* * *
It wasn’t that Ben hadn’t noticed—it was just that his mind was all over the place.
His body, however, told the full story, still marked all over with the signs of what had happened with Haimar.
Especially his neck, where the bite was deep and obvious, red and spreading outward.
One look at his phone’s selfie camera and his face flushed red from the neck up.
He’d been out for hours like this. In public.
And to make it worse, he was wearing a round-neck sweater with nothing to cover it—not even a shirt collar.
The mark was too big for a band-aid. Honestly, he probably needed to wrap a bandage around his whole neck.
Ben shot a look at Haimar.
“You… you could’ve at least told me!”
“Why would I? It looks good on you.”
Unlike Ben, who was frantically trying to hide the mark, Haimar just looked on calmly, as if admiring something he’d made himself.
Ben was mortified and kind of furious, suddenly tempted to run to the nearest pharmacy.
Dammit! Should’ve bitten him back, too!
“This isn’t going to heal quickly. I have to cover it up.”
“I’ll say it again. Don’t cover it.”
‘I want to cover it!!’
As Ben clutched his neck, he and Haimar continued their low-key bickering—but the ones who got nervous were Elgran and Lus.
They both knew Haimar well enough to understand he didn’t repeat himself lightly.
If he said something twice, the person he was talking to usually ended up… well, not alive.
But this was just casual conversation, and the topic was far less dire than usual—practically as harmless as a pebble on the street.
Lus gave a few awkward coughs and stepped in.
“Rather than standing here talking, perhaps we should move along? If you’ve finished picking things out, let’s head to the checkout.”
“He’s right. There’s too many people here anyway.”
Ben agreed
. Four men—two of whom stood out like models—lingering in the middle of a busy supermarket was bound to draw eyes.
Still, with no real resolution to the bickering, Ben sighed and awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck.
“Alright, let’s go.”
With a tired sigh, he relented.
The two men holding the baskets took the lead toward the checkout, while Elgran and Ben followed more slowly.
But as they walked, Ben suddenly felt a dull ache in his lower back.
He’d been too distracted while shopping to notice, but now that things had calmed down, the fatigue from last night was catching up to him.
The ache made his pace slow.
Haimar and Lus adjusted their pace up ahead so he could keep up, but with the crowd, the gap between them grew.
When Ben tried to move faster, Elgran tugged on his sleeve.
“Elgran?”
“Hey… so, you kissed Haimar, right?”
…What?
The question was so random that Ben took a few seconds just to register it.
“I mean, you had sex, right? So, kissing too?”
Elgran whispered in the smallest voice possible, eyes flicking to the two men ahead.
Maybe Lus wouldn’t hear—but Haimar definitely would.
Still, Elgran didn’t seem to care about that part at all.
“That… may be true, but I really don’t understand why you’re bringing that up here.”
“Hmm~ So that’s how it is, huh.”
Still, it seemed Elgran was satisfied with the answer he wanted, because he nodded with exaggerated approval, then grabbed Ben and started walking again, pulling him along from behind.
There was something a bit suspicious about how confidently he moved, like he had some hidden motive.
Then, without warning, Elgran raised his hand and yanked on Lus’s sleeve.
“Lus! Finish paying for that and get me a coffee. I want the one from the café on the 5th floor.”
“Hm? Which one exactly?”
Just as Lus turned back from the checkout counter to ask, Elgran launched into his order like a waterfall.
“Caramel frappuccino. One pump of hazelnut syrup, whole java chips on top of the whipped cream. And tell them to really go heavy on the chocolate and caramel drizzle. Oh, and make it to-go, of course—we’ll be waiting outside!”
“‘We’…? Since when—”
“Hey, you want the same thing, right? You do? Great, thanks! I’ll leave it to you!”
Ben opened his mouth to correct Elgran’s nonsense, but Elgran’s loud voice steamrolled right over him.
Lus, who had calmly been listening while sorting through a mountain of cookie bags in the cart, finally responded.
“El, we could just pay and go together. There’s no real reason to split up.”
“Nope. I’ve got something I need to talk to him about.”
Elgran had a tendency to act bratty when talking to his Guide.
While he gave off a “this is what I’m doing, deal with it!” vibe when dealing with others, he turned into something like a sulky kid on the verge of a tantrum when speaking to Lus.
Of course, the actual “something” Elgran wanted to talk about—whatever it was—was a mystery even Ben wasn’t in on.
But judging by the tone, it probably wasn’t something Lus should hear.
Ben briefly wondered if they needed to exclude Haimar too, but Elgran cleared that up for him.
“And Haima’s going too, while we’re at it.”
“Why should I listen to the likes of you?”
Elgran’s stubbornness worked on Lus, but not on Haimar.
That doll-like face was laced with annoyance only Ben could recognize.
Elgran also seemed to pick up on Haima’s bad mood with his heightened senses—but that didn’t mean he was backing down.
“Ugh. Hey, you talk to him.”
“If I thought I could, I’d have done it a long time ago. Does it have to be now?”
“Yes! It’s serious. I don’t want to drag this out.”
They could’ve just messaged later or talked at Central, so why was Elgran acting like this was urgent life-or-death business?
Ben racked his brain trying to figure out how to convince Haima.
Given the situation, whatever Elgran wanted to say probably wasn’t even worth much—but his eyes looked unusually serious.
It gave Ben the feeling he should play along, even if he already knew it was dumb.
The problem was… would Haimar—who never loses a single argument—really give in just for a coffee errand?
Ben thought about it for a long moment, and just as they moved up to second or third in the checkout line, he finally mumbled in defeat.
“Uh… then, I’m really sorry, but… could you?”
“Oh?”
Ben figured he might as well throw it out there.
When he lifted Elgran’s hand in support, Haimar tilted his head.
His face was one of clear disbelief—like he’d just heard something totally unexpected.
Not surprising. Ben himself didn’t think he’d ever side with Elgran on something so ridiculous.
He probably looked like an adult giving in to a child’s tantrum.
Haimar’s watery blue eyes narrowed as he glanced at Elgran—who had hidden himself completely behind Ben to avoid being seen, clearly trying to avoid letting his thoughts show.
It was almost too slick to call it childish—it was cunning.
“I’ll get everything. Haimar, you don’t need to push yourself. El, you really shouldn’t pressure people like that.”
“No, I’ll go.”
…What?
Ben had steeled himself to step in and stop things if Haimar refused, but instead, Haimar agreed—completely unexpectedly.
He was going along with Elgran’s absurd coffee mission?
Ben stared in shock, but Haimar didn’t explain and stayed silent, his face unreadable.
“Great! Then we’ll wait on the first floor. See you soon!”
Afraid Haimar might change his mind, Elgran yanked Ben away and made a beeline for the exit.
Ben had no choice but to follow, but Haimar’s sideways glance as they left gave him a sinking feeling.
“So… what exactly do you need to talk about?”
As they took the escalator down, Ben figured he might as well ask what this “big deal” was.
But Elgran stayed silent until they sat down in the rest area on the first floor.
Only then did he look around and finally speak, solemnly.
“So, I’ve been having this problem lately… And, well, it’s not like I planned to ask you specifically, but the situation kinda turned out like this, so I guess you’re the right person to ask.”
…This wasn’t getting off to a good start.
Ben waited, arms crossed, as Elgran chewed his lip and finally blurted it out.
“Lately, it feels like Lus isn’t really satisfied when I kiss him… or, y’know, when I go down on him. I don’t know what I’m doing wrong.”
* * *
