The Ambush
Yeah. Finishing inside her anywhere but a bedroom is a terrible idea.
Hyunji was thrashing through one orgasm after another, and it was only because we were in the bedroom that she hadn't hurt herself. Out in the open, she might have. I'd pulled her into my arms because I wanted her there, but I was also afraid she'd crack herself against the bed frame.
Maybe this worked out for the best.
In a world where finishing inside was the default, a man needed an excuse if he wanted to spend himself across a woman's face or body instead. As far as I was concerned, this was a perfectly good one.
"Hnnn... Oppaa..."
She was calling for me. I reached out and gently set her face to rights, brushing the hair back so I could take in the sight of her: eyes rolled halfway up, mind gone completely, and that small, pretty tongue just barely showing. Then I quietly straightened the pillow beneath her.
"Haah..."
She looked as if breathing came easier now. I watched her for a moment, then slowly pushed myself up.
"Ahh—!"
The instant I slipped out of her, Hyunji's body shivered hard all over again, and a rush of her release burst from between her hips. I sat on the edge of the bed beside her and simply looked: the evidence of what we'd done trickling down her thighs, her legs fallen open, limp and spent.
"Heuuu... Oppa..."
She was searching for me in a voice gone thin. I stroked her back. A glance at the clock told me it was already past four. My appointment with Bae Jihyun was at eight, so I couldn't exactly call the time generous, but it was still all right. And Hyunji mattered more to me than any appointment.
"Yeah. I'm right here."
I didn't think she was in any state to answer, but I answered her anyway, and I was smoothing my hand over her sweat-slick back and hips when it happened.
"S-sorry... I'm sorry..."
The words were barely a murmur, pressed out against the pillow. I lifted my head. Her face was still wrecked, drunk on pleasure and orgasm.
"...Sorry for what?"
"...Only me... only I felt good..."
"I felt good too."
"...From now on... I'll do better... so... don't throw us away..."
It was so faint I wouldn't have caught it if I hadn't been listening. She was closer to unconscious than awake, the way people look coming out of sedation after a sleep endoscopy. I'd never seen that in person. I only knew it from celebrities on variety shows I'd watched online, and the resemblance was close enough.
"...Why would I ever throw you away?"
"I'll be good... so..."
After that she only breathed, soft and even, in a steady rhythm. I stayed where I was, watching her, stroking her back, and let my thoughts drift.
What was that?
Kang Rahee had said something like it too. I'd taken it for the anxiety that comes on the heels of happiness too large to trust. That was why I'd meant to be the one to suggest we file the report today, since neither of them could quite get the words out, and give them something solid to stand on. I hadn't expected Hyunji to say it as well. I hadn't even been particularly rough with her today. Ah.
Was it the car? Was that too much for her to endure?
I scratched my cheek and kept stroking the smooth line of her back, turning it over. I hadn't meant to make either of them feel insecure. And yet both Rahee and Hyunji were plainly anxious. I'd thought I'd done everything I could for them in bed.
What is it? What happened?
This was hard to write off as simple fear born of too much happiness. And I couldn't really picture Hyunji and Rahee competing with each other, or getting jealous. If anything, the fact that both of them had shown the same unease at the same time was what worried me. Anxiety like that only got harder to answer the stronger it grew, especially in a world where marriage, the last resort, didn't exist.
...I don't want to make them dependent on me, though.
What I wanted was simple. In ordinary life, I hoped they'd find their own happiness. In bed, I hoped they'd be happy because of me. Meeting girls this sweet, this willing to listen, felt like nothing short of luck. The old hurt my ex had left me with in the other world was easing, too. I didn't need to say it out loud. I could feel it. These days, even remembering her didn't make me angry.
Guess I really do need to find us a place.
In the end, living together seemed to be the only answer. I'd been planning on it anyway, so all this meant was moving the schedule up. I'd start looking around next week. We'd already agreed to see places together, so once Hyunji's performance was over we could go around and look. First I needed to make sure the loan was actually solid. I'd have to call the landlord, too. The lease had already renewed automatically, so telling them I was moving out might even make them happy.
Beep.
The electronic tone snapped me upright in bed. The door lock. I whipped around toward Hyunji. The mattress lurched under me as I bolted up, and whether that was what set her off or not, she trembled and squirted again, helpless. Coming back to herself didn't look likely.
It wouldn't be a stranger.
Anyone who knew the front-door code was at least an acquaintance. I didn't know Hyunji's acquaintances yet. If it was one of them, fine. I'd say we were in the middle of a date and send them off. But if it was family... I didn't remember ever hearing about a younger sibling, an older brother, or an older sister. Han Gyeo-wool, then. And aside from Han Gyeo-wool, the one person who would walk into Hyunji's home as if she had every right to was, in the worst case—
"Haah..."
"...You know you're going to get an earful when you wake up."
It wasn't Hyunji's fault, of course. I scooped her up in one motion, and her release ran down my forearm. She still hadn't come back to herself. I laid her gently on the bed, drew up the blanket that had been shoved aside, and covered her. I was yanking on my underwear, my pants, and my shirt all at once when the front door opened.
"...Ah."
"Pardon the intrusion. I'm sorry to interrupt."
My legs nearly gave out. A moment later Han Gyeo-wool came into view, and I let out a quiet breath of relief before I found my voice.
"This is an awkward thing for me to be asking, given how things look, but what's going on?"
"Hyunji's mother is on her way up."
"...You came ahead to warn me."
"Yes. Has the young lady gone out, by any chance...?"
I wasn't sure whether I ought to be glad my guess had been right. Even so, I was grateful she'd come up first.
"Right now—ahem. She's resting in bed."
Han Gyeo-wool looked at me without a word, and I let my eyes slide away. I was mortified. The silence between us lasted only a moment before she pushed her sunglasses up with those long, pretty fingers and spoke.
"...She can't get up. That's the situation, I take it."
"That's... how it turned out. I'm sorry."
"You have nothing to apologize for, Mr. Shinwoo. If anything, we're the ones who ought to be grateful. I did tell Madam that this was discourteous of her, but..."
"...Hyunji shows a decisive streak now and then. She must take after her mother."
"...She does. Then I should be the one apologizing."
"Should I wake her and get her ready?"
"No. I'll look after the young lady. You don't need to worry."
I turned her answer over in my head. There was a shade to it, as if it didn't matter what state Hyunji was in. Was I imagining that? Maybe it was because they were as good as family. Or maybe—
"...Is she coming to see me?"
"Yes. If that would be uncomfortable, I'll see you out right now."
I wasn't particularly offended. I was the outsider in this house. And I'd already braced myself for this back when we filed the report at the community center. Still, meeting Hyunji's mother while I looked like this felt wrong. My shirt and pants were a mess with Hyunji's fluids. I'd wanted to make a good impression. Just then Han Gyeo-wool held out the shopping bag she'd been carrying.
"Just in case, I bought a T-shirt, underwear, and a pair of jeans. The size should be right."
"...You knew it would come to this."
"I was cleaning the car seat, and the young lady seemed... very happy."
I looked at the bag for a moment, then took it. Inside were a white T-shirt, a pair of jeans, and one plastic-wrapped pair of boxer briefs. Her consideration moved me more than a little.
"If any part of this displeases you, even slightly, please say so. This is plainly Madam's discourtesy, and I'll help however you wish."
"...No. I was going to have to meet her sooner or later. There's no time, so I'll excuse myself first."
"Yes. I'm sorry again."
"Don't be. If anything, I'm glad you came up, Miss Gyeo-wool. It gave me a moment to get my head together."
I turned in a hurry toward the bathroom, then stopped.
"...And Hyunji, right now, she's... well."
"Don't worry. I'll see to her."
That was exactly what I'd wanted to warn her about. It wasn't quite humiliation, but it was painfully awkward, and I was ashamed.
"...All right. She probably won't come to her senses."
"Pardon?"
I didn't answer. I went straight into the bathroom. There was no time for a thorough shower, but I could at least wash away the traces of what Hyunji and I had done. I scrubbed down fast and dried off with the towel on the rack. At times like this, I was genuinely glad to be a man. I was washed and dressed in a flash, and then I looked in the mirror.
Her eye is ridiculous.
I could accept the T-shirt and the underwear she'd picked. The waist of the jeans, though, fit me exactly, and I could only shake my head. I couldn't have done that well myself. I wanted to learn how. There was no time for idle thoughts. I came out of the bathroom, shrugged into my coat, and had just checked the mirror when the electronic tone started up again at the front door.
"Please don't worry too much."
"...That's easier said than done."
Han Gyeo-wool's cheeks were faintly flushed. I was answering her quiet murmur when the door opened, and the woman who appeared on the other side of it made me catch my breath.
...
Dignity. Elegance. The words came to me at once. Behind brown-tinted sunglasses, the shape of her eyes was familiar, as if I'd seen it somewhere before. The coat over her shoulders was cut from cloth that didn't look ordinary. A black skirt ending just above the knee, black stockings, and heels of unmistakable quality. Lovely hands, and in them a small orange handbag with an H-shaped buckle.
An elegant woman.
Sunglasses and red lipstick made her seem as if she lived in some slightly different world. Then her waist dipped in a light bow, and a clean, elegant voice came with it.
"Hello. I'm Hyunji's mother."
"How do you do. My name is Lee Shinwoo."
She had one hand raised neatly beside her chest as she bowed, and I came back to myself just in time to return the bow. A woman standing behind Hyunji's mother murmured that she would wait in the car, remained outside, and closed the door. That left me, Hyunji's mother, and Han Gyeo-wool in the house. Well. Leaving out Hyunji, still dazed and floating in the bedroom.
That aside...
She had to be in her early or mid-forties at the youngest, and yet she looked that refined. Young enough that calling her a friend wouldn't have seemed strange. Now that I thought about it, the gap between Hyunji and me and the gap between her mother and me didn't feel all that different. My mind tried to wander off somewhere it had no business going, and I barely caught it. I pulled myself together and bowed again.
"I'm sorry to be greeting you like this."
"No, no. I'm the one who's sorry, dropping in on you out of nowhere."
"I'll prepare something to drink. This way, please."
At Han Gyeo-wool's voice I turned and headed for the dining table. She drew out a chair for Hyunji's mother, then moved to do the same for me. I declined and sat on my own. She must have finished the preparations while I was washing, because warm coffee appeared in front of us almost at once.
"Let me apologize again for coming here so rudely."
"Not at all. If anyone should have introduced himself properly before now, it's me. I'm sorry."
Of course it was nonsense. I hadn't even known Hyunji for a full few days. I only said it to soften the start of the conversation. She didn't seem like the sort of person who would barge in like this without a reason. There had to be something that made it necessary.