Chapter 8

“I don’t need to…”

“You have to. It’s covered in sweat.”

“I-I’ll take it off, then!”

I got up in a hurry. Evan was clearly thinking of taking care of me, but even just a slight brush against Evan embarrassed me. I’d rather take it off myself a few times. When I waved my hand as I freaked out, Evan took his hand off the hem of my shirt.

“Okay.”

A pretty smile grew on Evan’s mouth. It felt like he caught me being embarrassed. I tried my best to calmly grab the edge of my shirt.

The sound of buttons being unbuttoned one by one echoed through the quiet room. My hands trembled at the black eyes looking at me. Each of his gazes felt like an unseen hand heading towards me. Doing it like this embarrassed me even more.

Evan openly stared at me, as if wanting to take a bite out of my attractive, formed muscles.

His Adam’s apple bobbed up and down. Evan felt so overwhelmed, he lowered his head.

“Done?”

“No.”

The stern words of denial I spat out felt terribly sexy. I didn’t even think to look at Evan’s face. He shook the wet towel in his hand. It was then when I shivered out of instinct at the cold water that fell on my stomach.

“I’m going to wipe you now.”

I suddenly felt the bed go down. Evan grinned as he sat beside me. Unlike his refreshing smile, the words he uttered were confusing.

“Gotta clean every nook and cranny.”

“What do you…”

“That way, you’ll get better soon.”

“…What?”

But my voice cracked. Evan smiled innocently. His black eyes sparkling were scary in a different sense than earlier. When I grew dizzy because Evan was wiping me, he asked with bad timing.

“What’s wrong, Hail? Were you thinking of something weird?”

Saying that, Evan gradually got closer to me. I quietly drew backwards, but soon, my back hit the headboard. When I was driven into a corner, unable to move an inch, Evan drew his lips into an arc.

“What should I do when you keep on reacting so cute like this?”

His hand removed a strand of hair stuck to my face. At his teasing touch that grazed my face, my already hot body grew hotter. When I was about to cry, already at my limit, Evan let out a low chuckle.

“Makes me wanna eat you.”

He said it lightly like a joke, but it somehow felt serious. His red tongue licked his much redder lips. His hand touching me was hotter than before. His black eyes filled with excitement shone beautifully.

“Eeekk!”

The cold towel suddenly fell on my stomach. I let out a shrill voice in surprise. Water sank in between my well-formed abs. I trembled like someone who got electrocuted at the tingling sensation. My skin was so cold I unconsciously curled my toes.

“Sorry. That must have been really cold. Are you okay?”

Evan shamelessly said as he stroked my face. His tone was kind, but it felt like there was a thorn within it. My wavering eyes as I cowered looked up at Evan. Evan let out a heavy laugh as he looked at me.

“What should I do?”

“A-About?”

“Your sweat. I was going to wipe it, but you need to stay still.”

Evan picked up the wet towel that fell off. A drop of water from the towel fell on my belly button. I automatically shivered at the sudden, cold addition.

“I’ll do it!”

“Okay.”

Evan nodded as if he’d expected this. But, he didn’t get off from above me. He wasn’t particularly in the way of me wiping myself, but I always looked down at Evan, who’s shorter than me, so looking up at him right now felt unfamiliar. His gaze that usually followed me seemed more persistent today. I felt slightly pressured seeing them wait for me to move my hand.

Why is this making me so nervous? I carefully moved my hand, wiping my sweat. My wet, sticky body was a bit more refreshed, but it gradually felt awkward. His black eyes that followed my hand with a serious face and no smile felt like it was swallowing me whole.

When I looked up, I met eyes with Evan, so I quietly lowered them. I pressed my lips together in shame. It was embarrassing wearing such disheveled clothes in front of Evan who was buttoned up to his neck. I roughly wiped the sweat, thinking I should do it quickly, but suddenly, words that sounded like Evan was talking to himself came out of his mouth.

“Looks great.”

My hand stopped at his low voice filled with excitement. What’d I hear just now? My face burned.

“It’s still sticky here.”

Looking at me strangely as I awkwardly stood frozen, Evan poked my sides. All my senses were concentrated on the beads of sweat trickling there as I held my breath.

“You gotta wipe it well.”

“Evan, I’ll do it.”

“Your body’s so pretty. You’re good at exercising, right? You were good at running last time.”

His gaze moved along my intricately engraved muscles. His gaze that watched the trail of water trickling was hot. Your body’s so pretty. It felt like an illusion of a big snake coiling around my body, I bent at my waist, trying to hide my body even just a bit. If Evan hadn’t reached out to my back and held me up, that is.

“Kind, cute, adorable.”

My mind dimmed at the parade of compliments that suddenly started. Two bodies collided with Evan’s single layer of clothing in between.

“Special.”

Evan let out a beautiful smile. It felt like I saw unnamed flowers blooming beautifully behind him. The wet towel I held in my hand fell down. I couldn’t close my open mouth.

“I-I’m kinda tired, so I’m gonna go sleep!”

I pushed Evan off of me, and burrowed inside my blanket. I turned my back on him, curling into myself like a pill bug. I had a fever, so my hot body grew hotter when I went inside the blanket, but I wanted this right now.

“Okay, Hail.”

I heard Evan’s voice beyond the blanket.

“Sleep tight today.”

He particularly emphasized on the word ‘today.’ Sleep today, he said. Is he telling me I won’t be sleeping next time? I tried my best to ignore this foreboding feeling.

My head spun round and round as I heard Evan’s footsteps recede far away. Evan’s shocking and fearful actions the whole day today flickered in my mind. Obsessively pressing me, taking off my clothes, and saying he wanted to eat me.

I listed all the things he’d said, and then realized.

All of them weren’t words a main bottom would say.

***

To be honest, I wanted Evan to escape the role of being the main bottom. Since he suffered and received a lot of wounds in the original novel. That’s why I deliberately insisted on being his friend. The current Evan is now vastly different from the original.

Of course, he still looked completely like a main bottom, but more than a bottom, his personality’s like…

I furiously shook my head. I slapped my cheeks a few times. What weird things are you thinking of, Hail Verde? Thinking that Evan’s turned into a top is too much. You’re going way too far. If Evan’s the top, then who’d be the bottom?

“Hail.”

I was startled by my name called out at just the perfect timing. It’s already been a few days since that shocking day. Nowadays, Evan has been openly sticking close to me. There’s no way this is what friends do. Yep, definitely not friends. That’s already out the window from the moment we kissed.

So, what does that make us? None of us have confessed so we can’t be dating, but we’re too close to be friends.

I thought about it as I twirled the pen in my hand, but suddenly, someone grabbed my hand. The sound of the pen falling to the floor was quiet.

“Concentrate on me when you’re with me.”

His eyes like the winter night sea looked straight at me. His black hair made his fair skin stand out even more. I wish I got some warning. Despite the many sudden contacts with Evan, I’m still not used to it.

“Look at me.”

I nodded out of reflex. His beautiful voice like that of the flapping of a butterfly carried unknown strength. Evan let out a satisfied smile as he gently patted my head. My silver hair shining in the morning sun grew disheveled from his fingertips.

Evan sometimes spoke words like this that made me think he wasn’t the bottom of a BL novel. His words were so close to that of a top’s, making me think the original Hail also said these lines a few times, but when Evan said them, it seemed like flowers bloomed around him in an instant. It was all because of his innocent face. That’s also because of his added main bottom buff.

This world seemed to know very well that Evan was its main bottom.

There was always a radiant sun shining above Evan, and whenever he passed by, a gentle breeze would blow, his black hair fluttering. His skin exuded a fresh and clear scent, and there was always an alluring air around him that attracted others. What’s more, even when having his photo taken at any time, he never looked disgraceful.

Was it the same for me, the main top? Even when I don’t exercise, my physical ability is exceptional, and my body smelled of cool water. When I first possessed this body, I thought it was perfume, but I was surprised by the strong scent when I put my nose on my skin after taking a bath.

“You’ve been staring for a while now. What’re you thinking of?”

Evan picked up the rolling pen, putting it on the desk, and cupped his chin. At his gentle gaze as he looked at me, the words left my mouth before I could dwell on them.

“You.”