F55

That day, Yeonho spent the entire day sleeping in Siwoo’s arms. He got up briefly to attend a class, then came back and fell asleep again. He didn’t even bother to eat properly. Siwoo, too, came home during every break to hold Yeonho and lull him back to sleep. While Yeonho was asleep, Siwoo would quietly study every inch of his face, passing the time that way.

After getting a rest in Siwoo’s arms, Yeonho felt a little better. While he was with him, he could forget, if only for a moment, what had happened that morning.

That evening, both Siwoo and Yeonho had another round of welcome-back drinks. But unlike the previous night, they couldn’t sit back to back at the same place and each guard their own gatherings.

While Siwoo was getting ready to go out, Yeonho pouted at him with a sulky expression.

“You always go on about how your social circle is smaller than mine or whatever, but you’re the one out drinking all the time. Every day.”

“I’m sorry. You have to show up to these things at the start of the semester or they’ll keep bothering you all semester. Starting next week, I’ll turn everything down.”

Siwoo looked apologetic and pressed both of Yeonho’s cheeks with his palms. Yeonho pushed his hands away and began circling around Siwoo like a hyena eyeing its prey.

“How many of those hyenas are gonna try to snatch up my drunk boyfriend again, huh? Everyone’s dying to take a bite out of Kim Yeonho.”

“I’m stronger than any hyena. They won’t get me.”

“But I get you. Every time.”

“That’s because you’re the apex predator.”

Siwoo, fastening the button on his left sleeve, grinned as he said it without shame. Acknowledged as the ruler of the food chain, Yeonho playfully pounded on Siwoo’s shoulder with his fists, then suddenly threw his arms around his neck and bit his nape. He sucked hard, intending to leave a visible mark where everyone could see it.

This belongs to someone else. Do not touch.

Siwoo offered his neck quietly, letting Yeonho leave his mark. But as Yeonho held a mouthful of his skin, lost in thought, he suddenly changed his mind and pulled away.

“No. People are going to see it and judge. They’ll whisper behind your back.”

“It’s fine. Leave it. I’ll cover it well at home so my parents won’t see.”

Siwoo, now fastening the button on his other sleeve, tapped his neck lightly with a finger. Yeonho shook his head without saying a word. But Siwoo didn’t give up. He tapped his neck again.

“Then instead of refusing, why don’t I leave one instead?”

In the end, while Siwoo put on his watch, Yeonho pressed his lips to his neck and sucked hard. A vivid red mark bloomed. He felt a bit satisfied, but knowing he’d left a bruise on Siwoo’s body still didn’t feel entirely good.

Yeonho offered up his neck in return. Siwoo only brushed his long neck with his hand, like he was stroking a deer. When he showed no intention of doing the same, Yeonho spoke up.

“You do it too. Fair’s fair.”

“You’re a freshman. If anyone sees it, they’ll talk way more than they would about me.”

“Doesn’t matter. I don’t care. Just do it. I can’t stand this kind of unfairness.”

Yeonho took a step closer and stretched his neck out even farther. Siwoo studied the pale skin for a moment, then said,

“I’d rather…”

He trailed off without finishing, lowering his head to check the time.

“Yeonho, how long do we have before we need to leave? I think I can afford to be a bit late.”

Yeonho’s face flushed. He hadn’t expected Siwoo to look at his neck and think that, and it embarrassed him for no reason. He gave a shy smile.

“I can be a bit late too. It’s just drinking, anyway…”

Even though Siwoo didn’t say a word, Yeonho knelt down in front of him. Siwoo didn’t stop him. Yeonho unfastened Siwoo’s belt himself, unzipped his pants, and pulled out his cock. He took it into both hands, palms and fingers brushing over the shaft in slow strokes.

With just a few touches, Siwoo’s cock quickly swelled. It rubbed up against Yeonho’s pale neck. Holding Yeonho’s head in both hands, Siwoo moved his hips slowly, and Yeonho undid the buttons of his loose shirt to bare his shoulders and chest so Siwoo could come without worrying about the mess.

There was a very clear reason why Yeonho liked being on his knees in front of Siwoo like this. From that angle, he could see a side of Siwoo that was hard to see otherwise. There was something slightly forceful about it.

Looking up from below and watching him unravel, just from his touch alone, was something he liked. The best part, though, was that whenever Yeonho gave Siwoo a blowjob in this position, Siwoo would always lick his knees afterward.

Of course, he liked it just as much when Siwoo knelt in front of him too. It was impossible to choose which he liked better.

Siwoo’s cock, rubbing against every part of Yeonho’s neck, finally slid deep into his warm mouth and pulled back out again. Yeonho stuck out his tongue and licked the shaft that brushed his cheek.

Not long after, Siwoo furrowed his brows and let out a low moan as he came across Yeonho’s slender neck.

“Hhh…”

Yeonho dipped his fingers into the fluid slowly trailing down his collarbone, looked up at Siwoo, and sucked his wet fingers clean.

They headed out of the apartment together and said goodbye in advance. Tonight, after their separate gatherings, they planned to go straight back to their own homes.

Siwoo grabbed Yeonho’s wrist and said,

“If you get drunk, call me. I’ll come get you right away.”

“I’m not planning to drink much. Just one glass, I promise. Don’t worry.”

After saying goodbye at the crossroads and turning away first, Yeonho only managed a few steps before stopping and glancing back at Siwoo’s retreating figure. He thought he would be fine. Spending the day with Siwoo had helped him feel better, and he believed he could handle being apart from him. But he was wrong.

The moment they separated, the memory of what happened that morning began creeping back in, swallowing him up again. Anxiety surged through him, and he started biting the inside of his lips and scratching at his fingers with his nails.

That night, Yeonho came home past midnight to avoid running into his eldest brother. Just as he’d told Siwoo, he hadn’t drunk much. Like the night before, he turned on the lights in his room as brightly as they would go.

Even after getting ready for bed and lying down, sleep didn’t come. He sat up again. He couldn’t bring himself to lie down comfortably, afraid that if he happened to doze off, something would happen again the moment he closed his eyes. So he opened his laptop and sat at his desk. It was the game he had stopped playing since he started dating Siwoo.

While immersed in the game, he heard footsteps approaching his room. On edge, Yeonho had purposely set the game sound to leak outside. He swallowed nervously, fingers trembling wildly on the mouse. The footsteps stopped just in front of his door, then eventually faded into the distance.

“Haa… haa…”

He clamped his hands over his mouth and panted heavily. He couldn’t turn the game off or go back to bed. Just like the night before, he stayed wide awake until dawn and got ready to leave the house.

The same thing was repeating itself again. After hearing his eldest brother leave for work, Yeonho escaped to Siwoo’s place.

Today, he didn’t even have the energy to arrange Siwoo’s belongings into a cozy nest. He simply dragged out every piece of clothing Siwoo had left behind, buried himself in them, and collapsed on the floor to sleep. An hour later, Siwoo came home and pulled him out of the pile, holding him tightly in his arms.

***

That was how Yeonho spent the next month. Thankfully, nothing happened during that time. Of course it didn’t. There was no way anyone could enter a room with the lights blazing at dawn and the sounds of a game playing nonstop.

Yeonho’s daily life fell into complete disarray, as he couldn’t get a proper night’s sleep even once while staying constantly on guard. The memory of that day had become a much bigger trauma than he had anticipated, keeping him from sleeping soundly anywhere. He couldn’t even rest with his head down on his desk, afraid someone might touch him. The only place he could truly sleep was in Siwoo’s arms.

But he didn’t want to tell Siwoo what had happened. This wasn’t just his problem, it was a family problem. If something like that never happened again, then he was willing to treat it as if it never had, and forgive his brother. He was prepared to believe it had just been a drunken hallucination and live with that version of the truth.

What Yeonho wanted to protect were the precious memories of his youth, and his family.

***

At the cafe, Yeonho had dozed off using a stack of Siwoo’s textbooks as a pillow. His left cheek was pressed deep into the books. Siwoo came back with two cups of iced Americano and sat down beside him, stacking more of his textbooks in front of himself. Then he lay his own right cheek down on the book pillow and stared at Yeonho.

After a while, Yeonho slowly opened his heavy eyes. The moment he woke, his gaze met Siwoo’s. Siwoo gently touched Yeonho’s eyelashes with his fingertip and asked,

“Are you sure nothing’s wrong? You’ve been sleeping way too much.”

“No. Nothing’s wrong.”

Yeonho answered sincerely. And really, it was almost like nothing had happened, at least not yet. As long as that one day was erased, then nothing had ever happened at all.

The next day, Siwoo put Yeonho in his car and started driving somewhere. The destination entered into the GPS was a large general hospital. Without asking questions, Yeonho quietly went along and checked Siwoo’s phone. The search history was filled with similar entries.

“My partner sleeps all day.”

There was even a post on a parenting forum: My baby suddenly started sleeping way too much. Could there be a health issue? My baby is twenty years old. From that, it was obvious he was taking Yeonho to the hospital out of concern for his health.

Now Siwoo was feeding him giant summer strawberries, saying strange things, but still–

“Yeonho, do you remember when you took off my condom and asked me to come inside you? Was that four weeks ago?”

“Yeah. That’s right.”

“Then I guess this confirms it…”

“Mmm. So it’s me after all?”

Yeonho took a big bite of a strawberry half and nodded as he chewed. Then he offered the remaining half to Siwoo and smiled.

“Congratulations, babe.”

“Let’s do our best together.”

A little later, parked in front of the hospital, Siwoo shook Yeonho’s hand and then pulled him into a tight hug.

And so the place Siwoo had brought Yeonho to was internal medicine. Somehow, Yeonho ended up getting a health checkup and willingly let them stick a needle in his vein. He wanted to reassure Siwoo, who was so worried about him.

His sleep pattern had only gotten disrupted because of what had happened that day. If he could just let down his guard a little, everything would be fine again.