6. Dessert…… Want to Enjoy It Together?
2017.11.21.
"Sigh, do I really have to go? I guess I have to?"
A promise is a promise.
To fulfill the deal she'd made with Sejun, Hawon had come straight to his house the moment she got off work.
The finger she'd been about to press the doorbell with paused.
Remembering how she'd kept running into the man next door with a haggard face, she lightly applied lipstick and smoothed down her hair.
Thanks to her parents, Hawon was blessed with her skin alone—possessing a spotlessly clean, fair complexion.
So she had the advantage of being able to achieve a great effect with even a little makeup.
While fixing her lipstick-covered lips, the kiss with Sejun suddenly popped into her head.
'Forget the kiss. It was just like brushing fingertips—just barely touching and pulling apart.'
Soon the door opened, and Sejun appeared inside in comfortable attire.
His hair was damp, as if he had just showered.
'Is today the sexy version or what…… Making my heart race for no reason.'
Trying to hide her trembling, Hawon deliberately cast a cool, aloof glance at Sejun.
Sejun stood expressionless without saying a word, not even asking if she'd arrived.
His gaze seemed slightly dazed.
"Why are you standing there like a wooden post? Ah~ something smells delicious."
"……Ha."
Only then did Sejun come to his senses and let out a shallow sigh.
The moment the door opened, Hawon's glossy, sparkling lips had captured his gaze.
At the same time, he remembered the impulsive kiss he'd planted on her yesterday.
'What on earth did she do to her lips?'
What bothered him wasn't just her lips.
The disheveled, sloppy appearance that had made people gasp in shock had vanished without a trace.
Her hair, which had been a tangled mess, now fell past her shoulders in calm, gentle waves with a fresh luster.
On top of that, Hawon was wearing an Indian pink blouse and an ivory A-line skirt—she was not the next-door woman Sejun remembered.
'Are the woman before me now and that next-door woman really the same person?'
This wasn't a transformation; it felt like encountering two completely different people.
Only when he saw her clutching her waist as if feeling pain and grunting while taking off her heels did he finally feel certain she was indeed the next-door woman.
Even so, the woman before his eyes felt as unfamiliar as someone he was meeting for the first time.
"I'm hungry, so shall we eat quickly? If we're going to do typing too, I think we should eat fast……"
Hawon's stomach had been roaring with hunger, demanding food for a while now.
When Sejun pointed to the dining table, Hawon's gaze followed.
And when she saw the food spread out without a gap on the table, her mouth became as wide as a bowl.
"Slurp, wow…… this is really delicious. You must know someone who's really skilled."
Hawon quickly sat in front of the six-person dining table, rolled up her blouse sleeves, and put some braised chicken in her mouth while speaking.
Before she knew it, she had grabbed a chicken leg and was crunching through the cartilage.
At that sight, Sejun averted his gaze for a moment, then looked back at Hawon wondering if she was really the woman he knew.
Though dressed up prettily, she was eating carelessly enough to wrinkle her blouse and splatter sauce on her chest without seeming to mind.
That appearance finally made her look like the next-door woman he knew.
"Hey. Are you holding a memorial service over there? Why are you standing there not eating? The food is warm and delicious…… eat it before it gets cold. Food tastes bad when it cools down."
"……It's too shocking."
"What is?"
After planting a deep kiss on me yesterday, do I suddenly look pretty and radiant or something?
Hawon hurriedly wiped away the food crumbs around her mouth with her hand.
"Your face today is enormously different from the face I usually see. This isn't on the level of a transformation or disguise—it's practically fraud."
Hawon, who had been about to put a scoop of fluffy white rice into her mouth with a bright smile, clattered her spoon down! and glared at Sejun.
"What did you say? There's barely any difference between this face and my bare face, you know? Other people's makeup is basically five millimeters thick."
Hmph, he doesn't even know what he's talking about.
Hawon grumbled internally.
"Aside from applying basic skincare products, I don't touch anything at all. I don't go outside much except for home and work, so I only focus on moisture retention and UV protection!"
When Sejun still didn't say anything despite that, Hawon spoke in an even sharper voice.
"You must have never seen the bare faces of women who do full makeup every day, but this is totally!!! fine. To call someone a complete fraud just because they barely put on a little eye makeup and lipstick—are you serious!?"
As if feeling wronged, Hawon clattered the stripped-clean chicken leg bone onto her plate.
"Even yesterday, when I ran into you in front of the house after coming back from work, your face was completely different from today. Are you Count Asura or something?"
"I'm not!"
I just couldn't dress up properly yesterday because of the back pain!
And if you trace it all back, whose fault is that!!!
Ah, my blood is boiling!!!
"Do you know that what you just said was completely rude?"
"Not really. I was just stating the fact."
"When you work outside all day and come home, it's natural to want to relax in comfortable clothes."
"Well. I've never had such thoughts in my life."
"That's because you're peculiar. What kind of person dresses up so neatly even at home?"
At Sejun's tidy attire, Hawon clicked her tongue internally, thinking he lacked human warmth.
"This is normal."
"Normal, my foot……"
"Also."
"……?"
"I told you clearly. Not 'you,' but Han Sejun."
Perhaps annoyed by Hawon constantly calling him "you," Sejun told her to call him by his name, and Hawon replied half-heartedly.
"It just doesn't feel natural to call you by name yet."
"Those lips of yours only seem to move well when eating or kissing."
"*Cough, ahem……*"
If there was one thing Sejun hated most, it was lack of dignity and uncleanliness.
For example, talking with a mouth full of food, like the woman sitting before him now.
To Sejun, who liked neatness and cleanliness, Hawon was practically the embodiment of everything he disliked.
Yet his eyes kept drifting to Hawon's chewing lips.
"……Stop talking nonsense and just eat."
Sejun sighed and sat across from Hawon, picking up his spoon.
For every one motion Sejun made with his chopsticks, Hawon's chopsticks moved back and forth three or four times.
Her puffed-up cheeks reminded him of a squirrel with its mouth stuffed full of acorns.
At her unrefined appearance, he furrowed his brows and frowned at first, but gradually a smile threatened to leak out.
The truly strange thing was that the more he watched Hawon eat, the prettier she kept looking.
Even as she inhaled the side dishes like a charging hippo.
'Have I really lost my mind after suffering from the fever?'
When Sejun stopped moving with his spoon in hand, Hawon glanced at him and asked.
"Why aren't you eating? No appetite?"
If he had no appetite, Hawon would simply say thank you.
The feast consisting of bulgogi, braised chicken, and japchae would all be hers.
"No. I'm eating."
Shaking his head fiercely, Sejun picked up a large piece of meat and ate it.
But he didn't notice.
That it was the very last piece of meat, which Hawon had tearfully picked up and set back down upon realizing Sejun still hadn't eaten while she was inhaling the food.
Unaware of Sejun's inner thoughts, Hawon merely embraced the heart-wrenching pain of farewell to the meat entering his mouth.
* * *
"Ah, that was delicious. How should we do the dishes?"
In the end, Hawon, who had scraped down two bowls of rice, asked.
"We have a dishwasher, so just put them in there roughly."
"Ah, then since that's something you can do with one hand, you can do it, right?"
Right, right. It's not like you have to plunge your hand into water or anything.
"……."
When Sejun's expression hardened at her words, Hawon immediately backtracked and said.
"It was a joke. I ate your food, so I should pay my dues."
Hawon slowly put the bowls into the dishwasher and pressed the wash cycle.
Then she looked at Sejun and said.
"But you know…… um, aren't we going to eat dessert?"
"De…… what?"
After practically eating all that by herself, what? Dessert?
Sejun was dumbfounded.
"We don't have that kind of thing in this house. If you're done eating, let's get to work quickly."
Damn it, if I sit down right after eating, my butt will get as big as a watermelon!
"What do I need to help with?"
"Follow me."
The place Sejun took Hawon was the tightly shut room she had seen before.
'Oh, this is……'
Curiosity swirled like a whirlwind.
As the interior of the Pandora's box-like room was revealed, Hawon cautiously stepped inside and asked.
"……? What is this place? A study? Or a bedroom?"
On one wall of the room was a bookshelf packed with books, and nearby a large desk and computer were arranged.
And there was even a bed spacious enough for two people to lie down comfortably and roll around sleeping all night.
It was odd that the bedroom and study weren't separate in a house used by one person, and it was strange that there were two beds in a house where someone lived alone.
"Hmm…… there are two beds even though you live alone."
"It's a workspace. There are times when I need a bed for work. I rest there sometimes too."
Sejun answered, having heard Hawon's muttering.
"Hmm?"
The bed kept capturing Hawon's gaze as she looked around the room.
Why would he need a bed for work?
The bedroom wasn't even far; it was right next door……
Could it be that he's too lazy to walk that short distance……?
"Here, take this."
Sejun handed over a stack of A4 papers.
"What is this?"
"This is what I was working on before I injured my arm. I've noted the parts that need revisions in pen, so just open the saved file and make the same corrections."
Hawon took the papers.
Seeing the thickness comparable to an encyclopedia, Hawon flinched.
"Surely this isn't the amount I have to do today?"
The moment Hawon, flipping through the papers she had received, raised her head, the profile of Sejun standing beside her caught her eye.
It was a line as if meticulously sculpted by a god.
Seen from the side, his nose bridge was even more prominent and sharp.
And below the nose bridge, the smoothly tapered philtrum and lusciously red lips…….
While gazing at those sensual lips, the two kisses she had shared with Sejun suddenly came to mind.
Remembering the soft, pliable texture from that time, a desire to feel his lips again surged within her.
'No, I must endure…… no…… no…… no……?'
Succumbing to the temptation of instinct, Hawon ended up saying something she shouldn't have.
"You know."
"……?"
Hawon spoke seriously, as if it were something important.
"I…… think I found quite a delicious dessert."
"……What?"
At Hawon's puzzling words, Sejun asked back.
"……I think you'd like this one too. Want to enjoy dessert together?"
"I absolutely hate sweet thi—— mph!"
Hawon stood on her tiptoes and grabbed both of Sejun's cheeks.
Then without warning, she thrust her lips at Sejun and unleashed a smooch attack.
* * *
Hawon boasted an internal energy that would easily exceed three hundred minutes if one compiled only the kiss scenes she had seen in movies.
Mobilizing all the inner energy she had built up, she explored Sejun's lips.
'If you think you're the only one who can do this, you're wrong. I have my own lip skills too!'
Recalling the kiss where Sejun had practically pounced on her first, Hawon delved deeper into his mouth.
Though Sejun had been flustered by Hawon's sudden action, a strange energy gradually began to circulate in his expression.
And soon he firmly gripped the back of Hawon's head and moved passionately in response.
"Hah……"
The two people's lips moved busily, causing each other's breathing to quicken.
A reversal of roles, one might say.
Having lost the initiative before she knew it, Hawon was unilaterally swayed by Sejun's movements, busy regulating her rough breathing.
As the kiss grew more intense, Hawon's legs trembled, engulfed by tingling shivers.
Noticing this, Sejun wrapped one arm around Hawon's waist, lifted her slightly, and seated her on the edge of the desk.
Then he captured her lower lip as if sucking it in, and gently swept over it with his tongue.
"Hah……"
Perhaps stimulated by the moans that kept leaking out between her teeth, Sejun buried his lips in the nape of Hawon's neck.
As Sejun's lips trailed down as if stamping her, red petal-like marks were left on Hawon's snow-white skin.
Feeling a strange sensation that made every fine hair on her body stand on end, Hawon let out a loud moan without realizing it.
"Ha-ah…… hah!"
Startled by her own voice, Hawon seemed to finally come to her senses and pushed against Sejun's chest, tearing her lips away.
'Good heavens!!! Was that sound that just came from my throat?!! Really??? Aaaaaaaaah!!!'
Unlike the screaming Hawon, Sejun exuded composure.
To Hawon, whose flusteredness was evident, Sejun tossed out a remark.
"You look dull, but you're unexpectedly the sensitive type."
"Wh-what did you say?!"
"I won't say it twice."
Sejun's lips were glossy as if oiled.
Even though those lips she had pounced on and felt to her heart's content were spouting nothing but mischievous words, a desire to feel them even more kept surging up.
'No, come to your senses. Senses!!!'
As if nothing had happened, Hawon played dumb, got down from the desk, and walked over to the bookshelf.
"You read a lot of books despite your looks? Or are they all for decoration? Huh? This book is……"
Hawon's gaze, scanning the bookshelf, stopped at a familiar cover and title.
It was the book Yuna had enthusiastically recommended, insisting she read it while spraying spit.
Though Hawon had refused at first, she had eventually read it and related to it intensely.
The writer had emphasized that when one knows nothing about voice, occupation, background, etc., the first thing that catches the eye is appearance.
It was the book that had made Hawon feel slightly depressed about her own somewhat shabby looks while reading.
'Why is this book in this house?'
It was ironic that such books existed in Sejun's house.
A book with "love" in the title, belonging to a man whose female companion changed almost daily.
It didn't suit him.
"Have you read this book?"
At Hawon's question, Sejun smirked and said.
"I've read them all. And not just that. I have all the contents memorized line by line."
"That's really unexpected. You must be a huge fan of this author? Huh? Now that I look, half the bookshelf is this series…… there are a lot of this author's other works too?"
"Are you slow, or just pretending to be a fool."
At Sejun's cryptic words, Hawon made an expression showing she didn't understand.
Then he pointed with his finger at the right corner of the papers Hawon was holding.
"Still don't get it?"
"……Huh?"
On the corner of the papers he had given her to revise was written [Between Love and Sex PART. V – J.].
What? Wait.
Then the person right before her eyes right now……
Is the writer who wrote this book?!!
"Wait, you really wrote this book?!"
"Why are you so surprised?"
"Then the male perspective in this book is exactly your……"
"Since I wrote it, it's obviously my perspective."
"That's ridiculous!!"
"Why? Is it hard to believe that I wrote the book you're reading?"
"Huh? How did you know I was reading your book?"
"Don't you remember? The elevator."
"El……evator?"
When is he talking about?
Hawon asked, as if frustrated.
"It's not like I ride the elevator occasionally—I ride it several times a day…… which time are you talking about?"
"I don't remember exactly when. Still, I think there was only one time we ran into each other in the elevator. Anyway, when we crossed paths, I saw my book through your bag."
Ah, then was it the day she received the book from Yuna?
"With a buxom woman next to you, and you still managed to see well in that short time."
And the day this man had been with a woman with an enormous chest size.
A woman with a chest that seemed five times Hawon's size came to mind.
Two missiles that swayed with great recoil every time she walked…… Hawon had to admit she was envious.
"You had a mountain of documents up to your eyebrows blocking your view, yet you still saw well that the woman next to me was glamourous."
Sejun was clearly teasing her.
"How can you never let a single remark slide?"
"Because wrestling with words is my job every day."
"You're really so cheeky…… so cheeky I could die!!!"
If only I could hit him just once, I'd have no more wishes!
My fist is crying, crying.
#Private collection