Primitive Tastes 02
“… Yeah, that’s it.”
“… Yeah.”
“Something about it… the way you look at her dance, it’s kinda suspicious.”
“How’d you know?”
“Looks like a princess, but she’s been through everything. Especially when it comes to romance—she’s a real shark. Hehe~”
I had no idea what to say. The secret I’d guarded so carefully until now suddenly felt exposed, like I was standing naked in front of the entire world.
“Don’t worry. I won’t tell anyone. My mouth’s sealed tight.”
“Yeah… thanks.”
“But what about her? She doesn’t seem to see you as a man.”
“I don’t know either.”
“You two grew up like siblings, right? And the two of you have boyfriends yet you still watched each other sleep with other people? How can love possibly grow between people who’ve already seen each other at their most vulnerable?”
“You know it.”
“You still like her anyway?”
“… Yeah.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know. It’s been so long now that I’ve forgotten why I like her in the first place. But it’s real. I can’t help it.”
“Pure-hearted, huh?”
“Yeah, that’s me.”
*Smack!*
“Ayot!”
Minhee slapped my head with a sweet palm.
“Pure-hearted my ass. Who’d have thought a guy like that would sleep with Hyeon and Hyejeong? I saw everything. You and Hyeon, the sex. If a woman’s body is what she’s after, she’ll take it.”
“You… saw? How?”
“How is there no how… you left the door wide open from the start. It was all out in the open. After you two finished, I closed the door for you.”
*Ah…* That’s right. Damn.
“I got tricked too. I woke up in the middle of the night and Hyeon was…”
“Either way, you ended up leading the way and eating her. You worked way too hard.”
*Damn…* I had no comeback.
“About the movie earlier. I think it had a happy ending. If I think about it carefully, even if I’d been the husband in the film, I probably would’ve been happy. I don’t like my wife sleeping with someone else, but if it keeps our marriage happy, isn’t that the definition of a happy ending?”
“Maybe. If I were her lover and watched her with another man, I’d get turned on, and then I’d probably fuck her even harder the next time. Thinking about it, when Minyong let me eat Ji-eun after hearing me talk about fucking Hyeon, if it had been Hyeon instead, I probably would’ve been way happier.”
“But why are you asking me this?”
“Taemin, what about you? If you were the husband and your wife was Hyeon…”
“… Happy ending.”
*Kiki kik~* “As expected.”
We stared at the ceiling in silence for a moment.
“Taemin, honestly, I want to have sex with you.”
“What?”
Her sudden request for sex made me jolt.
“After seeing you and Hyeon together, I got turned on. You were really passionate and hot. It was the first time I felt like a man having sex with another woman is sexy.”
“…”
The words left me speechless. But Hyeon and Hyejeong were right—every last one of us who’d eaten them had gone completely insane.
“I don’t want to just fuck for the sake of fucking, though. Like Hyeon or Hyejeong.”
What the hell was she even talking about?
“I like you, Taemin. Let’s meet properly sometime.”
Minhee turned to me with a surprisingly calm look, and my reaction to her confession was calm too.
“You’re asking me to meet you even though you know I like Hyeon?”
“Yeah. It’s got nothing to do with that. It’s just that you’re attractive.”
“Me?”
“Yeah. No matter how much other women tempt you, you only have eyes for one woman.”
“… Even after I’ve liked Hyeon this whole time?”
“It doesn’t matter. Once we start dating, you’ll fall for me. And even if you keep liking Hyeon, you two probably won’t end up together anyway.”
“Why do you think that?”
“Think about it. If Hyeon saw even a little part of you as a man, she would’ve thrown you to us like bait. And since you see Hyeon like family, you can’t confess, right?”
“You’re a ghost. Did you receive some kind of divine inspiration? How do you know all of this?”
“… Give me some time to think.”
“Hehe~ Okay.”
Minhee leaned in close, wrapped her arm around mine, and pulled me into a tight hug. I was flustered, but watching her with her eyes closed in my arms, I suddenly felt like she resembled me. I gently wrapped my arm around her shoulder. Still, it wasn’t easy to admit I liked her after she’d learned my deepest secret. In the end, it would probably turn out exactly like Ji-eun’s case.
*Yeah, if I reject her outright we’ll both feel awkward. I’ll wait for the right moment and give her a light-hearted refusal.*
I closed my eyes too.
The last night of the trip, after the sudden seduction and wild sex, we came home and suddenly found ourselves tied up as playthings. Then, out of nowhere, I got confessed to. What a ridiculous day. But thinking about it, I’d heard the girls tell me I was hot, and I’d fucked two of them. Not a bad trip at all.
The sex with Hyeon and Hyejeong was like fallen leaves blown away by the wind—meaningless.
They hadn’t felt anything special for me. They’d just been interested in my body. The sex itself had been born from my own misunderstanding and stress relief; they hadn’t felt anything for me either.
The only thing that still weighed on me was Hyeon’s true feelings. If she really remembered that night… and if she’d planned this trip specifically to push me away… I started wondering how I should face her from now on.
And Minhee… she was the first woman to seriously ask me to meet her.
With Ji-eun it had been nothing but sex born from the mood. After Minyong had eaten her and discarded her, she’d been nothing more than a substitute for Hyeon. Of course I still felt guilty about hurting her, which was why I couldn’t accept Minhee’s confession so easily.
That night I fell asleep while my thoughts swirled.
The next morning.
When Hyeon still hadn’t come back by noon, we packed up and checked out of the pension. On the way back she picked up a spicy rice cake soup at a pojangmacha in front of a motel. The man with her looked like he was in his mid-thirties. Hyeon greeted him with a bright smile, then the moment she sat in the car she started complaining nonstop about how she hated those guys, but all she got for her trouble was a cold slap from the other girls.
I drove all the women home. Turns out they were all living on their own. Freelance girls were way more laid-back than I expected.
When I got home, I roughly packed up our stuff and returned the rental car. Somehow Hyeon was already doing the house cleaning and I helped without thinking. Watching her silently push and wipe without saying a word felt strangely unfamiliar.
That night.
I finished cleaning, collapsed from exhaustion, and when I woke up Hyeon had already set out dinner for me. It was the first time since we’d started living together.
The stir-fried octopus with red pepper paste looked so delicious my mouth watered.
“It looks delicious~ What’s with you?”
“I can cook too. Eat a lot.”
During dinner that day Hyeon barely spoke. She even smiled at me once or twice when I looked like I was enjoying my food. Before bed she even made my bed for me. I felt something suspicious about the whole thing.
“Hey, you there.”
I called Hyeon as she was changing my blanket and about to leave the room.
“Come here.”
Hyeon turned and glared at me, set the blanket down, and walked over.
“What? Why?”
I pulled her by the arm and made her sit next to me.
“What’s the deal? Why are you suddenly doing all those pretty things you never did before?”
I leaned in and asked. Hyeon giggled and looked away.
“I’m luring the bait.”
“What~?”
“You said you wanted to meet other men without any guilt.”
Hyeon spoke so brazenly.
“So I was going to scold you, so you’re doing this now as a preemptive apology?”
“Hehe~”
“Ugh~ Just…!”
“Kya~!”
I reached to slap her head, but Hyeon suddenly grabbed me, flipped me onto the bed.
*Thud~*
“Hey, so does that mean you’re going to keep going to clubs and doing skinship with any guy?”
“Mm~ Not just clubs, I do dates too… and…”
*Smack!*
In the end I gave her a sweet slap on the head.
“Ayot~”
“Ugh~ When are you gonna grow up? No! No clubs! No dates! No staying out late!”
“Hing~ Too harsh!”
“You really need special supervision. After school, you have to stay where I can see you.”
“Hah~ Just thinking about it makes me want to die.”
“You’re taking it way too far, huh?”
“You ate Hyeon and Hyejeong too. You let them do whatever they wanted, but with me you’re this strict.”
“Don’t be jealous. They tempted me with their bodies, I had no choice.”
“Funny~ You’re the one who should stop making excuses. You ate them anyway.”
We stared at each other with narrowed eyes, locked in a battle of wills. But as always, we both melted and let out the tension in seconds.
“Fine. Let’s set rules. Only the parts we can understand each other about, okay?”
“… Do men actually like this?”
“Not that I like men. I like playing. As a man, there’s no other Taemin but you. But now you’re boring and you won’t play with me.”
*You’re gonna die of boredom, right?*
“Then should I just take you to clubs every day?”
“Totally thank you~ Oh, right! You don’t fuck your sister, that’s a problem. Hehe~”
*Sigh…* I couldn’t even argue.
“Do I really need sex?”
“Not really, but I do need it.”
“Haa~ Good. Then let’s set the rules.”
“Hehe~ Alright.”
We talked about each other’s conditions and started setting our rules one by one. The first topic was, of course, Hyeon’s messy private life.