SMS | Chapter 4.1

Lee Dohoon’s insistence that Mino should come even if he’s late was different in intensity from his usual inquiries about whether he’d show up today. Unlike the past questions, where he could excuse himself due to overtime work, this felt like an inescapable command.

Why did a few bytes of a message feel like anger? When he replied with an [Okay], a response came back saying he’d wait. Mino, with a grimace, gulped down his coffee, finally finishing work around 9 PM.

What if he wants to see the wound? Nibbling on his nails anxiously, it seemed he couldn’t afford any more delays.

Eventually, he got up, recalling the proverb, “Better to be a fool than to be dead,” although it wasn’t quite appropriate since he was thankful to be hit anytime.

Realizing Junhyuk had left, probably tired of waiting, he boarded his usual bus and closed his eyes. When he opened them, it was his stop.

His mouth was dry with tension. He loitered outside the Dohwa Animal Hospital, unable to enter, when suddenly a low voice came from behind.

“What are you doing out here?”

“Ah!”

Mino felt the hair on his neck stand as he turned around with a frightened look, a chill running down his spine at the sight of Dohoon staring at him with cool eyes.

The face he had indulged in lewd fantasies about for days was now right in front of him, causing his wounds and lower abdomen to twinge reflexively.

“Um, Dr…”

“Come inside. Why stand out in the cold?”

He managed to suppress an arousal. He’d never seriously thought about dating Dohoon, but if enticed, he planned to feign submission.

Though it likely wouldn’t happen. After all, wishful thinking has its limits. Still, Dohoon was a decent person, and Mino didn’t want to be branded a pervert by him.

“Where have you been?”

“To the convenience store. Aren’t you coming in?”

Dohoon opened the door with a monotone urgency, pushing Mino inside to the consulting room, directing him to the table, then heavily sitting down.

“Let’s look at that knee.”

Mino shut his eyes tight. It had come to this. He knew without looking that showing the current state of his injury would only raise suspicions.

“I’m okay now. It wasn’t a serious injury to begin with.”

“Really?”

While Mino hastily excused himself, Dohoon squinted his eyes and, with a greedy glance, dug his toe into Mino’s knee.

“Ah!”

Mino staggered from the pain, and Dohoon’s strong arm encircled his waist.

“Why lie?”

His ears turned red, and he managed to avoid getting aroused thanks to days of continuous masturbation. His emissions were nearly transparent yesterday; there was nothing left to squeeze out.

“I’m sorry for hurting you. Let’s not be embarrassed and get treated.”

“Okay…”

Dohoon gestured towards the exam table with a firm attitude, forcing Mino to comply, even though it was a place for animals. Having fantasized about submitting himself on this very table days before made his head spin.

As Mino settled, Dohoon unhesitantly lifted his leg into position.

“These pants seem tight.”

“Ah.”

It was harder to show his knee than before since he wasn’t wearing loose slacks but slightly fitted pants. Struggling, Mino tried to pull them up, prompting a small laugh and a suggestion from Dohoon.

“Or should you take them off? I don’t mind.”

I mind a lot…. Mino’s face showed clear discomfort, but his fantasies made it difficult to refuse. After hesitating, he reached down; soon, with a click, his belt came undone and his pants slid down.

His inelegantly pale, long legs were exposed under the fluorescent lights. As he bent his knee, the inner thigh became visible. Despite there being nothing left to squeeze out, the situation was too provocative, forcing him to pull his shirt down over an imminent erection.

Watching Dohoon examine his knee with a serious expression only made it harder. His deeply furrowed brows were erotically intense.

“What’s this? The injury looks worse.”

“I fell again…”

Anticipating the interrogation, Mino had prepared a half-hearted answer. Luckily, Dohoon seemed convinced. Mino felt foolish about how he must appear.

“Any other injuries?”

“No, none.”

“That’s strange. You usually get hurt easily… Are you hiding something from me?”

Dohoon was smiling, but his grip on Mino’s calf was strong. Mino swallowed dryly under the slightly coercive touch.

“Were you really working overtime?”

“Yes?”

“Why do I feel like you’ve been avoiding me?”

While Mino had indeed worked late, avoiding Dohoon was also true, leaving him speechless without a prepared answer.

“If you dodge our date tomorrow with overtime or a dinner party, I’ll really feel slighted.”

It wasn’t clear whether he was muttering to himself or addressing Mino, who, half-naked, tightened his lips. It was confusing and embarrassing to keep hearing about a date from a man who seemed uninterested in men.

“It was really overtime. The wound doesn’t hurt, and I felt bad making you wait after your work…”

“Is that so? Then no problem with our date tomorrow.”

“But, why do you keep calling it a date?”

Unable to hold back any longer, Mino blurted out the question. Dohoon raised an eyebrow naturally resting his hand on Mino’s thigh, the touch more noticeable but now wasn’t the time to mind.

“A date is a date, what else should I call it?”

“How can men go on a date?”

“Is Mino a bit conservative? Men can’t date, hold hands, kiss, or have sex?”

“Yes, yes?”

The words ‘kiss’ and ‘sex’ leaking from his painted lips were obscenely explicit. Was Dohoon a cultist who knew about his secret preferences? It was a dismissed hypothesis, but it was gaining credibility.

“Do you have a religion?”

Mino’s unexpected question seemed to indicate his suspicion.

Dohoon looked puzzled. Damn. Why did he have to look good even then? Flustered by the beauty attack, Mino chewed on his innocent lips.

“No. What about you, Mino?”

“Me, neither…”

“Then listen to what I was saying.”

“Yes…”

Dohoon dismissed Mino’s nonsense with a somewhat authoritative tone, embarrassing him for appearing foolish to someone he liked.

Soon Dohoon’s words were shockingly direct.

“It seems you don’t understand hints, so I’ll be straightforward. I’ve been seducing you with the intention of trying ‘that’ with you, Mino. If you’re conservative, I need to adjust my plans.”

“With me?”

“Yes.”

Mino kept stammering like an idiot. He recalled Seongjun, who had been insistent that it was a sure thing. But as a man who liked men, he had a sense about these things. Dohoon wasn’t of the same kind.

‘You’re not gay, are you.’

He wanted to say this, but his mind was preoccupied with the hand stroking his bare thigh, making him wish for a firmer touch. How Dohoon interpreted Mino’s silence, he spread his fingers, persuading him.

“Usually, by the third date, you decide whether to date or not. Officially, our date tomorrow is the second one, but we’ve met alone more than three times.”

“That’s,”

“I thought you had feelings for me too, was I mistaken?”

He had indeed looked at him with lustful eyes. Mino moistened his drying lips. Was my intuition off? Was he gay? He didn’t seem like it….

Confused, he watched Dohoon as the grip on his leg intensified. The pressure made Mino helpless.

“I told you to take off your pants, and you do, sitting still even as I touch you like this.”

“……”

“Every time I see your face, your ears turn red.”

“That’s because,”

“Is it just my face you like?”

No, that wasn’t it. His kindness was also appealing. But if asked whether it was a soft, mushy kind of liking, regrettably, that wasn’t the case. He was a good person and incredibly handsome, but what Mino desired was the imaginary him, not the real, gentle him.

Of course, dating doesn’t necessarily happen only between such people, but still, was it alright to start something so monumental in such a half-hearted way? Unable to hold back any longer, Mino asked,

“Do you like men?”

“Hmm, what about you, Mino?”

I like men. Not just any men, but kinky men…. The truth he couldn’t fully articulate remained hidden inside him.

“I can’t do it with women.”

“I see.”

Dohoon’s handsome mouth curved up satisfyingly. Mino swallowed dryly as he watched his lips. If Dohoon had said something like ‘I do too’ or ‘I can,’ it would have been more definitive, but he merely acknowledged it, not declaring his own stance.

“Ever been with a man?”

The question caught him off guard. He hadn’t been with a man, but saying he was completely inexperienced at twenty-eight after stating women weren’t an option seemed to lack credibility.

“…Yes.”

“Really? How many times?”

“Not many.”

“Seems quite a few…. I should stop asking. This isn’t a very nice question.”

Now, to claim it was a lie seemed out of place. But does that mean they were dating? Like this? He had never dated before, so the ambiguity felt odd and unsatisfying.

Mino mulled over what Dohoon had said. He’d mentioned that it was normal to decide after three dates. Adding that officially, tomorrow would be their second date, but they had met alone more than three times. Was he implying a decision tomorrow? He sighed at this unfamiliar situation.

“So… can I put my pants back on now?”

“Go ahead. Aren’t you cold?”

“A bit chilly….”

Mino diverted the conversation, desiring to escape the situation. The notion of a handsome man grasping his bare legs was enough to satisfy fantasies for a century. If he hadn’t been masturbating to death these past few days, he might have climaxed three times by now.

As Mino awkwardly pulled his pants back on, Dohoon watched him intently.

“I’ll take you home now. We can’t have you falling again.”

Mino nodded meekly, resolving to himself. When he got home, he would masturbate.

That would be another lie about falling he’d have to cover up.