Chapter 6

I just turned it off. My face was steaming hot. I felt hot, so it was hot. What’s worse is that I was already confused, but Carmen just added to my confusion. It was then when I kicked my blanket.

“Hail.”

Before I knew it, the sound of water had disappeared, and instead, I heard a voice call my name outside the blanket. When I pulled down the blanket and stuck out my head a bit, I saw Evan standing in front of me, his body wet. His pale skin seemed to peek through his thin pajamas. Drops of water dripping from his disheveled hair ran along the contours of his body. There were none where I could put my eyes on.

“Can you dry my hair?”

Evan would sometimes ask me to do things like this. If you can do it yourself, why ask me? It’s not that I haven’t thought that. But I wanted to see Evan snuggling while leaning on me, so I nodded.

I grabbed the towel he handed me. Evan familiarly took a seat in my arms. Plopping down between my legs, Evan leaned on me. The scent of the bodywash mixed with Evan’s scent, giving off a captivating fragrance.

Usually, I’d do this pretty well, but today of all days, my hands were trembling. Why would he say that? That I’m dating Evan. Is that how others see us?

I tightly closed my eyes so I wouldn’t be so self-conscious of Evan while drying his ebony-like hair. I dried his hair with just my hands, but probably because I didn’t have my sight, I was more sensitive to other senses. Sometimes, my fingertips grazing against his tender skin, his thin body leaning on me, and his refreshing scent. Unable to stand it anymore, I opened my eyes.

I made eye contact with Evan, who had his head turned back as he watched me. Evan slowly closed his eyes, like a drowsy cat.

“E-Evan. If there’s anything you wanna say…”

“If you’re that nervous, you could say no.”

“Huh?”

“Nothing. I said you’re cute.”

Evan turned his body towards me, and stared. At that moment, electricity seemingly trickled from my toes. What day is it today, really? Why’s Evan acting like this with me nowadays? I tried to calmly open my mouth.

“Calling me cute, that’s kinda…”

“Then what do you call cute things, if not cute?”

My cheeks were hot. My face’s handsome, but far from cute, so those are just empty words. Nevertheless, when Evan said those words with a serious face, shyness came over me for no reason.

“You don’t like being called cute?”

“Instead of not liking it… it just doesn’t suit me.”

“I think it suits you pretty well.”

I don’t think so, objectively speaking. The word cute suits you. When I didn’t say anything else, just muttering this deep down, Evan spoke first.

“Pretty.”

“Huh?”

“You’re really pretty.”

What’s he talking about? My hands drying his hair paused at his random words. The wet towel that fell was wetting the cuff of my pants.

“W-What’re you…”

“You don’t like the word cute. So, I said you’re pretty, but do you not like it either?”

Then, what do you like? Evan was lost in thought as he muttered this. His still slightly wet hair stuck to his pale skin, making it stand out more.

All sorts of embarrassing words came out of his red lips. All the words that didn’t suit me. Graceful, beautiful, sexy… I was startled by the words that Evan blankly listed.

“L-Let me dry your hair!”

Thinking I can’t hear any more of this, I quickly picked up the towel, and mussed up Evan’s hair. My hands naturally grew rough. I tried moving with great force, not leaving a drop of water, and before long, there wasn’t a single drop of water left on his black hair. I picked up the white towel, almost exhausted, and evened my breathing.

I rubbed all the tips of his dry hair with my fingers. How can someone be so pretty when they’re wet and dry? It was then when I put away the towel and was lost in trivial thoughts. Evan drew his body closer to mine. I held my breath at his refreshing scent that never easily disappeared.

“U-Uhm, your hair’s all dry now!”

“Yeah. Too bad.”

“Too bad?”

“I liked being like this with you.”

Warm. His beautiful voice quietly echoed through the dorm room. His small body leaning on me was hot. I also felt hot. My heart was pounding.

“Can we stay like this a bit longer?”

“S-Sure.”

I felt a weight on one of my shoulders. I could feel a strong gaze coming from just below my face, but I didn’t make eye contact with him. But I was at a loss at his persistent gaze that followed me, I spoke.

“Did you wanna say something?”

“No.”

Silence ensued after his words. His gaze was still fixed on me. I was covered in cold sweat. The beating of my heart grew louder.

“T-Then, is there something on my face?”

I twisted, and twisted some more, and then threw the question out with difficulty, ‘Why’re you looking at me like that?’ Then, Evan tilted his head for a moment, and then stood up with a soft smile on his face. The weight pushing down on my shoulders disappeared. Evan’s slender fingers stretched out towards me.

“Yep. There is.”

His tender skin tapped my cheek. Was there really something on my face, and that’s why he was staring like that? But I didn’t eat anything that’d get on my face. I babbled as I roughly wiped my face with the back of my hand. Is that enough? But then, Evan shook his head.

“It’s still there.”

“Still? Where?”

“Here.”

A soft sensation touched my cheek as I let out an embarrassed voice. What happened just now? My mind went blank. My head naturally bent down under Evan’s weight as he hung from my neck. I saw his face right in front of me as he hugged me.

“All clean now.”

Evan let out a pure smile with an innocent face. It didn’t matter now whether there was something on my face or not. A touch on my cheek, a weird sound. This is a–

“K-Kiss…”

When I grew tongue-tied, my face frozen, Evan poked my cheek and laughed.

“That wasn’t a kiss.”

“But, just now, your lips…!”

“This is what a real kiss is.”

“What…”

I didn’t even get a chance to finish my sentence. I lost my balance from the hand that roughly grabbed the back of my head. I thankfully didn’t fall because of the hand firmly supporting my waist, but I could feel Evan’s breath right in front of me. His tongue that dug between my open lips was warm. I couldn’t move my head that was grabbed, even as I fell.

“Hnghh…”

I let out a weird sound because the intruder that swept through the insides of my mouth pushed through even deeper. Evan’s tongue tangled up with mine. A clear liquid, without knowing whose saliva it was, stretched from my mouth that I couldn’t close.

My mouth was blocked by his lips that wanted me. I twisted my head with difficulty, but he just went in deeper. I lost strength in my legs. The licking and sucking sounded wet. My head was spinning.

“Nngh… Mmph.”

I couldn’t breathe. It felt like I was being swept away by the deep sea. That was how well Evan kissed me. I unconsciously bit his lips so I could breathe. My mind was blank. The taste of blood spread inside my mouth. Only then did our lips separate.

The area around Evan’s eyes were red as he breathed heavily. I sat down, staring blankly at him. Evan smiled brightly again as I stared at him. Red blood spread around his mouth, messy with saliva.

I unconsciously brought a hand to his lips. His bloodstained lips were much redder and thicker than usual. I removed my hand. His swollen lips continued to haunt me. I was taken by an indescribable thought– I want more.

“S-Sorry!”

“…Hail?”

I said nothing to Evan. Not only did I bite him as we kissed, but I even lusted after him. It was shameless of me to get this close to him, even though I resolved myself to keep my distance. Even I think I’m the worst. I ran out the room as fast as I could. The sound of my footsteps in the corridor and the door closing were all buried underneath the sound of my heart.

***

The warm atmosphere that filled the room a while ago cooled down. The smile adorning the face of the boy like habit disappeared as he sat on the floor, still wet. His hand that wiped his lips with his expressionless face was stained with a red bloodstain.

“I wonder what’s the problem.”

He asked in a low voice. His clear, beautiful voice was now extremely cold.

“I may not be good at smiling, but I practiced because you said you liked it.”

The corners of his mouth rose again. His bright smile appeared again like the sun, but disappeared like a mirage. His sudden change was unnatural for a person.

He thought Hail would accept him if he smiled like this. But then, the things he got in return were the drops of blood, red lips, and the echo of Hail running away. That’s right, just those things.

“Sorry, he said.”

He trampled his lips more, spreading the blood. It didn’t hurt. To him, this much wouldn’t leave a wound.

And yet, it didn’t feel good. This blood was proof that Hail rejected him. He didn’t like the blood spilled when they kissed, or Hail running away. Especially the words ‘sorry,’ that Hail seemingly said to himself. They were clearly words of rejection.

“Love’s so difficult.”

Evan Pristin’s pitch-black eyes seemed strangely twisted.