The Sound of the Heart (8)
A woman’s body is soft. It has no choice but to be, from the very start.
At the hormonal level, men burn fat and build muscle while women do the exact opposite—fat accumulates. So even if Yoon Seo-a had trained under a boxing medalist, the softness of her body was only natural.
It wasn’t as if I didn’t know. I’d exercised too, and every time I showered I could feel that same softness under my own hands. But touching someone else’s body was an entirely different matter.
It began with her arms. I took the arm she offered from the bath and carefully massaged from the fingertips upward. Once both arms were finished, I shifted so that Yoon Seo-a’s head lay directly beneath me.
My most private parts were fully exposed to her, and hers to me, but there was nothing to be done about it. I had no idea how to attend another person’s bath; I could only follow Yoon Seo-a’s instructions.
The real problem started now. She told me to begin at the neck and gently massage her entire upper body. The moment those words left her mouth, all I could see were her breasts.
Even submerged, the upper swell of them floated proudly, boasting a size that refused to sink. And according to her, I was supposed to massage those as well—exactly as I had everything else.
My face had already been burning since I started on her arms. The thought of what came next made it blaze hotter still. I felt as if dizziness would overwhelm me and I would collapse at any second.
Had my lust always been this strong? Of course this body was new, but it wasn’t as if desire had ever been completely absent.
Before the possession I had been a man in his prime; after it I was a girl passing through puberty. Once or twice a week I would curl up under the covers and secretly touch myself.
But after that phase those acts grew rare—almost nonexistent. I couldn’t even remember the last time I had sought that kind of comfort.
And now, simply from seeing another person’s breasts, I was this aroused? I sat there stiff and frozen, unable to move, until Yoon Seo-a lifted her head and spoke.
“Miss Ha-eun, what are you doing?”
“Ah—uh, yes?”
“What sort of foolish sound is that…? More importantly, would you please begin? Remaining in the bath this long is starting to make me dizzy as well.”
Unlike my flustered state, her voice dripped with pure annoyance. Only then did I manage to pull myself together. Right—I was the only one panicking. Yoon Seo-a didn’t care in the slightest.
So I would think of it differently. I wasn’t touching Yoon Seo-a’s body… yes. I was washing a dog. The little mind-control trick calmed me, if only a fraction. My face still burned, of course.
“Th-then I’ll really start.”
“Yeees.”
Her drawn-out reply was my signal. I slowly set my hands on her neck. Just as with her arms, the skin was utterly free of roughness; oil followed my palms and coated it smoothly.
I didn’t stop there. I pressed firmly with my fingertips and pushed upward, drawing a soft sigh from Yoon Seo-a’s lips. Apparently my massage wasn’t half bad.
Emboldened, I moved to her collarbones and the upper curve of her breasts. With four fingers and my thumb I pressed the swell, then cupped it in a gentle circle.
“Mmm…”
As the massage continued, unconscious breaths slipped from her mouth. Each one made the confidence that had been crawling along the floor climb a little higher.
Once the hesitation of shame began to fade, my hands grew freer. I no longer limited myself to the upper swell; I softly enveloped the full front of her breasts.
“Ah—”
“Ah, I’m sorry. Did I do something wrong…?”
The sound that left her was no longer a languid sigh but a sharp, high moan. I snatched my hands back at once and checked her expression.
If I had hurt her and she decided to retaliate later, it would be disastrous. The caution was only natural.
“…It’s nothing. I was simply… startled for a moment.”
“I-is that so…”
Thankfully she did not scold me for the mistake. Why she was covering her face with her hands I couldn’t tell, but I watched her carefully before asking again.
“Then… shall I continue?”
There was no answer, yet I took the silence as wordless permission and resumed caressing her breasts. Her body twitched each time, but I decided it must simply be ticklish.
When I finished her chest and worked down to the faint lines of her abdomen, my own body ached with fatigue. I had only completed the upper half—upper body versus lower—and already I felt ready to die of exhaustion.
I rubbed my own forearms for a brief rest. Yoon Seo-a, once more wearing her usual expression, spoke.
“Miss Ha-eun, are you tired?”
“Honestly speaking, yes… but you wouldn’t go easy on me for that, would you?”
“My, you know me well. Have you been investigating me as well, Miss Ha-eun?”
“Haha… You’ve been in the bath so long your mind must not be entirely clear.”
“Fufu… Perhaps so.”
Even when I mustered the courage to speak sharply, Yoon Seo-a remained completely unfazed. Just once—just once—I wanted to shatter that composed expression of hers.
“Miss Ha-eun, why don’t you come into the bath as well?”
While I was thinking that, she spoke again.
“Into the bath?”
“Surely you didn’t think finishing the upper body meant everything was done?”
“I didn’t think that, but…”
I had already noticed, from the moment I began attending her, that she truly never left the water once she entered. My face must have looked doubtful, because she urged me once more.
“Come along. The water won’t cool, but I feel as though I’m slowly being cooked.”
“…That might actually be better for me.”
“Fufu, how cruel.”
I sighed and stepped into the bath. I was already half soaked from washing her upper body, and lingering outside any longer had grown cold.
“Hm?”
The water itself felt strangely slick. Well, we had washed inside rather than outside; of course the oil would dissolve into it. And since each milliliter cost tens of thousands of won, it could only be good for the skin… Wait. Then couldn’t I wash myself here too while I had the chance?
The bathwater was replaced every morning after she left for school, wasn’t it? After today I would never set foot here again. This expensive bath might be my last chance to experience it.
With that calculation finished, I carefully scooped water in my hands and poured it over myself.
“Ugh…”
The warm water cascading down made my body shudder involuntarily. I hadn’t realized how chilled I had become until I entered the bath.
“What on earth are you doing…?”
“Ah. Haha…”
Yoon Seo-a, still waiting for her bath attendance, stared at me with an incredulous look. I offered an awkward smile and moved toward her legs.
“Th-then what should I do now?”
“Sit properly, and place my feet on your thighs.”
I followed her instructions, settling into a formal seated position and resting her feet on my thighs. She was tall, yet her feet were not especially large—perhaps size 245 at a guess.
I began kneading the small soles the same way I had worked earlier, but she clearly disliked the aimless touching.
“Don’t just fiddle with them. Imagine cupping my foot with both hands, then stroke upward with both thumbs.”
“Like this?”
“Yes, you’re doing well. And once the feet are finished, slowly work your way up from the ankles. Yes, just like that.”
Following her guidance, my hands moved through the water and soon reached her thighs. Half-leaning over her legs as I massaged, I suddenly realized how close our faces had become.
No matter how near I had drawn for the massage, the fact that the half-reclining Yoon Seo-a now filled my vision could only mean she had sat up.
“…Is something the matter?”
“No, not particularly. You’re better than I expected. I was thinking I might appoint you as my personal attendant.”
“I’m sorry, but I have no desire to become anyone’s attendant.”
Of course, if Senior Seo-hee ever invited me, I would consider it after only a brief hesitation. At least that person had granted me her name and treated me kindly from the very first meeting.
Come to think of it, how was Senior Seo-hee doing these days? I hadn’t seen her since the entrance ceremony. I wanted to see her at least once.
While that thought drifted through my mind, I realized Yoon Seo-a’s gaze still had not left me. I rolled my eyes away.
“…Did I say something I shouldn’t have?”
“Sometimes I truly wonder. What gives you the confidence to treat me so coldly, Miss Ha-eun?”
Yoon Seo-a continued, eyes genuinely intrigued.
“Your mother is an ordinary sales manager, and the friends you do have are nothing special… Ah, Miss Hong Su-ryeon, was it? Her father is a National Assembly member, true, but only a first-term one who was merely a local figure before that. His influence in the center is hardly impressive.”
“…You certainly know a great many things that don’t interest me.”
“I told you, Miss Ha-eun. I know everything. That is precisely why I am even more curious.”
Her face drew so close our noses nearly touched.
“Where exactly does that confidence of yours come from?”
“….”
“And so on.”
Her lips curved in a smile, yet her eyes remained utterly emotionless. I swallowed hard and met her gaze.
“Look. Even now you’re tense, yet you refuse to look away. You dodge so readily over trivial matters, yet at moments like this—when you absolutely should look away—you stay perfectly upright. That is what fascinates me. What is the source of the confidence that lets you endure before me?”
“…There isn’t any.”
“Then is it baseless confidence—mere recklessness? Relying solely on the goodwill I show you?”
She made no attempt to hide the soft laugh that escaped her and pressed on.
“No. You have been this way from the beginning. From the moment you first stood in my path, you already knew I was someone you could not handle. Yet even while trembling in fear, even while regretting your actions, you blocked me. And afterward, again and again, again and again…”
Her voice dropped lower and lower until it reached my ear as something close to a growl.
“Won’t you tell me what you’re hiding, Miss Ha-eun?”
“…Like I said, there isn’t anything.”
“Is that so? Then never mind.”
As if the heavy atmosphere had never existed, she spoke lightly and drew back, half-reclining once more and gesturing with her hand.
“Would you finish the rest? I’m beginning to want to lie down on the bed.”
I forced my trembling body—tension suddenly released—to keep moving and massaged her legs.
Her most private place lay open before my eyes, yet the lust I had felt at the start had long since died completely.
In its place remained only the terror she had just shown me, thick and heavy, and the single overwhelming desire to escape this place as soon as possible.