* * *
“How did you end up being sucked into the Gate?”
Hajin, who was entering the mansion after chasing away the trespasser, frowned at the frivolous voice he immediately heard.
Ryu Yihan had latched onto Suhyeon, having come downstairs at some point.
And speaking casually to him?
Hajin didn’t know since when they had become close.
It was irritating.
Hajin was about to step forward to immediately stop Yihan’s gaper-like mouth, but he unconsciously leaned in to listen.
“…My lover—”
Hajin flinched at the word that finally came out of Suhyeon’s mouth a moment later.
“—was cheating with a Guide, and when I told him I wanted to break up, a Gate opened right next to us, and—”
‘It’s not about me.’
Hajin’s momentary solidified expression softened again.
“My lover saved the Guide.”
Hajin, who had reached the middle of the first floor and was looking at Suhyeon, frowned.
The man, whose expression had previously shown almost no change, now wore a sorrowful look.
“…Huh????”
The noise from Ryu Yihan’s loud reaction didn’t even reach his ears.
His heart, which only beat with a steady rhythm, felt as if it had plummeted.
The expression he wore, which he himself wasn’t even aware of, quickly vanished, but Hajin continued to stare blankly at Suhyeon afterward.
“Hajin?”
Hajin didn’t move as if his feet were stuck to the floor until Suhyeon called him.
Only after the brown eyes blinked a few times, focused on him, did he move his feet as if he were possessed.
His mind returned halfway only after sitting down next to Suhyeon, like a dog that had been called by its owner.
“Welcome back.”
“…Ah, yes.”
Suhyeon greeted him with a bright smile.
In reality, there was little change in Suhyeon’s face, but that’s how it appeared to Hajin’s eyes.
His heart, which had plummeted into the abyss earlier, now raced, beating wildly against his chest.
“Were you not scared?”
The strangeness didn’t end there.
Hajin, who had never felt empathy in his entire life, carelessly asked the question.
Suhyeon’s hand, which had been looking at Hajin with a clear face as if he had never shown any sadness, flinched. Hajin didn’t miss it.
Yihan, who had been frozen stupidly beside them, now had his mouth hanging open.
It was an unsightly sight, but neither Suhyeon nor Hajin paid any attention to him, looking only at each other.
*
It was Suhyeon who looked down first.
He never imagined he would be asked a question like this.
He could have just given a vague answer and moved on, but for some reason, Suhyeon couldn’t.
Perhaps it was because those blue, beautiful eyes were gazing at him, piercing through him.
“…I was scared.”
“Is that so.”
‘I hope he doesn’t ask anything more.’
As if reading his mind, Hajin didn’t ask anything further.
Clap!
The one who broke the settled silence was Yihan, clapping his hands.
“I asked a pointless question! Now, Suhyeon, Suhyeon, let’s go inside. We need to do all the tests we couldn’t finish yesterday. We’re busy.”
Suhyeon and Hajin, who had been facing each other, turned their heads almost simultaneously.
It was Hajin who frowned first.
“Who said you could speak casually to him?”
“…? Suhyeon said it was okay. Suhyeon agreed to speak casually, too. Right, Suhyeon?”
Suhyeon instinctively nodded at Yihan’s intense gaze.
At that, Hajin’s brow furrowed even deeper.
Thud!
Before Suhyeon, who felt an ominous premonition, could flinch, Yihan tumbled onto the floor with that same clear sound.
“Hey!!!! That hurt!! That one really hurt!”
“Would you consider that I hit you because I wanted it to hurt?”
Hajin got up and, as smoothly as flowing water, detached the IV bag from the stand and picked up Suhyeon.
Suhyeon, now quite used to the position, settled stably into Hajin’s arms.
A refreshing scent wafted around him.
“Suhyeon,”
Suhyeon raised his head at the low call that dropped from above him.
Blue eyes looked down at him.
Unlike his usually cold and rigid demeanor, Hajin was quite gentle toward him.
“Call my name.”
Suhyeon blinked at the short instruction, and then,
“Hajin…?”
“Not that. Just the name.”
‘Uh…?’ Suhyeon blinked once more.
The blue eyes were half-closed, as if urging him to hurry.
“…Shin Hajin? Hyung?”
“That’s acceptable.”
He didn’t seem to have even heard the word ‘hyung’ that Suhyeon had awkwardly tacked on.
‘Acceptable what?’ Suhyeon tilted his head.
Only Yihan, who knew how strictly Shin Hajin adhered to hierarchy with his subordinates and the people around him, was appalled again behind them, but Suhyeon, held in Hajin’s arms, was completely oblivious, as always.
After that, Suhyeon was attached to medical machines and examinations all day long.
They said it was the same as what the hospital would have done, but perhaps because he was unconscious then, it felt long and difficult.
It might have been because his stamina had bottomed out since emerging from the Gate.
By the end, he was practically dozing off. Hajin continuously supported his arm, but there was a limit to maintaining consciousness.
Suhyeon, who collapsed and fell asleep when told the examination was over—
—…It’s Guiding, Suhyeon.
—had a nightmare.
By the time he realized it was a dream, the sight of Do Yejun and Lee Jaeram rubbing their lips and tongues together filled his vision like a panorama.
He tried to wake up several times, but the dream just continued to flow.
‘Did some residue of emotion still remain?’
Suhyeon hugged his knees and crouched, watching Lee Jaeram and Do Yejun.
—Jaeram, ha, hu…
As they mixed tongues, they went a step further, uttering moans that hadn’t been there in reality.
Do Yejun’s little finger twitched.
Suhyeon, who knew that was a habit Yejun had when he was pleased, unconsciously muttered a curse.
It was a damn realistic dream.
—Haa, I’m better, aren’t I?
Lee Jaeram, full of laughter, asked seductively.
Yejun covered Jaeram, laughing with a growl.
Even though he clearly knew Suhyeon was there.
And then—
The Gate again.
“…Haak!”
With a sharp pang of pain in his chest, Suhyeon woke up, breathing heavily.
He was drenched in cold sweat.
The chest pain was temporary and quickly subsided, but the after-effects were immense.
In that moment, he met blue eyes.
Suhyeon’s lips silently parted. It was Hajin.
“Why…”
His voice, severely cracked, scratched his throat as it came out.
He didn’t have the energy to even lift a finger.
Something warm touched his cheek.
Suhyeon slowly blinked.
He felt a drop of water flow from his eye, down his cheek, to his chin.
“Don’t cry.”
‘Was I crying?’
Suhyeon met the gaze of the blue eyes looking down at him, holding a soft light.
Soon, his light brown eyelashes trembled and descended.
The tears gathered in his eyes flowed down with a soft tok-tok sound.
In the end, Suhyeon bowed his head deeply.
‘Why am I crying?’
‘It was just a vivid nightmare.’
‘My feelings for Do Yejun are now organized to a degree that even surprises me.’
‘Is it because I regret giving my heart to such a person? Or is it because falling into the Gate immediately after was too terrifying?’
The warmth that had been on his cheek now covered his hand.
Suhyeon raised his head. Hajin’s hand covered his trembling one.
The blue eyes and the moist, light brown eyes met once again.
The blue eyes, which gave a cold impression, subtly trembled.
A fresh blue scent enveloped them.
Hajin’s hand, which had only been covering Suhyeon’s hand, moved.
His fingers interlaced between Suhyeon’s.
Suhyeon watched it silently.
The man, with his solid body and cool handsomeness, looked like he could do anything well, but his way of caressing Suhyeon seemed somewhat clumsy.
It was as if he didn’t quite know what he wanted to do.
The last tear drop that traced down Suhyeon’s cheek fell with a tok.
At the same moment, Hajin raised his head.
The distance, already close, narrowed even more.
Suhyeon stared blankly at Hajin’s approaching lips.
The red lips looked smooth and flawless.
‘It’s strange.’
‘I just dreamt that Do Yejun was rubbing his lips against Lee Jaeram, and I even cried.’
‘Yet, strangely, I feel absolutely no repulsion.’
It had been like that from the start.
Since he fell out of the Gate and into Hajin’s arms, he had followed this man, Shin Hajin, with his eyes, as if he had been imprinted on those blue eyes.
Hajin swallowed Suhyeon’s lips whole.
Heat rose in Suhyeon’s pale neck.
The heat fiercely pushed forward and burrowed into his mouth.
Hajin moved awkwardly and clumsily at first, then quickly grasped the rhythm, sucking and biting Suhyeon’s lips as if to cut off his breath.
Shallow gasps echoed quietly in the room. It was intense and passionate.
Suhyeon faltered momentarily, wondering if he was taking out the hurt from Do Yejun on the man in front of him, but the thought dissolved every time he met Hajin’s blue eyes.
After a long time of being sucked and bitten, and gasping for breath, Suhyeon eventually fell asleep again.
Hajin seemed to be carefully stroking his hair.
* * *
How long is each chapter open for?*