"What happened?"
The question fell all of a sudden, making Jihoon jolt out of whatever trance he was in. The rich timbre of Ryul's voice was dangerously close, cutting through the haze around him like a stone dropped into flat water and drawing him back to the present.
"That… it was a bit crooked," Jihoon mumbled, retracting his hand a beat too late. His fingers clenched into his palm as he dropped his gaze to the floor, suddenly aware of how warm his skin felt.
But when the silence lasted longer than expected, he dared to glance up in curiosity. He found the towering man staring down intently at him, which instantly sent heat flaring up his neck.
The next thing he felt was the graze of calloused fingers brushing his cheek–deliberate and slow, as if testing whether the warmth was real.
