The protector

Friendship with benefits (M)

2026, December

December arrived. In-ah was out of town due to a work trip, and then she would have spent four days somewhere in China during Christmas time. Manifesting the first signs of the familiar sickness, Jeong Hyeok silently soliloquized that it wasn't because of the miss of her, it was that she had become a soothing routine. Besides, the idea to be alone on Christmas day was rattling him. That one was a day of sad memories.

Remembering her defeated face the last time she had come back from a visit to an orphanage in the countryside, the pianist wondered if he should call her. Then wondered if it would have sounded inappropriate, too intrusive. At the end it was his own house the one which forced him to make the call. She was gone for just two days and he was already feeling apathetic again, the empty rooms treacherously echoing the memories of Her. From the bathroom, where She would have eventually found a real shower where to use all Her beauty products, to the kitchen. I have the fresh coffee now, Se-ri, I have it, come to me.

Being alone in that house was one of the things that made him feel worse.

The call was brief. She was still working, in spite of the late hour. From the tone of her voice, he could guess it hadn't been a good day, yet she sounded happy to hear him. He was, to hear her. At the end, whishing her goodnight, Jeong Hyeok told her to remember that her work count, that even a little could be a lot.

When she came back, he welcomed her with a bag of iced beer and kimchi sandwiches. She welcomed him with a long kiss and a request, "Fuck me a lot tonight," playfully whispered while caging his lower lip between hers, and he felt set on fire. That night she asked him to go wild, strong to hurt, showing him for the first time that sex can also be rough.

His fears about Christmas proved to be groundless. In-ah flew to China as planned and, during all the previous week, a problem at work took her at the desk till late every day, so that they just had five minutes for a quick goodbye outside the gym. But the friends organized a Christmas party, and the idea gave him a good mood. He didn't feel alone, nor anguished like some week before when she was on her work trip, and this strike confirmed him that he wasn't feeling anything for her, that for sure their one wasn't a romance. It was just that her presence made him feel good.

Even the presence of the group made him feel good. They were fun, called themselves "the international delegation," facetiously using the formal denomination to indicate how they all were strangers the one to the other, and gave him the bittersweet memory of the carefree years when the stranger one was him. Besides, albeit they didn't waste food as many westerns did – no one, never, wasted anything there, Jeong Hyeok was appalled the first time he saw them eating potato skins, cooking leftover soups, saving the crumbles for the birds because in winter they had no other food – they still cooked a lot, and recipes from all around the world which quenched the appetite, the eyes, and the curiosity too.

Tortillas, pudding, lamb couscous in an intriguing pot he had never seen before, strudel, ham, cheese, lasagne, samosa, little cakes with honey and pistachios, wine, porto, champagne, prosecco, sangria, any sort of spirits, he didn't know how he would have come back home.

They singed, danced, and proposed funny games. "Let's divide in two groups: happy festivities and shitty parents."

"This way Jeong Hyeok would be excluded, his parents are atheist!"

"Tsk! Don't underestimate shitty parents' abilities. Jeong Hyeok, apologize, we're sure your parents are potentially able to ruin Diwali, Pesach, the end of Ramadan and so on."