Confirmation
"Haa..."
The morning routine held nothing out of the ordinary, and running with Rahi was no different. This time I deliberately gave her no stimulation at all. I could feel her disappointment, but she only smiled as if simply running beside me were enough, and I finished the run feeling thoroughly refreshed myself.
Right. So it only shows when there's tension or stimulation.
I spent the rest of the morning giving Rahi as little sexual tension as I could, and all she let show was how happy she was to be with me. Through all of it I never felt that heat haze anywhere on her body. Which meant I still had a few things left to test.
...Even so, laying hands on someone who's hurting feels wrong.
Go Yewon hadn't managed to leave the house all morning. I'd asked Rahi about it in a roundabout way, but she only smiled and told me not to worry, so pressing further felt awkward. Trying it on the handful of adult members wasn't to my taste either, and that left me a little stuck. Walking up and pretending to be friendly would have been simple enough. I just wasn't sure I actually had to.
Well. An opportunity will come.
It wasn't until around lunch that Go Yewon came down to the office, and the moment I saw her I was glad I hadn't gone up. I didn't know what she and Rahi had talked about, but her expression was bright. There was a strange gloss to her face, as if she'd put something extra on. If she wanted to look pretty for me, I didn't mind that at all — though I laughed for a long while later, when Rahi told me the shine was only from scrubbing her face raw.
"Feeling a little better?"
"Yes. This morning was rough, but right now I feel like I could float away."
She was pressed tight against my side while I sat on the sofa with my coffee. Rahi had stepped out to pick up flyers and a banner, and Chang-soo had shot out of the gym the instant he heard the van he'd sent off for wrapping was finished ahead of schedule. Yesterday must have worn him out, handling it all alone. I smirked at the thought, drank my coffee, and turned my attention back to the sense of connection coming off Go Yewon.
Definitely weak. I think I understand.
I wasn't even sure connection was the right word. Bond didn't fit either, not when the image was this concrete. The thickest and strongest threads were Rahi and Hyunji, with Ju Hayeong next. Set against those, what I felt with Go Yewon was thinner. Fainter. That was the shape of it.
Is it the time we've spent together that matters?
Or maybe the number of times we'd slept together. I still wasn't certain.
"Even so, don't push yourself today. There's someone new coming in."
"Okay... Right now I just want to stay like this and not think about anything."
"You like it that much?"
"...Yes. I never dreamed it could feel this safe."
"Were you that anxious?"
"Ever since Mother passed. The whole time. It felt like I'd been left all alone."
I nodded quietly at that.
"I was the same. I just buried myself in work instead."
"...You did?"
She was watching me with her chin resting on my shoulder, voice low, and I answered her softly.
"I'm starting to feel how much comfort I get from all of them, too."
"...Comfort. I think that word is right."
She hesitated, looking at me, then whispered,
"...Am I a comfort to you too, Shinwoo?"
"...Of course you are."
"I'm glad..."
She smiled with her eyes at that, a pretty curve to them, and when I looked she swallowed. We held each other's gaze, and the moment I leaned in I felt her body draw tight with nerves. It was still awkward for her. I understood. I closed the distance slowly and set a gentle kiss on her lips, and the eyes watching me began to shine wet.
"Ah..."
"Does it still hurt?"
I whispered it while smoothing a hand over her lower belly, and Go Yewon let out a sound like a cat purring as she leaned into my chest.
"...It's because it feels good."
"You'll get used to it. We've got plenty of time."
"...Yes. E-even just hearing you say that makes me so happy."
Slowly she lifted her head from my chest and began to look at me with aching, hungry eyes. I watched her a moment, then reached out and stroked the small heat haze that had already bloomed along her thigh.
"...Haaahn..."
The instant my hand touched her, tendons stood out along Go Yewon's slender neck and she swallowed hard. My guess had been right. Whether it was the kiss or the mood, I couldn't say, but the haze hadn't been there a moment ago. That left two things.
"...Shinwoo..."
"Yeah."
"...I... again... I want to hold you, Shinwoo..."
"No. You need to rest completely today. You'll only hurt yourself worse."
"...Okay..."
"We do have a little time, though."
"We do...? Aht..."
The moment my hand traveled down her pink leggings and wiped the heat haze from her knee, strength poured into Go Yewon's thighs. I settled the arm she'd been clinging to around her shoulder and let my touch slide over her body, down toward her waist.
"Hah, haa... Sh-Shinwoo..."
"Good?"
"T-too good... Your hands, Shinwoo, they feel so good..."
The corners of her eyes, watching me as if she couldn't believe it, had already gone moist. Meeting that gaze, I let my hand drift down between her thighs without a word.
"Hhk, nnh... Sh-Shinwoo..."
"You can hold on."
"O-okay... Ahh... nnh..."
I erased the heat haze slowly, as if I were playing an instrument, and Go Yewon writhed like a snake, sliding down the sofa as though she were melting off it. She reached for me, lost, but the hands that meant to pull me close were driven straight to her own mouth by my touch.
"Nnh, hnn, mmph..."
The sight of her moaning under my hands, not knowing what to do with herself, stirred me too. Right now, though — sorry as I was to her — I had a small purpose, so I paid closer attention to the way my palms traveled over her body.
She doesn't seem to find it strange, at least.
Maybe it was only that she had no experience with this kind of touch, but she didn't seem to doubt the pleasure she was feeling. There had been a flicker of disbelief at the start. The stimulation that followed wiped it away almost at once.
...Like flowers coming into bloom.
"Ahh, Sh-Shinwoo... hhk. Haan... nnh..."
I lost myself staring at the little flares of energy opening like flowers all across her body, and her moan pulled me back. I set my attention on her again.
"Ah..."
I lowered myself slowly, shifting until I could easily reach the body that had slid off the sofa. The eyes looking up at me had already gone soft and unfocused, drunk on pleasure.
"I-it feels too good... What am I supposed to do..."
"Just stay still and feel it."
"...Ah... haaahn..."
This time I took her breast, where there was no heat haze. I watched her swallow as if she were parched, and a small haze bloomed along the pale nape of her neck. So that was how it formed. Her reaction was so strong the moan was almost impossible to tell apart from the rest, but there was a difference.
"...I-I'm losing my mind... haaahn, hhk... nnh, ahh..."
When my touch brushed the heat haze, strength seized her whole body, as if pleasure were racing through every inch of her. The grain of it was close to that tightening just before orgasm. Where there was no haze, the pleasure didn't seem to reach that far.
"Sh-Shinwoo, nnh, ahhk! Hnn, hhk, ahaah..."
"Good?"
"Y-yes, I'm l-losing it, hhk, ahhk! Hnn, nnh!"
Somewhere along the way Go Yewon had sunk deeper and deeper into the pleasure of my hands. Eyes fixed on some point of the ceiling, thighs beginning to part, nipples risen so stiff they overcame even the tight pull of her tank top — there was no shortage of evidence.
...Yeah. This is better than hunting only the heat haze.
"Ahh, haaahn! Nnh, hhk! Ahhk..."
Her breathing grew rougher by the moment. I hadn't touched a single real point except her chest, and still she was gasping as if she'd just finished a hundred-meter sprint, her face burning red and packed with heat.
"That good?"
"Yes, yes! I-it is! Ahh, haaahn! Sh-Shinwoo..."
The desperate look on her face left no doubt what she wanted. I'd tried to pace myself, but she had climbed to the very edge of climax almost at once, and watching her I slowly reached out — toward the precious place I had been avoiding on purpose.
"Ahaahn, hah! Aht?!"
The sensation between her thighs was stronger than anywhere else, and the moment my hand found it her hips snapped up. Those two firm thighs clamped around my hand as if to wring it dry, but I didn't stop, working two fingers in turn against her.
"Ahk! Hhk! Sh-Shinwoo, ahh, nnh, I— I—!"
"Yeah. I'm watching."
"Nnh, ahh, ahhk, I-I'm coming! Nnh, kkh, ahhhnn!"
She had been bucking off the sofa again and again. Now her body locked rigid all at once and began to shake. I kept my fingers moving through it, and Go Yewon twisted as a moan broke out of her.
"Ahk! Still, still! I'm s-still coming, ahh, ahhk, hah! Ahk, ahhnn! Kkkuuh..."
I caught the shoulder trying to twist away from my hand and started squeezing her breast. She grabbed for my chest in a hurry, wringing my shirt as if she meant to tear it. While I felt her climb into orgasm again, a hot rush of energy spread from between the thighs still clamped around my hand.
"Ahh, haa... hah, haa... nnh..."
"Was it good?"
Her slack pupils had been staring at the ceiling in disbelief. Now they turned to me. She swallowed, gave a small nod, and the look of her — busy with nothing but breathing — was stimulating in its own right. I inwardly told the little guy raising hell down below to settle, met her eyes, and quietly set my mouth over hers.
"...Mm... haa..."
"It didn't hurt?"
"...N-not at all... I thought I was g-going insane... My head's empty..."
I had made a point of stimulating only where her clit ought to be, and fortunately there didn't seem to have been any pain. I took a moment with her pleasure-soaked face, then whispered,
"You were moaning so loud. Someone might have heard every bit of it."
"...Ah..."
Her pupils trembled, flustered. I moved to stroke her cheek and stopped when I realized my hand was wet.
"See? Soaked through."
"...I-I'm s-sorry... I d-didn't mean to... It just happened, before I knew it..."
"What are you sorry for. It was cute."
"...Shinwoo..."
Tears standing in her eyes at my words, she came into my arms, and I held her back without a word. The afterglow seemed to run long. We stayed like that, feeling each other's warmth and quietly savoring what lingered, until she whispered,
"...You're so warm."
"Calmed down a little?"
"Yes... I nearly died, it felt so good."
"And what am I supposed to do if you die. We've only had one day."
"...Ah..."
She nuzzled her cheek against me, pleased, and I whispered,
"Go get changed. Before the others get here."
"...Okay. Um..."
"Hm?"
She slowly drew her head from my arms, looking up at me and then away again, over and over, shy, and whispered,
"...Did you... not like my body, Shinwoo...?"
"No. You were beautiful. Why?"
"...It... didn't stand up..."
At those words the little guy immediately tried to stand right back up, but I only smiled and answered as casually as I could.