Steamy Sex with Ajeong
The Taste Alteration lasted longer than I'd expected.
Slurp…
We stayed locked in the same position for a full hour. My palm was getting so raw and uncomfortable that I finally had no choice but to stop.
"Aaah…"
"I left you alone because it seemed like what you wanted—but why are you sucking on my palm?"
"…"
I knew the reason, of course, but this was by no means a normal situation. Acting like nothing was wrong would have been the weird part. Plus, I was curious how Hayun would try to talk her way out of it.
"W-withdrawal symptoms!"
"While smoking a Vita-stick?"
I'd looked it up—depending on the type, Vita-sticks either had no nicotine at all or only a trace amount. So it definitely wasn't withdrawal. Sure, it had tasted good, but the fact that she kept going for a whole hour without even getting embarrassed was strange.
"So what does my hand taste like?"
"…I know it's weird, but once I tried it, I couldn't stop. It's like the sweetest thing in the world, and it makes me feel high? It's more addictive than cigarettes!"
"How would you know? You've never even smoked."
"Ugh…"
When I'd checked, it hadn't been that intense—but for her, it must have been sweet enough to get her high.
What's the difference…
I'd think about that later. For now, I needed to stop her from going after my hand again.
"No more for now. See this?"
I held out my palm—white and red, swollen and wrinkled.
"I'm sorry…"
"Then from now on, no more smoking in front of the building. Promise me that and I'll forgive you."
"It's a Vita-stick…"
In the end, she admitted she'd been smoking a Vita-stick. Come to think of it, that meant there was no real reason she couldn't smoke in the alley either.
We ran out of things to say, and the silence turned awkward. Forcing the conversation felt weird, so I just decided to read a comic book.
Flip—
The moment I opened it, she scooted right up next to me and started turning the pages.
"You don't have to do that anymore. You should be reading that."
I pointed at the romance comic she'd planned to read today.
"I can just take it home…"
In the end, Hayun and I finished reading all the way through volume five of Promise Foreverland.
We left the comic cafe together and walked all the way home. We both knew we lived in the same building, so heading the same direction felt natural.
As we got close, Hayun started glancing at me like she had something to say.
"Got something on your mind?"
"I… was going to stop somewhere else before heading in."
"Yeah?"
We were about to go our separate ways anyway, so wherever she went from here had nothing to do with me. I said okay and was about to head into the building when—
"Going to smoke a Vita-stick?"
"…"
The surprised look on her face told me I'd hit the mark. Earlier, when I'd asked to see it, she wouldn't show me, so I'd figured she hadn't brought it today—but apparently she'd stashed it in her bag.
She didn't answer right away, and I didn't push. I just trailed after her. Sure enough, her destination was the alley right next door.
When it became clear I had no intention of leaving, she hesitated a moment, then opened her bag and pulled something out.
"Weren't you only supposed to smoke that when you had the sticker tattoos on and were dressed like a delinquent?"
I'd never seen her smoke looking like this before. The two versions of her had seemed like completely different people.
"You already found out…"
Since she'd already been found out, she figured it didn't matter. I was the one who'd found out—I wasn't sure what that had to do with me. I didn't feel like prying, so I just watched.
"Hoo…"
"Is that good?"
"Yes… hoo…"
She was smoking like it tasted amazing, and from what I'd researched it wasn't a big health issue, so I wanted to try it too.
"Ah!"
"Sss… hoo… oh?"
It was a little different from usual—a slightly dry strawberry flavor.
"Strawberry every time, huh. I'm heading in now."
"Ah… good night…"
I went straight home and got ready for bed earlier than usual, for tomorrow's sake.
With Woohyun gone into the apartment building, Hayun was left alone in the alley, staring at the Vita-stick in her hand. There was nothing special to see—except that Woohyun had just had it in his mouth.
After checking her surroundings, she carefully put it to her lips.
"Ssssuuup… hoo…"
"…"
A delayed wave of reality hit her, and she thought of Woohyun—the one who'd put her in this emotional state. She'd wanted to get closer, had been working at it, but she never expected progress like this in a single day. It was the complete opposite of her plan to look like a delinquent and seize the upper hand.
Just a few hours ago, she'd been in his arms sucking on his palm while turning the pages so he could read his comic. And as if that weren't enough, she'd just gone for an indirect kiss.
I-I just did it because I was curious if it tasted like chocolate…
She repeated the ridiculous excuse to herself, but her mind quickly filled with thoughts of when she could taste Woohyun again.
The long-awaited Monday morning arrived. In terms of time it was only one day, but counting the future I'd checked it was two—and with how packed everything had been, it felt like even more.
Just in case, I didn't make chicken breast stew today. I wasn't sure if I'd need to use Taste Alteration at the gym, but better to have it available than not. I forced down two chunks of chicken breast to fill my stomach, then left the house thirty minutes earlier than usual.
I arrived at the gym at 10:30. Ajeong was scheduled for 10:45, so I had fifteen minutes to spare.
Ziiing—
When I stepped inside, sure enough that male staff member was sitting at the counter. He glanced my way, then went back to his phone. I was already used to him not greeting me, so I didn't care and headed straight for the locker room.
My original plan had been to wait nearby without going in, confirm when Ajeong entered, then catch them in the act. But after thinking it through yesterday, I'd found three problems with that.
First, the moment I confirmed Ajeong going in, there was a chance she'd see me too. If I hid well it was slim, but it wasn't zero percent.
More importantly, second—even if I did catch them in the act, there wasn't much I could do. What was happening in the staff break room wasn't exactly illegal, and Ajeong wasn't in any real danger. There was potential for it to get more dangerous later, but for now the male staff member had just shown interest in her—no direct or indirect harm yet. In fact, after Ajeong refused and left the break room, nothing special happened through noon.
In the end, to solve this I either needed to make the male staff member give up willingly, or have Ajeong quit her job. Of course, Ajeong quitting was the backup plan. What I'd try first was clearly proving the relationship between me and Ajeong. It had all started from his doubts about us, so this was the standard way to resolve it.
Current time: 10:44.
For now I was sitting at a machine where I could see the male staff at the counter, in a spot Ajeong wouldn't check as she headed to the break room. This time he'd confirmed I'd arrived first, so I didn't know how he'd act—I'd watch and then respond.
10:45.
Just as I'd confirmed, Ajeong came in and headed straight for the staff break room. And then the male staff member—surprisingly—followed her right in.
He was doing this even knowing I was here. Whether to call him stupid or bold, I was briefly impressed by his nerve—then I headed for the staff break room myself.
The third and final reason I hadn't planned to catch them in the act: obviously, it would be awkward for a regular member like me to just walk in there. They weren't raising their voices or talking loudly inside, so barging into the staff break room out of nowhere made no sense.
"There's no way!!!"
Huh?
I was waiting right outside the break room when, to my surprise, I heard a woman shouting. From the voice and the direction, it was clearly Ajeong. I hesitated for a moment about whether to open the door and go in—and just as I grabbed the handle—
Bang—
"…Woohyun?"
The door was yanked open hard from the inside, and there was Ajeong. Small but definite tears stood in her eyes.
"Th—"
"I missed you over the weekend, so I came early."
Before she could say anything else, I pulled her into my arms.
"Uh…"
"Didn't you miss me?"
Holding her tight, I stroked her hair with one hand. At the same time I checked ahead—the male staff member was frozen with a hollow expression. Ajeong in my arms had a different look on her face, but she was just as frozen.
"Let's go work out already. I've been waiting all day for this."
"Uh…"
Ajeong, practically thrown into the locker room by my hand, only came out after ten minutes.
"Let's go."
I held out my hand. She looked back and forth between my face and my hand, then took it.
"Is something going on today?"
"Like what?"
"No… you're different from usual…"
"You said I don't show enough affection."
"Uh…?"
As I said that, I wrapped my arm around her waist and pulled her close. I casually checked the counter and locked eyes with the male staff member. I hadn't noticed before, but he'd been watching me and Ajeong the whole time. That was how he'd picked up on last week's awkward vibe and started hitting on her.
With the justification of doing it for Ajeong's sake, I got to enjoy a gym date full of enthusiastic physical affection. At some point Ajeong matched my tempo and got more proactive herself—and after that, the male staff member was gone. He was probably crying in the staff break room.
After we finished working out, it was time for Ajeong's shift. Apparently the male staff member had clocked out early without a word. Since we'd started earlier than usual, we finished a bit early too—but he was already gone.
"…"
After that steamy workout full of physical contact, the atmosphere had gotten awkward. Ajeong had been mumbling like she had something to say for a while, so I decided to wait.
…
"Um… thanks for today."
"…"
"You knew I was having a hard time because of that guy, and you did it on purpose, right?"
"So you knew."
"Yeah, I figured it out midway."
She hadn't thought I was being genuine? I'd tried to make it seem real, but apparently it showed to the person involved.
"…Hehe. I really had a good time today."
What exactly had she liked? I shouldn't get my hopes up—but her smiling eyes seemed to say my guess was right.