Passion: Diaphonic Symphonia Novel - Chapter 46

Suddenly, a question arose in a corner of his mind: what exactly did “deep relationship” mean to this man who viewed relationships between men as very platonic?

“How far do you have to go for it to be a deep relationship?”

“…You’ve kissed, haven’t you?”

He asked with such a serious face that it felt like something terrible would happen if he didn’t answer. Jeong Taeui, bewildered, also became serious.

“Yes.”

The moment Jeong Taeui answered, Christoph’s expression suddenly grew fiercer. For a moment, even his gaze at Jeong Taeui was venomous.

At that moment, a thought flashed through Jeong Taeui’s mind like lightning.

Right, come to think of it, this man has known Ilay since they were very young. Whether they admit it or not, aren’t they childhood friends? They even went through harsh experiences together in the same Mobile Unit. So, it’s not strange at all if feelings beyond friendship developed during that process.

Jeong Taeui’s expression grew even more serious.

“Chris. Are you perhaps…”

He couldn’t bring himself to finish asking, “Do you have feelings for Ilay?” because Christoph’s expression became even more grim the moment he started to utter the words.

Wow. It’s true.

Jeong Taeui felt numb, as if he had been lightly struck on the head.

It had been several years since he and Ilay had met and formed their current relationship, and although Ilay Legrow was outwardly very respectable, he had never once imagined fighting with anyone over him. He wasn’t the type to fight in the first place, but more than that, he simply hadn’t thought there would be such an amazing person vying for him.

It was so unexpected that he wasn’t particularly upset or flustered.

Now that I think about it, if this guy is my rival, I’m at a huge disadvantage. Looks, ability, wealth, there’s nothing I can beat him at… No. It’s a bit awkward to say this myself, but my personality is better than theirs. Definitely.

While Jeong Taeui, whose sense of reality had even disappeared, was briefly lost in thought, Christoph, who had been standing before him with a heavy expression, hesitated for a long time before asking again.

“So, you also sleep in the same bed?”

“…Yes. Not always, but sometimes.”

Jeong Taeui replied, wondering if he was being cruel to Christoph. At that, Christoph’s face hardened slightly.

Indeed, among other things, sleeping in the same bed would be difficult for someone with contact aversion.

He felt a little sorry for Christoph.

Christoph was silent again. Then, as if angry, he said nothing and just submerged himself back into the water.

Meanwhile, Jeong Taeui sat still on the rock, his face drenched by the splashing water.

“…”

He was flustered.

As Christoph disappeared from his sight, his sense of reality slowly returned, and he became flustered.

If Christoph liked Ilay.

“Would it be too rude to call it a disaster? Then a calamity…”

Jeong Taeui rubbed the goosebumps on his arms and mumbled. Then he thought about it. Christoph and Ilay.

“…They might actually suit each other…”

The external aspects were easy to imagine.

Outwardly, they seemed quite well-suited. In any case, both had appearances that betrayed their inner selves. One perfectly robust person and one perfectly agile person. Their faces, too, were very good.

Personality. Personality…

“I think there was a study that said people with similar personalities live well together… Then they’d be a good match.”

He added that he would never want to live near them, and Jeong Taeui rubbed his suddenly chilled arm again.

Then Jeong Taeui rubbed his chin and nodded.

“Right, now that I think about it, they’re a good match. Their families get along too, so it’s perfect. They even used to work in the same place. …Wow. It would be hard to pair up people who suit each other so well.”

As he listed them one by one, they truly seemed like an ideal couple.

His neck kept feeling chilly, but it was quite ideal nonetheless.

Jeong Taeui looked down at Christoph, who was lying stretched out in the water.

What on earth should I say in this situation…?

He scratched his head vigorously, but no answer came.

While he was pondering a solution to this situation, Christoph emerged from the water again.

His face was still serious. He now openly glared at Jeong Taeui, took a deep breath, and asked coldly.

“Then… then… masturbation?”

At that question, asked with such determination and fierce arrogance, Jeong Taeui didn’t understand at first.

Masturbation, what was masturbation, Jeong Taeui thought for a few seconds, and then the meaning of 手淫 (su-eum, masturbation) finally came to his mind.

Jeong Taeui was speechless for a moment.

No, it wasn’t that he couldn’t answer, but… what to say…

He wanted to gloss over it, but Christoph, standing firm in front of him, showed no sign of backing down. Helplessly, Jeong Taeui said reluctantly.

“…Yes.”

Did he only masturbate? He had done almost everything that involved the character “淫” (eum, lust), including oral sex. Who knows. Next time, he might ask if he’d tried oral sex.

Jeong Taeui braced himself and waited, but it seemed that was the limit for Christoph, who firmly believed in the platonic nature of homosexual relationships.

Suddenly, his face turned cold and he shut his mouth.

“…”

“…”

And the next moment, Christoph plunged back into the water.

Jeong Taeui still sat stiffly on the rock, sweating cold.

Now his back was hot. He wanted to get off the rock and into the water, but he was too scared to go in. He felt as if an enraged hand would immediately press down on his head if he even dipped his foot in the water.

If someone could just save me from this situation, that would be great…

It was when Jeong Taeui was desperately wishing for it.

From an unexpected place, an unexpected rope descended.

“…Ah. We meet often today.”

Between the thick oak trees extending upstream, a man appeared. He seemed surprised to see Jeong Taeui, but then smiled as if nothing was wrong. The shy young woman who followed him out turned bright red at the sight of Jeong Taeui, who was half-dressed, and hid behind his back again.

“Ah… yes, we do.”

Jeong Taeui bowed slightly and smiled ambiguously.

Oh… I desperately wished for a lifeline to help me out of this situation, but it seems like a rotten rope has come down…

It was Richard and his lover, who had clearly taken a different path earlier.

“She got tired and hot on the way, so we turned back to dip our feet in the water for a bit, but I didn’t expect you to be here already. The water must be cold, was it okay to immerse your whole body?”

Richard approached, smiling kindly.

However, as he approached Jeong Taeui, his expression suddenly changed, and he stopped.

It was because he saw the white horse standing under the shade of a tree a little further away, and a neatly folded white riding uniform on the rock next to it.

“This…”

But before he could even speak.

Between Richard and Jeong Taeui, a figure suddenly rose from the stream closer to Jeong Taeui, scattering water.

Jeong Taeui mumbled, “Oh, oh,” and shifted his gaze from Richard to Christoph.

Christoph, facing Jeong Taeui, sighed deeply and swept back the hair covering his forehead and cheeks. Water droplets streamed down his fair body, tracing lines from his face to his chin, neck, chest, and stomach.

He blinked his eyelashes, which clung with water droplets like grains of sand, and looked down at Jeong Taeui as if he had made a decision.

“Is there a reason it has to be him?”

The voice that asked Jeong Taeui first was colder than usual. He ran his fingers annoyedly through the hair clinging to his neck and took a step closer to Jeong Taeui.

As he took a step, wrinkles appeared on his underwear, which was so drenched that it looked more provocative than if he weren’t wearing anything at all.

His slender limbs, the pale skin covering his naked body, seeing all that made Jeong Taeui feel somehow anxious.

Jeong Taeui glanced at Richard over Christoph’s shoulder.

He was facing them with a blank expression, completely devoid of laughter or any other emotion. As if frozen in place. Behind him, the girl who looked like candy sugar was huddled, staring blankly at them.

“It doesn’t matter if it’s not him. It doesn’t have to be him—”

Christoph opened his mouth again and took another step towards Jeong Taeui. But then he seemed to realize that Jeong Taeui’s gaze was flickering over his shoulder.

Christoph turned around questioningly.

And Jeong Taeui could clearly see his back faintly stiffen.

His smoothly protruding shoulder blades became more distinct. The curve of his waist deepened, almost visible, and his buttocks, which no longer had any meaning with just underwear on, and the straight legs below them, stiffened.

As if ice water had been thrown over them, a moment of silence flowed between them. No one spoke, no one moved. They merely stared at each other with expressionless faces.

It was Jeong Taeui who broke the silence first.

“Hmm,” he mumbled, rubbing his cheek, and said awkwardly.

“It seems this spot is good for a break, since we all happened to meet here.”

However, even at Jeong Taeui’s words, no one spoke for a moment.

Finally, Christoph’s shoulder seemed to tremble slightly. A very faint tremor, as if the spasm from being in the cold water had just now set in, shook the water off his shoulder.

He glanced at his horse and his clothes. A low click of his tongue and a muttered curse could be heard.

Christoph slowly walked out of the stream. With each step, water droplets streamed down in a line.

Richard was a few steps away from the rock where the clothes were placed. His expressionless gaze was fixed on Christoph.

Finally, Christoph reached him, put his hand into the saddlebag, and pulled out a sports towel. He silently dried his body without even glancing at Richard.

Richard did not take his eyes off him. With eyes that were cold and unfathomable, he watched Christoph’s every slow movement. Then he suddenly muttered with a voice close to a sneer.

“It seems you prefer these streams to proper pools. That’s unexpected. I’ve never seen you in a pool, so I thought you couldn’t swim, but it seems you’re good enough to splash around in a place like this.”

At those words, the hand that was wiping his legs with the towel seemed to pause for a moment. But then, as if nothing had happened, Christoph continued to dry his body. As he did, he said one short sentence.

“I’d rather never swim in my life than enter a pool that you’ve been in, you bastard.”

Christoph roughly shoved the towel back into the saddlebag after drying himself. His movements as he gathered his clothes and put them on seemed angry.

Jeong Taeui clicked his tongue, thinking the atmosphere was quite awkward, and got up. He then crossed the stream and also went out onto the bank. Wet footprints slapped onto the pebbles, which were bone dry in the sun.

“Christoph. Lend me a towel. I have nothing to dry myself with. …Richard, the lady with you seems to have been waiting for a while…”

Jeong Taeui subtly stepped between the two, extended a hand to Christoph, and gestured with his chin towards the woman standing behind Richard.

Once again, the atmosphere in the place became subtle.

However, perhaps thinking it was not good to argue in this place, Richard whispered something to the woman and retreated. Christoph also did not bother to cling to him.

“I was going to rest here, but I’ll have to postpone it for another time. Then, have a pleasant walk.”

Richard politely bowed to Jeong Taeui and retreated. Just before turning around, his cold eyes swept over Christoph once, but that was all. He then disappeared back among the oak trees with the woman, soon vanishing from their sight.

When the rustling sound of footsteps receding through the grass finally became inaudible, Christoph, who had been buttoning his shirt, suddenly let out a harsh curse.

“Damn it!”

“…Calm down. It was just a coincidence. They didn’t hit you or anything, just let it go.”

Jeong Taeui, who had roughly wiped the water off his body with the towel he received from Christoph, forced his clothes on, which didn’t go on well because his body wasn’t completely dry yet, and muttered, consoling him.

“I hate being vulnerable in front of others more than anything! Especially in front of that bastard!”

Christoph shouted, as if boiling with rage. He picked up his hat, but clenched his fist, crumpling the hat’s shape.

“Vulnerable…”

“Yes, vulnerable. In that state earlier, if that bastard had aimed a gun at me, I’d be helpless.”

Christoph clicked his tongue and muttered another curse.

Thinking of his personality, which utterly detested showing any weakness in any situation, Jeong Taeui scanned him, who was already almost fully dressed. Then he looked down at himself, who had barely put on his pants—and only his legs were in, the buttons still undone.

“If we follow that logic, if you aimed a gun at me right now, I’d be helpless.”

Jeong Taeui mumbled indifferently. Christoph’s eyes narrowed in displeasure.

“Why would I aim a gun at you?”

He was about to say, “Then why would Richard aim a gun at you?” but Jeong Taeui closed his mouth. Thinking about that gaze from a moment ago, he briefly felt that Richard might indeed aim a gun. It was a terrifying gaze that seemed to want to devour a person whole.

Jeong Taeui scratched his head and clicked his tongue. Then he looked at Christoph, who was waiting for his answer.

“How do you know he wouldn’t want to get rid of a rival?”

He realized his mistake after he spoke, but the words were already out.

Christoph looked at Jeong Taeui with a bewildered expression.

“A rival?”

“…I mean, Ilay.”

Jeong Taeui said awkwardly, tasting something bitter.

He felt extremely strange. Jeong Taeui had never, not in the slightest, ever imagined a situation where he would have to compete with someone over Ilay.

At the mention of Ilay’s name, Christoph’s expression darkened. He silently closed his mouth and gazed fixedly at Jeong Taeui.

Now, what should he do with this?

Jeong Taeui stood still, unable to answer this unexpected situation.

But now that he thought about it, in a situation like this, the story could only be resolved if Ilay himself, the person in the middle, was present. No matter how much they clamored on the side without the person concerned, the conclusion would be made by the person concerned.

“Then, go to Ilay and—”

“I want to kill Ilay, why would I aim a gun at you?”

Just as Jeong Taeui sighed and opened his mouth, Christoph, who had been deep in thought with a serious expression, asked, utterly perplexed.

Jeong Taeui was silent for a moment again. And only blinked.

“Uh…” he thought for a moment.

The moment he thought something didn’t quite fit, and then the very next moment, the flow of the conversation was reassembled.

“…Chris. If not, I’m really sorry, but I’m just asking just in case, I have a bit of a delusion of grandeur, so don’t worry too much and just listen and let it go…”

Jeong Taeui, who had laid out a lengthy disclaimer, paused for a moment. And then asked with a very serious face.

“Is the person you have feelings for… me?”