TRACK 11 #2
“Hey, what’s over here?” Dav En asks, breaking us out of the spell.
Detaching myself from Yoon Ji and Kyung, I move over to where Dav En is standing in front of the snow crab exhibit. I nudge him with my shoulder, which is like halfway up his bicep. “Want to see something cool?”
Laughing, he asks, “Is that even a real question?”
“Come on then,” I tell him, dropping to my hands and knees and crawling through the short little tunnel under the aquarium.
It’s a tunnel made for children or smaller adults, to be honest. I turn back to make sure he’s following and crack up at how he’s having to scrunch his body to fit through the narrow passage.
He’s got plenty of room, but being a bigger guy, he looks slightly awkward.
When I make it to the dome, I raise up to stand on my knees and scoot over to make room for him.
“Is this some kind of torture room or something?” he asks, partially out of breath when he gets to me.
I let out a quiet laugh, knowing the sound will echo in the small space.
“Is this funny?” he teases, reaching up to tickle my side where he knows it’ll get me.
I’m not able to stop the laughs this time.
Grabbing his hands, I try my hardest to pull him up to where he’s inside the bubble with me.
Honestly, if he hadn’t allowed it and helped, there’s no way I could do it.
Then I look over to him next to me and laugh again.
He’s practically sitting on his heels to keep from bumping his head into the top of the dome.
He doesn’t care that I’m finding humor in it or maybe doesn’t even notice, considering he’s completely enthralled with looking around us now.
“This really is cool,” he says in a hushed tone as one of the crabs reaches out with one of his legs toward the glass.
“Worth the uncomfortable trip in here?” I tease.
Flicking his eyes over to me and then back to the crab, he nods. “Definitely.”
I’ve been in here a bunch of times, and I love it.
Experiencing it with someone else, especially for their first time, takes it to a whole new level of enjoyment.
For one of the first times since meeting him, we’re on the same level when I want to kiss him, so I take advantage, pressing my lips against his cheek.
He smiles so big that it pushes his cheeks up and scrunches his eyes.
I love it. I love that look right there on his face.
The crab that he’s so captured by does a slow walk around the tank, making us do a little shuffle to get turned around to watch him.
It’s not until we’re situated and I look up from making sure I’m not going to stomp his legs with my knees that I realize there are more than just the crabs looking back at us.
Seven other faces watch with their faces pretty much pressed against the glass.
I laugh again, making Dav En laugh. Seong Su already has his phone in hand and snaps a picture of us.
“Silly face,” I tell Dav En. He complies easily, and I know this because all the faces on the other side of the glass start laughing, the sound echoing into the tunnel to us.
In Se disappears as his voice calls out, “Dav En.”
“Yeah,” he replies.
There’s a quiet murmur, but I’m not the only one that can’t understand what he said. Dav En looks to me in question. I shrug, because I didn’t fully hear it either.
“What?” Dav En asks, peeking his head down into the tunnel.
There’s another murmur of words, but we still don’t understand.
Dav En starts to crawl out, I’m assuming to hear better, but that’s when Jae-un disappears too.
All I hear is an oomph from Dav En as he collapses onto his belly, and is literally dragged out of the tunnel.
I try my best not to laugh, but the sight of his big body and feet just disappearing have set off my giggles.
When I go to follow behind him, I’m met head on with In Se. I have to crawl back two steps to maneuver back into the dome to let him in.
“Hi,” he says when he gets inside and rises to his knees.
“Hey,” I reply, still chuckling.
“Hope you don’t mind us sharing you since you’re ours now, too,” he says, sliding right in there.
I can tell it’s meant to have the double innuendo by the way that his nose scrunches right before he starts grinning. My heart is racing faster than ever. Teasing me further, he takes a look around before sidling up close and saying, “It’s my turn now. Smile.”
Doing as he says, I look to Seong Su as In Se’s cheek brushes against mine right before he cuts his lips over quickly, pressing a quick kiss to the corner of my lips.
He doesn’t wait for a response before ducking down and crawling out of the tunnel. I’m too stunned to even move at this point, which makes it easier for Jae-un to take his place.
Grunting a few times before he rises beside me, he finally does with a broad grin. “Sorry about In Se. He doesn’t know how to control his affection sometimes.”
Says the man who not only licked my fingers, but sucked on them in the middle of the sidewalk surrounded by his members and could’ve been seen by anyone. They both might’ve caught me by surprise the first time, but it won’t happen again.
“Looks to me like he’s just copying what he sees,” I counter.
His cheeks and bridge of his nose fill with color as he huffs a laugh, looking down. Not so big and bad one on one, huh? I’ll keep that in mind. I can’t explain my urge to tease him the way In Se just did me. Maybe just to see how far I can push him for that stunt on the street.
“In Se said you’re sharing me,” I tell him, letting it sink in before finishing my statement. His eyes whip up to mine in surprise. “I’ve got to take a picture with all of you. Smile.”
If Jae-un’s reaction isn’t enough, the seven other confused expressions on the other side of the glass are. I laugh so hard that I have to cover my mouth to keep the sound from echoing loudly in the small space. Jae-un’s smile grows as he starts to nod slowly.
Looking me up and down, dragging it out as long as possible, he finally locks eyes with me as he states, “Having you and In Se together is going to be fun.”
Well, that didn’t go completely according to plan, I’m thinking as he ducks down to crawl out of the space.
Kind of backfired a tad bit, because now I’m even more flustered than I was before.
I duck my head, hoping that whoever comes through next takes pity and doesn’t do my nerves in any further.
At this point, I am in sexy, sweet man heaven, and I may or may not be getting ready to unravel at the seams.
Minsul’s head pokes up out of the tunnel, and he smiles at me. We take a second to get adjusted before he looks me over. “Why are you so flushed? Do you need to get out of here for a second?”
I almost answer him, until I see the sly smile creep across his lips, and I smack him lightly in the arm. “You’re no better than they are if you’re going to tease me about it.”
He laughs for the first time around me, and I find that I really like the sound. “I’ve lived with them for over ten years now. I know how they can be.” Dropping his head slightly to where we’re eye level, he adds, “And they aren’t even trying yet.”
Any chance I might’ve had at the color leaving my face is completely gone. I simply hope for the best, changing the subject. “We should do a funny fish face.”
“Let’s do it,” he says in a tone that lets me know it’s not escaping his attention what I’ve just done. Putting the fronts of his hands behind his ears, he purses his lips and puffs out his cheeks, making me laugh again, but I copy him as we turn for our picture.
He wastes no time trading places with Yeon, who is the slowest to crawl inside, speaking as he comes to his knees. “This is made for children? I think I would’ve been too scared to do this when I was smaller.”
Like Dav En, he also has to slightly hunch down so that his head doesn’t boop the top of the dome. “It’s not so bad if you don’t really think about it.”
“It’s definitely worth it once you get inside,” he says, looking around in wonder. He bites his bottom lip as he leans close to examine a sea urchin laying on the bottom of the tank.
“You ever step on one of those?” I ask him. “It hurts more than you can imagine.”
“You’ve stepped on one?” he replies, turning to me in surprise.
I nod. “One of my first times in the ocean. Their spines are so brittle that if they get stuck in your foot or wherever you touch them, you have to be super careful pulling them out or they’ll just keep breaking off in there.”
“Ouch,” he says with a wince. “They sure do look cool, though. I’m not so sure I like the legs on the crabs, too much.”
“That’s fair,” I agree. “They kind of remind me of spider legs.”
He gives a small shudder and proceeds to look everywhere but at the crabs.
I bite my lips together, looking at him.
I don’t know how it’s possible, other than the fact that idols are typically built on their looks, but these men are all gorgeous.
Yeon is on the taller side with broader shoulders than any of the others with the face of an absolute angel.
He must feel my gaze, because his eyes cut over to me as he presses his lips together and gives me a lopsided smile. That feeling in my chest springs to life again.
“That was really nice what you did for Yoon Ji tonight,” he tells me softly without looking away.
I smile at the reminder of Yoon Ji’s face when he saw the penguins for the first time. “I’m happy that I could give him that.”
“Mmm,” he says softly before peering out toward the glass and motioning with his head. “Should we?”
Nodding, I lean towards him and let him choose how close he gets. His shoulder brushes against my back as he also leans in until our heads are almost touching. His presence lingers as long as his sweet ambery scent after he’s gone and Seong Su is taking his place.