Chapter 33

Softened and utterly spent, Jaeha groaned as he unconsciously rubbed his damp hair against the bedsheets.

I’m… so dazed.

His head felt clouded, his thoughts spinning without direction as memories of the humid bathroom rattled through his mind. Even beneath the relentless torrent pouring from the showerhead, Jaeha had been unable to make himself spit out what he held in his mouth.

When his tongue swept over the tip of the glans, the taste of pre-cum, thinned by the shower water, seemed fainter than he remembered. Yet every brush of his lips against the sensitive head, every careful trace of his tongue over the urethral opening, sent the familiar flavor through him and drew a scorching flush all the way to his ears.

Taegeon had laughed at him then, mocking the way Jaeha could no longer take the full length and had resorted to licking it because his jaw ached too badly from the strain.

“This isn’t some child’s game. I’m losing my fucking mind too, getting turned on by this.”

What is he talking about?

Jaeha could hear the words, but his mind seemed incapable of processing them. All he could do was blink through his daze while droplets of water struck his flushed cheeks.

Taegeon hauled him upright. Jaeha’s knees, which had been pressed hard against the floor, were rounded, raw, and red.

A moment later, Taegeon pinned him against the wall, one hand tightening around his pelvis while a hot, heavy breath ghosted across the nape of his neck. The intensity of it was almost unbearable.

Jaeha could not even manage a proper groan. By then, he had already climaxed several times, while Taegeon had come only once.

Is there… something wrong with my body?

At that point, he could not help wondering whether something inside him had malfunctioned. Taegeon had held back his release for so long, while Jaeha had spent the entire time trembling, barely able to remain upright beneath wave after wave of climax.

Had Taegeon not locked an arm around his waist to steady him, Jaeha might have smashed his nose or teeth against the tiled wall and broken a front tooth. It had been an overwhelming collision of raw desire, all of it happening inside a cramped shower stall instead of the bedroom, even though a perfectly good bathtub stood nearby.

Jaeha kept trying to tell him they should move, but every word dissolved into broken moans, crushed apart by the relentless rhythm driving into him from behind.

In the end, he found relief only when his body could endure no more. He sank to his knees before Taegeon once again and offered to finish him with his mouth instead.

Taegeon stared down at Jaeha’s drenched face, his expression unreadable. His member throbbed heavily, while the corded muscles of his lower abdomen twitched in sharp contractions. The powerful muscles in his thighs did the same.

Jaeha had no idea whether Taegeon was enduring some kind of painful tension, one severe enough to make those taut muscles jump so violently. Before he could puzzle over it any further, Taegeon hauled him upright as though granting him an act of mercy.

“Build up your stamina. We barely did anything, and you’re already spent? It’s frustrating as hell.”

He delivered the complaint with a detached, irritated drawl, leaving Jaeha with no choice but to nod.

Taegeon worked the lathered body wash across Jaeha’s back, waist, and the curve between his buttocks, drawing him close as though holding him in a lingering embrace. He did more than simply wash him. His hands kneaded Jaeha’s exhausted muscles with firm, measured pressure, almost like a professional massage.

The sensation threatened to drag Jaeha into a deep sleep, but he fought against the haze, desperate to remain conscious. He already felt like enough of a burden.

Even for a powerful Alpha, lifting Jaeha was no effortless task. His body carried the dense weight of muscle built through years of punishing discipline. Jaeha tried to gather enough strength in his waist to support himself, but his body refused to cooperate.

The more he struggled to stand within the circle of Taegeon’s arms, the more completely the muscles along his spine surrendered, leaving him flailing with humiliating uselessness.

Their bodies inevitably brushed together, and Taegeon’s half-hard member immediately stiffened to its full, rigid length. A frustrated breath escaped him.

“You can’t even handle it, but you keep acting like a fucking tease. Can’t you stay still for once?”

Faced with that accusation, Jaeha froze and remained quietly in his arms. In the end, he had no choice but to rely entirely on Taegeon’s hands to finish washing him.

He had intended to leave the shower stall under his own power, but instead, Taegeon carried him out, slung carelessly over one broad shoulder.

“…Put me down.”

“Then why can’t you even hold your head up? Are you trying to turn me into a monk?”

Taegeon’s voice remained maddeningly indifferent as he reached for the bathrobe hanging on the wall. Jaeha’s bathrobe. He tore it free with a sharp tug, then pushed open the door on the opposite side of the bathroom.

It led directly into Jaeha’s bedroom, across from the walk-in closet. After setting him down, Taegeon tossed the robe at him and withdrew into the bathroom again.

Jaeha watched him leave, briefly wondering whether Taegeon had not finished washing himself. Then he noticed it.

Taegeon’s thick, towering erection struck heavily against his firm lower abdomen with each step.

Oh. That…

Jaeha could only assume Taegeon intended to take care of himself.

A faint prickle of guilt stirred in Jaeha’s chest at the thought of leaving him to handle it alone, but the aftermath of their drunken passion had drained him so completely that even staying conscious had become nearly impossible.

Despite the apologies lingering in his heart, Jaeha slipped into the robe and collapsed across the bed.

The day had been exceptionally long. Through the fog clouding his mind, its memories replayed in a slow and disordered sequence: the intimacy in the bathroom, the dinner they had shared, and the feverish encounter in the director’s office.

Only yesterday, Lee Jaeha had been a man emptied of joy, sighing heavily as he endured yet another monotonous commute to work. Yet Taegeon’s sudden arrival had painted his world in colors he had almost forgotten existed.

They were far more vivid than the achromatic life he had known until then.

Jaeha draped an arm across his forehead, shielding his eyes as he tried to quiet the thoughts circling endlessly inside his head.

I’m happy…

He truly was.

He was happy that Taegeon had come searching for him again. He was deeply moved that Taegeon had sought him out immediately, even while tending to his own injuries, and that he had allowed everything to pass without a single reproach, despite having every reason to be furious.

I have to do better…

The thought drifted through Jaeha’s mind in a haze. He wanted to become better. He wanted to do more for Taegeon and love him more deeply. Above all else, he wanted Taegeon to be happy.

Those thoughts continued spiraling through him as his awareness flickered, wavering at the edge of sleep. Somewhere within the haze, he felt the soft weight of a blanket being drawn over his body.

“Are you asleep already? That’s ridiculous.” Taegeon’s voice carried the same disinterested edge as always. “Fine. Just sleep, then.”

At the sound of that indifferent complaint, Jaeha let out a faint snort. Or perhaps it was only a phantom sensation, another trick played by his fading awareness.

Then his consciousness sank into a velvet abyss.

Jang Taegeon appeared in his dreams. It was a quiet, lingering dream in which they did nothing more than hold hands and gaze toward the same distant horizon, remaining that way together for one long, breathless stretch of time.

***