looked up at the same sky Heeyoung was looking at.

It was a bit much to be thinking this with a kid who was haggard from a nightmare next to him, but sitting here like lovers under the night sky felt absolutely amazing.

Stargazing in the middle of the night. It was so overflowing with romance that even the passing night air felt erotic. Though he didn’t know how romance could lead to such a sensuous atmosphere.

Unlike Gyojin, who was calming his lower regions while having strange fantasies by himself, Heeyoung was serene. His awkwardness with the skinship was only for a moment. As he actually leaned on his shoulder, drowsiness began to wash over him.

As he closed his eyes and started to doze off, he felt a hand patting his shoulder. Just that one touch seemed to warm his body, which had grown cold in the night wind. It was a strange thing.

Had anyone ever watched over him so affectionately as he slept before?

The young Heeyoung had always been alone. After his mother was hospitalized, the days he had nightmares increased significantly, but he had never acted childishly towards anyone. No, he couldn’t act childishly. It was because he fell asleep alone every night.

His mother was confined to a hospital bed, and his father never came home. So, Heeyoung had to endure the long nights by himself.

When he woke up from a nightmare, he would usually pull the covers over his head and groan all through the dawn. But today, for some reason, he felt the warmth he had longed for so much. The feeling of someone watching over him from the side. The feeling of someone steadfastly supporting him.

He had no idea how much he had missed it. Could it be, could it be my mom?

“Mom…….”

As he mumbled in his sleep, Gyojin’s eyebrows, which had been patting his shoulder all along, twitched. He retorted at a decibel level that wouldn’t wake Heeyoung.

“Mooom? You might as well call for Boss-nim.”

His mother-in-law is in a place where she can’t come running no matter how many times you call. Anyway, you’re so foolish.

He, who had brazenly referred to Heeyoung’s mother as his mother-in-law, clicked his tongue, tsk. Even while complaining like that, he gently smoothed down Heeyoung’s hair that was being tousled by the wind.

At that, Heeyoung, who had been dozing, slowly opened his eyes and looked at him. He had tried to touch him as carefully as possible, but it seemed the touch had tickled him. Gyojin awkwardly pulled his hand away and met Heeyoung’s gaze.

Was it because he had just woken up? The dazed look in his blankly opened eyes remained. Right now, Heeyoung was in a more defenseless state than ever before. Not only was his languidly limp body pressed flush against Gyojin’s side, but he was also releasing pheromones.

As he was a recessive omega, the pheromone scent flowed out very faintly, but Gyojin noticed it keenly. It felt like a waste as the pheromones, diluted by the night wind, grew fainter and fainter.

A scent he had smelled sometime before, not an unfamiliar one. It was clearly the smell of a warm spring breeze. It was on a different level from the cold, damp night wind.

It was mixed with the subtle fragrance of dandelion flowers, and it also smelled like a baby’s blanket dried in the spring sun.

It was a gentle and fluffy scent, just like Lee Heeyoung, and that’s why it felt even more erotic. Objectively speaking, it wasn’t a very seductive scent compared to other omegas, yet it made his body ache with desire.

Gyojin, who had been bewitched without even realizing it, moved his body closer to Heeyoung’s. It was an act done by instinct.

When he tilted his head and looked down, Heeyoung, who was also staring intently at him, came into view.

In an instant, a gust of wind swept past the two of them. At the same time, the grass swayed, making a refreshing sound, saaaa.

Gyojin felt his heart pound powerfully. The perfectly timed wind, Heeyoung’s pheromones subtly mixed within it, the sounds of nature adding to the romance. It felt as if the whole world was pushing his back, telling him to fall deeply in love.

Above all, Heeyoung, who would usually get shy just from making eye contact, was not avoiding him. He looked at him with wide, round eyes, without a hint of shyness.

How could one remain still after seeing that? Gyojin grabbed Heeyoung’s chin, lifted it, and pressed their lips together without warning.

Smack, smack, he repeated playful kisses that made a sound, then pushed his tongue between Heeyoung’s slightly parted lips. It was a type of skinship on a different level from the shameless act he had committed with Lee Heeyoung in Room 8 of Ignis in the past.

There was the commonality that it was done without consent, without warning, to a half-conscious Lee Heeyoung, but it was definitely different. This was clearly a first love, and the kiss was also pure and chaste.

Gyojin, who had always kissed ravenously as if he were devouring someone, was, for the first time in his life, mixing tongues in a tingling way. He sucked on Heeyoung’s lips very carefully and explored the hot, moist flesh inside his mouth. When their tongues met and their rough surfaces brushed against each other, his chest would ache to the point where his lower abdomen would tingle.

When he opened his closed eyes, he saw a dazed face.

Damn it, this Lee Heeyoung doesn’t even know how to kiss.

Heeyoung, with his eyes squeezed shut, was just holding his mouth open, eh, without any skill. When Gyojin persistently tickled the roof of his mouth or deliberately sucked on his tongue, he could feel his shoulders flinch.

But even so, he never pushed him away. He awkwardly moved his tongue, which he didn’t even know how to use skillfully, and tried his best to keep up.

“Eung, eut……”

Not even knowing how to breathe through his nose, he let out moans through his mouth, clinging to him as if he liked it, making smacking sounds.

Gyojin pulled his lips away right about then. Even though he was kissing with a pure heart, being with the inexperienced Heeyoung made him feel like a scoundrel.

On top of that, he had unintentionally heard Heeyoung’s moans. It seemed like if he continued, he would want to shove his tongue down Heeyoung’s throat, so he hurriedly stopped.

Of course, a sense of regret remained, so he kissed him briefly many times, biting and sucking on his lips. It was a light kiss without mixing tongues, but somehow it was more stimulating. Maybe it was because of the jjok, jjok, friction sounds, or something. His ears tingled, too. It seemed Heeyoung preferred this as well.

Gyojin fell into the illusion that he was in a scene from a romance movie. Even though he could clearly see other houses with their lights on beyond the main gate, it felt as if only he and Heeyoung were left in the world.

As he continued to kiss him like that, he almost naturally slipped his hand inside Heeyoung’s pajama top, but he came to his senses then and pulled his body back.

I almost crossed the line tonight, fuck.

Unlike his body, which had regained its reason, his mind seemed to not have fully come to its senses yet. As all sorts of promiscuous fantasies came to mind, the first thing to react was his lower body.

Gyojin, thinking it was a huge relief that he had his legs crossed, whispered into Heeyoung’s ear.

“Lee Heeyoung. This just now, is this your answer that you’ll go out with me.”

It was a question thrown out with a nervous heart, but an answer did not come back easily. Frustrated, he urged him on with a ‘Huh?’ and planted a kiss, jjok, on the shell of Heeyoung’s ear. He even tried to exude some charm, but there was no reaction.

In the end, unable to wait any longer, Gyojin lowered his head to check Heeyoung’s face. But what is this.

“Hah, you fell asleep after kissing me like crazy until just now?”

Heeyoung had closed his eyes at some point and was sleeping as if he had never kissed him.

Gyojin let out a hollow laugh in disbelief and waved his palm in front of Heeyoung’s face. As if he had really fallen asleep, he didn’t even blink an eye.

He couldn’t possibly wake him up. Lee Heeyoung really, he had a knack for making a person anxious.

“Shit……”

Gyojin, who had clicked his tongue, let out a futile curse and glanced at his own taut lower body. It was so hard that the area around his thigh was swollen as if it would burst.

He felt like pulling it out and spilling his seed right away, but Gyojin sat there for a long time, clenching his teeth and holding back.

It was because he didn’t want to become the kind of trashy bastard who would take a sleeping Lee Heeyoung and do terrible things to him just because he was turned on. Although he already had such a history, at this moment, he just wanted to cherish it in a tingling way. So that later, when Lee Heeyoung recalls this situation, he too can feel his heart tremble like him.

“Lee Heeyoung, thanks to you, I’m going to become a Buddha. From tomorrow, don’t call me Boss-nim, just call me fucking Monk Gyojin.”

Whew. He, who had been sighing with a half-smile, suddenly got up.

It was dawn, so the air was quite chilly. It wasn’t right to leave a sleeping Heeyoung out in this cold any longer.

He easily lifted the limp body of Heeyoung into his arms. He ate so well, but the amount he ate rarely increased, so his body felt light every time he lifted him.

Carefully treading the stairs, Gyojin came up to the second floor, opened the door, and laid Heeyoung’s body on the bed where the blanket was half-kicked off. After pulling out the hands that had been supporting his neck and under his knees, he covered him with the blanket, and Heeyoung slowly lifted his eyelids. Seeing him wake up continuously, it seemed he had difficulty sleeping deeply.

“Don’t wake up, sleep soundly.”

The nightmare he had earlier must have been quite scary. A sudden feeling of pity arose, and when he patted his stomach, Heeyoung, who had been stubbornly keeping his eyes open, whispered in a low voice.

“I, I definitely wasn’t half-asleep when I did it……. With Boss-nim earlier, the kiss…….”

Still, it seemed he had no intention of turning Gyojin into a Buddha, as he stated his feelings so clearly. Even as he blinked his eyes as if he would be devoured by sleep at any moment, he tried to enunciate each and every letter.

Gyojin couldn’t hold back and kissed him, as if by habit. This time, he didn’t drag it out. He pulled away with a light jjok, and treated Heeyoung as if he were a child.

“I know everything. If you were half-asleep, I wouldn’t have touched you.”

“Aah…….”

When he replied while tapping his cheek with his index finger, Heeyoung nodded his head slightly as if he had realized something. He also seemed relieved somehow. As if thinking, That’s right, Boss-nim isn’t the kind of person who would carelessly kiss someone who is sleeping.

He seemed relieved, completely unaware that in the past, when he was drunk and asleep, Gyojin had shoved his genitals into his mouth.

At such a naive reaction, Gyojin’s conscience pricked him. He felt a little guilty too. It was both pitiful and cute to see Heeyoung so readily agree to his utterly shameless lie. To be honest, the fact that he felt more cute than pitiful made him feel even more guilty.

“Now close your eyes. Don’t think about anything else, let’s sleep. It’s 4 in the morning, 4 AM.”

“……Yes.”

“I’ll stay by your side until you fall asleep.”

“……Yes.”

“……Should I sleep next to you too?”

“……No.”

“Uh uh, right. You’re still wide awake. Hurry up and sleep.”

Gyojin, who had been trying to make a move until the very end even while his conscience was pricking him, raised his eyebrows askew in disappointment. The sullen expression was quickly erased.

He brought a chair and placed it next to the bed. He sat with his legs spread wide and waited until Heeyoung fell into a deep sleep. And finally, around the time his breathing, saek, saek, became regular, he quietly stood up.

He wanted to pretend he didn’t know, pretend he had accidentally fallen asleep, and squeeze into the spot next to Heeyoung’s bed, but. He came to his senses and forcefully turned his steps away from the bed.

After leaving the room, Gyojin did not go to his own bedroom but went into the bathroom.

At dawn, when everyone was asleep. Only the bathroom light was brightly lit. All through the dawn, the light showed no sign of turning off.