Side Story 7

“Ugh!”

When she opened her eyes again, the sun had already sunk into sunset beyond the window. A sudden chill prickled her skin, and she lifted her head.

Kwon Chae-woo stood there, rigidly upright, looking down at her.

A flat, colorless face. A stranger’s gaze she could not read. Lee-yeon jolted and pushed herself up. When she wobbled, a warm hand wrapped around her waist at once.

“Careful, Lee-yeon.”

“How long was I out? I was waiting for you to finish your call…!”

“You can take a nap. You looked exhausted. Want me to carry you to the bedroom while I’m at it?”

It sounded considerate at first, like gentle thoughtfulness.

But no. Something felt off. It felt like he kept finding reasons on his own, drawing lines on his own, rationalizing on his own.

Kwon Chae-woo acted too good. Too careful. The creaking sense of wrongness had been grinding at Lee-yeon for a while now.

“No. I need to talk to you, seriously.”

“Why? Are you uncomfortable somewhere?”

His gaze sharpened in an instant and went straight to her legs.

“What? No, it’s not that…”

“Want a heat pack?”

“No. My legs don’t hurt…”

“Then go lie down first. I’ll prep for a massage and come in.”

His attentive response made Lee-yeon feel small, for no reason.

He still sees me as a patient. He still worries that much. That’s why he does not even say the word s*x, and he just handles it alone…

But she could not back down now. If she left a problem alone, it only rotted.

“I don’t need a heat pack. I’ll lie down, sure. But it’s not my legs that hurt. It’s more up here, my ch*st. If you’re going to massage me, touch that instead. I used my arms so much, it all seized up…”

“…”

He had started to turn away, but he stopped dead.

You used your arms, so why is your ch*st tight? His eyebrow lifted, like he could not believe what he was hearing.

The air tightened in a heartbeat. The calm in his face slowly drained away, and Kwon Chae-woo’s blunt gaze landed on her ch*st.

Lee-yeon swallowed and drove it home.

Lee-yeon swallowed hard and made a final decision. Just as my legs were relieved of their paralysis, Kwon Chae-woo should be relieved too of his needs.

“I want you to rub me hard, Chae-woo. Hard.”

***

The shirt she had thrown on today was an oversized button down with zero style. She started unfastening it from the top, one button at a time, when Kwon Chae-woo walked into the bedroom with a warm towel in his hands.

“…”

“…”

Awkwardness washed over them as their eyes met

‘Awkwardness, between us.’

Lee-yeon unbuttoned faster, like she planned to smash this safe, calm routine with her bare hands.

Maybe intimacy needed rehab, too. She felt so embarrassed she could have cried, but Kwon Chae-woo came first.

Because that “so put together” version of him felt less like stability and more like a warning light.

A newborn. A wife who could not walk after giving birth. Childcare stress. Exhaustion. There were too many reasons.

Even with Kwon Chae-woo’s stamina, carrying a household alone at his age had to crush him sometimes, corner him mentally. The problem was, he did not share any of it with her, not as her husband.

And after spending all day talking to someone who could only babble and make half formed sounds, he had to feel hollow sometimes, too.

Lee-yeon lowered her head and tugged open the last button. A quiet gloom settled over her.

Wasn’t this all my fault?

She kept thinking only about her own struggles, and she missed Kwon Chae-woo completely.

He had been quietly fighting through it even before the birth, and of course he got pushed to the side. But it wasn’t too late. Not if she treated this the way she treated the tree she had worked on today.

Catch the problem early, and maybe they could recover.

When she slipped off her top, pale skin showed. Kwon Chae-woo let out a strained sigh and sat on the edge of the mattress. His throat bobbed slowly as he swallowed.

“How hard?”

“What?”

“You said you wanted it hard.”

“Ah. Yeah. I did.”

“How hard?”

His eyes looked pitch black when they met hers. Lee-yeon flicked a glance toward his front, then spoke before she lost her nerve. Her face felt like it might combust.

“Hard enough that you want to run back to the shower.”

“…”

“And, you know. Have a full er*ction… you know.”

“I’m sorry, but that’s not happening.”

He rubbed a hand down his face and answered in a low voice.

“Huh? Why?”

“Why? Because it’s obvious Lee-yeon will have a hard time again.”

“I am okay now.”

“No. Lee-yeon isn’t okay yet.”

His gentleness made it worse because it came wrapped in certainty, and Lee-yeon’s breathing turned uneven. She had swallowed her pride to come in here and try, and yet he still acted like a stone wall.

She huffed, yanked off the last of what she had left on, and squared her shoulders like she dared him to keep pretending nothing was happening. Kwon Chae-woo dragged a hand back through his hair, the tendons in his forehead standing out.

Lee-yeon wrapped her arms around herself and snapped, “I hiked for a whole week. I’m fine. You’re the one who sent me back into the forest because you decided I’m fine. So hiking is allowed, but this isn’t? How does that make sense. Who gets to decide that?”

“This isn’t that,” he said, voice steady. “You said it’s a massage.”

“Of course it’s a line,” she shot back.

Silence hit like a wall.

“If you don’t do anything right now, I’m taking my pants off too.”

She said it like a threat.

Kwon Chae-woo froze with his mouth slightly open, like someone had just slapped him across the face. A clean crack split through the composure he had been wearing all morning.

He braced a hand on the bed like he wanted to steady himself, then pressed the other to his jaw, as if he could hold back whatever was trying to break through. Lee-yeon watched him, pulse thundering. Did it work. Or was it not enough. She pushed harder, face burning.

“I can do it too. I can just handle it myself, like you do. I know how.”

His eyes lowered, dark and sharp.

“What do you know how to do,” he asked quietly. “Tell me.”

He closed the distance in one step. Heat and pressure caged her in, and Lee-yeon’s hands flew up to his shoulders without thinking. Kwon Chae-woo’s face stayed rigid, but his control looked like a thread stretched too tight.

“You don’t get to say that,” he murmured, “and then act surprised when I listen.”

Lee-yeon’s breath hitched. The air between them tightened until it felt like it could snap.

When he finally touched her, he did it with restraint that felt almost cruel. He moved slowly, like he was testing limits, like he was forcing himself to stay careful even while something in him threatened to surge.

Lee-yeon bit her lip. The sensation shot straight through her, hot and sudden, and her body remembered before her mind caught up.

“Ah…”

She hated how fast her voice betrayed her.

Kwon Chae-woo did not soften. If anything, his eyes sank deeper, heavy with something that looked less like desire and more like exhaustion sharpened into a point.

Lee-yeon held his gaze and understood it all at once.

It wasn’t only that they had stopped touching.

They had stopped being “us”.

Somewhere along the way, he had locked himself into the role of protector, caregiver, father, and provider, and she had let him do it. And she had been so busy surviving that she had not realized how lonely it made both of them.

She missed him. The old Kwon Chae-woo. The version who did not stand at a distance like he had to.

Her eyes stung.

Before the sob could rise, Kwon Chae-woo tilted his head and pulled her close, like he refused to let her fall apart alone. His mouth found hers, not gentle, not careful, as if he had been starving and finally gave in.

Lee-yeon clutched him hard, fingers digging in like she needed proof he was real.

A sound slipped from her throat, breathy and broken, and she stopped trying to hold it back.

A large hand soothingly kneaded the back of her neck, then grabbed her br*ast again. The hot, rough palm clung to her skin, almost absorbing it.

The n*pples jutted out between his long fingers, stiff and erect like ripe fruit. He rubbed the raised bumps with his thumb and index finger. A groan escaped her lips, and her stomach tightened. The lack of oxygen made her head turn white.

She felt like she was going to gasp for air, so she pushed against his shoulder, but it didn’t budge. Instead, he lifted Lee-yeon up and sat her on his thigh, pressing her lower abdomen against his. Only when Lee-yeon shook her head did their lips part. He clenched his molars and said,

“Why? Are you going to do it now? By yourself, Lee-yeon?”

A muffled, muffled voice touched her. Kwon Chae-woo licked Lee-yeon’s chin and came up.

“Oh, no… That’s not it. I’m out of breath… I’m out of breath…”

“Not really.”

“What?”

Lee-yeon’s eyes widened at the low, yet humorous words.

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