Cheon Geon-young wordlessly accepted her touch. When her white fingers reached his knee, he looked at the raindrops moving on the window in the ceiling, focusing on their movement. Yoon Tae-ha had him sit on the mattress while she tended to his wound on the floor.

“Won’t it be uncomfortable when you walk?”

“It’ll heal quickly. It’s okay.”

“I’m not okay at all.”

Her voice was tinged with tears. Cheon Geon-young deeply etched every detail of the woman speaking those words into his eyes. Her trembling breath. Her gnawing lips. Her fingers lightly holding his ankle.

“If you’re hurt, there’s nothing I can do. It’s not like holding hands recharges my energy, or that my headaches subside. So you can’t get hurt. There’s nothing I can do for you.”

His longing was reflected in Yoon Tae-ha’s worried eyes. It seemed like something other than the wound was more urgent to him. He reached out to her as she cut the bandage with scissors.

His hot hand touched her cold cheek. At that, she was flustered and cut in a different place than planned. The rustling sound was as loud as thunder.

“What’s wrong?”

Instead of answering, Cheon Geon-young wiped away the droplets flowing down her face with his fingers. Wiping away moisture from a glass or can was Yoon Tae-ha’s habit. Cheon Geon-young was deliberately mimicking her habit with a very intentional gesture.

Yoon Tae-ha didn’t understand what was happening and blankly stared at his face. His expression was unreadable, and even a faint fear arose within her.

His large hand moved from her soft cheek down to her lips. His fingertips slid from the corner of her mouth to her plump lower lip. Then, he subtly brushed the inner edge of her wet lips.

“It’s all healed.”

Using the wound she had sustained in Acheron as an excuse, he was conscious of the space between her parted lips. Just as Yoon Tae-ha had done, he lightly touched her lower lip once more.

“It hurt, didn’t it?”

“No.”

At the same time as her reply, he frowned. The movement of her lips felt too stimulating to his fingertips.

While his fingers paused, Yoon Tae-ha lightly turned her head. Cheon Geon-young’s hand lingered in the air for a moment before naturally lowering.

“I’ll take you to your room. Let’s clean up the bandage and trash first.”

“It’s okay. I’ll sleep here.”

“There’s only a mattress though?”

“I like it. It reminds me of when I was little.”

He could at least grant the request of a sick person. She nodded and went downstairs to dispose of the trash. It was an unspoken secret that she had almost tripped and fallen on the wooden stairs.

After washing up and changing her clothes, Yoon Tae-ha turned up the volume and watched an old movie in the living room. She wanted to let Cheon Geon-young know where she was. Without knowing why she felt that way, she made rustling noises that she usually wouldn’t.

When it was time to sleep, she spread a blanket on the sofa and lay down. Her rain-soaked body began to feel chilly.

It was after she had delivered a blanket and pillow upstairs with her psychokinesis. She felt a little awkward going up herself.

Tossing and turning, she checked the time and saw it was already 3 AM. There was no sound from upstairs. She quietly turned off the television with the remote. As if waiting for that moment, Cheon Geon-young’s voice came down.

“Come up if you’re bored.”

After hesitating for a moment, Yoon Tae-ha hugged the blanket she had placed on the sofa like a doll and lightly climbed the stairs. It was out of a bit of curiosity and stubbornness.

She wanted to control the fluttering feeling caused by the touch of his fingertips. If she didn’t go up, wouldn’t that prove that she was conscious of him?

Cheon Geon-young was looking up at the night sky through the window in the ceiling. Then, seeing the thick blanket like moving luggage, he chuckled softly. Only then did Yoon Tae-ha smile back at him.

“Where are you going?”

“I heard there’s a vacant room on the second floor here. Are you the landlord?”

“You’re speaking informally to the landlord on our first meeting. Provocative.”

“Are you going to kick me out? I just moved all the way from downstairs.”

“I like provocative tenants.”

Yoon Tae-ha took a few steps and arrived in front of the mattress where he was sitting.

“It looks like the rain will stop soon.”

She spread the blanket next to the mattress and plopped down. He was right. The clear navy blue sky, which she hadn’t seen once since coming to Cocytus, was visible through the window. It was still raining.

Looking up at the window, Yoon Tae-ha asked,

“Did you like the attic?”

“I liked it. It’s the highest place in the house.”

“I wanted to sleep in an attic once too. Actually, that’s why I came up.”

The two lay down side by side. Looking up at the window in the ceiling. They didn’t look at each other’s faces or hold hands. But it was a night when they felt each other’s presence more than ever.

As Cheon Geon-young was chattering about the weapons he would need to buy in the future, Yoon Tae-ha’s eyes gradually began to close. The effect of the cold medicine was delayed. She answered his questions a few times before falling asleep.

Listening to her even breathing, Cheon Geon-young slowly turned to lie on his side. Resting his arm on the side, he looked at the woman sleeping below the mattress.

Yoon Tae-ha stubbornly slept below the mattress with only one blanket. She didn’t seem to have any intention of listening even if he suggested they switch places.

He touched the stray hairs of the woman who had sleepily risen with his fingers. The sleeping figure didn’t move. The mattress couldn’t be an obstacle when reaching out to her.

A warm and soft energy emanated from the sleeping woman. He watched her, unaware of how time was passing. Like the boy who loved his own reflection in the spring so dearly. He gazed at the woman lying a hand’s breadth below him.

The pattering rain and the attic reminded him of the mansion engulfed in flames. The night when his life had begun to go even more terribly wrong.

Did you experience a night like that too?

His pupils deepened like a well as he asked a question that would never reach her. He tucked the tangled hair behind the woman’s ear. The tickling sensation on his fingers felt good.

He could stay like this for a very long time. Even if it was a dream that would disappear like a reflection beneath the water’s surface when he opened his eyes.

The rain became thinner, and the attic, which had been filled with the sound of burning firewood, gradually became quiet. At that moment when her even breathing briefly stopped, the eyelids of the sleeping woman lifted. His hand, which had been moving slowly like playing in water, stopped.

Their eyes met. A moment as if time had stopped continued.

Her hazy face, contrary to his expectations, didn’t run away. She remained within his breath’s reach.

The reflection that didn’t disappear was unbearably lovely. The moonlight pooled in her pupils swayed like waves and beckoned. Finally, he lowered his body to quench his thirst.

Their lips slowly overlapped. The water’s surface that he finally reached was moist and soft.

He didn’t go further, just pressed his lips against hers before raising his body. Before Yoon Tae-ha could realize what had just happened, the man’s body moved down.

He devoured her lips with a fierce air. His thick upper body covered Yoon Tae-ha like a tidal wave.

A rough kiss poured down, making her forget all about the light touch of a few seconds ago. His hot tongue curled into her mouth. Yoon Tae-ha struggled slightly at the unfamiliar sensation of their tongues touching. Cheon Geon-young narrowed the gap without allowing even a small space.

Their coming and going breaths were humid and hot. Yoon Tae-ha hugged his shoulders, feeling like she was being pushed off a cliff. She clumsily groped the muscles that were twitching as if about to sprout wings. He lowered his upper body deeply, willingly offering himself.

When her waist lifted due to shortness of breath, a large hand came from below and hugged her tightly. She could feel his body, hotter than warm, almost burning, through the thin fabric.

The blanket they had been well-covered with had already slipped below her thighs. The man’s leg slipped between the legs inside the blanket. Yoon Tae-ha’s mind grew faint at the immediate, strange entanglement.

She let out a shallow moan because of the sensation of the bandage he had just wrapped touching her calf. Cheon Geon-young’s body stiffened at the stimulating sound.

More. Just a little more. He pushed her like a madman. The sticky sound fueled his thirst.

He had only kissed the surface of the water, but he had fallen into an endless desert. All of her was so sweet that it made him dizzy.

When Yoon Tae-ha, suffocating, urgently hit his back, he finally pulled his lips away.

Her lips were dazzlingly red from how much he had bitten and licked them. The blanket was wrapped around their ankles like vines. Eyes filled with longing met in one place.

The moonlight was still pooled in her pupils. He hadn’t been able to steal it away even with the long kiss.

She wasn’t sad. It meant there was a reason to press their lips together again.

Cheon Geon-young lowered his lips to the place where clear tears were about to well up. The tear on the right disappeared between his lips. But the tear on the left remained. He didn’t wipe it away but let it flow down. Soon, Yoon Tae-ha’s hand rose to wipe away the tear.

As if waiting for that, he pulled her hand and held it. Yoon Tae-ha’s eyes widened. Cheon Geon-young kissed the fingers he was holding. Reverently, as if making a vow. And he bit the knuckles with only his lips. He even sucked on them weakly.

Yoon Tae-ha’s face flushed more than ever at an act she had never imagined in her life. The soft and weak flesh tormented her fiercely.

“What...”

A blurred question escaped her wet lips. Cheon Geon-young looked her straight in the eye and kissed her fingers once more. A light sound, ‘tchok,’ was heard. The fingertips of the person held in his tearless eyes trembled.

“What do you want me to do?”

His low voice was scattered with suppressed desire. He didn’t stop even when he saw Yoon Tae-ha turning her head as if she couldn’t bear the act of him kissing her hand.

“Are you going to run away?”

“You...”

“You’re good at it. Leaving me alone.”

Seeing her honest face, unable to even say “when,” he raised the corner of his lips.

Did it sting? There were too many to count. Under the swimming pool, on the rooftop of the building. Yoon Tae-ha ran away so well. Moments he had repeatedly missed because he didn’t know the cause of his desire.

Regretting the time he had let slip away, Cheon Geon-young lowered his body.

“Kill me if you don’t like it. Say your guide went crazy and touched you. You have immunity, you know.”

“You’re crazy...”

Soft, warm, and sweet wherever he bit. Could anyone remain sane with their lips here? Cheon Geon-young lightly pressed his lips against the lips he had so cruelly tormented. Yoon Tae-ha squeezed her eyes shut at the kiss that felt like a bird pecking at its food.

Kissing her deliberately loudly, he whispered softly in Yoon Tae-ha’s ear. Don’t go. Instead of answering, she gripped his clothes tighter. Cheon Geon-young lightly bit her earlobe, punctuating their promise.

The air in the attic, where the rain had stopped, became humid once more.