***

It was fascinating to see cars lining up in front of a big screen. Yeon Woojeong, who came after buying popcorn and coke in the snack bar, put those in my arms. The popcorn here was not much different from the one in the cinemas.

“This tastes good.”

“Is it?”

I fed Yeon Woojeong some popcorn, and he chewed it a few times before nodding. It seemed to suit his taste as the sweet and salty flavors blended well together. I inserted two straws into the coke cup and placed it between us.

“By the way, how will we listen to the movie?”

“We’ll tune in to the radio frequency.”

“Have you ever been here before?”

“Yeah.”

“With whom?”

I took a handful of popcorn, waiting for his answer, but he didn’t answer. He rolled his eyes. What is that? When I frowned and stared at him, he shrugged with an indifferent face.

“I don’t remember.”

“You’re lying, aren’t you?”

“It’s true. I guess I went alone.”

This is annoying. I looked ahead and stuffed my mouth full of popcorn. Yeon Woojeong poked my cheek with his finger.

“I’m telling you the truth. I’m pretty sure I went alone.”

“Why did you go alone?”

“Well, I had nothing to do, and I didn’t feel like going home.”

Is he telling the truth? I examined his face. It didn’t seem like he was lying. I swallowed the popcorn and drank the coke. Yeon Woojeong laughed lightly and tapped on my cheek.

“Did you like to play alone?”

“Rather than like, it was comfortable.”

“…”

“Now I feel comfortable with you.”

“…”

“Of course, I also like being with you.”

I didn’t ask. I swallowed hard the nonsense that was about to spill out of my mouth and put a kernel of popcorn into my mouth and chewed it till it melted. His laughter rumbled in my ears. As Yeon Woojeong stroked my hair, a message popped up on the screen.

The movie started with a foreign man rushing through the forest. The movie was a thriller, and it seemed that he was already being chased by someone. It started out pretty interesting, and I focused on it while munching on popcorn, but then I got distracted. The movie was rated R, so they didn’t skip the gory scenes.

After watching a few movies with Yeon Woojeong, I realized that I didn’t like scare jump horror movies or movies with gory scenes. I also didn’t like movies that were too sad or had bad endings. Other than that, I could watch movies that other people could watch well, but Yeon Woojeong seemed to like movies that were a little calm or had difficult content.

“Ah~,”

Yeon Woojeong suddenly looked at me and opened his mouth. I could understand what he was trying to convey, but it was a bit unexpected. I selected a few pieces of popcorn that didn’t seem too sweet and placed them into his mouth.

After that, Yeon Woojeong continued to request that I feed him popcorn. It wasn’t as if he couldn’t use his hands, and this was the first time he shamelessly kept asking me to feed him. Of course, I didn’t hate it, so I didn’t complain and fed him. And then I realized it. The gory scenes picked the time when he opened his mouth and asked me to feed him. Or, more accurately, he chose that moment to get my attention.

“Do you think I’m a kid?”

I scratched my palm before feeding Yeon Woojeong, who opened his mouth once more. He crunched on the popcorn and raised his eyebrows.

“How could a kid watch something like this?”

“… You’re a kid, aren’t you, Mr. Yeon?”

“How come?”

“You can’t even eat by yourself.”

I didn’t mean anything by that, so he didn’t have to eat with his own hands. If I had to guess, Yeon Woojeong would probably brush it off. Just as I expected, the corners of his mouth went up.

“What if I am? Will you raise me?”

He threw out a playful question and looked straight ahead again. Whenever he mentioned things like this, I would find myself envisioning such scenarios. I used to just vaguely imagine it, but now I could make a concrete plan. Although I was still studying, I would soon be working and earning money, and then it wouldn’t be so difficult.

I wouldn’t scold Yeon Woojeong even if he misbehaved. I would talk to him nicely and fulfill his wishes. Was he a good child? From the way he talked sometimes, I didn’t think so, but I wouldn’t mind if he didn’t always follow my lead. That’s just the way kids are, and it was okay for Yeon Woojeong to do that.

However, if Yeon Woojeong were to become a child, there would be many things we couldn’t do together. Imagination was just an imagination, I liked now best.

“Can’t focus?”

When I heard a voice, I looked up to see Yeon Woojeong looking at me with a smile on his face. I shook my head and tried to focus on the movie again, thinking that it would be boring to watch it alone. However, he didn’t take his eyes off me and reached out and wrapped his hand around the nape of my neck.

Yeon Woojeong pulled me to him. He caressed my momentarily stiffened neck. His face grew closer, and just when our lips almost touched, I pulled back, but Yeon Woojeong’s force wasn’t the easy one to ignore.

“We might get seen.”

“Who’ll see us? It’s dark, and everyone’s watching the movie.”

Like he said, it was dark around, and only the screen was lit. Wouldn’t we get seen if the people in the car in front of us looked behind? Just as that thought crossed my mind, a man in the movie slashed his sword against the neck of his opponent. When I closed my eyes, our lips met.

Yeon Woojeong sucked softly on my lower lip. There was a sweet scent coming from him. I carefully nibbled his upper lip. A thing that was more soft and plump than his earlobes.

As our tongues intertwined, I tasted the lingering flavor of popcorn, which oddly felt more enjoyable than eating the actual snack. Somehow, I felt ticklish that taste like this was coming from him.

He moved his tongue, caressing mine as if drawing something on my tongue. My body quivered involuntarily, and then I covered his hand that was touching my nape. The intense music and screams from the radio faded away. Strangely, it was like watching a quiet movie. My ears seemed to go deaf, leaving only the wet, rhythmic sounds of our passionate kiss.

Even though his tongue didn’t probe deeper and make a mess inside my mouth, a strange sound escaped my throat. I unconsciously tried to pull back, but Yeon Woojeong put more force in his hand holding my nape, and tilted his head more. I squeezed my closed eyes more, relaxed my body, and caught Yeon Woojeong’s tongue that was tickling my palate.

I felt my cheeks grow hot. I scratched Yeon Woojeong’s hand, and he scratched my neck back. The more I focused on him, the more breathless I became. When it became hard to breathe through my nose, I rubbed my lips against his, and Yeon Woojeong moved away a bit and put his forehead on mine.

The mix of our wet breaths touched my cheeks. The lips that looked redder than before caught my attention. The corners of his lips went up briefly, and then his lips pecked mine. My thighs were tense. I felt heavy down there, but fortunately, it was still calm.

When I looked up, I locked my gaze with black eyes scanning me. Unlike his smiling lips, his eyes were heavy. I felt thirsty somehow. What should I do if he were to ask me to do it here? I was a bit nervous, but Yeon Woojeong backed down.

I clenched and unclenched my fists, looking outside the window. Surrounded by parked cars in all directions, sneaking away quietly didn’t seem feasible. I would have to wait until the movie ended. I rubbed my wet lips with the back of my hand and leaned my head against the window. Bump, a sound broke out, and Yeon Woojeong laughed.