PUPPY 70

“Wh-What are you talking about?”

There was no way the phrase ‘let’s play with our clothes off’ between a dating couple could be interpreted in an ordinary way.

Of course, it wasn’t something you would say between friends either.

Seowoo stuttered in bewilderment at Juwon’s serious gaze. He stretched out his arms to put some distance between them. No, he tried to.

“Why are you climbing on top?”

“We used to play like this often. I used to lie on top of your stomach, remember?”

“When… Ah.”

It was a prank he only pulled when Juwon was Jjokko, a puppy. He used to place the small puppy Juwon on his thigh or stomach and secretly touch his soft, pink paw pads. Juwon would shake his paws off with disgust every time.

“You’re, heavy….”

“Am I heavy?”

Seowoo nodded at Juwon’s question. When he came to his senses, Juwon had already climbed on top of him.

“Get off….”

The moment he met Juwon’s eyes, Seowoo felt like he was suffocating with tension. He couldn’t tell if it was because Juwon’s body on top of him was heavy, or because of the weight of the suddenly changed atmosphere.

“…You really won’t?”

Juwon asked Seowoo, lightly licking his lower lip. Seowoo, who had been staring blankly at the tip of Juwon’s tongue, barely came to his senses and shook his head.

“Reall…y, no.”

“No?”

Seowoo’s gaze, after his difficult answer, turned to the closed door. Juwon’s head also turned to follow Seowoo’s gaze. Right now, they were both fully clothed, but their close-pressed position was similar to when his family had caught them last time. A nervous Seowoo gulped and grabbed the hem of Juwon’s clothes, saying.

“We…, promised to do it after the college entrance exam.”

Seowoo said, still holding the edge of Juwon’s clothes. It was because of the sense of wrongness he felt where he was touching Juwon. Juwon’s serious gaze had changed the surrounding air in an instant. This wasn’t the first time he had felt this dangerous atmosphere. The playful mood was always overturned in an instant.

The conversation he had with Juwon last time came to Seowoo’s mind, who had been on the verge of giving in to Juwon’s sizzling gaze.

‘Juwon, we…. I don’t think we can go any further.’

‘Why?’

‘We have to get into college.’

The two had promised to pour all their energy… that is, the proper activity of mind and body, not into their relationship, but into college admissions. It was an agreement they had made for a better future, although there was a lingering sense of regret. And yet, right now Juwon’s eyes were sparkling. Excessively so….

“You don’t want to?”

“…I don’t.”

Unable to lie while looking into Juwon’s sparkling black eyes, Seowoo avoided his gaze. An uncomfortable silence followed while Seowoo’s eyes wavered. He had the illusion that the sound of his rapidly beating heart was echoing in the quiet room. When Seowoo’s downcast gaze returned to Juwon, their eyes met in mid-air.

“Liar.”

Juwon looked at Seowoo and smirked, lifting one corner of his mouth. His playful tone was laced with confidence.

“No.”

“Seowoo.”

“What…. Stop it.”

Seowoo said in a small voice, weakly pushing Juwon away.

“You really don’t want to?”

“It’s not that I don’t want to….”

Seowoo hesitated and mumbled his answer to Juwon, who brought his mouth to his ear and asked in a low voice. ‘I don’t want to’ sounded like too strong a refusal. And in truth, it wasn’t because he disliked it, but because it felt so good that it was scary.

Just holding hands, hugging, and kissing felt like he had reached the peak of stimulation, so he was curious about there being more, but on the other hand, he was also suddenly afraid.

“Seowoo.”

Juwon called Seowoo in a low voice. Then, he tapped the tip of Seowoo’s round nose and said.

“You can fool other people, but you can’t fool my nose.”

“What do you mean?”

Feeling as if Juwon’s words had hit a nerve, Seowoo frowned slightly. Juwon looked at Seowoo without a word.

“…You smell horny.”

Juwon’s gaze dropped as he answered in a low, raspy voice. Where his gaze landed was blatant.

“……”

Feeling as if his hidden secret had been completely exposed, Seowoo’s face flushed red. Seowoo couldn’t make any excuses and just froze, swallowing hard. As if giving permission, Seowoo’s gaze dropped, and Juwon’s hot hand, which had been stroking his waist, delved a little deeper.

“…Haah.”

A deep sigh burst from Juwon’s lips.

“Your hand is hot….”

The two of them lay piled together without a gap on Seowoo’s small bed. The room, with no space for the heat to escape, grew progressively hotter. The bed moved slightly and let out a—creak.

The air surrounding the two had grown hot not because it was summer. It was because the temperature of the breaths they exhaled was higher than before.

🦴

Seowoo was not the type to have a lot of stamina, so he spent relatively little time at his desk. The reason he was still able to maintain high grades was thanks to his excellent concentration.

However, today Seowoo’s concentration was directed elsewhere, not at his studies.

Just as he was about to turn off his phone and start studying, a video caught Seowoo’s attention. The clever algorithm had recommended a video titled ‘How to Marry the GF/BF You Met in Your Teens♥,’ as if it had read Seowoo’s mind. Seowoo’s finger clicked on the video as if possessed. The confident and cheerful voices of a young couple flowed through his earphones.

“What’s most important in a relationship with a partner is ‘love’ and ‘trust.’”

Seowoo’s expression as he watched the video was serious. It felt too grandiose to put the label of ‘love’ on his and Juwon’s relationship yet. But trust should be fine, right? Thinking that, Seowoo focused on the video.

“We got a lot of questions about the slump period, but I don’t think we really had one, did we?”

“Hmm, the special reason we didn’t have a slump is…. We used to write down things we wanted to do, like a bucket list, and did them together one by one? I think that helped a bit.”

“That’s right. Writing down dates, things we want to do together…, ah. We also wrote about skinship and progress, right?”

The couple in the video looked at each other and laughed while talking about skinship. It seemed they had a secret they shared only between the two of them. The video, which continued for a few more minutes, ended after leaving a few minor tips for long-term relationships.

Turning off his phone, Seowoo opened the math workbook he had originally planned to solve today. After solving two problems, Seowoo suddenly ripped a blank sheet of paper from a notebook with a rip. Lowering his head, Seowoo began to diligently write something down on the paper.

It was the creation of a ‘bucket list,’ recommended by the couple in the video.

<Dates>

V Movie theater

□ Amusement park

□ The sea (Watch the sunrise or sunset together)

V Mountain

□ Trip to Europe

□ Fireworks

□ Camping

He wrote down things that came to mind and things he wanted to do. He put a checkmark next to the dates he had already been on, and Seowoo pondered for a moment. He remembered being carried down on Juwon’s back after taking graduation photos and marked it for now, but he wasn’t sure if he could call that a ‘mountain’ date. Still, it wasn’t flat ground, so he put a checkmark next to ‘mountain’ for the time being.

The next list was about skinship. He felt a pang of guilt for some reason. Seowoo covered the paper with one arm and wrote down the list, hunched over with his head down.

<Progress??>

V Holding hands (Just, interlacing fingers)

V Hugging

V Pecks

V Kissing

V Foreplay????

V Hand job

□ XX…

From holding hands to pecks, hugs, and even things beyond that, the checkmarks continued without hesitation. The date list was full of empty boxes, but the skinship section was packed. Seowoo let out a small sigh at the stark reality. Just then, Juwon quietly approached from behind.

“Kiss.”

“Gasp.”

Seowoo jumped up from his seat at the low voice that echoed in his ear. The sound he made in surprise was so loud that Seowoo quickly scanned the inside of the study hall.

“It’s okay, I came in after checking that no one was here.”

Juwon, who had lowered his head, bumped the tip of his nose against his. Seowoo, who had crumpled the note in one hand and stuffed it into his pocket, smiled and looked up at Juwon.

“Why are you here already?”

“Let’s leave a little early, eat, and go for a walk.”

He had just arrived at the reading room, and he was already suggesting they go out to eat. Sometimes, Juwon was so relaxed it was hard to believe he was a high school senior. But belying such worries, Juwon’s grades were very good. If they both maintained their current grades, it wouldn’t be impossible for them to get into the same university, even if not in the same department. Seowoo reached out, took Juwon’s hand, and called his name.

“Juwon.”

“Mmhmm.”

A mumbled reply flowed from Juwon because he was busy pressing his lips firmly against Seowoo’s forehead.

He really likes kisses, anyway.

Seowoo thought, puffing out his cheeks slightly. Juwon’s lips landed on his rounded cheeks again. Suddenly, the thought occurred to him that this was what it felt like to be loved.

“You want to leave so you can kiss more, don’t you.”

Seowoo looked up at Juwon from his seat and smiled brightly. At that, Juwon playfully poked the mole on Seowoo’s nose with his finger.

“How did you know.”

‘What’s most important in a relationship with a partner is ‘love’ and ‘trust.’’

Seowoo recalled the advice he had heard in the video he watched earlier. The two virtues for becoming a long-lasting couple who meet in their teens and maintain a strong relationship. It seemed there was no lack or deficiency in either of them.