Romantic Gangster

#52

Ji-woo’s laughter reached Hyun-joon’s ears again. That ticklish sound made unnecessary worries and anxieties disappear, replaced by soft emotions that resembled Ji-woo. Hyun-joon finally smiled as he hugged Ji-woo’s waist with both arms.

“Hey, Seo Ji-woo.”

“Yeah?”

“I really like you.”

A laugh louder than before gripped Hyun-joon’s heart. Wanting to see the smiling face, he pulled away, and saw a face brighter than the streetlight and more sparkling than the dark night.

“I like you too, a lot.”

Ji-woo’s words of affection still felt unreal, as if they might disappear if he closed his eyes and opened them again, or when morning came. But Hyun-joon now believed those words. If it was a dream, he could just live in it without waking up, and if it disappeared when he opened his eyes, he could just live with them closed.

He didn’t want to lose that… warm feeling that filled his heart snugly and spread throughout his body. He didn’t want to be apart from Ji-woo at all.

“…Can’t you not go home? I won’t do anything. I’ll just sit as far away from you as possible and just look at you.”

“No, go home quickly.”

“What? Isn’t that too cold?”

“I don’t think I can stay far away from you when I’m with you…”

The reason for not allowing it was because Ji-woo couldn’t stay far away from him… Hyun-joon learned for the first time that when something feels too good, it can make you sigh. He sighed involuntarily because he liked Seo Ji-woo so much, wondering if it was okay to like someone this much.

“…Fuck, really…”

Feeling like he might go crazy, Hyun-joon turned away from Ji-woo, took a couple of steps, then turned back and approached again, taking deep breaths while facing the wall.

“Okay. I’ll go. It’s our first day, and I think I need to calm my heart a bit too. I’ll go for now and come back in the morning.”

“Okay. Be careful on your way.”

“Yeah. Go inside first. Lock the door, open the window, and wave to me. I’ll leave after I see that.”

“Alright.”

Although he was going to wave from upstairs, Ji-woo didn’t want to just go in coldly, so he waved goodbye and half-turned his body. Then, as if remembering something, he turned back to Hyun-joon.

“Hyun-joon.”

“…Yeah.”

Every time Ji-woo called his name, especially when he affectionately called just his first name without the surname, Hyun-joon felt so good he thought he might die. Of course, he had no intention of actually dying.

“We’re dating now, right?”

Hyun-joon felt something explode in his head. He wasn’t sure if it was patience, reason, or humanity, but something clearly exploded and disappeared. No, he thought maybe all three had disappeared.

“I was definitely going to let you go.”

Hyun-joon stepped forward and cupped Ji-woo’s face, capturing his sweet-tasting lips. He felt like he might go crazy with how pretty Ji-woo was, not pushing him away despite being surprised, and parting his lips.

This time, he didn’t forget to control his pheromones. Although various impulses were boiling inside him, making him feel like he could do anything, he didn’t want to make Ji-woo uncomfortable.

“…Mm…”

After rubbing and sucking Ji-woo’s sweet-tasting tongue for a long time, Hyun-joon slowly pulled his lips away. It felt so good that he felt he could do it all night if asked, but it wouldn’t be good to show such obsessive behavior on the first day.

Catching his breath, Hyun-joon gently wiped Ji-woo’s wet, shiny lips. Ji-woo’s flushed face in the streetlight was so beautiful that Hyun-joon forgot what he was going to say and just took in Ji-woo’s face for a long moment.

“Seo Ji-woo.”

“Yeah?”

“Ji-woo.”

“…Yeah.”

“We’re dating now, right?”

Ji-woo, who had been quietly looking up at Hyun-joon as he repeated his question, nodded.

“Yeah, we are…”

Finding Ji-woo so lovable, Hyun-joon lowered his large body once more and hugged Ji-woo’s smaller body tightly one last time before letting him go inside.

“I’ll do well. I’ll do really well, so just stay with me.”

Ji-woo, nodding and patting Hyun-joon’s back again, laughed softly, realizing that at this rate, they might spend all night kissing and hugging, then kissing and hugging again in front of the house.

“We might end up staying up all night like this.”

“It’s because you suddenly said something sexy as you were going in.”

“Me?”

“Yeah. If you do that again, I might really push you all the way into the house, so go up quickly. Don’t look back.”

“Okay, I’m really going now.”

Ji-woo waved goodbye again and started walking towards the dim entrance of the apartment building, then slightly turned back once more. Hyun-joon, standing askew, lifted his foot and pretended like he was about to run forward.

“Hey, shit. Come here. You know you won’t be able to sleep tonight.”

When Hyun-joon leaned forward as if he was really going to come, Ji-woo smiled so brightly his eyes almost disappeared and ran into the old apartment building entrance.

Fuck, he’s really cute, seriously.

Muttering to himself, Hyun-joon stepped back towards the opposite wall from where he had been standing. The alley was so narrow that after just two big steps backward, his back touched the wall.

Lifting his head in anticipation of the window opening, soon one of the dark windows lit up. And the brightest window in this alley, resembling Ji-woo, opened. Ji-woo poked his face out of the window.

“Be careful on your way. Make sure to let me know when you get home.”

Hyun-joon nodded, having the ridiculous thought that he wished his legs would grow longer so he could reach Ji-woo’s window from here.

“I want to kiss you again. Can’t I come up for just a moment before I go? I won’t come inside, I’ll just do it outside the door. Just 5 minutes.”

“No. Go quickly. See you tomorrow, goodbye.”

“Huh…”

Hyun-joon exhaled emptily as he watched Ji-woo close the window and disappear inside. Of course, he had expected to be rejected since it was 99% serious and 1% joke, but seeing Ji-woo go inside so coldly made him feel impatient. It had only been about 5 seconds since Ji-woo’s face disappeared, but it was already lingering before his eyes.

Just as he was about to reluctantly start walking, thinking he should go home quickly and at least call, the sound of the window opening again was heard. Reflexively looking up, he saw Ji-woo’s face half-appearing.

“…Just 5 minutes, okay?”

Although it was a small voice, Hyun-joon understood easily and immediately ran towards Ji-woo. He couldn’t see the dark, unlit apartment entrance or the even darker stairs.

Because if he climbed those stairs, the door would open as if by magic, and he would see Ji-woo approaching him as if he had run there.

That night, Hyun-joon only managed to go home after climbing and descending the stairs four more times.

* * *

After showering and absorbing the dripping water from his hair with a towel, Ji-woo applied toner to his face and put on a small amount of white lotion twice. By the time he finished drying his hair, it was well past 1 AM, so he quickly turned off the lights and got into bed.

Because Hyun-joon kept coming up instead of going home, kissing, then pretending to leave but coming back up asking for a glass of water because he was thirsty, then kissing again, then coming up once more saying he’d really only do it one more time and kiss, and finally coming up again saying he had something he really needed to say but couldn’t, it was well past midnight when Ji-woo could properly get inside.

Of course, it wasn’t all Hyun-joon’s fault. Ji-woo was clearly at fault too for liking that Hyun-joon kept coming to him and letting him do as he pleased.

Ji-woo touched his lips, which felt a bit swollen and hot from all the kissing, and pulled the blanket up to just below his eyes. It was because he felt a bit embarrassed just thinking about Hyun-joon, even though he was alone and not actually with him.

The incident with the PE teacher picking a fight on the way to school this morning felt like it had happened days ago. Was it because so many things had happened in one day? Ji-woo recalled the long day, bringing to mind everything that had happened since the morning.

He had worried about Hyun-joon all day and thought about how much he wanted to see him. Then, the moment he saw Hyun-joon in front of his house, his feet moved towards him before his thoughts could even form. He ran unknowingly, as if Hyun-joon was where he needed to be.

Only after seeing Hyun-joon did he feel at ease, and things that hadn’t registered in his eyes, ears, mind, and heart all day started to appear and be heard one by one. Just having Hyun-joon in his sight felt so good. He thought he wanted Hyun-joon to be in front of him all the time.

It was a feeling similar to what he had desperately wished for before his grandmother passed away. Ji-woo still clearly remembered that feeling of begging and pleading for her to just be by his side, in any condition.

It was perhaps natural that Hyun-joon couldn’t believe his words, his confession of liking him, right away. After all, until that morning, Ji-woo had been acting like he didn’t know what it meant to like someone, saying he would think about it.

‘Seo Ji-woo, you really love me, don’t you?’

‘I guess so. I guess I really fucking love you. What should we do now?’

Maybe he should have spoken more seriously… Did it seem too playful? He had just repeated what Hyun-joon said, but would Hyun-joon have believed him right away if he had spoken seriously instead of just saying it like that?

He hadn’t realized it earlier because he was so out of it, but looking back now, he felt embarrassed. Ji-woo turned to his left side and bit his slightly swollen and softer lower lip.

No… It’s okay now. Hyun-joon knows my feelings are real now. Everything turned out well.