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Join the ServerBut as he watched the snow fluttering down, embroidering the air, and saw Lee Do-kyung—who wouldn’t even carry a phone because it made his parka pocket sag—tuck their interlaced fingers into that very pocket until it bulged, Woo-min thought there could be no more perfect Christmas Eve.
It would be fine to postpone the Invincible Power Kitty Corps for another time.
“…Lee Do-kyung.”
“What now.”
“I love you.”
Lee Do-kyung, who had been bracing himself for another scolding, stopped dead, a dumbfounded expression on his face at Woo-min’s sudden confession.
“What are you doing?
Let’s go.”
Stubbing out his cigarette, Seon Woo-min gave him a look as if to say it was nothing, and squeezed his hand in his pocket, urging him to move.
Lee Do-kyung shook his head.
“No, I can’t go.”
“Then you stay here.”
“Hey, say it again.
I didn’t hear.”
He hadn’t missed it; he’d heard it without any time to prepare.
And that made Do-kyung furious.
Furious and angry at himself for letting his lover’s expression of affection—something he was never good at sugarcoating—slip by like that.
“I said say it again, Seon Woo-min.”
“Huh?
Say what?”
This time, Woo-min shrugged, pretending not to know what he meant.
His playful eyes had suddenly become a mirror of Do-kyung’s own.
“Hey.
Honestly, it’s Christmas Eve, don’t you think that’s a bit harsh?
Anyone watching would think we were just friends with benefits, not lovers.”
“What friends?”
“Hmm… come to think of it, ‘friends with benefits’ isn’t wrong.
We do go at it raw every night, don’t we?”
Suddenly, his hand, still interlaced with Woo-min’s, was pulled out of the parka pocket.
Woo-min brought their still-clasped hands to his lips and pressed a deep kiss to Do-kyung’s knuckles.
He didn’t forget the whisper of “I love you” that Do-kyung had been so persistent about.
“There.
Now let’s go.”
Seon Woo-min’s cheeks were flushed.
Caught off guard, Do-kyung could only stand there dumbfounded, watching Woo-min.
He’d expected a scolding.
He hadn’t anticipated this.
The soft sensation remaining on the back of his hand finally made Do-kyung’s chest swell with emotion.
Seon Woo-min was always the one to get the better of him.
Giving him everything he asked for, complying and following along, and ultimately, letting him win.
“…Lee Do-kyung?
What’s wrong?”
Unable to resist, Do-kyung kissed the lips of Woo-min, who blinked slowly, snowflakes clinging to his lashes, asking why he was making that face.
***
Lee Do-kyung, just waking up, sat on the bed.
Hunched over, elbows resting on his knees.
Between strands of fallen hair, he could see his own hand, fingers curling and unfurling.
As if trying to revive the sensation of interlaced fingers, he clutched at the empty air, then clenched his fist and sat still.
After a long moment, he wiped his damp eyes with the back of his hand.
He had dreamed.
The details were hazy, but it was a scene from when he and Seon Woo-min were lovers.
It had been a bitterly cold Christmas Eve, but he didn’t remember feeling cold.
His body had been too warm, constantly heating up.
It was always like that when he was with Woo-min.
Even though he saw him every day at Baekseok Coffee, the brief appearance of the old Seon Woo-min in his dream had made Do-kyung crumble in an instant.
Woo-min’s expressions and smiles in the dream overlapped with his final moments.
It made his heart ache.
Seon Woo-min’s death hadn’t been Do-kyung’s fault.
It was just an accident.
Yet Do-kyung kept looking back at the past, everything leading up to the accident, and even further back, sinking into a swamp of self-reproach.
He shouldn’t have let Seon Woo-min go to the concert venue.
He shouldn’t have fought with Woo-min.
No, he should have prevented Woo-min from ever getting into that damn Kitty Corps or whatever it was in the first place.
Even now, unable to ultimately explain the phenomenon that had happened to him and simply adapting to it, it wasn’t really clear what he could do.
He didn’t even know if he had the power to change Seon Woo-min’s fate.
All he held onto was the singular mission that on November 7th, two years from now, he must prevent the accident by any means necessary.
Putting all that aside, Lee Do-kyung wanted to see Woo-min right now.
He wanted to see with his own eyes that Seon Woo-min was safe.
He wanted to embrace Woo-min so tightly it would take his breath away, driven by the longing stirred up by last night’s dream.
***
“Good morn… what’s with your face?
You been up all night going at it?”
Hwang Un-jae, setting his backpack on the seat opposite, flinched at Do-kyung’s puffy eyelids and the red veins threading through the whites of his eyes.
“Going at it, my ass.”
“Oh dear.”
As if seeing something he shouldn’t, Un-jae made a face and raised the laptop stand to completely block Do-kyung from view.
“I can’t stand to look at you.
Why are you so swollen?”
“…Hey.
Is it that bad?”
Do-kyung’s mutter came from behind Un-jae’s laptop.
“Really swollen.
f*cking ugly.”
“You’re just hating.
No way, right?”
Even as he said it, Do-kyung felt around the table and picked up his iced americano.
Rubbing his eyelids alternately, he groaned involuntarily at the cold.
Who’s to blame for this…
Do-kyung glared at the counter.
Seon Woo-min, taking orders with a neat smile.
Former lover, currently nothing.
Ha…
Come to think of it, this was the first time in this life he’d seen Woo-min working.
In the previous life, they’d met at the university library and started dating.
He’d known Woo-min worked various part-time jobs, but he’d never actually witnessed it.
He remembered Nokddoongie Bokddoongie’s words: standing all day was harder than you’d think.
He probably wasn’t finding it easy now, either.
He’d just gotten used to it.
Do-kyung grew impatient with the desire to bring Seon Woo-min into his fold as soon as possible.
He should be pampering him without him having to lift a finger.
“…Ha.”
Do-kyung sighed.
He pressed the cold cup against his eyelids, but the swelling didn’t go down at all.
He must have cried more than he thought.
Both during the dream and after waking.
He’d been suppressing it all along, avoiding looking at it for fear of this very thing.
Once unleashed, his emotions spread uncontrollably, wanting to sweep up and embrace Seon Woo-min standing at the counter.
If he started babbling, he could silence those lips with his own, and if Woo-min pushed him away, he could just interlock their fingers and pin his hands down.
How did I bury you?
How did I cover you up?
“Welcome to Baekseok Coffee.”
Torn between wanting to protect Seon Woo-min’s smile, oblivious to everything, and wanting to shake him by revealing who he was, Lee Do-kyung crumpled the pack of cigarettes in his pocket.
***
During a lull in customers, Seon Woo-min went to the outdoor smoking area and picked up a cigarette butt from the floor.
Even though there were standing ashtrays, some people still threw their butts on the ground.
He’d often seen the pierced man picking up butts.
It never occurred to Woo-min that he did it to lighten his load.
Wiping his hands with the hand sanitizer in his pocket, Woo-min checked again that no one was around before taking out a cigarette.
He patted his pants pockets, but he had no lighter.
“Looks like you need a light.”
Startled by the voice behind him, he turned to find the pierced man standing there.
“Should I lend you this?”
His expression was dark, as if something serious was on his mind.
He’d always greeted him cheerfully, but since placing his order earlier, he’d been unusually subdued.
The pierced man’s face like this was unfamiliar.
Was he still upset about the misunderstanding at the club?
Feeling guilty, Woo-min smiled awkwardly.
“Thank you.”
Even though he felt a bit reluctant to borrow a light from a customer, he accepted the offer out of that guilt.
Instead of handing over the lighter, Lee Do-kyung cupped his hand and lit the cigarette Woo-min was holding.
As he did, he glanced at Woo-min’s lips around the cigarette.
When they kissed, he would always nibble and bite, making them twice as swollen.
Those lips, red enough to be obscene, sometimes split from caressing his thick cock.
“Didn’t you come out here to smoke?”
Unable to bear the silence, Seon Woo-min spoke first.
The pierced man had only lit his cigarette, doing nothing else, just standing there.
At any other time, Woo-min would have focused on his own smoking regardless, but today his unusual atmosphere was bothering him.
“Not really.
I have something to say.”
The slender fingers holding Woo-min’s cigarette tensed with sudden nervousness.
“Huh?
To me?”
“Well, who else is here?”
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