It is said the after-effects happen belatedly after an event. Such as being injured badly that you can’t feel any pain due to adrenaline rush and only suffering the pain much later. Or being so happily drunk and having a bad hangover the next day. Guess that was what had happened to Myungsoo the next day. After kissing and hugging despite having a hard-on, he realised finally how embarrassing the whole situation was.

This thought even disturbed him so much that he woke up so early; of course with his morning glory but he was on his back while Haneul was on her side facing him as if she didn’t move the whole night. Myungsoo gulped when he saw her relaxed lips and sleeping face. Did he really kiss her… Out of nowhere… Saying he wants her… Poking her with his hard-on shamelessly…

Was he drunk? He mentally checked again what he drank and he was sure he only drank plain water with the bento last night. Something must have possessed him… Lust devil perhaps. Myungsoo gulped when he glanced at her face again. How am I going to talk to her… How will Haneul view him now? She called him a byuntae - he had to admit he was being a byuntae… But won’t she think I’m disgusting or something…? What will this mean between us? We are not even in a relationship… Am I just using her…? Will she hate me?

Myungsoo got up from the bed slowly and went to the bathroom, feeling dismayed so he showered very slowly. When he was done, he found Haneul sitting up the bed hugging her pillow. She glanced at him and her face reddened a bit.

“Good morning…” he said, trying to sound nervous.

“Morning… You got up so early.”

He realised he had never really woke up before her. “Yes… I slept well.”

It was true that he slept well. In fact it had been a while since he had such quality sleep so even though it was only a few hours, he felt well-rested. He wondered if Haneul could sleep well too… With his thing poking her. Ugh, I’m such a byuntae…

“I’ll shower then…” she said, getting down the bed.

Myungsoo who was still standing in front of the bathroom didn’t move even though she was in front of him. Why did he feel so happy when she was so near to him? He felt like lurching towards her and hugging her again…

“Um…”

“Oh…” Feeling like an idiot, he moved to the side and watched Haneul entering the bathroom. Then he knocked on the door, “I will go downstairs and buy breakfast…”

“Okay…” she answered.

Myungsoo went downstairs and headed to the convenience store to buy some sandwich and onigiri. After what happened last night, he felt like he was famished. While buying, he read the bulletin board to see if there was any opening anywhere but mostly was looking for long-term workers. Myungsoo sighed. Probably they had to move to the next town…

Haneul was dressed up and waiting for him on the bed when he came back to the room. Then they ate breakfast on the bed and he was reminded of how after dinner on the bed, they ended up eating each others’ lips…

Myungsoo widened his eyes and accidentally swallowed a large bite, causing him to choke.

“A-are you okay?” Haneul asked, alarmed.

He punched his chest and drank water and nodded, “I’m okay…” I’m such an idiot…

As he continued eating, he wondered whether Haneul wasn’t affected… She seemed so calm… Or that was he thought initially but once he looked carefully, he saw how she was sitting timidly and spacing out while she was chewing her sandwich. Myungsoo’s eyes were then looking at her lips again. Every now and then, she would bit her lip and her ears would go red. He thought he was going crazy just by looking at that.

“I… I saw the bulletin board at the conbini… but they didn’t have any opening anywhere…” he said, crumpling up the onigiri wrapping. “Should we move to the next town…”

“Didn’t we book this room for two nights?” she asked.

“Ah, yes… we did… and no refund, if we cancel it,” he sighed.

“Then, let’s just stay here… and rest?” she said, “Ah… you must be worried because of the expense… I’m sorry, because of me, we had to stay here.”

He flustered and began waving his hands around, “Aniya aniya! It’s okay to rest! Besides, I have enough savings and it’s still enough even if we don’t work for a week! Don’t worry…”

“Really…?”

“Un, you don’t have to worry.”

“Then, tomorrow we will move to the next town and I’ll find a job too!”

“Un…” he said, smiling at her determined face. Then she blushed so he blushed too. His heart jumped to his throat.

“T-then… What if today, we go take pictures?” she said, shyly.

“Pictures?”

“Un… I’ve been wanting to learn but we’ve been so busy… I mean, Myungsoo has been busy…” she made that guilty face again and Myungsoo had to restrain himself badly.

“I will teach you then!” he said, loudly. Haneul smiled, making him relieved. “Should we go now?” He said, tying up the plastic bag and to throw it into the bin. He stood up, causing the bed to shake and Haneul who was drinking water wobbled, causing the water to spill onto her T-shirt instead. She let out a cry, and Myungsoo’s breathing hitched. Not because he was feeling sorry but because of the water spilled, her bra had became visible under her thin T-shirt.

He suddenly felt like he was inside some ero game. Where he had some choices.

Choices:

A. Ignore it.

B. Give her a towel to wipe it.

C. Wipe for her.

D. Get inside her shirt and the water…

Myungsoo turned around and banged his head against the wall, so loud that Haneul froze. Kim Myungsoo, you read too many manga… He wanted to cry at some point, and thought that maybe he should be the one running away from Haneul to protect her. He knew Haneul was being open for it… But how open…?

“Myungsoo?”

He slowly turned and saw Haneul wiping her shirt with a tissue. He tried not to stare so he was looking sideways. He put the garbage inside the bin and sat down on the bed again, “Haneul…”

“Y…yes?”

“Are you sure you’re okay with this?”

“With this…?”

He took a deep breath, “With me being byuntae towards you like this.”

“You’re being byuntae now?”

“I saw your bra again…”

Haneul quickly covered her chest with her hands. “Ah… mianhe.”

“The one who should apologise is me…” he sighed. “I’m having all sorts of things inside my mind about you. I feel like I’m taking advantage of you…”

“But you’re not… I don’t mind…”

“How can you not mind… I mean, we are supposed to be companions on this journey, but I’ve been thinking of these things…” he said, fiddling with his hands.

“Well, I’ll be more disappointed if you don’t think about them at all… I mean, I am sort of glad you are… thinking about me,” she said, shyly. “You know how I don’t have much self-confidence but with Myungsoo I feel like I’m being thought of…”

“Even if it’s rated?” he asked, shyly as well.

“Yes… You said it… I’m a healthy young woman as well…” she said, frowning while being shy.

“Even if I want to do all sorts of things with you…?”

Haneul felt her shyness had gone to the max, so she took a pillow and smacked him gently. Myungsoo was laughing, from relief. “Byuntae…”

“Mianhe,” he said, but he wasn’t sorry at all. He took the pillow that she smacked him with and hugged it while putting his chin on the pillow, “But Haneul… do you want to do … those things with me? I mean… .”

Haneul had gone awfully quiet, so Myungsoo didn’t dare look up. Although they had talked about byuntae things, the word ‘’ was never used. Probably it wasn’t necessary to mention it after all…

“Main byuntae…?”

“Main byuntae?”

She shifted a little, face reddening, “Other things are small byuntae… like touching here and there and is main byuntae…”

Myungsoo had to hold himself from laughing. Why is she so cute?

“Myungsoo is okay to do with it someone like me? ..?” she asked, quietly.

He looked up immediately, “Of course!”

His loud and fast answer did nothing but making her embarrassed further. Why were they even talking about this in the early morning? Haneul flustered while Myungsoo put down the pillow and inched closer to her.

“I mean it…”

“Is it because I’m a woman that just happened to be around…?”

“Eh?”

“I mean, if Myungsoo had met some other woman and not me, will this happen too?”

Myungsoo pulled in his lips and stared at her, “If I didn’t meet Haneul… I don’t think I’ll meet someone else. It’s not like fate can just change characters like in games, right? Even if games too, if I meet someone else, the route won’t be the same as the route I took with you…”

“What are you talking about?” she said, clearly confused.

Myungsoo realised he had been talking about dating sims that average people would probably not know. “I mean… This happens because I met Haneul… because it’s Haneul and nothing can change that… Because you’re nice and also pretty…”

She blushed. “Me too… Because it’s Myungsoo…”

They both were just sniffling and being silent for a moment, thinking about each other’s words. They were surprised at how open their conversations were, although it was embarrassing. Though at times he felt like an adult, at times he did feel like an adolescent too. Nonetheless, it wasn’t a bad feeling at all. But he was still wondering if it was okay… Being in such relationships with Haneul… Can he think about the consequence later, he thought, as he reached for her hand on the bed. Right now… I just want her… He saw her jerking a little when he inched closer. Then boldly, he cupped her cheek with one hand. Seeing that she wasn’t rejecting, he leaned in and kissed her lips again.

The sensations from last night came back again. It felt like everything else didn’t matter except at the points they were touching. Her lips against his lips and his hand which had travelled down to her waist where he slowly caressed her. Myungsoo tried to be calm, but there was something about her how her body was reacting that made him breathless. He pushed her down the bed and resumed kissing her, and when he stopped for a breather, he saw her wet shirt and instinctively went down to kiss her chest. Haneul moaned, and cupped her face.

“Myungsoo…”

He heard it but when he couldn’t stop himself from kissing there, just between her s. She smelled so nice, he thought, as he nuzzled his nose in between the mounds. Even with his nose, he could already feel the softness and his hand was going up to reach them when…

“HOUSEKEEPING!”

Myungsoo thought he had a mini heart attack. He quickly sat up, and Haneul quickly covered her face with her hands while the lady outside door was knocking.

“We’re okay!” he shouted back, then quickly sighed. Then he looked at Haneul under him. Should he continue or not…

“Can we… go take pictures…” she said, meekly.

“Eh? Oh…” He quickly got up from her and climbed down the bed. Then he took his camera from the table and saw that Haneul was still lying on the bed, looking at him with her fingers pinching her bottom lip. His heart thumped loudly and he gulped. This isn’t good…

“I’ll change clothes first,” she said, getting up and hurriedly went to the bathroom after taking out a T-shirt from her luggage. Myungsoo sat on the bed and put his head between his knees. He wondered if Haneul realised what he was thinking. She would probably thought that the only thing on his mind was byuntae things. Well, she wasn’t really wrong.

Haneul was nervous but she did her best not to show it to Myungsoo. Every time her lips moved to speak, she would be reminded of their kiss. The sudden kiss that made her heart beat faster and her body warm. The lips that she had once when he was sleeping, the ones she was curious to know how they would feel like against hers. Now she already knew, and she couldn’t help to want more. Though she wasn’t ready for them to kiss some place else. She shrieked silently and clutched the front of her shirt when she remembered what Myungsoo was doing earlier…

The weather was fortunately not as hot as the day before and it was breezy. The scenery was calming but it didn’t help toning down her nervousness. Myungsoo was busy setting up his camera and for the first time since yesterday, he looked so serious. However, that didn’t help either since it only made her admired his handsome serious look. His eyes staring at the little camera screen were almost similar to how he was staring at her lips before he kissed her.

I should stop thinking about it…

“Here…” Myungsoo said, handing her the camera. She promptly took it and although it wasn’t the first time she held it, the camera really was heavy. “Do you remember how to hold it?”

“With both hands,” she said, putting her hand on top and below the camera body awkwardly.

“Not like that…" he said, shifting her hand so that one was supporting the lens to support the weight of the camera. “Don’t cover the viewfinder with you finger…”

“Oh…”

Myungsoo let go of the camera and let her held it. “Try taking a picture.” Haneul tried to take a picture and showed it to him. Myungsoo zoomed it in and showed her the result. “Your hands are still shaking, see, it’s blurry. If so, maybe you should put it closer to your body, like leaning your arms against your body.”

Haneul tilted her head, trying to make sense of what he was saying. She tried but it was getting harder for her to hold the camera in the end. To make things worse was Myungsoo who was watching her with his sharp gaze. She felt like giving up but suddenly he moved behi