Ji Hyun-ho found himself bewildered.
He leaned in to kiss her deeply while she struggled to catch her breath, even inducing nausea with the intensity of his closeness. Holding hands wasn’t enough to grasp the situation, so he awkwardly made excuses, delving deeper into her inner world.
“Haah…”
But the moment their breaths mingled, he forgot his purpose. As soon as he trapped her plump lower lip between his lips and sucked on it, his slightly opened eyes closed involuntarily. He became absorbed in the supple sensation, the sweetness of her tongue, and the warm breath, disregarding everything else.
The kiss was a process he had already experienced like a hallucination in the dream he had created. That was why he had chosen to kiss—he wanted to focus on her problem through the only contact he had experienced before.
However, the hallucination and reality were different. The razor-sharp focus he had mustered was shattered.
Hyun-ho moved his jaw widely, as if to swallow her whole. Then, he inserted his thick tongue through the parted gap. Tae-eun’s body flinched.
He gripped her cheek with force, wrapping his tongue around hers. The tongue that was usually used only for eating food now frantically detected the novel taste.
The moist sound was incomparable to when he was just sucking on her lips. He could feel her heated skin. The deeper he probed his tongue to taste her, the more her exhaled breaths retreated into the back of her throat.
Tae-eun panted. He sealed the exit, not allowing even a speck of air to escape. He licked every nook and cranny of her inner cheek, palate, and the back of her tongue. Ravenous suctions continued.
This must be an extremely shocking situation for her. Even he, who had lived for many years, felt as if his body had become disconnected from his senses, experiencing something for the first time.
“Ngh…”
She let out a faint moan. The sound further spurred him on. He tilted his head diagonally, delving deeper into her mouth.
Suddenly, a blurry afterimage flashed by.
Hyun-ho did not stop the kiss. Having barely recalled his original purpose, he swirled his tongue forcefully, pressing her.
An image of a woman crying face-down appeared. It was not Tae-eun. Scenes of a funeral parlor, chrysanthemum flowers, rising incense, and a young woman in formal attire in a portrait flashed by.
And the spirits that had been chasing her from there.
He slowly peeled his lips away. She was lying with her eyes closed, tears streaming down. The palm that had cupped her cheek was damp.
“Do you hate it that much?”
Tae-eun lifted her eyelids. She frantically touched her own cheek. Her eyes widened at the wet sensation on her hand.
“Huh? Ah, why is this…”
“Are you crying because you don’t want to kiss me?”
“No, it’s not that, why am I crying?”
She blinked the tears away. Hyun-ho quietly observed her reddened sclera. Was the brief recollection so sorrowful that it brought tears?
“Did something get in my eye?”
“So, did you like kissing me?”
Her mouth closed. Apparently, she had caught on to his conversational tactics. She even scooted slightly away.
“How was it, now that we’ve tried it?”
He remained unperturbed, sticking close to her. Thanks to his diligent sucking, her already plump lips were even more swollen. His mouth watered.
“…You tell me first.”
Tae-eun’s lips protruded in what seemed like discontent. She appeared annoyed by his persistent questioning.
“It was exhilarating.”
Hyun-ho answered seriously, without a trace of a smile. Her mouth fell open. He licked his lips, keeping his gaze on the red tongue visible between her parted lips.
“So I want to do it more.”
She abruptly stood up without even hearing his full response. Her face, flushed like the inside of her mouth, avoided his gaze.
“I’ll go home now. I need to take Dodam for a walk.”
“You said the afternoon walk is at 4 o’clock, and it’s only 2 now.”
“But the dog will get lonely if I leave him alone.”
Her attitude was quite resolute. After a moment of thought, he nodded and stood up as well. Now that he had found the clue to the problem, he no longer needed to press her.
He could gradually increase the time they spent kissing from now on.
“I’ll drop you off.”
“Huh? No, it’s the same neighborhood, it’s fine.”
“If you go home alone like this, you might feel more lonely than you think.”
Tae-eun tilted her head, as if she didn’t understand. He wanted to minimize the time she would be left alone to grapple with her complicated thoughts. So, he grabbed her coat and headed out first.
“But I’m really okay…”
A small protesting voice followed, but the sound of her sneakers quickly catching up without further objection soon followed.
As soon as they stepped out of the warm house, a strong wind hit them. While his body was immune to the cold or heat, the woman was not. He meticulously zipped up her coat.
They walked the chilly street without much conversation. She hurried her steps, burying her face in her coat with her hands shoved in her pockets, while he followed half a step behind, watching over her.
There was enough space between them for a person to pass through. The distance was too far to have a conversation. One would never imagine that these were the same people who had just passionately kissed.
Tae-eun only turned around when they reached her house, a 7-minute walk from the café. Hyun-ho flashed a light smile at her sheepish face.
“See you tomorrow. Dress warmly for the walk.”
“Okay. Thanks for walking me home.”
She took out her keys from her coat pocket but hesitated to go in. He resisted the urge to kiss her again, wanting to minimize the time she spent wrestling with her complex thoughts. Instead, he gave her a subtle once-over.
“Will we meet in your dreams again tonight?”
It was a despicable question, even to himself, but seeing her eyes tremble with flustered confusion somewhat satisfied his mischievous desire.
“I’ll go.”
Hyun-ho waved his hand and turned around. But he stopped after only two steps.
“Ah, Noona.”
Tae-eun was still standing at the gate. Pleased with this sight, he briefly considered not playing one last trick, but his lips that had already made the decision parted smoothly.
“Did you see me doing something alone in your dream too?”
The key slipped from her hand. Her complexion turned pale, and her lips kept opening and closing repeatedly.
“Ah, that…”
“So you did see.”
She deeply bowed her head. Her reddened earlobes were fully exposed. Maybe he should suck on that next time? His mouth watered at the thought.
“I’m sorry.”
“No, it’s not like you wanted to see it.”
Precisely, she had only seen what he had shown her. She had wanted to watch for longer, but her unusually sensitive instinct had detected it and made her flee.
Now that he thought about it, it was strange that the spirits had latched onto this sensitive woman. Normally, she would have sensed the creepiness and fled on her own.
No less, even the one perched atop the heads of these local spirits had not exerted little effort to worm its way into her crevice. Yet, how could a mere spirit be so tenaciously attached to her body?
“Forget that dream.”
“Okay, I’ll forget it. I’m really sorry.”
“It’s fine. Go inside quickly. It’s cold.”
He waved at her once more and retraced his steps. He should dig up some old records, he thought.
***
Tae-eun embraced the eagerly greeting dog, cooling her flushed face. Despite her brisk walk against the wind, her cheeks had only grown warmer.
In the span of an hour, unbelievable things had happened. She had encountered the exact same space she had seen in her dreams, experienced vomiting for the first time in her life, and heard Hyun-ho’s confession that he had shared the same dreams.
Among them all, the most startling incident was that she had kissed Hyun-ho.
“Dodam, what should I do…”
What on earth had possessed her to do that? She felt as if she had been spellbound. When she came to her senses, her lips were tingling from having kissed him.
Tae-eun couldn’t even look her parents in the eye when she returned home. Feeling as if she had committed a misdeed, she hurriedly ate her meal and rushed into her room.
“I’ve gone crazy.”
And upon realizing that she would have to see Hyun-ho’s face again at work tomorrow, she buried her face in the pillow and let out a silent scream.
But there was another problem.
She lay down on the bed early, her mind in turmoil. She was worried that the bizarre and mystical phenomenon might occur again tonight. Exhausted from the various events, she couldn’t close her eyes.
It was true that she felt a sense of kinship with him, knowing they shared the same dreams. She was relieved that she wasn’t the only one experiencing such vividly sensorial dreams.
However, she was concerned that she might end up dreaming of peeking into his private life again. Conversely, her own life could also be exposed in a similar manner. Tae-eun shuddered.
She tried to hold out as long as she could, but there was no match for drowsiness. She fell asleep with a furrowed brow.
Muffled sobs reached her ears. A pungent fragrance brushed her nose. Immediately enveloped in a distressed mood, Tae-eun slowly walked forward.
It was a familiar dream. She hadn’t had it for a while, but it had returned after a long time. She passed by the woman crying face-down and stood before the portrait.
Her smiling friend greeted her warmly from the photograph.
She lit the incense with trembling hands. The tiny red flame gradually consumed the incense. She knew she should blow it out, but the sight was so beautiful that she couldn’t tear her eyes away.
The red dot drew nearer, and the incense crumbled. She remained mesmerized, watching. It had been a long time since she had faced such helplessness. Seems like life had been going well since moving to Hajung-ri.
Then, a hand approached and swatted the half-burned incense away. She lifted her dry gaze to find the owner of the hand.
“Snap out of it.”
Ji Hyun-ho was looking down at her with a cold expression.
🍉🍉🍉
