Summer Getaway (24)
The man's room, after the storm had passed.
He'd drifted off without meaning to, buried so deep in the smell of semen he might as well have been drowning in it. The duvet cover was already yellowed with the stuff...
"Nngh..."
He hung in that hazy limbo where dream and waking refused to come apart. Fatigue had stacked up in his body, and his mind was so worn down that the memories sat in a jumbled heap.
"Haa... I should at least drink some water..."
He shuffled out to the living room for a glass of cold water, and that was when it finally came back to him.
"Oh, right. God, my head. I was supposed to make shaved ice."
A glance at the clock put it at ten — the girls would have been in the water long enough to start getting hungry. They'd need lunch too, so prepping it now and bringing it over seemed like the best plan.
"Alright then — first things first, I'll go borrow that shaved ice machine!"
Whether it was the massive orgasm or just sheer exhaustion, the sex with Baek Jiwoo and the play with Yang Jiwoo seemed to have been wiped clean from his mind.
"Ma'am~!"
Just a little farther up the hill sat a house. The landlady lived there.
Knock, knock, knock.
"Who is it?"
An older woman opened the door with a deeply furrowed scowl. They say you can read a person by their face, and though it felt rude to think so on a first meeting, she didn't look like a particularly kind soul.
"I'm sorry to bother you, but would it be alright if I borrowed your shaved ice machine?"
"Shaved ice machine? What for?"
She leaned against the doorframe at a slant, arms folded tight as a stubborn mule, one leg swinging idly as she answered in a bored drawl. Hanbyul's brow twitched — he didn't bother hiding that she'd gotten under his skin — but he needed that machine.
"Ah... well... I wanted to make some for my daughters."
He took a step back.
"Ohh~ You've got daughters? So you're a married man?"
A moment ago she'd looked like she couldn't care less. The instant she heard he was married, something lit up behind her eyes. Like a hyena locking onto prey, her gaze flashed, and she began looking him over from head to toe.
Ugh...
It felt like she was wiping him down with a filthy rag. He started to back away.
"It's in the shed. No point in you just standing around waiting. Wanna come with?"
Her tone flipped to something almost sweet, and before he could even process the change she'd grabbed his wrist and started dragging him along. The grip was rough enough to leave a bad taste in his mouth, but he wanted this over with as fast as possible, so he went along without a fight.
"So how old is our handsome fella?"
She leaned in close with a sly, oily smile. Maybe it was because she was the landlady. It was uncomfortable as hell, but Hanbyul did his best to play along.
"Ah, I'm thirty-nine..."
"Thirty-nine!? You don't look it at all! Then what about me? How old do I look?"
Even being generous, she looked like she was in her early fifties... but Hanbyul had picked up a thing or two about how the world worked.
"E-early forties...?"
"Oh my! Aren't you just the funniest thing~ I'm thirty-forty-five! Puhahahaha!"
He forced a laugh along with this bizarre ajumma who told her own jokes and cracked up at them, enduring a truly painful stretch of time.
"Here we are."
They'd taken a long, looping walk around the property before finally arriving at the shed. No matter how generously you looked at it, the thing was one strong breeze from collapsing. The iron gate was rusted through, the container inside was overgrown with weeds, and the windows were smashed.
Creeeeak—
The shed door swung open with a sound that set his teeth on edge.
"What are you doing? Aren't you going in?"
She waved him in first, sending Hanbyul inside ahead of her. Then, after a quick glance around to make sure no one was watching, she followed him in.
Click.
"Huh? Why'd you suddenly..."
"If you don't close it, it falls apart."
She flipped on the light, and there it was — the shaved ice machine, sitting right in front of them. A layer of dust said it hadn't been used in a while. Even at a glance, it looked heavy enough to be a real problem.
"What are you waiting for? Pick it up."
She flicked at her ear and jerked her chin at the machine.
"Ah, yes ma'am..."
He was grateful just to be allowed to borrow it, so even though he hoped she'd help, he decided to lift it himself. His arms trembled as he somehow got it off the ground, but...
As if she'd been waiting for exactly this moment, the ajumma sank her fingers into the married man's ass and squeezed.
"Haaahnn..!!"
"What's the holdup? You've gotta carry it out."
"Ahh... y-yes ma'am..."
The machine was almost too much for a grown man to lift. Both his hands were occupied just keeping it up, so he couldn't put up any real resistance. The landlady stayed right beside him the entire way, kneading his ass as he hauled it along.
They hadn't gone more than a few steps before the next problem presented itself.
"Um... nnh... c-could you open the door for meee...!"
The door was shut, and with both hands full, there was no way Hanbyul could open it himself.
"Hmmm... Do I really have to open it for you?"
She shot him a sidelong look, still groping his ass, then pretended to reach for the door — and ran her hand right over his cock instead.
"Hnnnngh...!!!"
His face twisted at the sick, unwanted pleasure as he stared at her.
"Ooh~ Feisty, aren't we? If it pisses you off that much, don't take the damn thing."
Even as a middle-aged woman, she had more than enough to overpower a man in this world. His only real option was to keep his mouth shut and keep walking.
Before long they were back at the front gate. Even then, she still hadn't stopped fondling his ass. He was just wondering when this humiliating ordeal would finally end when—
"Honey!!! Where have you been all this time!!! Get in here already?!"
A middle-aged man in an apron stood in the doorway. From the way he spoke, it was obvious they were husband and wife.
"Ah, I was just helping this gentleman out for a minute. I'm coming~ I'm coming."
She gave his ass a couple of parting pats, shot him one last sticky look, and disappeared inside — a person he never wanted to see again.
"See you around~♡"
She vanished with a goodbye so unsettling he was afraid she'd show up in his nightmares.
"Haa..."
Relief at finally being free of her crashed into a fresh wave of helplessness. Getting the machine even this far was impressive for a man, to be fair.
"H-how am I supposed to carry this all the way..."
He'd endured all that humiliation to borrow it, so it only meant something if he actually used it — but hauling it all the way home was another matter entirely. He'd promised to make shaved ice, and a promise was a promise. He set it down for a moment, then—
"Hup..!"
—heaved it back up and started for home.
"Haa... haa..."
His whole body was already soaked through with sweat. His arms and legs were shaking so badly a single tap might have snapped them.
If only Jia were here with me...
He took another step, the regret sitting heavy in his chest. Whether it was a rock or a tree root, something caught his foot. His legs tangled, and his body pitched forward.
"Wha..? Waaah—?"
He fought it with everything he had, but his center of gravity was already gone. The thrashing didn't mean a thing. His arms, locked around the machine in a death grip, said everything about how desperate he was.
"Nnnngh!!!"
Thud! Whump...
He went down face-first with the machine. Thankfully it didn't break, but...
"Nngh... i-it hurts..."
His palms burned like they'd been scraped raw. When he looked, blood was welling up in fat beads from the torn skin. On any other day he would have brushed off a little pain like this and kept going like it was nothing.
"Hic... hic... hh..."
But today, it was like he'd been reduced to a child. Before he even realized it, the feeling welled up and overflowed — he curled in on himself and the tears came.
"It reeeally... hhngh... hic..."
Hot, exhausted, filthy, hurting, irritated, stinging — every ugly feeling hit him at once... and something inside him just snapped. Maybe what really hurt was knowing that no one could have helped him with what had just happened.
Even so, thinking of the daughters waiting for him, he pushed himself up off the ground through the sobs. He drew a shaky breath and tried to lift the machine again.
"Hic... kngh... hnnn... hic..."
Whether it was the ragged breathing or just that he had nothing left, he couldn't get it up the way he had before.
"Why... why won't it work..."
He stood there in place, wiping his tears on his arm in the most pathetic way, when—
"Huh? Papang!!!"
A familiar voice rang out from up ahead.
Sky-blue frills left her pale shoulders bare, catching the sunlight and giving her an even purer glow. A white skirt that matched her snow-white hair only made her more beautiful as Iseul came running toward him, her steps light and quick. Today, of all days, the sight of her was almost painfully welcome — and at the same time, he was ashamed to let her see him like this. He ducked his head lower, trying as hard as he could to hide that he'd been crying...
"Huh? Papa, are you crying? What is this! You're bleeding!"
Iseul's face went white as she looked him over, her mouth hanging open in shock.
"How did this even happen? Ah..."
Then she saw the shaved ice machine lying on its back in the dirt, belly-up, and Baek Iseul pieced together roughly what had happened.
"Aigoo... Papang..."
She looked at him with an expression that said she understood exactly how he felt — and that she was proud of him.
"Get on."
Just like that, she dropped to one knee and offered him her back. Iseul, who'd always seemed so young and clumsy, suddenly looked grown-up — and solid enough to lean on.
"Hic... hic..."
Jiwoo's absence hit him all over again, and at the same time he felt a rush of gratitude for Iseul's kindness.
"I-Iseul..."
"Papang. Hurry up~"
She put on a playful air, like she was telling him not to be embarrassed, and wiggled her back to hurry him along.
"Th-then..."
He bit his lower lip to keep his ragged breathing from showing and climbed onto her back as quietly as he could. The body he'd thought was nothing but slender and delicate was surprisingly solid — packed tight with something sturdy underneath.
"Whew... you're so light~ The machine's kinda heavy, though..."
With Hanbyul on her back and the shaved ice machine in her arms, Iseul started walking.
"Iseul..."
"You can just stay still until we get there~ Papang♡ Settle your heart down. I'll have you home in no time."
She had to be struggling herself, and watching her go this far for him made him feel like he was the child here. The road that had been nothing but hard and miserable became, because of one person, a quiet and comfortable stretch of path. The tree-lined street he hadn't even noticed on the way here, the sky, and far off in the distance — the East Sea.
Oh, right. We came here for a summer getaway...
In that moment, a sea breeze swept across the ridgeline.
Whoooosh—
Iseul's hair streamed in the wind, and at the same time a lavender scent — the same one that had only ever come from Jiwoo-noona — brushed past the tip of his nose.
Thump. Thump.
Even in the heat, he could feel Iseul's warm body against his, and the soft, sweet scent of her skin. And the sound of a heartbeat, steady and close — he couldn't tell whose it was.
Without either of them realizing the other was doing the same, Hanbyul and Iseul's faces flushed red as they walked home in silence, listening to the sound of the sea.
The distance between them was nothing like it had been before. It felt like this one incident had pulled them that much closer together.