“There was cream on your lip.”
It seemed to have been the vanilla cream from the mille-feuille dessert.
It was incredibly delicious—sweet, yet savory, with a hint of sourness—so I must have gotten it on my lip without realizing it in my frantic eating.
I was grateful that he wiped it for me.
But licking it off… was embarrassing.
‘…He said we’d start slowly, just with hands.’
I felt slightly betrayed. My body instinctively stiffened.
Seeing my expression, which couldn’t hide my feelings, he realized what he had done and quickly put distance between us with a startled look.
“Ah. I apologize. I didn’t mean to…”
His face instantly went pale.
He seemed so surprised himself that I felt a little relieved, realizing he hadn’t done it deliberately to tease me, but rather without thinking.
“No. It’s okay.”
“I’m truly… sorry.”
Seeing his slumped shoulders, I wondered if I had overreacted.
I tried to figure out how to reassure him that it was fine, and cautiously reached out and took his hand.
When I squeezed it tightly, his stiff lips finally relaxed.
“Thank you.”
We left the restaurant together shortly after.
Both of us were lost in thought and walked in silence for a long time, but our hands remained connected.
“Hunter.”
I looked at his back as he walked ahead, his ears flushed red, and impulsively spoke.
“Do you want to kiss me?”
I could utter such an embarrassing question because I was more than half-certain—more than that, even.
He had abruptly covered my mouth during our first meeting, and during our second, he had tried to naturally bring our faces closer.
He said he would ‘go slowly’ when I refused, but that only meant he was adjusting his speed for me; his desire to kiss me probably remained the same.
That must have been why he acted as he did just now.
Just as I suspected, the back walking ahead twitched significantly.
His eyes, when he turned to look at me, were clearly shaken.
His gaze naturally fell to my lips, and then his eyes closed painfully.
“……I cannot say no. But I had no intention of disregarding your will just to satisfy my own desire. I will be careful not to make the same mistake.”
I didn’t intend to blame him.
I, too, had thought about that kiss for quite a long time after the first time.
He also said it was his first time.
Is he the same?
This person, too?
Of course, there was a non-zero chance that it was a lie, but… I wanted to believe him.
Even if we didn’t become lovers, he was special to me.
“Then… it’s… okay to do it.”
The most recent kiss I remembered was with Taewhan.
He had drawn a line, saying he wouldn’t do anything that ‘normal friends’ don’t do anymore, but then he did it so casually that I was left agonizing alone.
Wouldn’t kissing him be a way to both overwrite that memory and confirm my feelings for this person…?
‘Taewhan… said he wouldn’t mind if I had sex if I liked the person…’
The main reason I refused him before, besides him being a stranger, was Taewhan.
But… now that I had his permission, it couldn’t be a reason for refusal anymore.
I recalled Taewhan’s back as he left the house, walking away from me.
I kept seeing his back lately.
When we were in the hospital, Taewhan’s back was the place to put my arms around during a hug, a place to comfortably lean on or be carried on.
But now… his broad back felt like a wall.
I instinctively clenched my hand.
I intended to clench my fist to control my emotions, but it must have looked like I was pleading. ‘Gray Coat’ looked at me, his eyes widened in surprise.
“Are you serious?”
I was momentarily flustered, but quickly regained my composure.
I wanted to forget the back that kept appearing in my mind.
I wanted to confirm my feelings.
As soon as possible.
When I nodded, he sighed, ‘Ah’, and wiped his mouth with a flustered look.
“Then… I will get a room. How about the hotel where we just ate?”
“W-We don’t need to get a room, do we?”
“…Is that s-so.”
“I’m fine right here.”
We had walked aimlessly until we were slightly off the main street, so there were few people around. I barely sensed anyone nearby.
After all, the first time I kissed this person was on a park bench in a deserted area.
‘Though it was nice when we did it in a room…’
When I kissed Taewhan.
That was in Taewhan’s room, on the bed.
A desolate room with no furniture other than the bed.
In the center of that room, on that solitary piece of furniture, the two of us overlapped bodies and lips, touching each other and sharing breaths.
Under Taewhan, with my arms around his back, our faces close, focusing only on the feel of his lips and tongue, and swallowing the saliva flowing into my mouth, it felt as though only he and I were left in the world.
I didn’t mind the weight slightly pressing down on me.
His uncharacteristic possessiveness made it seem like he desperately wanted to kiss me…
“Ah.”
Wait a minute.
While I was lost in thought, a thick arm had somehow wrapped around my waist, and his face was close.
Close enough to fill my vision and touch the tip of my nose.
I reflexively squeezed my eyes shut.
He was a person I respected, an existence I yearned for, but maybe I didn’t want to meet his face this close.
A sudden feeling of displeasure surged within me.
It felt like my chest was turning black, as if dusted with black coal.
Kissing him was definitely not right. I felt like I was going to cry.
But if I opened my mouth to express my refusal, his tongue would immediately delve inside.
The last time, I was startled and opened my mouth, which accidentally led to the kiss.
I pressed my lips tightly together and tried to push his shoulder away.
“Ugh.”
But before my hand could reach his shoulder, something warm and soft brushed over my lips.
His tongue.
The moment I felt the texture of his tongue, I couldn’t explain why, but the strength in my hands drained away.
I gripped his broad, thick shoulder, but my hand just trembled slightly.
An electrifying sense of déjà vu spread through my entire body, as if the displeasure had never existed.
My lips became sensitive, and my breath hitched.
While my mind was in a haze, his thick tongue slipped through the gap in my lips and gently knocked against my teeth.
‘Did I… have this kind of experience before, too…?’
Once again, an inexplicable sense of déjà vu filled my head.
I was desperately curious about what it was, but I couldn’t track the source of the feeling any further.
The moment I instinctively parted my lips, he tilted his head and dove inside me.
“Ah-oop. Mmm.”
As soon as I accepted the tongue that felt strangely familiar, my body was already melting into a limp mess.
My mind was too much of a mess to think deeply.
Every time our tongues and lips met and the membranes in my mouth were stimulated, a tingling sensation and heat rose in my body.
My breath was stolen long ago, and our tongues tangled without any chance for escape.
With every shared breath, my mind became even more chaotic.
The feeling that my body wasn’t my own.
If his firm arms hadn’t been wrapped around my waist, I might have disgracefully slumped to the ground, despite having an S-Class Hunter license.
I struggled to regain control once I became aware.
I put strength into my arms, hugging his broad back, trying to respond to his lead instead of just being swept away.
“Hnng…. Oop, hah…”
But it was too much.
Breathing, moving my lips and tongue to follow, keeping my legs and waist steady so my body wouldn’t collapse, and holding him tightly—there were so many things to pay attention to.
With every stimulation to my tongue and mouth, I felt like I was losing one thing after another until nothing was left.
He could have gone a little slower to match me, but perhaps he was as aroused as I was.
His pace was strangely fast.
The first kiss wasn’t like this. It was much softer and more cautious.
This kiss… Yes. This was Taewhan.
It was closer to the kiss I shared with Taewhan.
Taewhan, who claimed to have kissing experience, was indeed skillful and quickly took the lead.
He found my weak spots quickly, as if he knew me well, manipulating my body and mind.
He was soft, then pressed in hard, sometimes even rough, making it overwhelming to follow.
Today was even more intense than that time, and he was so active that it felt like he had erased the last boundary between us.
Groans kept escaping my lips.
Because it felt so good, so happy.
‘Taewhan, more. More…’
