ALL BARK NO BITE | SADISTIC BEAUTY SPINOFF

Chapter 6

~ 102-3, Yujin Apartments, Sanggye-dong, Nowon-gu, Seoul

Minho turned the shower off, stepping out with a towel around his waist. He shook the water out of his hair and reached for a cooling deodorant. He had a date for the evening. After what the Dean and his son pointed out, he was adamant to test if he could get himself to like one. Minho was never drawn to women, but more to the idea of them. Pretty, complex beings fitting into various parts of society.

Their work and their talents were attractive to him but somewhere he felt at a loss when it came down to getting emotionally attached to them. He had always been reserved... starting out as a quiet child, a nervous preteen, blooming into a conservative teenager. Contrary to what most accused him of, he was aware of his picky nature. He went most of his life rejecting proposals and could trace it all back to his mother- the angelic monster.

Everything about her was like a pale, pink petal. She often spoke in flowers too. In her old photographs, after marriage and her first pregnancy, she looked as virginal as ever. He tried to believe that that should be the ideal if there is one. Regardless of how horrid she actually turned out to be. This evening was just a trial in action. Someone he found on a dating site. He wasn't expecting much but maybe she could change his mind. Especially after the ones he studied along the way, he knew better.

He was looking for a wife, not a slut. Someone who suited more the house than the club.

****

11 YEARS AGO

~ Locker aisle, Sports Club Room, St Demian's Boys' High School, Seongsan- dong, Mapo-gu, Seoul

"Hello?" Minho carefully looked around the low lit locker room, it was half an hour after evening football practice had ended and he was still in his sweaty jersey. Aside from reading books and writing both poetry and prose, Minho was quite interested in sports. He dabbled in swimming and baseball, a bit of competitive sprinting but Football had been a mainstay for him since middle school. It was a place were he was respected and valued for his skills and agility.

Being the more athletic among his other siblings, his mother was pleased with his choice to continue playing, saying it might help him foray into professional sports or get into his university of choice. That regardless, he would make for a valuable player wherever he went. 'Of course, I would, how wouldn't I?' Minho thought as he checked out his bulging biceps in the mirror, he had gained weight over the summer. He suddenly straightened up when someone walked in.

It was a boy he had recently met, short, skinny and quiet. They were supposed to meet around this time. "Hello Hyung" the boy shyly licked his braces with the cadence of a common unseasoned high school junior, he looked nervous a bit nervous. "So...? you remember what I said, right?" he slowly sidled up close, pulling his arm towards him, smiling meekly and Minho blushed "No!". He remembered it as clear as day. The student, an year below him, had trailed him into the boys' locker after last practice.

He said that had seen all his matches and often saw him governing under the student body. I really like you Hyung... can we touch each other after practice tomorrow? Minho had initially thought of it as some kind of joke. How could 2 boys touch? he asked himself. It was so icky and unnatural. There was an unsaid warning against specific wrongs in Minho's mind. Given that in their Christian boys' school, such things were looked down upon, his mother too, was a follower of traditional, age-old family laws.

It was wise to him too, to conform to the norms that made life easy.

And yet Minho's mind had given the idea a small lick when the boy had presented it to him. Why would it feel any worse to touch on a boy's waist? to kiss his soft lips and to feel his lean legs... it wasn't completely alien after all. Minho had spent last night flipping through forbidden magazines that he had stolen from the display of a backend shop. It had Japanese men, some looking strong and mean, others buff and kind, some were skinny and soft, all photographed in each other's arms, having different kinds of sex in strange positions.