A Taste to Spit Out - Chapter 29

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“…What?”

Rumble, thunder crashed heavily. Ururu, dark clouds gathered at the window like a herd of wild animals. A shadow loomed over this house, heavy as a giant’s foot.

Kang Yeol-jin’s face was deeply buried in darkness. He looked as if he were wearing a pitch-black helmet. I gulped down my dry saliva.

“I remembered.”

As the damp air heavily pressed down on the surroundings, the whole world was filled with the scent of Kang Yeol-jin. It was sensual and passionate, almost spicy like the Mediterranean smell. It felt like I was about to suffocate.

“Just how much do you remember?”

I thought you would obviously be happy to hear this, but the response was chillingly cold. His eyes curved in a sly manner, and among them was a gaze that clearly gleamed like a beast. For someone with such a massive build, having an atmosphere so sharply on edge was a feat only he could pull off.

“You said you were a young master, and that I was disgusting like a dog. You didn’t want to even look me in the eyes because you thought I was a worthless bastard, right?”

Could it be that you doubt me? Do you think I’m lying?

“It was just a fleeting memory.”

I cleverly averted my gaze. I lowered my eyelashes, fearing that my true feelings might be revealed, but a large hand suddenly grabbed my chin tightly.

“You’re asking me where and how much I remember, aren’t you? Huh?”

He slowly licked his slightly plump lower lip with his tongue.

“Why do you keep avoiding my words and not answering? You must find it amusing to see me all worked up.”

“……”

“Do you remember how much I loved you?”

Half of Kang Yeol-jin’s rugged features were deeply buried in darkness. His sharply gleaming eyes stared at me as if they were going to devour me.

“Have I… seen the sea with you?”
This was merely a bait thrown out to test the waters. I wanted to see if Kang Yeol-jin knew about my secret phone and what photos were stored in it.

“What kind of sea was it?”

However, Kang Yeol-jin’s eyes were genuinely shaking. It was as if he were facing a dizzying dilemma he had never encountered before, like confronting a raging storm, helplessly tossing and turning.

“The sky was incredibly clear. With not a single cloud in the sky, the sea was blue and clear, and I was dipping my feet in it…”

I remembered how cold it was. Lying on the rocky reef, I felt like a snake enchanting a person.

“Was I smiling then?”

Was I laughing like someone who had lost their mind, without any sense of shame? Of course, I couldn’t spit out the follow-up question and had to swallow it down internally.

“Yeah, you were smiling.”

“Darling.”

He calls me, fervently, as if in desperation.

“Please save me.”

In the midst of this overwhelming chaos, one thing is clear: the emotion filling me is joy.

I never expected that seeing Kang Yeol-jin crumbling beneath me would bring me such exhilarating delight, to the point that my fingertips tingled with happiness.

I tried to feign ignorance of the ecstasy bubbling up from the very bottom of my lower abdomen and slowly asked,

“Can I really save you?”

“Yeah, only you can save me.”

This enormous man, nearly 20 cm taller than me, with thighs thicker than my waist, kneels beneath me, pretending to seek my salvation.

I recall a piece of art.

The Return of the Prodigal Son painted by Rembrandt. It depicts the wayward son from the Bible returning to his father. After squandering his inheritance and sinking into poverty and despair, the father receives his son back with compassion.

He smirked slightly. The scar on his sharply sunken cheek deepened dangerously.

“I felt like I had the whole world. I was anxious that a gust of wind might blow me away, driving me mad. I really wanted to have you forever.”

I chewed on the word “forever” in my mouth. How absurd and insubstantial a word it was, like a phantom.

Nothing in this world is eternal. Even art that seemed destined to be preserved forever eventually rusts, oxidizes, and turns brown.