S E V E N T E E N

Word of the Day – “Simmer”

Kyungsoo had done this before. He’d been intimate with someone, someone he’d vowed to spend the rest of his life with, even. He’d felt a similar type of warmth, although much less. Wait, intimate? What was he thinking? Where did he think this was gonna go? He was officially addicted to this close-up view of Miyoung’s face.

“What are you doing?” She asked with a throaty voice that his brain automatically registered as ing y. He was done for. The restraint that he had been so successfully preserving was crumbling into pieces right before him.

Right in front of her.

They were inside a room, all alone. Just the two of them. So many things could potentially take place if he wasn’t careful.

Electricity consumed him when he felt their fingers dancing ever-so-gently against each other. Cautious and scared but warm, nevertheless. Instead of wrapping his fingers around her smaller ones, he let them skim against her arm, climbing up to her shoulder where the loose fabric dangled.

He could stop now. If he stopped right now, he wouldn’t end up pulling the clothing off of her completely. If he stopped right now, things would stay exactly the same as they had been for the last month and a half since she got back.  “Miyoung, I—” His voice broke down and he dropped his chin to avoid her knowing gaze.

I want you. The three-word sentence hung on the tip of his tongue, refusing to come out. Awareness flooded his brain and it was heavy labour to breathe. He shivered when he felt her cold fingertips pick his chin up, locking their eyes again. It had never been scarier to look at her, it had never been this hard to maintain eye contact with anyone, for that matter. He felt his chest b with emotions, a mixture of fear and excitement, something he’d never felt before. Not even with his ex-wife.

With Ra Miyoung, everything was unknown. Everything was new. Everything felt … spontaneous including things that were not remotely spontaneous, to begin with. His entire body tingled; the feeling of her smaller frame nearly enclosed around him sent terrible shivers through his spine.

He couldn’t do it. He inched closer. He should stop. His free hand cupped her other shoulder until he had full control of her body. He needed to leave. His palms slipped down her smooth arms until he was linking their fingers together. He pulled her in, wrapping her arms around his hips.

She never looked away, as if she wanted it just as much as he did and it drove him even madder.

He was going to kiss her again if he didn’t stop moving closer. In this room. On that bed. Anywhere. There was no boiling water anymore. There weren’t going to be mushy noodles afterwards. What was about to happen was going to change everything. Once it was all over, he couldn’t say it was nothing. Not anymore. It was a crucial moment he couldn’t simply decide on the last minute. Mind over .

Something in between his brain and prickled even more painfully, however. His chest. His heart. The way she looked at him in anticipation took him down and brought him back up at the same time. He broke away from her hands and cupped her neck, caressing his thumbs on her jaw.

She was so beautiful that it was terrifying to look, so he closed his eyes. He tilted his head and inched forward for one last time until their lips were in contact. He felt her fingers tighten around the fabric of his shirt and it encouraged him to go on. Her lips trembled as she started kissing back. It was light. It was careful. It was nothing compared to what happened in that kitchen.

It was pure and hypnotic beyond reasons.

His heart tremored in confusion. He could so easily just push the fabric that was covering her but he didn’t. He savoured every second of this innocent kiss. It heaved in just as much fluff in his chest as an intense kiss would. It was intense … in its own way and he wasn’t even going to try and decipher what that meant.

Their lips lightly parted and their foreheads came in contact.

Both of them caught their breaths as if they’d done more than what they had. Their mouths locked a few more times, light and careful touches slowly intensifying on their own until their lips were once again burned in a deeper, more passionate kiss.

His phone suddenly vibrated in his right pocket and he jerked in consciousness. He pulled away from the kiss, his eyes widening as he stared at her. Her face was very flushed and her eyes were sparklier than ever.

Without saying anything, he fished his phone out of his pocket. Boss.

He took a big step backwards as realization hit him harder. “It—it’s your dad.” He managed to say before turning away and leaving the room entirely.

He frantically removed one glove before answering the call. “Hello—hey, boss—what’s up?” He beamed much louder than he had planned. “Someone seems to be in a good mood. Are you guys having fun there so far? Are the staff there accommodating to you well?” The man asked on the other end.

“Yeah, they’re … they’re awesome, Boss. Uhm—anyway, uh—I was just picking up some wood and—for the bonfire and barb—”

“You okay, Kyungsoo? You sound off or is the service bad there?” Wonsuk interrupted his stuttering and he didn’t know exactly if he should be thankful or even more terrified that the man noticed it. “Yeah, I think … the service is bad here. Sorry.” He replied as he took the steps to leave the cabin.

“Okay, well—anyway, I met up with my good friend Seonguk. You know, the one who owns Vista Hill Hotel? I went to brunch with him and his son, Jun, who incidentally also went to school in Canada, although in a different province. Isn’t that cool? He’d get along well with Miyoung, don’t you think?” Wonsuk revealed.

Cold air rushed through his nape and he lost the strength on his legs. His feet met the soiled ground and he collapsed just at the end of the stairs of Miyoung’s cabin. “Oh … oh, really?” His voice barely came out so he quickly faked a chuckle. “Yeah! They’re the same age too. They’re in the age where it’s the perfect time to find the right person they’d spend their life with later on. We’ll see, but I feel like Miyoung would like him. He’s smart and easily likeable.” The man went on with his story.

Kyungsoo remained silent, not that he wanted to. His mouth was frozen shut.

“Is the service down again? Can you hear me? Kyungsoo.” The man called out after seconds of silence on Kyungsoo’s end.

“Yeah, no, uhm,” He pressed a hand over his mouth as he looked out to a distance, a deep line creasing in between his eyebrows. He squeezed his eyes shut a couple of times as if doing so would help his mind be cleared of the anxiety that was quickly taking over him.

The service was indeed not the best here but that obviously wasn’t the reason why his sentence was all broken up.

“That’s—” He covered the phone for a fleeting second as he huffed out a struggled breath. “—that’s awesome