The protector

Jeju (Se-ri's POV) (M)

Jeju island, 2027, October

Located at the edge of a small village quite far from the touristic area, the place was free from light pollution, so that she could see the moon reflecting on the sea even when, like at that moment, dawn was setting in. Every move of the current, the rippling of the water, all the activities of the small yet industrious port were displaying under her studious stare. Se-ri loved to have the first coffee of the day standing still in front of the show that nature had created, and Seo-jin had made hers.

It was a memento that life also could surprise her in a positive way, sometimes.

Often she'd dreamed about owning a place like that, a place where she could have escaped and recovered from the stress of the week. Though... to what extent? Wasn't her place in Gangnam quiet enough? Did she really need more isolation? All questions which glamorously concealed what it annoyed and scared her to ask herself: did she really need another place where to feel alone?

Therefore, it had been a pleasurable surprise – something she dared to call coincidence, but obviously not fate – when Seo-jin had shown her his buen retiro on the island, telling her it was her place too, now. Whatever was his was hers, that was his rule. Thus, Se-ri had found herself owning the place she'd dreamed about, without paying the price of the loneliness for it. And that was nearly new to her, because solitude had been the price for all the good things of her life.

The sound of his slippers muffled steps headed to her, though she didn't turn to him. Seo-jin needed to have the first sips of his coffee in silence and solitude, then he would have reached her at the window. When in Jeju, they replaced the morning newspapers' reading with a creative gossiping about the port - look, someone got a new boat, the market is opening, the sea is angry today, Neptune must be nervous - pretending they belonged to the place and to its simple life.

"Oh!" Se-ri saw the heavy curtains moving from the sides of the wall-to-wall window, "what are you doing?" Asked to a Seo-jin who, after having fumbled with the curtains' remote, was now walking to her, stopping behind her left shoulders right while the precious sea view was disappearing, hidden by the grey fabric.

"Shhh. Can't risk for us to be paparazzed," the voice came out mischievous exactly like the intention that the state was holding.

"Oh?"

Instead of replying, the man simply shifted her hair on a side for a demonstration. His lips, delicate yet determined, caged the smooth skin right below the nape, gently sucking that spot where the hairline met the neck. Se-ri felt her flesh being softly seized and released, and then seized again, and released once more, the tip of his tongue drawing small, sluggish circles as his arm, joining hers, wrapped around her waist.

"Good morning," he shushed on her skin.

"Good morning," she languorously waved inside his grip with a grin that wasn't less mischievous than his.

One last sip to his cup, and he placed it on the marble table in front of the window. Se-ri was still sipping hers. It was the second, the coffee one sips with calm, not really in need of the extra caffeine dose. Seo-jin patiently waited for her to finish, using the time to plant soft pecks on the curve of the shoulder. Calm, in no hurry, sweetening her drink more than urging it. When she was done, Se-ri just placed the cup close to his hand, and he extended his long arm to get rid of the pottery without stopping his teasing. It was coming now natural, to her, giving him those small, silent orders. Like giving him the cup, or craning her neck on a side to have his lips brushing against her ear. Like leaning her neck closer to him so that he would have understood that she wanted for him to nibble her lobe. His free hand, running over her back, was producing the first shivers down her spine. His breath was warm while tickling her skin, making it come alive piece by piece. Trapped between him and the curtains, there was nothing she could do but to lean her body back into his and feel the formication irradiating all over her being.