Dirty Sweet Baby Chapter 70

‘Hah, calm down. Be composed.’

Forcing himself to swallow his troubled thoughts, Heeheon pushed his weary body up. His limbs felt heavy and limp from exhaustion, but he tried not to show it as he got out of bed with a steady demeanor. First and foremost, guiding was the priority.

“I’ll change and go, so you go to the guiding room first.”

Because guiding is what a guide does.

Baek Heeheon is Cha Moogyul’s guide, and Cha Moogyul is Baek Heeheon’s esper.

If Heeheon didn’t guide him, Cha Moogyul’s body would accumulate an imbalance, causing him to suffer from all sorts of side effects. Tinnitus, dizziness, chills, fever, insomnia, loss of appetite, and in severe cases, he would suffer from hallucinations and auditory illusions, vomit blood, and have seizures.

‘And eventually, he’d go berserk and die.’

Heeheon took slow steps toward the wardrobe to get dressed in his combat uniform. He felt a pointed stare from behind. Cha Moogyul was watching his back with blazing black eyes, scanning him from head to toe. Then he let out a dry, inscrutable laugh.

“I guess I was a bit too harsh.”

Following that, he heard the rustle of paper. Closing the file he was reviewing, he approached Heeheon. His footsteps were slow and languid. Standing half a hand’s breadth behind him, he raised a long arm and tapped Heeheon’s shoulder. It wasn’t a hard tap, but his mentally and physically exhausted body had no strength, and his upper body swayed as he was shaken.

“Looks like you’re going to collapse again, hyung.”

Heeheon tensed his legs, trying to regain his balance and not stagger. Cha Moogyul then pulled Heeheon into an embrace from behind, letting him lean against his chest. His chest pressed against Heeheon’s back, and his arms wrapped around his weary torso, holding him steady.

“I’ve made a spectacle of myself. It wasn’t my intention to lose my reason and run wild to that extent…”

“…What’s new. You’ve always been like that.”

“Have I.”

He gently patted Heeheon’s waist as if to comfort him. Heeheon silently blinked his eyes slowly. It was an obvious fact that his overexerted body was a mess, and his hip joints ached and felt stiff as if they were about to pop out. As Cha Moogyul rubbed him with his cool, large hands, it felt as if his condition improved just a little.

“If you want, take your anger out on me.”

Lowering his head, he pressed his cheek against Heeheon’s hair and whispered softly. His fine-featured profile was half-buried in Heeheon’s neat black hair.

“I’m willing to take a few hits. Even if you point a gun at me and fire, what the hell… fine.”

“Hey, don’t say such pointless things.”

Heeheon narrowed his eyes and grimaced. It was something he had blurted out in a fit of anger, thinking everything had hit rock bottom and giving up. Looking back on it with a clear head, it was, of course, a completely absurd thing to say.

“A firearm accident is a serious issue. And abusing your Healing Factor for personal reasons like that is also a serious crime.”

It might have been different in the very moment the incident occurred, but now, it wasn’t even worth discussing seriously. In fact, even back then, it was half-said out of pure emotion. Heeheon flatly refused as if it were preposterous.

“You don’t seriously think I’d actually shoot you…”

“So you’re not going to shoot me.”

“Of course not.”

“Haha.”

At that, Cha Moogyul burst into a hearty laugh. He planted a kiss on the tip of Heeheon’s round ear, and then another on his white cheek. As his laughter subsided, he lowered his voice and whispered as if confiding a secret.

“This is the third time. You keep missing the chances I give you, hyung.”

“…”

“If you had aimed accurately and fired a shot, you would have been free. It can’t be helped.”

He grabbed Heeheon’s chin and turned it to meet his gaze. A thick, tenacious stare poured out from his pitch-black eyes.

“Just be mine.”

Having approached him at some point, he languidly licked his lower lip. Even though it was a gentle touch, his lips, which were severely chapped from being sucked on so much, stung terribly. His nerves were on edge, and it felt like his knees were about to buckle.

Heeheon stood firm, tensing his legs, and agonized. Should he turn his head and avoid it? Should he shake off his arm? But then, he simply placed his hand on Cha Moogyul’s forearm, which was embracing him. His fingertips curled slightly in hesitation and reluctance, but in the end, he gently grasped the hem of his robe. Then, slowly letting his balance falter, he carefully shifted his weight and leaned into his firm embrace.

“…But still.”

Heeheon, their bodies pressed together, replied in a faint voice.

“Then what happens.”

“Hmm?”

“If I become yours… then…”

Ah. How did summer end so soon?

The sizzling heat, the dazzlingly intense sun, the scorching warmth that seemed to melt the world—when did it all go away, and how did a clear autumn suddenly arrive? Autumn was much more pleasant. The moderate temperature felt just right.

There was no discomfort even when their skin stuck together, the air was clear, and not gloomy. The smell of the steamy, humid atmosphere, the sound of the incessantly falling monsoon rain, the mysterious stuffiness of the hazy fog—it all seemed to be fading into the far reaches of his memory already.

“In reality, not much really changes, does it.”

Baek Heeheon is a wreck, and Cha Moogyul is still Cha Moogyul…

Does he mean to say something will change? Is he telling Baek Heeheon to have such futile expectations again? What kind of season is autumn…?

“Well then.”

Cha Moogyul lifted his head and slowly lowered his face. Heeheon’s pale face was reflected in his eyes. Toward the lost and standing Heeheon, his mesmerizing eyes curved as if to show off. They folded gently into an ecstatic eye-smile, yet he replied in a nonchalant, monotonous tone.

“Shall we get married or something.”

As if it didn’t matter to him in the slightest, as if it were no big deal at all.

“…What?”

“Call each other honey, darling?”

Heeheon froze like a statue on the spot. He forgot to even blink, staring up at Cha Moogyul blankly, completely stunned.

“So serious. You can’t even stand on your own. You look completely useless, why don’t you get some rest.”

Honey… darling…

“Go back to sleep for a bit. We can do the guiding later.”

Honey… darling…?

“Hah, he’s completely frozen again.”

“…”

“Your reactions are so obvious, hyung. As transparent as first-grade water.”

Cha Moogyul pinched Heeheon’s white cheek hard enough to hurt. Even though he was pinched so hard it made him let out an involuntary euk, Heeheon didn’t even feel the pain. That’s how dumbfounded and overwhelmed he was. What was Cha Moogyul saying? At this point, he might really be in a nightmare.

Heeheon’s mouth moved wordlessly.

“Cha Moogyul, you, no… with me… you, you want to do… that?”

His face lost its color. His lowered eyelashes trembled minutely in his agitated expression.

“What. Marriage?”

“Honey, darling.”

“Why. Afraid I’ll say let’s do it.”

“No, I’m asking. Just answer me…”

“Hmm?”

“Just answer me properly, you bastard!”

“Hahaha.”

Cha Moogyul’s characteristic languid laughter was devastatingly pleasant to hear. After a long time, without getting tired of it, fuck, it was pleasant again. A surge of irritation rose at the thought of why he was feeling this way. He was antsy, too. He fiddled with Heeheon’s cheek and replied impassively.

“Not really. I think it would be weird.”

“…”

“Isn’t it childish.”

“…What, then.”

“Right. What indeed. Now lie down.”

As Cha Moogyul tried to lay Heeheon back down on the bed, Heeheon belatedly stopped him and resisted.

“What do you mean lie down. I have to do the guiding.”

He had been so flustered that he had almost been swept away and dragged along by him again, but no matter how tired and exhausted he was, now was not the time to lie down and rest.

“Do it later. I told you to rest.”

“No, work comes first. It’s dangerous for an esper to have an imbalance.”

“I don’t know. To my eyes, you look more precarious, hyung…”

…This fucking bastard. Is he really playing with me?

Heeheon couldn’t control his dumbfounded feelings and, showing his irritation, forcefully shook off Cha Moogyul’s arm. He pushed his thick chest away with his elbow and opened the wardrobe door to take out his combat uniform.

“Hey, Cha Moogyul. If you were going to be like this afterwards, why the hell did you fuck me so cruelly. My insides, really, I thought they were going to be rubbed raw…”

“Is it that bad. I did put some medicine on it.”

“You, you asshole, you wouldn’t know because you haven’t been fucked by your own dick…”

“I suppose that’s true.”

Having approached him again at some point, he buried his face in Heeheon’s hair and kissed the crown of his head. As he pulled away from the light kiss, he naturally took the combat uniform from Heeheon’s hand. Then, he unfastened the buckles on the uniform, preparing it to make it easier to change.

“I’ll dress you.”

Heeheon, of course, refused.

“No thanks. I’ll do it myself.”

“Hyung, why don’t you listen when I’m being nice.”

“And what are you going to do if I don’t.”

“There are many ways.”

It’s not like Baek Heeheon was some doll or mannequin, or a severely ill patient with mobility issues. It might be different if he were asleep, but he didn’t know what the point was in dressing a person who was clearly conscious.

Cha Moogyul draped the combat uniform over his shoulder and pulled Heeheon’s pajama top off over his head all at once, without even unbuttoning it. His hair got messy as the loose-fitting ivory pajama was easily removed from Heeheon’s body.

“Should I burn all your clothes, hyung, down to your last pair of underwear, and make you live naked in the house.”