Chapter 40 Part 1

Chaeheon went straight to In Front of Lee Jun’s House. Kim Gyeong-hun had provided an excuse for him to meet Lee Jun. He contacted Lee Jun with it and told him he was coming, and Lee Jun reluctantly agreed. It didn’t matter if he didn’t accept it cheerfully. For now, it was enough that he wasn’t refusing.

As he turned the steering wheel and called Lee Jun, he heard the call connect shortly after. Chaeheon glanced at the rising call time and smiled. He never gave a straightforward greeting.

It was good enough just to listen to Lee Jun’s breathing, but knowing he might hang up first, Chaeheon spoke.

“I’m here.”

– I’ll be right there.

Lee Jun hung up first, and the repeating “beep-beep” sound echoed like Chaeheon’s heartbeat. Or so it felt.

Seeing Lee Jun’s figure outside the window, Chaeheon smiled faintly. Watching him spot his car and approach, Chaeheon opened the rear passenger door.

Lee Jun, who had expected him to be in the driver’s seat, looked surprised but obediently got into the back.

“Aren’t I really good-natured?”

“You start with nonsense as soon as you see me.”

Lee Jun sounded exasperated.

“Who else would rush over for a single group project without looking back? Right?”

“Didn’t I say I’d send it by email? Don’t you think showing up is rude?”

“It’s better to talk about it in person.”

“If only you couldn’t talk.”

Lee Jun opened his laptop. He regretted most not having exchanged contact information with Kim Gyeong-hun. Since Kim Gyeong-hun and Lee Jeong-yun were the ones collecting the materials, he could have asked them what was going on.

When Chaeheon suddenly contacted him, offering to deliver the materials, Lee Jun stopped his outsourced work and came out.

“Next time, send it by email.”

“It’s a group project with Senior, I can’t be sloppy.”

“Anyone who heard you would think it’s just the two of us in the group.”

Chaeheon leaned on Lee Jun’s shoulder as if it didn’t matter. Because of that, Lee Jun frowned and tried to push him away, but Chaeheon put his full weight on him, making it difficult. If he pushed him away hard, it would mean Lee Jun’s heart had completely turned away.

“What is it?”

“I drove all the way here, so I’m going to rest.”

He was acting as if he had driven a very long distance, but Lee Jun, who had considered pushing him away, turned his head back to the laptop. It was better to quickly look at the materials. At that reaction, Chaeheon secretly smiled. As expected, Lee Jun couldn’t completely push him away.

“Have you eaten?”

“What time is it?”

Lee Jun didn’t turn his head, but turned on his phone screen to show it to Chaeheon, then placed his hands on the laptop keyboard.

“I haven’t eaten yet.”

Chaeheon talked about himself and watched Lee Jun’s hand. He thought his hand had twitched just now.

“Why haven’t you eaten yet?”

For the first time, Lee Jun’s question broke through the curt conversation. Right, he was the type to care about things like this.

Chaeheon, thinking about how to change the subject, deliberately kept quiet. As he remained silent, Lee Jun’s hand moved quickly over the trackpad. Then he rotated the screen so Chaeheon could see it better.

Because of that, Chaeheon just turned his head, still leaning on Lee Jun’s shoulder. The change in posture was uncomfortable, but he had no intention of moving. Lee Jun’s shoulder, where their shoulders touched, felt so good he wanted to keep leaning on it.

“The material itself is okay, but it’s not good for a presentation. If you organize all these articles, they don’t even fit as presentation material, and there are no striking graphs. If it were up to me, it would be good to properly extract statistics from the National Statistical Office based on the data here…”

Chaeheon, who enjoyed listening to Lee Jun’s voice, leaned his head closer to him.

“Are you listening?”

“I’m tired.”

“Then go to sleep.”

“I came here to see Senior.”

Lee Jun closed his laptop without hesitation.

“I’ll email it to you, see you tomorrow.”

Chaeheon was silent, his head buried in Lee Jun’s shoulder, as if he had fallen asleep.

“Jang Chaeheon.”

“Take me home.”

“…I’ll call a designated driver for you.”

“Senior, you drive.”

“Aren’t you being really annoying?”

“I’ll grant you one wish.”

Being tired was just an excuse. He knew Lee Jun was surprisingly weak in such situations. He wasn’t saying he was sick, but simply saying he was tired was enough to exploit Lee Jun’s inability to be strong.

“Move.”

Of course, if they didn’t know each other, it might have worked to some extent. But as much as he knew Lee Jun’s weaknesses, Lee Jun also knew his, so he would refuse…

“Seriously.”

“…”

He knew Lee Jun wouldn’t refuse twice after that one word.

“If that’s the case, you shouldn’t have come.”

But… perhaps because they had broken up, it wasn’t working as well anymore.

Lee Jun pushed Chaeheon away, completely ignoring his whining. There was no hesitation in his actions as he got out of the car. Chaeheon, who watched Lee Jun’s straight back as he turned away without a greeting, leaned his head back against the seat and closed his eyes.

What a pity.

Soon, with the sound of someone getting into the driver’s seat, Chaeheon curled his lips.

“Senior, your heart is too soft, that’s your downfall.”

Lee Jun started the engine as soon as he silently fastened his seatbelt.

“Just sleep.”

With Lee Jun’s low voice, the car moved smoothly. The deep rumble of the exhaust faded, and silence fell. Chaeheon squinted his heavy eyes and blinked a few times.

Matching the way Chaeheon’s tongue stirred inside his mouth, Lee Jun opened his lips and extended his tongue to welcome him. Chaeheon nibbled his lips then brushed them with his tongue, coming in more forcefully.

Lee Jun tilted his head back, receiving the kiss, and the angle of his tongue’s movement subtly shifted. Chaeheon’s tongue just swept the roof of his mouth as usual, but Lee Jun let out a moan from an unexpectedly sensitive spot.

He wanted to hide how his lips twitched and his waist trembled, but Chaeheon’s hand on his back tightened.

Caught red-handed.

Driven by a foolish stubbornness, he pushed away Chaeheon’s tongue, which was ravaging his mucous membrane, and swept his own tongue inside Chaeheon’s mouth. When he twisted his head to insert his tongue deeper, Chaeheon opened his mouth wider.

Challenged to enter as much as he wanted, Lee Jun gripped the back of Chaeheon’s head and pulled him closer. He swept Chaeheon’s tender mucous membrane, entangled his tongue, and nibbled it, just as Chaeheon had done.