Have Sex With Me
The rain began to ease. The fierce drops that had been hiding us were losing their strength, little by little.
Baek Ah-rin.
Her crying faded along with the rain.
The bikini top she'd thrown off caught in my hand. I pressed it into her palm.
"Ah-rin..."
She put the top back on without a word.
"...I want to go inside."
Her words were brief.
"R-right."
Holding her against me, I left the dying rain behind and headed for the locker room.
We each showered and changed, then met again at the pool entrance. Her face was drained of color, utterly spent. Her body swayed as she walked. She'd gone without food, stood in the rain, and then swam — that would do it. I supported her. There wasn't an ounce of strength left in her frame.
"I'm hungry..."
"Yeah."
And so we made our way to the first-floor restaurant.
We didn't speak a word on the way. She nestled into my arms as if leaning her whole weight on me, and I held her up without comment. Fortunately, the dinner buffet still had about an hour left.
We sat down.
"I'll go get the food."
"Okay... thank you."
She left the choice of what she'd eat entirely to me. I headed for the porridge station. She'd gone more than a full day without eating; something too rich too fast could make her sick. I brought her porridge, along with soy sauce and kimchi so she could season it herself, and set it in front of her.
With a blank expression, she scooped a couple of spoonfuls, wetting her lips — then set the spoon down.
"...It doesn't taste good."
"I'll get you something else."
That little wouldn't be enough. I went to the grill station to get the steak she'd said was delicious.
"Ah... nothing freshly grilled."
Maybe because there weren't many guests. Last time they'd cooked it to order, but now there was only what had already been sitting there. Pre-cooked steak never tastes as good as fresh, but there was no helping it. Worried it might be dry, I even scooped some sauce into a small dish and carried it back.
"Here... the one you said was good..."
She received the plate in silence. Ah-rin just stared at it for a long time. I picked up a fork, speared a piece of steak, and held it to her lips.
"Just eat a little..."
She parted her lips and took the meat. Her cheeks moved as she chewed, as if they were murmuring something of their own. It looked like they were saying it was delicious, and a smile slipped out of me before I knew it.
"...Why are you smiling?"
The question from her lips was so dry that I had no choice but to put my serious face back on.
"Sorry... your cheeks are just cute..."
"Then... that's fine."
Without another word, I speared another piece and brought it to her mouth. She took it like a little baby bird, nibbling away.
Had she always been this cute? The things her usual easygoing nature and tomboyish way of talking had been hiding — they were all unfolding right in front of me. As the preconceptions clouding my feelings fell away, she finally began to look like a woman in her own right.
"Give me more."
Before I knew it, she was waiting for the next piece of steak.
"Ah— ah! Okay!!"
I hurriedly speared more meat and put it in her mouth. The steak looked like the juices had drained out from sitting too long, but she ate it well all the same.
"I'm full."
In the end, it took both steaks I'd brought to fill her up.
"Shall we go?"
"Yes."
She didn't get up. I went over and helped her, and only then did she put strength into her legs and stand. Just like that, we left our seats like a couple.
The walk back to the room felt both short and long. Her body had taken the cold wind and rain head-on, and yet she was still warm. No — she was like a ball of fire. This wasn't a fever from pushing herself too hard. It was passion. An obsession with something. A fireball forged from some unfathomable aura.
We stopped in front of the room.
"Sunbae... help me."
She tapped her keycard against the door. I opened it without a word. Her room looked as if it had been left exactly as housekeeping had prepared it. The bed, especially, was made up as if it hadn't been touched at all. She'd even refused room service. She hadn't used the bed.
"You... didn't sleep?"
She just nodded, without answering.
It was incredible. Her willpower was extraordinary. Ah-rin hadn't slept or eaten in over a day. On top of that, she'd stood for hours in a rain-lashed pool, and then swam. She was in a state where she could collapse and fall asleep at any moment. She had driven herself to the absolute limit.
I sat her down on the bed. She accepted it without a word. I left her there and went to the window by the veranda. The rain had picked up again, raindrops striking the glass in a loud, restless clatter.
I couldn't dodge this any longer. It was time to settle this.
"Why... no, since when... have you liked me?"
"...When I was in college..."
After trailing off for a moment, she opened her mouth again.
"Sunbae, do you remember?"
"...Huh?"
"When you told me I was cute?"
"...Ah..."
Honestly... I didn't remember. It was so long ago. Seeing my face, she let out a faintly hollow laugh.
"You wouldn't remember. It's just a tiny fragment of a memory that only I held onto."
"...I'm sorry."
"You don't need to apologize. Everyone remembers different things."
Fragments of memory started coming back, piece by piece. It was something I'd said to defend her when she'd been mistaken for a lesbian.
"...So that's why..."
"I'm sorry..."
I cut her off.
"It's too late."
"...For what?"
"For the two of us... to start something."
"Earlier... you saw the photo I took, didn't you?"
"We looked so... good together..."
Her arm wrapped around my waist. When had she come up behind me?
"We were such a perfect pair... and you're going to give that up?"
"I'm... a divorced man with kids."
"I don't care."
"Bad rumors could start about you."
"If you and I are happy, what does any of that matter?"
Ah-rin, answering back point by point. She'd never been like this, and it felt so unfamiliar.
"...I'll be honest with you."
"...So does that mean you haven't been honest with me until now?"
My breath caught. This wasn't the Ah-rin I'd known. This was a real woman. Talking to a mature woman like this only made me more tense.
"That's... that's not it!!"
"Then... what is it?"
"If you... love me... then our destination has to be becoming a family."
"That's what I want too. So much... so much..."
The arm around my waist tightened.
"That's... the hard part..."
"Then we just become a family... what's so hard about that? I'll marry you. I don't care if people point fingers at me for being a second wife. I'm used to being pointed at...!!"
"My daughter... doesn't want me to remarry."
In that instant, I felt her fierce emotion snap, just for a second.
"Y-your daughter's an adult, isn't she?"
"You'd have to become her stepmother... and you think that doesn't matter just because she's an adult?"
"...Ah..."
I felt her body start to tremble, little by little.
"I'm... used to Ah-rin as my junior."
"...What?"
"I like Ah-rin the junior. I like her a lot. Enough to take her on a trip on my own dime."
"...Ah..."
"But Ah-rin as someone I love... I still don't know about that."
Her body started shaking harder.
"So... I can't date Ah-rin right now... and I can't marry her either."
The trembling grew worse. Should I turn around and hold her? Or should I leave her as she is?
The trembling stopped all at once. The hand that had gone slack tightened around me again.
"Then... those two things just need to be resolved, right?"
"...What?"
"Your daughter just needs to take a liking to me."
"...Th-that's..."
This reaction... wasn't what I'd expected.
"And you just need to be able to see me as a woman... right?"
"...I... guess?"
I couldn't exactly say no.
"Sunbae."
"...Y-yeah?"
There was strength in her voice. This felt dangerous.
"You said you'd grant me one wish, didn't you?"
"R-right. That's right! Just tell me! What do you need? I'll do anything...! Anything at all!!"
There was one thing I was afraid she'd ask, but I still talked big — because it might also open a way through.
...And that fear became reality.
For a moment, I couldn't speak. I froze. I never imagined that word would come from Ah-rin's mouth — from her voice.
"Why can't you answer? You just said you'd do anything, didn't you?"
"Ah... I... that's..."
"Shh...!"
She pressed her finger to my lips.
"From now on, you don't have the right to make excuses."
Her left hand, still wrapped around me, began to slide slowly downward.
"You promised. You said you'd grant any wish of mine. Why are you trying to break that with excuses?"
I heard the sound of my pants zipper coming undone. And then something long, hot, and soft began to slip inside.
"You said... I don't feel like a woman to you, didn't you?"
My head was turning to mush all over again. Heat flared across my face, and then sweat started pouring out like rain.
"That's possible. I understand completely."
Her hot hand began to reach my groin. But that part of me was even hotter than her hand, so her touch felt cool.
Until the East Sea's waters and Mount Baekdu...
Damn it... it's not working.
"So this time, I'll make sure you can see me as a woman..."
All five of her fingers, her entire palm...
"I'll show you for certain, this time."
...wrapped around my entire cock.