The Proposal
"We're only just getting started."
"Hnnngh?!"
"I told you I was still a long way off."
"Ah—ahk, ahhk! Sh-Shinwoo! Wait, just let me rest a second! Ahk! Hhh, hnnngh! Haah!"
"I told you to brace yourself."
"Hhk, aah, haah! Agh, ahh, kkhh, haah! Hahh, hhh, hhk!"
The moment I started moving again, Rahi twisted as if she'd been shocked through, her whole body writhing under me. But there was no getting away in this position. Even with a gap of two or three weight classes, breaking free once you'd been pinned like this would have been anything but easy.
"Where do you think you're going."
"Aah! Hhh! Shinwoo! Kkh, kkhhh, hhh, hnnn! I can't—I can't breathe! Ahaah!"
"I'm watching. Don't worry."
"Kkh! Haah! Ahaah! I'm sc-scared! Hhk, kkh, kkhhk! Agh! Aah! Ahhk!"
"It's all right. I'm right here."
"Shinwoo! I love you! I love you! Hhh, kkhhh, I—I—!"
"Yeah. I love you too. My Rahi. You're so beautiful."
The instant I whispered that I loved her, that she was beautiful, joy and rapture washed over Rahi's face all over again. Tears spilled like beads of silver. Her eyes had lost their focus, and still they stayed fixed on where my face was as the moans broke out of her.
"Hnnn! Haaah! Ahk! Ahh! Hhk! Hhk, nngh, kkhhh! Kkhhk!"
Somewhere along the way she stopped trying to escape. If anything, she hurried to pull the legs that had been fleeing back against my body, clinging without even seeming to know she was doing it. That couldn't have been easy.
"Feel good?"
"So much! It feels so good! Shinwoo! I love you! I love you! Hhh, haaahn! Kkhhh!"
"I think I'm getting close too."
"Hhk! Hnnnh! Ahk! Yes! Inside me! Inside—! Haah! Agh, nngh, nnph, hhk!"
Rahi kept biting her lip, but the climax surging up in me, and the Special Internal Energy that had climbed all the way to the crown of my head and was nagging me to let go, were getting harder and harder to hold. The moment her eyes rolled up again, I stopped that hammering rhythm dead.
"Ahaaaaah!"
"Kh—"
"Hhk?! Agh! Kkhhhk, haah. Haah! Haaahnn! Hhk, haaaahn... Agh... Kkhhhhn..."
Rahi's whole body began to tremble, seized by another peak, shuddering as if in convulsions. I could already feel the mess beneath me, soaked through and squelching, and the pleasure of my own release blanked my head out white. I'd been trying not to feel it, but Rahi's pleasure poured into me as if to say I wasn't allowed to ignore it, and my mind seemed to melt.
"Haaahn... Hnnn... Hehh... Haaaaahn...!"
Every time the spasms looked ready to stop, her body went rigid and shook all over again. Before I knew it both her legs were slack against me, fluttering weakly each time I breathed, every bit of strength gone out of them.
"Haaahn... Haaahn..."
Her eyes were open, but the pupils had half disappeared. Tears, a runny nose, and spit smeared her face, and both cheeks were flushed deep red, marked all over with the traces of pleasure.
Yeah. This is it.
Far from being disgusting, the sight of Rahi defenseless and drowning in her climax filled me with satisfaction. The kind of pride only a man would understand settled warm and full in my chest. When I carefully lowered her legs to either side, even that small movement seemed to tip her over again—she shuddered, then squirted just like that.
"Heeehn..."
"Rahi."
Just in case, I whispered her name, but she didn't so much as stir. If anything, the faint vibration of my voice sent her shaking through another peak.
"...You did so well."
I didn't know if she could hear me, but it had been incredible. I hadn't meant to torment her quite that thoroughly—though it was also what she'd wanted. The appetite that had been running a little short these days was, for the most part, spent. Part of me still thought once more would be nice, but even I was more than satisfied with tonight.
"Hehh... Hahh..."
She didn't answer, only breathing in thin, barely-there threads. I stroked her face, kissed her quietly, and drew my hips back.
"Heeeeeehn..."
Sure enough, as I slipped out of her she started trembling again, her body quivering as if it were dancing, and I took my time watching while I finished pulling free. The moment I did, the cloudy white began to spill from that precious, flushed place—no, to pour.
...Mm.
I admired the view with a deep, contented satisfaction. I was idly stroking Rahi's limp, sprawled thighs when curiosity got the better of me. It felt a little like doing something I shouldn't, but wanting to know was still wanting to know. I glanced at her face, then carefully reached out and pressed, just lightly, on her lower belly.
"Nnhhh..."
She started shivering in fine little tremors again, and the fluid she released washed the cloudy white away. What came flooding out after it, though—thick clumps of semen, like clusters of tadpole eggs—didn't look dirty, or cheap. Her clenched entrance was so lovely it felt almost like a shame, as if I'd ruined a pastry stuffed full of whipped cream that I had no intention of eating.
...Cute.
I huffed a quiet laugh, shifted, and lay down beside her. Then I drew her in and let my hand wander over her breasts. She shuddered again, and a sudden fear rose in me—that if I kept stimulating her, I really might break her—so I pulled my hand away, reluctant as I was.
So much for keeping that promise.
The sheets were already a lost cause, and it was too late now; I'd just deal with them tomorrow. We'd already decided to throw the mattress out anyway. I wasn't all that tired, but there was a pleasant fatigue in me, the kind that promised I'd drop off the moment I closed my eyes. I lay there quietly, looking at Rahi's face.
She says she's happy?
Rahi said she was happy because of me, but these days I was far too happy myself. Her innocent side was adorable, and even this—the side only I got to see—was lovely. I didn't want to imagine a life without her anymore. I couldn't even remember how I'd lived before. The old world didn't come back to me now, and I had no wish to return to it. That grinding, unbearably awful life felt distant, as if it belonged to years ago.
...You have no idea how much comfort I get from all of you.
I stroked Rahi's cheek and, in the satisfaction and happiness of this moment, thanked whatever god might be out there—whether some presence had given me a gift this large, or whether it had only been an accident, I couldn't say—and quietly closed my eyes. The other gift, I learned the moment I opened them the next morning.
Brrring.
Rahi's alarm was becoming familiar, and my eyes opened at once. Lately I'd been sleeping so deeply that I half wondered whether this incredible quality of rest was itself a gift of the Special Internal Energy. The vitality filling my body made me yawn and stretch the moment I woke, but my gaze had already turned to Rahi, still lying beside me.
Feels like my life just got longer.
Starting the morning with a face this pretty felt almost extravagant. Then the body I'd been stretching went rigid.
...What?
Without meaning to, I stared blankly at her face. Slowly I reached out and brushed my hand over it. Last night's evidence had dried all over her skin in pale little flakes, but I couldn't have cared less about that.
...Don't tell me this is just from doing it twice.
I'd never seen Rahi in full makeup, but if someone had told me she'd gotten up at dawn, secretly done a full face, and gone back to sleep, I would have believed them. Skin that had been simply fair now seemed almost translucent, glossy and slick with moisture, as if it were holding dew. What I felt under my hand wasn't the tack of cosmetics but a softness like a baby's, and it made me careful, afraid my fingers might scratch her.
Like porcelain. Yes. Exactly like porcelain.
I couldn't even find words. Thought itself seemed to stop. Her brows were neatly shaped, not a stray hair on them, and lashes grown long as Hyunji's lay across her eyes like a veil. The bridge of her nose had been cleanly refined, and her lips were red and full, so ripe they looked as if they might burst at a touch. And more than that.
...Has her face gotten a little smaller, too?
I opened the hand that had been stroking her cheek and covered her face with it. The change was subtle, but I'd had her face right in front of me all last night, enjoying it; it would have been hard not to notice. Even her head seemed, just slightly, smaller. When I stroked her hair, it tickled my hand, soft as silk. It didn't catch on my fingers at all—it simply flowed—and the feel of it seemed like something I could get addicted to.
She'll know the second she wakes up.
I'd caught even a subtle change in her at once, and a change in your own body feels much larger than that. When Changsu and the others looked at me, it only ever ended in remarks that I seemed in better shape, that my body had improved, that I might have gotten more handsome.
"Mmm..."
At my touch she squirmed and burrowed into my arms, and worry pushed ahead of everything else.
...What if she thinks something's wrong?
Anything else I could handle somehow, but if she so much as noticed that her body was changing, wouldn't she start to suspect me? I was still looking at that face when the squirming slowed and Rahi gradually opened her eyes.
"...Shinwoo..."
"Yeah. Sleep well?"
"Again... I was going to wake up first today..."
"What does the order matter."
"I wanted to see you sleeping, too..."
She wound her arms around me and nestled in, wriggling closer, and I stroked her quietly.
"...I passed out again, didn't I...?"
"Yeah. You loved it. Yesterday."
"...I really... could hardly believe it..."
"I'll do it for you again."
"Yes... You're not sore anywhere, are you...?"
The question came out of nowhere. I looked down at her, and the eyes looking up at me went hazy and unfocused all over again. Then she loosened the arm that had been holding me and stroked my cheek.
"...This really is cheating..."
"What is?"
"You're too handsome..."
"You're laying it on way too thick. And that's my line. You're ridiculously pretty today, too."
"...Women like me are a dime a dozen..."
"Don't say that. To me, you're the best there is."
"...If this keeps up, I really think I'm going to start getting the wrong idea."
"You're allowed that much of a wrong idea. You've earned it."
I stroked the cheek of the Rahi who was staring at me in a daze, and went on.
"Pretty enough that I want you all over again."
"...Shinwoo."
She said my name and looked at my mouth, and I only smiled, silent, and covered her lips with mine. A morning that always began with a kiss felt as if it were forcing fresh life straight into my body.
"...Haa..."
"How are your breasts? They don't hurt?"
"I want you to check..."
"Oh? And what are you going to do if I end up wanting you again?"
"...I always want to, so it's fine."
She was flushed with embarrassment, but the shy little smile in her whisper put a pleased feeling ahead of everything else in me. These days there was hardly any of that beaten-down look left. Starting work at the gym seemed to have given her confidence, but I could tell from her eyes that it wasn't only that. All that encouragement I'd been pouring into her had been worth it.
"Then I won't hold back."
"...Haaahn... You're warm..."
"Much better than yesterday."
"...Yes. Touch me more."
"I will."
"...Shinwoo."
She'd been gazing at me warmly, and now she carefully stroked my cheek and jaw as she whispered. She was hesitating. There was something she wanted to say.
"Something on your mind?"
"...I've been thinking."
"About what?"
"...These past few days, when we couldn't... I could barely stand it either, and—I'm grateful, but... you wanted me so much, too."
"I did."
"...And from now on... if we really do have a child..."
"We might."
I thought I knew what she was working toward. Was she worried she wouldn't get pregnant because I sometimes finished outside? Kim Do-hoon's advice pointed the same way, and with how badly I wanted this, I'd been steadily pulling my own resolve together. But Rahi couldn't seem to go on. Shame filled her hesitating face so completely that I wondered if there was more, and I waited.
"...So. I..."
"Yeah."
"...Back then... you said we'd need a lot of preparation..."
"Preparation?"
It wasn't what I'd expected, and I tipped my head as I asked. Rahi's lips parted, and then she murmured, so softly it was almost only a whisper.