So Good for a Man
For a moment I could have sworn a ghost was wailing somewhere nearby, and before I knew it I had snapped the spout of the bottle shut.
"……Did you hear something weird just now?"
"Something weird?"
I looked around, but there wasn't a soul in the gym. A place this big sitting completely empty at this hour was hard to believe in itself. Maybe the workout had drained me enough that I was hearing things.
Just my imagination.
Then I opened the bottle again, and I understood. This was the culprit. Whatever rose to stab at my nose carried the presence of something deeply, unmistakably wrong.
"……What did you put in this?"
"Um…… th-things that are good for men……."
"Exactly what. Tell me. Right now."
"……Ch-chives, oysters, men's protein powder, celery, broccoli, arginine…… zinc, and……."
I stared blankly as Rahi tipped her face toward the ceiling and counted them off on her fingers. Both hands went all the way around, and she was still folding fingers down. My mouth fell open a little more with every one.
"……Just a shake? This is just a shake? Is this an assassination? Who's behind it?"
"I-it won't kill you……."
"You're only saying that because you've tried it, aren't you."
"……It was drinkable……."
I fixed her with a flat stare. Rahi slowly looked away and fidgeted with her hands. I knew she'd made it for me out of a sweet heart. Still, she could have brought me something a person could actually swallow. I squeezed my eyes shut and decided I would choke it down just this once, and tell her plainly afterward.
"……Fine. I'll drink it because the thought was pretty."
"……I-it really is drinkable……."
She only grew more flustered at being told her heart was pretty, and I nearly groaned. There was no way I could hate that adorable little bear.
"Quiet."
Rahi hunched her shoulders. I looked at her, sighed, and popped the lid. Before that horrific smell could reach my nose again, I clamped my mouth over the spout and squeezed, forcing it down in one go. The sludgy liquid—no, the solid—sliding over my tongue nearly broke my will. I clenched harder and simply hammered it down my throat.
"Ghk—hah—hah……."
It felt like I had just blasted through two sets of bench press without a pause. I felt the stuff crawl down my esophagus as if it were scanning me, and the moment it hit my stomach I collapsed flat on my back. I was sorry to my organs. I felt defiled. To think something could rattle me this badly—I wasn't the type who got angry easily.
"……You're okay, right?"
"You!"
Rahi flinched at the shout, scratching the back of her head as she looked at me in a panic. Worry and a little fear showed on her face, and I couldn't quite bring myself to stay angry.
Yeah, well. She did make it for me.
I knew exactly what kind of heart had gone into this on a busy morning. Maybe she had pictured me liking it. And the ingredients, dripping with intent, were a little cute. The taste was not cute at all. I let out a long sigh and muttered.
"……From now on, just give me protein. Don't put weird stuff in it."
"O-okay……."
"No. The taste is what it is, but I'm grateful you made it. It's just a little much. You admit that, right?"
"……I'm sorry."
She stood there in her black leggings with both hands clasped in front of her, fidgeting, head bowed low. I grinned. She had handed me the perfect excuse to tease her. How thoughtful. Time for revenge—no. Time to torment her.
"So. What was the point of this shake?"
"H-huh?"
"No matter how I look at it, this wasn't just a shake."
I reached out and set my fingers near her knee. She startled at the touch, her thigh going tight, and I slowly slid my hand up over it. I moved gently, as if I were tracing the lines of her body with my fingertips, but the black canvas swelled firm beneath them, like cloth soaking up water.
"Hah—ah, that's…… nnh."
"What, were you saying I was weak back then?"
As I murmured it, my hand kept drifting past her tensed thigh and began to brush the curve of her hip.
"You're the one who passed out."
"Nnh—ah, no! Hnn, it's not like that……."
"Then what?"
My fingertips found the line of her panties and began to drift inward, and Rahi swallowed.
"Nnh, they really said it was good for your body…… hah, so I……."
"So you stuff me full of this. What were you planning to do with me?"
"……Ah…… that's……."
I turned the hand that had been heading between her legs and slowly brought it back to her hip. Regret colored her breath.
"Hm? Go on. What was the plan?"
"……Ah, i-it wasn't……."
"I like it when people are honest."
My fingers passed her hip, then gently took hold of her ass and drew her forward.
"Haah……."
She drifted in at my touch, her face already flushed red, expectation and a little excitement shining in her eyes.
Can't even handle this much. Cute, though.
The breath that reached me was growing sweeter. I stretched out both hands and began to caress those beautiful legs.
"Haaang……."
"You're not going to tell me?"
At my whisper she swallowed hard, then slowly parted those pretty lips.
"……Y-you didn't come looking for me yesterday…… haah……. I-I got worried……."
So she had gone so far as to ask for the front-door code, and now she wanted to know why I hadn't shown up yesterday. Maybe she had waited all night, just in case. My hand slid over her thigh and slowly turned inward, toward the space between her legs.
"Haaah, nnh……."
"You got your hopes up, and now you're asking why I didn't come?"
"N-no…… it's not, it's not like that…… haah……."
I knew, of course. She was scrambling to deny the exaggerated logic I had thrown at her. As my fingers tickled along her inner thigh, a moan slipped out of her, and she hurried to cover her mouth and swallow it down.
"……Did you think I'd come every day?"
"Ah…… haah……. Sh-Shinwoo……."
She called my name in a yearning voice, but I only stroked softly between her thighs, as if I had no intention whatsoever of going any higher into that gap. Of course I could visit Rahi every day and never grow tired of her—but I couldn't let her start thinking I was easy. Controlling how often I showed up would have been the simplest way, and the easiest on my body, but that wasn't my style. If I could build just the right amount of stimulation and sexual tension and keep it there, she would never grow bored. And by the time she realized it, it would already be too late. She would be addicted to what I gave her.
"You're awfully confident."
"Haaah, haah……."
She flinched at my words, but she still looked down at me with her mouth covered, eyes full of expectation.
"My, my. Did you think one shake would have me coming after you, begging?"
"……Ahh, th-that wasn't…… what I…… really…… haaang."
One of Rahi's hands braced on my shoulder. Standing on her own was getting hard. Even so, her lower body made no move to escape my touch, and the tank top that had come right up in front of my eyes—and the valley beyond it—was a pleasure to look at. My hands, well, went without saying. Those soft, firm thighs felt incredible under my palms.
"I can tell you put in the effort, but……."
"Ahhnn……."
The moment the fingers of my right hand touched the upper edge of the gap between her thighs, Rahi let out a heated moan, as if she had been waiting for it. My left hand was still stroking her thigh.
"Assuming I'd spend it on you, just like that—that's pretty arrogant."
"Ah, Sh-Shinwoo…… hahk, nnh……."
She twitched at my words, but I looked quietly into her eyes and whispered.
"Try harder."
"Ahh, haaang…… Sh-Shinwoo……."
I stroked gently along the valley of her leggings. My words were mean; my hands were anything but. As my fingers wandered softly through that cleft, Rahi's breathing grew thicker. The tips of my fingers were getting hotter, and wetter.
"I'll let it slide today. Since I appreciated the shake."
"Ah…… ahh, hahk, Shinwoo…… nnh, haaang."
As my fingers moved faster, her moans grew wetter and wetter. But every nerve I had was aimed at the gym entrance. The owner hadn't come out of the office yet, but this was still a dangerous place and a dangerous hour. Rahi, lost in my hands, seemed to have forgotten all of that. So I had to be the one paying attention.
"Handle the cameras yourself."
"Y-yes, ahhk, haaang, haah……."
"Feel good?"
"Hnn, haah, y-yes…… it feels good…… ahhk……."
By then her waist had arched beautifully, her upper body leaning farther and farther until she was resting against me. I watched her breasts sway in front of my eyes and moved my fingers faster.
"You like it when a man touches you like this at work?"
"Ahh, yes, yes…… I like it, I like it, so…… soft…… ahhk, haaang."
"Any man would do? Even if it weren't me, as long as it feels good, that's enough?"
"N-no! Ahhk! Hahk, nnh, ahh—o-of course not, nnh, ahh, because it's you, Shinwoo……."
I watched her face crumple—startled by my words, then undone again by my fingers—and let out a short laugh. This was why I tormented her. Maybe the afternoon at the café was still lingering with me. She had started to twitch her hips, clearly worked up, and the valley between my fingers had begun to flood; she felt close. But this was as far as it went.
"……Ah……. Haah, haah……."
The moment my hands left her, a pitiful moan escaped her, and she looked down at me, wretched with want. And then I gently pushed against her stomach—