Chapter 102: The Kiss

“Eup…!”

Bubbles of air escaped from between my parted lips, which had opened in surprise at the unexpected kiss.

I reflexively struggled to get back to the surface, but the hands wrapped around my waist and the nape of my neck held me back, reducing my efforts to a meaningless flailing.

I know that the water depth is lower than my height, so if I just stand up properly, there will be no problem.

But as all the breath that had filled my lungs escaped, thoughts of ‘what if’ and ‘don’t tell me’ naturally arose.

Of course, that too was a groundless fear.

A heated warmth began to flow through the narrow gap between Jaeyul’s and my tightly pressed lips.

I, who had been on the verge of losing my breath, swallowed the hot breath that Jaeyul passed to me.

It wasn’t enough, but after repeating it a few times, my heart became much more comfortable, and my tension eased a little.

But it might have been better for my mind to be paralyzed, as if on the verge of losing consciousness.

Something else broke through the gap between my parted lips as I tried to swallow the breath Jaeyul sent me.

A mass of flesh, much hotter than the heated breath, soft yet slippery.

It tickled my tongue and the mucous membrane of my oral cavity with its tip raised, as if it were exploring the inside of its own mouth, and at times, it swept over them with a strong force.

It licked the sensitive areas as if to soothe them, and then it pushed in fiercely, as if to plunge into my throat.

“Heueu, eup…!”

As all my nerves were focused on what was happening in my mouth, I became short of breath again, and my consciousness grew hazy.

It felt as if my body was floating due to buoyancy, and with my eyes closed, it felt as if I were floating in the air.

I hugged Jaeyul’s body tightly, not wanting to be pushed away by the force that was pressing in as if to swallow me.

An emotion that is difficult to describe in words surged up.

It wasn’t a simple matter of liking or disliking.

A much more fundamental sensation felt like a thirst.

An impulse arose.

The impulse to push away this surging thirst.

Just as Jaeyul had done, I pushed my tongue to the other side.

Just as Jaeyul had done, I pulled his waist tightly and embraced him.

Just as Jaeyul had done, I pressed my tongue against his.

For a moment, Jaeyul’s movements stopped, and I could feel our touching tongues stiffen, but I didn’t stop.

No, I couldn’t stop.

The stimulation transmitted was so immense that I didn’t even dare to stop.

Just a little more, I wanted to explore a little more, and as that desire boiled over, a limit was reached.

I could no longer hold on with the breath that had long since been cut off.

“Eueup!

Wait… eup!”

As if he didn’t even know my state, Jaeyul recklessly pushed in.

At this rate, I felt like I could really suffocate and die.

But wait… how can I hear my own voice…?

The moment I opened my eyes, Jaeyul, who had been lunging at me as if to swallow me whole, pulled away.

“Haa, haa….”

I gasped for breath and looked around.

That… act had definitely started in the water, but when I opened my eyes, I was already out of the water.

What happened beneath this calm surface of the water feels like a dream.

But the more my breathing became natural, the more heat rushed to my face.

Because I couldn’t believe what had happened to me, what I had done.

A kiss, a kiss….

And with Jaeyul?

“Seon Jaeyul!”

A senseless anger was directed at Jaeyul.

To be honest, it should be considered natural for me to be angry right now.

Although I lost my senses for a moment in the middle, the one who committed this act in the first place was Seon Jaeyul!

But my anger couldn’t reach Jaeyul.

Splash!

Jaeyul’s eyelids, which had been looking at me for a moment, closed, and his body fell backward into the water.

“Jae, Jaeyul-ah!”

The timing of his collapse seemed a little strange… is it because of the rut….

I should get him out of the water first.

“Haa… haa….”

“Seon Jaeyul, wait a minute…!

Stay still!

You’re bleeding!”

In the end, we saw blood.

Jaeyul, as if he couldn’t breathe, gasped for air and scratched at his neck and chest.

I tried to stop him, but it wasn’t easy with my strength.

No matter how much he had lost his senses, I couldn’t overcome the strength of an alpha.

“Hoo….”

Fortunately, this seizure ended quickly.

After pulling Jaeyul out of the lake, this kind of pheromone storm had hit several times already.

I don’t know how anxious I was each time.

The seizure cycle was getting shorter and shorter, and my anxiety grew.

“It’s okay.

It’ll be over soon.”

I brushed back Jaeyul’s hair, which was wet with sweat and water, and healed the wound that had just been made.

I wish there was a way to relieve Jaeyul’s pain, just like this wound that disappears without a trace….

Jaeyul is the one who is struggling, but strangely, it feels like I’m the one who is more exhausted.

No matter how much I think about it, I don’t know how Jaeyul got here.

Alright, let’s concede a hundred times and say that he somehow knew I was here.

How could he jump into a collapsing gate, knowing full well that it was in the process of collapsing?

It was a choice that no one who knows that the interior of a gate collapses when the entrance disappears would easily make.

Suddenly, a memory came to mind.

‘Hyung is weak, so I have to get strong quickly to carry your things and protect you.’

Thirteen-year-old Jaeyul had said.

‘Why, hyung… haah, why don’t you trust me that much.

Are you afraid I won’t be able to protect you?’

And twenty-two-year-old Jaeyul had said.

This kid has been saying he’ll protect me since before he even properly knew the meaning of the word.

Come to think of it, the incident in the past that forced us to separate was all because of me in the first place.

Jaeyul killing the esper who was making a dirty move on me and catching the eye of the Hexagram, and Jaeyul, who came to rescue the kidnapped me, blowing up the entire Hexagram, all started with me.

When my illegal guiding office was discovered, and when I entered the Center, Jaeyul protected me in his own way.

He threw himself into it solely for me, without thinking about any danger that would befall him.

If it weren’t for the shield that was Seon Jaeyul, I wouldn’t be this safe.

‘Well.

I don’t really care where we are as long as I’m with you, hyung.

But just wait a little.

I’ll make a lot of money and make you retire before you turn thirty.’

And finally… as if to keep his word that he didn’t care where he was as long as he was with me, he risked his life and jumped into a collapsing gate.

Just for me, with a body that wasn’t well, he rushed in, defying even death.

Seon Jaeyul is that kind of child.

The one and only person who protects me in any situation.

The one and only person who will be on my side no matter what I do.

The one and only person as precious as my life, no… more precious than my life… Seon Jaeyul.

“Jaeyul-ah.”

Actually, I had known for a long time that a strange emotion was blooming in my heart.

I swear, it wasn’t like that from the beginning.

It was after we were reunited after four years.

I wasn’t so naive as to not know the meaning of the emotion that surged up whenever I was with Jaeyul.

I just couldn’t admit it.

Because the other person was Jaeyul, I had to deliberately ignore it.

Because I know very well that the moment I reveal that dishonest inner feeling, Jaeyul and I will have no choice but to become strangers, not family, not brothers.

And I also know.

The way to heal the Jaeyul who is now writhing in pain.

I have been agonizing over this for so long because I was faced with a choice with no answer.

The method of just leaving him be, praying that he would be safe and that no aftereffects would remain while time passed.

Or… the perfect method that not only relieves Jaeyul’s pain right now but also definitively ends the rut.

The choices were these two.

If I choose the former, I can’t be sure of Jaeyul’s condition, but I can maintain our relationship.

If I choose the latter… in the worst case, I might not be able to remain as family with Jaeyul anymore.

Now, I have made a choice.

The answer came easily, so much so that I don’t know why I agonized over those choices for so long.

“Don’t worry about anything anymore.

This time, I’ll protect you.

And….”

I took off all my wet clothes and got on top of Jaeyul’s body, which I had laid down.

The warm body heat transmitted to the inside of my thighs, which were touching Jaeyul’s body, and eased my body, which had stiffened in the chilly air.

As my pheromones and Jaeyul’s began to mix, Jaeyul’s sleeping form looked much more comfortable.

I bent my body towards his face and closed the distance.

“…I like you, a lot.”

Confessing a sincerity that would not be conveyed, I kissed Jaeyul.