Over Yoon Jooho’s head, who kept lunging forward, Monroe was struggling to follow the shaking and moving hands.
It seemed Monroe was having a hard time keeping up. Yoon Jooho showed no sign of backing down.
Unable to do anything else, the moment Song Hyunsoo set down the remaining snacks on the floor, Monroe pounced on them as if waiting for just that. Yoon Jooho’s lips then covered Hyunsoo’s.
“Mmph. Mmm…”
His breath was fresh, having just finished brushing his teeth moments ago. It was like biting into a fresh green apple he’d just picked off a branch and wiped on his pants.
Saliva pooled under his chin during the kiss.
Pushing his body away little by little, Hyunsoo barely managed to turn his head to avoid the tongue that was melting his mouth sensually.
He pushed against the bare chest visible between the open gown and almost pleaded,
“Let’s go out. Let’s do this outside. Hey, sunbae?”
Yoon Jooho hesitated for a moment but then slid his hand inside Hyunsoo’s T-shirt, showering his ear with kisses.
“He doesn’t know anything.”
“I said I care about this!”
If you know I’m sensitive to sounds… please…
Though his shoulders twitched with sensations that felt like his hearing was melting, he couldn’t help but keep looking at Monroe.
The one who had just finished the last snack on the floor tilted its head, as if wondering if there would be more.
How could I refuse those clear, innocent eyes… I just can’t.
At that moment, like a savior, Song Hyunsoo’s phone rang from his pants pocket. This time, no matter what, even if it was a voice phishing call, he would welcome it.
Seizing the momentary pause in Yoon Jooho’s actions caused by the ringtone, Hyunsoo slid his hips back and broke free from him.
Yoon Jooho frowned, brushing his hair back.
“Are you going to answer it?”
“I have to.”
“At a time like this?”
“Jung Ho might have more to say because of work.”
Pulling down the T-shirt that had ridden up to his chest, Hyunsoo took out his phone.
Jiini-hyung France Number
“……”
Well, of course, I said I’d be glad no matter who called… but couldn’t it have been anyone but hyung?
Reading Yoon Jooho’s expression, Hyunsoo gripped his phone tighter and tried to sit up.
“It’s hyung. I’ll just take it for a moment.”
Like last time in the Ok-tapbang, he thought Jooho would be generous again. Though reluctant, he’d never said no before.
But not this time.
“Don’t answer it.”
Yoon Jooho grabbed Hyunsoo’s wrist holding the phone and pulled it down firmly. His voice and expression were resolute—almost an order.
“But…”
“It’s just a check-in call anyway.”
“There’s a time difference, and hyung isn’t free all the time. You can’t just take calls whenever. It’ll only be a moment…”
As Hyunsoo tried to sit up, Yoon Jooho yanked his arm roughly. The force made him collapse back down, and immediately his hand grabbed wide under Hyunsoo’s chin.
Holding his jaw to prevent movement or resistance, he rubbed his lips strongly against Hyunsoo’s until they were crushed.
It was no longer a kiss like biting into a fresh green apple or melting away.
Hyunsoo clenched his teeth tightly to block the invading tongue. He didn’t want to accept this forceful kiss without knowing why.
From his hand, the ringtone kept playing one of Choi Hongseo’s songs. Today, the melody sounded unstable, like a foreshadowing in a horror film.
He finally managed to free his arm and escape the grip.
“What’s going on? Why are you suddenly like this… ugh.”
Trying to twist and get out of his embrace, Yoon Jooho completely covered Hyunsoo and slammed him to the floor.
With his full body weight pressing down, it wasn’t easy to push him off. Trapped under Jooho’s abdomen, Hyunsoo struggled.
Yoon Jooho grabbed both of Hyunsoo’s wrists and pinned them to the floor, then kissed and bit the skin on his neck.
“We were kissing, weren’t we? I don’t want to be disturbed.”
“I don’t want this either. Move.”
Hyunsoo’s voice was stiff. Though his disadvantaged position made it hard to use strength efficiently, he threw all his weight into pushing Jooho’s shoulder.
Jooho raised his head.
“What do you mean ‘like this’?”
“You’re just getting mad and forcing this on me. It’s disgusting. Move your body, right now.”
The pressure on his wrists increased.
Yoon Jooho’s face, looking down from above, contorted.
“I’m the one who feels like shit! Why do I have to be second best?”
“We’re not talking about the phone now. Let go!”
After struggling like a madman, Hyunsoo managed to slip out from under Jooho and turned his back. But Jooho pounced on him from behind again.
Wrapping one arm around Hyunsoo’s waist, he tried to snatch the phone with the other.
In the tussle to keep it, Hyunsoo lost his grip, and the phone slipped out, bouncing and sliding into a corner. The call had already ended.
Why does he have to make such a big deal out of this? Hyunsoo couldn’t understand.
Angrily, he elbowed Yoon Jooho’s side from behind. Pushing him off with his shoulder, he shouted,
“What the hell are you trying to do?”
“Does it really need to be answered?”
Yoon Jooho shook both of Hyunsoo’s arms roughly, his eyes blazing.
“Even if it goes against how I feel?”
“Stop talking like that…”
“Enough! Just answer me. I’m Jung Ji-in!”
It must’ve been his expression. Rather than getting mad at the shouting or commanding tone, Hyunsoo suddenly worried if Jooho was okay. He looked like he was in an abnormal state.
The pressure on Hyunsoo’s upper arms from Jooho’s grip felt like his muscles would burst. Jooho’s ragged breaths made him look dangerous—not angry, but like someone lost in fear or confusion.
The disconnected ringtone began again after a brief pause. But this time, Hyunsoo didn’t pay any attention.
Instead, he reached out first and hugged Jooho tightly. Pressing their cheeks together, he repeatedly stroked Jooho’s tense, stiff back.
“Okay. I won’t answer.”
“……”
“You’re the most important. You come first.”
He whispered the same words into his ear over and over again.
Breathing heavily, Yoon Jooho’s arms slowly tightened, until finally they bound Hyunsoo’s body so tightly it was suffocating.
■
“The furniture has all been taken over by us, and the total luggage you received today is five boxes. Please check and sign here.”
The moving company employee handed Yoon Jooho a tablet.
Leaning against the corridor wall with his arms crossed, Yoon Jooho took it.
Five boxes were stacked in the storage room closest to the entrance.
Even though most household items and furniture had been disposed of and only personal belongings were taken, Yoon Jooho thought it was too little for a single person’s luggage.
Counting the boxes piled in the corner with his eyes, Yoon Jooho returned the signed tablet to the employee.
The man, who had been glancing at Yoon Jooho from beneath the bill of his uniform cap, smiled as he took it.
“You’re even better-looking in person.”
“Thank you.”
“My wife’s a fan. Good luck with your movie.”
Though a typical greeting, somehow it didn’t sound fake. After sending the man off with a tired smile, he went to Monroe’s room.
The moving company staff would only be near the entrance anyway, but he had closed the door to avoid stressing Monroe.
The little one seemed busy playing with toys. Despite the unfamiliar sounds, thankfully, he looked fine.
Seeing Yoon Jooho, he approached with a toy in his mouth, placed it on the floor, and rubbed against his calf.
“You want me to play with that?”
Meow.
Lowering himself to sit, Yoon Jooho gently stroked the small back.
“Later. I’ll play with you later.”
Hyunsoo’s phone lay on the floor. Picking it up as he left the room, Yoon Jooho glanced back once more at the inside near the open door.
Monroe, circling his toys, looked back with a longing gaze but didn’t follow.
“Not coming out?”
As if that room was his whole world, as if he were satisfied with just that. Monroe put the toy back in his mouth and went back to the window.
Yoon Jooho crossed the living room and headed to the Master Room. Quietly entering the bedroom with muffled slipper steps, it was dim despite broad daylight due to blackout curtains.
Stopping in front of the bed, he looked down at Song Hyunsoo’s soundly sleeping face.
As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, his features became clearer—the traces of fatigue still on his eyes and cheeks.
After Hyunsoo hung up Jung Ji-in’s call, Yoon Jooho dragged him into this room and stripped him.
Crushing his whole body to restrain him and acting roughly, Hyunsoo never asked a thing. He simply accepted it.
After being drained by relentlessly stubborn sex, Hyunsoo collapsed and fell asleep the moment Yoon Jooho released him.
‘“Y-You never said… that I’m the first.”’
With his hands stuck in the pockets of his gown, standing silently in the dark, Yoon Jooho let out a quiet bitter laugh.
The book on the table for transcription, the message written on its first page, the small cat occupying the room beyond the living room, the returned wristwatch—his innocence in not realizing how much he’d already changed was amusing.
He clenched the phone in his pocket. Covering Hyunsoo’s naked back with a blanket, he quietly left the room, leaving the phone inside his pocket.
Going to the room with the bar, he poured Johnnie Walker Double Black into an On the Rocks glass.
Sitting on a stool, he opened the contacts on Hyunsoo’s phone, which had no lock screen or password.
“……”
The top saved name caught his attention.
F*ck.
Confirming it was his own contact, Yoon Jooho’s eyebrows twitched. Though he couldn’t guess what it meant, the cryptic name made him chuckle dryly.
Among the not-so-many contacts, he soon found the one he was looking for.
Jiini-hyung France Number
He dialed the long number including the country code on his phone. Slowly swallowing the whiskey without ice, he listened for the tone. Neither too fast nor too slow, the call connected.
[allô?]
A slightly puzzled voice came from the other end, as if surprised to receive a call from an unknown number.
[Is this Hyunsoo?]
Then a voice followed, confirming if Hyunsoo had used another phone to call since he hadn’t answered earlier.
Having already drunk a third of the whiskey, Yoon Jooho set down the glass and parted his dry lips.
“It’s me. Can you talk?”