Dirty Sweet Baby Chapter 6

He knew that the attraction he felt when he saw Cha Mugyeol would follow him as persistently as a chronic illness, and that he would never in his life come to desire anyone other than him. Some might say, can’t you just forget him, can’t you just give up, but for Baek Heeheon, it was a difficult thing to do.

Because Baek Heeheon had never once wavered in his choices, nor had he ever grown tired of or come to dislike what he once liked.

Even now, Heeheon chooses to eat white things. In his dormitory drawer, there is a glass jar where he has collected marbles and coins. He likes calculations, he likes the corner seat, and he ties the laces of his combat boots tightly every day. He cannot change it. It just remains like a fingerprint, making up the person that is Baek Heeheon and following him for his entire life.

Cha Mugyele is a man, and on top of that, a brother created by his mother’s remarriage. What on earth was he to do, desiring such a person……. There was truly no answer…….

How much easier would it have been if he could have been indifferent.

If he could have smiled lightly at him, naturally patted his broad shoulders, exchanged ordinary and trivial jokes, and grown old together as brothers, there would have been no complications. Why did Baek Heeheon have to be Baek Heeheon. Why did it have to turn out like this. The brand imprinted on his lips would not erase.

Although it was a kiss brought on by guiding, they had finally touched.

Cha Mugyeol probably would not even treat something like this as a kiss…….

He surely would not…….

‘Stop.’

Startled, his eyes opened.

Pitch-black surroundings greeted Heeheon. He was lying down somewhere, and the darkness was so thick he could not see his surroundings. Unable to hide his bewilderment, he raised his upper body, and the forcibly depleted core in his heart cried out in sharp, tingling pain.

“Agh.”

He did not know how long it had been since he had done guiding to the point of depletion. Having worked so thoroughly as a guide until now, the sense of loss from his core being completely empty felt extremely awkward. It was also quite painful. Heeheon forced his crumbling body to get up.

His eyes, gradually adjusting to the darkness, took in his surroundings. It was some unfamiliar bedroom.

Heeheon was lying on a large bed, and the rustling quilt smelled of a nice fabric softener. When he managed to take a step and turn on the stand on the nightstand, the interior became clearly visible. Heeheon, who winced at the sudden light, examined the structure of the high-ceilinged space, the half-closed gray curtains, and the blue abstract painting on the wall, one by one.

He was slowly coming to his senses.

‘Where is Cha Mugyeol?’

A faint sound was coming from outside the closed door. It was a very small noise, but he could make it out when he strained his ears. It sounded like a conversation. Heeheon staggered out of the bedroom, opening the door. When he came out into the hallway, the sound grew louder. Cha Mugyeol was talking to someone. The source was at the bottom of the stairs.

As he went down the stairs, holding onto the railing, the monotone living room he had seen before collapsing came into view. It seemed the bedroom Heeheon had been lying in just a moment ago was on the second floor. Cha Mugyeol looked as if he had just finished a shower, with his wet hair slicked back, and was on the phone wearing only a robe.

“I don’t care that their situation has gotten messy. Tell them to hand over the Mulsan shares as per the contract.”

His irritable voice sounded quite fierce.

“Putting up a useless struggle……. They need to grasp the situation, don’t they? I’ll have to chop off that head and pick a new one that suits our taste to put in its place.”

Heeheon, who had stopped, holding onto the railing, held his breath. Contact between the special residential district and the general residential district was strictly controlled. Moreover, only high-ranking generals could possess communication devices like smartphones, so it was a mystery how Cha Mugyeol was on the phone, and with whom.

“Right. Handle it as instructed. Leave the other side alone.”

Heeheon was certain he had not even made a sound, but somehow Cha Mugyeol turned around. Did he have eyes in the back of his head? Or maybe he had superpowers, he did not know. Of course, Cha Mugyeol was an Esper, but…….

After a casual glance at Heeheon, who was standing precariously in the middle of the stairs, he naturally ended the call. Then, he raised one eyebrow and asked.

“You’re awake.”

“Uh…….”

A very hoarse voice came from his throat. It was unlistenable. Heeheon deliberately hardened his expression, pretending to be nonchalant, and came down to the living room.

“Don’t ever do what you did today again. There won’t be a second time.”

“What did I do?”

“I informed you that the guide was depleted. When the core is depleted, extreme pain rushes in. You can pass out like you just did. This is probably restricted information for ordinary people, so I’ll let it slide this time, assuming you didn’t know, but next…….”

As Heeheon explained, clearing his throat, Cha Mugyeol stared at him with his pitch-black eyes. The loosely tied shower robe only half-covered his body. Heeheon had to try hard not to steal glances at the toned upper body muscles that looked as if they had been intentionally sculpted, and the deeply indented collarbones.

“Ah, that kind of thing?”

Cha Mugyeol cut his sentence short. And he let out a calm laugh.

“I thought you were telling me not to kiss you. Is that not a big deal?”

“Hey.”

“What, hyung.”

Heeheon barely managed to hold back the curse that was about to fly out and calmed himself down. Seeing his words scatter more lightly than air, he could tell how trivially Cha Mugyeol was treating this situation.

“That’s called mucous membrane contact guiding, and it’s just more efficient than skin contact. Don’t do that again either.”

“As if I would.”

Cha Mugyeol burst into a dry laugh.

“That guiding thing is no different from a drug. Who would do it willingly when it completely drains you of your reason?”

“……”

“I have no business pressing my lips against yours and panting, hyung. Never again.”

“……Right. That’s for sure.”

Although he struggled not to look, he caught a glimpse of his hair from the corner of his eye. Water trickled down from his wet black hair, which clung to the line of his straight neck. A droplet traced a path down the sternocleidomastoid muscle, as if seeping into his skin. Heeheon turned away with a start, as if he had committed a crime.

“It’s late. I’m leaving.”

He threw out the words like a notification and forced his drained body to move. On the living room table, his lost goggles and one glove were neatly placed. Like picking up a missing puzzle piece, Heeheon snatched them. He did not even have the leisure to put on the glove, so he just held it and was about to walk straight out into the hallway.

“Where are you going?”

Cha Mugyeol grabbed Heeheon’s shoulder. It was just a light touch, but his depleted body staggered violently. As Heeheon’s knees buckled and he was about to collapse, he caught him and supported him.

Heeheon reacted with a start and frowned.

He had no idea what to do.

It was late at night, Cha Mugyeol was half-naked, and a deep fragrance was wafting from him. What kind of body wash on earth did he use. Are all products these days this fragrant?

“Let go.”

“I thought you were going to collapse.”

“Whose fault is that. I said let go.”

“Ah…… well, it would be dangerous to make contact again now, I suppose.”

Heeheon lowered his head. He probably meant that the guiding was dangerous, but it was not entirely wrong. Cha Mugyeol only let him go after seating him on the sofa.

“So where are you going.”

“Where do you think. I have to return to the Center. Before the dormitory roll call.”

“There’s no need for that.”

He, who had created a distance, slowly sat down next to him on the sofa. He crossed his endlessly long legs and pressed his temple with his index finger.

“Your things will arrive tomorrow. The change of address should be processed by now as well.”

“What……? What are you talking about?”

“You have to live in this house. You, Baek Heeheon.”

“Cut the bullshit.”

“Right? I fully agree with you on that, but, tsk…….”

Cha Mugyeol lifted his dry pupils and glared at the empty air. His gaze was so fierce that it felt as if a thunderbolt would strike the clear sky where his eyes landed.

“The madam is worrying herself sick. Her only biological son, suffering alone in a remote place with no one to rely on.”

What was this all about now.

What did mother do……?

“Who doesn’t know her tender heart? She was already saying ‘our Heeheon, our Heeheon,’ every chance she got, to the point of being tiresome, so how much worse would it be now that I’ve awakened too. She was practically begging, crying and clinging to my trouser legs in front of Father.”

“……”

“Do you get it? I’ve suddenly been saddled with the role of being my hyung’s babysitter.”

Heeheon’s face turned pale. Because of that, only the red veins in his wide-open eyes were noticeable. Heeheon, who had been frozen for a while, asked back, stuttering.

“Mother… she, she cried.”

“No, she wailed.”

“Th……”

“Feeling guilty now, are we? You know you’ve been an unfilial son.”

Cha Mugyeol muttered venomously.

“You should have at least shown your face once in a while, for fuck’s sake…….”

Baek Heeheon could not even make a squeak. He had nothing to say. Because it was none other than himself who had run away as if cutting off all ties. Shielded by the excuse of being too busy, and the duty of fighting creatures with his life on the line, he had not once visited the general residential district in five years. Even when he tried to submit a request for a pass through the barrier gate, he would always fail right before doing so.

“The house. From now on, you live here. Your old dormitory room has probably been cleared out.”