A Night That Was Finally Watched Till the End

“Wow…!”

The moment they stepped out of the theater, Seha almost shouted without realizing it, then hurriedly covered his mouth with both hands.

Still, he couldn’t stop the smile spreading all over his face.

“Ahem.”

Cha Jeongyun, who stood beside him clearing his throat and pretending to be calm, wasn’t much different either.

The tightly pressed corners of his lips kept twitching.

The two naturally slowed their pace.

Only after the crowd that had poured out of the screening hall drifted far away did Jeongyun and Seha stop and face each other.

“We finally did it!”

Seha was the first to raise his voice, stretching both arms toward Jeongyun.

He looked utterly unable to contain the joy surging inside him.

Jeongyun naturally caught Seha as he practically threw himself forward.

With their chests pressed closely together, they could vividly feel each other’s pounding heartbeats.

“Really, truly—congratulations.”

The overwhelming emotion Seha felt seeped straight into Jeongyun’s ear.

Jeongyun closed his eyes.

The noisy sounds of the outside world faded far away, and Jeongyun quietly savored the joy that belonged only to Seha and himself.

Today was the first day Jeongyun managed to watch an entire movie in a theater without having a seizure.

After the ritual was successfully completed, Jeongyun recovered much of his ordinary daily life.

He no longer saw horrific shapes in the darkness, and episodes of sleep paralysis and nightmares decreased noticeably.

The unexplained symptoms that struck him at random times also disappeared.

But that didn’t mean all the symptoms that had tormented Jeongyun vanished overnight.

He had been exposed to extraordinary suffering for far too long, and that left many scars on both body and mind.

Even without seeing blood-weeping monsters, Jeongyun still had nightmares from time to time.

Staying in dark spaces for too long made it hard for him to breathe, and he could still have seizures at the sight of blood.

Trauma was, by nature, stubborn like that.

“You really, really did well. You worked so hard.”

“……”

“You’re truly… doing great.”

As Seha’s voice trembled like he might burst into tears at any moment, Jeongyun smiled softly and slowly pulled away, meeting his eyes.

Those moisture-filled eyes sparkled endlessly as they looked at Jeongyun.

“It’s thanks to you.”

Jeongyun said it with complete sincerity.

There wasn’t a shred of exaggeration or falsehood.

Not only had the ritual gone well, but Jeongyun’s gradual return to normal life afterward would have been impossible without Jin Seha.

Seha stayed by Jeongyun’s side through every step of counseling and treatment.

He helped Jeongyun with everything he could.

Just knowing Seha was there made it easy for Jeongyun to calm down and find courage.

Wrapped in Seha’s affection, Jeongyun was getting better.

“That’s right. It’s thanks to me.”

Seha didn’t shy away from taking the credit.

Then, lightly patting Jeongyun’s backside, he added playfully,

“But it’s also because young master did so well.”

Jeongyun’s brow instantly furrowed at the tone, like one used to praising a child.

“Are you treating me like a kid again?”

“Well, compared to me, you kind of are?”

“Don’t be ridiculous. And how long are you going to keep calling me ‘young master’ anyway?”

Jeongyun pouted.

It was a topic they had been clashing over a lot lately.

Jeongyun insisted he wasn’t Seha’s employer anymore and demanded he stop using that title, while Seha insisted there was no way he could suddenly switch to calling him “Jeongyun” just like that.

That part genuinely left Jeongyun dumbfounded.

When it came to acting as a talisman, Seha freely spoke casually and even called him Cha Jeongyun when it suited him, yet now he claimed he couldn’t relax his speech.

Still, Seha had his side of the story.

Back when he was being ignored one-sidedly, using casual speech was a kind of rebellion, and later there were moments when familiarity slipped out unconsciously.

But at heart, he had consistently kept polite speech.

Now, though, things were different.

To be honest, Seha still hadn’t fully grasped that he and Jeongyun were lovers.

It felt awkward, unreal, like a dream.

In that state, it wasn’t easy to address Jeongyun in an intimate way or treat him casually.

“This is going to drag on again. Let’s just go home first. We’ll talk there.”

Since this topic always ended up going in circles without any gain, Seha turned to head home.

Or rather, he tried to.

“Wait.”

Jeongyun grabbed Seha’s turning body and made him face him again.

Then, smiling confidently at the puzzled Seha, he said,

“I did well, didn’t I?”

“Huh?”

“I endured it till the end of the movie.”

“Yeah. You did.”

“So you should give me a reward.”

Before Seha could ask what kind of reward, Jeongyun wrapped an arm around his neck and pulled him in, pressing their lips together.

Through Seha’s lips, which parted reflexively in surprise, a hot tongue thrust fiercely inside.

Fixing Seha’s head firmly so he couldn’t escape, Jeongyun plunged deep in one motion, thoroughly claiming his mouth.

When Seha came to his senses and realized they were in a public place, he tried to push Jeongyun’s shoulder away.

But Jeongyun didn’t care.

Truthfully, ever since the movie ended, all Jeongyun wanted was to breathe in every bit of Jin Seha.

As their tongues met and rubbed strongly, Seha let out a thin moan.

He tried desperately not to react, but it was useless.

Having never really shared proper skinship with anyone before meeting Jeongyun, Seha was always defenseless against the sensations Jeongyun gave him.

“S-stop, ngh…!”

Seha, flushed with heat, managed to pull his lips away midway, but Jeongyun immediately followed, tasting every bit of the soft, delicate flesh.

“Haah… hng….”

The long, persistent kiss only ended once Seha’s legs gave out from lack of breath and his body swayed.

Jeongyun looked at the panting Seha with a satisfied expression, then gently wiped the saliva-messy corner of his mouth.

The Jin Seha glaring at him with sharp eyes looked not scary at all—only cute and lovable, making Jeongyun smile again and again.

“Shall we go now?”

With a face like a well-fed puppy, Jeongyun casually held out his hand to Seha.

That face was absurdly adorable.

And for Seha, the fact that he no longer had to overlap Jeongyun’s face with the frightened, pitiful expression that once tried desperately to run away filled him with indescribable happiness.

In the end, Seha couldn’t scold him and quietly took the hand Jeongyun offered.

Their fingers naturally interlaced, and the warmth of that touch made it a good day.

“Done washing up?”

“Yeah.”

Jeongyun, who had returned to the bedroom after showering, looked at Seha sitting on the bed with a book open on his lap, then continued,

“Going to read and sleep?”

“Hmm, still deciding. Are you tired? If you want to sleep early, I can read in the living room.”

Seha said it thinking Jeongyun must be exhausted after enduring the dark theater for so long.

But Jeongyun’s expression immediately soured at those words.

Like a sulky child, he stomped over, climbed onto the bed, and pouted.

“Just read here. Why do you always say you’re going to leave whenever you get the chance?”

“…What, you’re sulking all of a sudden?”

“Forget it!”

Jeongyun even shouted and turned his back completely, lying down.

Seha stared blankly at that broad back for a moment, then burst out laughing.

Jeongyun whipped his head around and glared at him.

“What are you laughing at?”

“No, it’s just….”

“What, am I funny?”

Jeongyun knew, at least vaguely, that he was being childish.

Still, it hurt that Seha immediately talked about leaving without even being prompted.

He wondered if he was the only one who hated being apart even for a moment.

After glaring at Seha, who kept snickering instead of answering, Jeongyun turned away again and pulled the blanket over himself.

What was really annoying was that even in moments like this—when Seha was being petty and irritating—his heart still fluttered just knowing Jin Seha was behind him.

Was dating really always like this?

Jeongyun found himself asking that question several times a day lately.

When he saw lovers in movies or dramas who acted like they’d die without each other, he used to think they were ridiculous and that such things only existed in fiction.

But now that he was in love himself, he felt they were practically saints by comparison.

Even while looking, he missed him.

He was desperate to touch more, deeper.

He wanted to know every part of Jin Seha’s past that he hadn’t known, and wished to be in all of his future.

For Jin Seha, he felt like he wouldn’t mind turning the entire world into his enemy.

There was no bigger drama prince than this.

That was why, even now, he was throwing a tantrum despite not truly being upset—just hoping Jin Seha would look at him a little more.

And Seha, who knew very well that Jeongyun was acting spoiled, barely held back his laughter, looked at Jeongyun’s turned-away body, then set the book on the bedside table and quickly pressed himself against Jeongyun’s back.

Wrapping an arm around his waist from behind and rubbing his forehead against his back made Jeongyun’s body stiffen instantly.

Pretending to know nothing, Seha absentmindedly touched Jeongyun’s stomach and whispered,

“Are you going to keep sulking?”

His low, insinuating voice carried an unmistakable intention.

“You really…!”

Jeongyun raised his voice once more, grabbed Seha’s hand, turned around, and faced him.

Heat that couldn’t be hidden filled their eyes as they met up close, and the air in the bedroom quickly warmed.