21. Did Mom Get Younger?
Episode 21. Did Mom Get Younger?
Na-eun's eyes fluttered open.
The ceiling came into blurry view. She rolled over, reaching out beside her. Instead of the expected warmth, only the cool emptiness of an unoccupied space met her fingertips.
'Where's oppa?'
Na-eun blinked. Turning her head, she examined the space beside her. The spot where Jin-hyuk should have been lying was completely empty.
She pressed her palm against it. Cold. The space had long lost any lingering warmth, clearly vacated hours ago. A strange hollowness settled in her chest. The inexplicable anxiety of waking to find the person who'd slept beside her gone crept up on her.
'Where did he go?'
Just then, the door opened.
"You're awake?"
It was Jin-hyuk. At his voice, the tension in her shoulders melted away. Her heart, which had inexplicably sunk at the empty space, finally settled. Na-eun beamed up at him.
He must have washed up. None of the usual morning dishevelment remained, and the familiar scent of body wash wafted from him as he approached.
"You already showered?"
He hadn't just washed his face—he'd taken a full shower. Na-eun casually noted this fact.
"Well, it's not my house."
"Why? It is your home now."
The moment the words left her mouth, their meaning struck her. It sounded as if this house was Jin-hyuk's home too, as if they were a couple living together. Jin-hyuk chuckled. His laughter made Na-eun's face burn red first.
Then, suddenly, memories of last night surfaced.
The sensation of Jin-hyuk's hands exploring her body. The moments she'd muffled her moans against his chest. The memories flooded back all at once.
'Ah...'
Na-eun discreetly lifted the blanket. The dampness between her thighs, the traces that had seeped onto the blanket and sheets—all had dried in place. Seeing them made her face burn violently.
Come to think of it, last night, she'd fallen asleep without properly cleaning up.
'Ugh... Ah...'
Her mind went blank. She froze, unsure what to say. Then, feeling Jin-hyuk's gaze on her, she snapped back to reality.
"W-wait, don't come closer."
"Why not?"
"Just don't."
Na-eun grabbed a pillow and threw it at him. After shooing the bewildered Jin-hyuk out of the room, she quickly rolled up the blanket and stuffed it aside the moment the door closed. Rummaging through the drawers, she pulled out fresh underwear and shorts and hurriedly changed.
She rolled up the damp underwear and pants and clutched them in her hand.
She was embarrassed. Her face burned. Yet, alongside that embarrassment, the sensations from last night quietly resurfaced. The pleasure Jin-hyuk's hands had given her, the moment her mind had gone blank. Just remembering it made her body heat up again.
'I want to do it again.'
'But he was so good at it... Does he have experience?'
Come to think of it, when her friends talked about such things, they'd said a man being awkward in bed was a turn-off. While she thought it might be natural if it was his first time, part of her secretly hoped Jin-hyuk would skillfully take the lead.
'Still, maybe next time we can go further.'
Lost in thought, Na-eun carefully opened the door and stepped out, hiding the damp clothes behind her back. She headed to the laundry room next to the kitchen and buried them deep in the laundry basket.
"What are you doing?"
Eun-joo was preparing breakfast in the kitchen. She must have woken up early to cook.
"Mom, I mean..."
Na-eun's voice grew small. After what had happened with Jin-hyuk last night, facing her mother felt newly awkward. She averted her gaze.
Eun-joo, oblivious to her daughter's demeanor, asked, "You drank a lot last night. How's your head?"
"Um... a little sore, I think."
"You take after your father with bad hangovers. I'm making dried pollack soup, so just wait a bit."
Eun-joo looked impeccably put together, as if she'd been up for hours. Not only that, but her skin seemed firmer, glowing with a youthful vitality—no, it was more like a distinctly feminine allure that radiated from her.
'Mom looks younger today.'
Na-eun studied her for a moment.
"Did you clean up?"
Jin-hyuk suddenly appeared beside her, whispering in her ear just loud enough for her alone to hear. His words snapped Na-eun out of her thoughts.
A mischievous smile played on Jin-hyuk's lips. It was as if he knew exactly why she'd kicked him out earlier.
Na-eun smacked his chest.
"...What are you talking about?"
She pouted, but her eyes kept drifting back to his smiling face.
Eun-joo silently continued preparing breakfast, listening to their playful bickering.
As Na-eun and Jin-hyuk's voices murmured in the living room, Eun-joo stood by the stove, her back to them.
Her thighs ached. With every step, a deep, heavy pull resonated from her inner thighs—a remnant of last night. The lingering heat still pooled in her lower abdomen. Suppressing it, she slowly stirred the boiling pot of dried pollack soup.
Just moments ago, she'd been in the study, panting in Jin-hyuk's arms.
His manhood seemed insatiable. Even after spilling once, it would rise again after a brief respite, like an unquenchable furnace. She was the one who'd tired first from taking him in.
She wanted more. But time had run out.
She'd thought the night would be long. She hadn't realized just how short it would feel. As dawn broke outside the window, she'd resented its arrival.
The sensation of being drenched in sweat and semen, gasping in Jin-hyuk's embrace, was still vivid. Even the way his heart had pounded against her chest. Amidst it all, she'd marveled at the way he'd clung to her, still hard.
The fact that a man could still desire and excite her at her age filled her with indescribable joy.
Jin-hyuk's bashful face came to mind—the way he'd avoided eye contact after finishing. The sight had made her body burn again, but there was nothing to be done. They'd had to get up.
"Sigh..."
Eun-joo exhaled deeply, trying to cool the rising heat inside her.
There was still no movement from the master bedroom. Deok-su was asleep. Normally, she might have resented her husband for passing out drunk and leaving her alone. But now, she was grateful. His deep sleep had allowed her to spend the entire early morning with Jin-hyuk.
'Ah... what am I thinking?'
Even she found herself despicable. Here she was, sleeping with her daughter's boyfriend, yet feeling thankful her husband was unconscious.
Under the same roof where her husband slept, she'd given herself to another man. Guilt weighed heavily on her heart. Yet, that very guilt sent a thrilling tingle up her spine.
She'd already crossed the line. Once crossed, the next steps became terrifyingly easy. At first, even a single kiss had made her hands tremble. Now, she had no qualms about craving a younger man's body while her husband slept in the next room.
The change in herself was frightening, yet oddly liberating. Something inside her—something she'd kept tightly restrained her entire life—had been unraveled by Jin-hyuk.
Thankfully, this time, she'd made him finish outside. At the last moment, she'd clung to her senses and pulled away. But in that instant, she'd been seized by the urge to scream at him not to stop.
To take her deepest inside and spill himself there.
To pour every last drop of his heat into her womb without wasting a single one. She'd nearly locked her legs around him to keep him from pulling out, only releasing him at the last second with the barest shred of self-control.
The sensation of his seed splattered across her body was still sharp. The hot trails dripping down her stomach and chest. She'd soothed her frustration by scooping it up with her fingers and tasting it. Yet, deep down, she'd wished it had been inside her instead.
The cooling warmth on her skin only made the emptiness within more acute.
The memory of her own behavior at dawn resurfaced. Clinging to that overwhelming manhood, arching her hips to take him deeper, further inside.
Spreading her legs and begging like a woman desperate to be impregnated.
Moaning like a beast in heat, craving a younger man's seed.
In the throes of pleasure, she couldn't even remember what words had spilled from her lips. In that moment, her daughter, her husband, even her own name—none of it had existed in her mind.
Only the primal instinct to be seeded deep in her womb. Her mind had screamed no, but her body had wanted nothing else.
'Get a hold of yourself.'
Eun-joo tightened her grip on the ladle. Playing with fire had to end at just that—playing. It was dangerous. If she went any deeper, there'd be no turning back.
'But...'
She glanced sideways into the living room. Na-eun was pressed close to Jin-hyuk, whispering something. The sight of her daughter leaning against her man and laughing.
That sight was unbearably resentful.