Swallowed - Chapter 40

“Do you know how many calories you burn during sex?”

“Not funny.”

“I’m serious. You have a habit of tensing up when you come, so you’ll get abs in no time.”

“……”

Seyoung stared at Jaeha, speechless. He was so serious that she couldn’t tell if he was joking or not. He moved his hand, which had been massaging her arm, to her stomach. She reflexively tensed her abs, and Jaeha lifted her shirt to reveal her eleven abs line, tracing it with his fingertips.

“Hey. I’m telling you, you’ll get pretty abs.”

“S-stop it.”

“We need to do it more often so you can get them faster. If you move on top, you’ll get a squat effect too.”

“Stop!”

Seyoung covered her ears, pretending not to hear, and Jaeha finally burst out laughing.

“Tennis. I’ll do tennis.”

“You’re so cute, Seyoung.”

Jaeha wrapped his arms around Seyoung’s waist and pulled her close. Seyoung, now sitting on Jaeha’s lap, leaned against him without struggling. It felt like sitting on the most expensive and comfortable chair in the world. Except for the hard lump poking between her buttocks.

“Why are you hard?”

“I got turned on thinking about you coming…”

Jaeha mumbled, burying his face in her shoulder. He seemed fully aroused, stimulated just by thinking about it. Seyoung finally realized that the reason she was so tired and her limbs were trembling was because she had sex with Jaeha and played tennis since morning. No wonder her body felt so heavy.

“If we do it again now, I’ll die.”

“Then build up your stamina quickly. The food was delicious today, right? It’s because of the exercise.”

“It was a great restaurant.”

“Well, it’s always a good place. Kyungduk knows all the good restaurants. She values eating so much that she’d rather starve than eat something bad.”

Seyoung fell silent at the mention of Kyungdeok. Jaeha, who had been breathing steadily with his face buried in Seyoung’s shoulder, felt her hesitation and tilted his head to look at her face. Seyoung turned her head, looked at Jaeha, and smiled.

“No, I was just thinking about what Kyungduk said earlier.”

“That you’re like a nightingale?”

Seyoung shook her head. She was surprised that Kyungduk had said that, but it was the next thing she said that touched Seyoung’s heart.

“That you think about how to speak and how to make it sound pretty…”

It wasn’t so much about making it sound pretty as making it sound inoffensive, but it was the same idea. When she met someone who recognized her efforts, Seyoung felt a strange sense of fullness in her chest.

“I like the way you speak no matter what. But I know how hard you work and practice, so when I see the results, I’m happy as if it were my own achievement.”

Seyoung unwrapped Jaeha’s arms from her waist and stood up. Before Jaeha could follow, she turned around and sat facing him. Jaeha’s expression immediately brightened.

“So, you think I’m…”

“……?”

Seyoung paused, choosing her words carefully.

If she only had Baek Jaeha in the world, Han Seyoung would have nothing to fear. Not the world, not people, not nightmares, not the past. The warm passion that Jaeha poured out made Seyoung whole. His warmth was gradually building up in her lower abdomen.

After this time of insane happiness that made her want to die, Seyoung would have to live relying only on that warmth. The thought of it was terrifying. If she let go of Jaeha’s hand after being so happy, the world would become darker, people would become more vicious, and her nightmares would become worse. When she imagined that, a dark and foul-smelling selfishness would rear its head and flow out.

At times like that, Seyoung’s smile would become as sweet as honey, and her eyes would become so soft that they would melt Jaeha. She would leave room for Jaeha to like her even more and draw him in.

“You’re the only person I like.”

Now and forever. Jaeha stared blankly at Seyoung, mesmerized by the cotton candy-like confession that flowed from her red and luscious lips. The moment she specifically stated that he was the person she liked felt like a dream.

Seyoung smiled, moving only her lips, and then kissed him first. Her tongue, peeking out between her lips, slipped in and gently pried open Jaeha’s lips. Filled with joy, Jaeha embraced Seyoung tightly and welcomed her tongue.

***

The news that Baek Jaeha had a girlfriend, Han Seyoung, reached Hyunseon’s ears around the time of the university midterms.

“Now that I think about it, the kids said they ate with Jaeha and his girlfriend. Did you hear about it, sister-in-law?”

It was the day of Jaeha’s grandfather’s memorial service. Hyunseon, who had gone to the eldest son’s house to prepare for the memorial service held there, was shocked by the sudden news.

“What are you talking about, sister? When did they start dating?”

“When was it? Jaeha brought her when he said he was playing tennis.”

“What?”

Hyunseon was dumbfounded. She had accepted that Jaeha had no intention of retaking the college entrance exam when he came home last time, but she had never imagined that he would be out having fun like this. It seemed he had decided to become a college student and spend his time dating and loafing around.

Jaeha had clearly decided to fight Hyunseon, contacting only his father and not sending Hyunseon a single message. He would answer her calls occasionally, but he always gave short answers and didn’t even listen properly.

“Does Jaeha really have no interest in becoming a doctor?”

Her sister-in-law’s words stabbed Hyunseon in the heart. Hyunseon’s eyes narrowed as she looked at her. But she was too busy preparing the food to notice.

“Seeing that, you and your husband are amazing. If Youngjoon got good enough grades to go to medical school but said he was going to study some unheard-of… unfamiliar major, I think I’d faint.”

“……”

It was really annoying that she said that, even though she knew she had already fainted more than ten times. Jaeseok and Jaeha were much better at studying than Kyungdeok and Youngjoon, so Hyunseon had never felt inferior in her in-laws’ house. But Jaeha was now ruining her reputation.

Hyunseon’s face turned red and blotchy, and her breathing became heavy. The sudden heat felt like a menopausal symptom, driving her crazy. The problem was that the cause was so clear, but she couldn’t fix it.

She poured herself a glass of cold water and gulped it down to soothe herself, but her sister-in-law continued to talk as if the conversation wasn’t over yet. What else would she do while preparing the memorial service food? It was the same thing every year, so it wasn’t difficult, and they always chatted. Today, she just wanted to chat, and since she had an interesting topic, she chattered away.

“Well… he must be the happiest right now since he liked her enough to follow her to college. They say love is something you have to fight for, and Jaeha’s doing a good job. I’ll support you too, sister-in-law.”

“What?”

“If he likes her that much, you should support him. He’s even willing to give up his future as a doctor.”

She quietly and elegantly humiliated her sister-in-law. It was so satisfying and exhilarating. To be honest, Hyunseon had always been so proud and arrogant because she had such successful sons. She still vividly remembered how obnoxious she was when Youngjoon didn’t get into the university he wanted and decided to retake the entrance exam. So she thought she deserved to get some of that back.

She glanced at Hyunseon’s pale face and gave a subtle smile, wearing the elegant face of a wife that she usually showed outside.

***

Jaeha had heard about the infamy of university group projects, but it didn’t apply to him. Strangely, the students who formed groups with Jaeha were all diligent and responsive. It was as if they were so in sync that they understood and worked on the project with two or three words for every one word Jaeha said.

“Are you making a PPT?”

Seyoung approached Jaeha, who was sitting on the sofa working on his laptop. She leaned against the back of the sofa behind him and looked down, seeing that he had made a pretty good PPT.

“You did a good job. It’s clean and easy to read. It looks like it’ll get an A+.”

He had a pretty good sense of color coordination. As they spent more time together, it was fun to discover new sides of him that she hadn’t known before.

“Oh, Seyoung. You’re definitely coming to see me tomorrow, right?”

It was about the sports festival. Jaeha’s team was already rumored to be the favorite to win. The upperclassmen had high expectations. It was rare for anyone to stand out at the sports festival.

“Yeah. I already told the kids I’m going to watch the basketball game. I’ll cheer you on.”

Seyoung said she would cheer him on, then chuckled. She remembered Yoojung saying that if she was going to cheer, she should wear a cheerleader outfit. She couldn’t bring herself to do that, so she had only prepared pom-poms as cheering props.

Jaeha heard the laughter above him and tilted his head up. Seyoung kissed his handsome lips and ran away. Jaeha, who had been about to get up to catch her, gave up and laughed. Seyoung was also studying for her exams.

Jaeha’s gaze softened as he watched Seyoung return to the table and sit down. With her hair in a bun, Seyoung looked truly happy and joyful to anyone who saw her. Jaeha was certain that he had played a big part in her transformation. That’s why he thought they should never break up. It didn’t make sense for people who had such a positive influence on each other to break up.

More than a month had passed out of the four months. Seyoung’s transformation was obvious, but he didn’t know if her decision was still the same. Jaeha couldn’t shake off his anxiety because Seyoung didn’t mention the end. He was happy to death, but sometimes when Seyoung wasn’t by his side, he felt a chill down his spine.

He would wake up suddenly in the middle of the night, startled. Then he would see Seyoung sleeping soundly. He would feel relieved only after seeing Seyoung curled up and sleeping with her hand under her head.

Han Seyoung, who said she liked him but didn’t say she wouldn’t break up with him. Han Seyoung, who thought that even if you liked someone, you couldn’t avoid breaking up. Was she really planning to shake off Baek Jaeha and leave?

Jaeha felt as if his own lifespan was shortening every time he felt the days dwindling. He couldn’t bring himself to show Seyoung, but sometimes he had very cruel and wicked thoughts. That he wanted to thwart Seyoung’s exchange student opportunity. The problem was that he knew someone who was in a position to do that kind of behind-the-scenes work. He wouldn’t do it only because he knew that if he did, Seyoung would truly hate him.

Seyoung, who had been looking at her laptop, raised her head, sensing Jaeha’s seething gaze. She smiled brightly when their eyes met. That affectionate smile made Jaeha unable to move.