F Side Story 2-2

Siwoo barely managed to preserve the dignity of a civilized citizen, he picked Yeonho up in his arms and shoved him into the back seat of the car.

In the tight space, Yeonho nestled in Siwoo’s arms and quietly accepted everything Siwoo did to him. Siwoo’s teeth bit at his nose and cheek, his fingers pinched his eyelids and tugged his ears. He squeezed him tight with both arms, pressing their bodies together, then sank his teeth into Yeonho’s nape and tormented him.

Siwoo was punishing Yeonho for the trouble he caused today. It was a kind of torture. But Yeonho was the type to thoroughly enjoy that sort of thing, gentle and affectionate torment suited him perfectly.

Even as the teasing continued, Yeonho stayed obediently in his arms. Siwoo nibbled on his lips and scolded him.

“If you keep being this quiet and sweet, it just makes me want to torment you more.”

Without a change in expression, Yeonho blinked prettily and replied,
“Hyung, I’m going for that image these days. The submissive kind.”

Siwoo’s lips twitched for a moment. He stifled his laughter by closing his eyes and pressing his lips together. He had been about to ask Yeonho about the house he had visited, but decided against it. Yeonho ended up speaking first.

“I’ll tell you whose house that was.”

“It’s okay. You don’t have to.”

At Siwoo’s answer, Yeonho pressed his lips tightly together. Seeing that pout, Siwoo kissed him softly at first, then sucked on his lips like he wanted to swallow him whole.

After a long kiss, Yeonho asked in a slightly sulky voice, lips puffed up and swollen,
“Why aren’t you curious?”

“Because I trust you.”

Siwoo rubbed his cheek against Yeonho’s, who had gone limp in his arms. The truth was, it wasn’t that he wasn’t curious. It was just that finding out whose house Yeonho had visited wouldn’t be difficult anyway.

He relaxed his arms, ending the “torture,” and kissed every red spot left from his biting and pinching. Until then, Yeonho remained docile in his arms.

***

When Siwoo said he trusted Yeonho, he meant it completely. But curiosity was another matter. So the very next day, he returned to the house Yeonho had visited. If he wanted to know, he could figure it out himself, no need to ask Yeonho.

Without hesitation, he pressed the same doorbell Yeonho had rung yesterday. He intended to confirm, with his own eyes, who had spent time with Yeonho in that secret space.

After the chime, a woman’s voice answered.

–Who is it?

Judging by her voice, she sounded older. Mature middle-aged, maybe elderly. Had Yeonho come to visit an elder relative?

“Hello, I’m a friend of Joo Yeonho. I’m really sorry for dropping by without notice.”

–A friend of Yeonho? I was expecting you. Come in quickly.

As soon as she heard he was Yeonho’s friend, she dropped the formal speech and showed no surprise at his visit. Siwoo had no clue who she might be. She expected him? There’s no way a relative of Yeonho’s would react like that.

He stepped through the gate into the yard. After a few more steps, he realized what this strange house really was. Hanging beside the front door was a wooden sign with four bold Chinese characters.

Moon Sea Fairy.

“…Ha, Joo Yeonho.”

Siwoo let out a quiet laugh to himself. He’d heard the name before. It was one that came up when Yeonho, curled in Siwoo’s arms, used to tell him about his childhood. This was the woman who had once told five-year-old Yeonho that his face and fortune spelled murder.

Siwoo found it both ridiculous and adorable that Yeonho had come here of his own accord. Was he always the type to believe in pseudoscience like this? Then again, from Yeonho’s perspective, that fortune had come true. Maybe he really had started to believe.

Soon, a woman dressed in hanbok opened the door and greeted him.

“Hello. It’s nice to meet you.”

“Come in.”

Now that he knew who Yeonho had met, he had no real business here anymore. Still, curious about what they had discussed, Siwoo stepped inside.

It wasn’t a normal house inside, but a proper shrine. The unfamiliar space, something he’d only seen in the media, felt strange. Siwoo was someone with no interest in anything unscientific. Aside from his irrational behavior when it came to Yeonho, he was a textbook engineering student.

Sitting across from her, Siwoo began the conversation with polite social grace.

“Yeonho told me about you.”

“I heard about you from him too.”

“Is that so? What did he say about me?”

Siwoo tensed slightly. What if Yeonho had come here to check their compatibility? He didn’t believe in fate or fortunes, so even if the result was bad, it didn’t really matter. But what if Yeonho had felt uncertain about them and came here because of that?

She answered,
“He said he had someone he trusts and relies on. Didn’t say it was a man, but I could tell. I just knew.”

Siwoo smiled and nodded respectfully.

“Did he seem troubled about anything? Is it something you could share with me?”

But she shook her head. Client confidentiality, she said. Then she glanced at Siwoo’s hand and told him to open his palm. He didn’t believe in palm reading either, but obediently offered his hand.

As she studied his hand, her expression grew grave.

“This palm line… I should’ve looked at Yeonho’s hand too yesterday.”

Whether she was drawing from her own philosophy or trying to stoke unease, Siwoo didn’t care. He didn’t believe in this stuff. So her serious expression didn’t affect him in the slightest.

He began to withdraw his hand, deciding he had no reason to stay if she wasn’t going to share anything. He opened his mouth to ask about her fee.

“Actually, I already know Yeonho’s palm lines.”

Ah. That wasn’t what he meant to say.

“You do? How?”

“I’ve memorized them.”

Siwoo drew a hand on a blank sheet of paper. A hand slightly smaller than his own, lovely in size. Not just the size, he knew the position of every joint, the way the fingers curved, every branching line on the palm.

Of course, he hadn’t memorized them on purpose. No matter how obsessed, no one memorizes their lover’s biometric data on purpose. He had simply looked at Yeonho so much, touched him, licked him, loved him, that it had all been imprinted on his brain.

The woman looked down at the hand drawing with a strange expression, then began to offer advice. Probably not based on the palm lines, but based on Siwoo himself, who had memorized someone else’s.

“If you’re too entangled, you’ll destroy each other.”

“…”

Siwoo nodded calmly. He knew. He and Yeonho were that kind of relationship.

“If the obsession deepens, it could lead to bloodshed. You’re the kind of people who could actually kill each other.”

“I see.”

You didn’t have to be a shaman to figure that out. He and Yeonho knew their own issues better than anyone. They were in a love just slightly removed from normal. A broken kind of love, with no intent to fix it.

She offered a very reasonable solution.

“So live your own lives too. Give each other space.”

“That’s difficult.”

“…Excuse me?”

“Any other options?”

Siwoo blinked innocently as he shamelessly asked.

***

At a quiet, upscale Chinese restaurant, Yeonho sat with a sullen expression, waiting for Siwoo.

Earlier at work, he had received a message from Siwoo:
“I’ve got somewhere to stop by after work. It’ll take about an hour. Let’s have dinner together. Got anything you want to eat?”

Yeonho knew right away, it was a stalking invitation. Siwoo was asking him to play tag.

After work, Yeonho had crept after him, trying to tail him, but he lost track like an amateur. Stalking was a skill that needed experience.

Yeonho failed to catch Siwoo, and had been fidgeting in anxiety. But the moment Siwoo slid open the room’s door and stepped inside, he jumped up and threw his arms around him.

“Hyung, I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

Siwoo gently patted Yeonho’s backside as he asked.

Yeonho, with his arms still wrapped around Siwoo’s waist, looked up at him.

“For not telling you where I went yesterday. I actually went to visit a friend of my grandma’s. She called me after a long time…”