Chapter 21

Rather than approach the water’s edge, Yi-seon sat on a nearby bench and tapped the railing with restless fingers. At his call, Mugyeol turned with the same easy smile he had been giving the children. “You’re here?”

Yi-seon narrowed his eyes against the glare. Backlit by the water, Mugyeol was almost difficult to look at directly. Drops slid one by one from the damp strands falling over his brow.

Mugyeol set the water gun down on the poolside.

“Bye, guys. Hyung’s going.”

The children kicked the water in disappointment, but Mugyeol was already beside Yi-seon. When Yi-seon asked where everyone else was, Mugyeol pointed in different directions as he explained. “Auntie and Uncle went to the restaurant over there to grab some pizza. Your brother and our household’s bastard haven’t come out yet.”

“Ah.”

“Speak of the devil. …Ack, fuck, my eyes!”

Mugyeol glanced back, swore violently, and slapped both hands over his eyes. Yi-seon turned too and gripped the railing in shock. Hangyeol was strutting toward them in an eye-popping, skin-tight swim brief whose pattern, absurdly enough, looked remarkably similar to Mugyeol’s trunks.

Following Yi-jeong, Hangyeol looked almost painfully eager to show off.

Furious, Mugyeol barked out in disgust, “You’re seriously going to do that to my eyes in a place this nice?!”

“Terrorism? If you’re jealous, just say—”

Hangyeol strode up and looked Mugyeol over with a dissatisfied frown. He had clearly come prepared to show off, but the sight of his younger brother left him momentarily speechless.

“Ah. What a fucking eyesore.”

Hangyeol ignored Mugyeol’s muttered disgust completely. That shameless confidence was eerily similar to Mugyeol’s, Yi-seon thought, though he wisely kept the observation to himself. Mugyeol would throw a fit.

“Yi-seon-ah. Are you alright?”

“Yeah, hyung.”

Yi-jeong came over and set down bottled water and snacks. When he invited Yi-seon into the pool, Yi-seon shook his head, and a complicated look crossed his brother’s face.

“Let’s go in together. Holding hyung’s hand.”

“Later. I want to rest for a bit first.”

“…Alright.”

Yi-jeong gave his back a gentle pat.

Yi-seon understood. Of course his brother was worried.

Yi-jeong had been like that ever since the accident, always afraid that his younger brother might one day push him away.

When Yi-seon left for Jeju, Yi-jeong had tried to stop him. Believing it was Yi-seon’s own choice, he could not forbid him outright, but he had begged him again and again to reconsider—never realizing that Yi-seon had not been given a choice at all.

“Yi-seon-ah, hyung will play with you more. I’ll stop studying and play with you all the time. Okay?”

A celebrated prodigy, Yi-jeong had always been too busy studying to spend much time with his younger brother. Perhaps out of guilt, he had hovered around Yi-seon then with an aching, wistful expression.

During Yi-seon’s years in Jeju, Yi-jeong called far more often than their parents and repeatedly begged them to visit. Sometimes he even saved his allowance and secretly flew down on his own. Yi-seon knew how much his brother cared. He had never resented him; he simply loved him.

Perhaps Yi-jeong had suggested a seaside trip for that same reason: to bring the past into the open and face it together.

After an elaborate stretch, Hangyeol made a flashy dive into the pool. Splash! He cut through the water with powerful strokes for several glorious seconds before a toddler on an inner tube kicked him square in the head and sent him flailing.

“Ack! Water up my nose, water! Gasp!”

“What a total circus…”

Watching the spectacle, Mugyeol clicked his tongue in disdain.

Yi-seon watched Yi-jeong slip into the water after Hangyeol. Ripples spread around his brother.

If hyung is having fun, maybe I can too.

Yi-seon recalled the aquaphobia advice he had researched that morning. Start by getting used to the water: dip in your toes, then splash your face.

Yi-seon moved to the poolside and stared down at the blue water. Carefully, he dipped his toes into the gentle ripples lapping the edge.

“It’s cold…”

His breath hitched. For an instant, he could almost feel the freezing ocean rushing into his mouth and nose again. As his breathing turned shallow and dizzy, someone stepped close.

Yi-seon knew from the shadow alone. Mugyeol.

“Going in?”

“Yeah.”

“Alright. Then warm-ups first.”

Mugyeol stepped behind him, took both wrists, and began conducting an absurd warm-up: up, down, forward, then huge circles in the air. Yi-seon let himself be flailed around until a laugh finally escaped him. Mugyeol moved to his side and slung an arm around his shoulders.

“What are you doing?”

“Warm-up exercises. If you dive in without this, you’ll get a heart attack.”

Mugyeol kept hold of Yi-seon’s shoulders as they squatted and stood together. By the time the ridiculous warm-up ended, Yi-seon’s body had loosened and so had his nerves.

Splash! Mugyeol jumped into the pool first. Planting his feet firmly on the pool floor, he asked solemnly, “Ryu Yi-seon. Do you even know how to swim?”

“Nope.”

“Then sit right there, dip your feet in, and splash.”

Yi-seon obeyed. Perched on the ledge, he gingerly lowered his feet into the water. Perhaps because he had just been laughing and fooling around with Mugyeol, it was not as terrifying as he had feared. The tension had eased before he even noticed.

More importantly, Mugyeol was standing right in front of him. His solid presence was oddly reassuring. Yi-seon trusted, without having to think about it, that if he fell in right now, Mugyeol would pull him back out.

Yi-seon lowered his legs to the knees and kicked cautiously. Tiny droplets scattered in the sunlight. This was not the dark, violent water that had once swallowed him. It was only a pool, gentle and still.

Growing bolder, Yi-seon kicked a few more times. Mugyeol paddled over and playfully splashed water across his shins and knees.

“Look at you splashing away. Attaboy. Good job.” Then, at some point, Mugyeol asked with a quizzical look, “By the way, why don’t you have any leg hair?”

“Huh?”

“Why is it so smooth? Don’t tell me you’ve got a whole forest on your chest and stomach instead?”

Staring intently at Yi-seon’s shins, Mugyeol abruptly yanked up the hem of Yi-seon’s short-sleeved T-shirt. Fair skin and a slender lower belly were laid bare without defense.

Stripped so suddenly that even his pale pink nipples were exposed, Yi-seon recoiled in shock and smacked Mugyeol hard right on the crown of his head.

“You crazy bastard!”

The blow knocked Mugyeol backward into the water. Yi-seon panicked and threw himself in after him. The instant Mugyeol disappeared beneath the surface, the memory of his brother drowning flashed through Yi-seon’s mind and his body moved before he could think.

Cold water closed around Yi-seon and his breath seized. For a split second, the bright blue pool became a roaring black torrent. Before panic could take hold, two strong hands caught him around the waist.

“Surface!”

Mugyeol lifted Yi-seon by the waist and set him safely back on the poolside.

Planting his hands on either side of Yi-seon’s thighs as the boy sat on the edge of the pool, Mugyeol trapped him between his arms and grinned playfully. “Surprised?”

“…A little?”

The instant he met Mugyeol’s grin, relief dissolved his tension. Wiping the streams of water running down his face, Yi-seon leaned his upper body slightly back. Their physical proximity was overwhelmingly close. He could distinctly catch the crisp, fresh scent of wet skin radiating from Mugyeol.

“Don’t worry. I’m strong as fuck, and I swim like a fish.”

“Right now, you just look like strong-as-fuck, swimming-like-a-fish sea kelp.”

Releasing the lingering stiffness in his shoulders, Yi-seon gently brushed Mugyeol’s wet bangs back off his forehead. Having just surfaced, Mugyeol’s dark hair was clinging messily across his brow.

Beneath his delicate fingertips, Mugyeol’s wet skin felt cool and slick.

Is this what touching a dolphin feels like?

Fascinated, he stroked Mugyeol’s forehead while gazing softly at him, when Mugyeol’s shoulders gave a sudden flinch. Swatting Yi-seon’s hand away, Mugyeol leaped backward into the water, lost his footing, and took an ungraceful plunge beneath the surface.

Splash! So much for his balance.

After all Mugyeol’s bragging about his swimming, Yi-seon did not jump in a second time. Still, Mugyeol stayed under long enough for concern to prickle. At last his head broke the surface, and he glared at Yi-seon with only his neck above water.

His hair clung messily to his forehead again, undoing Yi-seon’s earlier effort, while his eyes bored into him.

“…”

“…What.”

What’s his problem all of a sudden?

Yi-seon glared right back. Their silent staring contest stretched on while several children splashed between them.

“…”

“…”

Mugyeol was the first to blink.

Mugyeol scooped water over his face as though trying to wake himself up, then drew several long breaths. Only after that did he begin wading back toward Yi-seon with excruciating slowness.

As Mugyeol approached, Yi-seon gripped the hem of his soaked T-shirt. It was heavy and uncomfortable; he wanted to take it off before getting in properly.

“I want to go in now too.”

Mugyeol’s sluggish pace vanished. He closed the distance in an instant, caught the half-lifted shirt, and yanked it back down. “Don’t take it off. Keep it on.”

“It’s heavy and uncomfortable.”

“Everyone’s looking.”

“What does that matter?”

Says the guy who yanked up my shirt a minute ago asking if I had belly hair.

Thinking about it makes me mad all over again. For the record, I don’t!

Perhaps because he was an Omega, Yi-seon had very little body hair, something he was already mildly self-conscious about because he thought it made him look younger than he was.

Yet Mugyeol looked unexpectedly serious. He clamped onto Yi-seon’s shirt hard enough to stretch the fabric and stubbornly refused to let go.

“The sun is too strong right now.”

“You’re standing right under that sun completely bare-chested.”

Your chest is right there in the open. It’s kind of hard not to notice.

“I put on sunscreen before coming out. Did you?”

“No?”

“Your skin will be peeling by tonight. Especially yours—you’re pale, so you burn fast. Don’t take your shirt off now and start whining later because everything stings.”

“Ah… you’re right.”

Unable to argue with that, Yi-seon nodded. A wet shirt was preferable to a blistering sunburn. Only then did Mugyeol release the hem, which he had stretched visibly out of shape.

Holding the edge of the pool, Yi-seon carefully stepped into the water. After so much laughing and bantering with Mugyeol, the fear was unexpectedly quiet. Even if he slipped under again, he knew Mugyeol would haul him right back out.

“Put these on and try putting your face in.”

Mugyeol slipped his own swimming goggles over Yi-seon’s head. He adjusted the strap so it would not snag Yi-seon’s hair, fitted the goggles over his eyes, then pointed at him and burst out laughing.

“Hands down the most handsome squid alien I’ve ever seen!”

“…”

Yi-seon stared at him in exasperation, shook his head, and dipped his face into the water. The goggles did not magically give him courage, so he kept his eyes squeezed shut. He breathed out, then lifted his face again.

That wasn’t so bad.

After catching his breath, Yi-seon tried again. He repeated the motion several times with his eyes closed before finally gathering the courage to open them underwater…

Pffft!

The moment Yi-seon looked down, laughter burst out of him and he jerked his head above water. Mugyeol was submerged near his feet, blowing perfect rings of bubbles through the pool like underwater smoke rings.

“Ah, Yeon Mugyeol, you lunatic!”

Yi-seon coughed and sputtered between laughs. Earlier he had compared Mugyeol to a dolphin, and now the idiot was performing actual dolphin tricks.

His nose stung from the water he had swallowed, but he barely cared. All he could think about was Mugyeol diving under just to make him laugh.

Mugyeol surfaced after him, beaming with pride.

“Finally got you to see it. Dope, right?”

So that was why Mugyeol had kept diving under. He had been trying to show Yi-seon the bubble rings.

“How did you do that? I thought you were an actual dolphin.”

“I’ll teach you once your dive level goes up.”

“Deal. Promise.”

Yi-seon genuinely looked forward to it. Somehow, when he thought about diving now, the first feeling that came was anticipation rather than fear.

Now, when Yi-seon imagined hands reaching for him in the water, they were not his drowning brother’s desperate grip. They were Mugyeol’s hands, steadying and guiding him. The water itself no longer meant only cold, violent surf; it also held the memory of Mugyeol blowing ridiculous bubbles beneath the surface just to make him smile.

Pushing the goggles up onto his forehead, Yi-seon nudged Mugyeol’s shoulder with his fist.

“Hey. Yeon Mugyeol.”

“What.”

“You saw it earlier, didn’t you?”

“Saw what.”

“My phone searches.”

“…”

Mugyeol said nothing. He was not the type to bother with a lie, and the silence told Yi-seon enough.

Reading the unspoken confirmation in that silence, Yi-seon smiled faintly.

In truth, Yi-seon had suspected it all along. From the moment they reached the pool, Mugyeol had stayed close, turning his concern into jokes and playful distractions while quietly making sure Yi-seon never had to face the water alone.

He had neither mocked Yi-seon’s fear nor demanded an explanation. He had simply steadied him whenever he faltered.

This bastard really… is impossible to hate.

Pinching the tingling bridge of his nose, Yi-seon asked with deliberate playfulness, “Why didn’t you ask?”

“If you wanted to talk, you would have. Tell me whenever you feel like it later. I’m a good listener.”

With his thoughtfulness exposed, Mugyeol pretended indifference and poked awkwardly beside Yi-seon’s eye.

“You’ve got goggle marks here. Did I pull the strap too tight?”

“No wonder. Thought my eyeballs were popping out.”

“I thought you might get more scared if water got in your eyes…” Mugyeol trailed off and turned away, visibly embarrassed. He slipped the goggles off Yi-seon and looped them around his own forearm, rubbing the back of his neck. “Hey. Hold on here and climb on.”

“On your back?”

“Yeah. We’ll go across to the other side. Nothing fancy. Just cross the pool once.”

“…Alright.”

Yi-seon gingerly climbed onto Mugyeol’s back.

As he gently wrapped his arms around Mugyeol’s neck, he felt the solid firmness of muscles stiffening slightly beneath his touch. They said Alphas ran hotter than regular people, and the heat radiating from Mugyeol’s body against his wet shirt was scorching, almost searing to the touch.

“Then, ahem… Here we go.”

“Go!”

Mugyeol cleared his throat and began swimming slowly with Yi-seon on his back. He moved steadily through the water while Yi-seon kicked behind him, practicing the motion Mugyeol had taught him earlier.

Despite his size, Mugyeol moved through the water with effortless ease.

“Are you a seal? Why are you so good at swimming?”

“Is there anything I can’t do? Anything physical, I’m great at.”

“Is this what it felt like when I gave you a ride on the back of my bike?”

“Do you hear me whining like I’m about to die right now?”

“Shut up… before I choke you…”

Mugyeol’s broad back trembled with suppressed laughter.

Yi-seon loosened his grip, self-conscious about clinging too tightly, but when he began to slip he had no choice but to hold on again. Even in the water, Mugyeol’s steady presence made him feel safe.

The entire way across the azure pool toward the other side, Yi-seon gently bit his lower lip.

Ah… what do I do?

Mugyeol’s tenderness was so warm that the pool water didn’t feel cold at all. The ripples enveloping and dispersing around his body no longer frightened him.

If anything, he had become more afraid of Mugyeol than the water.

Of the heat flaring through his entire body without restraint.

Of the pounding, sugar-sweet pulse racing through his veins for one reason alone: Yeon Mugyeol.

[END of VOLUME 1]