Chapter 73: The Unforeseen Swimmer

“Stop sleep-talking and wake up. Eat, then you can go back to sleep.”

“Ah, food.”

However, the pangs of hunger far outweighed his embarrassment.

Having eaten nothing since the airplane meal yesterday afternoon, his stomach felt utterly hollow. The moment Yeon-chae spoke, a hunger he hadn’t consciously registered surged through him.

Food! Yoonwoo exclaimed, bolting upright.

To be on his honeymoon, yet starving and unable to eat—it suddenly felt profoundly unfair.

“I’m starving to death. It’ll take at least an hour to wash up, go out, order, and wait for the food, right? This is a disaster.”

“You won’t have to wait an hour.”

“Huh? Why?”

As Yoonwoo asked, bewildered, Yeon-chae’s long eyes curved into a beautiful, wide smile.

Yoonwoo was already feeling inwardly awkward about the previous night, and facing such a radiant face first thing in the morning only heightened his discomfort.

For some reason, Yeon-chae wore a look of profound satisfaction.

Just then, the doorbell at their suite chimed.

Yeon-chae sprang up and strode purposefully towards the entrance. Yoonwoo watched his retreating back, a puzzled tilt to his head.

The guide had just left; there was no one else they expected.

‘Who could it be?’

“Guess who?”

“Huh?”

With a sly grin, Yeon-chae turned back to Yoonwoo, his hand on the doorknob.

The door swung open, revealing a hotel staff member pushing a tray laden with unfamiliar dishes. They offered a polite greeting.

It was room service, pre-ordered by Yeon-chae. Yoonwoo, who had been mournfully patting his empty stomach, was utterly moved.

“Wow! When did you order all this?”

“While you were sleeping, hyung. You woke up just in time.”

“Really? Wow, there’s so much! How will we eat it all?”

“Two people need to eat a lot to feel full.”

“Haha… you’re right! Yes, yes!”

Yeon-chae’s movements were tender as he set out plates and handed over cutlery.

This made Yoonwoo feel even more awkward than before. He deliberately made a ruckus, trying to be loud, yet deep inside, his chest fluttered with a ticklish sensation, even more so than when he’d woken up at dawn.

An inexplicable drowsiness weighed heavily upon him. During the semester, it had been bearable, but now, it felt as though all the accumulated tension had finally released.

He was incessantly sleepy, as if trying to make up for all the rest he had missed. It was the fourth day of their honeymoon, and Yoonwoo, despite feeling constantly apologetic to Yeon-chae, found himself unable to lift his heavy eyelids.

Seeing Yoonwoo struggle, Yeon-chae pulled the blanket up over his chest and gently patted him.

“We came here to rest. Don’t feel pressured; just sleep soundly.”

“Still, so much time has already passed…”

“There’s still plenty of time left. You can keep resting, and we can explore the area next week if you like. It’s fine even if we don’t go out at all.”

“But we came all this way to enjoy ourselves.”

Moreover, it was their honeymoon. Even if it was a marriage of convenience, a honeymoon was a once-in-a-lifetime event.

It might be Yeon-chae’s second time, but that didn’t diminish Yoonwoo’s guilt.

Several days had already passed on their two-week trip. During that time, Yoonwoo hadn’t stepped foot outside their suite, let alone the resort itself.

Yeon-chae, who had been attending to Yoonwoo’s every need by his side, had likewise not left.

“Aren’t you getting tired of room service?”

Yoonwoo hesitated, observing Yeon-chae’s reaction. Yeon-chae simply shook his head.

“I quite like it. There’s a good variety, so it’s nice to switch things up.”

This time, Yoonwoo voiced a different concern.

“Doesn’t it feel stifling, being confined to the room?”

“Just stepping onto the terrace brings you to the ocean. There’s also a swimming pool.”

The resort they were staying at was a pool villa, just as Yoonwoo had wished.

Each suite occupied an entire, separate building, distinct from other accommodations. Opening the full-length glass doors from the bedroom led directly to a private swimming pool.

Yoonwoo had found it rather amusing that an outdoor pool was included within the property when the ocean lay just beyond the terrace, negating the need to even leave the building. Yet, Yeon-chae seemed quite content with it.

“I’m thinking of going for a swim. If you need anything, hyung, just knock on the door.”

“Ah… really?”

Yoonwoo would be able to watch Yeon-chae swim from where he sat propped against the headboard.

It was a plan that would keep Yeon-chae from boredom while allowing Yoonwoo to rest. Since Yoonwoo still had no desire to go out or engage in water activities, he quite liked this arrangement.

He also appreciated that the swimming pool, which he hadn’t even dipped a toe into for four days, would finally serve a purpose.

“Are you good at swimming? That’s nice. I’m a complete stone in the water.”

As Yeon-chae changed into his swimsuit behind the curtain, Yoonwoo, feeling a little excited, kept talking.

Perhaps it was because this was the first activity he’d engaged in since arriving for their trip, but he felt a sense of anticipation.

It wasn’t even going out to the ocean or proper water play, nor was he swimming himself, yet his spirits soared.

Then it struck him that they had had a similar conversation before. He vaguely recalled it being sometime last year.

“Wait, didn’t you say you couldn’t swim?”

“Pardon? How did you know that?”

“You told me before. That you don’t know how to swim…”

“Ah, right.”

From beyond the curtain, Yeon-chae’s soft chuckle was audible. ‘So he *does* remember some things…’ Yoonwoo thought he heard him murmur something like that.

“Huh? What did you say?”

“I didn’t say anything.”

“Just now, you said ‘remember’… something.”

As Yoonwoo asked with a puzzled expression, Yeon-chae drew back the curtain.

‘But how is he going to swim? Did he bring a float? Should I try it too? Maybe I could float around on a tube in the pool,’ Yoonwoo thought, his chattering mouth abruptly falling silent.

Yeon-chae, clad only in rash guard pants that reached his thighs, walked past the bed towards the glass door.

“What’s wrong?”

Sensing Yoonwoo’s gaze, Yeon-chae paused. A beat later, Yoonwoo slowly, blankly, looked up at him.

“Huh? What about it?”

“Is there something on me?”

“Uh? Uh-huh.”

“Really?”

“……”

‘Did I spill something during lunch?’

Yeon-chae murmured to himself, scanning his own body. Yoonwoo’s eyes followed suit.

His gaze traveled down the long nape of Yeon-chae’s neck, past his prominent collarbones and broadly exposed chest, settling on the finely sculpted muscles of his taut abdomen.

“There’s nothing on me, though?”

“Right.”

“Pardon?”

It was a lie Yoonwoo had blurted out without thinking. Only then did he snap back to his senses.

His cheeks burned for no apparent reason.

Yoonwoo hastily averted his gaze from Yeon-chae, who was staring at him with a bewildered expression.

“Just go out and swim already.”

“Pardon? Oh, okay.”

Yeon-chae left, still looking bewildered. Yoonwoo watched his retreating figure as he opened the glass door, then buried his face in a pillow.

‘Why is he walking around half-naked? Is this a runway?’ The unspoken complaints swirled on his tongue.

His hormones seemed to be raging, sending his emotions on a rollercoaster. His heart pounded, and with every throb, heat surged through his entire body.

Despite not knowing how to swim, Yeon-chae spent several hours in the water. Yoonwoo occasionally glanced at him, chuckling a little as Yeon-chae flailed his limbs and kept sinking.

However, his struggles were short-lived. During his breaks, Yeon-chae would recline on a beach chair, looking up swimming tutorial videos.

Each time he re-entered the water, he seemed to adjust his posture and try a new technique. He practiced until the sun began to set, eventually able to swim freely from one end of the pool to the other.

By the end, his form was quite respectable. As Yeon-chae moved his arms, water beaded on his broad shoulders, and the prominent muscles of his back, especially his shoulder blades, rippled.

“It was more fun than I expected. I think you’d like it too if you tried, hyung. We should come back later with a baby.”

Yeon-chae’s eyes sparkled with delight, his cheeks flushed crimson, making him look like a child.

Yoonwoo mulled over Yeon-chae’s words: ‘We should come back later with a baby.’ The suggestion from Yeon-chae, who looked more like a baby himself, yet was proposing to be a young father, felt both endearing and strangely sweet.

Unsure whether he was pleased or not, Yoonwoo cast a bewildered sidelong glance at Yeon-chae. Yeon-chae’s broad chest rose and fell rapidly as he gasped for breath.

Water droplets clung to his rosy nipples, occasionally dripping onto the rug.

“Hey, go shower already…”

Unable to watch any longer, Yoonwoo pushed Yeon-chae’s back with both hands. The cool, damp skin felt smooth against his palms.

Below his slender waist, the outline of his wet body was starkly revealed.

Ah, damn it. Yoonwoo swallowed a short, almost curse. He’d been feeling this strange sensation for a while now.

He didn’t want to know the reason, yet he couldn’t help but have an inkling, and it was starting to sour his mood.

After dinner, they headed to the beach stretching out beyond their terrace. Yeon-chae took Yoonwoo’s hand, which kept trying to pull away, and firmly intertwined their fingers.

“The sand is slippery. It would be a disaster if you fell now.”

The excuse was plausible, so Yoonwoo, pretending to be swayed, surrendered his hand to him.

In truth, for Yeon-chae, it was likely not an excuse but genuine concern. Knowing this, Yoonwoo’s heart still beat with a troubled rhythm, making him feel increasingly complicated.

He suppressed the unsettling, indefinable emotions.

Pulled along by Yeon-chae, Yoonwoo eventually sat on a long chair he indicated. A cool breeze brushed against his cheeks.

The night air, carrying a pleasant warmth and humidity, felt soft. Yoonwoo slumped his limbs and leaned back deeply into the long chair.

“It’s beautiful here, isn’t it?”

Yeon-chae spoke, his eyes curving into a smile as he seemed perpetually in good spirits. Yoonwoo, captivated, nodded his head.

Because Yeon-chae was beautiful.

Leaning back in their two side-by-side long chairs, Yoonwoo and Yeon-chae gazed at the sky where it met the sea.

The night sky, not yet fully dark, was a pale indigo. The early-rising moon and stars twinkled low in the heavens.

In the distance, waves rolled in, then gently crashed. It was then that Yeon-chae leaned his upper body towards Yoonwoo.

“Yeon-chae…?”