The Apron
A jolt of tension shot through me. I started to shift my weight back—and stopped.
No. Not like that.
If someone came charging, I was half a breath from springing clear, but the women who'd been waiting out front, and Kim Eunji, hadn't said anything out of the ordinary. I pressed the door lock and opened the door.
“Shinwoo, you're home?”
The moment the door opened, a savory scent came riding the air from inside. Sesame oil. I hadn't smelled that in a long time. Then Rahee peeked out from the kitchen in an apron, wiping her hands on a towel, smiling that small shy smile—and the tension in me melted clean away.
“Yeah. What are you doing?”
“Ah, you put the bedsheets and my clothes in the wash. I couldn't stop thinking about them, so... Y-you're not upset, are you...?”
“Of course not.”
“...I'm sorry. I was going to go home, but it seemed like you'd be late, so...”
“Sorry for what? I'm the one who's grateful. I figured it'd be a hassle.”
“Thank goodness...”
All I'd wanted was to know where the sesame oil was coming from, and here she was, spilling excuses as if she'd let herself in uninvited. A short laugh escaped me. My eyes, though, stayed fixed on my apron covering the front of her. If anyone was going to model the thing, it shouldn't have been me. It should have been Rahee.
“...Looks good. It suits you.”
“...Ah. The apron?”
“Yeah. Pretty.”
“...It suited you better.”
“Cooking's a different story.”
I looked at her with a face gone stiff, and she pouted, glaring at me from the corner of her eye. Anyone could tell the expression was laid on thick. Pure teasing.
“...I didn't cook. There's a side-dish shop right out front, and you came to mind, so... I'm only going to heat it. Japchae was cheap, so I bought a lot...”
“Oh, nice. It's been a while since I've had japchae. Eat with me?”
“...You don't really do late-night snacks. Just for today.”
“Sure.”
She smiled as if none of the fuss had happened at all, and I walked over and quietly pulled her in. By now she came into my arms without thinking, fidgeting her hands over my back as she stroked it.
“...You told me to rest. I'm sorry.”
“Hm? I said we should rest. I never said you had to sit in this house alone.”
“...Then... may I stay the night...?”
“Of course. The place beside me is always yours.”
“...Okay.”
“How are your breasts? Still sore?”
“Th-they're the same. They'll probably be fine by tomorrow...”
“I'll make sure to massage them tonight.”
“Okay...”
I stroked the back of the woman in my arms and quietly buried my face against the nape of her neck. At the touch of my breath she let out a small sound, slowly winding her arms around my waist and hiding her face in my shoulder.
“...This is nice.”
“For me too... Today was hard, wasn't it?”
“Hard as it was for you? Aren't you worn out these days? You were up all night suffering through it.”
“S-suffering... You're the one who suffered... I keep making you burn all that energy, and I feel so awful. I thought I should at least cook for you...”
“No. I'll pass.”
“...That's mean. That was a shake, that's why it went wrong. I-I'm not that hopeless...”
“Just seeing you is enough for me. Isn't it the same for you?”
“...It is.”
“I'll keep breathing you in while we sleep. That's all right?”
“Yes... I-I feel so much better too, after I... sleep with you. My condition, everything...”
Rahee was no fool. She could tell something about her body was different. She just didn't know what. Live like this long enough, and one day she would.
“Same for me.”
“...I'm glad.”
“Still, let's turn in early tonight. We've been pushing too hard lately.”
“That's true...”
I already knew I came back in an instant whether I ate or barely slept. Rahee was different. Since meeting me she had hardly stopped moving, and the training schedule that had swelled up overnight had to be loading her body. Teaching the kids didn't mean the work cost her nothing. I could look after her mind. The rest was another matter.
Let's see.
While I had her this close, I stroked her face for a moment and drew her back. I took in the warm, smiling face turned up at me, then looked her over carefully, place by place.
...No Ailment Shadow. Not a trace.
What was she made of, steel? That her body was strong and healthy was a joy, no question. I just never wanted to feel again what I had felt when the shadow lay over Hyunji.
“...Shinwoo.”
“Yeah.”
I answered the tender call and covered her mouth with mine at once. A light kiss. She smiled, and I stroked the flush rising in her cheeks and whispered.
“Then shall we eat a little?”
“...Yes. I'll heat it right away. Go change.”
“Okay.”
I gave her backside a light pass of my hand and headed for the bedroom. I changed, washed my face in a hurry at the bathroom sink, and came back out to find her at the stove, warming japchae in a frying pan. I leaned in the doorway and watched her from behind. That narrow waist, the full swell of her hips fitted tight all the way up to it, the long clean line of her thighs—I swallowed before I knew I was doing it.
...At this rate, I'm not getting any rest.
Desire was already climbing through that indecent body of hers, and I had the distinct feeling I was about to break the promise I'd just made.
“Ah, it's almost done.”
“It's fine. I like the view.”
“...Y-you like this sort of thing?”
“Yeah. Naked would be even better, if we're wishing.”
The face she turned on me went scarlet. I could see the strength go into the hand stirring the pan.
“...Th-then should I take it off...?”
“Later. You're pretty enough like this. Anyway.”
I stepped in quickly, wrapped my arms around her waist from behind, and looked down into the pan.
“...You didn't pull anything unnecessary, did you?”
“...Honestly. That's mean. I didn't.”
“Last time, that salad—you had me completely fooled.”
I reached around and took hold of her breast. The apron crumpled under my hand, and she moaned and flinched. Then she rolled her shoulders open, making herself easier to touch, and satisfaction surged up through me.
“Hnn... Sh-Shinwoo...”
“Mm. As expected. Your breasts are the best.”
“...Do you know you're the only one who ever praises them?”
“I remember what you told me back then. The rest of them must have had their eyes on crooked. Something this good.”
“...Even my mother only ever worried.”
“...Bringing that up right now is a little much, don't you think?”
“Ahh... Th-that's not what I—”
“There goes the mood.”
“...I-I'm sorry... Hnn...”
“You need to be punished, don't you?”
“...Ah...”
Her face flushed deeper still, and I grinned, slowly stroking the curve of her backside.
“Push it back.”
“Ah...”
A moment ago I'd been keeping things sweet. The instant the whisper turned into a command, she moaned and swallowed. Then she began to ease her hips back, and the moment they met my groin she flinched.
“...Sh-Shinwoo, you too...”
“Of course. You did this. You have to take responsibility.”
“...Yes. I... ahh, I'll take responsibility...”
“This ass is mine too. You know that?”
“...Yes. It's yours... Haa...”
The moment my hand began to wander between her cheeks, she seized the long wooden chopsticks she'd been stirring with. Heat still clung to the pan; I could hear the japchae starting to scorch. Neither of us cared. We were already getting drunk on the air thickening between us, ripe and heavy.
“...Shinwoo...”
“...Yeah. So good. Your body.”
“...I love your hands too, hnn... so much...”
Both of us were looking at the japchae, finished and hot in the pan, and neither of us said a word about taking it to the table. Just do it. I didn't care anymore. The urge not to hold back came surging up. I rubbed myself against her ass, crude as a dog, and Rahee—unable to see it—didn't so much as shy away. Her whole body simply went tight.
“Haah...”
“Want to do it like this?”
At the whisper, the eyes she turned back on me had gone round.
“...H-here? Right here...? Hnnn...”
“Why? You don't want to?”
“N-no, it's not that...”
“I can't hold it anymore. Can you?”
“...I-I can't either... I'm already...”
“Say it properly.”
“...I'm already... wet...”
Nothing more needed saying. The hand that had been stroking her slipped under the waistband of her leggings and drew them down. Even the way that firm backside flattened under the band and then sprang free worked on me. Her ass was indecent enough on its own. And then there was the rest.
“...You. This?”
“...I-is it weird...?”
“You'd made up your mind to seduce me, hadn't you.”
The profile she turned was drunk on wanting, smiling that small shy smile, and a laugh broke out of me too. What she had on was a fairly bold red thong.
“You had something like this?”
“...I-I bought it...”
“When?”
“Online. In a hurry...”
“How many?”
I stroked her backside, quiet, and felt goosebumps rise over it in a slow shiver. Every pass of my hand made the firm muscle gather and tighten—not a trace of cellulite anywhere. A perfect ass. And the stark white of it, set off by that red thong, made it impossible to look away.
“Just two sets... I didn't know what you'd think...”
“...It suits you too well.”
“Thank goodness... Hnn...”
“But you had no intention of listening when I said we should rest. That's a little something.”
“...I'm sorry...”
If anyone ought to apologize, it was me. Then she swallowed, turned, and whispered, and strength went into my grip as well.
“...P-punish me...”
“...All right.”
I dropped my pants in one motion, took my cock in hand, and caught her by the waist. She gripped the edge of the sink, swallowed, and let out a long breath.
“Haa... hnn...”
“Uncomfortable?”
“N-no... It's just... too much. Too stimulating... Hnn...”
“You looked flustered. Have you imagined this?”
“...That...”
She hesitated, embarrassed, and I smiled faintly as I whispered.
“Really?”
“...Yes. Doing it... in the kitchen... I pictured it the other way around... though.”
Ah. Of course. These days she followed my lead so well that I sometimes forgot. In this world, it would be the other way around.
“You wanted to watch me cook and then jump me?”
She let out a heated breath, bit her lip, and answered in a voice so small it was barely a whisper.
“...Yes... B-but when you... did it at my place, last time... that was good too...”
“It was. This cute ass.”
“...Thank you. When I just listen to you, I feel like I've become a really good woman...”
“You have. Pretty enough to take my breath away.”
“Shinwoo...”
“But this time it'll be different from then.”
“...Anything you do is good... all of it...”
Whispering with her like that, I aimed myself and carefully drew down between the white, full curves of her ass.
“Hnn—!”
The hamstrings of the two pretty thighs beneath her backside jumped taut, and her whole body went rigid. Her legs were gathered neatly by the waistband of the leggings, a triangular gap between them. Behind the string of the red thong, a dainty pink chrysanthemum in bloom, and below it the precious place where wetness was already gathering—all of it in plain view. Not one part of her fell short of what I'd hoped for, and I whispered against her.
“...So pretty.”
“...Shinwoo...”
The look she gave me then—as if my words made her the happier of the two—settled it. I wasn't holding back anymore. In one motion I hooked aside the red string straining to hold that beautiful ass.
“...I'm going in.”
“...Yes... C-come... please...”
I brought the head I'd been aiming to the wetness already starting to run from her and rubbed it there, a kind of hello. She swallowed her breath all at once and went tight, and I quietly drank in the way the muscles of her back surfaced, as if a veil were coming off.